Category Archives: Management

Can Busy Organizations Learn to Get Better? Distinguishing Between the Competing Effects of Constrained Capacity on the Organizational Learning Process

Vinit M Desai
Organization Science,
Organizations are getting busier, but can they still learn to get better? This question has urgent practical importance, since competitive pressures in a wide variety of industries have resulted in organizations that increasingly strain their operating limits. This question is deeply connected with organizational learning theory, since organizations operating with constrained capacity may gain experience but lose the ability to digest itchallenging the overall organization’s ability to learn and improve. Some research, though, suggests a seemingly contradictory perspective, with constrained capacity perhaps motivating organizations to adopt more flexible approaches and learn out of necessity. This study integrates the perspectives to examine how constrained capacity impacts organizational learning. To explore this question, the study develops separate theory regarding the amount and timing of capacity crises

The impetus for resilience and change in business education and management research

Sarah Kovoor-Misra
Journal of Management Inquiry,Pages: 1056492619870871.
In the past hundred years, business schools in the United States have had to be resilient and undergo change in order to address various challenges. They have faced issues pertaining to their legitimacy, rigor, and relevance. This article suggests that business schools are once again in a period of change that requires resilience and that these age old issues have to be reconsidered in this new environment, and it describes some of the economic, reputational, technological, and psychosocial threats and opportunities that are currently creating an impetus for change. The other articles that comprise this dialog series on Resilience and Change in Business Education and Management Research are also introduced.

The Transformative Professor: Adapting and Fostering Positive Change

Sarah Kovoor-Misra
Journal of Management Inquiry,Pages: 1056492619870865.
Business school faculty can play a critical role in fostering resilience and change in their institutions. This article describes what it means to be a transformative professor and a catalyst for positive change. It suggests that this involves playing both leader and follower roles, such as builders, problem-solvers, and constructive disruptors; having a transformative mind-set; and utilizing multiple forms of intelligence.

Revolutionizing training and education? Three questions regarding massive open online courses (MOOCs)

Justin M Weinhardt, Traci Sitzmann
Human Resource Management Review,Vol. 29, Issue 2, Pages: 218-225.
MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course and represents an instructional approach that permits hundreds of thousands of students to access online courses anywhere around the world and typically free of charge. There have been a number of stories in the popular press suggesting that MOOCs may revolutionize training and education, but evidence regarding the instructional effectiveness of MOOCs is primarily anecdotal and overarching statistics reveal that the vast majority of students drop out before completing these courses. We pose three questions that need to be answered about the use and effectiveness of MOOCs before MOOCs can be considered a credible and useful instructional approach: 1) Who enrolls in MOOCs and why do they enroll? 2) Are students self-aware and able to self-regulate their learning in MOOCs? 3) Are MOOCs effective and how can we maximize their effectiveness?

Approaching evaluation from a multilevel perspective: A comprehensive analysis of the indicators of training effectiveness

Traci Sitzmann, Justin M Weinhardt
Human Resource Management Review, Vol. 29, Issue 2, Pages 253-269

We propose a multilevel framework that addresses the criteria that can be used to assess training effectiveness at the within-person, between-person, and macro levels of analysis. Specifically, we propose four evaluation taxatraining utilization, affect, performance, and financial impactas well as the specific evaluation metrics that can be captured to examine the facets of each taxon. Our multilevel framework also clarifies the appropriate level of analysis for assessing each criterion variable and articulates when it …
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Advancing training for the 21st century

Traci Sitzmann, Justin M Weinhardt
Human Resource Management Review,Vol. 29, Issue 2, Pages: 137-139.
A PsycINFO search using the terms learning, training, or development returns over 1.6 million resultsan astronomical knowledge base for guiding decisions on the design, delivery, evaluation, and optimization of training effectiveness. Despite this research, the thirst for knowledge about this essential human resource management function remains insatiable. This Human Resource Management Review Special Issue on Training and Developing in the 21st Century aims to advance the literature a step further. We brought together experts renowned for their knowledge of the learning process to review what is already known and tell us where the field needs to go in the upcoming decades.The goal of this overview to the special issue is to provide historical information about the current state of training and how the manuscripts covered in this issue advance this knowledge base. The manuscripts cluster around four

A process model linking occupational strength to attitudes and behaviors: The explanatory role of occupational personality heterogeneity.

Traci Sitzmann, Robert E Ployhart, Youngsang Kim
Journal of Applied Psychology,Vol. 104, Issue 2, Pages: 247.
This study proposes a mediated process model that seeks to explain how occupational strength influences personality heterogeneity, ultimately affecting attitudes and behaviors. Specifically, it proposes that strong occupations restrict personality heterogeneity (defined as the extent to which there is variability in incumbents’ personalities), which mediates the effect of occupational strength on work-related outcomes. Using a sample of 178,087 individuals employed in 315 occupations, the results indicate that strong occupations (operationalized as having high task significance) had advantageous effects on occupational satisfaction, tenure, and turnover intentions, and these effects were partially mediated by personality heterogeneity. Task significance had a negative effect on personality heterogeneity, and personality heterogeneity led to less favorable attitudes and behaviors. The occupational autonomy

Global talent management and performance in multinational enterprises: A multilevel perspective

David G Collings, Kamel Mellahi, Wayne F Cascio
Journal of Management,Vol. 45, Issue 2, Pages: 540-566.
The link between global talent management (GTM) and multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) performance has not been theorized or empirically tested. We develop a theoretical framework for how GTM links to performance at the headquarters (HQ), subsidiary, and individual employee levels. Using the resource-based view as a frame, we highlight the routines of pivotal positions, global talent pools, and a differentiated HR architecture as central to GTM. We show that at the HQ level, an MNE’s adoption of a global, multidomestic, or transnational strategy determines the objectives of the GTM system and significantly influences the performance of the enterprise. At the subsidiary level, the alignment between HQ intentions and subsidiary implementation of GTM routines is a key variable in our analysis. We consider the effects of these higher-level factors on individual performance through the lens of human-capital

Crisis Management: Resilience and Change

Sarah Kovoor-Misra
SAGE Publications,
Modern organizational crises are complex, diverse, and frequent. Ineffective crisis management can result in catastrophic loss. Crisis Management: Resilience and Change introduces students to best practices for preventing, containing, and learning from crises in our global, media-driven society. While covering the strengths of existing works on crisis management, such as systems, leadership, communication, and stakeholder perspective, this innovative new text goes beyond to include global, ethical, change, and emotional aspects of crisis communication. Using her proven transformative crisis management framework, Sarah Kovoor-Misra illustrates how organizations of all sizes can be adaptable, proactive, resilient, and ethical in the face of calamity.

When is it Good to be Bad? Contrasting Effects of Multiple Reputations for Bad Behavior on Media Coverage of Serious Organizational Errors

David Chandler, Francisco Polidoro Jr., Wei Yang
Academy of Management Journal,
We have long known that organizational reputation is consequential. While highlighting the effects of a reputation for ‘good’ behavior, however, prior work has largely overlooked the possibility that a reputation for ‘bad’ behavior is qualitatively distinct. In addition, we know that organizational reputation is multidimensional. Although this is conceptually intriguing only if different types of reputation produce different effects, concurrent tests of such differences are rare. In response, we study the effects of multiple reputations for bad behavior on media coverage of a serious error by the firm. Due to the need for the news to be ‘new,’ we predict the media is more likely to cover errors that supplement a firm’s general ‘character reputation,’ but will likely ignore errors that are redundant given a firm’s specific ‘capability reputation.’ We test this theory in the context of 113 major oil spills in the U.S., from 1985 to 2016. Results

A Model of Competitive Impression Management: Edison versus Westinghouse in the War of the Currents

Benjamin M. Cole, David Chandler
Administrative Science Quarterly,
Organizational impression management theory traditionally explains how firms manage threats from specific events or from campaigns orchestrated by non-competitors, such as activists or regulators, but has not attempted to explain the complex dynamics of impression management campaigns orchestrated by a firm’s competitor. To address this oversight, we analyze one of the bitterest rivalries in corporate historythe war of the currents between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, which ended in the triumph of Westinghouse’s alternating current over Edison’s direct current for electric power transmission. We define competitive impression management as activity by a firm or its employees that is intended to alter the perceptions of a competing firm or its offerings in the eyes of a common audience. By combining historical case study and grounded theory methods, our findings reveal that the war of the

Third-party certifications as an organizational performance liability

Vinit M Desai
Journal of Management,Vol. 44, Issue 8, Pages: 3096-3123.
Third-party accreditations and certifications can provide legitimacy or signal trustworthiness about an organization and its products or services, and with very little exception, the vast majority of research on these labels focuses on their benefits. Yet the value of becoming accredited may change dramatically over time. Little research, if any, has examined the processes through which this occurs. Here, I develop theory about three mechanisms that could each tarnish the value of accreditation and reduce its performance impact. First, “quality patching” occurs when organizations are penalized if they seek accreditation shortly after problems occur, as observers believe such pursuits reflect superficial impression-management efforts. Second, “legitimacy dilution” occurs when the value of third-party accreditations becomes diluted as third parties certify more and more businesses. Finally, “stigma transfer” occurs when a

Risks of Addressing vs. Ignoring Our Biggest Societal Problems: When and How Moon Shots Make Sense

Sim B Sitkin, C Chet Miller, Kelly E See
The Routledge Companion to Risk, Crisis and Emergency Management (Book Chapter),Pages: 511-515.
Recent press reports as well as casual observations suggest we have serious societal problems, with most of them being addressed insuciently, or even being ignored. From the almost apocalyptic problems of war and famine in the South Sudan, to the disruption of Rocky Mountain ecosystems in North America and the uncontrolled population growth in many parts of the world, large-scale problems and their associated risks are threatening human societies. In recognition of these problems, the United Nations recently has set new goals in several critical areas related to sustainability, including:

The employer-branding journey: its relationship with cross-cultural branding, brand reputation, and brand repair

Brooke Z Graham, Wayne F Cascio
Management Research,Vol. 16, Issue 4, Pages: 363-379.
Purpose One purpose of this paper is to emphasize the relationship between employees as brand ambassadors and the concept of an employer brand. Another is to consider cross-cultural employer branding in the context of global talent management. The authors also clarify the connection between organizational image, organizational identity and organizational reputation, and address how positive and negative brand reputation can affect an organization. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a literature review of findings with respect to topics such as competitive strategy and constructs from the literature on employer branding to identify some key research questions to address. They then consider cross-cultural employer branding and brand repair in the context of talent management, along with more key questions to address in each area. Findings A positive employer brand – with its strong

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Organizational Rankings: A Multidisciplinary Review of the Literature and Directions for Future Research

Violina P. Rindova, Luis L. Martins, Santosh B. Srinivas, David Chandler
Journal of Management,Vol. 44, Issue 6, Pages: 2175-2208.
A review of the literature on organizational rankings across management, sociology, education, and law reveals three perspectives on these complex evaluationsrankings are seen as a form of information intermediation, as comparative orderings, or as a means for surveillance and control. The information intermediation perspective views rankings as information products that address information asymmetries between the ranked organizations and their stakeholders; the comparative orderings perspective views them as representations of organizational status and reputation; and the surveillance and control perspective emphasizes their disciplining power that subjects ranked organizations to political and economic interests. For each perspective, we identify core contributions as well as additional questions that extend the current body of research. We also identify a new perspectiverankings entrepreneurship

A COMPARISON OF COSTCO TO WALMART’S SAM’S CLUB”

Wayne F Cascio
Business Ethics: The Big Picture,Pages: 276.
An intuitive argument for companies paying low wages is the affordability of their products. Walmart is typically assumed to embody such an approach. It is through low wages that Walmart is able to keep prices so low, or so the argument goes. Walmartisthe largest retailer in the world, and yet part of that company, the Sam’s Club warehouse portion of the business, is not the market leader in its area (warehouse stores). The top warehouse retailer is Costco, and this is the case even though Costco has fewer stores than Sam’s Club. Additionally, Costco employees are in a better position in terms of wages and benefits than Walmart employees. This seems to be a violation of the seemingly intuitive idea that low prices require low wages. In this article, Wayne Cascio explains how Costco has managed to maintain its place as the market leader while maintaining employee wages and benefits. Assuming that the same model would workfor Walmart, the natural question is, are the practices of Walmart morally justifiable?It is also interesting to note that Walmart seems to have recently increased its externalized costs. Cascio references a recent study that claims that one 200-person Walmart store results in costs to federal taxpayers of over $470,000. A more recent Mother Jones article cites a new study by the same group that

Applied psychology in talent management

Wayne F Cascio, Herman Aguinis
SAGE Publications,
In Applied Psychology in Talent Management, world-renowned authors Wayne F. Cascio and Herman Aguinis provide the most comprehensive, future-oriented overview of psychological theories and how they impact people decisions in today’s ever-changing workplace. Taking a rigorous, evidence-based approach, the new Eighth Edition includes more than 1,000 new citations from over 20 top-tier journal articles. The authors uniquely emphasize the latest developments in the fieldall in the context of historical perspectives. Integrated coverage of technology, strategy, globalization, and social responsibility throughout the text provides students with a holistic view of the field and equips them with the practical tools necessary to create productive, enjoyable work environments.

No firm Is an island: The role of population-level actors in organizational learning from failure

Peter M Madsen, Vinit Desai
Organization Science,Vol. 29, Issue 4, Pages: 739-753.
When a serious failure occurs within a population of organizations, members of individual organizations in the population attempt to learn vicariously from the event so that future failures may be avoided. This organization-level vicarious learning process has been extensively studied in the organizational learning literature. However, following a serious failure in one organization, a parallel process also plays out at the population level as population-level actors draw lessons from the failure and exert influence over organizations in the population in the interest of preventing future failures. Such population-level processes may exert powerful influences on organization-level learning, but have only begun to be explored in the literature. This paper begins to fill this gap by theorizing and studying the role of population-level actors in organizational learning from failure within and across organizational populations. It

Training engagement theory: A multilevel perspective on the effectiveness of work-related training

Traci Sitzmann, Justin M Weinhardt
Journal of Management,Vol. 44, Issue 2, Pages: 732-756.
Training engagement theory provides a multilevel depiction of the antecedents of training effectiveness. By multilevel, we are referring both to the hierarchical nature of constructssuch that employees are embedded in organizations and workgroupsand the temporal nature of processesemphasizing that macro and within-person processes are not static phenomena. The hierarchical nature of training engagement theory provides a broad account of how processes at various levels in the organizational hierarchy influence one another and contribute to the success or failure of training programs. The temporal nature of the theory advocates for examining the processes that occur from before training is conceptualized until the completion of training when examining the antecedents of training effectiveness. Thus, training engagement theory proposes a sequence model of the independent and joint effects of

Collaborative stakeholder engagement: An integration between theories of organizational legitimacy and learning

Vinit M Desai
Academy of Management Journal,Vol. 61, Issue 1, Pages: 220-244.
Organizations often collaborate with stakeholders such as customers, communities, and other groups to pursue shared goals, and these partnerships are known to affect an organization’s legitimacy with those groups as well as its access to information from them. While these concerns could be examined within each of their own independent literatures, existing theories are ill equipped to handle this process in tandem. Thus, studying these collaborations provides an opportunity to more broadly explore how organizations balance knowledge search or exploration efforts with their needs to manage organizational legitimacy. Accordingly, I suggest that collaboration facilitates access to external information, and that organizations pursue it when the information is needed to solve related problems. However, I also argue that collaborations reciprocally allow stakeholders to more directly scrutinize organizational practices