Energy at work: a measurement validation and linkage to unit effectiveness

We introduce the notion that the energy of individuals can manifest as a higher-level, collective construct. To this end, we conducted four independent studies to investigate the viability and importance of the collective energy construct as assessed by a new survey instrument—the productive energy measure (PEM). Study 1 (n = 2208) included exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to explore the underlying factor structure of PEM. Study 2 (n = 660) cross-validated the same factor structure in an independent sample. In study 3, we administered the PEM to more than 5000 employees from 145 departments located in five countries. Results from measurement invariance, statistical aggregation, convergent, and discriminant-validity assessments offered additional support for the construct validity of PEM. In terms of predictive and incremental validity, the PEM was positively associated with three collective attitudes—units' commitment to goals, the organization, and overall satisfaction. In study 4, we explored the relationship between the productive energy of firms and their overall performance. Using data from 92 firms (n = 5939employees), we found a positive relationship between the PEM (aggregated to the firm level) and the performance of those firms. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An Experiment on Prisoner's Dilemma with confirmed Proposals

We apply an alternating proposals protocol with a confirmation stage as a way of solving a Prisoner’s Dilemma game. We interpret players’ proposals and (no) confirmation of outcomes of the game as a tacit communication device. The protocol leads to unprecedented high levels of cooperation in the laboratory. Assigning the power of confirmation to one of the two players alone, rather than alternating the role of a leader significantly increases the probability of signing a cooperative agreement in the first bargaining period. We interpret pre-agreement strategies as tacit messages on players’ willingness to cooperate and on their beliefs about the others’ type.

An experiment on Prisoner’s Dilemma with confirmed proposals

We suggest an alternating proposals protocol with a confirmation stage as a way of solving a Prisoner's Dilemma game. We interpret players' proposals and (no) confirmation of outcomes of the game as a tacit communication device. The protocol leads to unprecedented high levels of cooperation in the laboratory. Assigning the power of confirmation to one of the two players alone, rather than alternating the role of a leader significantly increases the probability of cooperation in the first bargaining period. We interpret pre-agreement strategies as tacit messages on players' willingness to cooperate and as signals pursuing individualistic objectives like publicizing one's bargaining abilities or eliciting those of the opponent.

Physiological and behavioral patterns of corruption

We study the behavior and emotional arousal of the participants in an experimental auction, leading to an asymmetric social dilemma involving an auctioneer and two bidders. An antisocial transfer (bribe) which is beneficial for the auctioneer (official) is paid, if promised, by the winner of the auction. Some pro-social behavior on both the auctioneers' and the bidders' sides is observed even in the absence of any punishment mechanism (Baseline, Treatment 0). However, pro-social behavior is adopted by the vast majority of subjects when the loser of the auction can inspect the transaction between the winner and the auctioneer (Inspection, Treatment 1). The inspection and punishment mechanism is such that, if a bribe is (not) revealed, both corrupt agents (the denouncing bidder) lose(s) this period's payoffs. This renders the inspection option unprofitable for the loser and is rarely used, especially towards the end of the session, when pro-social behavior becomes pervasive. Subjects' emotional arousal was obtained through skin conductance responses. Generally speaking, our findings suggest that stronger emotions are associated with decisions deviating from pure monetary reward maximization, rather than with (un)ethical behavior per se. In fact, using response times as a measure of the subject's reflection during the decision-making process, we can associate emotional arousal with the conflict between primary or instinctive and secondary or contemplative motivations and, more specifically, with deviations from the subject's pure monetary interest.

Corruption and individual ethics: insights from a public procurement auction

This article proposes an auction model where two firms compete for obtaining the license for a public project and an auctioneer acting as a public official representing the political power, decides the winner of the contest. Players as firms face a social dilemma in the sense that the higher is the bribe offered, the higher would be the willingness of a pure monetary maximizer public official to give her the license. However, it implies inducing a cost of reducing all players’ payoffs as far as our model includes an endogenous externality, which depends on bribe. All players’ payoffs decrease with the bribe (and increase with higher quality). We find that the presence of bribe aversion in either the officials’ or the firms’ utility function shifts equilibrium towards more pro-social behavior. When the quality and bribe-bid strategy space is discrete, multiple equilibria emerge including more pro-social bids than would be predicted under a continuous strategy space.

Accountability and ideology: when left looks right and right looks left

Abstract Managers face hard choices between process and outcome systems of accountability in evaluating employees, but little is known about how managers resolve them. Building on the premise that political ideologies serve as uncertainty-reducing heuristics, two studies of working managers show that: (1) conservatives prefer outcome accountability and liberals prefer process accountability in an unspecified policy domain; (2) this split becomes more pronounced in a controversial domain (public schools) in which the foreground value is educational efficiency but reverses direction in a controversial domain (affirmative action) in which the foreground value is demographic equality; (3) managers who discover employees have subverted their preferred system favor tinkering over switching to an alternative system; (4) but bipartisan consensus arises when managers have clear evidence about employee trustworthiness and the tightness of the causal links between employee effort and success. These findings shed light on ideological and contextual factors that shape preferences for accountability systems.

Do good deeds make bad people?

According to the so-called ‘self-licensing effect’, committing to a virtuous act in a preceding choice may lead to behave less virtuously in the succeeding decision. Consequently, well-intentioned policies can lead to overall counter-productive effects by licensing people to behave badly in related behaviors. On the other side, motivational crowding theory argues that constraining people to adopt a desirable behavior can backfire. We use of a classroom experiment to test whether a regulatory framework to incentivize individuals to adopt pro-environmental behavior generate similar spillovers in terms of licensing effect than a non-regulatory framework. We show that the way the good deed is caused doesn’t seem to influence the licensing effect. Nevertheless, we found that business- and environmental-orientated majors react adversely to the regulatory framework. We show that environmental-orientated students exhibit higher intrinsically motivations than business-orientated ones. Accordingly, we suggest that the licensing effect is more likely to arise when the preceding ‘virtuous’ act is freely chosen (respectively regulatory caused) for non-intrinsically (respectively intrinsically) motivated individuals.

Compensation and Rewards for Environmental Services (CRES) and efficient design of contracts in developing countries. Behavioral insights from a natural field experiment

The use of economic incentives for biodiversity (mostly Compensation and Reward for Environmental Services including Payment for ES) has been widely supported in the past decades and became the main innovative policy tools for biodiversity conservation worldwide. These policy tools are often based on the insight that rational actors perfectly weigh the costs and benefits of adopting certain behaviors and well-crafted economic incentives and disincentives will lead to socially desirable development scenarios. This rationalist mode of thought has provided interesting insights and results, but it also misestimates the context by which ‘real individuals’ come to decisions, and the multitude of factors influencing development sequences. In this study, our goal is to examine how these policies can take advantage of some unintended behavioral reactions that might in return impact, either positively or negatively, general policy performances. We test the effect of income's origin (‘Low effort’ based money vs. ‘High effort’ based money) on spending decisions (Necessity vs. Superior goods) and subsequent pro social preferences (Future pro-environmental behavior) within Madagascar rural areas, using a natural field experiment. Our results show that money obtained under low effort leads to different consumption patterns than money obtained under high efforts: superior goods are more salient in the case of low effort money. In parallel, money obtained under low effort leads to subsequent higher pro social behavior. Compensation and rewards policies for ecosystem services may mobilize knowledge on behavioral biases to improve their design and foster positive spillovers on their development goals.

Attractive Work Process

Many companies both in Sweden and other parts of the world are since the beginning of the 21st century faceing a lack of work force (1,2,3). The ability to recruit and retain skilled employees is seen as one of the most important questions for the survival and development of the companies (4,5). Labour shortage is seen as the biggest obstacle for expansion for small enterprises in Sweden (5). There is a need for workplaces to be attractive, but how can the attractiveness be increased? Researchers at Högskolan Dalarna have during almost a decennium conducted research concerning attractive work. Based on a modell of qualities that contributes to make a work attractive (6) has a method aiming for raised attractiveness been developed for SME:s. All employees participate by answering a questionnaire about the importance of different qualities and to what degree they are fulfilled. Further discussions at the workplace on what to preserve and what to develop make the base for an action plan.Important experiences:• Discuss and establish the aim of the method with management and employees. • The company must be prepared to follow up and realize the action plan.• Agree about expectations – they must be realistic and practicable.• Reserve time to start the process and to end up in an action plan. • Avoid negative thinking and put problems away. • Take all the time small steps in the right direction.• Keep employees engaged and avoid the manager or process leader to take the command.• Use the strategy with small work groups; it gives better possibilities for participation and outspokenness.• Follow up studies are necessary to keep up the motivation.The most positive aspects of the method is its promoting perspective and that it engages all the employees.1.Rauhut, D. (2002). Arbetskraftsbrist och arbetskraftsinvandring: hot eller möjlighet för ekonomisk tillväxt? Östersund, ITPS, Institutet för tillväxtpolitiska studier.2.Funch, M. and C. Ehrnooth. (2008, 08-10-2008). Labour shortage despite financial crisis? Retrieved 2008-12-16, 2008, from www.norden.org/webb/news/news.asp?id=8113&lang=6. 3.Manpower (2008). Talent Shortage Survey 2008 Global Results: 10. 4.Bakker, A. B. and W. B. Schaufeli (2008). Positive organizational behavior: Engaged employees in flourishing organizations. Journal of Organizational Behavior 29: 147-154.5.Kennemar, J. and L. Jagrén (2008). Småföretagsbarometern. Stockholm, Swedbank Företagarna: 23.6.Åteg, M., A. Hedlund, et al. (2004). Attraktivt arbete. Från anställdas uttalanden till skapandet av en modell. Stockholm, Arbetslivsinstitutet.

The role of human resource management (HRM) in Australian-Malaysian joint ventures

This article examines human resource management (HRM) for successful Australian-Malaysian joint ventures (JVs), on the basis of survey data and case studies. The findings suggest that each phase of JV development had its own pattern of HR practices. Three phases of development were distinguished - initiation, transitional, and maturational. The first phase involved selecting, recruiting and training a skilled workforce and formulating rudimentary human resource policies. Cultural differences were most marked in this phase. The second phase, after three years of operation, involved evolution of human resource policies better suited to local conditions, and more polycentric management staffing. The final phase, after six years of operation, saw the development of a distinctive human resources system, and the minimisation of cultural differences as an operational issue. In this phase there was also a move to more geocentric management staffing.

Agency theory, national culture and management Control Systems

Management control system of an organization is the structured facet of management, the formal vehicle by which the management process is executed. In most organizations, systems exist for planning, organizing, directing, controlling and motivating. Depending on the level of appropriateness and quality of the management control systems, the task of management is either facilitated or hindered. The end goal of a management control system is achieving organizational objectives. Because employees (agents) do not always give their best efforts for achieving organizational objectives, management control systems need to strive for aligning goals of agents (e.g., employees, subordinates) with that of principals (e.g., senior management, owners). Agency theory and its extension, principal agent model, provide insights to the problem of goal congruence and suggest remedies, at least in the Western cultural context. Whether the agency theory presumptions, predictions and prescriptions are universally applicable is an important issue in management. Their validity in different cultural contexts is largely unknown. The available literature to date indicates the possibility that agency theory may not be valid in non-western cultures. However, further empirical research is needed in non-western cultures to shed more light to this issue.

Mapping cultural dimensions in Australian sporting organisations

No research focusing on sport has yet provided a method of charting cultureʼs potential dimensions. The aim of this study was to redress this gap by identifying a set of dimensions that could describe the cultures of Australian sporting organisations. The population for this study included Australian National Sport Organisations (NSOs), State Sport Organisations (SSOs) and clubs participating in national league competitions. Eight sport organisations formed the sample. Data were collected via 24 in-depth interviews. This study revealed 12 dimensions and 68 sub-dimensions of culture, which may be used to begin the process of mapping sport cultures. These results reveal some unique sport dimensions with no single existing dimensional model that captures the collective elements revealed in this study. The unique dimensions revealed in this study include “Rituals”, “Symbols”, “Size”, “History and tradition”, with support for these dimensions found within the sub-dimensional codes. This suggests that the dimensions recorded here might provide a useful launching pad for future studies on sport culture.

Exploring the dynamics of accountability relationships : a grounded theory approach

Examines accountability relationships within the organisational context of a local council. Results indicate that accountability is an intensely personal, complex, and context-bound phenomenon. A framework of accountability is suggested, linking the context and characteristics of accountability relationships with particular cognitive and emotive accountability outcomes.