Group & Organization Management current issue

Management Control in Bureaucratic and Postbureaucratic Organizations: A Lacanian Perspective

Styhre, A. — 2008-11-17

The notion of the postbureaucratic organization has been employed in organization theory to denote a number of movements beyond the control mechanisms of the bureaucratic organization. This article aims to use the notions of the symbolic and the imaginary, developed by the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan and applied to technology studies by Friedrich Kittler, when examining control in these two archetypical organizational configurations. The article argues that the departure from the use of written documents, scripts, and protocols and the increasing emphasis on identity, culture, ideology, and other unobtrusive forms of control can be examined in terms of being a change of emphasis from the symbolic to the imaginary register, from the register of language to the register of images.

Multilevel Investigation of Adaptive Performance: Individual- and Team-Level Relationships

Tae Young Han, , Williams, K. J. — 2008-11-17

This study investigates adaptability as a performance criterion in organizations. A multilevel approach was used to test predictors of individual-level adaptive performance (AP) and to examine how individual AP contributes to team AP. A multilevel survey found evidence for a multilevel composition pattern whereby AP varies within and between groups. At the individual level, continuous learning activities predicted individual AP. In addition, a cross-level effect was found such that team learning climate had an independent effect on individual AP. However, a hypothesized cross-level moderation effect of team learning climate on the relationship between continuous learning and individual AP was found nonsignificant. At the group level, team learning climate displayed a significant, positive relationship with team AP. A major contribution of this study is a new conceptualization of AP within a framework of multilevel theory. Practical implications to help align human resource management with higher level organizational factors are also discussed.

Shaping the Other: Maintaining Expert Managerial Status in a Complex Change Management Program

Cooney, R., Sewell, G. — 2008-11-17

This article examines the micro politics of organizational change by presenting the results of a long-term case study of complex technological change in an automotive manufacturing firm. The article focuses on the political contest around the generation of legitimate knowledge within the change program. The article discusses managerial strategies of knowledge appropriation and employee strategies of resistance to such appropriation. The article follows the evolving managerial accounts of change and highlights the way in which managers developed pragmatic accounts of change in response to the concerns of the employees, accounts that left intact their claims to be change experts in control of the change process.

Top Management Team Behavioral Integration and the Performance of Service Organizations

Carmeli, A. — 2008-11-17

The call for more extensive research regarding the role of processes within top management teams (TMTs) in organizational functioning is addressed in this study. The focus is on the service sector, which according to recent estimations accounts for more than 60% of the total economic activity in most Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries and examines the relationship between TMT behavioral integration and multiple performance measures of service organizations. Results from survey data of TMTs from 96 organizations show that TMT behavioral integration is positively associated with both human resource performance and economic performance. The relationship between TMT behavioral integration and service quality and development was only marginally significant.

Group Cohesion as an Enhancement to the Justice--Affective Commitment Relationship

Andrews, M. C., Kacmar, K. M., Blakely, G. L., Bucklew, N. S. — 2008-11-17

Using a social exchange framework, the present study explores the role of group cohesion as a moderator of the relationship between the four dimensions of organizational justice and affective commitment. The hypotheses are tested using a sample of 142 employees of a pharmaceutical company. Results indicate that the relationship between distributive, interpersonal, and informational justice and affective commitment was stronger for individuals who reported high levels of work group cohesion. The relationship between procedural justice and affective commitment was unaffected by work group cohesion. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Managing Ethically in Times of Transformation: Challenges and Opportunities

Gopalakrishnan, S., Mangaliso, M. P., Butterfield, D. A. — 2008-11-17

Friends Don't Make Friends Good Citizens, But Advisors Do

Zagenczyk, T. J., Gibney, R., Murrell, A. J., Boss, S. R. — 2008-11-17

The authors explore whether employees' willingness to perform organization citizenship behavior (OCB), or go "above and beyond" what is required by their jobs, is affected by social influence. The authors draw on social information processing and social learning theories to argue that OCB is contagious, or affected by the OCB of employees with whom a focal employee maintains social network ties. A study of admissions department employees reveals that strong advice ties between employees are positively and significantly related to similarity in OCB, whereas strong friendship ties and weak ties are not. Implications for research and practice, including suggestions for influencing ethical behavior in organizations, are discussed.

Ethical Failure Under the Agency Logic: Grounding Governance Reform in a Logic of Value

du Plessis, C. J. A. — 2008-11-17

Progressive responses to recent failures in corporate ethical behavior advocate the complete separation of the chairman of the board and the CEO and the elevation of strategic planning, risk management, and financial certification to an independent board. Such proposals follow a linear path from the same agency logic that underpinned previously insufficient corporate governance reforms. After identifying problems associated with the agency logic, this article proposes its replacement with a new value logic, based on stakeholder theory, where empowerment of legitimate stakeholders and active board discourse become preferred mechanisms for a framework of ethical conduct within the firm.