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1 – 10 of over 77000
Article
Publication date: 1 June 2003

Ellen Ernst Kossek, Karen S. Markel and Patrick P. McHugh

In order to manage strategic demographic change in economic and labor markets, a common human resource (HR) change strategy is to increase the diversity of the workforce through…

11327

Abstract

In order to manage strategic demographic change in economic and labor markets, a common human resource (HR) change strategy is to increase the diversity of the workforce through hiring over time. This study examined department level consensus and valence regarding an organizational HR strategy to shift demography toward greater diversity in race and sex composition over an eight‐year period. Though the organization had experienced significant change in organizational demography: an increase in the overall representation of white women (36 percent) and minorities (41 percent) over time; work group members in units with the greatest change did not necessarily agree nor hold positive perceptions regarding these HR changes. The results show that HR strategies that focus on structural change without working to develop supportive group norms and positive climate may be inadequate change strategies.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 16 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 30 October 2009

Donald L. Gilstrap

The purpose of this case study was to increase the knowledge base of how research librarians experience and cope with the turbulence of change within their library system. A…

Abstract

The purpose of this case study was to increase the knowledge base of how research librarians experience and cope with the turbulence of change within their library system. A library belonging to the Association of Research Libraries was selected for case study investigation. Seventeen librarians participated in on-site interviews, utilizing a protocol composed of a clustering technique and semi-structured interviewing. Instrumental case studies of each individual were then developed through a collective case method. The findings presented in this chapter include: the competing tensions between the physical and virtual environments, the speed of change, the search for professional meaning, and coping with the experiences of professional change. Analysis of the findings suggest: the emergence of a hypercritical state, the limiting nature of negative feedback, a complex systems framework for professional thinking, and coping in the hypercritical organization.

Details

Advances in Library Administration and Organization
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-580-2

Article
Publication date: 19 January 2023

Kiara Jordan Butler and Irwin Brown

The purpose of this preliminary empirical research study is to understand how environmental disruption such as brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic induces shifts in organisational

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this preliminary empirical research study is to understand how environmental disruption such as brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic induces shifts in organisational culture, information security culture and subsequently employee information security compliance behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach

A single-organisation case study was used to develop understanding from direct experiences of organisational life. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected using a sequential mixed methods approach, with the qualitative phase following the quantitative to achieve complementarity and completeness in analysis. For the quantitative phase, 48 useful responses were received after a questionnaire was sent to all 150–200 employees. For the qualitative phase, eight semi-structured interviews were conducted. Statistical software was used to analyse the quantitative data and NVivo software was used to analyse the qualitative data.

Findings

The pandemic-induced environmental disruption manifested as a sudden shift to work-from-home for employees, and relatedly an increase in cybercrime. The organisational response to this gave rise to shifts in both organisational and information security culture towards greater control (rule and goal orientations) and greater flexibility (support and innovation orientations), most significantly with information security culture flexibility. The net effect was an increase in employee information security compliance.

Originality/value

The vast literature on organisational culture and information security culture was drawn on to theoretically anchor and develop parsimonious measures of information security culture. Environmental disruptions such as those caused by the pandemic are unpredictable and their effects uncertain, hence, the study provides insight into the consequences of such disruption on information security in organisations.

Article
Publication date: 30 March 2020

Masoud Shadnam

In recent years, organization scholars have engaged in several conversations about the process of theory development, and offered many proposals for building new theories of…

1119

Abstract

Purpose

In recent years, organization scholars have engaged in several conversations about the process of theory development, and offered many proposals for building new theories of organization. The purpose of this paper is to highlight a fundamental, fruitful and often neglected method for developing new theories of organization.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper draws on Peirce's typology of reasoning: deduction, induction and abduction. This typology helps in analyzing and categorizing the extant proposals for developing new theories of organization, and also makes it visible what approach has been most often missing.

Findings

This paper shows that the offered proposals can be categorized into the following two models: (1) armchair theorizing; (2) present capturing. This categorization also highlights a third model – change sensitizing – that is based on shifting organization theories by sensitizing ourselves to macro shifts of organizational reality.

Originality/value

Although the change sensitizing model is an unusual, marginal practice in today's organization research, it has historically been used to develop many of the renowned theories in social sciences. If taken as a serious agenda, it has the potential to generate a host of new, valuable theories of organization.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 34 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 24 October 2022

Suzana Sukovic, Jamaica Eisner and Kerith Duncanson

Effective use of data across public health organisations (PHOs) is essential for the provision of health services. While health technology and data use in clinical practice have…

Abstract

Purpose

Effective use of data across public health organisations (PHOs) is essential for the provision of health services. While health technology and data use in clinical practice have been investigated, interactions with data in non-clinical practice have been largely neglected. The purpose of this paper is to consider what constitutes data, and how people in non-clinical roles in a PHO interact with data in their practice.

Design/methodology/approach

This mixed methods study involved a qualitative exploration of how employees of a large PHO interact with data in their non-clinical work roles. A quantitative survey was administered to complement insights gained through qualitative investigation.

Findings

Organisational boundaries emerged as a defining issue in interactions with data. The results explain how data work happens through observing, spanning and shifting of boundaries. The paper identifies five key issues that shape data work in relation to boundaries. Boundary objects and processes are considered, as well as the roles of boundary spanners and shifters.

Research limitations/implications

The study was conducted in a large Australian PHO, which is not completely representative of the unique contexts of similar organisations. The study has implications for research in information and organisational studies, opening fields of inquiry for further investigation.

Practical implications

Effective systems-wide data use can improve health service efficiencies and outcomes. There are also implications for the provision of services by other health and public sectors.

Originality/value

The study contributes to closing a significant research gap in understanding interactions with data in the workplace, particularly in non-clinical roles in health. Research analysis connects concepts of knowledge boundaries, boundary spanning and boundary objects with insights into information behaviours in the health workplace. Boundary processes emerge as an important concept to understand interactions with data. The result is a novel typology of interactions with data in relation to organisational boundaries.

Details

Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9342

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2000

Rita Mano‐Negrin and Alan Kirschenbaum

The use of internal (intra‐organizational) or external (inter‐organizational) labor markets in men and women’s past employment is examined here as an explanation for differences…

Abstract

The use of internal (intra‐organizational) or external (inter‐organizational) labor markets in men and women’s past employment is examined here as an explanation for differences in turnover behavior. A sample of 700 employees from eight medical organizations in seven labor markets was used to assess the importance of previous internal and external shifts and organizational level opportunities on men’s and women’s present job change choices. Women’s job changes were more affected by previous intra‐organizational moves, whereas men’s job changes were increased by previous inter‐organizational moves. These results suggest that gender differences in job shifts are due to women’s greater reliance on internal labor markets.

Details

International Journal of Manpower, vol. 21 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7720

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 15 October 2020

Jane S. VanHeuvelen

Autonomy has long been established as a critical component of professional work. Traditionally, autonomy has been examined as the extent to which an individual or a professional…

Abstract

Autonomy has long been established as a critical component of professional work. Traditionally, autonomy has been examined as the extent to which an individual or a professional group controls the decisions and knowledge used in their work. Yet, this framework does not capture the additional work activities that professionals are increasingly expected to perform. Therefore, this chapter argues for theoretically expanding our understanding of professional autonomy by bringing in the concept of articulation work. Using the case of healthcare organisational change, this study assesses how shifts in work practices impact autonomy. Data come from longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth interviews conducted at a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit as it underwent significant structural changes. Findings show that professionals were forced to change articulation work strategies in response to new organisational structures. This included changes in the way professionals monitored, assessed, coordinated and collaborated around patient care. Furthermore, these shifts in articulation work held important implications for both workplace and professional autonomy, as professionals responded to changes in their work conditions.

Details

Professional Work: Knowledge, Power and Social Inequalities
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-210-9

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 29 May 2018

Per Andersson

The aim of this chapter is to approach marketing organization from a research perspective, research that reflects contemporary practices of the time. This is done through a review…

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to approach marketing organization from a research perspective, research that reflects contemporary practices of the time. This is done through a review of some of the central texts in the field. The chapter starts by drawing attention to two previous attempts to review and revisit the field, two influential and frequently cited researchers and texts: Achrol’s (1991) frequently cited article entitled “Evolution of the marketing organization: New forms for turbulent environments” and Homburg and colleagues’ (2000) review a decade later entitled “Fundamental changes in marketing organization: The movement toward a customer-focused organizational structure.”

The chapter then reviews the field around 2010, leading into the author’s own concluding reflections on how circumstances internal and external to organizations have affected the organizing of marketing. The chapter argues that while some ideas and changes after 2010 might be viewed as new, other changes are apparently old changes in new shapes. Attention is drawn to six areas of marketing organization research that have emerged and taken a central position in marketing organization research: (1) the adaptation of marketing practice and organization to various business trends, (2) market- and customer-oriented organizations, (3) shifts in marketing’s general role and influence within the firm, (4) marketing’s strategic role and connection to business management, (5) marketing’s interactions with other internal functions, and (6) marketing organization and the application of a wider spectrum of organization theories.

Book part
Publication date: 8 April 2005

J.Daniel Wischnevsky and Fariborz Damanpour

The punctuated equilibrium model (PEM) is an influential model of organizational change that can both advance theory and guide managerial action. However, with the exception of…

Abstract

The punctuated equilibrium model (PEM) is an influential model of organizational change that can both advance theory and guide managerial action. However, with the exception of Romanelli and Tushman’s (1994) study of minicomputer firms, the core assertion of the PEM – that fundamental organizational change would occur through brief, discontinuous, and simultaneous changes in all domains of organizational activity and not through incremental and asynchronous changes – has not been tested in longitudinal, large-sample research. We examined the event histories of 50 bank holding companies in the U.S. between 1975 and 1995, replicating Romanelli and Tushman’s test of the PEM in a less turbulent industry environment. Additionally, we examined the consequences of organizational transformation on subsequent firm performance, an aspect of the PEM that has seldom been studied. We found that both revolutionary and non-revolutionary change patterns were common means to accomplish organizational transformation. We also found that the installation of a new top executive not previously affiliated with the company and major shifts in the regulatory environment increased the likelihood of revolutionary transformation. Whereas severe performance declines before transformation decreased the likelihood of organizational transformation, the occurrence of revolutionary transformation did not significantly influence subsequent organizational performance.

Details

Research in Organizational Change and Development
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76231-167-5

Article
Publication date: 26 June 2018

Matthew Egan and Dale Tweedie

The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore how accountants can contribute to organisational sustainability initiatives.

8706

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore how accountants can contribute to organisational sustainability initiatives.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper adopts a critical case study methodology, focused on a large Australian company in which senior management sought to engage accounting staff in an internal sustainability reporting initiative focused on eco-efficiency. Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capitals and field enable a relational analysis of the findings.

Findings

While accountants adapted well to early changes aligned to cost efficiency, they struggled to engage with more creative sustainability improvements. The paper explains both adaptions and constraints as interactions between accountants’ professional habitus, capitals and their broader organisational field. Prior strategies to engage accountants (e.g. training) only partially address these factors.

Practical implications

The accounting profession has persistently urged members to contribute to organisational sustainability initiatives. This paper provides insight into how organisations might combine professional acculturation and appropriate capitals to advance this agenda.

Social implications

Although eco-efficiency is only one potential element of comprehensive organisational sustainability management, the paper’s insights into engaging accountants contributes to understanding how broader social sustainability agendas might be advanced.

Originality/value

The study addresses calls for empirical insights into how accountants can contribute to corporate sustainability practices. Prior studies have polarised between interpreting accountants as either enablers or barriers to sustainability change. This paper explores how shifting configurations of habitus, capital and organisational field can enable either outcome.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 31 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

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