ALBERT

Notes: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a large community wide survey on occupational stress. Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected via a questionnaire, using a random sample of the general population in the north east region of England, UK. A total of 2,500 people completed questionnaires, which represented all socio-economic groups. Findings - The results of the bivariate analysis revealed significant differences in terms of physical and psychological wellbeing amongst the male and female sample. Multiple regression analysis provided evidence that the issue of job satisfaction is critical and different amongst both males and females and social class. Originality/value - This research investigated the combined effects of both gender differences at work and social class in one given study, using one instrument, in one community setting. Recommendations for future research at the theoretical and practical level are given.

Notes: Purpose - To identify some psychological and social variables that could enhance employees' adoption of total quality management (TQM) in an organization that chooses to implement the management philosophy. Design/methodology/approach - A survey research was conducted, using 418 middle management staff, randomly drawn from some TQM and non-TQM courier organizations in Nigeria. Respondents received standardized scales measuring perception of their leaders' leadership styles, organizational reward system and self-report of personality attributes (psychological variables), along with items measuring gender, age, job tenure and level of education (social variables). They also responded to questionnaire items measuring the extent to which they practice TQM. Findings - Correlation analysis show that higher level of maintenance leadership style along with lower level of performance leadership style, low levels of extraversion and neuroticism, higher level of education and shorter job tenure enhance subordinates' practice of TQM. t-test results show that Employees in TQM organizations were significantly higher on perceived maintenance and performance leadership styles and reward but significantly lower on extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism than their non-TQM counterparts. Research limitations/implications - All measures were based on self-report of the respondents and data were from only service organizations, thus, limiting generalizations of the findings. Practical implications - Implementers of TQM in organizations in Nigeria should endeavor to put in place appropriate leadership styles, consider personality attributes, level of education and duration of working in any non-TQM organization among other personnel issues for selection and retention in a TQM practicing organization. Originality/value - TQM is a management technique being adopted in Nigeria with some difficulties. The present study brings to focus psychological and social variables that could ease its implementation.

Notes: Purpose - Most managers are heavily affected by the relationship between their professional and their private life. Work-life-balance is discussed rarely without discomfort, which suggests a massive tension and conflict caused by the contradiction of private and professional requirements. Managers use a range of individual strategies to deal with this conflict situation. An explorative empirical study on these strategies is presented. Design/methodology/approach - The sample is drawn largely according to the principles of theoretical sampling, different family-work constellations provide the basis of selection. Our sample includes people from the upper and highest levels of organizational hierarchies. Most of them have children and working partners, hence they find themselves in specific phases of the family cycle. Thirty problem-focussed interviews are content analyzed. In order to reveal pattern of dealing with work-life-conflict cluster and pronominal analyses are applied. Findings - Results show three distinct prototypes of dealing with the work-family-tension: career as subject of social fascination, family as a factual task, the tradition of two worlds, double burden and the pressure of tasks. One outstanding result in advance: if both partners are professionally active (Double Career Couples), the family will increasingly be dominated by merely functional requirements. Originality/value - Explorative analyses and results are presented. The applied combination of content analysis and detailed linguistic procedures allows a new, more differentiated view on how managers perceive work-life-balance. Real types of handling work-life-conflicts are revealed. Based on these findings, more quantitative and structured analyses of managers' work-life-behavior can be conducted, especially on these types' overall prevalence, on changes in the course of managers' life cycle, on causal factors, and on implications for human resource management.

Notes: Purpose - This study aims to investigate the United Arab Emirates (UAE) society's attitudes towards women managers held by a sample of 186 participants. Design/methodology/approach - The subjects completed the newly developed multidimensional aversion to women who work scale (MAWWWS). The study validates the scale in an Arab non-Western context. Findings - The results reveal that UAE students have significantly different attitudes towards women managers from those of the older generations. There are significant differences between males' and females' perceptions of women's roles and participation in society. The study predicts that modernity may diminish patriarchal attitudes towards women managers in the Arab world. Originality/value - This study has provided some insights into the factors associated with attitudes towards women managers in the UAE. This research contributes to the literature on cross-cultural studies by systematically assessing the attitudes towards women managers in the UAE.

Notes: Purpose - To investigate the new leadership dimensions questionnaire (LDQ) and a related framework for assessing an individual's leadership style in relation to the context in which the leader works; the three new LDQ sub-scales designed to measure organisational context, follower commitment and leader performance; and the relationship between personality and leadership.Design/methodology/approach - Research is reported on LDQ data from a large sample of leaders and managers (n 222) from a range of public and private organisations. A style score was calculated and then related to data on respondents' biographical - job function, gender, sector and nationality - and FFM personality data.Findings - Results show a reasonably even allocation across all three leadership styles and that the styles are independent of the four important biographical variables. They also show that the five FFM personality factors do not account for any additional variance on any of the styles at a significant level. Results on the factor structure of the organisational context, follower commitment and leader performance scales show them to be reliable scales.Research limitations/implications - A majority of the sample were from the UK, from the private sector and were male. This study did not incorporate measures of job performance or investigate the style and context link. The self-assessed, not the 360° version of LDQ was used.Practical implications - Some support is provided for the LDQ's use for leadership assessment and development, and for identifying potential, in both public and private sector organisations, with a standardisation sample of more than 1,000 now available. Results also show that the LDQ can be used without losing significant personality-related variance.Originality/value - LDQ provides a unique opportunity for managers to relate leadership dimensions to three different leadership styles - engaging, goal-oriented and involving - and, in turn, to the degree of organisational volatility faced by the leader, thus enabling respondents to identify the most appropriate style. Leader performance and follower commitment sub-scales should facilitate further research by academics into leadership performance.

Notes: Purpose - To explore the relationship between managers' cognitive maps and their performance as managers at the same level in the same organisation.Design/methodology/approach - Field study involving 30 branch managers in a financial services organisation operating in New Zealand. A nomthetic approach was used to develop their cognitive maps. Features of these maps were then related to business-unit performance.Findings - The managers who were higher performing have maps that were considerably simpler, using fewer concepts and fewer linkages.Research limitations/implications/future research - While limited to one organisation and to one level of management, there is evidence that cognition is related to managers' performance. Future research should explore how cognitive structures differ between managerial levels, and how these are related to appropriate measures of performance.Originality/value - One of few studies that have sought to map managers' cognition and organisation performance.

Notes: Purpose - To examine the psychometric properties and construct validity of the general decision making style (GDMS) questionnaire in two UK samples.Design/methodology/approach - The GDMS takes the form of a self-report questionnaire which identifies five decision making styles: rational, intuitive, dependent, avoidant, and spontaneous. It was administered to samples of business studies undergraduates in two UK business schools. Analyses included scale reliabilities, test-re-test reliability, and both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses.Findings - The instrument's internal and temporal consistencies were generally sound. Consistent with earlier studies, analyses undertaken on the two samples independently were generally supportive of a five factor model of decision making style. No relationships with gender or year of study were observed.Research limitations/implications - Whilst generally supportive of the GDMS, results suggest that further validation work is required. This could include consideration of the relationships between the GDMS and other measures of cognitive/personality style.Practical implications - The managerial implications of the strengths of and relationships between the different decision making styles observed are discussed.Originality/value - The paper fulfils a stated requirement for further validation study of the GDMS instrument.

Notes: Purpose - The purpose of the research is to demonstrate the impact of psychological contract infringement (independent variable) on organizational commitment, exit, voice and neglect (dependent variables) within a Canadian federal public organization located in Quebec, where individual (e.g. age), organizational (e.g. stricter rule enforcement) and situational (e.g., employment alternatives) variables are controlled.Design/methodology/approach - A pre-tested questionnaire (204 questions) on the psychological contract was distributed to 357 Canadian civil servants in a one site federal department. One hundred and thirty-two questionnaires were returned and considered usable for research, for a 37 per cent response rate. Bivariate analysis was performed on the various determinants and individual responses to psychological contract violation, including organizational commitment, departure designs and counterproductive behaviors.Findings - Results clearly illustrate the great complexity of the link between organizational variables and individual reactions and shed light, on a higher level, on the need to outgrow arguments that reduce bureaucracy to its mere perverse effects. These results suggest that the managerial challenge is not so much to produce a shift from an environment where the rule of law, standards and regulations prevails to an open and flexible environment where individual autonomy is prized as it is to ensure compliance with normative and regulatory constraints.Originality/value - The research seeks to enrich the knowledge base on the subject area because previous research has dealt almost exclusively with the psychological contract within large private companies.

Notes: Purpose - It has been observed time and again by researchers that one must be highly adaptive in order to be effective. Number of instruments are available, but most of them have been developed and then standardized on western population. To ensure utility of some of the well-known instruments, it is imperative to testify them on Indian population. The present study is an attempt to re-examine the factorial structure of the instrument developed by Mott.Design/methodology/approach - The work is based on a broad range of published works, including papers, books and reports.Findings - The findings have revealed that this instrument does not replicate its factors in totality, hence indirectly the impact of culture on managerial effectiveness. The study has established that the instrument developed by Mott does not replicate its factorial structure in Indian context. The original version had three factors, such as productivity, flexibility and adaptability, whereas the present study has shown that there are only two factors, such as functional effectiveness and personal effectiveness in the Indian context.Originality/value - Of value for functional effectiveness and personal effectiveness in the Indian context.

Notes: Purpose - To compare the experience of occupational stress across a large and diverse set of occupations. Three stress related variables (psychological well-being, physical health and job satisfaction) are discussed and comparisons are made between 26 different occupations on each of these measures. The relationship between physical and psychological stress and job satisfaction at an occupational level is also explored.Design/methodology/approach - The measurement tool used is a short stress evaluation tool which provides information on a number of work related stressors and stress outcomes. Out of the full ASSET database 26 occupations were selected for inclusion in this paper.Findings - Six occupations are reporting worse than average scores on each of the factors - physical health, psychological well-being and job satisfaction (ambulance workers, teachers, social services, customer services - call centres, prison officers and police). Differences across and within occupational groups, for example, teaching and policing, are detailed. The high emotional labour associated with the high stress jobs is discussed as a potential causal factor.Research limitations/implications - This is not an exhaustive list of occupations and only concerns employees working within the UK.Originality/value - There is little information available that shows the relative values of stress across different occupations, which would enable the direct comparison of stress levels. This paper reports the rank order of 26 different occupations on stress and job satisfaction levels.

Notes: Purpose - This introductory paper aims to provide a contextualization of recent research and applications on work team effectiveness in organizational contexts carried out in Spain and Portugal and to describe connections between this research and the main trends in the international scene. Design/methodology/approach - Since the 1990s, new occupational and organizational realities have deepened scientific interest in work teams in both Spain and Portugal. A range of recently published (1992-2004) works in this area are reviewed. The selected sources are papers published in Spanish, Portuguese and international journals. Findings - Reviewing this work, four major trends are identified that synthesize the key concerns of researches in both countries: work teams and new information/communication technologies; intra- and inter-group conflicts in organizational contexts; definition, dimensions and measurement criteria for work team effectiveness; and teams in innovation and change processes. Originality/value - This paper fulfils a panoramic vision of this research area in both Spain and Portugal, and provides an overview of the papers included in this special issue and an outlook for the future.

Notes: Purpose - To provide insight, explanation, and empirical evidence into how and why CEOs get paid the amounts that they do. Design/methodology/approach - This paper blends several methodologies. Using qualitative interviews with several high level managers, it develops a coding listing to capture how pharmaceutical firms compete within their industry. The paper then uses a structured content analysis approach to capture the specific and observable competitive moves that pharmaceutical firms launch. Findings - Base pay and bonus of the CEO are greater for firms that launch higher volumes of competitive actions. Furthermore, the variety of competitive moves appears to influence a CEO's base salary. Research limitations/implications - This study has limited external validity since the firms in this sample are all large US pharmaceutical firms. The research implication is that, to date, firm size and past performance were identified as the single greatest predictors of CEO pay. Findings from this study suggest that how a firm behaves in a competitive context is as important as static characteristics of the firm (e.g. size) in predicting CEO pay levels. Practical implications - Findings of this study begin to inform how directors may arrive at compensation decisions for CEOs. Since governance and CEO pay is becoming a more salient topic, this study suggests that directors can be trained or counseled on how to make more appropriate and refined decisions regarding CEO pay. Originality/value - This paper employs a unique methodology to arrive at a question that is important, but under-researched. Namely, we inform audiences who are concerned with how and why CEO's get paid what they do. Because CEO paychecks are a significant organizational expense, more research into how and why CEOs get paid a certain level is important theoretically and practically.

Notes: Purpose - To identify factors that impede the absorption of management knowledge imported into transition countries, using Belarus as a case, in order to increase efficiency of knowledge transfer. Design/methodology/approach - The findings are based on three sources: the extensive analysis of the academic literature; the results of a detailed survey and interviews; and personal observations and impressions gained by the authors during almost ten years of participation in technical assistance programmes for Belarus universities financed by the British Council. Findings - The study reveals a combination of factors rooted in linguistics, culture, training and ambience that prevent knowledge transfer from fully achieving its objectives as a modernization tool insofar as knowledge gets distorted or missing during the transfer process. Practical implications - The proposed solution is to intensify the knowledge transfer even further through increasing its interactive component by providing channels for direct interaction between educators in the newly independent states and the West. Originality/value - This paper introduces new original data, provides an analysis of an important practical issue and offers a feasible solution to this issue.

Notes: Purpose - Aims to examine within the theoretical construct of absorptive capacity several forms of host country national (HCN) learning, leading to improved productivity in the foreign operation, and ultimately yielding more effective knowledge generation and flow throughout the multinational corporation (MNC). Design/methodology/approach - Used open-ended exploratory field interviews with 51 host country human resource and middle managers in 49 different MNC foreign subsidiaries with headquarters in six different countries. Learning needs in three major employee levels of operative, supervisory/middle management, and upper management were examined. Notes from the interviews were recorded by hand and combined and analyzed for evidence of potentially beneficial forms of HCN learning using procedures of domain and theme analysis in taxonomy development. Findings - A total of 12 categories of potentially beneficial forms of HCN learning were identified and discussed relative to their contributions to increased absorptive capacity. These forms of learning included such areas as new employee orientation and entry job skills, MNC predominant language, MNC home country cross-cultural awareness, supervision and technical operations management skills, expatriate coaching and liaison skills, and MNC strategy and culture. Research limitations/implications - Provides helpful insights on absorptive capacity to promote further theory development, as well as practical guidance for future HCN training to enhance the effective transfer of management knowledge and practice. Originality/value - Past research in international management has had a predominant focus on expatriates, failing to identify important contributions that can be made by host country nationals to promote the effective transfer of knowledge throughout the multinational organization.

Notes: Purpose - To offer a framework of structural and contextual influences on knowledge transfer of foreign management ideas to Vietnamese academic and managerial colleagues. It addresses four factors: stage of relationship between Vietnamese and foreign counterparts; participative competence (i.e. knowledge, experience, and motivations of those sending and receiving knowledge); atmosphere within each side's organization; and conduit conditions, or factors that facilitate transmittal or translation of knowledge. Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws on an ethnographic study from 1994-2003 of the creation of Vietnam's first international standard business school, within the National Economics University (NEU), in Hanoi, which included participant observation, semi-structured and informal interviews with over 60 Vietnamese faculty members, managers, university administrators, and foreign visiting professors and administrators, field notes, documentation, and archival records. Findings - The paper concludes that long-lasting knowledge transfer is not straightforward in its flow; must be bi-directional for the primary transfer (i.e. of Western business knowledge) to succeed, and moves from primarily explicit to both explicit and more tacit knowledge transfer. Research limitations/implications - The paper calls for additional research on perceptive competence, organizational atmosphere, conduit conditions, and turning points in relationships. Practical implications - A toolkit for managers on key aspects to consider in knowledge transfer and exchange within developing countries and within multinational firms. Originality/value - The paper expands existing models and adds new components regarding the relationship between parties, and the notion of bi-directional interactions.

Notes: Purpose - To assess the role of leader-member exchange (LMX) in affecting voluntary turnover in a high turnover work context. Design/methodology/approach - Following consideration of traditional predictors of employee turnover, how LMX is related to voluntary turnover is examined among 207 over-the-road truck drivers using a telephone survey. Findings - Leader member exchange is found to be nonlinearly related to turnover such that turnover is lowest when LMX is moderate (i.e. both "bad" and "good" LMX are associated with higher levels of turnover). Research limitations/implications - Findings indicate that LMX and other antecedents should be examined for nonlinear relationships to turnover. This research may help to bridge the gap between turnover research and that associated with supervision and leadership. Practical implications - These study results suggest that unrealistic expectations should not be formed regarding the power of any single factor (e.g. LMX) to reduce turnover. Originality/value - This paper suggests that nonlinear relationships between antecedents of turnover and turnover receive fuller consideration.

Notes: Purpose - This study examined the relationship between two types of mismatch (i.e. non-correspondence between preferred and actual number of hours), and affective commitment. It was argued that specific groups of employees, i.e. women and part-time working employees, attach more importance to their working hours and, therefore, are less likely to show affective commitment when they experience a mismatch. Design/methodology/approach - Using data from 222 employees of a Dutch Ministry, hypotheses were tested using regression analyses. Findings - It was shown that a mismatch of working more hours was differentially related to the affective commitment of employees who wanted to work more and who wanted to work fewer hours. Moreover, gender and full-time status were found to moderate the negative relationship between a mismatch and the affective commitment of employees who wants to work less. Research limitations/implications - The focus is on affective commitment; however, it is possible that other types of commitment are also associated with perceptions of psychological contract breach. Practical implications - Tailored HRM is needed: assisting employees with a mismatch wanting to work fewer hours can be achieved by allowing them more flexibility in their working schedules. Employees with a mismatch of wanting to work more hours can be assisted with additional support, e.g. shopping services. Originality/value - HRM practices can be tailored to different preferences: the value of this paper is the examination of different types of mismatch for different group of employees.

Notes: Purpose - The purpose of the research was to test whether the widely known interaction between procedural and distributive justice influences cooperation, but only when employees' identification with the organization is strong. Design/methodology/approach - A survey study was conducted in a company, including scales assessing distributive justice, procedural justice, employees' sense of organizational identification and willingness to cooperate. Findings - The results showed that this interaction effect was only found among those with a strong sense of organizational identification. However, the pattern of this interaction was different from the pattern found in previous studies, that is, both high procedural and distributive justice was required to best predict cooperation. Originality/value - These findings identify yet another important moderator of the interaction between distributive justice and procedural justice, but also show that because of the cognitive content of the measure of organizational identification, the shape of the interaction is different than the one predicted by prior research.

Notes: Purpose - This article aims to describe the effects of the communication style of the message sender (threatening or neutral), status of the sender (equal to or higher than the recipient) and the power relationship between sender and recipient (from the same department or not) on the blood pressure of the recipient of an e-mail message Design/methodology/approach - The study was conducted under controlled laboratory conditions. The experiment was a mixed design, using both within and between subjects variables. The independent variable for the within subjects factor was the task that participants performed. There were three tasks: answering a questionnaire, reading a non-threateningly worded e-mail reprimand, and reading a threateningly worded e-mail reprimand. Although the study used students as participants, the messages they received were from real people in a University College. Discusses the implications in the area of occupational health. Findings - Diastolic blood pressure was significantly higher (p〈0.01) when recipients were reading the threateningly worded reprimand compared to reading a non-threateningly worded reprimand. The effect of status on blood pressure was significant (p〈0.05) but only for recipients in the same department as the message sender. Originality/value - The results add to the evidence that communication style and status can have a direct impact on the recipient's physiological response.

Notes: Purpose - New models of career management require individuals to harvest as much learning as possible from situations wherever and whenever feedback is possible. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of positive affect (liking) on feedback giving behavior since authors have suggested a potential bias but little empirical evidence exists on the topic. Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected from 77 trainer-trainee dyads in a formal field-based training program over a 60-day period. Additionally, critical incidents accounts of career setbacks were collected from MBA students and consulting clients. Findings - Less positive and less specific feedback was reportedly given to liked individuals, compared to disliked individuals, when performance was not attributed to internal causes. Also, an interaction between performance level and affective relationship explained amounts of negative feedback received in low internal attribution group. Less liked trainees received similar amounts of negative feedback despite performance level, while more liked trainees received more negative feedback when performing poorly than when performing well. The qualitative data support quantitative findings and add insights into why liked individuals receive less feedback of the nature that can further enhance career development. Practical implications - Liked individuals need to be especially vigilant in pursuing feedback necessary for personal development. Managers should be encouraged to monitor the amount of critical feedback given to liked and disliked employees. Specific suggestions are offered. Research limitations/implications - Objective performance measures may not be available in other field settings. Even so, an objective performance assessment is what is needed to understand the full impact of positive affect on feedback giving behavior and subsequently, personal development. Originality/value - Few studies regarding feedback giving behavior exist. The only previous study found that investigated the role of positive affect in feedback giving behavior was a lab study dealing only with poor performers. This field study shows how attributions interact with positive affect in feedback giving behavior while controlling for a natural range of performance. More importantly, this study adds a caveat to LMX findings about the advantages of a positive affective relationship.

Notes: Purpose - To analyse the influence of three different types of organisational support (supervisor's and colleagues' support, training, and acknowledgement and rewards) on the implementation of teamwork systems. Design/methodology/approach - Main and buffer effects of social support were tested using different subjective (job satisfaction and job involvement) and objective (production and total production management (TPM)) organisational criteria. In the longitudinal study, two sets of data were taken from a sample of workers from car-manufacturing factories in two consecutive years. Findings - The three dimensions of support explain 30 per cent of the variance in job satisfaction in time 1(T1) and 11 per cent in time 2 (T2). A total of 50 per cent of job involvement in T1 is due to the supervisor's and colleagues' support, whereas in T2 this influence is not apparent. Social support from supervisor's and colleagues and acknowledgment and rewards explain 10 per cent of the variance of the objective measures (production and TPM). Research limitations/implications - The objective measures used are similar for the production line as a whole and therefore they do not consider the possible differences in performance between different production line groups. Practical implications - The importance of social support in organisational settings, in particular in the implementation of working teams. It also emphasises the need to distinguish the different stages of support from colleagues, supervisors or the organisation. Originality/value - This study indicates that support is an easy and inexpensive means not only to improve the social environment of an employee but also to make an important contribution towards productivity targets.

Notes: Purpose - To report on the development of a new, more balanced approach to managing the performance of key employees in project-based organizations. Design/methodology/approach - Following the establishment of the role-based criteria for performance excellence through focus groups and subsequent factor analysis, performance profiles of a range of superior and average performing managers were compiled. These were based on behavioural event interviews (BEIs) from which job, person and role-based aspects were derived. The final performance model was validated through assessments with an expert panel of HRM specialists. Findings - This research has developed and demonstrated the potential of a more holistic approach to managing performance which includes reference to the job requirements, personal behaviours and the role context. It was found to be particularly suitable to measuring managers' performance in dynamic team-based environments. Research limitations/implications - The empirical work upon which the new performance framework is based was derived from a limited study within two construction organizations. Future work will explore the applicability of the approach within other organizations and industries. Practical implications - Applying this framework to key HRM activities has the potential to improve the ways in which companies manage, develop and retain their key managerial resources. Notably, they should be able to engender a more participative, developmental approach to the HRM function, thereby helping to ensure sustained performance improvements in the future and improved resource usage effectiveness. Originality/value - The paper presents the basis for a completely new performance management paradigm which embeds managerial competence/competency in a way which more accurately reflects the realities of managerial practice.

Notes: Purpose - This study is an attempt to contribute to an emerging stream of research, which attempts to explore how work commitment forms affect one another and how together they serve to influence work behaviour and outcomes.Design/methodology/approach - Drawing on five universal forms of work commitment, we tested the relationships between two work commitment models and two forms of employee withdrawal intentions: from their organisation and from their occupation. To this end, we investigated professional employees (social workers) employed in the Israeli healthcare system through a structured questionnaire.Findings - Path analysis results cast doubt on the applicability of both models in their original form, across scenarios. At the same time, with some modifications, both models show a good potential for explaining variance in employee withdrawal intentions from both their organisation and their occupation.Originality/value - This research contributes to work commitment literature by providing empirical findings and theoretical interpretations regarding the role of a particular professional setting in explaining the interrelationships among models of work commitment, and how some constellations of different work commitment foci explain multiple withdrawal intentions.

Notes: Purpose - This study examines the moderating influence of the Big Five factors of agreeableness, extraversion, and emotional stability on the relationship between conflict and well-being.Design/methodology/approach - Two field studies were conducted in which respondents were asked to fill out questionnaires during work hours; the first study involved a health care organization, the second one a manufacturing organization.Findings - In performing sets of hierarchical regressions it was shown that conflict was negatively associated with well-being, especially when individuals were low in agreeableness, low in emotional stability or low in extraversion.Research limitations/implications - We proposed directional relations between conflict and individual well-being, however we cannot rule out the alternative in which reduced well-being leads to more conflict. Future research using a cross-lagged design with longitudinal data is needed to establish causal relationships.Practical implications - The most straightforward implication for practice seems to be that conflict should become part of the checklist consultant's use when advising organisations with high rates of turnover, sick leave, and absenteeism.Originality/value - This study showed that conflict adversely affects well-being, especially for disagreeable, emotional unstable, or introverted individuals.

Notes: Purpose - To address the issue of risk intention using personal e-cards and to test the effect of the individuality of decision makers in the Lebanese context. Design/methodology/approach - The data of this research were collected by means of personal interviews using questionnaire. The sample involved 197 managers from various industries. The researchers developed a discriminant function equation to investigate risk taking behavior in the use of e-cards. The function classifies individuals into risk takers and non-risk takers on the basis of their psychographics and demographic characteristics. Risk was measured using the risk-assessment scenario developed by MacCrimmon and Wehrung. Risk intention was measured by asking: "What is the likelihood of your being willing, in the near future, to pay for items on the internet using a personal e-card?". Seven items were used to measure psychographics and lifestyle information. Factor analysis was used as a data-reduction technique, followed by multiple regression analysis (discriminant function) to determine the relative importance of the independent variables. Findings - The study demonstrated that, although respondents valued risk and were willing to take a chance, they did care about security. Further analysis showed that highly educated managers (university education) and Christians were slightly more willing to pay by e-card on the internet than were less-educated and Muslim managers. Research limitations/implications - It has to be borne in mind that using dissimilar groups will make the validity of the procedure questionable. Replicating the same study under different conditions (different groups in Lebanon or outside Lebanon) will make prediction more reliable. Practical implications - The discriminant analysis in this study has helped to explain the difference between risk taking and non-risk-taking managers in Lebanon. Originality/value - This paper addresses a new issue about risk intention and offers practical explanation. It fulfils an identified need in the Literature. Lebanon is a small country with one of the most developed internet markets in the Arab world but Lebanese People hesitate to transfer money via the internet. The current study was therefore conducted to address the issue of risk intention using personal e-cards and to test the effect of the individuality of decisionmakers in the Lebanese context.

Notes: Purpose - To analyze the particular influence of leadership styles on voluntary collaboration between members of project groups. Design/methodology/approach - Uses a field-study approach to gather data of 24 project groups in an academic learning context. Takes measures of different leadership styles, affective variables (mood, group atmosphere), and pro-social work behavior. Findings - Supports theoretical assumptions about mediating influences of mood and group atmosphere. Shows that leaders of project groups may enhance cooperative support by considering the emotional impact of their behavior. Research limitations/implications - The field context (academic learning setting, students as project group members) may set limitations to the generalizability of obtained findings. Practical implications - Helps personnel managers to look at project group leadership from a different point of view. Originality/value - Provides evidence about an emotionality link between leadership and cooperation.

Notes: Purpose - To describe the competencies necessary for managers to effectively engage in cross-cultural knowledge absorption. Design/methodology/approach - A comprehensive literature review of knowledge management and cross-cultural competency research which identifies seven thematic competencies for knowledge absorption. Findings - The study identifies and provides examples of seven cross-cultural knowledge absorption abilities: valuing different cultures, building relationships, listening and observing, coping with ambiguity, managing others, translating complex ideas, and taking action. Research limitations/implications - The research relies on a single theory of learning and integrates research into a single set of assumptions. The research has not been tested empirically. Practical implications - The paper provides a model to guide managers and others in organizations through successful knowledge transfer and absorption efforts including training, development, selection and project planning. Originality/value - The paper integrates diverse and extensive literature on knowledge absorption into a single framework based on how managers learn from experience and suggests competencies for managing absorption efforts.

Notes: Purpose - To explore how an increasing attention which is being paid to language and culture in organisations can help people to understand the impact of particular management concepts in business practices. Design/methodology/approach - A range of publications has been selected to indicate how important language in organisations is and how particular cultural backgrounds influence the applicabilty of management concepts. This has been illustrated with the concept Ubuntu, which gains popularity in South Africa. Findings - The applicabilty of Ubuntu in companies will rely on the habitus of the manager to be a good conversationalist. Originality/value - So far the Western literature about management knowledge has neglected the development of particular management concepts originating in other parts of the world.

Notes: Purpose - This study aims to examine the cross-cultural differences in equity sensitivity between the USA and Japan. Design/methodology/approach - A sample of 390 Americans and 202 Japanese were surveyed to determine their equity sensitivities and how each group would likely respond to under-payment scenarios. Findings - The findings support the notion that the Japanese are in fact more entitled in their equity orientation than Americans. Furthermore, the Japanese were also significantly more likely to respond with overt actions to reduce their feelings of inequity. Research limitations/implications - Foremost among these limitations is the fact that the situation presented to the subjects was hypothetical rather than real. Since it would be considered unethical to manipulate subjects in real work settings a first person scenario approach was utilized consistent with other equity theory literature. While the scenario was easily identifiable by the student subjects, it is unknown if the findings from this research would apply to adults working in real world organizations. Practical implications - The results may have important implications for international human resource strategies and practices. Equity sensitivity may affect perceived value of rewards (compensation), promotion (selection), and motivation (performance management) all of which are critical issues in the effective management of human resources. This study illustrates that cross-cultural differences exist in regard to equity sensitivity and these differences may affect the efficacy of human resource strategies in global organizations. Originality/value - This paper offers a significant contribution to the literature on equity sensitivity by testing the theory in a cross-cultural setting.

Notes: Purpose - The paper aims to study how shame, guilt and fear experienced by failing employees determine their explanation of the failure. Design/methodology/approach - Employees participated in two studies, one assessing actual personal examples of failures and another used imaginary vignettes. To manipulate the extent to which guilt or shame was the dominant emotion experienced by the failing employee, participants were asked to generate counterfactual thoughts typical of each of these feelings. Fear was manipulated by describing a threatening atmosphere in the organization. Measured was the likelihood that the employee took responsibility for what happened and provided a valid explanation. Likelihood of explaining the event by using excuses, justifications, concessions or denials was also measured. Findings - Findings indicate guilt was associated with explanations that help the organization learn from the failure and assist employees in restoring their relationships with the organization and co-workers. Heightened levels of fear, however, decreased this desirable effect of guilt. Shame had no unique contribution to an employee's choice of explanations. Research limitations/implications - The use of self-reports and vignettes limits the ecological validity of the present findings. Nevertheless, it provides preliminary evidence for the importance of the factors under study. Practical implications - These findings contribute to an understanding of the ways organizations can provide emotional settings conductive to constructive failure inquiries both for organizations and employees. Originality/value - The role emotions play in explanation of failures is an understudied issue both in social psychology and organizational research. The present study opens an avenue for more studies in this direction.

Notes: Purpose - Managers frequently complain that performance ratings are inflated; thus, this study aims to explore what extent two motivational factors theoretically associated with accountability, rating audience and incentive, can influence rating inflation. Design/methodology/approach - One hundred and forty-nine raters were assigned to one of four audience conditions (ratee, expert, both ratee and expert - dual, and no audience) and either to an incentive or no incentive condition. Findings - Results showed that when an incentive was offered, raters expecting an expert audience to view their ratings provided significantly lower ratings, and raters expecting a dual audience provided significantly higher ratings compared to raters not offered an incentive. Furthermore, raters expecting a ratee audience inflated their ratings, regardless of incentive. Research limitations/implications - Financial incentives were used in this study and more research is needed to explore other types of incentives. Nonetheless, this research shows that incentives influence rating level. Practical implications - The research suggests that if managers wish to reduce rating inflation, they should ensure that an audience, other than the person being rated, will view the ratings. Originality/value - This study is the first to show that feelings of accountability and rating level are influenced by incentives, and that the audience of the ratings can determine whether incentives result in lower or higher ratings. Furthermore, it appears that the tendency to inflate ratings given a ratee audience may be quite powerful, even in the absence of specific incentives.

Notes: Purpose - To analyse the impact of change-oriented leaders on group outcomes. An explanatory model is proposed, in which the team climate (in particular as it relates to innovation) mediates between change-oriented leadership and group outcomes, while group potency reinforces this relationship. Design/methodology/approach - This study is designed as a correlative and cross-level research. The sample comprises 318 health-care professionals in 78 health-care teams at different public hospitals throughout Spain. Findings - Hierarchical regression analysis was used to evaluate mediating and moderating effects. Results offer considerable empirical support for the proposed model. Research limitations/implications - It would be of interest to increase the sample, differentiate it by service, and to get samples from other sectors, as well as to carry out experimental and longitudinal research. It would also be interesting to further explore the conditions that implement change-oriented leadership impact, analysing environment, external relations and so on, to examine the relationships between other variables and to study their effects on new forms of work organisation and on virtual teams. Practical implications - To make more useful change-oriented leader actions, it would be advisable to identify, modify or improve team climate, using strategies such as management by objectives, delegation and empowerment and so on. It would also be necessary to boost group potency before going ahead with change, for example, by developing the skills of team members, or by fostering the self-confidence of the team. Originality/value - This paper contributes to developing actual research about how change-oriented leaders influence team outputs.

Notes: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of pay diversity between groups, for example, across competing workplace teams. Design/methodology/approach - In Study I, 60 future managers from Newcastle, Australia, were paid either $1 or $2 to work on an identical intrinsically motivating task, either on an individual basis or as members of pay-diverse groups. In Study II, with 84 future managers in Darwin, Australia, the $1/$2 group pay dichotomy was made more realistic, by positioning the pay either at the bottom ($1) or top ($2) rungs of a pay ladder, or embedding it within a wider pay scale ($1 at a first, and $2 at the second tertile). Findings - In Study I, between individually paid workers, both below- and above-average payment were linked to low intrinsic motivation, whereas between groups, those in the higher pay bracket remained more motivated compared to their lower-paid group counterparts. In Study II, when pay was polarised, intrinsic motivation was higher in the higher-paid compared to lower-paid groups; but when pay was embedded, this comparative advantage dissipated. Originality/value - Taken together, Studies I and II suggest that pay diversity across groups will de-motivate both lower- and higher-paid groups, except perhaps when a group tops the pay ladder.

Notes: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a set of strategies for effective managerial self-change within the substantive setting of a cleaned-up bureaucracy. Design/methodology/approach - Using inductive methodology, data have been collected and analysed from a large Australian public-sector bureaucracy by means of 26 personal interviews conducted between 2000 and 2002. Findings - A conceptual model of managerial self-change is presented stressing the importance of both cognitive and behavioural strategies within the context of an "awareness-understanding-accomplishment" feedback loop and learning process. The model incorporates and extends some of the major concepts in the extant literature on thought self-leadership and learned optimism by incorporating attributional analysis into managerial cognitive thought patterns. The findings also suggest refinements to the concept of managerial credibility within cleaned-up bureaucracies. Research limitations/implications - Findings are derived on the basis of a substantive case study of one cleaned-up bureaucracy in a particular country. Further research needs to expand this base to encompass other organizations in a wider range of countries across different cultures. Practical implications - The model draws attention to how the behaviour of organisational subordinates within cleaned-up bureaucracies is significantly affected by the attitudes and actions of their immediate manager. By adopting a set of strategies contained with the conceptual model, managers can learn how to change themselves. Originality/value - The paper departs from the prevalent tendency of the extant literature to employ laboratory or experimentally derived data by using systematically gathered and grounded empirical data in a naturalistic organisational setting. Additionally, the findings have more to say about the nuances of a particular organisational context rather than generalising across numerous contextual environments.

Notes: Purpose - To examine the relationship between self-esteem and job performance using others' perceptions of self-esteem and to examine agreement in ratings of self-esteem across sources. Design/methodology/approach - A sample of 143 sales representatives, 113 supervisors, 420 peers, 435 customers, and 510 family and friends completed Rosenberg's measure of self-esteem and a measure of acquaintanceship. Peers and supervisors rated the subjects' job performance. Correlations and hierarchical regression were used to explore the relationships. Findings - Customer, peer, and supervisor perceptions of subjects' self-esteem related significantly to peer and supervisor performance ratings, whereas self and family/friends perceptions did not. There was limited support for the acquaintanceship effect (greater agreement across sources when familiarity is greater), while context affected agreement (same context sources had greater agreement). Practical implications - The study highlights the importance of looking at an employee from a variety of perspectives. Also, training employees to develop self-enhancing behaviors may enhance their outcomes. Finally, training raters that their perceptions of co-workers' self-esteem may influence evaluations of performance could reduce unconscious errors. Originality/value - If this had been a traditional study measuring self-esteem's impact on performance ratings, no significant relationships could have been reported since individuals' perceptions of their own self-esteem were not valid predictors of performance ratings. It may be the individual's public self-esteem (e.g. impression management skills) that influences performance ratings. In particular, workplace sources perceived high self-esteem as being important to job performance. The validity of self-esteem may be understated through reliance on the self-report method alone.

Notes: Purpose - This exploratory, interdisciplinary, cross-cultural study attempt to examine the hypothesis that in a country, where entrepreneurs have high status, individuals will describe themselves as more entrepreneurial, will exhibit greater risk-taking tendency and more will be involved in entrepreneurial activity. Design/methodology/approach - The study included MBA students in Israel, the USA and Hungary who were asked to compare the social status of entrepreneurs with that of other professionals, rate themselves on traits that were identified as characterizing successful entrepreneurs, and rate the risk they were willing to take to join a start-up. Findings - Results showed that Israelis perceived entrepreneurs as having higher social status than Americans and Hungarians. Israelis also demonstrated greater risk taking expressed in the readiness to leave a secure job to join a start-up. Israelis and Americans rated themselves higher than Hungarians on initiative, love of challenge and independence, the three traits rated highest by actual entrepreneurs. Cautious attempt was made to relate these findings to the total entrepreneurial activity in the three countries and the percentage of adults in the population who start new businesses. Originality/value - The study contributes to theory and resarch on entrepreneurship by demonstrating the potential inherent in a cross-cultural, interdisciplinary perspective in general, and the connection between the social status of entrepreneurs and actual entrepreneurial activity in particular.

Notes: Purpose - To investigate how an individual's value structure influences his/her attitudes toward others who are dissimilar and the moderating effects of age, gender, race, and religiosity on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach - A sample of 165 respondents completed the 56-item Schwartz Value Survey (SVS), which measures the four value types of openness to change, self-transcendence, conservation, and self-enhancement, and the 15-item Miville-Guzman Universality-Diversity Scale Short (M-GUDS-S), which measures diversity attitudes. The relationships between the variables were explored using hierarchical regression. Findings - Respondents who scored higher on the values of openness to change and self- transcendence had more positive diversity attitudes than those who scored lower. Respondents who scored higher on self-enhancement had less positive diversity attitudes than those who scored lower. The prediction that those who score higher on conservation would have less positive diversity attitudes was not supported. Age, gender, and race were found to interact with values to predict diversity attitudes. None of the interaction effects for religiosity was significant. Originality/value - This paper provides evidence of the predictive strength of an individual's value structure on their attitudes towards diversity. More specifically, this paper shows that the impact that a person's values have on his/her attitudes towards diversity is moderated by his/her age, race, and gender. The results suggest that diversity training needs to be more targeted and designed to take into consideration the values, age, gender, and race of the trainees.

Notes: Purpose - Seeks to evaluate the link between task and relationship conflict, and their influence on some employees' affective reactions such as satisfaction, wellbeing, and propensity to leave a job; and to analyse the mediated and moderated role of relationship conflict. Design/methodology/approach - The study involved 169 employees from six service organizations (hotels) in Andalusia (Spain). A questionnaire was used containing different measures: task and relationship conflict, wellbeing, job satisfaction, and propensity to leave the job. Findings - The two types of conflict have different consequences. Data show that relationship conflict is negatively associated with affective reactions, while task conflict does not relate directly to affective reactions in a predictable way; relationship conflict has a positive influence on the desire to leave the current job, while task conflict does not affect it negatively; the interactive effect of relationships and task conflict shows that this interaction contributes substantially to predict the propensity to leave the current job; and relationship conflict mediates in the link between task conflict and affective reactions. Research limitations/implications - A high level of task conflict may backfire by boosting relationship conflict as well, thus having a negative effect on affective reactions. Thus some conclusions can be drawn with a view to improving conflict management in teams. First an attempt must be made to understand the type of conflict that is taking place. Second, managers should encourage open discussion of task-related issues. Third, special attention should be paid to the level of each conflict because of its interactive effects on some affective outcomes. Thus, in spite of the generally beneficial effects associated with task conflict, the intensification of task-related conflict may backfire when interacting with dysfunctional affective-dissent. Originality/value - Serves too analyze the mediated and moderated role of relationship conflict and to test the role of types of conflict on affective reactions such as wellbeing and propensity to leave the job.

Notes: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to test a model of the effects of intragroup conflict (relationship conflict, task conflict and process conflict), past performance feedback and perceptions of team decision-making effectiveness on team performance and affective responses. Design/methodology/approach - A sample of 183 individuals, working in 47 different teams, participated in this study. All the teams were involved in a national management challenge for a five-week period. Three questionnaires were sent directly to team members by e-mail at different times of the challenge period to collect data concerning demographic data (questionnaire 1), perceptions of team functioning (questionnaire 2) and perceptions of team decision-making effectiveness as well as the affective responses (questionnaire 3). The level of analysis in this study was the group. Thus, all individual survey responses were aggregated to the team level for statistical analysis. Findings - Results showed a full mediation effect of perceptions of team decision in the relationship between process conflict and team performance. Task and relationship conflict showed no significant relationships with team performance and satisfaction with the team. The result that effective past performance feedback directly influences team performance, in a positive way, suggests that past effective decisions may reinforce the decision-making processes previously used by team members. Research limitations/implications - One possible limitation of this study is the fact that measurements were taken at different times of the management challenge. In fact, while intragroup conflict was measured two weeks after the beginning of the challenge, the other variables were measured at the end of the challenge. This time measurement difference could raise some questions concerning the stability of the intragroup conflict over time in work teams. Future research should address this hypothesis. Future research should also elucidate the influence of contextual variables, such as cultural values, on the relationship between intragroup conflict and performance outcomes. Practical implications - This study helps managers to understand how to benefit from conflict. In a highly competitive environment, disagreement among team members about "how to do it" seems to decrease decision-making effectiveness. Originality/value - This study fills a gap in the conflict literature concerning the impact of intragroup conflict in the team members' perceptions of decision-making effectiveness and how it affects the overall performance. Moreover, this study also clarifies the importance of past performance to the actual team outcomes.

Notes: Purpose - To analyze the direct and combined effects of the communication media and time pressure in group work on the affective responses of team members while performing intellective tasks Design/methodology/approach - A laboratory experiment was carried out with 124 subjects working in 31 groups. The task performed by the groups was an intellective one. A 2?×?3 factorial design with three media (face-to-face, video-conference, and e-mail) and time pressure (with and without time pressure) was used to determine the direct and combined effects of these two variables on group members' satisfaction with the process and with the results, and on members' commitment with the decision. Findings - Results show a direct effect of communication media on satisfaction with the process, which confirms the prediction of the media-task fit model, and a negative effect of time pressure on satisfaction with group results and commitment to those results. Most interestingly, the interaction effects for the three dependent variables are significant and show that the most deleterious effects of time pressure are produced in groups working face-to-face, while groups mediated by video-conference improve their affective responses under time pressure. Research limitations/implications - Some limitations are the use of a student sample, so generalizability of the findings is limited, and the use of only one task type. Practical implications - It can help one to know how to design work to improve satisfaction and implication of workers. Originality/value - This paper shows some innovations as the combined effects of media and time pressure, controlling for the task type on group members' affective responses to their work and achievements.

Notes: Purpose - To investigate the effects of within-group task interdependence and the degree of communications synchrony on performance in virtual teams (VT). Design/methodology/approach - A 2?×?2 factorial design of 240 participants in Spain, randomly assigned to 80 three-person teams, was used. Teams worked virtually (not meeting face-to-face), performing a merit-rating task in a laboratory setting. Findings - The analyses revealed an interaction effect between task interdependence and synchrony of communication. High values of VT performance were found both under conditions of "low task interdependence" and "asynchrony of communication" and under conditions of "high task interdependence" and "synchrony of communication". The results show that superior VT performance is contingent on the match between the nature of the task and the choice of communications modality. Research limitations/implications - First, additional research will be needed to confirm and extend the findings in actual working environments. Second, a closer look is necessary at the different mediation processes employed by teams in situations where there is a better or worse fit between task characteristics and type of communication (e.g. team strategy). Practical implications - This study makes it clear that it is necessary to optimize and nurture one's investments in communication technologies, and calls for further consideration of the requirements for the design of technological solutions in accordance with task interdependence. Originality/value - This work complements past research that has focused mainly on virtual teams using asynchronous technologies or comparing them with face-to-face teams.

Notes: Purpose - Brainstorming is a well-known group process for generating new ideas and stimulating creativity. Important as well as robust findings have been achieved in determining which factors contribute most to facilitating or hindering the group's ideas productivity. Research aimed at comparing face-to-face (FTF) with computer-mediated communication (CMC) led to the conclusion that this latter shared with the nominal group technique the advantages of avoiding either the blocking effect or the identification of the source. More recently, attention has turned to the possible effects of group support system (GSS) in the mediating cognitive processes of generating new ideas. The present study aims to examine the effects of the type of tool and of the anonymity condition on the quality, quantity and diversity of the generated ideas, as well as on group members' satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach - Uses a 2?×?2 factorial design combining two different GSS tools (topic commenter vs EBS) with anonymity versus non-anonymity. Findings - It was found that anonymity generated more satisfaction among the group members. A marginal effect on satisfaction was also found to be related with the type of tools. Contrary to expectations, the EBS tool was not found to generate greater diversity of ideas. An interesting finding not anticipated was the impact of technology on the flow of ideas and on the emergence of new conceptual categories, probably due to alternative strategies of task structuring. Research limitations/implications - The use of students as subjects, and the running of the experimental work in a scholarly context, could have contributed to the elimination of fears and to freeing the participants from any inhibition in the anonymity conditions. Within an organisational context with higher social stratification, such anonymous procedures could have significant outcomes. Future research will have to examine whether this effect is relevant to other types of topics and other populations. Another aspect that it is important to re-examine is the effect of anonymity on the emergence of minority ideas, which could stimulate innovation. Practical implications - The type and characteristics of tools were shown to be a decisive factor in the participants' satisfaction, in the communication process and in the idea generation and clustering processes. Although tenuous, this set of data could mean that the characteristics of the tools interfere with the cognitive mechanisms present in the brainstorming technique. Originality/value - Examines the effect of the technology and anonymity in ideas generation within a group context on the satisfaction of the participants.