The relationship between organisational change and being a perpetrator of workplace bullying: A three-wave longitudinal study

ABSTRACT

While research has unravelled the association between organisational change and being a target of workplace bullying, scholars have still to shed light on the perpetrator perspective of this association. In the current study, we further the literature by investigating the relationship between exposure to organisational change and being a perpetrator of workplace bullying. We introduced perceptions of psychological contract breach as a mechanism that accounts for the process in which exposure to organisational change leads employees to direct bullying behaviours to other members of the organisation. Using three-wave longitudinal data from 1994 employees we estimated a between-subjects mediation model controlling for autoregressive effects. Results confirmed our hypothesis that exposure to organisational change at Time 1 was positively related to being a perpetrator of workplace bullying at Time 3 through perceptions of psychological contract breach at Time 2. These findings suggest that organisations should invest in factors that lower employees’ likelihood to perceive psychological contract breach in the aftermath of organisational change because these perceptions may indeed result in the enactment of workplace bullying towards other members of the organisation.     

The impact of human resource management on organisational performance: Theory and research

This article by Jean-Marie Hiltrop, considers some of the models which have studied the link between HRM and organisational performance. As yet, there is little real evidence, but it is growing and indicates that corporate HRM policies and practices - including ‘best’ practices - are associated with high (financial) performance, and can encourage employee behaviour and attitudes towards strengthening the competitive strategy of an organisation. But such ‘best’ practices can vary widely and even contradict each other. Questions are raised in the article about these ‘best’ practices.The first part of the article looks at the relevant theoretical models, and the second part reviews the findings of recent empirical studies which have evaluated the effects of distinctive HR practices on organisational outcomes.     

Codes of conduct in Hong Kong organisations

This paper first reviews the literature on the role of codes of conduct for organisations in Hong Kong in their attempts to manage increasingly complex ethical problems and issues. It shows that, although valuable foundations exist upon which to build, research and understanding of the subject is at it's embryonic stage. Social Psychology literature is examined to investigate what lessons those concerned with the study of ethics may learn and the work of Hofstede, as seminal in the area of work-related values, is emphasised in this context.Following Hofstede's proposals for strategies for operationalizing¹ constructs about human values, a content analysis² was conducted on a pilot sample of codes provided by Hong Kong organisations. The results show three clearly identified clusters of organisations with common formats. The first group, described as Foreign Legal, emphasises legal compliance, has criteria for invoking penalties and consists of foreign-owned, large multinational organisations. Companies in the second cluster have codes which, except in the case of a couple of larger organisations, mainly follow the Independent Commission Against Corruption's (ICAC) standard format. The third cluster, described as the Bank Network, also appear to largely conform to a format: the Hong Kong Banking Association's guidelines.Further analysis conducted here of the Hong Kong codes indicates the important role of emic teleological values³, such as trust and reputation, amongst indigenous organisations, rather than the amorality suggested by an earlier study (Dolecheck and Bethke, 1990). These results support the proposition that Hong Kong ethical perspectives are culture bound⁴, as there appear to be different emphases than revealed in an American study (Stevens, 1994), which identified an emphasis in the US codes upon introverted organisational issues and a failure to espouse deontological values⁵.The conclusion is that designing a research programme on business values in Hong Kong requires reference to studies of values in cross-cultural psychology generally and to Hofstede's work in particular. It also supports the need for indigenous research and models in this field which avoid the ethnocentrism inherent in much Western theory and research.     

Zum Zusammenhang von Führungsqualität und Burnout- bzw. Mobbingprävention

The author discusses how workplace-related phenomena with a high socio-emotional pressure like burn out or workplace bullying relate to the leadership quality or leadership culture of an organisation. Workplace bullying and burn out are thus not understood as mere individual problems but rather are analyzed in an organisational context. The hypothesis developed in this article is that leadership quality can make a considerable contribution to preventing workplace bullying and burn out. The author develops a frame of action at which intervention levels and with what intervention forms one can pro-actively and preventively counteract workplace bullying and burn out.     

Invoking Cleopatra to examine the shifting ground of leadership

This essay argues that the understanding of leadership is not independent of the power relations within a given cultural context. These shape how ‘leadership’ comes to be ‘known’ — defined and identified. Drawing from cultural studies, it examines the interacting dynamics of power, difference and context in shaping our knowledge of leadership. So whereas we currently identify leadership in Cleopatra, this is due to shifts in the contemporary ground of knowledge that constitutes ‘leadership’. Specifically, the essay focuses on manifestations of gendered power that elicited changes in her appraisals. The analysis examines historical writing (Plutarch), literature (Shakespeare), art (Egyptian Revival) and film (Hollywood) to illustrate gendered paradoxes — criteria that had traditionally defined ‘leaders’ from ‘followers’, but which have become ambiguous. These include queen–lover (embodiment), public–domestic (sphere of work and influence), sage–child (intellect), white–black (racialized identity) and Rome–Egypt (international leadership). In closing, the essay reflects on the implications for leadership studies.     

Strategizing in an Unpredictable Climate: Exploring Corporate Strategies to Cope with Regulatory Uncertainty

Government regulation of business activities is increasing rapidly, exposing firms to considerable uncertainty and requiring managers to decide on appropriate strategic postures. To help managers make informed decisions, this study compiles a comprehensive overview of strategies to cope with regulatory uncertainty and illustrates their interdependencies and how they can be combined into overall coping postures, as well as offering management guidelines on deciding which to adopt. A literature review identifies a considerable variety of coping strategies, and we apply unique data from a worldwide cross-industry survey to categorize each into one of three types - offensive, defensive or passive. We find that firms aiming to cope with the uncertainty associated with post-Kyoto regulation typically adopt one of four strategic postures, each characterized by a specific combination of these types: ‘daredevils’ rely solely on offensive strategies; ‘coordinators’ combine them with defensive ones, ‘hedgers’ pursue strategies from all three categories while ‘gamblers’ choose not to specifically cope with uncertainty at all. We exemplify the strategies characteristic of each posture, and illustrate their interdependencies by means of case studies in the European airline industry. We identify two main factors managers should consider particularly when deciding on their firm’s strategic posture: the level of regulatory uncertainty they perceive and the firm’s exposure to future regulations, and find that the higher the level of uncertainty, the broader the range of strategies applied, and the more future regulation seems likely to affect a firm, the more actively it seeks to cope with the associated uncertainty.     

Establishing best practice university research funding strategies using mixed-mode modelling

This paper develops a model representing the university research funding problem under a performance based research funding (PBRF) scheme during the ‘lead-up period’ using a mixed-mode modelling approach (involving soft and hard models) and suggests a solution heuristic. The resultant model facilitates the development of ‘best practice’ strategies to assist in raising the level of research quality and participation, thus placing the university (or academic unit) in the best possible position for facing the final hurdle, the formal research assessment process. This assessment process constitutes the ‘positioning problem’, for which models already exist to assist individual universities to adopt the most favourable strategy. However, the ultimate position of the university depends on the results from the lead-up period. The suggested model facilitates ‘research enhancement’ strategy formulation, evaluation and revision and actively involves the researchers themselves. Benchmarking, an Expert Panel (operating on panel consensus) and subjective strategy impact evaluation are the key tools used. The suggested methodology relies on the knowledge, wisdom and experience of the researchers themselves and will hopefully facilitate the achievement of an academic unit's research goals over the lead-up period preparing them for the ‘positioning problem’. The paper also offers some suggestions as to how to establish and obtain maximum usefulness from the expert panel. Lastly, the suggested solution to the suggested model is user friendly, requiring no more than the use of a spreadsheet.     

Peripheral Vision: Sensing and Acting on Weak Signals: Making Meaning out of Apparent Noise: The Need for a New Managerial Framework

Doing business in the face of constant change requires a shift from a ‘make-and-sell’ to a ‘sense-and-respond’ framework. This in turn requires four new competencies which require intense attention to what would have been considered the periphery of the traditional make-and-sell company—the customers and environment. The paper concludes by saying it is important to invest in expanding an organisation’s peripheral vision because it will make meaning out of apparent noise; it will extend the number and types of signals that can be sensed; it will drive the development of an ability to transform new signals into meaning; and it enables role-specific management.     

Rationalising inefficiency: Staff utilisation in branches of a large Canadian bank

In this paper we consider staffing decisions in branches of a large Canadian bank. The bank has well-developed staffing models and the branches work in a highly competitive environment. One would therefore expect limited ‘inefficiency’ in the sense of wasted resources and over-staffing. Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) we nevertheless find considerable ‘inefficiency’ which raises the question whether this is best interpreted as waste or if the apparent inefficiency may serve other purposes. To investigate this, we invoke the theoretical framework of rational inefficiency (Bogetoft and Hougaard [8]).     

Middle Managers Moulding International Strategy: An Irish Start-up in Jamaican Telecoms

This is a story of how a group of middle managers moved beyond just implementing their firm’s tightly prescribed strategy for developing an international venture to the point where it could be argued that they failed to accomplish the four clear strategic objectives set by the firm’s executive management. Instead, the authors suggest, their success was in collectively orchestrating an emergent strategy¹ which provided the executive with a better, more profitable and durable embodiment of their strategic vision.Operating between the parent firm’s original strategic intent and the political and economic realities of the host country environment, their strategic influence is worthy of close examination. They can be divided into two distinctive groups—parent country nationals and host-country nationals—and the extent to which they co-operate with or obstruct each other will have a significant effect on the success of the enterprise.² The middle management in this case example, an Irish company launching a mobile telecommunications network in Jamaica, is drawn from both groups. This article investigates the apparent autonomy from executive control afforded these particular middle managers to identify the contingent factors that appear to allow, or constrain, their positive transmutation of the original strategic objectives. The key questions addressed are first, how the two groups, both individually and collectively, played out their roles in shifting strategy, and second, once these contextual dynamics have been identified, how other executive management groups can learn from this Irish/Jamaican experience considering similar international ventures. The authors’ response highlights those elements of strategy design, organisational structure and human resource management that they believe are critical in maximising the strategic contribution of middle managers to international ventures, and hence providing a better chance of success.     

Inter-Organizational Learning and Strategic Renewal in SMEs: Extending the 4I Framework

This article explores how mature SMEs which lack internal resources access external knowledge to facilitate strategic renewal. Organizational learning, in contrast to entrepreneurial learning, recognizes that owner-managers must distribute knowledge throughout the firm to achieve competitive benefits. Three case studies demonstrate how external ‘knowledge providers’ (customers, suppliers and educational institutions) help institutionalize ‘new’ knowledge. Initially, learning from inter-organizational relationships requires owner-managers to be proactive in accessing and extending appropriate inter-organizational relationships. Second, external organizations can play an active role by ‘intertwining’ knowledge to support the development of processes, systems and routines that distribute and institutionalize learning throughout the organization. The three cases have practical implications for owner-managers and add to academic knowledge via the extension of Crossan et al's 4I model of organizational learning.     

A contingency view on the impact of supplier development on design and conformance quality performance

This study extends contingency theory’s account of organisational size and culture by exploring the relationship between supplier development and internal quality performance. Drawing on supplier development research, the study aims to examine the moderating impact of organisational size and culture on the relationship between supplier development and design and conformance quality dimensions. Using survey data of 518 UK manufacturing organisations, we found that larger organisations with greater access to resources and a strong supply chain orientation culture tend to place the most weight on supplier development programmes which in turn yield higher internal quality performance. These findings contribute to ‘Operations Management Practice Contingency Research (OM PCR)’ and will raise awareness among operations managers of their future sourcing decisions.     

Policy Imperatives for the International Economy and for Financial Markets in the Emerging World Order

The world economy today is swept by unprecedented rates of change, complexity, interconnectedness, and uncertainty. For the first time since the 1930s, issues of the international economy and financial markets are playing a pivotal role in discussions of foreign and domestic policy. However, even as the revolutionary trends in the international economy and in world finance are in the offing, it is important to realize that the problems of mankind are primarily economic and social, not financial or political. While the trends towards liberalization of economic policies and integration of financial markets might seem to point toward the ultimate triumph of the magic of the market and free enterprise, a little reflection will reveal a number of undercurrents, dilemmas, and difficult choices waiting to be resolved. This article identifies the structural and human dimensions of these challenges in the form of thirteen Policy Imperatives aimed at the creation of modified versions of financial markets to make them more humane and less vulnerable to failure.     

Circadian Rhythm and the Business Person

Each human being has an internal timekeeping mechanism. To date, over 100 so-called circadian rhythms have been detected. Perhaps the most significant is body temperature. There is an apparent connection between this rhythm and the efficiency with which we do things in the course of the working day. Within individuals, patterns have been discovered which give credence to the popular notions of a morning or an afternoon person, and so on. Our memory changes from morning to afternoon: short-term memory is stronger in the morning, and long-term memory stronger in the afternoon; in schools, morning students have higher grades than students who have other time-of-day preferences. Therefore, a strong case can be made in support of flexible time schedules. It is reported that productivity went up on the introduction of such a scheme. Employee stress has been seen to decline also. When flextime was offered, parents with small children took advantage of the benefit as well as unmarried employees. The only drawback is ensuring that, with so many individual variations in preferences, the needs of the company are fully met. If such a scheme can be devised, however, the research suggests that productivity and efficiency will increase.     

Reflections on the distinctiveness of European management scholarship

Management scholarship and the journal publication process has been increasingly criticised for being overly elitist and largely irrelevant to the needs of business. There is some justification for such criticisms. Yet, paradoxically, university business schools must resist the urge to be superficially relevant in order to be genuinely useful. I argue here that the very best of management research scholarship relies on a ‘scholarship of common sense’ that actively mirrors the very best of business and management practices. Artistic rigour, much more than technical rigour is needed. Openness, empirical sensitivity and the capacity for achieving ‘flying leaps’ of imagination, are to be preferred to procedural adherence in the research process. This alternative understanding of academic rigour and the intellectual richness and diversity of perspectives associated with it is clearly more evident in the British and European intellectual traditions. Such a European-styled management scholarship can help in actively reshaping the intellectual landscape, priorities and parameters of management research by encouraging the kind of scholarly contributions that is not simply technically rigorous, but imaginatively interesting and often counterintuitive.     

Testing the reciprocal associations among co-worker incivility,organisational inefficiency,and work-related exhaustion: A one-year,cross-lagged study

ABSTRACT

In spite of the considerable number of studies on co-worker incivility, knowledge on this topic needs to be further enhanced. In particular, no studies have focused on the reciprocal nature of the relationship of incivility with other important aspects of working life, i.e. employee well-being and the quality of the working process. The aim of the present study was to examine the cross-lagged associations among co-worker incivility, work-related exhaustion, and organisational efficiency in a sample of healthcare workers. Based on the conservation of resource theory, we hypothesised that those three variables affect each other reciprocally over the time. Data from a two-wave study design (with a one-year time lag) were utilised, and cross-lagged structural equation models were performed. Results confirmed that incivility and efficiency affected each other reciprocally over time. On the other hand, whereas incivility positively predicted exhaustion and exhaustion at inversely predicted organisational efficiency, the opposite paths were found to be not significant. The study suggests that efficiency is crucial for understanding incivility because it operates both as its cause and as its outcome. Interventions aimed at promoting civility and respect in the workplace may help prevent co-worker incivility, work-related exhaustion, and enhance organisational efficiency.     

Workplace resources to improve both employee well-being and performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Organisations are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of employees in gaining and maintaining competitive advantage. The happy worker–productive worker thesis suggests that workers who experience high levels of well-being also perform well and vice versa; however, organisations need to know how to ensure such happy and productive workers. The present review and meta-analysis identifies workplace resources at the individual, the group, the leader, and the organisational levels that are related to both employee well-being and organisational performance. We examine which types of resources are most important in predicting both employee well-being and performance. We identified 84 quantitative studies published in print and online from 2003 to November 2015. Resources at either of the four levels were related to both employee well-being and performance. We found no significant differences in employee well-being and organisational performance between the four levels of workplace resources, suggesting that interventions may focus on any of these levels. Cross-sectional studies showed stronger relationships with well-being and performance than longitudinal studies. Studies using objective performance ratings provided weaker relationships between resources and performance than self-rated and leader/third-party-rated studies.     

The individualized corporation: An interview with Sumantra Ghoshal

Sumantra Ghoshal discusses the main features of his and Christopher Bartlett's new book, The Individualized Corporation, leading on to some of his current thinking on management issues in multinational corporations.Much of the book is devoted to describing the new corporate model, and to suggesting how such a company can be built and managed. Ghoshal points out that the major challenge to an individualized corporation is to manage people. A successful firm has a ‘smell of the place’ which motivates and invigorates its people. It also is capable of joint learning and a transformation process that progressively involves rationalization, revitalization and continuous self-renewal: the last of these is called in the book ‘cooking sweet and sour’.Reflecting Ghoshal's evolving thinking, the book moves well beyond managerial specifics to the realm of corporate philosophy. Management doctrine is changing from the old model of strategy, structure and systems to one built on purpose, process and people - a doctrine which embodies a new moral contact with employees.Looking at the future, Ghoshal insists we need an institutional theory of the firm, which recognizes their role as social institutions and also the role of management in distinguishing the visible hand of companies from the invisible hand of markets. This, and an inquiry into the management of the process of change - at a managerial, micro-level of analysis - is his new personal intellectual challenge.     

Globalisation, International Configurations and Strategic Implications: The Case of Retailing

In contrast to the old debate between national and more globally orientated strategies, recent typologies, as outlined by Calori and others in a recent issue of this journal, have begun to uncover subtler international strategies applicable to less patently global industries. This article investigates whether such typologies can be adapted to a service sector such as retailing and analyses performance differences across the whole set of these new categorisations, segregating some of the main sectors. Focusing on clothing where scale economies were lower, we present a case study demonstrating how this approach can still yield strategic insights and recommendations at an early stage in internationalisation, even for players located in more peripheral locations such as Norway. We confirm ‘continental leadership’ strategies (under consideration) can be associated with slightly better profitability for retailers more generally; but we warn that this is riskier for clothing retailers, for whom market share emerges as a less critical driver. The most profitable retail strategy configuration is the bold ‘global shaper’ strategy. However, taking into account the case company’s resource position within the clothing sector, our approach recommends consideration of the ‘quasi-global’ strategic configuration, associated with an improvement of just under 2% return on investment. This perspective also aids ‘strategic benchmarking’ (illustrated against high performers H&M and Zara), setting an agenda for operational improvements.     

Minimizing tardiness on a single processor with sequence-dependent setup times: a simulated annealing approach

In today's fast-paced Just-In-Time and mass customization manufacturing in a sequence-dependent setup environment, the challenge of making production schedules to meet due-date requirements is becoming a more complex problem. Unfortunately, much of the research on operations scheduling problems has either ignored setup times or assumed that setup times on each machine are independent of the job sequence. This paper considers the problem of minimizing tardiness, a common measure of due-date performance, in a sequence-dependent setup environment. Simulated annealing was used to solve the sequencing problem, and its performance was compared with random search. Our experimental results show that the algorithm can find a good solution fairly quickly, and thus can rework schedules frequently to react to variations in the schedule. The algorithm is invaluable for ‘on-line’ production scheduling and ‘last-minute’ changes to production schedule. The results of this research also suggest ways in which more complex and realistic job shop environments, such as multiple machines with a higher number of jobs in the sequence, and other scheduling objectives can be modeled. This research also investigates computational aspects of simulated annealing in solving complex scheduling problems.