Hearing voice and silence during stressful economic times

Purpose - It is ironic that in stressful economic times, when new ideas and positive behaviors could be most valuable, employees may not speak up, leading to reduced employee participation, less organizational learning, less innovation and less receptiveness to change. The supervisor is the organization’s first line of defense against a culture of silence and towards a culture of openness. This research asks what helps supervisors to hear prosocial voice and notice defensive silence. Design/methodology/approach - We conducted a cross-sectional field study of 142 supervisors. Findings - Our results indicate that prosocial voice is increased by supervisor tension and trust in employees, while defensive silence is increased by supervisor tension but reduced by unionization of employees and trust in employees. This indicates that, as hypothesized by others, voice and silence are orthogonal and not opposites of the same construct. Research limitations/implications - The data is measured at one point in time, and further longitudinal study would be helpful to further understand the phenomena. Practical implications - This research highlights the potential for supervisors in stressful situations to selectively hear voice and silence from employees. Originality/value - This study adds to our knowledge of prosocial voice and defensive silence by testing supervisors’ perceptions of these constructs during difficult times. It provides valuable empirical insights to a literature dominated by conceptual non-empirical papers. Limited research on silence might reflect how difficult it is to study such an ambiguous and passive construct as silence (often simply viewed as a lack of speech). also contribute to trust literature by identifying its role in increasing supervisor’s perceptions of prosocial voice and reducing perceptions of defensive silence.

Is there an inverted U-shape relationship between job demands and work engagement : the moderating role of social support

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the possibility of an inverted U-shaped relationship between job demands and work engagement, and whether social support moderates this relationship. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses 307 technical and information technology (IT) managers who responded to an online survey. Multiple regressions are employed to examine linear and curvilinear relationship among variables. Findings – Overall, results support the applicability of the quadratic effect of job demands on employee engagement. However, only supervisor support, not colleague support, moderated the relationship between job demands and work engagement. Originality/value – The paper is the first to shed light on the quadratic effect of job demands on work engagement. The findings have noteworthy implications for managers to design optimal job demands that increase employee engagement.

Gestão da Prevenção nos Comboios de Portugal: Influência do Controlo de Risco do Comportamento Humano na Sinistralidade Profissional

Durante cinco anos, foi intervencionada e estudada, a sinistralidade laboral numa transportadora ferroviária. O controlo de riscos nela experimentado explorou o potencial preventivo de medidas de controlo do comportamento dos colaboradores, tais como: Formação para promover comportamentos preventivos; Intensificação da prevenção, controlo e recuperação do abuso de álcool e drogas; Informação motivadora para as boas práticas. Consequentemente: Inverteu-se rapidamente a tendência crescente da sinistralidade, sem aumentar custos; Mantiveram-se, durante um período de continuada redução do efectivo laboral, níveis de sinistralidade laboral inferiores aos verificados no início da pesquisa; Demonstrou-se a sustentabilidade financeira do investimento em Segurança e Saúde do Trabalho. During five years, an intervention, over the occupational accidents of a railway company, was studied. The control of risks that has been tested, explored the preventive potential of control measures towards employees’ behaviour, such as: Training to promote preventive behaviours; Stepping up prevention, control and recovery of alcohol and drugs abuse; Motivating information to good practices. Consequently: It quickly reversed the trend of accidents, without increasing the costs; During a period of continued reduction of employees, levels of occupational accidents remained below those recorded at the beginning of research; Financial sustainability of investment in Occupational Health and Safety was demonstrated.

The influence of job, team and organizational level resources on employee well-being, engagement, commitment and extra-role performance : test of a model

Purpose – Worker well-being continues to be fundamental to the study of work and a primary consideration for how organizations can achieve competitive advantage and sustainable and ethical work practices (Cartwright and Holmes; Harter, Schmidt and Keyes; Wright and Cropanzano). The science and practice of employee engagement, a key indicator of employee well-being, continues to evolve with ongoing incremental refinements to existing models and measures. This study aims to elaborate the Job Demands-Resources model of work engagement (Bakker and Demerouti) by examining how organizational, team and job level factors interrelate to influence engagement and well-being and downstream outcome variables such as affective commitment and extra-role behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach – Structural equations modelling of survey data obtained from 3,437 employees of a large multi-national mining company was used to test the important direct and indirect influence of organizational focused resources (a culture of fairness and support), team focused resources (team climate) and job level resources (career development, autonomy, supervisor support, and role clarity) on employee well-being, engagement, extra-role behaviour and organizational commitment.

Findings – The fit of the proposed measurement and structural models met criterion levels and the structural model accounted for sizable proportions of the variance in engagement/wellbeing (66 percent), extra-role-behaviour (52 percent) and commitment (69 percent).

Research limitations/implications – Study limitations (e.g. cross-sectional research design) and future opportunities are outlined.

Originality/value – The study demonstrates important extensions to the Job Demands-Resources model and provides researchers and practitioners with a simple but powerful motivational framework, a suite of measures, and a map of their inter-relationships which can be used to help understand, develop and manage employee well-being and engagement and their outcomes.

Organizational rewards and employee commitment: a Chinese study

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess how the cultural value orientations of individual employees moderate their attitudinal responses to different categories of organizational rewards. Specifically, it seeks to examine how one dimension of traditionality, respect for authority, moderates the relationship between affective organizational commitment and three variables: pay satisfaction, autonomy and satisfaction with supervision. Design/methodology/approach: Hierarchical regression analysis was utilized to analyze survey data obtained from a sample of 290 employees of a major Chinese airline company. Findings: Employees high in traditionality were found to exhibit higher levels of affective commitment when autonomy and satisfaction with supervision was low. When autonomy and satisfaction with supervision was high employees low in traditionality exhibited higher levels of emotional attachment to the organization. Research limitations/implications: The cross-sectional design is an obvious limitation of the study. Another limitation relates to the generalizability of the study findings outside the context in which the research was undertaken. Social implications: Organizations should consider taking the cultural orientations of their workforce into account when developing appropriate human resource policies aimed at heightening employee commitment. This should enhance employee well-being, which is especially important in a global economy characterized by uncertainty and rapid change. Originality/value: This is the first study to examine how employees with different cultural value orientations respond to different categories of organizational rewards, in a predominantly traditional society.

A social psychological analysis of strikes

A participant observation method was employed :in the study of a 20-week stoppage at Ansells Brewery Limited, a constituent company of Allied Breweries (U.K.). The strike, :involving 1,000 workers, began :in opposition to the implementation of a four-day working week and culminated in the permanent closure of the brewery. The three main phases of the strike's development (i.e., its :initiation, maintenance and termination) were analysed according to a social-cognitive approach, based on the psychological imagery, beliefs, values and perceptions underlying the employees' behaviour. Previous psychological treatments of strikes have tended to ignore many of the aspects of social definition, planning and coordination that are an integral part of industrial action. The present study is, therefore, unique in concentrating on the thought processes by which striking workers .make sense of their current situation and collectively formulate an appropriate response. The Ansells strike provides an especially vivid illustration of the ways in which the seminal insights of a small number of individuals are developed, via processes of communication and:influence, into a consensual interpretation of reality. By adopting a historical perspective, it has been possible to demonstrate how contemporary definitions are shaped by the prior history of union-management relations, particularly with regard to: (a) the way that previous events were subjectively interpreted, and (b) the lessons that were learned on the basis of that experience. The present approach is psychological insofar as it deals with the cognitive elements of strike action. However, to the extent that it draws from relevant sections of the industrial relations, organizational behaviour, sociology, anthropology and linguistics literatures, it can claim to be truly interdisciplinary.

Hybridity in contemporary commercial organizations: implications for employee trust

This study advances the concept of organizational hybridity (OH). By doing so, it takes into account the individual level of analysis often neglected in organizational theory. More specifically, it aims to understand the implications of organizational hybridity for employees’ trust in contemporary commercial organizations. Informed and guided by current literature, this study argues that the current literature on organizational hybridity fails to adequately address the consequences of hybridity for employees' behaviour. The empirical study was conducted in 2014 using data collected via semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The study was based on a comparison of two case studies in Nigeria: Alter Securities Limited and Barak Petroleum Limited. A total of forty (40) interviews were conducted; twenty (20) from each organization. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. The main findings are that organizational hybridity in this study produced tensions that resulted in negative behavioural responses and employees’ distrust in the commercial hybrid organizations. However, employees’ identification with non-market orientated institutional logics such as family, philanthropic and religious logics is seen to facilitate their commitment, honesty, and trust in the organizations. Nevertheless, caution is required here as religious logics may also lead to an acceptance of unethical behaviour by employees. Overall, this study contributes to the literature on organizational hybridity by extending on Battilana and Lee’s (2014) framework, which highlights governance, leadership, organizational culture and intra-organizational relationships as core organizational attributes in the context of which issues may arise in commercial hybrid organizations. Furthermore, it addresses a gap in Besharov and Smith’s (2014) hybrid typology framework by providing an alternative line of argument focused on understanding how tensions manifest within commercial hybrid organizations. The key recommendations of this research underscore the need for commercial hybrid organizations to invest in mechanisms for improving employees’ trust so as to reap the benefits associated with trust. This could be achieved by involving employees in the decision-making process and clearly communicating the organizations’ values, so as to minimise the misinterpretation of the embodied institutional logics by employees.

The impact of socially responsible human resource management on employees' organizational citizenship behaviour: the mediating role of organizational identification

Based on insights from social exchange and social identity theories, this paper examines the influence of three dimensions of socially responsible human resource management (SR-HRM), namely legal compliance HRM, employee-oriented HRM and general CSR facilitation HRM, on employees' organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB). Structural equation modelling of dyadic data collected from Chinese employees and their direct supervisors in three phases revealed that whilst organizational identification fully mediated the relationship between employee-oriented HRM and employee OCB, general CSR facilitation HRM had a direct effect on employee OCB. In contrast, legal compliance HRM neither influenced employee OCB directly, nor indirectly through organizational identification. The findings highlight the important but complex role played by SR-HRM in eliciting positive employee work outcomes, and contribute to our knowledge of the mechanisms underlying this relationship.

The role of stimulating employees creativity and idea generation in encouraging innovation behaviour in Irish firms

This paper analyses the impact of stimulating staff creativity and idea generation on the likelihood of innovation. Using data for over 3,000 firms, obtained from the Irish Community Innovation Survey 2008-10, we examine the impact of six creativity generating stimuli on product, process, organisational, and marketing innovation. Our results indicate that the stimuli impact the four forms of innovation in different ways. For instance brainstorming and multidisciplinary teams are found to stimulate all forms of innovation, rotation of employees is found to stimulate organisational innovation, while financial and non-financial incentives are found to have no effect on any form of innovation. We also find that the co-introduction of two or more stimuli increases the likelihood of innovation more than implementing stimuli in isolation. These results have important implications for management decisions in that they suggest that firms should target their creative efforts towards specific innovation outcomes.

Information security culture : a behaviour compliance conceptual framework

Understanding the complex dynamic and uncertain characteristics of organisational employees who perform authorised or unauthorised information security activities is deemed to be a very important and challenging task. This paper presents a conceptual framework for classifying and organising the characteristics of organisational subjects involved in these information security practices. Our framework expands the traditional Human Behaviour and the Social Environment perspectives used in social work by identifying how knowledge, skills and individual preferences work to influence individual and group practices with respect to information security management. The classification of concepts and characteristics in the framework arises from a review of recent literature and is underpinned by theoretical models that explain these concepts and characteristics. Further, based upon an exploratory study of three case organisations in Saudi Arabia involving extensive interviews with senior managers, department managers, IT managers, information security officers, and IT staff; this article describes observed information security practices and identifies several factors which appear to be particularly important in influencing information security behaviour. These factors include values associated with national and organisational culture and how they manifest in practice, and activities related to information security management.

The relationship between HRM practices and service behaviour in South African service organizations

This paper reports on findings from research conducted in South African service organizations that frontline employees' perceptions of HRM practices have a direct influence on their service behaviour. Specific HRM practices have more impact than others and this was attributed to the influence of external factors such as the socio-political situation and national culture and to internal factors linked to the way managers implemented the HRM practices in the organization. Organizational commitment was found to play a mediating role in the relationship between frontline employees' perceptions of HRM and their service behaviour.

Service employee behaviour : the role of compliance and risk taking

This paper looks at the decision-making process that determines the amount of effort frontline service employees will expend in delivering a service in a business-to-business context. Using theories in behavioural economics and interactional and social psychology, the paper develops and presents a model of employee decision-making. Managerial implications, which have the potential to enhance the marketing of business-to-business services and directions for future research in this area, are indicated.

Tracking employees’ twists and turns : a mixed methods approach to assessing change in the psychological contract

The psychological contract has emerged over the past 60 years as a key analytical device for both academics and practitioners to conceptualise and explain the employment relationship. However, despite the recognised import of this field, some authors suggest it has fallen into a ‘methodological rut’ and is neglecting to empirically assess basic theoretical tenets of the concept – such as the temporal and individualised, subjective nature of the construct. This paper describes the research design of a longitudinal, mixed methods study to explore development and change in the psychological contract and outline how the use of individual growth modelling can be a powerful tool in analysing the type of quantitative data collected. Finally, by briefly outlining the benefits of this approach, the paper seeks to offer an alternative methodology to explore the dynamic and intra-individual processes within the psychological contract domain.

Motivating blue-collar employees : a case study of the Chinese workforce

The Katz and Kahn (1978) motivational framework is an open system management theory that underscores the importance of self-regulation while stressing the significance of using continuous feedback to adapt in a rapidly changing environment. This study aims to examine Katz and Kahn’s prepositions that the implementation of a system of rule compliance, external rewards, and internalized motivation can decrease employee turnover, increase quantitative and qualitative standards of performance, and enhance cooperation and creativeness. The results among 233 Chinese employees (96.6% response rate) indicated partial support for Katz and Kahn’s motivational framework. The implication for improving the Chinese workforce, in particular blue-collar occupations, is discussed.

Tracking employees' twists and turns : describing a mixed methods approach to assessing change in the psychological contract

The psychological contract is a key analytical device utilised by both academics and practitioners to conceptualise and explore the dynamics of the employment relationship. However, despite the recognised import of the construct, some authors suggest that its empirical investigation has fallen into a 'methodological rut' [Conway & Briner, 2005, p. 89] and is neglecting to assess key tenets of the concept, such as its temporal and dynamic nature. This paper describes the research design of a longitudinal, mixed methods study which draws upon the strengths of both qualitative and quantitative modes of inquiry in order to explore the development of, and changes in, the psychological contract. Underpinned by a critical realist philosophy, the paper seeks to offer a research design suitable for exploring the process of change not only within the psychological contract domain, but also for similar constructs in the human resource management and broader organisational behaviour fields.