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This chapter draws on a study conducted in the mid 1990s to compare management differences between three different groups of South African hospitals, in order to understand how these differences might have affected hospital functioning. The groups were public hospitals; contractor hospitals publicly funded but privately managed; and private hospitals owned and run by private companies. Public sector structures made effective management difficult and were highly centralized, with hospital managers enjoying little autonomy. In contrast, contractor and private groups emphasised efficient management and cost containment. These differences appeared to be reflected in cost and quality differences between the groups. The findings suggest that in the context of a country such as South Africa, with a relatively well-developed private sector, there is potential for the government to profit from the management expertise in the private sector by identifying lessons for its own management structures, and by contracting-out service management.

Industrial relations, organizational behavior, and human resource management scholars have studied numerous aspects of internal workplace conflict resolution, ranging from the design of conflict resolution systems to the processes used for resolving conflicts to the outcomes of the systems. Scholars from these specialties, however, have paid considerably less attention to external workplace conflict resolution through litigation. This chapter analyzes certain areas of such litigation, focusing specifically on workplace conflicts involving issues of managerial and employee misclassification, independent contractor versus employee status, no-poaching agreements, and executive compensation.

Leading recent cases involving these issues are examined, with particular attention given to the question of whether the conflicts reflected therein could have been resolved internally or through alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods rather than through litigation.

Implications of this analysis are drawn for workplace conflict resolution theory and practice. In doing so, I conclude that misclassification disputes could likely be resolved internally or through ADR rather than through litigation, but that no-poaching and executive compensation disputes could very likely not be resolved internally or through ADR.

The chapter draws on and offers an integrated analysis of particular types of workplace conflict that are typically treated separately by scholars and practitioners. These include misclassification conflicts, no poaching and labor market competition conflicts, and executive compensation conflicts. The originality and value of this chapter are to show that despite their different contexts and particular issues, the attempted resolution through litigation of these types of workplace conflicts has certain common, systematic characteristics.

Purpose – Both misbehavior and commitment in organizations have attracted substantial attention. This chapter reviews the misbehavior and commitment literature to investigate the implicit negative correlation between these two important organizational phenomena.

Methodology/approach – A four-dimensional typology of counterproductive workplace behaviors (CWBs) is developed from the misbehavior literature, describing individual behaviors in terms of: their target(s), the vehicle for misbehavior, their social acceptability, and their quantity. The typology facilitates characterization of CWBs, and, more generally, comparisons between workplace commitment and the field of misbehavior, comprising the range of CWBs.

Findings – The chapter supports the assumed negative relationship between commitment and misbehavior although the strength of the relationship varies across some of the four dimensions.

Research limitations/implications – The reliance on secondary data limits evaluation of the typology. Further research using primary data is commended.

Practical implications – More insightful audits of organizational misbehavior can be produced to guide interventions. For example, CWBs that are directed at individuals, through a person's work role, and are socially unacceptable will require different interventions to those who are directed at the organization, through extra-role behavior, and are more socially acceptable (e.g., minor thefts).

Social implications – Clarifying the impact of CWBs on commitment and, hence, turnover, etc., highlights the cost of CWBs and may motivate organizations to address CWBs and, thereby, promote healthier workplaces.

Originality/value of chapter – This chapter is novel in developing a more comprehensive typology of CWBs. Describing the various CWBs in a single, comprehensive framework provides additional insight into misbehavior.

This chapter explores women leaders’ outward appearance in the male-dominated world of rail, through the lenses of postfeminism and neoliberalism. Drawing on 31 interviews with women leaders in rail, it maps how a postfeminist logic is evident in women leaders’ narratives of aesthetic femininity. Aesthetic femininity refers to women leaders’ outward appearance which they describe as feminine. The research participants justify their feminine ‘work style’ through postfeminist themes of individual choice, natural sex differences, irony, personal initiative, skill and empowerment. The findings also show a patterning of justification around aesthetic femininity that fits a neoliberal self-governance as enterprise, self-flexibility and self-confidence. It is argued that whilst these iterations of aesthetic femininity are rooted in postfeminist and neoliberal contexts, they have consequences for sustaining gendered inequalities and traditional feminine norms in the highly masculinised culture of rail. Women’s narratives, whereby gender inequalities are acknowledged then subsumed into individualised agency through dress and appearance, do little to challenge the gendered culture in this sector.

Classifying workers as either employees or independent contractors has significant financial consequences for the payer (usually a business) and the worker. The payer may be motivated more by the desire to avoid paying for employee benefits and employer payroll taxes than by doing the right thing and correctly classifying and paying the worker as an employee. Estimates are that the cost of such benefits and taxes may equal 20–30% of gross pay. When governmental regulations are unclear or enforcement is lax, many stakeholders suffer. This includes the workers, their families, their co-workers, and law-abiding employers as well as citizens (taxpayers) who must pay more than their fair share to provide adequate funding for related government programs and benefits. This is a global issue as evidenced by widely publicized lawsuits in many countries involving prominent defendants such as Microsoft, Uber, and Lyft. Software platforms used to distribute small jobs to temporary and part-time workers have resulted in the exponential growth of the gig economy. Such technology has also further enabled the misclassification of workers beyond what has occurred in years past. An ethical analysis to identify the many stakeholders and the impact of worker misclassification should be conducted to guide governments in developing and enhancing regulations for the pervasive issue of worker classification and to protect the rights of their workers and taxpayers.

Traditionally, hiring indefinite duration contract employees has been the dominant method used by U.S. organizations to staff their labor needs. Indefinite duration contract employees, hereafter referred to as “regular” employees, have three defining characteristics: (1) they are hired directly as employees of the organization whose work they perform; (2) the duration of the employment relationship is unspecified, with a mutual expectation that it will continue as long as it is mutually satisfactory; and (3) the employment relationship provides ongoing – as opposed to intermittent – work. When their demand for labor increases, organizations staffed exclusively by regular employees can respond by having their employees work overtime or by hiring additional regular employees. Conversely, when their demand for labor decreases, such organizations can either maintain “inventories” of excess regular employees or reduce labor inputs by laying-off or reducing the work hours of regular employees.

In Malaysia, there seems to be no mutual and general agreement among construction industry players and researchers on what the critical success factors (CSFs) of construction projects are since characteristics of construction projects vary across various projects complexity. This chapter thus examines the CSFs for affordable high-rise public housing projects in Malaysia through a thorough review of the literature on the CSFs, which were then contextually customised via a pilot study and presented in the form of Relative Importance Index (RII). Primary data were collected via administration of questionnaire surveys to 170 construction stakeholders of affordable high-rise public housing projects in Malaysia. The findings of this study revealed that the top 10 ranks are good management and supervision at site, good personal behaviour by all participants, good implementation in safety management and practice, high commitment in quality control by management, competent manager/supervisor, good communication and coordination, good and enough material and equipment, experience worker, clear objective and goals and good support by senior employee/management, whereby it is crucial in ensuring the project success of affordable high-rise public housing projects in Malaysia. This chapter provides clear guidelines for the contractors of affordable high-rise public housing projects to be more competitive in the construction industry by illustrating the important factors to be considered while delivering the projects to their respective clients.