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The purpose is to expand our understanding of different organizational group interactions in crises and extend the Competing Values Framework of organizational culture into three first responder groups – firefighters, police and emergency medical technicians. Because unique organizational culture is a critical element in the success or failure of any organization, when organizations combine during crisis, failure often results. The authors examined the cultures of first responders in a crisis to determine whether differences in cultural type might explain some failures.

Using the Competing Values Framework for organizational culture, the authors examined literature on the three first responder cultures. The literature is available on the failure of these organizations to work together in crisis, but little on the deep organizational reasons for these failures.

In view of the different challenges each profession faces and ways they organize to address those challenges, self-directed coordination of these three distinct groups may be optimal, rather than an overall system of command and control. This can be visualized when the authors examine the three cultures using the Competing Values Framework. The authors discuss specific reasons for problems in crisis coordination and give suggestions on coping with three or more different cultures.

This is a literature review and conceptual paper. A meta-analysis of incidences would be helpful.

When disparate organizations work together, culture may interfere with cooperation and coordination. Taking organizational culture into account will enable operations with less friction. In this paper, the authors explain why.

Lack of cooperation and coordination among firefighters, police and EMTs could create loss of life or property. Understanding potential cultural differences will help the disparate groups work together better.

The authors examine organizational culture differences in detail as a reason for the failures of coordination of first responders in crisis. In addition, the authors extend the Competing Values Framework to these essential groups of first responders. The authors are the first to propose a taxonomy of culture for these three groups, based on the Competing Values Framework.

The purpose of this paper is to test the reliability and validity of the qualitative section of Lean Assessment Tool (LAT) starting from the point where a reliable and valid tool is needed to measure increasing leanness level of business organizations.

The questionnaire used in this study included the qualitative component of LAT developed by Pakdil and Leonard (2014). The unit of the study was individual employees who work in manufacturing firms participating in this study. This study focused on the data collected from three firms that operate in Turkey and two firms that operate in the USA. The total respondents from Turkish firms were 263 employees, while the 205 employees responded from US firms.

Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were completed to determine valid and reliable factors that compose LAT’s qualitative component. The statistical analysis showed five distinct factors, namely process, delivery, quality, customer satisfaction and human resource. In addition, the fuzzy logic showed appropriate loadings to make the argument for its use in analysis of the LAT.

This study moves the debate about the success or failure of lean efforts forward. With the debates about lean and its potential, it is necessary to have a scientific determination of success and the areas where further work in the firm is needed. Such measurement is the backbone of management progress, and the authors believe that this paper is useful. Second, the necessity of reliable and valid tools of lean assessment is obvious in the literature and practice. The findings of this study help academicians find reliable and valid tools to measure lean success both in the literature and practice.

Managerial implications include the development of a way to assess the areas of success and areas requiring further work. Failure to measure success and needs for further work has been the reason for the questionable results found in investigating lean implementation efforts. If there is no way to determine what is needed to improve lean efforts, they will be seen as failure, even if part of the implementation has been successful. This tool has been found to be potentially useful for evaluation of these crucial and time-consuming efforts.

In this study, the qualitative section of LAT has been validated. The results demonstrated that, based on two countries’ data sets, the scale was found to be reliable and valid within itself and across sociocultural boundaries.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a qualitative method to examine why complex supply chain crises occur, to aid in future development of a model and theory of supply chain crisis management. The lack of analysis of crisis events in supply chains and their underlying causes is to be addressed.

The paper analyzes various types of supply chain crises and using qualitative analysis determines what key investments of time and resources would prevent crises from escalating or recurring,.

The qualitative analysis reveals key characteristics in supply chain crises. The most common is dependence on a sole supplier, while poor relationships with suppliers are also contributory, as was risk management. Several common characteristics of successful management were found, most notably capacity flexibility, but also multiple suppliers and proactive risk management.

The nature of the study is exploratory, and future research could refine the work to determine a model and theory of supply chain crisis success and failures.

Maintaining capacity flexibility during non‐crisis times can be a difficult investment to make. To pay overhead and maintenance costs on underutilized equipment and a facility with no intention of using those resources for normal production appears at the outset to be counterintuitive. However, given the potential risk of a crisis, a decision to allow for diverse capacity, back‐up equipment, or alternative manufacturing locations results in a positive return on investment in a crisis.

The first steps toward a model for decision making during a supply chain crisis in a firm have been taken. This paper examines supply chain crises by analyzing crises and their outcomes, a method not used in previous papers. Crises management needs proactive analysis, and this paper is an initial exploration of ways to undertake the evaluation of key investments, using both qualitative and quantitative methods.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the intersection of competency and bullying behaviors, not yet reported in the literature.

The approach is an examination of the literature available on both topics, and development of a framework related to both.

The theory is that there is a strong mediating relationship between the victim’s self-perception of competency and outcomes (the victim’s reactions) to bullying behaviors. There are multiple impacts of bullying behaviors, but the authors believe this mediation action of competency might be crucial. There is little research on competency or expertise in terms of behaviors resulting from these self-assessments. Future research should seek to examine the link empirically, and there are implications about the competency levels of bullies themselves that might arise.

As this is a newly developed research stream, the authors plan to continue with work on the topic.

By developing competency, individuals may develop some protection or coping mechanisms when confronted by bullying behaviors. Managers need to be aware of the need to allow employee development to reduce the incidence of such behaviors.

Bullying behaviors have become rampant in society. In trying to determine where the problem might be best addressed, the authors feel that they have made a significant impact to allow managers to address competency among those victimized by these behaviors. This should have a flow-on effect for organizational and societal culture.

This is an intersection that has not been explored but holds significant explanatory power in the area. These bullying behaviors are on the rise; therefore, it is an exceptional opportunity to present new ideas in a forum that is well read by both academics and practitioners.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of acquaintance on performance rating accuracy and halo.

After expert ratings were obtained, US Air Force Officers (n=104) with an average of six years experience rated the performance of four officers who delivered 6‐7 minute briefings on their research projects; 26 raters reported being acquainted with one or more of the briefers. Raters were randomly assigned to use a rating format designed to encourage between‐ratee comparisons on each dimension or a format in which each ratee was separately rated on all dimensions.

Ratings made by acquainted raters were more accurate than ratings by unacquainted raters. Accuracy was positively correlated with halo for both sets of ratings. Rating format had no discernible effect on accuracy or halo.

One limitation of this study is that the measure of acquaintance was not designed as a surrogate for familiarity. Development of a multi‐item, psychometrically‐valid measure of acquaintance should be the first step in pursuing this research. The use of a laboratory design where only a small percentage of the sample was acquainted with those being rated also limits the study's generalizability.

The results show that prior acquaintance with the ratee results in more accurate ratings. Ratings were also more positive when raters had prior contact with the person they rated.

The hypothesis is that the cognitive processes used to produce ratings are different for raters who have had no prior contact with a ratee and raters who are in some manner acquainted with a ratee. In the past, a positive halo effect from acquaintance between raters and ratees has been a concern. However, this limited study indicates that acquaintance may actually result in more accurate ratings.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating roles of two distinct styles of coping and decision latitude on the relationship between three facets of role stress and psychological strain in six national contexts.

The objective of the research is to examine the relative predictive efficacies of three theory specific moderators in six countries which differ on the cultural dimension of individualism‐collectivism. The data are analyzed using moderated regression analysis.

The results show that problem‐focused coping is a better moderator in the individualistic countries and that emotion‐focused coping is a better moderator in the collectivistic contexts. None of the three moderators moderate the relationships in Germany and South Africa – the two countries which had scores in the mid‐range of the individualism‐collectivism continuum. Findings are discussed for their significance into the interplay of cultural variations and coping with work stress in predicting psychological strain or distress on the job.

Practical implications for managing human resources in various subsidiaries of multinational and global organizations are discussed.

This paper confirms existing theories and expands the authors’ understanding of role stress and psychological strain in different cultural contexts.

Lean systems thinking was widely studied using relevant variables, but there is a dearth of published theoretical or empirical evidence about the cultural aspects of lean processes. The lack of conceptual development is one of the motivations for this study. Do organizational cultural variations correlate with the success and effectiveness of lean processes? What organizational infrastructures are required for effective lean implementation and continuation? The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Examining literature in the area of lean production and lean management, the authors sought current literature at the intersection of organizational culture and lean processes, particularly implementation and sustainability, but found little relating to the topic. Therefore, using the Competing Values Framework taxonomy, the authors examine this intersection, relying on related research in the areas.

In this paper, a brief discussion of lean processes in relation to organizational culture leads to propositions that identify the various cultural dimensions and their purported effect on lean implementation and sustainability. A model of this interaction is developed. Those quadrants of the Competing Values Framework that might be useful in developing research directions for the future are identified.

Future research directions include the measurement of organizational culture in firms that have implemented lean processes. This would be a step toward looking at the effect that the different quadrants in the Competing Values Framework have on various elements of lean efforts. This would take a significant amount of work, because the manufacturing industry, the leader in implementing and sustaining lean processes, may have institutionalized particular organizational cultures. It would be an interesting step forward in the understanding of how lean processes are operationalized across different firms and industries. However, there are multiple ways to examine culture; the authors believe this method allows the capture of the entire spectrum.

Knowing which dimensions influence lean effectiveness and the way that they wield that influence allows managers to develop the firm’s organizational culture to one that will support implementing and sustaining lean efforts. The challenge to implement and sustain lean processes lies in the need to identify the organizational culture infrastructure that will allow this system that was first used by Japanese firms to operate well in other organizational contexts. The values and norms that underlie lean processes may create conflict with the culture that already exists within the organization; such divergence retards adoption and performance.

There is a lack of research at the critical intersection of organizational culture and lean implementation/sustainability. Culture is key to making the changes required of lean implementation and in sustaining the drive toward lean production and management. The paper begins to fill that gap.

This paper aims to raise some important questions for cross‐cultural research on occupational stress and well‐being and sets the stage for the five papers in the special issue.

This paper reviews some previous literature on cross‐cultural understanding of occupational stress and well‐being, why such research is difficult to undertake, and summarizes the five original manuscripts that comprise this special issue.

Manuscripts in this special issue represent authors from several countries and report data collected from over a dozen countries. Some contributions attempt to replicate previous North American and European research findings in other countries while others undertake comparative studies of two or more countries.

It is important to undertake more cross‐cultural comparative research of the effects of occupational stress and well‐being to determine whether any boundary conditions exist for previous results based in North American and European samples. In addition, future research should include assessments of some national culture values.