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Workplace mavericks are often labeled as non-conformists. They are perceived to be the employees who disregard organizational policies and procedures, and who invite huge risks in the pursuit of goals that sit outside what the organization dictates as the core business or practice. While this may be accurate to a degree, it is not the complete story. Guided by recent conceptualizations of non-conformity and positive deviance, this qualitative study interviewed 27 observers of mavericks (observer-types) in the workplace, and 28 interviews with mavericks (maverick-types). Results highlight that while maverick individuals do challenge organizational norms, they do so for the benefit of others, including the organization. Additionally, they are not wildcard non-conformists as they do in fact conform. However, they are conforming positively to higher level hyper-norms or organizational goals, and therefore operate in what could be termed as bounded non-conformity. Understanding the form that this bounded non-conformity takes is key for organizations to mitigate perceptions of the risk posed by maverick individuals, while maximizing the rewards that maverick employees can offer to organizations, especially for informing ideas and plans around more radical change and innovation. In this way, organizations can benefit from the numerous and unique contributions of mavericks in the workplace, such as innovative, unorthodox, and out-of-the-box thinking, while at the same time still ensuring the effective governance and risk management of the organization.

Maverickism is the tendency of an individual to be socially competent, creative, goal focussed, risk-taking and disruptive. Previous research with the five-factor model (FFM) shows that individuals high in maverickism exhibit both functional and dysfunctional tendencies. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the descriptive FFM with the process-oriented hybrid model of learning in personality (HMLP), in the prediction of maverickism.

Employing a cross-sectional design with 490 full-time workers the authors use the NEO-International Personality Item Pool and the Learning Styles Profiler to examine differences in the FFM and HMLP in the prediction of maverickism.

Results with the FFM, identify extraversion, openness and (low) agreeableness as significant predictors of maverickism. All factors of the HMLP (except conscientious learning) significantly predict maverickism. Hierarchal regression analysis shows that the HMLP accounts for an additional 21 percent of variance in maverickism over and above that of the FFM.

The authors have tested and built theory by identifying not only what predicts maverickism, but also how the learning processes of the HMLP interrelate to predict maverickism.

Managers interested in developing the maverick potential of their employees will find this study useful because it identifies what to look for in maverick workers.

Individuals high in maverickism have the potential for radical innovation. Understanding how to identify and develop these individuals may lead to larger societal benefits.

The authors are the first to use the HMLP to test maverickism. The research highlights the importance of both personality and learning processes in maverickism.

Fostering employee engagement in large organizations is a formidable problem that gets even more challenging in a sluggish economy, when the standard lever of monetary incentives are not a viable option for boosting employee engagement and motivation. As the organization gets larger, building emotional connectedness or bonding becomes challenging as teams expand to operate in different time zones. The overwhelming pace of work in the modern workplace can also hamper bonding. Yet emotional connectedness, when present, serves as a catalyst in driving superior performance and employee loyalty. The culture of many large organizations discourages innovation and out-of-the-box thinking because their institutional structures encourage risk aversion. Even though large organizations are best positioned to absorb the ups and downs of intelligent risk-taking, their talent processes enforce conformity, legitimize mediocrity and penalize failed attempts at innovative thinking. Performance appraisals tend to promote employees who take the path of least resistance. Managers, of course, help perpetuate this risk-averse cycle of mediocrity. Either they have been conditioned to think only in a linear fashion or organizational systems perpetuate managerial insecurity at all levels. This insecurity manifests in several ways: managers may take credit for the work performed by a subordinate; shoot down ideas a subordinate may have; or deflect opportunities that a subordinate may get. Survival in such an environment is based on being average and staying within the system. As a result, the spirit of entrepreneurship is lost. The authors designed a creative and playful contest called “Maverick” to tackle employee engagement in large organizations. The contest deeper goals include: shifting culture and behavior, talent discovery, brand building and meaningful engagement. The impact of the program on a broader organizational culture parameters were assessed through a survey. The survey results validate the impact of the program.

The paper develops a conceptual approach that underlies the design of the Maverick program. Surveys were deployed to determine the perceived impact of the program on the broader culture.

The secret ingredient in employee engagement is gaining the “emotional share of wallet” of employees to drive meaningful, enduring organizational change. Emotional wallet share is the sweet spot that lies at the intersection of employees’ skill sets, their aspirations and the value they generate for the organization. Proactively identifying the sweet spot empowers an organization to capture employees’ emotional wallet share to identify enablers and catalysts that can unlock motivation and performance. The survey results indicate that the Maverick contest was perceived to have a positive impact on all the identified attributes. This is a testament to the program’s success as a pivotal driver of a positive organizational culture. Further, it validates that the Maverick contest identifies several levers that leaders can use to positively influence organizational culture.

The organizations can adapt the proposed conceptual framework in designing meaningful programs to tackle employee engagement and motivation.

The paper provides a meaningful framework to tackle employee engagement in large organizations. The Maverick approach is of interest to leaders of large organizations that are struggling to increase employee engagement with limited resources and that wish to foster creativity to drive innovation. The program offers a compelling way for talented professionals to meaningfully contribute to their organization that is agnostic to their position in the hierarchy. It gives employees the freedom to strive without being paralyzed by fear of failure; the chance to build their personal brand and pride; and a safe environment in which they can question received wisdom and attempt an unconventional approach to problem-solving. It creates a playful environment to bust stress, foster innovation and encourage an entrepreneurial mindset.

This paper offers a superior alternative to the standard gamification solutions that are routinely applied to business situations. Gamification mechanics work effectively in roles that are transactional, instead of roles that demand autonomy, mastery and a sense of purpose. Maverick program is designed while being mindful of the intrinsic motivation of the professionals.

This study of a market-leader in a turbulent hostile telecommunications market uncovers how the competitive context influences strategy-making and cultivates central control that opposes autonomous initiatives. It shows how a highly competitive industry context reduces organizational slack that inhibits autonomy and drives central actions. Strategic initiatives primarily arise as deliberate actions induced by top management. This creates an information gap between ongoing experiences gained by employees operating in the periphery of the organization and the perceptions of decision-makers at the corporate center. In this organizational setting, the authors observe maverick behavior among entrepreneurial individuals that deliberately circumvent the formal rules to turn autonomous initiatives into viable strategic ventures in the best interest of the firm. Where conventional views presume that power delegation and organizational slack are necessary for autonomous strategic initiatives to emerge, the authors find that central control can provoke autonomous rule-breaking maverick behavior among resource-deprived entrepreneurial individuals inside the organization.

Highlights some of the new techniques being implemented across the USA in the area of team training. Some are revolutionary but some are just fine tuning on already successful methods. Gives suggestions for trainers on how to deal with resistant, reluctant or resentful trainees. Reviews the methods used at one firm to train its trainers, and at another where a company‐wide policy was adopted to create a new value‐added training system. Concludes that some of the most effective training techniques are not new ‐ merely the application of old‐fashioned common sense to training problems.

Whilst e‐procurement has significant potential to reduce the purchasing costs of an organisation, the realisation of these savings requires user compliance. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which user‐perceived e‐procurement quality (EPQ) (operationalised through the dimensions of professionalism, processing, training, specification, content, and usability) influences both system and contract compliance.

User perceptions of EPQ were examined in four UK organisations using survey data from 274 respondents.

Strong evidence was found of a positive relationship between user‐perceived EPQ and both system and contract compliance. System compliance was most strongly influenced by professionalism and content dimensions, whilst contract compliance was most strongly influenced by processing, specification, and content dimensions.

Data were collected from e‐procurement users in four organisations, which may limit the extent to which findings can be generalised.

User perceptions of e‐procurement provision significantly influence system and contract adoption. Practitioners should pay attention to management of different dimensions of perceived quality as they may have different effects on both contract and system compliance.

This paper is the first to empirically assess the relationship between user‐perceived EPQ and compliance. Its findings challenge the assumption that the monopolistic dynamics common within internal services, such as e‐procurement provision, are sufficient to ensure compliance. Dissatisfied individuals invariably find ways to circumvent mandatory systems and contracts.

The resource view of strategy holds internal resources as a source of unique and inimitable competitive advantage. This strategic perspective, applied to Human Resource Management (HRM), suggests that aligning HRM sub‐systems with a strategy will produce behaviors and outcomes consistent with the strategy. A current popular strategy attempts to foster intrapreneurial behavior among employees by seeking breakthrough performance and product innovation. A survey of corporate executives shows that infusing HRM sub‐systems with entrepreneurial thrusts will produce more intrapreneurial behaviors and greater organization outcomes.