Narratives of irony and failure in ethnographic work

Organizational ethnography is one of the most valued approaches to qualitative studies of organizations. Much attention has been given to the development of the research process, of which the researcher's identity is an integral part. However, we believe that the analysis of research failures has been much less developed in the discourse of ethnographic methods for the study of organizations. Therefore, we have explored some of the “slips” in ethnographic work, as described in accounts of fellow organizational anthropologists. As the study is qualitative, we have adopted a narrative research method. We have divided the “slips” (i.e., errors) into four categories important for the ethnographer's identity: (a) one's role; (b) one's project, (c) one's relation to “the Other”; and (d) the social context of the slip. Copyright © 2010 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Employment Effects of Offshoring across Sectors and Occupations in Japan

In the case of Japan, the studies conducted so far focus alone on firm‐level data and delve into the productivity effects and the skill upgrading between skilled and unskilled workers. Here, we carry out an empirical analysis of the employment effects of offshoring for Japanese industries on a broader classification of skills or occupations, while considering the three major sectors of the economy and taking account of both services and materials offshoring. The results suggest that various types of offshoring affect occupations differently. In particular, services offshoring tends to benefit highly skilled occupations more, while materials offshoring tends to benefit production workers instead.     

Changes of Thai economy since 19701 1

Within the last 30 years, the number of Thai population increased from 35 million to 62 million, the general price level went up 6 times, and Thai currency baht devaluated 2.2 times against the dollar. The industrial production increased 36 times nominally. The biggest industry of Thailand changed from agriculture to manufacture, and the total value of exports jumped by 192 times and that of imports grew by 95 times. Thai current account balance had recorded a deficit every year from 1970 to 1996. During the same period of time, however, the capital account balance had shown surplus. The inflow of foreign capital was the only stronghold of Thai economy at that time. In 1997, Thailand suddenly experienced a total change of its external environment From then on, Thai current account shifted from a deficit to a surplus and Thai capital account turned from a surplus to a deficit. The conclusion of this paper indicates that the future of Thai economy is heavily dependent on whether the amount of surplus in Thai current account could surpass the deficit in Thai capital account     

经济发达地区农村合作的组织创新及发展趋势——基于苏州实践的研究

经济发达地区农村"三大股份合作"是对传统合作社组织的创新发展。它初步解决了家庭联产承包与适度规模经营的矛盾,权力主体分散与集体经营的矛盾,农民投资意愿强烈与投资效果不佳的矛盾;促进了传统农民向现代公民的有组织过渡,培育了适应社会主义市场经济环境的新农民,提升了农村的市场化程度,实现了农业规模经营,构建了农民持续增收的长效机制,缩小了城乡差距,推动了城乡一体化发展。研究表明"三大股份合作"呈现以下发展趋势:合作形式趋向集团化,合作经营内容多元化,日常运行"去行政化",治理结构现代企业化,组织构成开放化。     

Employee workplace spirituality and pro-environmental behavior in the hotel industry

Pro-environmental behaviors in the workplace are less investigated than those in the public and private spheres. With this in mind, and through the values framework of workplace spirituality (WPS), synthesizing the theories of connectedness and organizational citizenship, the current study proposed a theoretical model to gauge the influence of WPS, a relatively new area of inquiry in organizational research and a neglected field in tourism and hospitality, on hotel employees’ organizational citizenship behavior for the environment (OCBE). In this framework, the emerging concept of connectedness to nature (CNS) – a strong cognitive and affective predictor of pro-environmental behavior – was depicted as a mediator, and the construct of environmental awareness (EA) was deemed a moderator. The intended model received support through empirical testing, and results confirmed that WPS is significantly associated with employees’ OCBE, and CNS indirectly affects the relationship between WPS and OCBE, while EA functions as a booster. The theoretical and practical implications of the study were discussed, and a series of contributory managerial implications were described accordingly.     

Employee creativity trumps supervisor-subordinate guanxi: Predicting prequitting behaviors in China's hotel industry

This study aims to explore the moderating roles of supervisor-subordinate guanxi and employee creativity in the perceived organizational support-organizational commitment-turnover intention link in the Chinese hotel organizations. Using a matched sample of 85 supervisors and 249 subordinates from 13 hotels in Shenzhen, China, we found that both supervisor-subordinate guanxi and employee creativity altered the relationships of perceived organizational support, affective commitment and employee prequitting behaviors. A significant conditional direct effect of perceived organizational support on prequitting behaviors was moderated by low supervisor-subordinate guanxi. Furthermore, a significant conditional indirect relationship between perceived organizational support and prequitting behaviors was found at high employee creativity. Moreover, interactive effect of affective commitment and employee creativity exerted a significant negative effect on prequitting behaviors. Findings shed light on the changing traditional values in modern management practices and the conditions under which organizations can improve employee retention. Theoretical and practical implications for talent management are discussed.     

Perceived organizational support and coworker support as antecedents of foreign workers’ voice and psychological stress

This study investigates the effects of perceived organizational support (POS) and coworker support on the voice behavior and psychological stress of foreign workers in Macau hospitality industry. Drawing upon social exchange theory, we propose that POS and coworker support exert differential impacts on foreign workers’ promotive and prohibitive voice. We further hypothesize the negative relationships between these two types of support and psychological stress. Our hypotheses were tested by a two-wave longitudinal survey data collected from 141 foreign workers employed in four Macau hotels. The results showed that, although POS and coworker support were positively related to promotive voice, the effect of POS was comparatively stronger. Only POS had a significant and positive effect on prohibitive voice. In addition, coworker support but not POS reduced foreign workers’ psychological stress. The implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.     

The Relationships Between Adhocracy and Clan Cultures and Tacit Oriented KM Strategy

Abstract

In this study knowledge is considered as explicit and tacit; and in line with this, knowledge management strategy that focuses on tacit knowledge is identified as tacit oriented knowledge management strategy. Organizational culture, which is one of the crucial antecedents of knowledge management process, is categorized into four types by using two dimensions—external versus internal orientation and formal versus informal organizational process—as adhocracy, clan, market and hierarchy. And the relationships between adhocracy, and clan culture and tacit oriented knowledge management strategy are investigated. Also the industrial environment hostility is used as a moderator between adhocracy and clan cultures, and tacit oriented knowledge management strategy.

According to the regression analyses, adhocracy and clan cultures have positive effects on tacit oriented knowledge management strategy; and the impact (magnitude) of adhocracy culture is approximately the same as the clan culture on tacit oriented knowledge management strategy. Also it was found that greater industry environment hostility, the greater relationship between adhocracy and clan cultures, and tacit oriented knowledge management Strategy.     

The ‘old’ and ‘new’ competition and Malaysian manufacturing firms: a case study

The majority of empirical studies dealing with production processes, work organization and industrial relations practices have been conducted in advanced industrial nations. This article reports on a study of the changing nature of work organization and industrial relations policies in the developing economy of Malaysia. It explores the broad patterns of change in human resource management, technology and work organization among Malaysian manufacturing firms in the context of Best's ‘old’ and ‘new’ competition. The question that arises is: does the evidence reveal that Malaysia is embracing elements of the ‘new competition’, or is it still locked into a regime of mass production, or both? The article argues that the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ competition should not be treated as a simple, straightforward duality model of development. The distinction between the two approaches is sometimes blurred and not so clear-cut. The case study observes that both systems could be operating side by side at the same time within an organization. Since the Malaysian manufacturing sector is expected to shift from simple assembly and process-type operations using labour-intensive techniques to the more advanced and higher value-added industries, greater investment in HRD to upgrade the skills of the work-force and the adoption of appropriate industrial relations policies that emphasize decentralization, greater employee involvement and continuous innovation will become crucial. To be able to compete successfully in the global economy would require a change in focus in the adoption of industrial relations and human resource development policies. For Malaysia to realize its aspiration to become an industrialized and developed nation by the year 2020 would require radical changes in those policies within the context of an integrated approach to economic and industrial planning.     

Does market orientation matter?: a test of the relationship between positional advantage and performance

A recent series of articles in the Strategic Management Journal has discussed the potential value of an organization developing a market orientation in its quest to achieve success. We posit that market orientation can enhance success, but that its potential value should not be considered in isolation. Specifically, we draw on the resource‐based view of the firm to suggest that four capabilities—market orientation, entrepreneurship, innovativeness, and organizational learning—each contribute to the creation of positional advantages for some firms. The data used are drawn from 181 large multinational corporations (MNC). The results indicate that positional advantages arising from the confluence of market orientation, entrepreneurship, innovativeness, and organizational learning have a positive effect on MNC performance (five‐year average change in ROI, income, and stock price). Overall, the results support the contention that market orientation can enhance success, albeit within the context of other important phenomena. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.