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Scholars and practitioners alike wish to understand what makes workplace conflict beneficial or injurious to, for example, performance and satisfaction. The authors focus on parties’ personal experience of the conflict, which is complementary to studying conflict issues (i.e. task- or relationship-related conflict). Although many authors discuss the personal experience of conflict, which the authors will refer to as conflict personalization, different definitions are used, leading to conceptual vagueness. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to develop an integrative definition of the concept of conflict personalization.

The authors conducted a systematic literature review to collect definitions and conceptualizations from 41 publications. The subsequent thematic analysis revealed four building blocks that were used to develop an integrative definition of conflict personalization.

The authors developed the following definition: Conflict personalization is the negative affective as well as cognitive reaction to the self being threatened and/or in danger as a result of a social interaction about perceived incompatibilities.

The integrative definition of this study enables the development of a measurement instrument to assess personalization during workplace conflict, paving the way for developing effective research-based interventions.

Conceptual vagueness hampers theoretical development, empirical research and the development of effective interventions. Although the importance of conflict personalization is mentioned within the field of workplace conflict, it has not been empirically studied yet. This paper can serve as the basis for future research in which conflict issue and personal experience are separated.

Based on sociotechnical systems theory, social (human) and technological sub-systems in an organization should be taken in account when making strategic decisions and designed to fit the demands of the environment for organizational effectiveness. Yet there is very limited information in literature on whether employees are well equipped with indispensable (human) skills to prepare them combating challenges caused by advanced technology. The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate employees’ human skills that are critical for success in the Age of Robots and Artificial Intelligence from human resource development’s perspective.

A questionnaire was developed for the purpose of this exploratory study. A total of 422 US Midwest employees were surveyed on their human skills level that are critical for success in the Industry 4.0 transformation.

In general, the respondents could perform all the measured human skills (which can be categorized into social skillset and decision-making skillset) more than adequate but may vary by education level and gender. To strengthen one’s human skills, organizations may begin with facilitating employees on relationship building to create a support system and a strong sense of belonging, which will promote their social sensitivity and collaboration skill development, as well as decision-making skillset.

The findings of this study can be used for techno-structural interventions and employee development programs. This study highlights the importance of investigating human skills to cope with the changing nature of work and make upskilling more feasible and flexible for workers to be robot-proof.

The purpose of the current research is to examine the crucial role of employees' perception of an incivility norm in predicting supervisors' incivility behaviors, which in turn, results in employees enacting incivility toward their coworkers and employees' emotional exhaustion.

In Study 1, an experience sampling method (a daily-diary approach) in which 143 male participants from several construction sites completed a total of 1,144 questionnaires was used . In Study 2, cross-sectional data from 156 male employees working in a manufacturing organization was collected. In Study 3, a quasi-experiment was conducted in which 33 and 36 employees were assigned to the intervention and control groups, respectively.

In Studies 1 and 2, it was revealed that employees are likely to experience their supervisor’s incivility behaviors when perceiving such incivility behaviors are more acceptable within the organization (incivility norm). Further, once employees experience incivility from their supervisor, they are more likely to enact incivility toward their coworkers and experience emotional exhaustion. In Study 3, changing organizational policies via implementing grievance procedures was effective in improving the study’s outcome variables.

Incivility norms predict some negative work outcomes such as incivility behaviors as both a victim and instigator, and emotional exhaustion. Further, reducing an adverse organizational norm (i.e. incivility norm) via instituting grievance procedures was effective in reducing incivility behaviors and emotional exhaustion.

The effects of the spread of COVID-19 across the world are devastating, both from a health and an economic perspective. However, we also see encouraging examples of collaborative and innovative initiatives, in society and in organizations. The purpose of this paper is to focus on initiatives related to digital business model innovation. The authors explore how organizational characteristics provide a variety of opportunities for digital responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and discuss the potential consequences for the speed of digital transformation in organizations and society.

In this paper, the authors analyze how organizations attempt to mitigate the negative effects of fighting COVID-19 using digital business model responses. The authors draw on a qualitative study where they have collected data from the retail and service industries. They have analyzed the data in relation to theory to better understand this ongoing phenomenon.

The authors have identified four categories of organizations (crisispreneurs, accelerators, endurers and thrivers). Each category faces different challenges and shows a different intensity in their digital transformation. The authors propose that the rapid turn toward digital business models will have enduring effects, as organizations have gained transformational capabilities that will remain, and that the digital trajectory has, as a result, changed forever.

The findings in this paper point toward new challenges for leaders and policymakers in terms of how to support initiatives and meet the needs of different categories of organizations while simultaneously being conscious of the potential societal effects of this rapid digital shift. The authors hope that this paper can be of value for managing this shock and learning how to adapt for the future taking certain aspects of current business models as the departure point.

While there is a general belief that a defective institutional environment will lead to higher compliance risk, the current state of knowledge about how the institutional environment affects enterprises' compliance is equivocal. This study aims to explore how does the host country's institutional environment affect the compliance risk perception of international engineering contractors and how to mitigate this impact.

This study empirically tests the impact of the institutional environment from the two dimensions of the institutional environment: legal completeness reflects whether the formal regulations are clear, detailed and comprehensive and legal effectiveness reflects whether rules and policies can be implemented effectively when the proper legal codes are provided. Based on 213 questionnaire data, this study uses partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) and Smart PLS software to test the hypothesis.

This study finds a negative relationship between the host country's legal completeness (LC) or legal effectiveness (LE) and a contractor's compliance risk perception. Further, the results show potential absorptive capacity (PAC) and realized absorptive capacity (RAC) of a contractor are critical for mitigating the impact of low LC in the host country, but not when LE is low.

The findings will be useful for international engineering contractors to respond to the compliance risk of the host country, both in choices of overseas investment locations and compliance capacity building.

This study reveals the impact of the host country's institutional environment on the compliance risk perception of international contractors, and provides theoretical guidance for how to alleviate the compliance barriers brought by the host country's institutional environment to international engineering contractors.

The purposes of this paper are (1) to identify and rank the various enablers for an integrated sustainable-green-lean-six sigma-agile manufacturing system (ISGLSAMS), and (2) to study their correlations and their impact on organizational performance.

Three tiers methodology is used to analyze the enablers for the successful adoption of ISGLSAMS. First, a total of 32 ISGLSAMS enablers are identified through a comprehensive literature review. Then, data are collected with a structured questionnaire from 108 Indian manufacturing industries. Then, an analytic approach is used to analyze (1) the relevance and significance of enablers and (2) their correlations (1) with each other, and (2) with the organizational performance outcomes, to strengthen the understanding of ISGLSAMS.

The findings suggest that top management commitment, sustainable reconfigurable manufacturing system, organization resources for 6 Rs, customers' and stakeholders' involvement, corporate social responsibility (CSR), customers and stakeholders-focused strategic alliances, dynamic manufacturing strategies, use of information and communication technology, concurrent engineering, standardized tasks for continuous improvement, virtual network of supply chain partners, real-time monitoring and control, training and education, employees' involvement and empowerment enablers are the higher level enablers for the adoption of ISGLSAMS. Findings also suggest that there is a scope for research in the incorporation of lot size reduction, Keiretsu-Kraljic supply chain relationship strategy, external collaborations with the stakeholders other than supply chain members, matrix flatter organization structure, employees' career development, justified employees' wages, government support for research fund and subsidies and vendor-managed inventory practices for ISGLSAMS. Top management commitment, sustainable reconfigurable manufacturing system, organization resources for 6 Rs, corporate social responsibility (CSR), dynamic manufacturing strategies, use of information and communication technology, concurrent engineering, virtual network of supply chain partners, real-time monitoring and control, training and education, employees' involvement and empowerment have a significant effect on (1) sustainable product design, (2) sustainable production system, (3) improvement in the sale, (4) improvement in market responsiveness, (5) improvement in the competitive position and (6) improvement in the global market image.

Through this study of ISGLSAMS enablers and their interdependence, and their impact on ISGLSAMS performance outcomes government, organizations, stakeholders, policymakers and supply chain partners may plan the policy, roadmap and strategies for the successful adoption of (1) ISGLSAMS in the organizational value chain, and (2) Industrial ecology and industrial symbiosis in India. The study also contributes to the industrial managers, and value chain partners a better understanding of ISGLSAMS.

This study is the first attempt to understand (1) the ISGLSAMS enablers and their correlations, and (2) the effect of ISGLSAMS enablers on ISGLSAMS performance outcomes to get the competitive and sustainability advantage. The study contributes to the practitioners, policymakers, organizations, government, researchers and academicians a better understanding of ISGLSAMS enablers and its performance outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, a case study on applying lean principles in manufacturing operations to redesign and optimize an electronic device assembly process and its impact on performance and second, introducing cardboard prototyping as a Kaizen tool offering a novel approach to testing and simulating improvement scenarios.

The study employs value stream mapping, root cause analysis, and brainstorming tools to identify root causes of poor performance, followed by deploying a Kaizen event to redesign and optimize an electronic device assembly process. Using physical models, bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement were identified by the Kaizen approach at the workstations and assembly lines, enabling the testing of various scenarios and ideas. Changes in lead times, throughput, work in process inventory and assembly performance were analyzed and documented.

Pre- and post-improvement measures are provided to demonstrate the impact of the Kaizen event on the performance of the assembly cell. The study reveals that implementing lean tools and techniques reduced costs and increased throughput by reducing assembly cycle times, manufacturing lead time, space utilization, labor overtime and work-in-process inventory requirements.

This paper adds a new dimension to applying the Kaizen methodology in manufacturing processes by introducing cardboard prototyping, which offers a novel way of testing and simulating different scenarios for improvement. The paper describes the process implementation in detail, including the techniques and data utilized to improve the process.

This paper aims to identify the combination of innovation determinants driving the creation of innovative products amongst market leaders and market followers in food and beverage (F&B) firms.

This research is based on the case study methodology by using two types of data sources: (1) semi-structured interviews with industry experts and (2) in-depth interviews with managers. In addition, a questionnaire adapted from prior research was used to consider market and firm types.

Suggesting an integrated theoretical framework based on firm-based factors and market-based factors, this study identified a combination of determinants significantly impacting innovative products in the market. Specifically, these determinants are competition intensity and innovation capability (a combination of research and development (R&D) investment and marketing capabilities). The study also examined how these determinants vary depending on whether the firms are market leaders or market followers.

This research provides practical insights for managers working in the F&B industry by using case studies and exploring the determinants of developing innovative products. In doing so, suitable strategies can be selected according to the market and firm situations.

The originality of the study is shown by focussing on how different combinations of market and firm factors could be applied in creating successful innovative products in the food sector.

We studied the relationship between job engagement and systematic problem solving (SPS) among shop-floor employees and how lean production (LP) and Internet of Things (IoT) systems moderate this relationship.

We collected data from a sample of 440 shop floor workers in 101 manufacturing work units across 33 plants. Because our data is nested, we employed a series of multilevel regression models to test the hypotheses. The application of IoT systems within work units was evaluated by our research team through direct observations from on-site visits.

Our findings indicate a positive association between job engagement and SPS. Additionally, we found that the adoption of lean bundles positively moderates this relationship, while, surprisingly, the adoption of IoT systems negatively moderates this relationship. Interestingly, we found that, when the adoption of IoT systems is complemented by a lean management system, workers tend to experience a higher effect on the SPS of their engagement.

One limitation of this research is the reliance on the self-reported data collected from both workers (job engagement, SPS and control variables) and supervisors (lean bundles). Furthermore, our study was conducted in a specific country, Italy, which might have limitations on the generalizability of the results since cross-cultural differences in job engagement and SPS have been documented.

Our findings highlight that employees’ strong engagement in SPS behaviors is shaped by the managerial and technological systems implemented on the shop floor. Specifically, we point out that implementing IoT systems without the appropriate managerial practices can pose challenges to fostering employee engagement and SPS.

This paper provides new insights on how lean and new technologies contribute to the development of learning-to-learn capabilities at the individual level by empirically analyzing the moderating effects of IoT systems and LP on the relationship between job engagement and SPS.

This paper seeks to understand kaizen in practice as it travels through time and space in the organisational setting.

A qualitative case study was carried out at a multinational company using mainly interviews for the data collection that were analysed from an actor-network theory (ANT) perspective.

This paper finds that the company deals with a series of paradoxes while managing the kaizen process. Efficiency and quality paradoxes are the basis for starting kaizen projects. Furthermore, intrinsic, and extrinsic motivation, emerge in these processes, and paradoxes relate to how spontaneous ideas emerge in a deliberated context of cost-saving objectives. The supply chain finance team coordinates kaizen projects with the collaboration of plant managers, promoting the paradox of autonomy and control. In addition, as kaizen mobilises and enrols the actors, some trials of strength emerge, showing actors who oppose the kaizen network and create competing networks that mutually exist in the firm.

This study presents valuable insights for professionals to successfully implement kaizen methodologies that take advantage of developing a network for problem-solving in organizations.

This study highlights the supply chain finance team's role in enrolling the actors within a network built by practitioners engaged in kaizen projects. Usually, engineers, quality, or manufacturing teams lead kaizen projects, and only occasionally, accounting and financial teams participate, including multidisciplinary teams.