Employee strain and job satisfaction related to an implementation of quality in a public service organization: A longitudinal study

To date, few studies have focused on employee reactions to the quality-related aspects of the introduction of New Public Management (NPM). The aim of this study was to investigate the effects on employee strain and satisfaction of the implementation NPM in a public service organization. The study was designed as an empirical examination of the 'context-dependent approach' ( Edwards, Collinson, & Rees, 1998 ). This approach suggests that effects of an organizational change depend on the context of the implementation, i.e. organizational aspects (implementation strategies), job content and job context dimensions. They employed a single-case longitudinal design. The case was a large municipal service unit responsible for the public housing system of a city in Austria. The sample consisted of 217 employees. Measurements were taken before the organizational change, and at two different times during the change process. While the implementation of NPM can be considered to have been an organizational success (increase in customer satisfaction), it was accompanied by increases in job strain, and, at the same time, mixed results in job satisfaction. Less qualified employees mainly responsible for the customer interface experienced the organizational change most negatively. Using structural equation modelling, the context-dependent approach was empirically confirmed. Job control, role clarity and information were found to be the most important job and organizational resources.     

The effectiveness and specificity of change management in a public organization: Transformational leadership and a bureaucratic organizational structure

There is an extensive private sector literature on organizational change management. However, recent studies have suggested that the specific context of public organizations may have consequences for the management organizational change. This study examines to what extent different change approaches and transformational leadership of direct supervisors contribute to the effective implementation of organizational change in public organizations, and to what extent the bureaucratic structure of public organizations makes the implementation of organizational change s3pecific. The implementation of an organizational change in a Dutch public organization is studied using quantitative methods and techniques. The results indicate that bureaucratic organizations may effectively implement organizational change with both planned and emergent change approaches. The contribution of transformational leadership depends on the type of change approach and organizational structure. Transformational leadership behavior of direct supervisors contributes little to planned processes of change, but is crucial in emergent processes of change in a non-bureaucratic context. Although the literature on change management mostly emphasizes the leadership of senior managers, the leadership role of direct supervisors should not be overlooked during organizational change in public organizations.     

Effects of the implementation of information technology on employees' strain and job satisfaction: a context-dependent approach

The effects on staff of the implementation of new office information technology were investigated in ten companies in Vienna using a longitudinal design. Strain and satisfaction of 331 employees (implementation sample: n = 212; control sample: n = 119) were measured at five points in time over a period of 22 months. The study is based on a context-dependent approach. Personal factors (individual differences, external load) were assessed by questionnaires, and situational factors (job design, implementation content and implementation context) by objective measures. The impact of these factors on employees' strain responses was tested using structural equation modelling (SEM). While the implementation of new technology as such made no significant contribution to the explanation of strain variables, a reasonable model fit was achieved when implementation characteristics were taken into account. The data suggest that negative effects of implementations must be expected if (1) adaptational demands do not include the enhancement of employee qualifications, (2) character-based user interfaces are not replaced, and (3) employees have few or no opportunities to participate in the implementation process.     

Why Total Quality Management Programs Do Not Persist: The Role of Management Quality and Implications for Leading a TQM Transformation*

Top‐down total quality management (TQM) programs often fail to create deep and sustained change in organizations. They become a fad soon replaced by another fad. Failure to institutionalize TQM can be attributed to a gap between top management's rhetoric about their intentions for TQM and the reality of implementation in various subunits of the organization. The gap varies from subunit to subunit due to the quality of management in each. By quality of management is meant the capacity of senior team to (1) develop commitment to the new TQM direction and behave and make decisions that are consistent with it, (2) develop the cross‐functional mechanisms, leadership skills, and team culture needed for TQM implementation, and (3) create a climate of open dialogues about progress in the TQM transformation that will enable learning and further change. The TQM transformations will persist only if top management requires and ultimately institutionalizes an honest organizational‐wide conversation that surfaces valid data about the quality of management in each subunit of the firm and leads to changes in management quality or replacement of managers.     

An Intranet based system as an enabler in effective project management and implementation of quality standards: A case study

This paper reports on the development of an Intranet based system, as an enabler in project management and implementation of a quality standard (ISO9001:2000) at Tyco Fire & Integrated Solutions Oil Gas & Marine Europe, a subsidiary of Tyco International a worldwide Engineering Conglomerate, (Referred to as TFIS). The system enabled stakeholders to follow standard project protocols, playing an important role in creating integration between different sub-sections. This paper discusses the strategic relevance of the system in achieving desired business outcomes, by making the organisation more responsive, agile and increasing the accountability of stakeholders involved in managing projects.     

Personality, perceptions and retrenchment decisions of managers in response to decline: Evidence from a decision-making study

Drawing on the strategic leadership and leadership cognition literature, we develop a theoretical framework linking personal characteristics of strategic leaders with their perceptions of organizational decline and retrenchment activities. Our hypotheses are tested using a sample of 110 experienced MBA students in a scenario-based study. The findings of this exploratory study suggest that strategic leaders' perceptions of the severity of a firm's decline play an important role in the recommendation of extensive retrenchment activities in response to decline. However, perceptions of the severity of decline vary substantially across decision makers and are influenced by an individual's locus of strategic control, functional background and maturity. The study's findings that perceptions of decline and planned responses to decline vary substantially and predictably across individuals are discussed in light of existing theory and practice.