Showing papers in "Human Relations in 2001"

Knowledge Work: Ambiguity, Image and Identity

Abstract: This article takes a sceptical view of the functionalist understanding of the nature and significance of ‘knowledge’ in so-called knowledge- intensive companies. The article emphasizes the slipperiness of the concept of knowledge, the ambiguity of knowledge, its role in what is constructed as knowledge work and the evaluation of work outcomes. Given this ambiguity, the management of rhetoric, image and social processes appears crucial in organizations of this kind. Difficulties in demonstrating competence and performance - as well as the significance of producing the right impression - make work identity difficult to secure. However, this is a key element in doing knowledge work. Successful rhetoric, image production and orchestration of social interactions call for the regulation of employee identities.

Stress and Strain Crossover

Abstract: Studies investigating the crossover of job stress and strain between partners have shown that job demands are transmitted from job incumbents to their partners, affecting their psychological and physical health. Based on the crossover literature and on models of job stress and the work-family interface, this study develops a comprehensive framework to integrate the literature conceptually, delineating the mechanisms that underlie the crossover process. Key constructs include job stress, life events, strain, personal attributes and interpersonal factors. The literature pertaining to each construct in the model is reviewed and summarized. Gaps in the literature are identified, recommendations for future research are proposed, and the implications for organizational theory and practice are discussed.

Complex Thinking, Complex Practice: The Case for a Narrative Approach to Organizational Complexity

Abstract: Complexity is not only a feature of the systems we study, it is also a matter of the way in which we organize our thinking about those systems. This second-order complexity invites consideration of the modes of thinking we use to theorize about complexity, and in this article we develop the idea of second-order complexity using Jerome Bruner’s contrast between logico-scientific and narrative modes of thinking. Using Bruner’s framework, we examine and critique dominant forms of thinking about organizational complexity that are rooted in the logico-scientific mode, and suggest alternatives based in the narrative mode. Our evidence for the value of doing this comes from the logic of complexity theory itself, which we claim indicates and supports the use of the narrative mode. The potential contribution of the narrative approach to developing second-order thinking about organizational complexity is demonstrated by taking a narrative approach to the matter of recursiveness. By extension, similar insights are i...

When Workers Flout Convention: A Study of Workplace Incivility

Abstract: Many organizations are concerned about the potential for workplace aggression and violence, yet pay little heed to lesser forms of interpersonal and organizational mistreatment. Drawing from knowledge and experiences of managers, attorneys, law enforcement officers and emergency medical professionals, we report a multi-method, multidisciplinary inductive study addressing two questions: (1) what is the nature of workplace incivility and how does incivility differ from and fit among other types of workplace mistreatment; and (2) what are some implications of incivility for employees and organizations?

Age Stereotypes and Discriminatory Attitudes towards Older Workers: An East-West Comparison

Abstract: This study compared age stereotypes among 567 respondents sampled in the UK and Hong Kong and examined how these stereotypes were related to discriminatory attitudes at work. Compared to the Hong Kong sample, UK respondents saw older workers as more effective at work, but less adaptable to change. As expected, respondents' own age was predictive of positive age stereotypes, although for supervisors this relationship was moderated in the case of perceptions of work effectiveness. Stereotypical beliefs were found to significantly affect respondents' attitudes towards the training, promotion and retention of older workers, their willingness to work with older workers, and their support for positive discrimination. Findings also suggest that anti-age discrimination policies in the respondent's organization had a positive impact on beliefs about the adaptability of older workers and possibly also on attitudes towards providing them with training. Implications of the findings were discussed in light of the exis...

Fear of Exploitation and Fear of Contamination: Impediments to Knowledge Transfer in Mergers between Professional Service Firms

Abstract: Previous studies of knowledge transfer have identified a variety of impediments that derive from the knowledge base and the organizational context. However such explanations do not take account of the central role that individuals play in the knowledge transfer process, specifically in articulating and legitimizing the knowledge base and in shaping and interpreting the organizational context. This article examines the merger process as experienced within six accounting and consulting firms. It finds that professionals resist knowledge transfer when they perceive that the merging firms differ fundamentally in terms of the quality of their external image and the form of their knowledge base. Whilst professionals may attribute their resistance to commercial and objective concerns, their responses are also governed by highly personal and subjective factors. This study identifies this complex combination of factors as the twin fears of exploitation and contamination.

Towards a Process Model of Individual Change in Organizations

Abstract: This article analyses the way the individual change process unfolds when major; second-order changes are required. Using a framework that integrates both the cognitive and affective components of individual sensemaking and interpretation, we develop a process model that systematically analyses the psychology of the individual change process, and, in particular, the sources of resistance to change or inertia. A series of steps in the change process are identified if second-order change is to come about, and a series of testable propositions about the forces that may facilitate or stymie change are developed.

From Organizational Learning to Practice-Based Knowing

Abstract: L'A. se penche sur les biais qui jalonnent la recherche en apprentissage organisationnel. Il souligne alors l'importance de la pratique pour obtenir un savoir situe spatialement et factuellement

Achieving Acculturation in Mergers and Acquisitions: An International Case Survey

Abstract: Various explanations have been suggested concerning the causes of ‘cultural clashes’ and prescriptions for harmoniously integrating the beliefs and values of merging firms. Using a form of meta-analysis known as a case survey design, which combines the ideographic richness of case studies with the statistical generalizability of larger samples, and a sample consisting of 50 mergers and acquisitions (23 US domestic, 15 Swedish domestic and 12 Swedish cross-border), we found that acculturation is best achieved when the buying firms rely on social controls. That is, by participating in such activities as introduction programs, training, cross-visits, retreats, celebrations and similar socialization rituals, employees will create, of their own volition, a joint organizational culture regardless of expectations of synergies, the relative organization size and differences in nationalities and cultures. A post hoc analysis of a proposed integration control typology further suggests that social controls also indi...

Knowledge and Value Creation in Professional Service Firms: A Framework for Analysis

Abstract: This article presents a comprehensive framework for the analysis of value creation and knowledge development in general and, in particular, for professional service firms (PSFs). The framework integrates the relationship between the domain choice and the resource (or knowledge) base, and argues that the bridge between the two is best explained as value creation processes (VCPs) with two interrelated dimensions: direct value creation for the clients, and indirect value creation in terms of enhancing the knowledge base.

Colonizing Knowledge: Commodification as a Dynamic of Jurisdictional Expansion in Professional Service Firms

Abstract: This paper provides a field level analysis of the process by which management knowledge is produced. Two linked dynamics are identified as important components of this process. The first is the commodification of management knowledge, or the tendency to reduce knowledge to a routinized and codified product. We argue that the commodification of management knowledge is a cyclical process that has been institutionalized by the interests of distinct categories of social actors. The second dynamic, termed colonization, refers to the migration of Big Five professional service firms into adjacent professional jurisdictions. Colonization is the result of intensification of commodification and has produced intense conflict and change in the organizational field of management knowledge production.

Reflexivity in Organization and Management Theory: A Study of the Production of the Research `Subject'

Abstract: In this article, we draw on actor-network theory (ANT) to reflexively investigate the role of the researcher and the research community in the production of a research subject. We review our earlier work, which explores how the dynamics of refugee systems help to produce the research subject - in this case, the refugee. We then use ideas from ANT to move beyond the more conventional institutional and discursive analyses that are used in these articles. We include not just the activities of actors in the refugee system in our analysis, but also our own activities as researchers, as well as those of the broader research community We use the concept of translation to explore the role of these actors in the processes of social construction that produce refugees as a subject of academic study, which is related to, but distinct from, the `social' subject produced in the social setting under study. Generalizing from our own research experience, we argue for a reconceptualization of reflexivity in organization an...

Trust and Control in Anglo-American Systems of Corporate Governance: The Individualizing and Socializing Effects of Processes of Accountability:

Abstract: This article reformulates the problem of corporate governance through a shift of analytic focus, away from the problems of securing the interests of remote owners, to an understanding of processes of accountability and their effects, both objective and subjective, within Anglo-American systems of corporate governance. In place of the essentialist assumptions about human nature upon which both agency theorists and their organizational critics build, processes of accountability are instead held to be themselves constitutive of subjectivity. A distinction is drawn between different processes and practices of accountability in terms of either their ‘individualizing’ or ‘socializing’ effects. Individualizing effects, which are associated with the operation of market mechanisms and formal hierarchical accountability, involve the production and reproduction of a sense of self as singular and solitary within only an external and instrumental relationship to others. In contrast, socializing forms of accountability...

Power and emotion in organizational learning

Abstract: This article explores the difference between learning in an organization and organizational learning. I construct a conceptual framework for understanding organizational learning at an organizational level of analysis. This framework is based on the proposition that organizational learning is visible in the organizational dynamics created from the interaction between politics (power relations) and emotion within an organization. Using a combination of psychodynamic theory and reflections on the politics of organizing I develop the idea that organizations are learning when the 'establishment' that is being created through the very process of organizing can be identified and critically reflected upon. I use a case example of a change initiative within Hyder PLC, a multinational company, to identify organizational dynamics that limit organizational learning. In the final part of the article, I discuss the conclusions that emerged from the case example and the implications of these conclusions for the theory ...

Learning together and apart: A model of reciprocal interfirm learning

Abstract: This article reviews the processes involved in interfirm learning and identifies an alternative form of alliance in which the objective is knowledge creation, not knowledge acquisition or transfer. Grounded on theories from sociology (relational governance) and educational psychology (jigsaw), the article develops an evolutionary model in which successive learning cycles of convergence, divergence, and reorientation facilitate knowledge creation and innovation.

The Nature of Leadership

Abstract: Trait/characteristic theories and empirical approaches to the study of leadership have been supported by mounds of data, graphic models, and regression statistics. While there has been criticism of these mainstream approaches, there has been little in the way of meta-physical support developed for either side of the argument. This paper attempts to address the `science' of leadership study at its most fundamental level.

When is Criticism Not Constructive? The Roles of Fairness Perceptions and Dispositional Attributions in Employee Acceptance of Critical Supervisory Feedback

Abstract: The effects of justice and dispositional attribution on reactions to negative supervisory feedback were examined in two studies. Study 1 showed that criticism delivered with greater interpersonal fairness resulted in more favourable dispositional attributions about the supervisor, more acceptance of the feedback, and more favourable reactions towards the superior and the organization. The beneficial influence of just interpersonal treatment was general across various feedback contexts, although the magnitude varied. Study 2 clarified the causal ordering: just interpersonal treatment reduced negative dispositional attribution, which in turn increased feedback acceptance and improved attitudes towards the supervisor. Study 2 also distinguished the consequences of perceived fairness in the formal procedures applied to forming the feedback, as opposed to interpersonal treatment during its delivery.

Sense of Entitlement to Support for the Reconciliation of Employment and Family Life

Abstract: This article explores young European women and men’s expectations of support - from the state and employers - for reconciling paid employment and family life. It is based on a qualitative study employing focus groups with young women and men in Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Ireland and the UK. Drawing on the concept of sense of entitlement, derived from social justice theory, it was expected that the type of welfare state and ‘gender contract’ that young adults have experienced will influence their sense of entitlement to support for work and family life. Findings indicate that participants perceived their entitlement to state and employer support differently across national context. However this is moderated by gender, parental and occupational status, and particularly by awareness of provisions in other countries in the case of state support, while perceived entitlement to employer support varies according to the specific policy considered, gender and perception of benefits to employers. Some implications f...

Introduction: Knowledge Management in Professional Service Firms

Abstract: Knowledge represents a highly valuable organizational resource. Organizations should pay careful attention to how they manage knowledge. Professional service firms (PSFs) have much to teach other organizations about knowledge management. In the course of the 1990s these assertions progressed from being novel ideas to becoming well-worn cliches. Learned academic journals and airport bookshelves are now crowded with works which seek to define the nature of knowledge and identify how it can be managed. Librarians and IT support staff, traditionally marginalized within organizations, have found themselves re-branded as ‘key information resources’ and ‘chief knowledge officers’. Accountants and consulting firms, typically relegated to a professional services ghetto within the management literature, have been thrust into the foreground as exemplars of best practice in the field of knowledge management. Such is the interest in the topic of knowledge management that a backlash is almost certainly imminent. Bertels and Savage (1998) have suggested that ‘after three years of intense fluff, the lemmings will be on to their next topic, without ever having really mined the subject of knowledge’ (p. 7). This special issue of Human Relations seeks to make a lasting contribution to our understanding of the role of knowledge within organizations. It brings together researchers from a variety of disciplinary and theoretical perspectives who are united by their common interest in the management of knowledge within PSFs. Why has knowledge management become such a ‘hot’ topic in recent years? Some might argue that it is the result of effective marketing by consulting firms (see Suddaby and Greenwood in this issue). Others suggest that academics are inherently attracted to ideationalist theories because, as

Cultural values and management ethics: A 10-nation study

Abstract: There is currently a lack of empirical work on cross-cultural differ- ences in ethical attitudes towards day-to-day management decision- making in organizations. Work that currently exists in the area of management ethics also lacks cultural explanations of differences. The present study tries to overcome these deficiencies by providing a model of ethical decision-making that is based on cultural antecedents, which may explain differences in judgements of ethical- ity, and consequential ethical attitudes or professed behaviour. This article reports a 10-nation empirical study that focuses on ethical 'grey areas' that form part of the day-to-day decision-making in organizations across the globe. Countries were selected to represent variation along two cultural dimensions of 'collectivism-individualism', and 'uncertainty avoidance'. These dimensions were then used to explain national cultural differences in judgements of ethicality of decision items concerned with relations with external stakeholders, with the corporation and with the group. Results generally confirm that these dimensions, once elaborated to consider more recent detailed research, provide explanations for differences in ethical atti- tudes among national groups. This study points the way to further investigations based on cultural explanations of differences in man- agers' ethical attitudes and behaviour.

Organization Studies and Identity: Towards a Research Agenda

Abstract: L'A. souligne l'importance de l'identite en recherche organisationnelle. L'identite individuelle, comme l'identite organisationnelle, cle de la legitimite de l'organisation, sont appelees a jouer un role integrateur dans la recherche sociale

Asserting Property Rights: Knowledge Codification in the Professional Service Firm

Abstract: Despite the frequent assertion that knowledge management is an important strategic activity, there have been relatively few empirical studies of the processes involved in this, particularly in knowledge intensive firms. The paradox inherent to codification projects is that they are dependent on professional staff willingly transferring the knowledge that often underpins their status. My purpose in this article is to examine whether and how this paradox is resolved by presenting a case study of a knowledge codification project under- taken by a professional service firm (PSF). I argue that the successful assertion of property rights relates, ironically, to its limitation. Codification takes place in a way that does not nullify the consultants’ expert role in front of the client. That there appear to be limits to how far such a reductive exercise can capture the activities of the consultants has implications for grammatical models that aim to describe and theorize about organizational processes or sequences of actions. I discuss these in the latter part of the article.

Incorporating Community into Work and Family Research: A Review of Basic Relationships

Abstract: This article provides a framework for integrating community into the analysis of work and family. It reviews existing research on two types of mesosystem connections among work, community and family: (i) direct relationships, in which characteristics of one or more microsystems are associated with characteristics of another microsystem; and (ii) the combined effects of two or more microsystems, that is, the work-family, work-community, community-family and work- community-family interfaces, on various outcomes. The article documents a base of research on which to build, reveals important gaps in our knowledge and provides suggestions for future work that can lead to an integration of community into work and family research.

Creating Authentizotic Organizations: Well-Functioning Individuals in Vibrant Companies

Abstract: A l'oppose des multiples situations de stress professionnel, l'activite peut etre source de bien-etre psychologique et de realisation de soi. L'A. examine les criteres d'une organisation saine, ainsi que les conditions de la motivation. Il forge le concept d'organisation authentizotique, forme a partir du radical d'authenticite et de la racine grecque zootekos signifiant vital

Reactions to Organizational Politics: A Cross-Cultural Examination in Israel and Britain

Abstract: This article reports a comparative analysis of reactions to organizational politics (OP) in two substantially different cultures, Israel and Britain. Two resembling samples of public personnel (n1 = 303 and n2 = 149 in Israel and Britain, respectively) were used to examine employees’ perceptions of organizational politics as well as several possible work outcomes (e.g. intentions of exit, voice, loyalty, neglect, job satisfaction, met expectations, and absenteeism). No differences were found between employees’ levels of politics perception in the two samples. However, a between-sample analysis supported the hypotheses of differences in reactions to OP across cultures. Generally, perceptions of organizational politics affected British employees more strongly than Israeli. The former responded with higher intentions of exit and neglect and lower levels of loyalty, job satisfaction, and met expectations. From these results, our main speculation is that reactions to OP may depend on cultural variants relevant...

Employee Involvement Management Practices, Work Stress, and Depression in Employees of a Human Services Residential Care Facility

Abstract: This article tests a theoretically driven model of the relationship between work environment, specifically, management practices, and employee mental health, specifically depression. It draws on theoretical perspectives connecting work environment and stress, and on others linking stress and depression. It also examines sense of coherence as a possible mediator of the relationships among work environment, work stress, and depression. Results showed that perceived exposure to employee involvement management practices was related to perceived work stress, sense of coherence, and depression. A model was specified to assess potential causal relationships using LISREL. Results suggested that increased exposure to employee involvement practices was indirectly associated with lower levels of depression through both perceived work stress and sense of coherence. The implications of these findings for management practice are discussed.

The Interim Manager: Prototype of the 21 st-Century Worker?

Abstract: As organizations restructure to increase flexibility, interim management by contractors is increasing as an alternative to employment of `permanent' managers. Interim managers begin their new role on the basis of transactional psychological contracts with their employer Their careers are based on a logic of accumulation of learning across organizations. However, there are also forces that may over time cause the redefinition of the psychological contract, employment relationship and career orientation. Based on an interview survey of 50 interim managers, various metaphors are proposed to assist understanding. Interim managers may be considered, for example, as displaced persons, customers at a dating agency, or hired guns. A number of metaphors are employed to extend understanding of their developing employment relationships and careers. The implications of the findings are examined in relation to predictions concerning 21st-century forms of employment, organization and career.

Teacher Stress and the Management of Accountability

Abstract: In this article we explore how teachers can draw upon the language of stress to perform strategically important and often politically sensitive social acts. Our aim will be to show that the description of teaching problems as a matter of ‘stress’ has important social and political implications for teachers. To do this we draw upon interviews with Scottish secondary school teachers; these interviews have been subjected to close textual analysis, informed by some of the basic principles of discursive psychology. The analysis shows teachers flexibly employing stress as a way of managing their own accountability, and of making sense of their institutional roles and relationships. To conclude, we suggest that employing stress as an individualized category not only suppresses its flexibility, but also encourages both teachers and their employers to offer token measures to manage it at a psychological level, rather than engaging in proper debate about the state of the profession.

Why Management Scholars Must Intervene Strategically in the Management Knowledge Market

Abstract: L'A. expose le fonctionnement du marche du savoir en gestion en s'appuyant sur la theorie d'Abrahamson, et considere quelques moyens pour les universitaires d'augmenter leur influence sur ce marche

Moral Foundations of the Learning Organization

Abstract: Characteristics of learning organizations (LOs) include free exchange across communities of practice, networked knowledge and experience, continual improvement, learning leadership, open dialogue, continual transformation and protean psychological contracts. I identify I 0 moral foundations of LOs. They would house communal business cultures, accountable to Aristotelian and Kantian ethics. Power blocs would allow space for quieter, less obtrusive contributions to be valued, rather than imposing exploitative or mercenary discourses of appropriation. LOs would strive to improve their records of meeting stakeholders' moral claims. They would respond humbly to stakeholder criticism. Leadership would be humble and virtue seeking. There would be civil liberties. LOs would build, debug and update their own moral traditions. They would treat employees with compassion. They would also give special help and support to those challenged by obsolescence. There would be transparent operations and decision-making, engen...