The relationship between HRM practices and organizational commitment of knowledge workers. Facts obtained from Swiss SMEs

This paper explores the effects of human resource management (HRM) practices in Swiss small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). More specifically, the main objective of this study is to assess the impacts of HRM practices developed in Swiss SMEs upon the commitment of knowledge workers. Using data from a survey of over 198 knowledge workers, this study shows the importance of looking closer at HRM practices and, furthermore, to really investigate the impacts of the different HRM practices on employees' commitment. Results show, for example, that organizational support, procedural justice and the reputation of the organization may clearly influence knowledge workers' commitment, whereas other HRM practices such as involvement in decision-making, skills management or even the degree of satisfaction with pay do not have any impact on knowledge workers' commitment.     

SOCIAL COMPARISON AND EFFORT PROVISION: EVIDENCE FROM A FIELD EXPERIMENT

Social comparison has potentially far reaching consequences in many economic domains. We conducted a field experiment to examine how social comparison affects workers' effort provision if their own wage or that of a co‐worker is cut. Workers were assigned to groups of two, performed identical individual tasks, and received the same performance‐independent hourly wage. Cutting both group members' wages caused a decrease in performance. But when only one group member's wage was cut, the affected workers decreased their performance more than twice as much as when both workers' wages were cut. This finding indicates that social comparison among workers affects effort provision because the only difference between the two wage‐cut treatments is the other group member's wage level. In contrast, workers whose wage was not cut but who witnessed their group member's pay being cut displayed no change in performance relative to the baseline treatment in which both workers' wages remained unchanged. This indicates that social comparison exerts asymmetric effects on effort.     

The Quality of Skill Acquisition in Young Workers' First Job

Young workers' experiences of their first job form an important stage in the transition from school to work, and the quality of that experience is likely to have a strong bearing on future chances in the labour market. We provide evidence on a key aspect of that experience, namely, whether the skills acquired during the first job are firm-specific or in some degree transferable. More than one in six young people acquired only firm-specific skills in their first substantial job. High levels of prior human capital, short training spells or training leading to qualifications tend to raise, while being in casual or temporary jobs tends to lower, the likelihood that transferable skills are acquired.     

Trends in the participatory process of changing shiftwork arrangements

Abstract

A recent survey by the International Labour Office on changing shiftwork arrangements showed that there were three essential steps commonly taken in the change process in different countries. They could be identified as: (1) group study of operational requirements and workers' needs; (2) establishing feasible options; and (3) consensus building while acting on conflicting interests. The change process was more successful when it was provided with concrete support. Attention is drawn to three major aspects of such support: (a) gathering data about operational requirements of the enterprise and workers' needs and preferences (by applying practical methods such as questionnaire surveys, interviews, group discussion and workshops); (b) support for the participatory development of plans for new arrangements (by organizing a group involving workers' representatives); and (c) training support for facilitating the group work and bargaining required for consensus building. Locally adapted training support is necessary particularly about: (1) understanding shiftwork effects and generally accepted guidelines; (2) how to find feasible options based on gathered data and these guidelines; and (3) how to cope with shiftwork. Thus support from people experienced in facilitating the well-informed, participatory process of change will need to be developed for promoting the improvement of shiftworking conditions.     

Wage Bargaining with On‐the‐Job Search: Theory and Evidence

Most applications of Nash bargaining over wages ignore between‐employer competition for labor services and attribute all of the workers' rent to their bargaining power. In this paper, we write and estimate an equilibrium model with strategic wage bargaining and on‐the‐job search and use it to take another look at the determinants of wages in France. There are three essential determinants of wages in our model: productivity, competition between employers resulting from on‐the‐job search, and the workers' bargaining power. We find that between‐firm competition matters a lot in the determination of wages, because it is quantitatively more important than wage bargaining à la Nash in raising wages above the workers' “reservation wages,” defined as out‐of‐work income. In particular, we detect no significant bargaining power for intermediate‐ and low‐skilled workers, and a modestly positive bargaining power for high‐skilled workers.     

Trust in management and knowledge sharing: The mediating effects of fear and knowledge documentation

Knowledge sharing within and between teams is of vital importance for organizations. The influence of interpersonal trust in general and trust in management in particular on knowledge sharing is evident. However, it is not clear how the relationship between interpersonal trust and knowledge sharing works. This study provides a better understanding of that relationship by demonstrating that fear of losing one's unique value and knowledge documentation have a mediating effect on the relationship between trust in management and knowledge sharing. Specifically, trust in management increases knowledge sharing through reducing fear of losing one's unique value and improving willingness to document knowledge. These findings have important implications at both a managerial and theoretical level. For managers, this paper emphasizes the individual's central role in the knowledge sharing process in terms of knowledge documentation and fear of losing one's unique value. On the theoretical level, this study provides empirical evidence for two mechanisms that help explain the effect of trust in management on knowledge sharing. In future research, this study could be extended to include other psychosocial phenomena that enable knowledge sharing in organizations.     

Does Knowledge Mediate the Effect of Context on Performance? Some Initial Evidence

This research examines the links among four firm context variables, knowledge, and financial performance. Adopting a knowledge‐based, contingency view of the firm and assuming that strategy's locus is knowledge creation and application, we hypothesize that knowledge completely mediates the effects of context on performance. The results from analyzing 208 manufacturers found a positive relationship between applied knowledge and financial performance, but none between knowledge creation and performance. As for context, production technology routineness and low demand unpredictability were positively related only to greater applied knowledge; high technological turbulence was positively related to both knowledge creation and knowledge application; and firm size had no effect on either knowledge construct. No direct context‐performance relationships were found (i.e., all effects were indirect): knowledge, in particular applied knowledge, completely mediated the impact of context on performance.     

Do minimum wages increase job satisfaction? Micro‐data evidence from the new German minimum wage

On January 1, 2015, a new statutory minimum wage of € 8.50 per hour of work was introduced in Germany. Using a difference‐in‐differences approach, we estimate effects on worker‐level outcomes of continuing employees. The results reveal a meaningful absolute increase in the affected workers' pay satisfaction. The increase in job satisfaction is modest and predominantly driven by changes in pay satisfaction implying only a small effect on all other dimensions of job satisfaction. Moreover, effects from the minimum wage on work engagement and turnover intention are virtually zero.     

Developer autonomy in the FreeBSD open source project

Delegation of authority is the basic approach to coordination of work in FreeBSD, an open source software (OSS) project that develops and maintains an operating system. This essay combines a software engineering perspective with a knowledge creation perspective to discuss three central mechanisms in FreeBSD: (1) motivation, (2) quality control by frequent building, and (3) bugfixing by parallel debugging. It is argued that frequent building is the project’s key coordinating mechanism, and that build breakdowns play a constructive role in the processes of knowledge creation in FreeBSD.     

Human capital theory: implications for human resource development

This article reviews definitions of 'Human Capital Theory' by leading economists and HRD scholars. The origin of the term 'capital' is explained, and the link between Human Capital Theory and HRD is discussed. It is argued in the article that HRD scholars and practitioners should explore further the link between human capital, HRD and development at individual, organizational, community and international levels.     

Social construction of work stress: Australian newsprint media portrayal of stress at work, 1997–98

Public understanding of health issues is influenced by the social and political interests of those who gather the information and by the media which disseminates it. This has implications for lay people's beliefs about work stress and has potentially serious personal implications in terms of recognizing, reacting to, and reporting stress in the workplace (Furnham, 1997). The somewhat ambiguous nature of work stress renders it vulnerable to political, social and economic manipulation. This study explores how the issue of work stress is represented in the Australian newsprint media. Fifty-one work-related articles from all major Australian newspapers from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 1997 were selected if 'stress' appeared in the headline. The articles were examined for dominant ideologies and themes. Attention was given to the language used to describe stress, the intended audience, and the voices represented in the articles. Results showed that work stress is represented in the media as an economically costly epidemic, as an outcome of unfavourable work conditions but with individual remedies, and as primarily situated within the public sector. The main voice represented in the media was that of the unions. The reproduction of work stress as a public sector phenomenon serves the interests of public sector unions, the newspapers, and the managers of private sector workers and is not consistent with available workers' compensation data (which is itself problematic).     

绩效考核政治性对个体知识共享行为影响的实证研究

随着组织政治和管理伦理成为理论界和实践界共同关注的热点问题,越来越多的学者开始研究管理者在绩效考核过程中的政治性操作对员工工作场所行为的影响.基于结构方程技术的实证分析发现,积极绩效考核政治性对员工知识共享行为具有显著正向作用,消极绩效考核政治性对员工知识共享行为具有显著负向作用;绩效考核政治性通过成就感知、个人兴趣、集体情感与责任动机的完全中介作用间接影响员工知识共享行为;绩效考核政治性与员工知识共享动机和行为之间的关系并不随着员工工作控制点的差异而变化.研究结论既具有理论价值,又富含管理启示.     

Psychosocial safety climate,psychosocial and physical factors in the aetiology of musculoskeletal disorder symptoms and workplace injury compensation claims

Causal agents for workers' compensation claims and physical injury have largely been identified as physical demands. We proposed an integrated theory of physical injury (i.e. musculoskeletal disorder symptoms [MSDs]) and workers' compensation claims, which combined psychosocial and physical mechanisms. A random, population-based sample of 1095 Australian workers completed a telephone interview on two occasions 12 months apart. As expected, the physical mechanism was confirmed; physical demands were related to MSDs, which in turn predicted workers' compensation claims. Further, a novel psychosocial mechanism was confirmed. Psychosocial safety climate (PSC; perceptions about the organisation's climate for psychological health) was a precursor to psychosocial risks (e.g. harassment, violence, bullying and work pressure). In turn, these psychosocial risks were related to emotional exhaustion, MSDs and then workers' compensation claims. Evidence was therefore provided for psychosocial-physical processes in explaining MSDs and workers' compensation for claims for physical injury. Occupational health and safety legislators and policy makers should be aware that, beyond physical demands, factors usually associated with risk for mental stress claims (e.g. harassment, bullying, and violence) may additionally manifest in physical health problems and workers' compensation injury claims. Focusing on modifying the PSC in an organisation, “the cause of the causes”, may be an effective injury prevention and intervention strategy.     

Tasks and Types: An Application of Mechanism Design to Self-Selection in Labour Markets

The Baron–Myerson (1982) regulatory mechanism is applied to the screening activity of a monopolist, who hires workers differentiated by quality and assigns them to different tasks. The employer charges a price to the workers for the screening service: necessary and sufficient conditions are provided for a self-selective price function to exist. It is shown that under the optimal price function tasks are assigned in such a way that workers' effort is increasing in workers' quality. It is not necessarily true, however, that the price function must be increasing in workers' quality. A simple two-types model is provided, showing the same results. Also the extension of the model to a dynamic context and, particularly, the requirements of a credible pre-commitment available to the screener are discussed.     

Ageing, health and productivity: A challenge for the new millennium

The economic implications of Europe's ageing population are considerable. Without an increase in the size of the working population, reducing the possible fiscal deficits will be difficult. This paper reviews this area of increasing concern for basic, applied and strategic researchers, namely how to increase the age at which people typically stop working, without damaging health or productivity. Chronological age per se may not be a good predictor of health and job performance; rather we should examine various mediating and moderating factors. It is argued that attention should focus on national and organizational policies, management attitudes, training, work demands, the working environment, work organization, the psychosocial environment and health promotion. Older workers may currently be subject to discriminatory practices and to stereotypical and inappropriate attitudes which may adversely affect their health and performance. Flexible and intelligent solutions are required. Many organizations, perhaps reflecting western culture, have not yet evolved to the point where the potential contribution of older people is recognized and allowed to flourish. Once current barriers are removed, and existing and developing knowledge applied, an optimistic picture for older workers emerges.     

4. Personal initiative: An active performance concept for work in the 21st century

This article reports on the development of a concept of personal initiative (PI). Personal initiative is a work behavior defined as self-starting and proactive that overcomes barriers to achieve a goal. It is argued that future workplaces will require people to show more PI than before, and that current concepts of performance and organizational behavior are more reactive than desirable. The facets of PI are developed along the lines of goals, information collection, plans, and feedback. Personal initiative enables people to deal with job difficulties more actively, for example, with stressors, unemployment, career changes, or becoming an entrepreneur. High PI changes the work situation of employees and relates to success as an entrepreneur. Personal initiative is seen to sharpen and partly modify the concepts of reciprocal determinism, organizational citizenship behavior, innovation, entrepreneurship, work performance, intrinsic motivation, and self-regulation.     

Learning strategies of workers in the knowledge-creating company

This study presents a critical examination of Nonaka and Takeuchi's theory about knowledge-creating companies (1995), taken as one example of contemporary management theories concerning innovation and learning. Two main questions are investigated. First, how is the learning of workers organized in the knowledge creation theory? Second, how is their learning related to the work they perform? Answers to these questions are sought from case-study research into work-related learning projects (Poell 1998) and from theoretical notions about learning networks in various work types (Van der Krogt 1998). Our first conclusion is that Nonaka and Takeuchi seem to assume that workers will learn only within the boundaries set by management. They do not, however, take into account that workers organize a great deal of learning themselves, frequently irrespective of management expectations. Second, Nonaka and Takeuchi expect workers to learn according to rigid bureaucratic principles in a work context emphasizing innovation. The theory of knowledge creation does not show how these contrary principles might be successfully integrated.     

The problem with knowledge ambiguity

This paper proposes a new conceptualisation of the construct of knowledge ambiguity. This new conceptualisation is essential because (1) past researchers have tended to narrowly define and operationalise knowledge ambiguity in terms of causal ambiguity or tacitness and (2) the prevalent non-comprehensive conceptualisation constrains our ability to overcome the problem of knowledge ambiguity. Knowledge ambiguity has been identified as a major obstacle to effective knowledge transfer and to the implementation of overall knowledge management systems. The new conceptualisation proposes that knowledge ambiguity is composed of two types of ambiguity: component ambiguity and causal ambiguity. Component ambiguity is uncertainty about knowledge content, whereas causal ambiguity is uncertainty about how to use the knowledge. This re-conceptualisation is supported by previous studies on knowledge characteristics, absorptive capacity and cognitive learning. In this paper, theoretical propositions are developed to demonstrate the compatibility of the new conceptualisation with the current understanding of these concepts. The present paper not only advances our understanding of knowledge ambiguity, it also points towards solutions for overcoming the problems associated with knowledge ambiguity. Different measures are required to overcome problems created by component ambiguity vs. causal ambiguity. This paper’s re-conceptualisation of knowledge ambiguity makes it easier to theorise about and operationalise the concept. It aligns the definition of knowledge ambiguity with current definitions of related constructs such as absorptive ambiguity and cognitive learning that are used in the broader knowledge transfer and knowledge management literatures.     

Increasing flexibility in shiftwork arrangements

Abstract

Renewed interest in increasing flexibility in working time arrangements derives from both social and economic changes. The dominant reasons for greater flexibility in shiftwork arrangements relate to diverse business demands resulting from competitive pressures and rapid technological change, modern workers' personal preferences about the timing of work, and the reduction in hours of work. Many new patterns are applied to meet these demands. A review of innovative patterns reveals their close link with shorter working hours and diversifying career needs. Typical patterns include (a) hours averaging schemes, (b) flexible daily hours, (c) individualized free time schemes. (d) flexitime plus shift systems, (e) a combination of full-time and part-time systems, (f) job sharing, (g) temporary transfer to day work, and (h) career break schemes. Attention is drawn to multi-skilling of workers associated with more independent responsibility and closer communication. Changes to a flexible pattern are usually a result of consultations that respond to the conflicting interests of employers and workers. Support is necessary for a process of informed joint planning. Particularly useful are: (1) identification of operational demands and individual preferences about increasing flexibility in work schedules; (2) presentation of available options with information on implications for workers' health and social life; and (3) facilitating training and group consultation. The adjustments required depend greatly on how the tasks of individual workers are reorganized. In increasing the flexibility of shift schedules, it is important to learn from positive experiences of joint optimization of work content and working time arrangements.     

Chinese workers' work ethic in reformed state-owned enterprises: implications for HRD

Work ethic, as the construct of work-related values and attitudes, directly affects employees' job performance. Work ethic subjects to the influence of business and social practices. China is in the mix of major economical and political transformation, although little is known about how work ethic has changed for Chinese workers since the economic reform first initiated in 1979. This study is designed to examine work ethic currently held by workers of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Findings revealed work ethic perceptions based on the multidimensional work ethic profile (MWEP), a Western work ethic profile, and the Confucian work ethic (CWE), an Eastern work ethic profile, resulted in similarities but often lived different life styles. The major differences tended to focus on perceptions of hard work, self-reliance and centrality of work. Other areas such as education, use of time, delay of graduation and other MWEP concepts were very similar to Chinese workers' work perceptions.