The Effects Of Organizational Context And Teamworking Activities On Performance Outcomes

Abstract

This article seeks to evaluate the effects of organizational context and teamworking activities on the performance outcomes of public sector workers. Ability, Motivation and Opportunity (AMO) theory is used as the basis of this study in which it is predicted that employees' ability, motivation and opportunities to participate will affect organizational performance. Procter and Mueller's (2000) framework is used to identify relevant HR contextual features, namely discretionary rewards, appraisal, training and development, industrial relations and organizational culture. Data based on the 2003 Local Government Workplace Survey (N = 3,165) were used to test six research hypotheses and related sub-hypotheses. The findings show that individually, the effects of organizational context and teamworking activities were as hypothesized and consistent with AMO theory. However, the interaction effects were far less pronounced in that they were either non-significant or negative, with the exception of the interaction term teamworking X appraisal, which positively predicted organizational commitment. However, the teamworking X appraisal interaction also led to increased stress, something we consider to be a ‘sting in the tail’ for workers. Thus we argue that even though the interaction effects of teamworking and organizational context are minimal, the individual effects contribute to enhanced worker attitudes and perceived organizational performance.     

Stimulating teachers’ team performance through team-oriented HR practices: the roles of affective team commitment and information processing

Abstract

Teams of teachers are increasingly held accountable for the quality of education and educational reforms in vocational education and training institutions. However, historically teachers have not been required to engage in deep-level collaboration, thus team-oriented HR practices are being used to promote teamworking in the sector. This paper examines the relationship between team-oriented HR practices and team performance in terms of innovation and efficiency via teachers’ affective team commitment and engagement in information processing. To examine these associations, a team-oriented HRM research instrument was developed and validated based on the ability-motivation-opportunity model (N = 970, 130 teams) and hypothesised associations were examined using multilevel structural equation modelling (N = 704, 70 teams). The results show positive relationships between the team-oriented HR practices of recruitment, team development, team evaluation and teamwork facilitation, and team innovation. Additionally, all practices except team development were positively related to team efficiency. The relationships between team-oriented HR practices and these team performance indicators were often partially or fully mediated by affective team commitment and information processing. Because affective team commitment and information processing sometimes only partially mediated the links between team-oriented HR practices and team performance, other underlying mechanisms await identification.     

Impact of employees' character strengths of wisdom on stress and creative performance

Both conventional understanding and positive psychology recognise an important link between people's character strengths and how they perform their jobs. However, no research to date has focused on the relationship of employees' wisdom strengths, potential mediating effects and creative task performance. Utilising a large heterogeneous sample (N = 974) of working adults, this study found that participants' levels of the character strengths of wisdom were positively related to their performance on a creative task and negatively related to their reported level of stress. In addition, stress was found to be negatively related to creative task performance, with reported stress partly mediating the relationship between participants' wisdom and their performance on the creative task. Implications for incorporating character strengths in the development of HRM theory and practice conclude the article.     

How Does Open Innovation Modify the Relationship between Environmental Regulations and Productivity?

With increasingly severe environmental regulations, a pressing issue has been the need for firms to develop efficient strategies to achieve environmental protection and high productivity. Several environmental experts argue that firms can respond to environmental regulations through innovation; however, the question of how to innovate is unanswered in the environmental literature. Therefore, this study focuses on the open innovation strategy approach to respond to environmental regulations and maintain high productivity by incorporating the idea of innovation management. We first divide open innovation strategy into two modes of external technology acquisition: foreign and domestic. Next, we examine these modes' mediation effects on environmental regulations and productivity. In addition, we test the moderating effect of internal R&D on the relationship between external technology acquisition and productivity. Using data on 35 Chinese industrial sectors from 2001 to 2010, the empirical findings show that foreign technology significantly and positively mediates the link between environmental regulations and productivity, while domestic technology does not. Internal R&D investment, as an absorptive capacity, positively moderates the effect of foreign technology; however, it negatively moderates the effect of domestic technology on productivity. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Governing through Teamwork: Reconstituting Subjectivity in a Call Centre*

ABSTRACT This article focuses on teamworking as a form of governmentality whereby management seeks to govern by distance. This involves mobilizing the support and commitment of employees to teamworking and organizational goals by appealing to their autonomy, unity, sociability and desire for a more enriched work experience. It is the struggle over subjectivity that is of concern here, for teamworking can be seen as a technology that aims to transform individuals into subjects that secure their sense of meaning and significance through working as a team. We will explore through a case study of a call centre in a large building society how a discourse of teamworking has begun to impinge upon individuals so as to shape not only how they behave but also how they think, derive meaning and understand the world. In turn, we consider some of the tensions and inconsistencies of teamworking in relation to the secrecy of pay differentials, and the return to productivity pressures after a period of relaxation and trust. Ultimately the article examines how individuals respond to, agonize over, resist and baulk against the imposition of ‘team lives’ when this rubs up against what they understand to be their ‘private lives’. This will involve considering gender tensions that have so far been largely neglected in relation to call centres and teamworking. Teamworking, we will argue, reflects a will to govern rather than a mechanism of government.     

Do external diversity practices boost focal firm performance? The case of supplier diversity

Based on the resource-based view, we propose that external diversity practices such as supplier diversity may affect firm performance. We find that the relationship between supplier diversity and short-term performance (i.e. productivity) is moderated by context such that firms in declining industries experience positive productivity effects while firms in munificent industries witness negative effects. For longer-term profitability (i.e. Tobin's q), we do not find support for a positive relationship between supplier diversity and long-term performance. However, positive supplier diversity effects emerge in munificent environments. Overall, in support of the strategic human resource management approach, we conclude that the effect of external supplier diversity on firm performance is contingent upon environmental munificence, which documented the necessity to include supplier diversity as a relevant component of a comprehensive diversity and equality management system.     

Effects of Target Timing and Contract Frame on Individual Performance

Abstract

This study experimentally examines the effects of target timing and contract frame on individual performance. We study four target-based incentive contracts, categorised by when participants learn the performance target (ex ante, or before production starts, vs. ex post, or after production ends) and how the incentive contract is framed (bonus vs. penalty). The performance target in this study is determined by a peer group's average productivity. We find that performance is significantly higher for bonus-framed contracts when the performance target is revealed ex post, as opposed to ex ante. In contrast, revealing the peer-based performance target ex ante or ex post has no impact on performance for penalty-framed contracts. We also find that the ex post, bonus-framed contract significantly outperforms the other three contracts. This finding supports practitioners' claim that employers should reward (as opposed to punish) individuals based on their performance, relative to that of their peers, ex post.     

Transnational HR network learning in Korean business groups and the performance of their subsidiaries

This study explores (1) how two distinct dimensions of transnational human resources (HR) network learning, i.e. globally linked and locally leveraged learning, are related to the performance of the foreign subsidiaries of Korean business groups (chaebols) and (2) how strategic HR learning mediates the relationship between these two dimensions of transnational HR network learning and the performance of foreign subsidiaries. We propose that each dimension of transnational HR network learning is related independently and jointly to the performance of a chaebol's foreign subsidiaries. Our results suggest that locally leveraged HR learning has a stronger relationship with the performance of sales subsidiaries, whereas globally linked HR learning has a stronger relationship with the performance of manufacturing subsidiaries. In addition, we find that the interaction between the two dimensions of transnational HR network learning has a weaker positive relationship with the performance of foreign manufacturing subsidiaries than that of foreign sales subsidiaries.     

The moderating effect of innovation on the relationship between environmental and financial performance: Evidence from high emitters in Australia

This study examines whether environmental-related innovation moderates the association between environmental and financial performance measured respectively as carbon emissions and return on assets (ROA). The sample comprises 119 companies subject to Australia's National Greenhouse Energy Reporting Act (NGER) for the period 2009–2017. The results show that environmental innovation positively moderates the relationship between environmental performance and financial performance. The findings also imply that the impact of environmental innovation in improving environmental performance is observable with a 1-year lag. The results are robust to the alternative financial performance measures of Tobin's Q and Altman's Z score. The findings have important implications for company managers and policymakers and provide useful information on innovation's role in enhancing environmental and financial performance.     

Expanding Insights on the Diversity Climate–Performance Link: The Role of Workgroup Discrimination and Group Size

The present study extends knowledge of the performance consequences of workgroup diversity climate. Building upon Kopelman, Brief, and Guzzo's ( 1990 ) climate model of productivity, we introduce workgroup discrimination as a behavioral mediator that explains the positive effects of diversity climate on workgroup performance. In addition, we investigate group size as a moderator upon which this mediated relationship depends. We test these moderated‐mediated propositions using a split‐sample design and data from 248 military workgroups comprising 8,707 respondents. Findings from structural equation modeling reveal that diversity climate is consistently positively related to workgroup performance and that this relationship is mediated by discrimination. Results yield a pattern of moderated mediation, in that the indirect relationship between workgroup diversity climate (through perceptions of workgroup discrimination) and group performance was more pronounced in larger than in smaller workgroups. These results illustrate that discrimination and group size represent key factors in determining how a diversity climate is associated with group performance and, thus, have significant implications for research and practice. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Worker responses to teamworking: exploring employee attributions of managerial motives

This paper examines employee views of why and how managers introduced teamworking at several sites within a steel company. Following a content analysis of employee comments we classify employee views of management motives into four main types: economic, political, institutional and cultural. Employees reported that managers were primarily driven by political rationales and implemented teamworking for reasons of self-interest. The economic rationales for management action were interpreted negatively as favouring shareholders and increasing worker insecurity. The introduction of teamworking also appeared to require a concerted attempt to enforce employee compliance, indicating that culture change was also an important factor. The views employees expressed of management intent are not adequately described by either recent advocates of high performance work systems or the critical perspective on human resource management although they appear central in understanding employee responses to management initiatives in these sites.     

Conflict for Mutual Gains?*

abstract This paper adopts Walton and McKersie's Behavioral Theory of Labor Negotiations to examine the outcomes of industrial relations negotiations to implement teamworking. Negotiations from 21 departments across two integrated steelworks are classified into four negotiation patterns, each producing different outcomes from teamworking for managers and employees. Managers secured lower manning and increased productivity in negotiations both in departments characterized throughout by cooperation and those characterized by conflict. However, mutual gains were secured only where union negotiators pursued conflict tactics during bargaining. In those departments where union negotiators adopted more conflictual bargaining tactics, more employees reported pay increases and greater satisfaction with teamworking agreements, compared with employees in more ‘cooperative’ departments. ‘Mixed’ bargaining approaches in other departments were less successful, particularly for union negotiators.     

The interaction of human resource policies and practices with the implementation of teamworking: evidence from the UK public sector

Our study examines the interaction of human resource policies and practices with the implementation of teamworking. Put simply, do certain human resource policies and practices support the implementation of teamworking? Do certain human resource policies and practices work against the implementation of teamworking? It utilizes an illustrative case from the UK public sector – the Inland Revenue, the UK tax assessment and collection agency – to address the research question. The case of the Inland Revenue gives support to the argument that it is necessary to identify and understand the differences between a variety of forms of teamworking. With the variation in forms of teamworking that are implemented, there may be variations in the human resource management context. In short, a contingency approach to the interaction of the implementation of teamworking with human resource policies and practices may be appropriate. In the case, teamworking was implemented to facilitate the introduction of a new tax regime in the face of reduced numbers of middle managers and clerical employees, and certain human resource policies and practices had an effect upon its implementation. These were front line manager selection and development in particular, while team member selection and development and employee relations appeared less important.     

Are high‐performance work practices (HPWPs) enabling or disabling? Exploring the relationship between selected HPWPs and work‐related disability disadvantage

We develop the organizational characteristics element of Stone and Colella's (1996) framework by drawing on the Ability–Motivation–Opportunity (AMO) model to assess the relationship between high‐performance work practices (HPWPs) and work‐related disability disadvantage. We develop competing “enabling” and “disabling” hypotheses concerning the influence of selected HPWPs (competency testing, performance appraisal, individual performance‐related pay, teamworking, and functional flexibility) on disabled relative to nondisabled employees. An empirical assessment of these competing hypotheses using matched employer–employee data from the nationally representative British Workplace Employment Relations Study 2011 reveals a negative relationship between these HPWPs when used in combination and the proportion of disabled employees at the workplace, although this relationship disappears in workplaces with a wide range of disability equality practices. While disabled employees report lower work‐related well‐being than their nondisabled counterparts, we find limited evidence that this is associated with the presence of HPWPs.     

A multi-level examination of quality-focused human resource practices and firm performance: evidence from the US healthcare industry

In today's business world, the role of quality has become ever more significant for organizations to compete in a global marketplace. Based on the quality management theory, this study empirically examines the relationship between quality-focused human resource practices (QHRP) and organizational performance outcomes. Data from 69 healthcare organizations indicate a strong support for this relationship. A Human Resource (HR) system focused on quality management was directly related to multiple dimensions of organizational performance outcomes (i.e., intangible – employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction – and tangible – profit). Specifically, two measures of QHRP, knowledge management and strategic management, were found to be positively related to the financial performance of firms implementing quality management. Process management is found to be negatively related to employee satisfaction. General Human Resources were positively related to both employee and customer satisfaction. Employee focus of the firms is also positively related to employee satisfaction. In addition, employee satisfaction is also related to both customer satisfaction and financial performance while customer satisfaction is found to be positively related to employee satisfaction. The findings indicate a generally strong positive relationship with the organizational performance outcomes. The results of this study are particularly important in showing HR's contribution to the organization's bottom line.     

Hard,soft or ambidextrous? Which influence style promotes managers’ task performance and the role of political skill

Abstract

Ambidexterity at the manager level focuses on the crucial, but underexplored, role of managers’ knowledge, skills, and behaviors to address competing demands and promote organizational ambidexterity. As such, to successfully complete their assigned duties, managers need to employ the appropriate interpersonal style and calibrate their behavior to different contextual demands. This study highlights the role of the individual in the ambidexterity process by introducing the concept of influence tactic ambidexterity, to denote the frequent use of both hard and soft influence and investigating its role on task performance. Drawing on the literature on ambidexterity and HRM, we analyze data from a sample of 172 middle managers and their corresponding 68 supervisors working for multinational organizations, and provide evidence that influence tactic ambidexterity relates to higher levels and less variation in managers’ task performance compared to the sole use of either hard or soft tactics. Our findings also show that political skill positively moderates the relationship between influence tactic ambidexterity and a manager’s task performance. Therefore, this study suggests that influence tactic ambidexterity and political skill can be considered valuable HR assets for managers.     

The Competitiveness of UK Manufacturing: Performance and Prospects

The competitiveness of UK manufacturing and its future prospects are examined in terms of productivity, the performance of high technology industries and the relationship between science and technology. Die main findings are that concentrating on productivity performance can be misleading and attention should also be paid to the structural aspects of competitiveness, especially the relationship between the science base arid industrial technology. On this basis we conclude that if the UK is to realise fully the competitive potential of technological change, differences in these structural aspects of competitiveness need to be addressed.     

Barriers to the development of teamworking in UK firms

This paper is based on an empirical study of barriers to the adoption of teamworking in seven UK firms, including small manufacturing units, pharmaceutical organisations and telephone call centres. Such barriers arise from the tension between the ‘microcultures’ of teamworking at firm level and the logistical pressures of the supply chain. Successful adoption is seen as depending on management's ability to embed teamworking practices in the development of supply chain relationships.     

Learning and relationship orientation: an empirical examination in European museums

• The purpose of this paper is to assess the interrelations between learning orientation, innovation strategy, relationship orientation and economic and social performance in the management of cultural organizations such as museums. We first provide a review of the literature addressing the main constructs involved in the research: learning orientation, innovation, relationship orientation and performance, and we detail the model's hypotheses reflecting the interrelations amongst the proposed variables. Building on extensive literature, a model is developed and empirically tested using survey data collected from 491 European museums in Spain, France, Italy and the UK. Data are analysed through structural equation modelling. In the present study, evidence is found to support the positive and significant link between learning orientation and internal (organizational innovation) as well as external (relationship orientation) changes in museums. Further, we find that organizational innovation and relationship orientation aid the introduction of greater technological developments in these organizations. We also find evidence to support the idea that learning orientation, innovation strategy and relationship orientation impact the economic and social performance of museums. Findings clearly show that achieving organizational objectives through learning processes necessarily entails the introduction of internal changes—innovation—and external relationships—relationship orientation.

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Individual modes and patterns of rational and intuitive decision-making by purchasing managers

This study extends the literature on decision modes in purchasing. While decision modes have traditionally been divided broadly into rational and intuitive processing modes (dual-process approach), following the tenet of recent psychology research, we further differentiate the latter into experience-based and emotional processing (multiple systems approach). Previous decision-making research has been inconsistent in its findings about the relationship between decision modes and performance. Using the purchasing manager's supplier selection decision process as our unit of analysis, we first investigate the relationship between individual decision modes and the financial and non-financial performance of the selected supplier. Hierarchical regression analyses indicate that rational processing is positively related to both financial and non-financial performance, while emotional processing is negatively related to financial performance, and the interaction of rational and emotional processing is positively related to both performance outcomes. Because recent cognitive psychology assumes that some combination of rationality and intuition is commonly used, we then apply a configuration approach and develop a taxonomy of decision-making modes surrounding supplier selection. Cluster analysis results show five decision-making patterns that are related to the performance of the selected supplier.