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The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a Work Environment Complexity (WEC) Scale for leaders.

The paper uses both cross-sectional and longitudinal data, gathered in the course of major organisational restructuring, using samples from employees (n=305) and leaders (n=120) in two health care organisations.

The research developed and validated a scale of WEC for leaders with two factors: frequent change and events, and uncertain work demands. Comparisons between samples suggest diverging employee and leadership representations of WEC.

Being the first scale to measure the comprehensive construct of WEC, a foundation is laid to measure the amount of complexity in a leader’s work and the functioning of leaders with regards to WEC.

This paper contributes to leadership research and practice by clarifying the construct of WEC for leaders empirically and validating a bidimensional scale of WEC.

The purpose of the present study is to introduce the elements characterising the work context of high responsibility teams (HRTs) operating in high reliability contexts such as medicine or aviation. Based on these elements, the authors reflected on the function of teamwork in these contexts, which is strongly dominated by a notion of flexibility under complexity, based on the technical, normative, and governance dimensions of teamwork.

Problem‐centred interviews (n=11) based on semi‐structured guidelines were conducted. Subsequently, a survey was conducted using a questionnaire inventory in six different HRT work contexts (n=551).

The interviews and survey results show significant differences regarding, for example, hierarchy or stress posed on the HRTs. However, they also demonstrate relevant similarities regarding, for instance, dimensions of complexity occurring in the teamwork contexts. Both differences and similarities influence how the support systems of the teamwork dimensions should be set up.

The study provided an excellent overview of similar and differing characteristics of the work context of different HRTs. However, it represents six specific HRTs and might not be generalisable to teams in other high reliability organisations, such as in the energy sector.

It is recommended that the characteristics of work contexts in HRTs should be taken into account in order to set up support systems of teamwork dimensions that enable teams to transfer the prevalent safety discourse into safety practice.

The innovative approach, which combines qualitative and quantitative data, provided insights that can be used to support team functioning in the team's specific work context.

Quality management constructs related to management leadership and workforce involvement have consistently shown strong correlation with firm success for years. However, there is an increasing body of research based on complexity theory (CT) suggesting that constructs such as these should be viewed as variables in a complex system with inter-dependencies, interactions, and potentially nonlinear relationships. Despite the significant body of conceptual research related to CT, there is a lack of methodological research into these potentially nonlinear effects. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the theoretical and practical importance of non-linear terms in a multivariate polynomial model as they become more significant predictors of firm success in collaborative environments and less significant in more rigidly controlled work environments.

Multivariate polynomial regression methods are used to examine the significance and effect sizes of interaction and quadratic terms in operations scenarios expected to have varying degrees of complex and complex adaptive behaviors.

The results find that in highly collaborative work environments, non-linear and interaction effects become more significant predictors of success than the linear terms in the model. In more rigid, less collaborative work environments, these effects are not present or significantly reduced in effect size.

This study shows that analytical methods sensitive to detecting and measuring nonlinearities in relationships such as multivariate polynomial regression models enhance our theoretical understanding of the relationships between constructs when the theory predicts that complex and complex adaptive behaviors are present and important.

This study demonstrates that complex adaptive behaviors between management and the workforce exist in certain environments and provide greater understanding of factor relationships relating to firm success than more traditional linear analytical methods.

The stakeholder theory encompasses instrumental and normative varieties whose mutual relationship remains unclear and exhibits a classic tension between rational self-interest and moral motivation. The purpose of this paper is to develop a strategy for navigating this tension.

Niklas Luhmann’s social systems theory is concerned with the limited ability of social systems to codify, and be receptive to, the complexity of the environment. Drawing on this theory, the paper juxtaposes the codification problems of two types of social systems: the for-profit firm and the economic function system.

This juxtaposition allows to identify four firm behavior patterns, two of which can be aligned with instrumental and normative stakeholder theories. If the codification capacity of the economic function system is assumed to be sufficient, the codification problems of the for-profit firm are shown to specify the range of applicability of the instrumental stakeholder theory. Dropping the above assumption is shown to specify the range of applicability of the normative stakeholder theory.

The argument offers a fresh way of understanding the institutional economics foundations of the stakeholder theory. Given that the systems-theoretic idea of codification reflects the functioning of the real-world institutions, the argument shows that both instrumental and normative stakeholder theories reflect the institutional texture of the modern society in distinct but equally legitimate ways.

This paper aims to achieve fully intertwined knowledge and business processing in change processes. It proposes streamlining situated articulation work, value network analyses (VNA) and subject-oriented business process modelling (S-BPM) and execution to provide non-disruptive single and double learning processes driven by concerned stakeholders. When implementing knowledge life cycles, such as Firestone and McElroy’s knowledge life cycle, the agility of organizations is significantly constrained, in particular, when surviving knowledge claims should be implemented in the business processing environment in a seamless way.

The contribution is based on a conceptual analysis of knowledge life cycle implementations, learning loop developments and an exploratory case study in health care to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The solution towards non-disruptive knowledge and business processing allows stakeholders to actively participate in single- and double-loop learning processes.

The introduced approach supports problem and knowledge claim formulation, knowledge claim evaluation and non-disruptive knowledge integration into a business process environment. Based on stakeholder articulation, the steps to follow are: holomapping, exchange analysis, impact analysis, value creation analysis, subject-oriented modelling, business process validation and execution. Seamless support of stakeholders is enabled through the direct mapping of stakeholder and activity descriptions from value network representations to behaviour specifications (process models) on the individual and organizational layer.

Current knowledge life cycle developments and implementations can now be analyzed in a structured way. Elements of the proposed approach could be integrated in disruptive implementations to overcome current limitations of knowledge life cycles. However, further case studies need to be performed to identify hindrances or barriers of combining VNA and S-BPM, both on the technological and methodological layer. What works for expert service industries might need to be adapted for production industries, and tools or tool chains might need to be configured accordingly. Finally, the socio-economic impact of the approach needs to be explored.

The presented case study from health care reveals the potential of such a methodological combination, as cycle times can be reduced, in particular, due to the execution of role-specific process models in the respective business processing environment. It can be considered as a fundamental shift for existing change management procedures, as they require rework of the entire functional process models when addressing business processing. Now, stakeholder- or role-specific behaviour can be handled isolated and in parallel, without affecting the entire organization in case of modifications.

The proposed methodological integration has not been done before. It enables stakeholders to perform single- and double-loop change processes in a seamless way.

The growing use of teams to accomplish work in libraries has brought qualitative changes to the nature of work and leadership in library organizations. Collaborative work in team-based organizations and the rise of distributed leadership require different skills from traditional, hierarchically structured workplaces. The literature on team skills provides insight and direction for library human resources management practices. Growing research on emotional intelligence in the workplace also provides new guidance for selection and personnel practices. The literature in these areas can help library organizations more effectively select those who have the attributes needed to be successful in this new environment. It can also help library organizations shape training and developmental opportunities to enhance these critically needed skills.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is intended to integrate all facets of a company’s business operations encompassing production planning, material purchasing, inventory control, logistics, accounting, finance, marketing, and human resource management by creating a single depository of the database that can be shared by the entire organization and its trading partners. Through an empirical study, the purpose of this paper is to identify a multitude of drivers that facilitate or hinder the implementation of ERP in business environments. Also, this paper determines its role in supply chain operations and assesses its impact on supply chain performances.

To examine which factors drive the ERP adoption and gauge the level of the ERP success, the authors develop a research framework based on two well-known theories in the strategy literature: a contingency theory; and a resource-based view of the firm. This research framework allowed us to develop a series of hypotheses regarding the use of ERP for strategic sourcing. To test hypotheses, the authors carried out the study in three phases: a pre-pilot; a pilot; and a large-scale questionnaire survey. In the pre-pilot phase, the authors generated potential survey items through theory development and a literature review. In the pilot phase, the authors develop a structural equation model along with the identification of valid constructs based on structural interviews and the Q-sort method. At the last stage, the authors conducted a large-scale survey via mail questionnaires primarily targeting the Korean industry comprised of manufacturers and their suppliers and customers.

The firm’s ERP adoption and implementation decision is mainly affected by its internal environment. Defying the conventional wisdom, the firm’s external environment has little influence on its decision to adopt and implement ERP. However, through the mediating role of an internal environment, an external environment still indirectly influences the ERP adoption and ERP implementation decision. Also, the authors found that ERP could enhance the ERP adopter’s organizational capability and supplier capability.

This study is one of a few attempts to investigate the role of ERP in the supply chain and identify important determinants influencing the ERP adoption and implementation decisions. Especially, in contrast with the previous literature which often gauged the benefits of ERP from an ERP adopter’s standpoint, this paper is one of the few to assess the benefits of ERP from the ERP adopter’s supply chain partners standpoints. Also, it is one of the first to assess the impact of ERP on supplier capability, organizational capability, and customer value.

This study aims to assess how Japanese employees perceive their changing work environment.

The perceptions of Japanese white‐collar employees towards defined aspects of their work environment were tested and compared in a sample set of Japanese, European and US financial securities companies operating in Japan, in order to find which international model provided the highest evaluations.

Results revealed that employees in Japanese companies displayed significantly higher levels of understanding of company goals and objectives than their counterparts in the foreign companies. Employees in Japanese companies also evaluated their training significantly higher than their counterparts in European companies. However employees in European companies rated their future prospects significantly higher than their counterparts in Japanese and US companies. Perceptions of Japanese employees of US and European companies provide mixed results which should be of serious concern to foreign companies aiming to integrate and motivate Japanese workers.

The paper shows that despite the trend towards the “westernization” of the work environment in Japan, key elements of the Japanese model remains highly‐rated.

Intercultural interactions, in domains such as civil aviation and international peacekeeping, expand awareness of national differences in cognition. At the same time, experience with national differences in natural settings provides a more complex picture of cognition. The Cultural Lens Model captures the nature and origin of the cognitive differences. This paper reviews cognitive dimensions that vary over national groups. It uses the Cultural Lens Model to describe the implications of these cognitive differences for five intercultural challenges: problem definition, planning, coordination, prediction, and training. Finally, the paper suggests mechanisms for increasing international effectiveness in the face of cognitive differences.

Improving digital work experience is critical for the job performance of individuals and the competitiveness of organizations due to their increasing use. This paper investigates how organization support affects the digital work experience of individuals differently depending on their levels of information technology (IT) identity.

Drawing upon the IT identity literature and the conservation of resources (COR) theory, a conceptual model is developed, tested and validated using the data collected in Australia through an experimental design in which IT identity is manipulated.

This study reveals a nuanced impact of organization support on shaping digital work experience. Specifically, it finds that technical support is more effective in improving the digital work experience of individuals with a high level of IT identity, whereas well-being support is more effective in enhancing the digital work experience of individuals with a low level of IT identity.

This research contributes to the IT identity literature by introducing a novel experimental design to manipulate IT identity in the digital work context. It also contributes to the digital work literature by introducing a resource perspective for identifying well-being support, technical support and IT identity as the key resources in shaping digital work experience and calling for attention to IT identity as a boundary condition on the effectiveness of organization support. The findings can help organizations formulate better strategies and policies to improve digital work experience by providing tailored support to individuals with different levels of IT identity.