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International Journal of Organization Theory and Behavior
Number of Followers: 1  Hybrid journal * Containing 1  Open Access article(s) in this issue *ISSN (Print) 1532-4273 - ISSN (Online) 1093-4537 Published by Emerald  [360 journals]
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- Flexibility out of standardization
Open Access Article-
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Authors: Giacomo Cabri , Guido Fioretti
Abstract: This article aims to provide a theoretical unifying framework for flexible organizational forms, such as so-called adhocracies and network organizations. In this article, organization practices that are typical of the software industry are analyzed and re-interpreted by means of foundational concepts of organization science. It is shown that one and the same logic is at work in all flexible organizations. Coordination modes can be fruitfully employed to characterize flexible organizations. In particular, standardization is key in order to obtain flexibility, provided that a novel sort of coordination by standardization is added to those that have been conceptualized hitherto. This article highlights one necessary condition for organizations to be flexible. Further aspects, only cursorily mentioned in this paper, need to be addressed in order to obtain a complete picture. A theory of organizational flexibility constitutes a guide for organizational design. This article suggests the non-obvious prescription that the boundary conditions of individual behavior must be standardized in order to achieve operational flexibility. This theoretical framework can be profitably employed in management classes. Currently, flexible organizations are only understood in terms of lists of instances. This article shows that apparently heterogeneous case-studies share common features in fact.
Citation: International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior
PubDate: 2022-05-17
DOI: 10.1108/IJOTB-11-2020-0197
Issue No: Vol. ahead-of-print , No. ahead-of-print (2022)
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- Helicopter helping in the organization: its conceptualization, key
characteristics and possible antecedents and consequences-
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Authors: Shih Yung Chou , Katelin Barron , Charles Ramser
Abstract: Since its inception, helping behavior has been viewed as a cooperative and affiliative behavior with prudent employee involvement. The paradox of employee involvement, however, implies that helping behavior can be intrusive and obstructive. The primary purpose of this article is to conceptualize helicopter helping as an intrusive and obstructive type of discretionary workplace behavior. In addition, the authors discuss possible antecedents and consequences of helicopter helping. To conceptualize helicopter helping, the authors utilized the ABI/INFORM Global, Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, PsycARTICLES and JSTOR Archive Collection databases focusing on the helping behavior and helicopter parenting research. In particular, the authors applied the hovering nature of helicopter parenting to the conceptualization of helicopter helping exhibited by an employee in the organization. Additionally, the authors discuss antecedents and consequences of helicopter helping by integrating the bright and dark side of helping behavior research. The authors conceptualize helicopter helping as an employee's excessive involvement in and interference with coworkers' task environment. Based upon the conceptualization of helicopter helping, the authors further propose that the need for achievement, Type-A personality, group rewards, high-performance group norms, a hierarchy organizational culture and strong social ties are possible antecedents of helicopter helping. Furthermore, the authors suggest that helicopter helping can result in reduced organization-based self-esteem, general self-efficacy, group creativity and innovation, quality of social-exchange relationships, learning and development and increased organizational vulnerability. This article is one of the few studies exploring helping behavior from an intrusive and invasive perspective. Theoretically, the authors advance the dark side of helping behavior literature. Drawing upon the propositions, the authors offer some managerial recommendations that help managers mitigate the intrusive and obstructive type of helping in the organization.
Citation: International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior
PubDate: 2022-02-04
DOI: 10.1108/IJOTB-06-2021-0105
Issue No: Vol. ahead-of-print , No. ahead-of-print (2022)
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- “Can politics really be beneficial'” Toward a model for positive
politics through consensus-
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Authors: Thibault Parmentier , Pr. Emmanuelle Reynaud
Abstract: This article wants to propose deeper insights and clarifications into the effects of organizational politics which have been at the center of many debates in decision-making literature. For a long time, the debate focused on the negative effects of organizational politics and how to avoid them. This article wants to explore the positive effects of organizational politics and see how this impacts the consensus process in teams moderated by organizational change. The article model and propositions are grounded in the organisational politics literature. The analysis builds on the “positive” politics literature which has been gaining steam in the last two decades and links this with the consensus literature. The article proposes an integrated model which clearly shows how the three core concepts influence each other through the four proposed hypotheses. Organizational politics can help to create more consensus in a team decision-making process, and this can have a positive effect on team performance. The article aims to expand insights of organizational politics on decision-making by putting the light on possible positive effects of organizational politics. The article addresses the theoretical gap of how organizational politics can impact the consensus process.
Citation: International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior
PubDate: 2022-01-14
DOI: 10.1108/IJOTB-10-2020-0175
Issue No: Vol. ahead-of-print , No. ahead-of-print (2022)
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- Linking employee perceptions and employee attitudes through their levels
of organizational identification: a field investigation in India-
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Authors: Soumendu Biswas
Abstract: Despite organizational socialization and support, contemporary managers often perceive employees to be less engaged and attached to their workplace, multiplying their workload with unsolicited vexations and worries. In this connection, the purpose of this paper is to explore and possibly confirm the ameliorative role of organizational identification as a mediator between employees' perceptions of organizational support and justice and their favorable association to their levels of engagement and attenuation of their intentions to quit. Suitable theories such as the social exchange and fairness heuristics theories were examined to select and support the study constructs. Accordingly, the literature was reviewed to formulate the study hypotheses and connect them through a conceptual latent variable model (LVM). Data were collected from 402 full-time managerial executives all over India. The data thus collected were subjected to structural equation modeling (SEM) procedures. All the measures used in this study had acceptable reliabilities as indicated by their Cronbach's Alpha values. Based on the SEM procedures all the study hypotheses and one of the competing LVMs labeled as LVM5 was finally accepted. The distinctive feature of this study is the theoretical compilation of all the study constructs in one LVM and subsequent empirical verification of the same. This study is, perhaps, the first of its kind to examine the implications of such justice-based perceptions of social exchange relations between employees and their organizations in India more so, since it considers support and justice to complement each other as an interactive whole.
Citation: International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior
PubDate: 2022-01-10
DOI: 10.1108/IJOTB-09-2020-0164
Issue No: Vol. ahead-of-print , No. ahead-of-print (2022)
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- Explaining the relationship between ethical leadership and burnout facets
in the academic context: the mediating role of illegitimate tasks-
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Authors: Christian Julmi , José Manuel Pereira , Jack K. Bramlage , Benedict Jackenkroll
Abstract: Although the literature shows that ethical leadership reduces the risk of burnout, research still lacks a comprehensive understanding of the mediating effects between ethical leadership and burnout. As media reports on working conditions in the academic context often tie the problem of unethical leadership practices to illegitimate tasks, this study focuses on illegitimate tasks as a mediator between ethical leadership and burnout. The research model is tested using structural equation modeling and data from 1,053 doctoral and postdoctoral students in randomly selected German state universities. The results significantly support all hypothesized effects, showing direct correlations between (1) ethical leadership and illegitimate tasks, (2) ethical leadership and burnout facets and (3) illegitimate tasks and burnout facets. The relationship between ethical leadership and burnout is thus partially mediated by illegitimate tasks. The authors recommend three major fields of action for practice. These fields comprise (1) the leadership situation, (2) the leader and (3) the follower. The presented model is the first that connects the relationship between ethical leadership and burnout with illegitimate tasks and looks at ethical leadership from a stress-as-offense-to-self (SOS) perspective.
Citation: International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior
PubDate: 2021-11-30
DOI: 10.1108/IJOTB-11-2020-0204
Issue No: Vol. ahead-of-print , No. ahead-of-print (2021)
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- Multiteam systems as integrated networks for engaging ambidexterity as
dynamic capabilities-
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Authors: Benjamin P. Dean
Abstract: This inquiry aims to determine the features and mechanisms that specially enable a multiteam system (MTS) to develop ambidexterity that can deal effectively with rapid changes in dynamic environments. The MTS is an emerging organizational unit comprised of tightly integrated networks of teams that may originate from one or more firms. The inquiry also considered how an MTS can engage those features and mechanisms to maximize ambidexterity as dynamic capabilities for increased innovation and long-term adaptation under complex, volatile conditions. This conceptual inquiry integrates the emerging research on MTSs with theory and studies relating to ambidexterity and dynamic capabilities. This inquiry focuses on the attributes and linkages that specially characterize an MTS. It analyzes these to determine the key mechanisms and interactions enabling and engaging ambidexterity at MTS unit level. MTSs can engage powerful mechanisms for ambidexterity functioning as dynamic capabilities at meso-organizational level. The attributes and linkages that distinguish an MTS from other units enable it to deal effectively and efficiently with near-term task demands by simultaneously balancing the essential tasks of exploration and exploitation, and by being able to rapidly adapt by reconfiguring taskwork and reallocating resources as required for sustainable innovation and long-term success within a dynamic environment. This inquiry provides valuable insights for designing MTSs that are equipped with selected teams, flexible memberships, specialized skills and permeable interfaces. Autonomy for an MTS allows the unit to span internal and external organizational boundaries to gain access to new discoveries and to exchange information and material resources for increased innovation. Ambidexterity as dynamic capabilities facilitates exploitation of current resources by efficiently reconfiguring taskwork and reallocating materials for adaptation and competitive advantage. This inquiry appears to represent the most integrative effort to examine the underexplored potential of MTSs for developing and engaging ambidexterity functioning as dynamic capabilities. The inquiry appears to be a first effort at articulating a concept of MTS ambidexterity distinct from organizational ambidexterity. The analysis synthesizes a systems model that guides organizational leaders and opens new opportunities for future research.
Citation: International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior
PubDate: 2021-09-29
DOI: 10.1108/IJOTB-01-2021-0013
Issue No: Vol. 24 , No. 4 (2021)
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- Political and administrative decentralization and responses to COVID-19:
comparison of the United States and South Korea-
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Authors: Sanghee Park , Luke Fowler
Abstract: This study explains the variation of government responses to the pandemic by focusing on how centralization/decentralization in politics and administration creates conflicts and coordination problems. Specifically, the authors make comparisons between the U.S. and South Korea to reveal differences in macro-level structures and associated responses. One of the key points of comparison is the centralized, hierarchical governance system, which may thwart or facilitate a coordinated response. This is an in-depth comparative case study of the two countries that showed different trajectories during the initial response to COVID-19. The comparison allows us to highlight the long-standing debate about centralization/decentralization and offers implications for government responses to crises shaped by political systems and administrative structures. While there are inherent pros and cons to decentralization, the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the institutional limitations in American federalism and the advantages that centralized administrative coordination creates during times of crisis. American federalism has unveiled systematic problems in coordination, along with the leadership crisis in polarized politics. The response from South Korea also reveals several issues in the administratively centralized and politically polarized environment. While the authors risk comparing apples and oranges, the variation unveils systematic contradictions in polarized politics and offers important implications for government responses in times of crisis. However, this article did not fully account for individual leadership as an independent factor that interacts with existing political/administrative institutions. There is certainly no one best way or one-size-fits-all solution to mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic in countries under different circumstances. This article demonstrates that one of the essential determining factors in national responses to the pandemic is how the political and administrative dimensions of centralization/decentralization are balanced against each other. Unlike previous studies explaining the country-level responses to COVID-19, this study focuses on the variance of political and administrative decentralization within each country from the political-administrative perspective and reveals the systematic contradictions in coordination and the leadership crisis in polarized politics.
Citation: International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior
PubDate: 2021-09-06
DOI: 10.1108/IJOTB-02-2021-0022
Issue No: Vol. 24 , No. 4 (2021)
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- The effects of self-other rating agreement on ethical behavior: an
experimental investigation-
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Authors: Darrin S. Kass , Jung Seek Kim , Weichun Zhu , Shiloh Erdley-Kass
Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of self-other rating agreement (SOA) on ethical decisions and behavior. A sample of 169 students (60 women and 109 men) enrolled in a part-time, regional MBA program was divided into three SOA categories: (1) Self-aware, individuals whose self-ratings matched observer ratings, (2) Underraters, those whose self-ratings were lower than observer ratings and (3) Overraters, individuals whose self-ratings were higher than other ratings. Ethical behavior was evaluated with the completion of a managerial in-basket assessment. The results revealed that ethical behavior varied by SOA, with underraters exhibiting the highest levels of ethical behavior, followed by self-aware (i.e. accurate) and then overraters. One of the intriguing results is that underraters displayed more ethical behaviors than accurate raters, raising questions about the use of accurate self-assessments as an indicator of personal and professional effectiveness. The results indicate that organizations should consider SOA in their human resource processes because it has important implications for employee training, selection and promotion. While prior research has examined the effect of SOA on performance, commitment and leadership perceptions, the authors contribute to the literature by examining whether SOA influences actual ethical decisions and actions.
Citation: International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior
PubDate: 2021-03-31
DOI: 10.1108/IJOTB-08-2020-0145
Issue No: Vol. 24 , No. 4 (2021)
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- International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior
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