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This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/00483489210009129. When citing the article, please cite: Ali Dastmalchian, Paul Blyton, (1992), “Organizational Structure, Human Resource Practices and Industrial Relations”, Personnel Review, Vol. 21 Iss: 1, pp. 58 - 67.

The findings of a study of organisational structure and decision making are outlined. The study was conducted in Saskatchewan and indicates the extent of decentralisation and the participation of employees, including doctors.

Reports the results of a study examining the relationships between organizational structure (formalization, specialization, participation, and centralization) and human resource practices, (training and internal labour market (ILM) with the state of the firm’s industrial relations. The data were collected by means of extensive interviews with managers and union/employee association representatives from 51 Canadian organizations. The results show that decision‐making centralization has a negative impact on a firm’s industrial relations situations (both from the union’s and the management’s point of view), while training has a positive effect on the quality of a company’s industrial relations. The ILM, on the other hand, did not appear to have a major impact on the firm’s industrial relations. Given the current arguments about the changing nature of industrial relations, and that they are influenced by other aspects of a firm’s operations, our preliminary study has reinforced the need to study in more detail the impact of training and organizational structure on industrial relations.

This paper reports the results of a study examining the relationships between the perception of hospital staff of the climate of flexibility and aspects of hospital organisational structure and human resource practices. The data were collected from 52 small and medium sized hospitals in Western Canada by means of personal interviews with both management and union representatives, as well as by distributing a questionnaire among a random sample of staff.

An empirical study is reported which examines the relationships between industrial relations climate and variables reflecting the state of the firm's performance, industrial relations structure, and overall effectiveness in 28 manufacturing companies. In addition to reporting the patterns of association between each of these aspects, multivariate analyses are employed in order to (i) ascertain the direct and indirect influences of industrial relations climate and other variables under study on company effectiveness, and (ii) examine the assumptions about the direction of causality between industrial relations climate and effectiveness. The results highlight the relationships between the above variables and emphasise the importance of conceptualising industrial relations climate in such a way that can adequately reflect the attitudes and behaviour of industrial relations actors. Path analysis suggests that the pattern of causality is not a simple one but involves reciprocal and feedback relationships. However, the mprovement to the explanatory power of company effectiveness by including the notion of industrial relations limate in research, is clearly demonstrated.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the associations of societal trust and distrust with customer orientation. This paper also examines the impact of the above associations on organizational and HRM aspects of cautiousness, culture for change and job satisfaction in the banking industry.

The data for this paper were collected from 812 bank employees in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the USA. Based on the suggestions in the literature this paper provides evidence to support the assertion that concepts of trust and distrust are not part of the same continuum.

The results show a positive association between trust and customer orientation, and provide support for the conceptual distinction between societal trust and distrust. In addition, the study shows that the presence of a culture for change in banks moderates the relationship between societal trust and customer orientation. The results also suggest the overall importance of exercising cautiousness in the banking industry.

Limitations of this research include collection of data from single sources (bank employees) and the cross‐sectional nature of the design. Implications of the results are: the distinction between trust and distrust and its implications for management of trust in organizations; the connection between trust, customer orientation and company performance; specific issues relating to banks – e.g. importance of culture of change, cautiousness and trust.

Impact of developing trust in banks is not just for the quality of the relationships among bank employees. It is also perceived by the bank's customers and will have positive implications for the performance of the bank. Also, minimizing or removing “distrust” before expecting a working environment characterized by trust can be achievable. Also, importance of creating a culture that is conducive to change is a key component of a developing and maintaining trust in organizations.

The evidence that shows the conceptual distinction between trust and distrust is a key finding. Also, cross national data on banks in which trust is shown to be connected to customer orientation and by implication to bank's performance in a unique finding.

The nature of organisational payment systems is likely to be a critical factor in the complex pattern of interactions which influence industrial relations and productivity in industrial companies. The systematic arrangement of rates of pay for employees is one major way in which organisational managements attempt to influence the behaviour of those employees both directly and indirectly. At the same time, particular arrangements reflect the outcome of political, social and economic processes in which all levels of employee, as well as many outside agencies, are frequently involved. Despite its undoubted importance there is not as much systematic research on the topic as one might expect. In particular, little empirical evidence is available linking the parameters of payment systems to other organisational characteristics. The present paper attempts to make a contribution towards filling those gaps in the literature. We report on the characteristics of payment systems and their prevalence in different sized organisations in 59 small companies in South Wales. It will be argued that the characteristics of payment systems will be related to different dimensions of organisational climate, and these relationships are examined empirically.

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a mixed methods study that explored how active community engaged and connected managers were in their local and broader communities (engaged leadership, EL). The paper specifically investigates an under researched aspect of EL – “connectorship” – with focus on developing a measure for connectorship. The authors present the conceptual framework for EL, followed by the operationalization of “connectorship” construct.

The paper focusses on developing a measure for connectorship using data from a qualitative study of 18 senior managers followed by a survey of 458 managers in Canada.

Content analyses of qualitative data led to the generation of 93 items measuring connectorship. Based on these items, quantitative analyses of survey data from 453 respondents yielded a final measure of connectorship, which consisted of 28 items explored under eight dimensions.

An organization’s emphasis on connectedness and engagement of leaders will improve knowledge sharing and better mutual understanding of organizational issues among managers. It will also help attain employment stability and decrease hiring and related costs by reducing turnover. Future research, specifically longitudinal studies of leaders at various organizational levels, could incorporate connectorship as a key criterion for leadership effectiveness.

The focus on connectorship skills implies that in organizations the emphasis should go beyond traditional leadership skills development and included the neglected connectorship skills development. Increased connectedness and engagement among leaders will have positive performance implications.

For effective corporate citizenship, the EL framework and a focus on connectorship would help leaders better understand the importance of social networks, be aware of their own network, and improve their skills in connecting the people within their networks.

Using a variable centered approach within the framework of EL the paper contributes to leadership literature by conceptually defining connectorship developing a measure for this construct and testing its psychometric properties.

An overview of the health care systems in the UK and Canada is given, introducing the special series of articles comparing the two countries′ approaches.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.