Search results

There is no single way of achieving business success. The concept of knowledge management (KM) builds on the existing management practices, integrating them into a philosophy for improving performance. This paper aims to understand the various dimensions of KM and how they differ in public and private sector organizations in India. It also attempts to identify the dimensions where one sector is better than the other and areas needing improvement.

The paper uses a sample comprising 16 private and public sector organizations. A convenient sampling scheme was used. The extent of KM practices was evaluated with respect to dimensions, namely process, leadership, technology, culture and measurement.

The paper empirically shows that private sector organizations fare better statistically on all dimensions compared to public sector organizations. Although the private sector is ahead of the public sector on the raw mean scores of various dimensions, it has still a long way to go as the scores are below four on a scale of five. The scores are just satisfactory and there is further scope for improvement.

The study uses a sample of four public sector organizations and the findings may lack generalization. Therefore, it would be interesting to verify the findings using a larger sample size.

The paper can serve as a best practice document for public and private sector organizations interested in adopting KM for improving performance.

The paper tries to bring forth concern areas for KM in Indian public and private sector organizations.

While the term “entrepreneurship” is not exclusively a private sector phenomenon, it is usually associated with private sector business activity and more specifically with small to medium enterprises. However, over the last two decades it has appeared in the public administration literature with increasing frequency. The recent research in public sector entrepreneurial activity makes an exploratory comparative analysis of the key components that are applicable from private sector entrepreneurship timely as the topic is emerging as an area of academic inquiry and research. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comparative analysis of private and public sector entrepreneurship using an analytical model from private and public sector entrepreneurship.

A clear understanding of the research issues involved requires an appreciation of the nexus between private sector entrepreneurship and the more limited research field of public sector entrepreneurship. The paper identifies and examines the historical and evolutionary research on entrepreneurship as a basis for analysis of public and private sector entrepreneurship.

The paper provides a comprehensive analysis that highlights key similarities, differences or a combination between public and private sector entrepreneurship and develops an existing model and framework for a systematic approach to the public sector entrepreneurial process.

Based on this exploration, new insights about public sector entrepreneurship are developed, practical implications for public sector entrepreneurs on how to approach public sector entrepreneurship more systematically and effectively are presented and opportunities for further research are identified.

The purpose of the paper is to describe and compare similarities as well as differences in the organizational engagement with ethics between private sector companies and public sector entities.

A survey was conducted in order to examine the organizational engagement with ethics in the largest private sector companies and the largest public sector entities in Sweden. Two adapted questionnaires were developed for each sector. The outcome of this research procedure is reported in this paper.

There are both minor and major differences between the private sector and public sectors, where the private sector companies overall tend to be more engaged with ethics than the public sector entities in areas such as: ethical bodies, ethical tools, internal and external ethical usage, and ethical support measures and ethical performance measures.

This paper makes a contribution to theory as it outlines findings for the benefit of other researchers working in private and/or public sectors in the field. A suggestion for further research is to examine the organizational engagement with ethics in other countries/cultures that differ from the ones in this research effort performed in the private and public sectors of Sweden.

The research may be of managerial interest as it provides a grounded framework of areas to be considered in the examination of organizational engagement with ethics in both private sector companies and public sector entities. It may be used as a benchmark by either sector.

It reports a research effort to develop and describe a cross‐sector comparison of the organizational engagement with ethics between private sector companies and public sector entities of Sweden. A framework is also introduced and illustrated. It also makes a contribution to theory and practice in the field as it is based upon a dual sample that provides insight into cross‐sector organizational engagement with ethics.

The aim of this paper is to shed light on the procurement process of consulting services within the public sector and to benchmark the obtained results with practices in the private sector.

A two‐stage research design has been used. First, in‐depth personal interviews were conducted with six users of consulting services. The second stage involved a cross‐sectional survey of purchasers of a broad range of business advisory services. This included private as well as public purchasers.

It was found that the procurement process of consulting services in the public sector differs significantly from that of private companies. Further analyses indicate that purchasers from public and private organizations are equally satisfied with the results of consulting services.

The results of the study indicate that public sector organizations may need to develop new buying skills in market management, specification, competitive process, negotiation regulation and monitoring.

The paper suggests that a more high‐level management involvement is needed, recognizing the importance of the procurement function within the public sector and supporting highly trained staff in implementing strategic procurement initiatives.

The study provides unique insights on how consulting services are purchased in the public sector as well as in the private sector. Furthermore, the paper illustrates which purchase practices explain the satisfaction level of purchasers of consulting services.

The paper aims to understand the different motivations / reasons for engaging in CSR initiatives by the organizations. In addition, the study also examines the relationship between CSR motivations and corporate social performance (CSP).

The data were collected from two power sector organizations: one was a private sector firm and the other was a public sector firm. A comparative analysis of the variables with respect to private and public sector organizations was conducted. A questionnaire survey was administered among 370 employees working in the power sector, with 199 executives from public sector and 171 from private sector.

“Philanthropic” motivation emerged as the most dominant CSR motivation among both the public and private sector firms. The private sector firm was found to be significantly higher with respect to “philanthropic”, “enlightened self-interest” and “normative” CSR motivations when compared with the public sector firms. Findings suggest that public and private sector firms differed significantly on four CSR motivations, namely, “philanthropic”, “enlightened self-interest”, “normative” and “coercive”. The CSP score was significantly different among the two power sector firms of public and private sectors. The private sector firm had a higher CSP level than the public sector undertaking.

Further studies in the domain need to address differences in CSR motivations and CSP across other sectors to understand the role of industry characteristics in influencing social development targets of organizations. Research also needs to focus on demonstrating the relationship between CSP and financial performance of the firms. Further, the HR outcomes of CSR initiatives and measurement of CSP indicators, such as attracting and retaining talent, employee commitment and organizational climate factors, need to be assessed.

The social issues are now directly linked with the business model to ensure consistency and community development. The results reveal a need for “enlightened self-interest” which is the second dominant CSR motivation among the organizations. The study makes a novel contribution by determining that competitive and coercive motivations are not functional as part of organizational CSR strategy. CSR can never be forced as the very idea is to do social good. Eventually, the CSR approach demands a commitment from within. The organizations need to emphasize more voluntary engagement of employees and go beyond statutory requirements for realizing the true CSR benefits.

The purpose of this paper is to identify unique values and competencies linked to private and public sector environments.

This study is based on critical incident interviews with a sample of senior leaders who had experience in both the public and private sectors.

The findings illustrate distinct public and private sector relevant competencies that reflect the unique values of their organizations and the character of the organization’s environments. This paper suggests a range of distinct public sector competencies including: managing competing interests, managing the political environment, communicating in a political environment, interpersonal motivational skills, adding value for clients, and impact assessment in decision-making. These were very different than those identified as critical for the private sector environment: business acumen, visionary leadership, marketing communication, market acumen, interpersonal communication, client service, and timely and opportunistic decision-making. Private sector competencies reflect private sector environments where goals need to be specifically defined and implemented in a timely manner related to making a profit and surviving in a competitive environment. Public sector competencies are driven by environments exhibiting more complex and unresolvable problems and the need to respond to conflicting publics and serving the public good while surviving in a political environment.

A key message of this study is that competency frameworks need to be connected to the organization’s unique environments and the values that managers are seeking to achieve. This is particularly important for public organizations that have more complex and changing environments.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse and compare the implementation of quality initiatives in banking, insurance and tele-communication industry under public and private sectors in India.

The study comprised of a descriptive research with a cross-sectional design. Preliminary interviews and extensive literature review was done to identify the quality initiatives to be considered for the study. Data were gathered through a questionnaire comprising of items on a five-point Likert’s scale. Descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviations and inferential statistics such as paired t-test and correlation were used for analysing the data.

The results depict that although both the sectors are trying to outsmart each other by the various quality initiatives undertaken, the private sector is still ahead in quality implementation. It is also worth witnessing a major overhaul in the public sector operations to service the end customer with utmost commitment good enough to match its private counterparts.

The paper provides insights to young managers and researchers about the level of implementation of quality practices in public and private sector organisations and strategies for improvement.

The paper contributes to theory and practice as little empirical research is available to understand the differences between the two sectors on the basis of quality initiatives. Also there is dearth of such a research in industries other than banking.

The purpose of this paper is to examine and compare the differential impacts of job satisfaction (JS), trust (T), and perceived organizational performance (POP) on turnover intention (TI) in public and private sector organizations.

Draws on a sample of 311 employees from the service sector (129 public and 182 private) in the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE). The main concepts utilized in the study are borrowed from previous research and further tested for validity and reliability. Four main hypotheses are explored.

In support of previous research, statistical analysis (t-test) revealed that public sector employees tend to be more satisfied, more trusting, and have less intention to leave their organization. Regression analysis revealed that public sector employees’ TI are most significantly affected by their perceptions of the performance of their organization, with JS, work experience (WE) and education (Ed) also having significant effects. In contrast, private sector employees’ TI was most significantly affected by JS and feelings of trust (T).

Although very useful, the present study is limited in scope and therefore suffers from some limitations. The sample only includes employees from UAE organizations operating in education, some government institutions and the financial sector. Future research might consider including employees the health sector and other public organizations such as the immigration/police departments which play important strategic roles in the UAE economy. Also, future research might consider extending the scope of the study to include institutions in similar neighboring countries in the region, such as Qatar and Kuwait.

The findings of this study points to the relative importance of trust, JS and perceived organizational performance in affecting TI in public and private sectors. These can be considered as indicators to assist managers in these sectors to better manage/minimize TIs. In particular, the findings indicate that managers in general (and UAE public sector managers in particular) need to monitor and better manage not only their employees’ JS but also perceptions of the overall performance of the organization.

While research on the influence of JS on TI in both of these sectors has been abundant over the years, studies examining the impact of trust and perceptions of organizational performance remain few and are largely lacking. Also, studies on turnover in the UAE (and particularly those comparing public and private sectors) remain largely lacking. This study and its findings fill this gap and provide some insights on the differential impact of trust, JS and perceived organizational performance on employee TIs in public-private sectors, particularly in the UAE context.

Organizational commitment and perceived management styles were examined using survey responses from 1418 employees from both public and private sector organizations, operating in Australia. Comparisons between public (n=474) and private (n= 944) sector employees revealed significantly higher levels of commitment amongst private sector employees. These differences were consistent with differences in perceived management styles. The concept of organizational commitment was found to incorporate the notion of “corporate loyalty/citizenship” and the notion of “attachment to the organization”. Management styles (as perceived by respondents) were found to relate to four main sub‐dimensions: (1) the degree of “emphasis on flexibility and adaptation”; (2) the degree of “emphasis on rules and regulations”; (3) the degree of emphasis on “hierarchy and role specialization” and (4) the degree of “work‐group discontinuity/change”. For both sectors, statistical analysis (regressions) revealed that the degree of organizational commitment as well as the extent of loyalty and attachment to the organization were affected positively by perceptions of greater (perceived) emphasis on “flexibility and adaptation” and by lesser (perceived) emphasis on “rules and regulations”. Salient implications of these findings on management practice are discussed. In recent years, a great deal of attention has been invested in identifying the various causes and implications of organizational commitment. The main thrust was to afford reasonable explanations of the development process of organizational commitment defined as the strength of an individual's identification and involvement with an organization. One of the most contended views is that positive organizational commitment, including feelings of affiliation, attachment and citizenship behaviour, tends to improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness by contributing to resource transformations, innovativeness, and adaptability (Williams & Anderson, 1991). As such, organizational commitment has important implications for both individual and organizational outcomes and is central to organizational life. In general, the antecedents of commitment have been grouped into two categories: personal characteristics and situational attributes. However, previous research has not reached any substantial agreement on the precedence of the above characteristics. While some researchers have found (and argued) the prevalence of personal characteristics (Brooks & Seers, 1991) others have tended to emphasise situational effects (Grau et al, 1991), while still others have underlined equal effects of both types of characteristics (O'Reilly et al, 1991). In an attempt to contribute to the research debates and suggestions, the present article examines the potential impact of management styles (as perceived by members) on the degree of organizational commitment. The notion of management style is considered from the organizational standpoint (Burns & Stalker, 1961; Shrader et al, 1989). The article draws on an empirical study focusing on a sample of 1418 public and private sector employees from a variety of industries based in Australia. Management style can significantly influence the degree of workers commitment to organizational values and goals. In general, it has widely been shown and argued that the more flexible and participative management styles can strongly and positively enhance organizational commitment (Gaertner & Nollen, 1989). These styles tend to decrease role stress and thereby significantly increase employee commitment. The organic style of management emphasising flexibility and adaptation (Burns & Stalker, 1961; Gonring, 1991) might provide greater concern for workers as human beings, and for the work organization as a total social and cultural system. The success of this type of management style lies with its flexibility and adaptability to changing conditions while maintaining organizational consistency and continuity. Because of its greater reliance on worker loyalty and trust, this style of management might also be geared to enhance organizational citizenship behaviours (Williams & Anderson, 1991).

Observes that there has been considerable recent interest in evolving forms of network organizations, and notes the suggestion that organizations are developing increasingly fuzzy external boundaries as ongoing relationships with external subcontractors are developed. Identifies a number of network models that have been proposed which combine systems theory, resource dependency theory and strategic contingencies theory, but notes there has been little empirical analysis of the effects of an organization’s external relationships on its internal relationships, or vice versa. Summarizes briefly recent theoretical developments in the network literature and then reports on a case study analysis of a number of public‐private sector tourism marketing collaborative organizations. Looks at the reasons why public and private sector organizations collaborate to market a local tourism destination and the benefits that can be obtained from this process when compared to in‐house marketing. Concludes that the organizations studied had developed structures and processes which had the characteristics of an emerging network organization.