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1 – 10 of 100The purpose of this paper is to apply the best practices defined by the Government Accounting Office (GAO) in its assessment of Amtrak to infrastructure improvements in electronic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to apply the best practices defined by the Government Accounting Office (GAO) in its assessment of Amtrak to infrastructure improvements in electronic reserves at Columbia University Libraries.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on a 2004 GAO report, Intercity Passenger Rail, to set a framework for the handling of infrastructure improvement projects, and then examines a hypothetical electronic reserves project in light of that framework.
Findings
This paper concludes that the best practices laid out in the GAO report, which include comprehensive planning, risk assessment, comprehensive financial management, accountability and oversight, and stakeholder involvement, are appropriate guidelines for any infrastructure improvement project. Many projects must address issues outside of infrastructure, however, and may benefit from outcomes‐based goals and policy adjustments.
Originality/value
The paper is of benefit in the planning of library projects that include infrastructure improvements.
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Allison S. Gabriel, David F. Arena, Charles Calderwood, Joanna Tochman Campbell, Nitya Chawla, Emily S. Corwin, Maira E. Ezerins, Kristen P. Jones, Anthony C. Klotz, Jeffrey D. Larson, Angelica Leigh, Rebecca L. MacGowan, Christina M. Moran, Devalina Nag, Kristie M. Rogers, Christopher C. Rosen, Katina B. Sawyer, Kristen M. Shockley, Lauren S. Simon and Kate P. Zipay
Organizational researchers studying well-being – as well as organizations themselves – often place much of the burden on employees to manage and preserve their own well-being…
Abstract
Organizational researchers studying well-being – as well as organizations themselves – often place much of the burden on employees to manage and preserve their own well-being. Missing from this discussion is how – from a human resources management (HRM) perspective – organizations and managers can directly and positively shape the well-being of their employees. The authors use this review to paint a picture of what organizations could be like if they valued people holistically and embraced the full experience of employees’ lives to promote well-being at work. In so doing, the authors tackle five challenges that managers may have to help their employees navigate, but to date have received more limited empirical and theoretical attention from an HRM perspective: (1) recovery at work; (2) women’s health; (3) concealable stigmas; (4) caregiving; and (5) coping with socio-environmental jolts. In each section, the authors highlight how past research has treated managerial or organizational support on these topics, and pave the way for where research needs to advance from an HRM perspective. The authors conclude with ideas for tackling these issues methodologically and analytically, highlighting ways to recruit and support more vulnerable samples that are encapsulated within these topics, as well as analytic approaches to study employee experiences more holistically. In sum, this review represents a call for organizations to now – more than ever – build thriving organizations.
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Paul E. Levy, Steven T. Tseng, Christopher C. Rosen and Sarah B. Lueke
In recent years, practitioners have identified a number of problems with traditional performance management (PM) systems, arguing that PM is broken and needs to be fixed. In this…
Abstract
In recent years, practitioners have identified a number of problems with traditional performance management (PM) systems, arguing that PM is broken and needs to be fixed. In this chapter, we review criticisms of traditional PM practices that have been mentioned by journalists and practitioners and we consider the solutions that they have presented for addressing these concerns. We then consider these problems and solutions within the context of extant scholarly research and identify (a) what organizations should do going forward to improve PM practices (i.e., focus on feedback processes, ensure accountability throughout the PM system, and align the PM system with organizational strategy) and (b) what scholars should focus research attention on (i.e., technology, strategic alignment, and peer-to-peer accountability) in order to reduce the science-practice gap in this domain.
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Ignacio Jiménez-Hernández, Gabriel Palazzo and Francisco Javier Sáez-Fernández
The purpose of this paper is to analyze a variety of factors that can explain the differences in commercial bank efficiency among 17 countries in Latin America (LatAm).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze a variety of factors that can explain the differences in commercial bank efficiency among 17 countries in Latin America (LatAm).
Design/methodology/approach
In a first stage, data envelopment analysis (DEA) and conditional efficiency analysis techniques are used to assess the relative efficiency level of 409 banks for the 2014-2016 period. The conditional efficiency approach considers environmental variables (that are beyond the manager’s control), which could influence the shape and the level of the boundary of the attainable set. In the second stage, the resulting conditional efficiency scores are correlated with internal variables (those that are under the manager’s control), which might affect the distribution of the inefficiencies. For this purpose, an econometric approach developed by Simar and Wilson (2007) is used.
Findings
First stage scores reveal the heterogeneity of average efficiency within the region. Regarding the factors that may explain the differences in performance in the LatAm banking sector, the results allow us to state that certain internal variables such as bank size, the ratio of loans to total assets and the ratio of non-performing loans show the expected relationship to efficiency, in line with much of the previous literature.
Originality/value
This is the first time that conditional efficiency and Simar and Wilson (2007) approaches have been applied at the same time to analyse the LatAm banking industry.
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This study aims to incorporate theory on effort-recovery and stressor-detachment models to examine the roles of relaxation, mastery and types of control on the relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to incorporate theory on effort-recovery and stressor-detachment models to examine the roles of relaxation, mastery and types of control on the relationship between psychological detachment from work and boundary violations at home.
Design/methodology/approach
This study analyzes data from two time points using a sample of 348 working mothers recruited from Prolific.
Findings
Working moms who psychologically detach from work have less work boundary violations at home. There are mixed findings on whether and when the other types of recovery experiences moderate the relationship between psychological detachment and boundary violations at home. Relaxation, control after work and job autonomy do not moderate the effect while mastery and boundary control do. Specifically, psychological detachment is more effective as reducing boundary violations at home for working moms who have (1) low levels of mastery and (2) high levels of boundary control.
Practical implications
Working mothers juggle multiple roles and often have increased stress and less time to manage the two domains. The findings of this study illustrate whether and when psychological detachment from work acts as a key to recovery from work-based stressors.
Originality/value
Much of the research on recovery experiences is based on employees without consideration of motherhood status. Further, scholars have not examined the combinative potential of recovery experiences. Finally, examining control over both domains (vs. one domain) adds precision to the literature.
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The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of a woman diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) who was bullied out of her workplace.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of a woman diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) who was bullied out of her workplace.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper commences with a narrative about our protagonist, Miranda (a pseudonym), before offering some important contextual theoretical information, including: a discussion of employment concerns for people with disability generally, and for those with MS in particular, and of workplace bullying. Miranda's experiences are then shared as an intrinsic and particularistic case study of her experiences of being bullied following her disclosure of MS at her workplace.
Findings
Recommendations are made for further research into the potential problems of the workplace experiences of people with disability as a result of learning from the particularities of Miranda's individual case, as well as how this case study has illuminated a potentially much wider and previously unexamined problem of workplace bullying of people with disability.
Originality/value
The author is unable to find any other research studies that examine the phenomenon of workplace bullying of people with disability in general, or people with MS in particular.
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Gabriel Gazzoli, Murat Hancer and BeomCheol (Peter) Kim
The purpose of this paper is to examine why employee‐level customer orientation (CO) influences the customer experience in a service setting.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine why employee‐level customer orientation (CO) influences the customer experience in a service setting.
Design/methodology/approach
Given the dyadic nature of the study, a two‐way sample design was used which integrated employee responses with customer responses. A total of 186 employees and 1,117 customers participated in the study. The data was aggregated at the employee level of analysis.
Findings
The study found that job satisfaction and employee commitment mediated the relationship between employee‐level CO and a customer's perception of interaction quality. Additionally, interaction quality is shown to be positively related to customer satisfaction.
Research limitations/implications
Although the design of the research utilized data from both customers and employees from several restaurant outlets in the USA, all the restaurants belonged to one chain (reflecting a single corporate culture), and thus it may be difficult to generalize the results.
Originality/value
This study extends the CO theory by explaining how and why CO affects a customer's perceptions from an organizational behavior (OB) perspective, with job satisfaction and organizational commitment as mediators. This is important as the few studies that attempted to explain the effect of CO on customers' experience through mediating variables took a marketing perspective instead of an OB view. Practically, this research highlights the important role that human resource management may have from the interactive marketing perspective.
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Swathi K.S., Gopalkrishna Barkur and Somu G.
The purpose of this paper is to review the accreditation research in specific to its effect on the performance of healthcare organizations.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the accreditation research in specific to its effect on the performance of healthcare organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
A comprehensive search and analysis of literature on the effect of healthcare accreditation were conducted between June 2017 and May 2018. The study identified 62 empirical research studies that examined the effect of healthcare accreditation programmes. Study particulars such as year of publication, objectives, focus of the study, research settings and key findings were recorded. A content analysis was performed to identify the frequency of the main themes in the literature. Knowledge gaps needing further examination were identified.
Findings
Majority of the accreditation impact studies were carried out in the developed nations (n = 49). The thematic categories, that is the impact on “patient safety and healthcare quality” (n = 26), “healthcare professionals’ views” (n = 28) and “clinical process and outcomes” (n = 17) were addressed more times. Whereas the other two thematic categories “organizational performance” and “consumers’ views or satisfaction,” each was examined less than 10 instances. This review reveals mixed views on effect of healthcare accreditation. The varied quality of studies and the availability of a few studies on consumers’ perception of accreditation effectiveness were the important limiting factors of this review.
Originality/value
The findings are valuable to healthcare managers and hospital administrators in accreditation decisions, whereas findings are of value to researchers and academicians in terms of gaps identified for future research studies pertaining to the impact of healthcare accreditation. Future studies need to consider holistic theoretical frameworks for assessing the effect of accreditation on performance of healthcare organizations to achieve precise results.
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Dominique Peyrat-Guillard, Gwenaëlle Grefe and Jeayaram Subramanian
This study aims to examine the process model of quondam commitments (commitments employees used to have, but no longer have). It is part of a new perspective aimed at…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the process model of quondam commitments (commitments employees used to have, but no longer have). It is part of a new perspective aimed at understanding better the concept of commitment, a powerful determinant of employee retention, by looking at gone commitments.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on a qualitative methodology recommended in the most recent commitment literature, life story interviews (Study 1 – flight attendants) and non-directive interviews (Study 2 – pilots) were conducted.
Findings
The authors propose a revised process model of quondam commitments, including the possible transformation of a commitment bond into a different type of psychological bond over time.
Research limitations/implications
The sample sizes are limited because of the qualitative nature of both studies, and the quondam commitment outcomes could only be studied at the individual level. However, the innovative nature of the work offers important contributions and avenues for research.
Practical implications
This study provides concrete perspectives for hospitality professionals to retain employees who question their relationship with work. Its relevance goes beyond the airline sector and can be applied to the hotel or restaurant industry, looking for solutions to deal with massive attrition.
Originality/value
This research contributes to filling three gaps identified in the commitment literature. It is one of the very rare studies considering closely both multiple targets and multiple types of psychological bonds. Moreover, it incorporates their dynamics, beyond the commitment bond, and suggests a refined model.
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