A classification of resources for employee-based value creation and a future research agenda

This conceptual paper aspires to provide a theoretically sound understanding of the value creation process of a specific value network (i.e., firm–employee context). Drawing on service-logic and resource-based frameworks, a classification of four diverse resource types in an organizational context is introduced (i.e., core, augmented, add-on, peripheral resources), based on their exchangeability and their contribution to employees’ value creation and co-creation. This classification enables a better understanding of the nature and the unique features of different firm–employee exchanges in an organizational context, and delineates each type’s distinctive role in employee-based value creation activities. Four propositions derive from this classification; this suggests that not all resource types can be exchanged and that the relative contribution of various firm–employee exchanges to value creation is asymmetrical. A future research agenda is also presented, discussing the potential implications of this classification for contemporary organizations.     

Defining Spirituality of Work

There is a current surge of writings on spirituality and related topics. For instance, Woodward (1997) has pointed out that since Thomas Moore's publication of Care of the Soul in 1994 there have been nearly 800books published with the word soul in the title. These run all the way from Chicken Soup for theWoman's Soul (Canfield et al., 1996) to A Guide to Liberating YourSoul (Barrett, 1995). Spirituality of work is a big part of this surge. Definitionsof spirituality of work seem to vary widely. Bowman (1998, p. 8) in his `reviewof the phenomenon of spirituality of work' found `Definitions of the term spirituality in the context of the Spirituality of Work troublesome and particularly subjective. Many writers do not even attempt definitions.' The purpose of this article is to review the concept of spirituality of work in its historical and current use and to propose a comprehensive definition.     

Values and behaviors of effective lean managers: Mixed-methods exploratory research

Lean Management is a managerial approach focused on enhancing customer value through the elimination of non-value adding steps from work processes. Lean Management is also enjoying a resurgence, largely because its ‘do more with less’ philosophy is particularly well-suited for the austere conditions of a 'Great Recession' recovery. Despite this resurgence with practitioners, however, academic research of Lean Management, in particular research on the leadership of lean initiatives, remains limited. In this study, we identify a constellation of lean values and behaviors of effective lean managers, based on extant research and the views of expert practitioners, and a field study of lean managers. In the first of two empirical studies, we produce an initial list of values and behaviors, derived from both the lean and leadership literature, and from three Delphi rounds with 19 expert lean practitioners. In study 2, we corroborate and refine the list with a sample of effective lean middle managers, through 18 interviews; a survey (N = 43); and fine-grained video-analyses of their in situ behaviors during meetings with subordinates. The values identified include: honesty, candor, participation and teamwork, and continuous improvement—all indicative of self-transcendence and openness to change. Regarding behaviors, we find that the effective lean middle managers of our sample, compared to other middle managers, engage significantly more in positive relations-oriented “active listening” and “agreeing” behaviors, and significantly less in “task monitoring” and counterproductive work behaviors (such as “providing negative feedback” and “defending one's own position”). To conclude, we put forward five new propositions intended to guide future research and a more successful practice of ‘lean leadership.’     

Work satisfaction,health, and stress: A study of Dutch nurses

Abstract

A study was conducted to compare nurses' work satisfaction and feelings of health and stress in five different nursing departments: a cardiac care unit and a general surgical ward in a general hospital; and an admissions department, a short-stay department, and a long-stay department in a psychiatric hospital. One hundred nurses took part in the study: the instruments used were questionnaires and structured interviews. The main results showed that:

(1) nurses in the cardiac care unit had the most positive satisfaction scores

(2) nurses in the general surgical ward had the most positive scores on the health and stress variables

(3) feelings of dissatisfaction and stress were most prominent in the short-stay department and, to a lesser extent, in the long-stay department.

The findings are interpreted in terms of the different work situations and die implications for hospital management are discussed.

Dr J. A. Landeweerd graduated in industrial and organizational psychology in 1968 (PhD in 1978). He has worked at Eindhoven University of Technology (Department of Industrial Engineering) and now holds a position as senior lecturer at Limburg University (Department of Health Sciences), where he is project-leader for a number of research projects on the relationships between work and health.

Nicolle Boumans, MA, graduated in health sciences in 1985 (specialization: nursing science) and is now a research assistant. She is working on a PhD thesis concerned with the relationship between task characteristics of nurses and their reaction in terms of job satisfaction, health and stress.     

Work satisfaction, health, and stress: A study of Dutch nurses

A study was conducted to compare nurses' work satisfaction and feelings of health and stress in five different nursing departments: a cardiac care unit and a general surgical ward in a general hospital; and an admissions department, a short-stay department, and a long-stay department in a psychiatric hospital. One hundred nurses took part in the study: the instruments used were questionnaires and structured interviews. The main results showed that:

(1) nurses in the cardiac care unit had the most positive satisfaction scores

(2) nurses in the general surgical ward had the most positive scores on the health and stress variables

(3) feelings of dissatisfaction and stress were most prominent in the short-stay department and, to a lesser extent, in the long-stay department.

The findings are interpreted in terms of the different work situations and die implications for hospital management are discussed.

Dr J. A. Landeweerd graduated in industrial and organizational psychology in 1968 (PhD in 1978). He has worked at Eindhoven University of Technology (Department of Industrial Engineering) and now holds a position as senior lecturer at Limburg University (Department of Health Sciences), where he is project-leader for a number of research projects on the relationships between work and health.

Nicolle Boumans, MA, graduated in health sciences in 1985 (specialization: nursing science) and is now a research assistant. She is working on a PhD thesis concerned with the relationship between task characteristics of nurses and their reaction in terms of job satisfaction, health and stress.     

A comparison of spreadsheet users with different levels of experience

How do experienced spreadsheet users compare to inexperienced ones, and what light can this comparison shed on spreadsheet best practices? This is the question we address in this paper, using the results from a survey of nearly 1600 respondents. This survey was completed by a wide range of spreadsheet users and focused on their significant characteristics and practices. We were interested in their training, experience, collaboration, and quality control methods. We also examined the number of spreadsheet functions they used regularly, the manner in which they created spreadsheets, and the types of tests they used to check results. We compared two subgroups corresponding to two extremes with respect to their self-reported level of experience and skill. Each subgroup was represented by roughly 10% of the total respondents. Our results suggest that there is a substantial difference between these groups, not only in their personal backgrounds and the corporate setting within which they work, but also in their individual spreadsheet skills and practices. We find that the most experienced subgroup exhibits many desirable characteristics and practices.     

ICT-enabled time performance: an investigation of value creation mechanisms

The study presented in this paper aimed at checking whether companies that embed information and communication technologies (ICT)-enabled time performance into their product offering can achieve better economic outcomes from technology adoption. Indeed, it is still questionable whether technology adoption results in a superior profitability, especially if such an improvement is achieved through the use of functional ICT applications. In this study, we assume that a better alignment among ICT investments, improvements of the logistics process and the value proposition of the firm can lead towards a superior economic performance. A survey was conducted and 180 usable questionnaires were collected from companies engaged in the electronics and vehicle manufacturing industries. Data were analysed through the structural equation modeling approach. The results show that improvements in speed and dependability, achieved through technology adoption, can lead to a better economic performance if they are embedded into superior after-sales services and/or into an improved product offering.     

The nature of faculty work: A Canadian and US comparison

Abstract

Results based on 187 responses to an electronic survey from Canadian and US faculty in human resource development and adult education identified career paths of faculty, the nature of the job (i.e. how faculty divide their time between teaching, research and service), the nature of their programmes, and the key changes, issues and trends in their respective fields. There were few differences between the two countries. Where possible, findings also are compared to two previous studies. Identifying what drew faculty to academia and how they spend their time may enhance understanding of how they derive meaning and satisfaction from work. This understanding could help identify ways to mitigate faculty turnover.     

Note: A note on the production and inventory systems taking account of time value

This paper deals with the optimal inventory decisions taking account of time value by applying the concept of the present value method, and modifies the bounds for the optimal cycle time described in Chung et al. (Production Planning & Control, 1998, 9, 580–584). A modified algorithm to compute the optimal cycle time is developed to improve the paper of Chung et al. Finally, a numerical example is given to illustrate the algorithm discussed in this paper.     

Changing Less-Preferred Duties to More-Preferred: A Potential Strategy for Improving Supervisor Work Enjoyment

We evaluated a strategy for making highly nonpreferred work duties more preferred as a potential means of enhancing work enjoyment among supervisors in a human service setting. Repeated preference ratings and rankings were completed by 4 supervisors during baseline to identify their most disliked work tasks. These tasks were then altered by soliciting each supervisor's opinion regarding why the respective task was so disliked and what could be done to make the task more preferable, removing disliked stimuli associated with the tasks, and adding liked stimuli during completion of the tasks. Following the task alterations, ratings of task likeability increased for all 4 supervisors. Preference rankings of target tasks also increased, including from rankings as among the least preferred tasks to among the most preferred tasks. All supervisors rated the task-alteration process as making their quality of work life better, and all chose to continue the intervention. These results occurred without any observed decrease in work quality. Results are discussed regarding the potential contribution of behavioral interventions with subjective concepts, such as enjoyment, that are viewed as important by the general populace. However, qualifications with relying on verbal reports also are noted.     

Emotional reactions to daily workload: The moderating role of attachment orientations

Attachment theory provides compelling theoretical grounds to expect that attachment orientations, i.e. attachment anxiety and avoidance, influence our emotional reactions to job stressors. In spite of that fact, the role of attachment orientations in attenuating or exacerbating emotional reactions to job stressors has been ignored by organisational researchers so far. The main purpose of our diary study, therefore, was to analyse, whether attachment anxiety and avoidance moderate our daily emotional reactions to daily workload. Additional main effects of attachment orientations on daily emotional experiences were also analysed. Multilevel analyses of diary data from 340 participants revealed moderator effects of attachment avoidance. In detail, global and co-worker-specific avoidance interacted with workload in predicting negative emotions. Regarding positive emotions, co-worker-specific avoidance interacted with workload. In addition, global attachment anxiety and avoidance were positively related to negative emotional experiences at work. The negative relationship between co-worker-specific avoidance and positive emotional experiences at work was significant by trend. Taken together, current findings demonstrate attachment orientations’ contribution to our understanding of interindividual differences in daily emotional reactions to daily job stressors, and in daily work-related emotions. In sum, they suggest highly avoidant employees as a risk group in the working population.     

Work stress and alcohol use: developing and testing a biphasic self-medication model

This study developed and tested a moderated-mediation model of work stress and alcohol use, based on the biphasic (stimulant and sedative) effects of alcohol and the self-medication and stress-vulnerability models of alcohol use. The model proposes that exposure to work stressors can increase both negative affect and work fatigue, and that these 2 sources of strain can subsequently motivate the use of alcohol. However, the relations of negative affect and work fatigue to alcohol use are conditional on the joint moderating effects of alcohol outcome expectancies and gender. Data were collected from a national probability sample of 2808 U.S. workers. Supporting the model, the results indicated that work stressor exposure was conditionally related via negative affect to heavy alcohol use among both men and women holding strong tension-reduction alcohol expectancies and to after work alcohol use among men holding strong tension-reduction alcohol expectancies. Also, work stressor exposure was conditionally related via work fatigue to both heavy alcohol use and workday alcohol use among men holding strong fatigue-reduction alcohol expectancies. The results have application in the identification of individuals at higher risk of problematic alcohol use and are relevant to workplace safety and to the design of appropriate interventions.     

谦卑领导行为与下属工作投入：有中介的调节模型

谦卑领导行为是近年来新出现的一个广受研究者和管理实务者关注的领导主题,其有效性和作用机制有待更多实证研究的深入探讨.基于自我概念衍生理论视角,采用问卷调查法收集375份员工数据,在检验共同方法偏差和问卷信效度的基础上,通过有中介的调节作用检验程序,考察谦卑领导行为对下属工作投入的影响,并探讨下属组织自尊的中介作用和权力距离的调节作用.研究结果表明,谦卑领导行为能够显著正向预测下属的工作投入;下属的权力距离在谦卑领导行为与下属工作投入关系间发挥有中介的调节作用,对于高权力距离的下属,谦卑领导行为对其工作投入的积极影响更强;下属权力距离的调节作用通过下属组织自尊的中介实现,当下属权力距离较高时,谦卑领导行为通过下属组织自尊的中介对其工作投入产生的积极影响更加强烈.     

When managers become leaders: The role of manager network centralities,social power,and followers' perception of leadership

We explore how formal managers' centralities in both positive and negative networks predict followers' perceptions of their leadership. By incorporating social networks and social ledger theory with implicit leadership theories (ILTs), we hypothesize that formally assigned group leaders (managers) who have more positive advice ties and fewer negative avoidance ties are more likely to be recognized as leaders by their followers. Further, we posit that managers' informal networks bring them greater social power, an important attribute differentiating leaders from non-leaders. We conducted two survey-based studies in student and field teams to test the hypotheses. Based on nested data in both studies, we found support for our hypotheses. These results remain robust across the two studies even though they used different designs (cross-sectional versus longitudinal), different samples (field versus students) across different countries (United States versus India), and a host of control variables at both the leader and follower levels. We find that managers who are central in the advice network are socially powerful and are seen as leaders by individual followers. In contrast, managers who are avoided by followers lack informal social power are not seen as leaders. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of our findings and the ways in which our theory and results extend ILTs and social network theory.     

企业员工文化匹配、组织承诺和工作绩效的关系研究

员工的工作绩效构成企业的组织绩效的微观基础,研究工作绩效与其他组织变量之间的关系,可为提高员工工作绩效提供新的思路和方法.在探讨个人-企业文化匹配与工作绩效关系的基础上,发现了组织承诺是文化匹配影响工作绩效的中介变量,构建了个人-企业文化匹配通过组织承诺影响工作绩效的关系模型,从文化匹配的角度提出了改进工作绩效的建议.     

Measurement of negative affectivity: A comparison of self-reports and observer ratings

Abstract

Both self-report and non-self-report measures (co-worker ratings) of negative affectivity (NA) were obtained. Based on previous research, it was hypothesized that these two measures of NA would be moderately correlated. It was also expected that self-report measure of NA would be more strongly correlated with self-reported stressors and strains than would the co-worker measure. Finally, it was predicted that statistically controlling for self-reported NA would attenuate stressor-strain correlations more than would controlling for co-worker ratings of NA. A sample of 121 full-time employees who were pursuing graduate degrees completed self-report measures of stressors, strains, and negative affectivity. These individuals also asked two co-workers to assess their level of negative affectivity. Results supported all three hypotheses. Specifically, there was modest convergence between self-reported and co-worker NA. In addition, self-reported NA was more strongly correlated with self-reported stressors and strains than was the co-worker NA measure. Finally, statistically controlling for self-reported NA attenuated stressor-strain correlations much more than controlling for co-worker NA. These results suggest that observer ratings may be of some use in future NA research. Other implications of these findings are discussed.     

Effects of Accurate and Inaccurate Feedback on Work Performance: The Role of the Awareness of Inaccuracy

ABSTRACT

This study compared the effects of accurate (i.e., contingent) and inaccurate (i.e., non-contingent) feedback on work performance under two different work conditions. Under one work condition, participants could clearly see the outcome of their performance (i.e., visible condition). Under the other condition, they could not clearly see the outcome of their performance (i.e., non-visible condition). One hundred and twenty participants were randomly assigned to four experimental conditions (i.e., accurate/visible, inaccurate/visible, accurate/non-visible, and inaccurate/non-visible) and asked to perform a simulated work task. The results indicated that inaccurate feedback was as effective as accurate feedback under the non-visible condition, but inaccurate feedback was less effective than accurate feedback under the visible condition.     

中国知识员工反生产行为分类的探索性研究

采用多维尺度法,通过4项探索性研究,探讨知识员工反生产行为的分类。子研究1系统地梳理知识员工反生产行为的表现形式,得到66种反生产行为;子研究2运用多维尺度法对66种反生产行为进行分类,得到反生产行为的空间分布图;子研究3运用专家数据进行回归分析,得到对反生产行为分类维度的命名依据;子研究4通过聚类分析,确定对4种反生产行为进行命名的有效性。研究结果表明,中国知识员工反生产行为可以从危害程度、不道德程度两个维度进行分类,包括针对他人、针对组织、消极式针对任务、激进式针对任务等4类反生产行为。比较简洁、清晰地梳理了知识员工反生产行为的总体层级体系,不仅能丰富反生产行为理论研究,而且也对中国知识员工反生产行为管理具有较强的指导意义。     

Work and religious faith: How people of faith relate to their employers

This article focuses on the connection between the religious faith of employees and their relationships with employers. There are two models for how religionists understand their role in the world: they can either try to model behavior not common in a secular world or infiltrate the structures of society in the hope of bringing about social change. Most employees tend to be infiltrators. Further, employees tend to internalize the values of their employers. But it may well be that the moral and religious beliefs of employees can benefit employers by providing the latter with access to different perspectives. In particular, the long-range perspective common to religionists may be helpful to corporations that tend to focus on short-term considerations.     

A visual perspective on value creation: Exploring patterns in business model diagrams

This study was inspired by the diversity of styles found in the way companies represent their business model visually. Through the visual analysis of how 242 business model diagrams collected from websites and annual reports represent transformation of value, this study identifies a typology of four basic patterns of business model visualization. The typology adds to previous visualization research by proposing two new types of transformational diagram formats, namely transactive and cyclical structures. It is further argued that the typology can be used as a framework for researchers to describe, evaluate and compare the underlying logics of value creation in business model conceptualizations, and for practitioners to generate different business model designs by drawing on the benefits of visualization, such as a more holistic understanding of ideas, better buy-in and improved group communication.