During the past 30 years, meta-analysis has been an indispensable tool for revealing the hidden meaning of our research literatures. The four articles in this special section on meta-analysis illus...

Meta-Analysis: A Constantly Evolving Research Integration Tool

According to W. Edwards Deming, American companies require nothing less than a transformation of management style and of governmental relations with industry. In Out of the Crisis, originally published in 1982, Deming offers a theory of management based on his famous 14 Points for Management. Management's failure to plan for the future, he claims, brings about loss of market, which brings about loss of jobs. Management must be judged not only by the quarterly dividend, but by innovative plans to stay in business, protect investment, ensure future dividends, and provide more jobs through improved product and service. In simple, direct language, he explains the principles of management transformation and how to apply them.

Out of the Crisis

This research begins to develop and validate a multidimensional measure of psychological empowerment in the workplace Second-order confirmatory factor analyses were conducted with two complementary samples to demonstrate the convergent and discriminant validity of four dimensions of empowerment and their contributions to an overall construct of psychological empowerment Structural equations modeling was used to examine a nomological network of psychological empowerment in the workplace Tested hypotheses concerned key antecedents and consequences of the construct Initial support for the construct validity of psychological empowerment was found Directions for future research are discussed

Psychological empowerment in the workplace: dimensions, measurement, and validation

The Social Psychology of Organizations.

Based on 7,939 business units in 36 companies, this study used meta-analysis to examine the relationship at the business-unit level between employee satisfaction-engagement and the business-unit outcomes of customer satisfaction, productivity, profit, employee turnover, and accidents. Generalizable relationships large enough to have substantial practical value were found between unit-level employee satisfaction-engagement and these business-unit outcomes. One implication is that changes in management practices that increase employee satisfaction may increase business-unit outcomes, including profit.

https://img2.custompublish.com/getfile.php/153759.472/harter,%20schmidt

Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: a meta-analysis.

Theory building has lagged on the intermediate linkages responsible for the relationship between HRM and firm performance. We introduce the construct “strength of the HRM system” and describe the meta-features of an HRM system that result in a strong organizational climate, analogous to Mischel's “strong situation,” in which individuals share a common interpretation of what behaviors are expected and rewarded. The strength of the HRM system can help explain how individual employee attributes accumulate to affect organizational effectiveness.

Understanding HRM–Firm Performance Linkages: The Role of the “Strength” of the HRM System

We introduce this theory-development forum by comparing total quality and management theory at both global and topic-specific levels. Our analysis suggests that management research could be enhanced by incorporating some insights of total quality into management theory. We also conclude, however, that management practice could be improved by incorporating insights from management theory into total quality efforts, and that, in fact, total quality has already incorporated many such insights. Finally, we suggest some directions for theory development and research on total quality.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/258933.pdf

Management theory and total quality: improving research and practice through theory development

In recent years, businesses have rushed to adopt an empowerment approach to service delivery in which employees face customers "free of rulebooks," encouraged to do whatever is necessary to satisfy them. But that approach may not be right for everyone. Bowen and Lawler look at the benefits and costs of empowering employees, the range of management practices that empower employees to varying degrees, and key business characteristics that affect the choice of approaches. Managers need to make sure that there is a good fit between their organizational needs and their approach to frontline employees.

The empowerment of service workers: what, why, how, and when.

The context in which service is delivered and experienced has, in many respects, fundamentally changed. For instance, advances in technology, especially information technology, are leading to a proliferation of revolutionary services and changing how customers serve themselves before, during, and after purchase. To understand this changing landscape, the authors engaged in an international and interdisciplinary research effort to identify research priorities that have the potential to advance the service field and benefit customers, organizations, and society. The priority-setting process was informed by roundtable discussions with researchers affiliated with service research centers and networks located around the world and resulted in the following 12 service research priorities:
•	stimulating service innovation,
•	facilitating servitization, service infusion, and solutions,
•	understanding organization and employee issues relevant to successful service,
•	developing service networks and systems,
•	leveraging service design,
•	using big data to advance service,
•	understanding value creation,
•	enhancing the service experience,
•	improving well-being through transformative service,
•	measuring and optimizing service performance and impact,
•	understanding service in a global context, and
•	leveraging technology to advance service.
For each priority, the authors identified important specific service topics and related research questions. Then, through an online survey, service researchers assessed the subtopics’ perceived importance and the service field’s extant knowledge about them. Although all the priorities and related topics were deemed important, the results show that topics related to transformative service and measuring and optimizing service performance are particularly important for advancing the service field along with big data, which had the largest gap between importance and current knowledge of the field. The authors present key challenges that should be addressed to move the field forward and conclude with a discussion of the need for additional interdisciplinary research.

/pdf/service-research-priorities-in-a-rapidly-changing-context-4kmugoawd5.pdf

Service Research Priorities in a Rapidly Changing Context

Executive Overview Organizational justice has the potential to create powerful benefits for organizations and employees alike. These include greater trust and commitment, improved job performance, more helpful citizenship behaviors, improved customer satisfaction, and diminished conflict. We demonstrate the management of organizational justice with some suggestions for building fairness into widely used managerial activities. These include hiring, performance appraisal, reward systems, conflict management, and downsizing.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/27747410.pdf

David E. Bowen

Papers

Understanding HRM–Firm Performance Linkages: The Role of the “Strength” of the HRM System

Management theory and total quality: improving research and practice through theory development

The empowerment of service workers: what, why, how, and when.

Service Research Priorities in a Rapidly Changing Context

The Management of Organizational Justice