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Addresses the standardization of the measurements and the labels for concepts commonly used in the study of work organizations. As a reference handbook and research tool, seeks to improve measurement in the study of work organizations and to facilitate the teaching of introductory courses in this subject. Focuses solely on work organizations, that is, social systems in which members work for money. Defines measurement and distinguishes four levels: nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio. Selects specific measures on the basis of quality, diversity, simplicity and availability and evaluates each measure for its validity and reliability. Employs a set of 38 concepts ‐ ranging from “absenteeism” to “turnover” as the handbook’s frame of reference. Concludes by reviewing organizational measurement over the past 30 years and recommending future measurement reseach.

Reports on a research project aimed at making precise formulations of the characteristics of organisational structure, and that the fieldwork involved heavy interviews at 52 corporate bodies in the UK city of Birmingham. States the present research programme has been concerned with the problems of such measurements of precise formulations and development of measuring scales, with which to assess differences quantitatively. Concludes that further work is necessary to widen the range of variables to which marketing organisations can be related – in order to explore the salient features of the context of the marketing specialism.

This paper analyzes how German municipalities organize their purchasing activities. It aims to identify patterns in the structure of the purchasing function and to study how the size of the municipality influences the design of its purchasing organization. Therefore, an analytical framework based on contingency and organization theory is developed and results of an empirical study are presented. The results indicate that German municipalities use a medium level of centralization and specialization in organizing their purchasing activities, but that the purchasing process is highly formalized and represented on high hierarchical levels in many cases. As to the relationship between the size of a municipality and the structure of its purchasing function, the study indicates that size, measured by the number of inhabitants, the number of employees and purchasing volume influences the structural variables in various ways.

Over the past decade, the U.S. workforce has become increasingly diverse. In response, scholars and practitioners have sought to uncover ways to leverage this increasing diversity to enhance business performance. To date, research evidence has failed to provide consistent support for the value of diversity to organizational effectiveness. Accordingly, scholars have shifted their attention to diversity management as a means to fully realize the potential benefits of diversity in organizations. The principal aim of this chapter is to review the current wisdom on the study of diversity climate in organizations. Defined as the extent that employees view an organization as utilizing fair personnel practices and socially integrating all personnel into the work environment, diversity climate has been proposed as a catalyst for unlocking the full value of diversity in organizations. During our review, we discuss the existent individual- and aggregate-level research, describe the theoretical foundations of such work, summarize the key research findings and themes gleaned from work in each domain, and note the limitations of diversity climate research. Finally, we highlight the domains of uncertainty regarding diversity climate research, and offer recommendations for future work that can enhance knowledge of diversity climate effects on organizational outcomes.

In this chapter, we develop and present the Multi-Perspective Multilevel Model of emotional labor in organizations. This model is based on three perspectives: (1) a service requirement, (2) an intra-psychic process, and (3) an emotional display, each involving five levels of analysis: within-person, between persons, in interpersonal exchanges, in groups, and across the organization as a whole. Our model is differentiated from earlier characterizations of emotional labor in that we propose that the phenomenon begins with energy generation instead of energy depletion; and is neither a one-way nor a one-by-one service episode. We further proffer that the intra-psychic processes embedded in emotional labor represent a form of social self-regulation that impacts across multiple levels within service organizations. We conclude by discussing the implications and limitations of our model for emotional labor research.

Even more than 50 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination toward a number of groups in employment settings in the United States, workplace discrimination remains a persistent problem in organizations. This chapter provides a comprehensive review and analysis of contemporary theory and evidence on the nature, causes, and consequences of discrimination before synthesizing potential methods for its reduction. We note the strengths and weaknesses of this scholarship and highlight meaningful future directions. In so doing, we hope to both inform and inspire organizational and scholarly efforts to understand and eliminate workplace discrimination.

I. INTRODUCTION This study attempts to extend and expand previous research conducted by the Department of Marketing at Strathclyde on the adoption and diffusion of industrial products.

This article examines the application of "resource dependency theory" to transnational corporations (TNCs) operating in host countries like Bangladesh to explain the relationship between the TNCs and Bangladesh. Data indicate that while the TNCs' participation in a third world host country is encouraged primarily for promoting its economic development, TNCs are mainly attracted by market size, purchasing capacities (determined mainly by GNP) of the population, and stable political condition of the country. Although examination of the application of resource dependency theory provides some insights into understanding the complicated relationship between TNCs and Bangladesh, several other factors, not explained by resource dependency theory, help explain the behavior of TNCs in a host country

The purpose of this paper is to (a) distinguish the structural designs, and (b) examine the relationship between structure and effectiveness in American sport organizations. Formalization, centralization, and specialization were examined to determine the structural designs. Senior level administrators from National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I (N = 86) departments completed an electronic questionnaire. Cluster analysis was used to group departments according to the three dimensions of structure. Results demonstrated the presence of two structural designs—the Simple Structure and the Enabling Structure. MANCOVA procedures showed differences between departments in athletic achievement, but not in the education of student athletes. Discussion of the findings and future directions are presented.

This chapter provides novel theory that explicates how positive emotions of four actors (supervisors, employees, peers, and customers) in the service profit chain can foster the creation of positively deviant service businesses. It is suggested to incorporate studies and theories of positive organizational scholarship and particularly studies on positive emotions to the services marketing literature. This chapter elucidates how positively deviant behaviors, such as expressions of appreciation, helping others, gratitude, trustworthiness, and unselfishness, can foster the creation of such positively deviant performances that may generate supreme customer experience. These four positively deviant performances are trust in self and others, feeling of oneness, creativity, and seeing the bigger picture. The suggestion is that these positively deviant performances create climate for positivity in the supplier–customer interaction and foster the co-creation of mutual value in service businesses.