Voice in a supra-organisational and shared-power world: challenges for voice in cross-sector collaboration

Abstract

Our research takes as its starting point that society faces complex social, environmental and economic problems and that supra-organisational, cross-sector collaborations will increasingly be the vehicles for addressing those problems. The increased use of such supra-organisational collaborations requires collaboration practitioners who design and facilitate projects. However, cross-sector collaborations present new challenges for HRM. This exploratory study collected data from 15 interviews to create new understandings of work of cross-sector collaboration practitioners. An interpretive analysis of the practitioners’ perspectives reveals that aspects of voice are considered essential for the success of cross-sector collaborations, and that voice is improvement-oriented in these contexts. Voice creates an understanding of the different perspectives among cross-sector collaborators and establishes trust. Voice forms a platform from which the differing objectives of the collaborators can be met, it engages multiple parties from very different organisations and professions, and it maximises the potential of the collaboration. Membership and representativeness of governance groups are closely linked to voice and its benefits in cross-sector collaborations. Our findings emphasise the importance of collaborators understanding each other’s motivations and ways of thinking, and the need to give voice to diverse identities that come together in cross-sector collaborations.     

Constructing an entrepreneurial life: liminality and emotional reflexivity in identity work

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the identity work of a budding entrepreneur through a longitudinal case study based on his ongoing personal reflections as he tries to construct an entrepreneurial life. In particular, we investigate the role of emotional reflexivity and liminality, concepts that give us analytical purchase in exploring the complex dynamics of this identity work. The liminal condition of multiple identity positions enables our informant to experiment with and integrate several parallel identity narratives as he tries on socio-political constructions of ‘the entrepreneur’ for size; and it is the permanence of the liminal condition that makes emotional reflexivity necessary so he can handle the constant lack he experiences. The contribution of our work lies in exploring how the operation of the discourse of enterprise never closes on the centre of subjectivity that is imputed in that discourse, and how our subject, through emotional reflexivity, deals with this fundamental lack.     

Building responses to sustainable development challenges: A multistakeholder collaboration framework and application to climate change

The affirmation of open innovation and collaborative systems is enabling unprecedented opportunities to create business value while facilitating multistakeholder conversation on sustainability issues. In particular, platform‐based models are emerging as organization archetypes able to facilitate cooperative dynamics among industrial actors, policy makers, academicians, scientists, and citizens. In this article, we use interdisciplinary business management and collaborative innovation literature to build the conceptual framework of a multisided platform as a collaboration environment gathering actors willing to define responses to sustainable development challenges. We present five dimensions or “genes,” that is, the focus and strategic intent or orientation of the platform (what), the participating sides, actors and groups (who), the actions, flows and coordination mechanisms (how), and the value drivers, benefits and externalities (why), and the rules regulating the affiliation and interaction processes (governance). We also present and discuss 30 subtopics or management items that are associated with the five dimensions defined. We then apply the conceptual model to analyze a case in the climate change endeavor and to show how competitive and cooperative dynamics can be virtuously integrated to provide individual‐ and company‐driven responses to a timely socioenvironmental issue. The article provides a new perspective on collaboration to enhance social development, and it offers theoretical and practitioner insights for a broad interdisciplinary audience including scholars, practitioners, business, and platform managers.     

Obstacles and solutions on the ladder of citizen participation: a systematic review

This article presents a systematic review of the English-language empirical literature about citizen participation to identify the obstacles to its implementation and the most successful ways to address them. Three sets of variables seem to impact effectiveness: contextual factors, including information asymmetries and public officials’ attitude; organizational arrangements, including community representation criteria and process design; and process management patterns, including group dynamics and collaboration quality. Two recommendations stem from our analysis: internalize decisions in organizational procedures, and establish ongoing interactions between government bodies and their stakeholders. We conclude that half-hearted engagement is unlikely to lead to successful citizen participation.     

Internal green integration and environmental performance: The predictive power of proactive environmental strategy,greening the supplier,and environmental collaboration with the supplier

The effect of proactive environmental strategies (PES) on corporate performance has been debated extensively among academics; however, the significance of the pathway of those strategies—internal green integration (IGI) through greening the supplier (GTS) and environmental collaboration with suppliers (ECS)—remains undecided. This study examines environmental performance (EP) through GTS, IGI, and ECS. It also examines the direct link between PES and IGI. A conceptual framework was designed following a rigorous review of the literature. A survey questionnaire was used to collect cross-sectional data from a random sample of manufacturing firms, obtaining 196 usable samples. Using AMOS, the structural equal modeling found a positive and significant impact of PES on IGI. Significant predictors of EP were GTS, IGI, and ECS. The findings of the study can provide managers with guidelines for dealing with business and environmental concerns. They can also contribute to creating strategies for environmental protection and management and reducing adverse effects on the environment. Finally, by examining the direct links between GTS, ECS, and EP, particularly in a developing context, the study may contribute to the literature of environmental policy.     

Spacing identity: Unfolding social and spatial-material entanglements of identity performance

In this paper, we analyze how architectural design, and the spatial and material changes this involves, contributes to the continuous shaping of identities in an organization. Based upon a case study of organizational and architectural change in a municipal administration at a time of major public sector reforms, we examine how design interventions were used to (re)form work and professional relationships. The paper examines how engagements with spatial arrangements and material artifacts affected people’s sense of both occupational and organizational identity. Taking a relational approach to sociomateriality, the paper contributes to the further theorizing of space in organization studies by proposing the concept of spacing identity to capture the fluidity of identity performance.     

Reprint of: Spacing identity: Unfolding social and spatial-material entanglements of identity performance

In this paper, we analyze how architectural design, and the spatial and material changes this involves, contributes to the continuous shaping of identities in an organization. Based upon a case study of organizational and architectural change in a municipal administration at a time of major public sector reforms, we examine how design interventions were used to (re)form work and professional relationships. The paper examines how engagements with spatial arrangements and material artifacts affected people's sense of both occupational and organizational identity. Taking a relational approach to sociomateriality, the paper contributes to the further theorizing of space in organization studies by proposing the concept of spacing identity to capture the fluidity of identity performance.     

Interactive identity work of professionals in management: a hospital case study

ABSTRACT

Hybrid professional managers appear less effective in introducing management into public professional settings than policymakers hope. To date, research has offered little understanding of professionals’ identity transition challenge and the role of social interactions underpinning this process. We studied the identity work of hybrid doctors inside a large public health-care organization, finding that it takes place through processes of familiarizing with management, rationalizing being a hybrid, and legitimizing the new role-identity. We contribute to the literature by showing that identity work is distributed and enabled by social interactions beyond the professional group. Implications for policymakers and executives are discussed.     

Religious identity in the workplace: A systematic review,research agenda,and practical implications

We conducted a systematic review of relevant literature to address how religious and occupational identities relate to each other in the workplace. We identified 53 relevant publications for analysis and synthesis. Studies addressed value differences associated with religion and occupation, identity tensions, unmet expectations, and the connection of religious identity to well-being and work outcomes. Key variables in the connection between religious and occupational identities included personal preferences, the fit between religious identity and job-related concerns, and the organization's policies, practices, and expectations. We highlight the personal and organizational consequences of being able to express religious identity at work and the conditions that promote high congruence between religious identity and its expression in the workplace. From these findings, we develop a research agenda and offer recommendations for management practice that focus on support for expression of religious identity at work while maintaining a broader climate of inclusion.     

Provoking identities: entrepreneurship and emerging identity positions in rural development

This article discusses entrepreneurship in a depleted community in transition. The purpose is to develop knowledge about how discourses are used in the positioning of identity in regional development. The concept positioning illustrates how identities are provoked, challenged, negotiated and moved into identity positions that break away from the idea of imitating successful and wealthy regions; instead, locality, place and history emerge as important resources from where local actors obtain agency and recognize new opportunities. Ethnographic data of a single case were collected over a six-year period between 2005 and 2010. The longitudinal nature of the study made it possible to incorporate how local stakeholders took on new identity positions, while handling their inspiration as well as their frustration. Results show how rural change was conditioned by discourses and how entrepreneurship challenged and reframed dominating structures through interaction between entrepreneurship and community. Four discourses, expressed as dichotomies available to people in this depleted community, illustrate the interactive process of positioning: change vs. traditions, rational vs. irrational, spectacular vs. mundane and individual vs. collective. The results support research emphasizing perspectives that acknowledge interaction between entrepreneurship and context as well as discursive aspects of regional development.     

The influence of supply chain collaboration on collaborative advantage and port performance in maritime logistics

Although many academics and practitioners in the maritime industry have recognised the importance of supply chain collaboration (SCC) between ports and port users, there is still a lack of empirical work on this issue. This work empirically investigates the association between SCC, collaborative advantage and port performance in a maritime logistics context. Data were collected via a web-based questionnaire survey which engaged 178 responses from maritime logistics firms in South Korea. Hypotheses were tested by using structural equation modelling, following a hierarchical analysis process. The results confirm that SCC has positive impacts on collaborative advantage, which in turn helps to improve port performance. The finding indicates that collaborative advantage has a full mediation effect on the link SCC-port performance. This work invites managers to recognise the positive outcomes of inter-organisational SCC practices in enhancing collaborative advantage and port performance within port supply chain.     

Employee-oriented HRM and voice behavior: a moderated mediation model of moral identity and trust in management

Abstract

This study examined how employee-orientated human resource management (EOHRM) is related to Chinese employees’ voice. Drawing on the trust literature, we developed and tested an integrative model that involves the mediating role of trust in management in the effect of EOHRM on voice behavior and the moderating role of employees’ moral identity in the EOHRM effects. Data were collected from 251 employees from a variety of occupations in China. Bootstrap-based regression analyses were used to test the research model. Results showed that trust in management partially mediated the relationship between EOHRM and voice behavior. The effect of EOHRM on trust in management and the indirect effect of EOHRM on voice behavior via trust were stronger in employees with higher rather than lower levels of moral identity. These findings suggest that organizations may promote employee voice by implementing HR policies and practices that focus on employees’ personal and family needs and consider employees’ moral identity.     

Story-dismantling,story-meandering,and story-confirming: Organizational identity work in times of public disgrace

This study aims to enhance our understanding of organizational identity work (OIW), building upon previous studies’ emphasis on the usefulness of understanding OIW in terms of storytelling. The paper offers an extended vocabulary for making sense of alternative narration forms. Based on an in-depth study of a humanitarian organization in Sweden, the discursive OIW struggles of employees in times of public disgrace are explored and the following conceptualizations suggested:a) Story-dismantling (attempting to deconstruct a dominant discrediting narrative).b) Story-meandering (attempting to tell a coherent counter-story but without success).c) Story-confirming (claiming that a dominant historical narrative remains valid).These concepts open up and invite considerations of uncertainty, fragmentation, fluidity, and contextuality in future studies of both organizational identity (OI) and OIW.     

京津冀区域协同创新面临的挑战与对策

京津冀协同发展的关键在于创新驱动,依靠科技创新引领、推动产业转型升级,破解发展难题,以整个区域的协同创新促进协同发展.通过对区域协同理论和实践的梳理,分析目前在京津冀区域协同创新方面存在的挑战和问题,并针对这些问题和挑战提出相应对策.     

The benefits of being understood: The role of ethnic identity confirmation in knowledge acquisition by expatriates

In this article, we propose that the concept of ethnic identity confirmation (EIC), the level of agreement between how expatriates view the importance of their own ethnic identity and how local employees view the importance of expatriates' ethnic identity, can explain why expatriates who are ethnically similar to host‐country employees are sometimes less effective than expected when working overseas. Multinationals often choose ethnically similar expatriates for international assignments, assuming these expatriates can more effectively acquire knowledge from local employees. Thus, understanding the specific challenges that endanger the realization of this potential is crucial. Our survey, administered to a sample of 128 expatriate–local employee dyads working in China, reveals that both ethnically similar and ethnically different expatriates acquire more local knowledge when EIC is high. However, the association between ethnic (dis)similarity and knowledge acquisition is direct for ethnically different expatriates, whereas for ethnically similar expatriates it is indirect via their perception of local employees' trustworthiness. We discuss this study's important implications and provide recommendations for multinationals on how to provide tailored support to expatriates who face different identity challenges.     

A triple‐win scenario for horizontal collaboration in logistics: Determining enabling and key success factors

Horizontal collaborations emerged as a new strategic option in the logistics sector during the last decade. However, successful implementation of horizontal collaborations is far from a developed issue due to several barriers that exist or emerge when setting up such collaborative projects. This study aims at identifying the enabling factors supporting successful implementation of horizontal collaborations in the logistics sector, and in identifying key success factors that logistics service providers (LSPs) should consider. Results from a within‐ and cross‐case analysis of two horizontal collaboration projects in the contract logistics sector support the proposed theoretical framework, highlighting both enabling and key success factors of horizontal collaborations. The former refers to factors that are related to LSPs, customers, and industries, whereas the latter results in a triple‐win scenario characterised by LSP competences, trust, and environmental management orientation of successful horizontal collaboration projects.     

我国科技合作模式及问题初探

随着经济全球化,科技合作也日益成为人们关注的话题,世界范围内的科技合作也越来越多和普遍,该文从科技资源集成的角度论述了我国科技合作的定义和种类,我国目前科技合作的主要形式,以及分析它们存在的一些问题,提出了相应的对策思路。     

HR in collaborative innovation with customers: role,alignment and challenges

Companies are engaging in collaborative innovation with their customers (CIC), but there has been no comprehensive discussion of the role of human resources (HR) in such initiatives or the challenges involved. We begin with a brief overview of CIC and the challenges for HR and then draw on different streams of research to develop a conceptual framework for the alignment of HR with CIC strategies. Theoretical foundations for the components of the framework are integrated with the discussions of its various components. We begin with a review of staffing and development practices focused on collaboration and relationship skills, as well as creativity, and collaborative- and commitment-oriented HR systems. We then discuss how HR deployment, performance management, control practices and contextual factors potentially affect the relationship between antecedent HR practices and the collaborative and innovative behaviors needed for CIC. Several challenges in aligning HR practices with CIC are explored, such as the limited supply of research talent inclined toward CIC, skills for collecting tacit knowledge, performance assessment and risk-related career implications. Other broader challenges are discussed, such as deployment, preserving internal innovation capabilities and controlling confidential information. Suggestions for overcoming challenges for HR in CIC are discussed and ideas for future research are provided.     

When age does not harm innovative behavior and perceptions of competence: Testing interdepartmental collaboration as a social buffer

Can older managers overcome stereotypes relating age to low competence? We integrate the literature on age and cognitive ability with research on innovation to explore whether—and if so, when—employees' age harms performance and promotability appraisals made by their supervisors. Multisource, time‐lag data from 305 project managers indicate that the negative stereotypes can be explained through decreased innovative behavior. However, older employees are not always seen as poorer performers with less potential to be promoted due to their reduced innovative behavior. Rather, interdepartmental collaboration moderates these effects. Specifically, older employees with low interdepartmental collaboration are less innovative and receive worse performance and promotability appraisals than younger employees, but the “age handicap” vanishes when older employees collaborate with members of other departments. Organizations should foster formal or informal collaboration among units to prevent negative consequences of an aging workforce.     

Creating innovative opportunities through research collaboration: An evolutionary framework and empirical illustration in engineering

This paper analyses the creation of innovative opportunities through research collaborations. It contributes by (i) providing an evolutionary conceptual framework for the formation and exploitation of innovative opportunities through research collaboration; and by (ii) providing an empirical illustration of this framework by applying it to a case study of firms׳ research collaboration taking place in university–industry research centers in engineering. The evolutionary framework developed specifically focuses on the generation of novelty and variety and on selection pressures as key for the creation of opportunities. It also emphasizes the differences between small and large firms when it comes to role of research collaboration for opportunity creation. Empirically, we illustrate that firms in general focus more on the generation of variety in the form of (fundamental) knowledge, than on research collaboration leading directly to the formation and exploitation of opportunities. For large firms, the focus is rather to transfer this created variety back to the firm, to use for inputs into the in-house creation of opportunities. In contrast, small firms focus instead on using research collaboration to generate and develop knowledge about customer needs in order to create market opportunities, especially through networking with large firms participating in the collaboration.