Search results

Organization change (OC) is increasingly important in today's volatile world. Understanding OC is a growing emphasis of management and organization (M&O) research and the singular focus of OC scholarship and practice. We show how selected M&O theories inform OC at the organization level. These theoretical perspectives diverge on issues central to OC. We explore what these conceptual differences mean for OC study and practice going forward.

The purpose of this study is to explore the different contributions of work and non‐work relationships that comprise individuals' developmental networks to career success.

A multi‐method approach provides a rich understanding of how work and non‐work developmental relationships combine to support individuals' careers. Survey data were analyzed from 254 working adults who were also part‐time MBA students. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 37 participants.

Quantitative results indicate that non‐work developers provide more overall support than work developers. Support from non‐work developers is positively associated with career satisfaction and life satisfaction. In contrast, support from work developers is positively associated with salary level and career satisfaction. Qualitative data indicate differences in the sub‐functions and quality of support offered by work versus non‐work relationships, particularly in terms of role modeling.

Developmental relationships from different domains emphasize different sub‐functions of support and differentially affect career outcomes. While broad functions – career support, psychosocial support, and role modeling – are identifiable across domains, non‐work relationships provide some distinct sub‐functions from work relationships.

Practicing managers should develop and maintain developmental networks that extend beyond the boundaries of their current organization. Human resource professionals will want to consider how well their initiatives encourage individuals to enlist a variety of potential developers into their networks.

The findings indicate that non‐work relationships are a critical part of developmental networks and individuals' career success.

When a unit of DEC establishes a strategic alliance in Europe with key customer ITT to combat a competitor, the venture proves difficult to manage.

This article identifies the psychological and behavioural effects associated with corporate downsizing and the managerial challenges they present. These challenges include renewing psychological contracts, reversing threat‐rigidity tendencies, building post‐downsizing teams, and creating new corporate cultures. A strategy for matching specific Organisation Development (OD) interventions to each challenge is proposed which might aid managers and consultants in providing interventions best suited to the needs of each organisation.

The overall goal of science is to build a valid and reliable body of knowledge about the functioning of the world and how applying that knowledge can change it. As personnel and human resources management researchers, we aim to contribute to the respective bodies of knowledge to provide both employers and employees with a workable foundation to help with those problems they are confronted with. However, what research on research has consistently demonstrated is that the scientific endeavor possesses existential issues including a substantial lack of (a) solid theory, (b) replicability, (c) reproducibility, (d) proper and generalizable samples, (e) sufficient quality control (i.e., peer review), (f) robust and trustworthy statistical results, (g) availability of research, and (h) sufficient practical implications. In this chapter, we first sing a song of sorrow regarding the current state of the social sciences in general and personnel and human resources management specifically. Then, we investigate potential grievances that might have led to it (i.e., questionable research practices, misplaced incentives), only to end with a verse of hope by outlining an avenue for betterment (i.e., open science and policy changes at multiple levels).

Professionals are often seen as an implementation barrier to change in public organisations. Although their commitment is judged to be crucial, they often behave rather reservedly and may even oppose change. The power models and micro‐political theories of change both conceptualise this resistance as a defence of their professional interests, their benefits and their power status. Acknowledging that political strategies, tactics and games played have a crucial role in the implement of change in public organisations, this paper expands this perspective by dealing with issues related to professional identity. Identity‐related conflicts often go beyond the issues of protecting and enhancing benefits and power. Therefore, this paper focuses on the central characteristics of identity and examines the identity‐related aspects of the political perspective of change management.

The conflict between institutionalism and neoclassicism in the 20th century has been investigated by scholars over the years. Many of them believe that in the postwar period, neoclassicism triumphed while institutionalism largely disappeared. The present chapter takes a very different view. The late 20th century represents a broad synthesis of neoclassical and institutional themes in a methodology we call pragmatic empiricism. That approach combines the mathematical model building and theoretical formalism of neoclassical economics with the institutional economist’s data-driven statistical analysis and concern for developing institutional forms. We use as a case study the history of American locational economics from the 1930s to the present. The mixing of institutional and neoclassical themes is quite evident in the work of three young scholars at Harvard who effectively initiated American locational economics. In the postwar period, we find a series of outstanding, well-published papers that capture the spirit of the “founders.” These papers do use more modeling, but they also focus on major institutional developments. A broader review of locational works is consistent with the pragmatic empiricism label. The history of locational economics supports the claim that institutionalism, far from disappearing, continues to provide fundamental questions and techniques for modern pragmatic empiricism.

The transformation of companies into post‐bureaucratic forms of organization, such as networks, raises new implementation challenges for ethics in business. To address how to integrate ethics into network‐based companies, describes the implementation of an ethics programme in a banking institution. Shows how communication problems and the resolution of interpersonal conflicts present important ethical challenges to networks. Presents two overlooked resources in ethical theory – narrative and casuistry – as helpful tools for meeting these challenges and for integrating ethics into networks.