Interest in the problem of method biases has a long history in the behavioral sciences. Despite this, a comprehensive summary of the potential sources of method biases and how to control for them does not exist. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to examine the extent to which method biases influence behavioral research results, identify potential sources of method biases, discuss the cognitive processes through which method biases influence responses to measures, evaluate the many different procedural and statistical techniques that can be used to control method biases, and provide recommendations for how to select appropriate procedural and statistical remedies for different types of research settings.

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Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies.

Self-Reports in Organizational Research: Problems and Prospects

This article synthesizes the large but diverse literature on organizational legitimacy, highlighting similarities and disparities among the leading strategic and institutional approaches. The analysis identifies three primary forms of legitimacy: pragmatic, based on audience self-interest; moral, based on normative approval: and cognitive, based on comprehensibility and taken-for-grantedness. The article then examines strategies for gaining, maintaining, and repairing legitimacy of each type, suggesting both the promises and the pitfalls of such instrumental manipulations.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/258788.pdf

Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches

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

1. Introduction 2. The emergence of learning activity as a historical form of human learning 3. The zone of proximal development as the basic category of expansive research 4. The instruments of expansion 5. Toward an expansive methodology 6. Epilogue.

Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research

Leading authorities share their approaches to understanding, managing and changing organizational cultures. Includes methods for identifying cultural norms, reinforcing the positive aspects of existing culture, and building new cultures that support organizational goals and strategies.

Gaining Control of the Corporate Culture

This paper describes the rationale and development of a new measure of five interpersonal conflict-handling modes (competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, and accommodating), which attempts to control for the social desirability response bias. The instrument is entitled: "Management-of-Differences Exercise," or the MODE instrument. The results of this study indicate that the new instrument significantly reduces the social desirability bias for overall population tendencies in comparison to three other conflict behavior instruments, although all four instruments may still be susceptible to some individual tendencies in this response bias. This study also investigated other aspects of substantive validity and structural validity. Lastly, this paper presented emerging evidence on external validity, which, while encouraging, suggests the need for continuing research efforts to investigate this aspect of validity for the new MODE instrument.

Developing a forced-choice measure of conflict-handling behavior: The "MODE" instrument.

The article reviews the book “Organization Change and Development: A Systems View,” by Michael Beer.

Organization Change and Development : A Systems View

This study has sought to investigate the Jungian psychological correlates of an individual's choice of different interpersonal conflict-handling modes: competing, collaborating, compromising, avoid...

Interpersonal conflict-handling behavior as reflections of Jungian personality dimensions.

The current popularity of corporate culture has raised some important issues. Does culture have an impact? How deep seated is culture? Can culture be changed? Corporate culture is not merely a passing fad but represents a fundamental shift in our effort to understand the complex, multifaceted organizations of today. However, it cannot be approached as a quick fix solution to a complex and changing problem. Culture needs to be managed along with all the other elements of management theory, such as strategy, structure, reward systems, skills and human resource management, if a company is to devise an integrated program for improving its performance.

http://cmr.ucpress.edu/content/ucpcmr/28/2/87.full.pdf

Ralph H. Kilmann

Papers

Gaining Control of the Corporate Culture

Developing a forced-choice measure of conflict-handling behavior: The "MODE" instrument.

Organization Change and Development : A Systems View

Interpersonal conflict-handling behavior as reflections of Jungian personality dimensions.

Issues in Understanding and Changing Culture