Workforce localization in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: issues and challenges

Despite some progress, the issue of equality at work remains more of an aspiration than achievement for organizations in developed economies across the world. In the UK, the debate on equality at work has been rekindled with a Labour government taking office, in 1997, with a commitment to equality generally and for women specifically. Fuelling the debate is the notion of managing diversity, which has emanated from the USA in recent years. This article seeks to explore the current nature of equality at work in the UK and gauge if managing diversity is in any way manifest in current organizational approaches to equality management. The exploration is rooted in four case-study organizations and is conducted through the lens of key organizational stakeholders. Beyond exposing the contemporary nature of equality at work in the case-study organizations, the empirical work allows the issues involved in the implementation of managing diversity in the UK context to be signalled.     

Exploring the effect of national cultures on organizational commitment of bicultural employees

Many organizations today operate globally and employ a significant number of bicultural employees. Consequently, it is extremely important to conduct research that furthers our understanding of bicultural employees in an organizational context. In addition, research that furthers our understanding of an employee attitude such as the organizational commitment of bicultural employees will have practical significance for organizations seeking to maximize employee commitment. This paper presents two profiles of biculturals based on predominant identification to individualist or collectivist national cultures and offers rationale to support the premise that organizational commitment will differ between collectivist and individualist biculturals. Exploring the national cultural dimensions of organizational commitment of bicultural employees as conceptualized in this paper provides human resource development (HRD) an excellent opportunity to research these two constructs that significantly impact organizational outcomes.     

Innovation with field experiments: Studying organizational behaviors in actual organizations

Organizational scholarship centers on understanding organizational context, usually captured through field studies, as well as determining causality, typically with laboratory experiments. We argue that field experiments can bridge these approaches, bringing causality to field research and developing organizational theory in novel ways. We present a taxonomy that proposes when to use an audit field experiment (AFE), procedural field experiment (PFE) or innovation field experiment (IFE) in organizational research and argue that field experiments are more feasible than ever before. With advances in technology, behavioral data has become more available and randomized changes are easier to implement, allowing field experiments to more easily create value—and impact—for scholars and organizations alike.     

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.     

Do Human Resource Practices Enhance Organizational Commitment in SMEs with Low Employee Satisfaction?

This paper considers a large matched employee–employer data set to estimate a model of organizational commitment. In particular, it focuses on the role of firm size and management formality to explain organizational commitment in British small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) with high and low levels of employee satisfaction. It is shown that size ‘in itself’ can explain differences in organizational commitment, and that organizational commitment tends to be higher in organizations with high employee satisfaction compared with organizations of similar size with low employee satisfaction. Crucially, the results suggest that formal human resource (HR) practices can be used as important tools to increase commitment and thus, potentially, effort and performance within underperforming SMEs with low employee satisfaction. However, formal HR practices commonly used by large firms may be unnecessary in SMEs which benefit from high employee satisfaction and positive employment relations within a context of informality.     

Perceived Support and Women's Intentions to Stay at a Sport Organization

Women remain underrepresented in upper management within sport organizations and more broadly. This research examines organizational factors that may affect women's (and men's) likelihood of remaining with their sport organization, which would presumably affect their willingness and ability to step into leadership roles. The research examines the effects of equity human resource management practices, top management support for gender equity and gender‐related barriers on organizational commitment and intent to stay with their sport organization, as well as whether changes in perceived organizational support would mediate the relationships. Results from a survey of current employees in Australian sport organizations generally support the hypotheses. Perceived top management support for gender equity is a strong and consistent predictor of outcomes, and the effect is mediated by perceived organizational support. Implications for top management's role in implementing gender equity practices are discussed.     

Exploring Strategic Positioning in the UK Charitable Sector: Emerging Evidence from Charitable Organizations that Provide Public Services

The UK voluntary sector operates in an arguably enabling policy context. Yet, other external environmental influences have posed major challenges for charitable organizations within the wider voluntary sector. This paper aims to rectify the current lack of empirical research on how charitable organizations have responded in terms of their strategic positioning to the changing external operating environment and policy context. It both explores the positioning strategies adopted by two contrasting British charities that deliver public services in different ways, and investigates the factors that have influenced their choice of positioning strategies. The cases studied extend our knowledge of strategic positioning in organizations other than commercial (for-profit) ones. The findings provide new evidence that charities have begun to strategically position themselves in response to both internal organizational factors and external environmental influences. Emerging lessons from the experiences of the case study organizations provide guidance to charity managers in planning and implementing strategic positioning in their organizations. The findings also underscore the need to develop theoretical and conceptual management models specific to non-profit organizations, such as charities.     

Reinvigorating Research on Gender in the Workplace Using a Positive Work and Organizations Perspective*

Gender inequality is a widespread organizational challenge, however, research on gender in the workplace suffers from stagnation in mainstream management research. A positive work and organizations perspective has the capacity to augment problem‐focused gender research with new approaches to boosting gender equity. Yet, contributions that utilize such a perspective are sparsely spread across nearly two decades’ time and dozens of journals with differing disciplinary foci. This paper aims to reinvigorate gender research in management research by consolidating insights that have emerged through the application of a positive perspective. Therefore, we systematically review articles published in 21 management and psychological journals between 2001 and 2016. Four main themes emerged as drivers of gender research from a positive perspective: performance, social integration, well‐being, and justice/moral matters. The contributions within these themes highlight pathways to organizational flourishing through positive diversity and inclusion behaviors and practices. Thus, this paper provides a conceptual map for navigating and planning further research.     

Verandah Discourses: Critical Management Education in Organizations

The small but thriving Critical Management Studies community has so far confined its interest in education to that delivered in university settings. This paper identifies a framework for recognizing and understanding critical education as it is enacted within organizational settings. It analyses a portion of the data collected for a research study into alternative identities within organizational management education in order to suggest that critical management education (CME) fails to take account of the individualistic conventions that shape critical practice in organizations. The organizational version of CME works through a disruption of the ability of the manager to sustain managerialist narratives of the self. Two types of alternative practice are used to illustrate the ways in which this operates and are compared to an 'orthodox' performance of management education.     

Organizational identification: A conceptual and operational review

There is a growing body of literature presenting the argument that processes of organizational identification (OI) are extremely important in helping to ensure that staff work towards the interests of the organization. There are, however, a number of problems with the way that the notion of OI has been conceptualized and operationalized in the extant literature. This paper examines how OI has been defined and measured over a number of decades. A number of problems are identified with how OI has been conceptualized by researchers, including, for example, issues about whether there is an affective element to identification and how the construct relates to organizational commitment. The paper also includes a review of previous approaches to measuring the concept of OI and raises some key problems with existing research tools. The paper concludes by arguing for a particular conceptualization of OI which helps to clarify the complex relationship between identification and organizational commitment, while at the same time accommodating previous definitions of the construct.     

Training and organizational commitment: exploring the moderating role of goal orientation in the Lebanese context

In this study, we investigated the impact of organizational training on organizational commitment and whether goal orientation moderates the relationship between training and commitment. The sample consisted of 124 employees from different industries in the country of Lebanon. Multiple regression and hierarchical moderated regression were used to test hypotheses. The results of the analysis showed that training has a significant effect on organizational commitment. Moderation analysis showed that the relationship between training and affective commitment was stronger for individuals who had higher levels of learning goal orientation. Performance goal orientation failed to moderate the relationship between training and affective commitment. Ultimately, this suggests that advanced training offered to individuals with performance goal orientations may not necessarily increase their commitment to their employer, in contrast to individuals with learning goal orientations. Theoretical and management implications in the context of Lebanon are proposed.     

The high cost of low wages: Economic scarcity effects in organizations

Due to current economic circumstances (e.g., stagnating wages, increasing material aspirations, mounting student debt), an increasing number of employees are prone to experiencing economic scarcity, defined here as the perception that one has fewer financial resources than one's needs require. In this paper, we focus primarily on an under-studied population in the organizational sciences: The working poor—employees who hold jobs but do not earn enough to sustain a reasonable standard of living for themselves and their dependents. Taking into account recent research suggesting that scarcity can have profound psychological consequences, we argue that organizations have a vested interest in reducing feelings of financial deprivation among its employees because the psychology of scarcity has the potential to spill over into organizational functioning. Furthermore, we assert that most organizations’ approaches to managing low-wage work are not only ineffective at reducing the spillover effects of scarcity on organizational outcomes, but also increase their endurance because they do not account for the behavioral consequences of financial deprivation. As such, we present more sustainable initiatives through which organizations can reduce scarcity among its employees. Finally, we discuss ways in which organizational researchers can become more involved in relevant public policy debates.     

Understanding the Antecedents of Effective Knowledge Management: The Importance of a Knowledge‐Centered Culture*

Within the context of knowledge management, little research has been conducted that identifies the antecedents of a knowledge‐centered culture—those organizational qualities that encourage knowledge creation and dissemination. In this study, the existing literature on organizational climate, job characteristics, and organizational learning (in the form of cooperative learning theory) are linked with the current thinking and research findings related to knowledge management to develop a theoretical model explaining the relationships among organizational climate, the level of cooperative learning that takes place between knowledge workers, and the resulting level of knowledge created and disseminated as measured by team performance and individual satisfaction levels. The study goes on to empirically test the proposed research model by investigating the climate of organizations, and seeks to understand the linkage between a set of organizational and individual characteristics and knowledge‐related activities found in cooperative learning groups and the resulting work outcomes. The hypothesized research model is tested using LISREL with data collected from 203 information systems (IS) professionals engaged in systems development activities. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications the results have for future research and managerial practice.     

ORGANIZATIONAL PERCEPTION MANAGEMENT

The phenomena of organizational perception management is hardly new. The efforts of organizational spokespersons to protect and manage positive images, identities, or reputations of their organizations can be found in historical accounts of the Roman Catholic Church, and the universities of ancient Greece. The same perception management problems that plagued these early organizations (e.g. threats of illegitimacy due to changes in social norms; face-saving following scandals or accidents), continue to confront organizations today. During the past thirty years, these types of issues have been studied by organizational scholars in attempts to understand how perception management tactics affect the views and support critical audiences’ (i.e. those audiences on which the organization depends for support). This paper provides an overview of this research and a framework defining the primary components of organizational perception management. This framework distinguishes organizational perception management from individual perception management in terms of its practical implementation and strategic nature.     

Employee green behaviour: A review and recommendations for future research

Despite the increasing awareness of impacts of organizational activities on the natural environment and the urgent need for sustainable management of ecosystems, emerging research on employee green behaviour in the field of management and organizational science is largely fragmented, requiring an integrative review. Seeking to better understand research opportunities and advance theoretical and empirical development, this paper evaluates available research on the topic by first reviewing conceptualizations and corresponding theoretical approaches. It then develops an overarching framework to evaluate the findings of empirical studies at different levels of analysis for different approaches. It concludes with recommendations for future research on employee green behaviour and provides important implications for environmental sustainability in organizations.     

The Role of Interorganizational and Organizational Factors on the Decision Mode for Adoption of Interorganizational Systems*

The dramatic growth of interorganizational systems (IOS) has changed the way organizations conduct their business, and has resulted in significant tangible and intangible benefits being realized by participating firms. However, the implementation of these IOS requires the cooperation and commitment of all the participating members. These members may have complex economic and business relationships among themselves that can result in a number of social, political, and economic factors influencing the adoption and implementation of IOS. This study examines the role of interorganizational and organizational factors on the decision mode for adoption of IOS, in the specific context of electronic data interchange (EDI). Four interorganizational factors, based on the socio-political framework derived from research in marketing, and five organizational factors based on research in IS were used in the study. The data for the study were collected through a large scale field survey. Two respondents, the sales/purchase manager and the IS manager, from 201 firms responded to the survey. The results of discriminant analysis of the data reveal that two interorganizational variables, competitive pressure and exercised power, and two organizational variables, internal need and top management support, are important variables to differentiate firms with proactive decision mode from firms with reactive decision mode. The study also evaluates the differences between proactive and reactive firms on three implementation outcomes. Proactive firms are found to have greater extent of adaptation, more external connectivity with trading partners, and better integration of EDI information in their internal IS applications.     

Men Doing and Undoing Gender at Work: A Review and Research Agenda

While research on gender in organizations has not only documented sustained gender inequality, it has also offered an understanding of how gender is enacted through doing and undoing gender. An underexplored aspect concerns how men can do and undo gender to support or hinder gender equality processes in organizations. Doing gender is then understood as creating gender difference while undoing gender would conversely mean to reduce gender difference. The former is supporting gender inequality while the latter means moving toward gender equality. This article therefore provides a systematic review of empirical articles that discuss how men are doing and undoing gender within an organizational context. It is shown that undoing gender practices of men in organizations are under‐researched and a research agenda of how men can undo gender at work is thus developed. This article makes a two‐fold contribution: first it offers a refinement of doing and undoing gender approaches and second, it develops a research agenda for exploring how men can undo gender at work.     

Changing Public Service Organizations: Current Perspectives and Future Prospects

As governments and public service organizations across the globe engage in strategies of institutional and organizational change, it is timely to examine current developments and a future research agenda for public governance and management. The paper commences with reflections on the state of the field, based on an analysis of papers published in the British Journal of Management over the last decade. While there was some variation apparent across the set, the ‘typical’ article was found to be influenced by the discipline of organizational behaviour, set within the health‐care sector, using case‐study methods within field‐based studies, and investigating shifts in roles and relationships and the management of change. It has also in the past been UK‐centric, though the journal editorial policy and our own article call for a stronger international and comparative focus in the future. The second section of the article summarizes the articles and themes contained in this collection of papers on public service organizations. The third section explores a possible research agenda for the future, arguing for the significance of public sector research for the understanding of management more generally, and for examining the interface between private and public organizations (an increasingly common phenomenon). We suggest the need to set public services research in policy and political contexts, and suggest this may reveal organizational processes of wide interest. We call for a wider set of disciplines to engage in public management research, and to engage in moving the agenda from the study of efficiency to effectiveness as defined by a variety of stakeholders. We address the issue of how far public management researchers should become directly engaged with the world of policy and suggest that whether researchers engage in Mode 1 or Mode 2 research, their work would benefit from a stronger theoretical base.     

A managerial and personal control model: predictions of work alienation and organizational commitment in Hungary

This article examines the influence of managerial and personal control upon work-related alienation and organizational commitment in the Eastern-European nation of Hungary. The research identifies the extent to which Western management theory and practices are relevant to transitional economic nations such as Hungary. We chose leadership and job characteristics as managerial control mechanisms and locus of control as a personal mechanism of control. These categories of control variables have well-established associations to attitudes and behaviors in the Western management literature, but limited evidence has been generated in Hungary. A survey among 395 Hungarian workers in five companies found that leadership, job characteristics, and individual locus of control explained work-related alienation but did not explain organizational commitment. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Performance Management,Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment1

A number of investigations have focused on aspects of human resource management policy and their impact on employees. The study reported here examines the extent to which the main elements of performance management systems are associated with positive employee attitudes. Questionnaire measures of performance management variables and of employee attitudes were obtained from 860 staff in nine organizations, all of which had been ascertained to be operating performance management systems. The findings indicate that most elements of performance management did contribute to positive employee attitudes, and that between them they accounted for a substantial proportion of the variance in measures of organizational commitment and (especially) job satisfaction. Some differences in the data from public and private-sector organizations were found.