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Social loafing is a key inhibitor in group-based student learning and is a key challenge in administering group-based assessments in higher education. This study examines differences in the effects of antecedents of social loafing (disruptive behaviour, social disconnectedness and apathy) on work quality by comparing student-created and instructor-created groups. The study also investigates how group members' efforts to “pick up the slack” of social loafers in the two kinds of groups moderate the effect of antecedents of social loafing on work quality.

Post-graduate students from two different sessions of the Marketing Management unit participated in the study: 95 students from session 1 and 90 students from session 2. One session represented student-created groups and the other session represented instructor-created groups. Each group consisted of five students. Partial Least Square (PLS) estimation using SmartPLS was used to assess the direct and interaction effects.

The results indicate differences in the effects of the antecedents of social loafing such as apathy and disruptive behaviour on work quality for both student-created and instructor-created groups. Social disconnectedness was found to have no significant effect on work quality. Interestingly, the study found significant differences in the effects of “pick up the slack” on the work quality of student-created and instructor-created groups. Members of student-created groups who picked up the slack of social loafers improved the work quality for unit assessment. This effect was not significant for instructor-created groups.

Extant literature on social loafing predominantly focusses on its effect on students' work quality and educational achievement. This study contributes to the literature by investigating how the student-created and instructor-created group members' efforts to pick up the slack of social loafers moderate the effects of the antecedents of social loafing on work quality.

Introduction Consider a hi‐fi loudspeaker manufacturing company acquired on the brink of insolvency by an American multinational. The new owners discover with growing concern that the product range is obsolete, that manufacturing facilities are totally inadequate and that there is a complete absence of any real management substance or structure. They decide on the need to relocate urgently so as to provide continuity of supply at the very high — a market about to shrink at a rate unprecedented in its history.

Researches have documented the impact of dyadic communication and relationships on individual behavior in workgroups. However, communication remains as the background element in leadership and management literature as opposed to being the primary process in the leader‐member relationships development. The purpose of this paper is to establish and interpret the appropriate level of analysis based on the correlation between leader‐member exchange (LMX) quality, supervisory communication and team‐oriented commitment in a Malaysian organization setting.

A survey from a Malaysian organization (n=201) is analyzed on the relationships between LMX quality, supervisory communication and commitment using within and between analysis (WABA).

The individual dyad relationships and communication correlates with team‐oriented commitment at the group level. Therefore, LMX quality and supervisory communication influence overall team‐oriented commitment in a work group.

Given that the analyses are based on self‐report in one organization, these results have to be handled carefully.

The results implied that the relationship between dyadic relationships quality, supervisory communication and team‐orientated commitment is best connected if individual workers in work group are encouraged to communicate their needs to supervisors. As such, the worker's ability to communicate mutually about relationships (LMX quality and positive relationships communication) and work (upward openness and job relevant communication) with their immediate supervisor implicates both personal fit and work group functioning.

The results extend the authors' understanding of LMX quality, supervisory communication and team‐oriented commitment by identifying the specific form levels of analysis in a Malaysian organization setting.

Considers the micro‐level structure of organizations, particularly the design of structures for sub‐units and individual jobs. Examines the problem at the following levels: the individual worker, the work group, and the organization, adhering to principles for the design of individual jobs. Surmises that the quality of working life is a composite of the attributes of the work groups, and that the organizational structure is only fully complete when each employee′s role is defined to a detailed level.

Examines the design of jobs at the micro‐structure or individual level of the organization. Reviews the drawbacks of the scientific management approach to micro‐level job design. Argues that at the level of the individual, managers should be attempting to create a role for each individual that offers a suitable reward in terms of the level of satisfaction perceived to be accrued from taking that role. Advocates the design of work groups as a means of engendering quality and productivity.

Quality circles are a sign of the times, and their success provokes legitimate irritation for those confronted with their development. They often spark off controversy and generate subjective points of view that denote a downright unwillingness to regard them fairly. What is the bottom line? Should quality circles be discontinued? Are they a means of zeroing in on total quality and, if so, how can the circles become fully integrated and contribute to instituting total quality? These issues are examined.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore and conceptualize how healthcare professionals and managers give shape to the increasing call for compassionate care as an alternative for system-based quality management systems. The research demonstrates how quality rebels craft deviant practices of good care and how they account for them.

Ethnographic research was conducted in three Dutch hospitals, studying clinical groups that were identified as deviant: a nursing ward for infectious diseases, a mother–child department and a dialysis department. The research includes over 120 h of observation, 41 semi-structured interviews and 2 focus groups.

The research shows that rebels’ quality practices are an emerging set of collaborative activities to improving healthcare and meeting (individual) patient needs. They conduct “contexting work” to achieve their quality aims by expanding their normative work to outside domains. As rebels deviate from hospital policies, they are sometimes forced to act “under the radar” causing the risk of groupthink and may undermine the aim of public accounting.

The research shows that in order to come to more compassionate forms of care, organizations should allow for more heterogeneity accompanied with ongoing dialogue(s) on what good care yields as this may differ between specific fields or locations.

This is the first study introducing quality rebels as a concept to understanding social deviance in the everyday practices of doing compassionate and good care.

Continuous improvement groups are teams of employees with special responsibility for improving quality. This paper reports on the first 12 months of a pilot implementation by Land Rover and gives the main results of initial interviews with team members. The analysis concentrates on the attitudes of members who were previously active participants in the quality circle programme, which was formally closed at the end of 1996. The main finding at this stage of the pilot was that these employees welcomed the increased structure and management control of continuous improvement groups where it facilitated improvements to quality consistent with Rover Group’s business goals. Such willingness to accept reduced autonomy in exchange for increased employee involvement and contribution is explained by characterising continuous improvement groups as a stewardship approach to quality management.

Utilising data from 18 in‐depth case studies, this study seeks to explore training, development and human resource development (HRD) practices in European call centres. It aims to argue that the complexity and diversity of training, development and HRD practices is best understood by studying the multilayered contexts within which call centres operate. Call centres operate as open systems and training, development and HRD practices are influenced by environmental, strategic, organisational and temporal conditions.

The study utilised a range of research methods, including in‐depth interviews with multiple stakeholders, documentary analysis and observation. The study was conducted over a two‐year period.

The results indicate that normative models of HRD are not particularly valuable and that training, development and HRD in call centres is emergent and highly complex.

This study represents one of the first studies to investigate training and development and HRD practices and systems in European call centres.

Barnard was acutely aware of the social factors present in organizations and their influence on the effectiveness of organizations. He realized that cooperation, and more specifically that systems of cooperation, were a critical, essential element of effective organizational functioning. This paper extends Barnard’s conception of cooperative systems into what we call the coworker effect. The coworker effect is as an important factor linking positive individual behavior with the broader social context of the work group. In this article we will discuss the outcomes of the coworker effect and the sources that give it its power. In so doing, we can show how cooperative systems behaviorally impact on organizations and how organizations might be able to marshal this important resource more effectively.