GENERAL SAFETY PERFORMANCE: A TEST OF A GROUNDED THEORETICAL MODEL

In this investigation, we report the results of 2 studies designed to (a) conduct confirmatory factor analytic tests of a model of general safety performance with performance ratings from 550 coworker appraisals (Study 1), and (b) examine hypothesized relationships between indicators of breadth and depth of knowledge constructs and confirmed safety performance factors (from Study 1) with training history data and supervisory appraisals for 133 hazardous waste workers in 23 jobs and 4 organizations (Study 2). Confirmatory factor analytic results from Study 1 provided support for a 4-factor model of general safety performance with performance factors labeled Using Personal Protective Equipment, Engaging in Work Practices to Reduce Risk, Communicating Health and Safety Information, and Exercising Employee Rights and Responsibilities. In general, the results from Study 2 supported the hypothesized dominance of depth of knowledge over breadth of knowledge in the prediction of performance with respect to more routine, consistent safety tasks. Issues concerning the general-izability of these factors to other types of work and the human resource management implications of these results are discussed.     

islam@britain.net: ‘British Muslim’ identities in Cyberspace

The Internet represents a significant communication tool for the expression of Islamic concepts and notions of identity, on web pages ranging from the constructs of organizations through to the pronouncements of individuals. Cyber Islamic Environments provide indicators of what it means to be a ‘Muslim’ in Britain that augment other sources of knowledge. This paper presents an overview of prominent sites, and introduces issues connected with studying Islam and Muslims through this electronic medium.     

Computers and the nature of farm management

The introduction of computer-based information systems to be used by farmers, as in many other fields, is preceded mostly by great expectations. Some persons even tend to think that eventually the computer might take over farm management. This article tries to make an assessment of the validity of such expectations. Based upon a study among Swedish farmers, it examines the nature of farmers' decision-making. The latter is based upon an adaptive rationality, as opposed to the normative models of formal rationality used by scientists. Essential to this rationality are coordination skills: the ability of farmers to arrange the many interacting factors important to the totality of a farm in a satisfactory way. What the farmer needs in this complex situation is personal communication and tacit knowledge, knowledge that cannot be reduced to facts and rules. Consequently computer-based information systems can be useful tools only in some aspects of farm management, but they will never replace farmer's decision-making. To understand the possibilities of the computer as a tool in farm management, a distinction between interpretation skills and application skills is necessary.     

Knowledge management in decision making and decision support

A knowledge-oriented view of decisions and decision making is introduced, as a complement to classical perspectives and as a contribution of under-standing computer-based possibilities for relaxing strains on decision makers. This perspective includes a model of knowledge management activities performed by a decision maker and a taxonomy of knowledge types. It leads to a characterization of decision-support-system purpose, traits, and potentials that offers a basis for new research into computer-based possibilities for knowledge management. Clyde W. Holsapple holds the Rosenthal Endowed Chair in Management Information Systems and is Professor of Decision Science and Information Systems at the College of Business and Economics, University of Kentucky.     

临时知识型员工自主性动机激发：关系导向人力资源管理建构及其作用机理

快速变化的技术需求使得人才外部化, 人才共享成为组织获取技能型、知识型人才的重要方式。共享经济背景下的人力资源管理属于新兴研究领域, 企业在管理临时知识型员工面临很大挑战。由于身份的外部性、临时性, 员工关系基础薄弱, 临时知识型员工专业能力发挥受限, 工作场所关系需求受阻, 导致自主性动机不足, 影响绩效产出, 而传统对外部员工的契约型管理难以解决以上问题。针对嵌入团队工作的临时知识型员工, 研究基于关系型协调理论探索关系导向人力资源管理实践构成。在此基础上, 结合自我决定理论探讨关系导向人力资源管理实践提升临时知识型员工绩效的作用机理, 验证从自主性动机来源、自主性动机激发到自主性动机结果的路径机制。对关系导向人力资源管理实践内容和效用探讨有助于深入理解临时知识型员工的管理, 为共享经济背景下新型用工管理实践提供启示。     

Pathways Between Social Support,Family Well Being,Quality of Parenting,and Child Resilience: What We Know

We contribute to the theoretical and research knowledge base regarding the pathways between parental social support, family well being, quality of parenting, and the development of child resilience in families with a child with serious emotional problems. Little conceptual development has been done that provides a theoretical framework for studying the relationships among these variables. We identify key findings from social support theory and research, including the impact of social support on family well being and the parents’ capacity to parent, and the experience of parental social support in families with a child with a disability. We review the constructs of family well being, quality of parenting, and child resilience. Further, we explain the pathways between parental social support, family well being, quality of parenting, and child resilience in families with a child with serious emotional problems. Key variables of the model and the nature of their inter-relationships are described. Social support is constructed as a protective mechanism with main and buffering effects that can impact family well being, quality of parenting, and child resilience at a number of junctures. The conceptual model’s implications for future theory development and research are discussed.     

Cultural Transmission in International Organizations Impact of Interpersonal Communication Patterns in Intergroup Contexts

This study examined how organizational cultures are transmitted and maintained through interactions among organizational members across intergroup boundaries. The major hypothesis of interest was that the total number of individuals' out-group communication network links predicts the degree of individual-out-group transmission of work-related values and beliefs. The research design involved a survey of workers in international organizations with bicultural workforces (U.S. and Japanese). A total of 118 responses were submitted to a series of multiple regression analyses. The results provided evidence to support the relationship between communication and cultural transmission. Theoretically, it addressed two issues that have not been dealt with in social influence theories. First, it identified different types of social influence: agreement, accuracy, and congruency derived from the coorientation model. Second, it identified specific conditions under which social influence takes place by examining relational proximity in three different types of networks.     

CRM in Sales-Intensive Organizations: A Review and Future Directions

With the advent of technology enabling greater customer tracking, more robust knowledge management, and direct customer communication, the implementation of customer relationship management (CRM) strategies has grown in importance with many implications for sales-intensive organizations. Implications of CRM strategy, analytical CRM, and operational CRM are discussed, particularly in terms of research opportunities. Although there are, no doubt, many other interesting and worthwhile research opportunities available, the nexus of technology, CRM, and sales-intensive go-tomarket strategies provide myriad opportunities for exciting research.     

Legal aspects of decision-enhancing technologies

As advances in computer-based systems (CBS) have continued, development problems can occur which can adversely affect systems developers and users of these technologies, especially those designed to improve or affect decision making. One major difficulty concerns the legal liability that can occur as a result of defective or flawed systems development efforts. This article discusses several types of decision-enhancing technologies and how problems associated with the adequacy of testing of system design and appropriateness of warnings and directions/instructions dealing with CBS could adversely affect CBS developers from a legal perspective. Several propositions and suggested research perspectives are also presented. He received his Ph.D. in computer information systems from Arizona State University. His research interests include the impact on organizations and individuals of information systems and the potential legal liability to systems developers brought about by defective computer-based systems. His research has appeared inMIS Quarterly, Information & Management, AI Expert, AI & Society, Educational andPsychological Measurement andInformation Resources Management Journal. Kathleen Mykytyn is a consultant and research specializing in the impact of information systems and technologies on individuals and organizations. Her research has been published inMIS Quarterly, AI & Society, AI Expert, andInformation & Management.     

Studying Complex Discursive Systems.

Scholars increasingly theorize about the power of communication to organize and structure social collectives. However, two factors threaten to impede research on these theories: limitations in the scope and range of existing methods for studying complex systems of communication and the large volume of communication produced by even small collectives. Centering resonance analysis (CRA) is a new text analysis method that has broad scope and range and can be applied to large quantities of written text and transcribed conversation. It identifies discursively important words and represents these as a network, then uses structural properties of the network to index word importance. CRA networks can be directly visualized and can be scored for resonance with other networks to support a number of spatial analysis methods. Following a critique of existing methodologies, this paper describes the theoretical basis and operational details of CRA, describes its advantages relative to other techniques, demonstrates its face validity and representational validity, and demonstrates its utility in modeling organizational knowledge. The conclusion argues for its applicability in several organizational research contexts before describing its potential for use in a broader range of applications, including media content analysis, conversation analysis, computer simulations, and models of communication systems.     

Reactions to the Fairness of Promotion Methods: Procedural justice and job satisfaction

Fairness in promotions is a core issue for organizations as it is directly related to some of the most important organizational outcomes. However, the majority of the existing research about this question has been focused on entry‐level selection, and there is a gap in knowledge in the context of promotions. This paper focuses on how workers’ perceptions of promotion systems affect organizational justice and job satisfaction. In the present study, 213 employees and supervisors from 31 different private sector organizations complete a survey regarding procedural justice (PJ), job satisfaction, transparency, promotion systems, and some demographic variables. The results show that participants who perceived organizational promotion methods as transparent reported a high level of perceived PJ, and that the methods they see as fairer are those based on assessment of performance. In addition, transparency is considered as an important antecedent of PJ. Moreover, the interaction between organizational rank and gender moderates the relationship between transparency and promotion systems with PJ. Finally, organizational justice is strongly related with job satisfaction.     

Perceptions of organizational politics as a moderator of the relationship between conscientiousness and job performance

Meta-analytic studies of the relationships between the five-factor model of personality constructs and job performance indicate that conscientiousness has been the most consistent predictor. Recent research has sought to identify situational factors that may explain additional variance beyond what has been reported by simple bivariate relationships. The authors hypothesized that perceptions of organizational politics would moderate the relationship between conscientiousness and job performance. Data collected from 234 male and 579 female workers in 4 organizations indicated that conscientiousness was related to job performance among workers perceiving average to high levels of organizational politics but unrelated to performance among workers perceiving low levels of organizational politics. Moreover, perceptions of organizational politics were negatively related to job performance only among workers of average to low levels of conscientiousness.     

Variations in Human Capital Investment Activity by Age

Three hypotheses concerning human capital investment by older individuals were examined using the Adult Education (AE) file from the 1995 National Household Education Survey (NCES). While late career workers (50-65) participated less in activities that provide primarily general skills, they were more likely to participate in academic credentialing programs, targeted career and job-related courses, on-the-job computer-based training, and “unspecified” other formal training activities. There was no difference in the levels of employer support reported by older workers. The implication of these results is that older adults' human capital investment is more complex than conventional economic formulations of the decision-making process suggest. Both the content and delivery approaches associated with work-related education and training must be accommodated in future conceptual models of the process. Further, the relevancy of Sterns' (1986) model of environmental change is also highlighted. Practical implications suggest that organizations must reconsider older workers' interest in continuing education/training activities.     

Computer-Based Work Monitoring: Electronic Surveillance and Its Effects

Substantial developments in new office technologies over the past two decades have dramatically transformed today's white-collar workplace. One of these developments, computer-based work monitoring, has enabled employers to continually or intermittently monitor employees in real time or on a delayed basis, with or without their knowledge or permission, at levels and in a manner previously unattainable. This introductory article to this special issue outlines the current status of computer monitoring in the U. S., delineates its major advantages and disadvantages, and provides examples of early research on the topic by the author and others. Factors likely to moderate the acceptance and effectiveness of computer monitoring systems are discussed and implications for work and social relationships in the workplace are considered. An overview of the four special issue articles reporting the results of experiments assessing the effects of computer monitoring on the performance of workers and supervisors is then provided.     

Will They Stay or Will They Go? Exploring a Customer-Oriented Approach To Employee Retention

Keeping or losing the best workers can be critical to whether an organization can maintain a competitive advantage and whether operations in the organization run smoothly and efficiently. Simply stated, if the best workers are not retained, an organization can be negatively affected from the operational to the strategic level. This article focuses on employee retention from the perspective of a customer-based model. This approach considers employees as internal customers of management and the model provides organizations ways to influence whether employees decide to stay or go. Additionally, the model distinguishes retention practices based upon the value of employees to the organization. Measurement and application issues are identified along with directions for future research.     

Diversity in context: how organizational culture shapes reactions to workers with disabilities and others who are demographically different

Successfully integrating workers with disabilities into their organizations is both a challenge and an opportunity facing managers today. Despite laws and business practices prohibiting discrimination against those with disabilities, people with disabilities are consistently underutilized in organizations. This article applies theories of demographic diversity in organizations to assert that a richer understanding of organizational cultures and their implications for workers with disabilities may shed light on the question of how and why workers with disabilities may be excluded from mainstream work experiences and career progression. The article briefly reviews business arguments that support integration of workers with disabilities into organizations based on their contribution to the overall diversity within the organization, and reviews complications in the research on diversity to date that leave important questions of the potential gains or detriments from increasing this diversity unanswered. The article then goes on to introduce organizational culture as an underinvestigated but likely potent tool in explaining how and when workers who are demographically different, in general, and with disabilities, specifically, may be successfully integrated into an organization's work force. The article introduces three types of organizational culture: culture of differentiation, culture of unity, and culture of integration. Each is explained in terms of its content and its implications for managing diversity. A discussion of the implications of culture as a primary tool for managing the integration of workers with disabilities concludes the paper.     

Tacit knowledge management

How can we identify and estimate workers’ tacit knowledge? How can we design a personnel mix aimed at improving and speeding up its transfer and development? How is it possible to implement tacit knowledge sustainable projects in remote areas? In order to answer these questions, it is necessary to distinguish between types of tacit knowledge, to establish what they allow for and to consider their sources. It is also essential to find a way of managing the tacit knowledge ‘stock’ and distribution within the workforce. In short, a conceptual framework is needed to manage tacit knowledge. Based on previous works and 2 years of action research, this paper introduces such a framework and describes its partial application to support the pre-operational training and hiring in a large industrial plant in Brazil. Two contributions emerge from the research. First, the concept of ‘levels of similarity’ is introduced as a means to qualify the experience of workers and estimate the associated tacit knowledge. Second, the capability of carrying out three types of judgement properly and speedily is put forward as being a core ability of those who possess what has been called ‘collective tacit knowledge’ (Collins in Organ Stud 28(2):257–262, 2007). In practical terms, the results indicate the opportunity for companies to capitalize on the experience and tacit knowledge of their workers in a systematic way and with due recognition. Ultimately, positive impacts are expected in their absorptive capacity as well as in their management and human resources systems, accident prevention, productivity and the development of sustainable projects in remote areas.     

The organizational context of children's mental health services

This paper reviews what is known about the organizational context of children's mental health services and describes organizational constructs, conceptual models, research methods, and intervention strategies that can be used to link organizational context to service quality and outcomes. Using evidence from studies of business and industrial organizations as well as studies of children's service organizations, the paper presents a model of organizational effectiveness that depends on several contextual characteristics that include organizational culture, structure, climate, and work attitudes. These characteristics are believed to affect the adoption of efficacious treatments (EBPs [evidence-based practices]), adherence to treatment protocols, therapeutic alliance, and the availability, responsiveness, and continuity of services. Finally, 10 components of the ARC(Availability Responsiveness and Continuity) organizational intervention are described as examples of strategies that can be used to develop organizational contexts with the prescribed characteristics. Mental health researchers are encouraged to consider including these constructs, conceptual models, research methods, and intervention strategies in dissemination, effectiveness, and implementation studies that address the gap between research-based knowledge about mental health treatment and what is actually offered in the community.     

The emergence of knowledge systems thinking: A changing perception of relationships among innovation,knowledge process and configuration

As agriculture develops, policy and management decisions increasingly focus on agricultural innovation emerging from utilizing knowledge and/or technology. This paper considers models for underpinning knowledge and technology policy and management. It describes the emergence of knowledge systems thinking. The system construct is applied to actors (individuals, networks and institutions) involved in knowledge processes. These actors potentially form a highly articulated and complex whole. Knowledge policy and management focus on measures that enhance the synergy between actors. Knowledge systems are viewed as “soft systems,” i.e., they only become systems as a result of active construction and joint learning. The soft systems perspective facilitates the identification of various knowledge system models, which have consequences for policy and management decisions with respect to investment, design, and training. In an attempt to create a unifying theory for these models, it is posited that these models are consistent combinations of innovation, knowledge process and structural configuration. Currently, he is the director of an international program on “Comparative research in knowledge systems in support of sustainable agriculture.”     

An Empirical Review of the Employment Interview Construct Literature

The purpose of this paper is to summarize available empirical research on the association between employment interview ratings and various construct measures using a theoretical model developed as part of the study. The model posits 3 main sources of construct‐related variance in interview ratings: job‐related interview content (e.g., job knowledge), interviewee performance (e.g., impression management tactics), and personal/demographic characteristics (e.g., candidate attractiveness). Results suggest some potentially important findings, including that the mean correlation with interview ratings is twice as large for constructs related to interviewee performance as it is for constructs pertaining to job‐related interview content. Directions for future construct research are also identified. For instance, despite being central to the interpersonal make‐up of the candidates, research regarding the influence of interests, goals, and values on interview ratings is almost nonexistent.