United we stand: HR and line managers’ shared views on HR strategic integration

Based on strategic consensus literature and the strategic integration of HRM, this study hypothesizes that HR and line managers’ shared views on HR strategic integration (i.e., strategic congruence) lead to beneficial organizational outcomes. Drawing on a dyadic sample of 102 organizations, we examine the strategic congruence of line management (LM) and HRM, its joint impact on HRM value, and, in turn, the influence on internal efficiency. In this context, HRM value refers to the perceived importance of the HR function to the organization. Structural equation modeling, polynomial regressions, and response surface methodology show that there is, in fact, a non-linear relationship between strategic congruence and HRM value. Thus, only when the views of the line managers and HR managers are congruent (i.e., in agreement) does the HRM value increase, which, in turn, mediates the effect on internal efficiency. Thereby, we offer new insights into the mechanisms of strategic congruence, the mediating role of HRM value, and firm-level outcomes. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Veteran's health care: time for a change?

The Department of Veterans Affairs' mission is "to care for him who are shall have borne the battle for his widow and orphan." The Veterans Health Administration comprises 172 hospitals that are the hub of the health care delivery system. It is the largest provider of graduate medical education, and one of the major research organizations in the United States. The medical care budget exceeds $17 billion annually. Most of the persons cared for are not legally entitled to this health care based on service connected disability. The utilization of acute care hospital beds appears excessive when compared to that obtainable with managed care for Medicare or commercial insurance beneficiaries--the cost per member per month is three times higher. There may also be exploitation of the Veterans Administration hospitals by university medical schools. The Veterans Health Administration is a very expensive way to deliver care to entitled service connected veterans. Therefore, it is suggested that privatization be considered as an alternative vehicle for delivering health care.     

Is the American health care delivery system ready for change?

In October 1992, the American College of Physician Executives sponsored a study tour to Berlin, Germany, and Amsterdam, Holland. Meetings were held with government officials, third-party payers, and providers, and on-site visits were made at hospitals, clinics, and academic centers. The purpose was to study the health care delivery system in those countries and to share some insights with the countries' hosts on the U.S. system. In a series of reports that began in the July issue of the journal, 5 of the 10 study tour participants describe their impressions of the tour and of the health care systems in the countries that were visited. In this final report, the implications of the German and Dutch systems for reform of the U.S. health care system are discussed.     

Multinationals’ political activity for institutional change: Evidence from Spain during the international crisis of 2008

International crises generate uncoupling between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and the institutional environment. In these settings, industry associations of MNEs have an incentive to engage in institutional change by taking a role as institutional entrepreneurs in order to generate change within the existing, unsuitable institutions. However, MNEs can also try to avoid such institutions or try to adapt to them. Because the antecedents and outcomes of these three forms of engagement in institutional change (institutional avoidance, adaptation, and entrepreneurship) have been scarcely studied in Europe, this reflection examines the case of Spain during the international crisis and analyses the coordinated action of MNEs through their associations in seven industries. The discussion of 30 pieces of evidence regarding the engagement in institutional change in Spain suggests a model that proposes relevant antecedents of different forms of engagement and the expected outcomes resulting from the chosen forms, among them: co-evolution and co-involution.     

Understanding top managers’ careers: How does career variety impact tenure on the board?

Career variety has recently received attention in management literature in general, and top management literature in particular. While existing publications have predominantly linked career variety to individual adaptability, agility or competences, this paper focuses on the relationship between top managers’ career variety and their tenure on the board. We rely on the boundaryless career approach and argue that there is a negative relationship between career variety and board tenure. Drawing on a sample of executive directors in UK FT 100 firms, we provide empirical evidence that increased career variety leads to shorter tenure on the board. We also reveal that this relationship is further strengthened with international educational experience. In addition, we show that in-house work experience mitigates the negative association between career variety and board tenure. We contribute to the literature on top managers’ careers by unravelling the consequences that career variety during early and mid-stages of a career has on tenure on the board – and hence on career stability in later stages of a career.     

Exploring the influence of pre-training factors on training effectiveness-moderating role of trainees’ reaction: a study in the public sector in India

Organizations invest in training initiative with an objective to improve the performance of its employees and ultimately organizational performance. However, training literature highlights the gap between the learning and the transfer of learning at the workplace. Thus, there is a need to have a deeper understanding of those variables which contributes to training transfer/effectiveness. This study is an attempt to understand those organizational factors that can help in improving training effectiveness. Data was collected at three different points of time (before training, immediately at the end of training and after some time of training) to determine the antecedents of motivation to learn and the training effectiveness. Findings of the study reveal that motivation to learn mediates the relationship between the predictor variables – training needs analysis, training information and type of training, and the resultant variable training effectiveness. Also, trainees’ reaction towards training was found to moderate the relationship between trainees’ motivation to learn and training effectiveness. The study reinforces the significance of organizational factors in ensuring motivation to learn and training effectiveness. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed in the paper.     

Leveraging middle managers’ brokerage for corporate entrepreneurship: The role of multilevel social capital configurations

Building on recent efforts to bring a socio-political perspective to social capital research, we develop and test a multilevel framework that explains why middle managers who occupy brokerage positions differ in their ability and willingness to engage in entrepreneurial behavior. More specifically, we provide a contextualized understanding of the links among middle managers' brokerage, their political-support ties, and their personal initiative. Results derived from data on 383 middle managers and 72 top managers in 34 business units indicate that political-support ties with top managers strengthen the relationship between middle managers’ brokerage and personal initiative. However, this positive effect depends on the social capital resources available in the focal business unit. It is attenuated in business units with a supportive and trusting social context and amplified in business units with high levels of internal connectedness. By uncovering these incompatibilities and complementarities, our study demonstrates the value of accounting for different social capital configurations and the interplay of their inherent social capital resources when examining the effects of brokerage on corporate entrepreneurship.     

The effect of outside directors’ and auditors’ incentives on managers’ ability to manage cash bonuses

This paper investigates the impact of outside directors’ and auditors’ monetary incentives on the association between discretionary accounting and managers’ cash bonuses in a two-tier system. For a sample of German stock corporations from 2005 to 2007 we expect and find that outside directors who receive compensation based on accounting income and auditors who receive high non-audit fees have the incentive to tolerate managers’ bonus-increasing accounting choices. More specifically, we show that positive discretionary accruals are more strongly associated with managers’ cash bonuses than negative discretionary accruals if outside directors receive accounting-based compensation and/or if auditors receive high non-audit fees. Our results suggest that executives’ ability to manage their cash bonuses depends on the monitoring institutions’ monetary incentives.     

Does change process healthiness reduce the negative effects of organizational change on the psychosocial work environment?

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate whether the detrimental effects of organizational change on the psychosocial work environment are reduced by the “healthiness” of change processes. This includes the management's awareness that the change may be experienced differently by various individuals and groups (diversity); availability of the manager during the process; the degree to which conflicts are resolved constructively; and the degree to which the new roles to be taken on are clarified. Two studies are presented. Using a randomized sample of the Norwegian working population (N = 2389), the first study showed that there were both direct and indirect positive relationships between organizational change and stress, with job demands (but not control and support) as a mediator. In the second study a healthy change process index (HCPI) was developed from dimensions of healthy change that had emerged in an earlier qualitative study. Using data from seven Norwegian enterprises undergoing change (N = 561), this study showed that the healthiness of the change process was related negatively to stress and positively to Control and Support, but not to Demands. Overall, these findings support the idea that a healthy process may not reduce the additional demands produced by organizational change. However, a healthy process may still be able to reduce the experience of stress and facilitate coping with stress and associated increased demands through enhancing the psychosocial work environment.     

The impact of organisational alignment on the effectiveness of firms’ sustainability strategic performance measurement systems: an empirical analysis

Sustainability is becoming a mainstream issue for many organisations. A limited number of studies exist, however, on integrating sustainability into daily practices. Indeed, most of the research to date addresses only the definition and motivation for companies’ interest in environmental and social concerns. This paper contributes to the research on integrating sustainability into companies’ daily activities both directly and indirectly. It analyses the extent to which top management’s commitment to sustainability directly affects structural and social alignment and the effectiveness of measurement systems that monitor sustainability strategic performance and indirectly impacts firms’ social and environmental performance. Based on a quantitative analysis of survey responses from 405 large European companies, this paper documents the limited impact of social alignment to firms’ social and environmental performance. More specifically, the results challenge the diffuse belief that the alignment and commitment of middle managers to sustainability strategies as defined by the upper echelons have a relevant impact on the company’s social and environmental performance.     

Leaders’ influence on collective action: An identity leadership perspective

What makes followers act collectively when called upon by their leaders? To answer this question, participants were randomly allocated to leader–follower relationships embedded either in a partisan group or a workgroup context; and the relationship between identity leadership and collective action through ingroup identification (Study 1: N = 293) or both ingroup identification and group-efficacy (Study 2: N = 338) were assessed. Based on the model of identity leadership, we predicted and found that identity leadership was positively related with intentions for collective action when called upon by the leader, both via ingroup identification and belief in group efficacy. As predicted, the social identity process for the effectiveness of identity leadership was more important in partisan groups than in workgroups. The efficacy related process was group context invariant. These results have implications for our understanding of group processes involved in the leadership in collective action.     

The effects of suppliers’ trust on manufacturers’ innovation capability: an analysis of direct versus indirect relationships

The study offers an alternative explanation for the role of trust in economic exchange, answering the critical research questions of how and under what conditions suppliers’ trust affects manufacturers’ innovation capability. The study adopts a transaction value approach suggesting combining strategy and organisational economic literature to fully investigate the processes through which joint value is generated and developed by interacting partners. Using survey data from a sample of 235 supplier–manufacturer relationships, we find broad support for the model hypotheses. The results confirm the mediating role of asset specificity and knowledge sharing as procedural dimensions in the relation between suppliers’ trust and manufacturers’ innovation capability. However, the direct path between trust and innovation capability was not confirmed. The study provides theoretical and practical implications for firms seeking to translate inter-firm trust into innovation-based competitive advantage.     

The influence of learning activity on low-skilled workers’ skill improvement in the South Korean manufacturing industry

The main purpose of this study was to explore how low-skilled worker’s learning activity influences skill improvement. Using a unique 2007 Human Capital Corporate Panel data-set from the South Korean manufacturing industry, we operationalize skill improvement over time among low-skilled workers. A worker is classified as ‘low skilled’ if he or she has a low education level and poor technical skills. Regression models show that low-skilled workers’ informal learning positively influences their skill improvement. In contrast, we note that supervisors negatively influence skill improvement of low-skilled workers when measuring the change in technical skill proficiency. Quality circle programmes also have a positive influence on skill improvement. In conclusion, skills can be improved through planned interventions that increase collaboration on the job. The results from this study help to highlight the importance of designing learning interventions for low-skilled workers that take account of their underlying education and skills.     

Preparing for business model change: the “pre-stage” finding

The purpose of this paper is to investigate managers’ initiatives in the context of an emergent technology and their effect on the business models of firms. Building on four case studies of organizations interested in using an emergent technology for commercial purposes, this study applies a process-based framework of business model change. The main finding is that managers’ initiatives occur in the context of a “pre-stage” of potential business model change, which includes processes of experimenting and learning. The pre-stage finding gives a better understanding of when change initiatives affect a business model and when they do not, allowing managers to adopt a more proactive behaviour and guide their organizations towards effective business model change. The main contribution of this paper is to suggest the inclusion of the pre-stage idea in research and practice, since it is an intermediary step in the process of business model change that has been overlooked.     

The influence of psychopathic traits on the acceptance of white-collar crime: do corporate psychopaths cook the books and misuse the news?

Due to several empirical shortcomings in the research of personality characteristics in ethical decision making, we address in this paper the concept of corporate psychopathy in the organizational context. Corporate psychopaths are individuals successfully working in organizations, but are selfish, manipulative, and exhibit a lack of empathy, remorse, and conscience; therefore, they may be viewed as risk factors for organizations. While there is abundant literature on the connection between clinical psychopathy and criminal behavior, such research is scarce in the business context where successful psychopaths operate. Thus, we examine if the malevolent traits of corporate psychopaths predict the acceptance of different forms of white-collar crime. In doing so, we conduct two survey studies in which we first measure participants’ psychopathic tendencies and then assess their acceptance of either an accounting fraud or an insider-trading situation. Consistent with our hypotheses and across both studies, we find a highly significant relationship between personality traits that are associated with corporate psychopathy and the acceptance of white-collar crime. This paper discusses the implications of these findings and identifies some potentially useful approaches for excluding corporate psychopaths from organizations.     

The role of the board in shaping foundations’ strategy: an empirical study

This paper investigates the relationships of the choice of philanthropic strategy with board capital (diversity and networks), board activities (board processes, internal board committees, and board effectiveness), and CEO leadership. Using a sample of 110 Italian foundations, the research shows that board processes have the strongest positive association with an evolved strategic approach to philanthropic institutional grant-giving, while board diversity and strong CEO leadership are associated with the strategic approach only under certain conditions. In particular, good governance processes (e.g., training the board, self-evaluation of trustees, setting the stage for effective board and committee meetings, implementing control software, and steering meetings to improve the board’s analysis) are positively associated with evolved strategic approaches to philanthropy (e.g., signaling other funders for the best grantees, improving the performance of grant recipients, and advancing selected social fields’ state of knowledge and practice).     

Process matters—The relevance of the decision making process for divestiture outcomes

We apply strategic decision making and organizational change theory to corporate divestitures and argue that key characteristics of the divestiture decision making process can contribute to explaining the variation in divestiture outcomes. We test our hypotheses in an empirical multi-source quantitative study and find evidence that analytical comprehensiveness in the evaluation of divestiture effects on the corporate portfolio has a positive impact on the effectiveness of divestiture choices, but analytical comprehensiveness at the focal business unit (BU) level does not enhance decision effectiveness. Our results further indicate that involvement of the affected BU management has a varying impact during the decision making process, with negative effects during the early phase and positive effects in the later phase.     

Part-time medical director: way station or end of the line?

This article is mostly directed to physicians who are contemplating a career change into management. You may be one of those persons who is contemplating taking a part-time position and continuing part-time clinical practice to see if you might enjoy management. It is important to understand that a part time medical director is there primarily because management perceives a need for a physician's skills and license. When a physician is hired on a part-time basis, it is unlikely that management realizes the larger benefits that can accrue to the organization from the physician manager's knowledge of health care and unique approach to the problems and opportunities in the delivery of that health care. Part-time medical directors seldom have an opportunity to be exposed to real management issues and activities and are usually sequestered and limited to functions that a naive management team thinks are most appropriate to a physician's skills and temperament. Be cautious in extrapolating a part-time experience to a full-time role. Consider taking the plunge to full-time management without a part-time transition phase.     

Innovation through tradition in the Italian coffee industry: an analysis of customers’ perceptions

The extant literature reveals how firms may innovate by exploiting past competencies and resources, hence proposing innovation through tradition as an emerging strategy to compete. Previous research largely demonstrates that the effectiveness of an innovation strategy is strictly dependent on the capability of firms to communicate the right message to their customers. Therefore, leveraging products’ attributes becomes fundamental to strategically position their commercial offerings in the minds of the target audience. Nevertheless, despite the well-known relevance of this issue, scant attention has been devoted to investigate the product attributes that consumer’s associate with innovation and with tradition when companies deploy strategies based on “innovation through tradition”. Accordingly, our study aims at covering this gap, by empirically analyzing the consumers’ perception of innovation and tradition in the Italian coffee industry through a positioning analysis. Our research allowed us to identify two sets of product attributes that consumers associate with innovation and tradition. The results show that in many cases the innovation-related and tradition-related attributes are strongly negatively correlated, but in some case the correlation is weak or close to zero. These attributes reveal that in some cases innovation and tradition can be combined in the perception of consumers, rather than representing opposite constructs. This result suggests that companies can effectively communicate the strategy of innovation through tradition to the consumers’ minds, but this must be done by choosing the right attributes.     

Can job insecurity be managed? Evaluating an organizational-level intervention addressing the negative effects of restructuring

Although downsizing and reorganisation are recognised as serious threats to the psychological well-being of employees, intervention strategies for addressing these events are limited. This study evaluated the effects of a participatory organisational-level intervention in which employees and managers chose to address the psychosocial consequences, specifically job insecurity, of restructuring. The intervention was conducted among postal service letter carriers in Denmark and was evaluated based on quantitative and qualitative data. Using interviews (N?=?24) and observations, the programme theory of the intervention and to what extent the intervention had been implemented were assessed. Using survey data (N?=?238), repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted to test for differences in the development of job insecurity between the intervention group and a comparison group. The results indicate that the intervention group had a significantly smaller increase in one dimension of job insecurity as compared to the comparison group. Therefore, we conclude that employees’ experiencing of job insecurity, which typically follows in the wake of restructuring, can be addressed by planned efforts at the workplace level.