scholarly journals When Ethical Tones at the Top Conflict: Adapting Priority Rules to Reconcile Conflicting Tones

2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (04) ◽  
pp. 559-582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle E. Warren ◽  
Marietta Peytcheva ◽  
Joseph P. Gaspar
Keyword(s):  
Professional Associations ◽  
Worker Safety ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Priority Rules ◽  
Work Settings ◽  
Tone At The Top ◽  
Organizational Work ◽  
Client Advocacy ◽  
Resolution Processes ◽  
Reconciliation Process

ABSTRACT:While tone at the top is widely regarded as an important predictor of ethical behavior in organizations, we argue that recent research overlooks the various conflicting ethical tones present in many multi-organizational work settings. Further, we propose that the resolution processes promulgated in many firms and professional associations to reconcile this conflict reinforce the tone at the bottom or a tone at the top of the employee’s organization, and that both of these approaches can conflict with the tone at the top of other important organizations such as professional and regulatory organizations. Here we adapt Integrative Social Contract Theory’s priority rules to propose a multi-tone reconciliation process which prioritizes conflicting ethical tones based upon features of the organization and the effects on society. Using three contextualizations (overbilling, worker safety and client advocacy), we demonstrate the effectiveness of the multi-tone reconciliation process over current processes. We conclude with recommendations for future research and implications for practice.

Individual emotion in work organizations

2001 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anat Rafaeli ◽  
Monica Worline
Keyword(s):  
Future Research ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
Work Organizations ◽  
Emotional Life ◽  
Social And Emotional ◽  
Work Settings ◽  
The Future ◽  
Organizational Work ◽  
Organizational Features ◽  
Second Wave

We are predisposed to thinking of emotions as our own, perhaps the most intimate parts of ourselves. Yet, more often than not, our emotions are inextricably bound up with other people and social worlds, with one of the most powerful of those being the organizational work context. The central premise of this article is that much of our social and emotional life is organizational. We begin with a view to the past, describing how, because of a focus on control, both management and scholars attempted to tightly delineate the emotions that could legitimately be expressed and recognized in work settings. Such tight control could not hold emotions at bay, however. Managers and scholars have recognized that individual feelings are often expressions of or reactions to organizational realities. We review two waves of what we loosely call current organizational research that acknowledges emotion. The first wave attempts to explain individual emotion in organizational terms, while the second wave focuses on the idea of culture. Looking toward the future, we conclude that attempts to quell and ignore emotion in organizations are recognized as outdated. The emerging alternative appears to be to somehow “manage” the beast called emotion at work. We call for future research that recognizes employees', customers', shareholders', and suppliers' emotions in designing organizational features such as cultures, routines, structures, and patterns of leadership. Yet we note that as emotion is being more and more managed, people are feeling more and more alienated. The managed emotions of organized work can become very attractive to people as a place to escape to from the emotional hardships of home and community. We suggest future research and policy pay attention to a growing paradox in the future of emotion: that as emotion is more and more organizationally managed, the less it feels truly emotional.

scholarly journals Identity in transition: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of international humanitarian workers’ experiences of returning home

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilia Marie Wersig ◽  
Kevin Wilson-Smith
Keyword(s):  
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Aid Workers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Work Settings ◽  
Returning Home ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Humanitarian Work

AbstractThis interpretative phenomenological analysis explores aid workers’ understanding of identity and belonging through the transition from working in humanitarian aid to returning home. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 participants who had returned to the UK after working in recently founded non-governmental organisations in Northern France between 2016 and 2019. Analysis of interview data identified four superordinate themes: (1) shared humanitarian identity, (2) limits and borders, (3) holding on to humanitarian identity and (4) redefining belonging and identity. Aid workers’ belonging in humanitarian work settings is rooted in shared moral values and being able to fulfil a clearly defined role. Upon returning, aid workers struggled to reintegrate, manifesting as denial of having left humanitarian work, re-creation of the social setting and moral demarcation. Participants formed a new sense of belonging through redefining their social in-group. The study sheds light on a previously unexplored area of research, specifically characterised through the closeness of the international humanitarian setting and participants’ homes. Findings suggest organisations can assist aid workers’ re-entry by supporting professional distance in the field, and through opportunities that allow to sustain moral values post-mission. Future research should focus on the role of peer support in the re-entry process and the re-entry experiences of aid workers returning from comparable settings further afield (e.g. Greece).

scholarly journals Algorithmic management in a work context

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 205395172110203
Author(s):  
Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi ◽  
Gemma Newlands ◽  
Min Kyung Lee ◽  
Christine T. Wolf ◽  
Eliscia Kinder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Information Exchange ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Machine Learning Algorithms ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Work Processes ◽  
Work Settings ◽  
Standard Work ◽  
Management Functions

The rapid development of machine-learning algorithms, which underpin contemporary artificial intelligence systems, has created new opportunities for the automation of work processes and management functions. While algorithmic management has been observed primarily within the platform-mediated gig economy, its transformative reach and consequences are also spreading to more standard work settings. Exploring algorithmic management as a sociotechnical concept, which reflects both technological infrastructures and organizational choices, we discuss how algorithmic management may influence existing power and social structures within organizations. We identify three key issues. First, we explore how algorithmic management shapes pre-existing power dynamics between workers and managers. Second, we discuss how algorithmic management demands new roles and competencies while also fostering oppositional attitudes toward algorithms. Third, we explain how algorithmic management impacts knowledge and information exchange within an organization, unpacking the concept of opacity on both a technical and organizational level. We conclude by situating this piece in broader discussions on the future of work, accountability, and identifying future research steps.

Work grit as a moderator of politics perceptions

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (6/7) ◽  
pp. 576-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha L. Jordan ◽  
Wayne A. Hochwarter ◽  
Gerald R. Ferris ◽  
Aqsa Ejaz
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Development ◽  
Turnover Intentions ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Quality Of Work Life ◽  
Citizenship Behavior ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Work Settings

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to test the interactive effects of grit (e.g. supervisor and employee) and politics perceptions on relevant work outcomes. Specifically, the authors hypothesized that supervisor and employee grit would each demonstrate neutralizing effects when examined jointly. Design/methodology/approach Three studies (N’s=526, 229, 522) were conducted to test the moderating effect across outcomes, including job satisfaction, turnover intentions, citizenship behavior and work effort. The authors controlled for affectivity and nonlinear main effect terms in Studies 2 and 3 following prior discussion. Findings Findings across studies demonstrated a unique pattern differentiating between grit sources (i.e. employee vs supervisor) and outcome characteristic (i.e. attitudinal vs behavioral). In sum, both employee and supervisor grit demonstrated neutralizing effects when operating in politically fraught work settings. Research limitations/implications Despite the single source nature of data collections, the authors took steps to minimize potential biasing factors (e.g. time separation, including affectivity). Future research will benefit from multiple sources of data as well as a more expansive view of the grit construct. Practical implications Work contexts have grown increasingly more political in recent years primarily as a result of social and motivational factors. Hence, the authors recommend that leaders investigate factors that minimize its potentially malignant effects. Although grit is often challenging to cultivate through interventions, selection and quality of work life programs may be useful in preparing workers to manage this pervasive source of stress. Originality/value Despite its practical appeal, grit’s impact in work settings has been under-studied, leading to apparent gaps in science and leadership development. Creative studies, building off the research, will allow grit to maximize its contributions to both scholarship and employee well-being.

Addressing the Metadata Gap

2011 ◽  
pp. 52-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa D. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Document Management ◽  
Dublin Core ◽  
Metadata Standard ◽  
Text Databases ◽  
Work Settings ◽  
Digital Documents ◽  
Organizational Work

Digital documents are crucial for day-to-day organizational work, but as yet their management is personalized, erratic, unsystematic; both the research on text databases and the practice of document management can benefit from an improved understanding of this complex context and the roles of metadata in it. We will review empirical studies of document work in organizations and consider both traditional and emerging roles for metadata in ad hoc document work settings. After identifying these roles, we will analyze a metadata standard implemented in HTML (the Dublin Core) for its suitability for supporting metadata use in this context. Directions for practice and research are offered prior to the concluding remarks.

Configurations of leadership practices in hospital units

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 1115-1130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ninna Meier
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Practices ◽  
Clinical Work ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Clinical Settings ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Work Settings ◽  
Hospital Units ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
Everyday Work

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how leadership is practiced across four different hospital units. Design/methodology/approach – The study is a comparative case study of four hospital units, based on detailed observations of the everyday work practices, interactions and interviews with ten interdisciplinary clinical managers. Findings – Comparing leadership as configurations of practices across four different clinical settings, the author shows how flexible and often shared leadership practices were embedded in and central to the core clinical work in all units studied here, especially in more unpredictable work settings. Practices of symbolic work and emotional support to staff were particularly important when patients were severely ill. Research limitations/implications – Based on a study conducted with qualitative methods, these results cannot be expected to apply in all clinical settings. Future research is invited to extend the findings presented here by exploring leadership practices from a micro-level perspective in additional health care contexts: particularly the embedded and emergent nature of such practices. Practical implications – This paper shows leadership practices to be primarily embedded in the clinical work and often shared across organizational or professional boundaries. Originality/value – This paper demonstrated how leadership practices are embedded in the everyday work in hospital units. Moreover, the analysis shows how configurations of leadership practices varied in four different clinical settings, thus contributing with contextual accounts of leadership as practice, and suggested “configurations of practice” as a way to carve out similarities and differences in leadership practices across settings.

scholarly journals Personalizing professionalism: The professional identity experiences of LIS graduates in non-library roles

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 431-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Fraser-Arnott
Keyword(s):  
Professional Identity ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Professional Associations ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Potential Conflict ◽  
Work Settings ◽  
Professional Experiences ◽  
Job Opportunities ◽  
Wide Range

This grounded theory project asked: “How do Library and Information Science (LIS) graduates in non-library roles experience professional identity?” This is an important question for current LIS practitioners and students because job opportunities are increasingly available in non-library work settings. There is limited research available on the professional identity experiences of LIS graduates in general and even less available on the professional experiences of LIS graduates in non-library roles. The study produced the theory of Personalizing Professionalism which found that individuals possess two identities which interact with each other throughout one’s career. The first is an internal appraisal of self which represents an individual’s assessment of who they “really” are as a professional. The second is an externally expressed identity, which represents who that individual presents him or herself to be. Interactions with others impact individuals’ internal appraisal of self and externally expressed identity and represent an area of potential conflict. This study contributes to the research literature on professional identity and identity formation and expression. For the LIS community, understanding how these professionals experience professional identity can help practitioners, educators, and professional associations to take advantage of a wide range of employment options.

The new public service? Empirical research on job choice motivation in the nonprofit sector

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Word ◽  
Sung Min Park
Keyword(s):  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Work Motivation ◽  
Nonprofit Sector ◽  
Professional Associations ◽  
Job Security ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Job Choice ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors influencing the decision of managers to work in the nonprofit sector and how these choices are shaped by intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Additionally, this research examines the impact of job choice motivation on social, community and professional outcomes and the unique characteristics of managers in the nonprofit sector. Design/methodology/approach – This research employed data from the National Administrative Studies Project (NASP-III) survey, which measured the mid- and upper-level managers working in nonprofit organizations in Illinois and Georgia. The survey measured the manager’s perceptions of various organizational issues, including work motivation, mentoring and communication, career histories, hiring practices, and organizational cultures and structures. The data were then analyzed using a hierarchical regression model. Findings – The findings of this research support the idea that intrinsic motivation is an important aspect of job choice motivation for individuals in the nonprofit workforce. In addition, the findings suggest other characteristics, including policies that enhance work life balance (WLB), advancement, and job security, are important to understand the job choice motivations of nonprofit managers. This research also found not all types of nonprofit agencies attract similarly motivated individuals, or lead to equivalent community outcomes. Research limitations/implications – The organizations represented in the NASP III sample included more membership and professional associations than the overall nonprofit sector. This over representation partially limits the generalizability of these findings but it also allows the research to more thoroughly understand this unique subset of organizations that serve predominantly the narrow interests of their members. Practical implications – This research highlights the advantage nonprofit employers have over other organizations in terms of using intrinsic motivations to attract employees. However, the findings also suggest nonprofit organizations need to focus on human resource (HR) strategies including policies that enhance WLB, advancement, and job security to compete with other employers for talent. Finally, the research also suggests the need to tailor HR strategies to groups of nonprofit employees based upon important employee characteristics such as gender, job type, and prior career experience. Originality/value – This study extends a well-developed body of knowledge on motivations and selection of career paths to individuals working in the nonprofit sector. It also suggests variations among employees and organizations matter in terms of the type of individuals attracted to particular career path in nonprofits. Additionally, this research suggests future research needs to include more nuanced examinations of the differences which exist among organizations in the nonprofit sector rather than simply focussing upon similarities across the most prevalent types of nonprofit organizations.

BYOD-related innovations and organizational change for entrepreneurs and their employees in SMEs

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 839-851 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paméla Baillette ◽  
Yves Barlette
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Practical Interest ◽  
Mobile Technologies ◽  
Bring Your Own Device ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Work Settings ◽  
Risks And Benefits ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present the benefits and potential dangers of “bring your own device” (BYOD)-related practices. The paper aims to highlight new risks stemming from BYOD adoption and identifies different security paradoxes arising for entrepreneurs and their employees in the context of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach A theoretical approach is proposed in this paper. As technology is an important driver of organizational change, technological innovations entail new work practices and in turn lead to a twofold “security paradox.” Findings This paper introduces the stakes and issues associated with BYOD-related mobile technologies. Evidence is provided that this phenomenon must be cautiously addressed to not only seize related benefits but also reduce related risks. Avenues for future research are offered to complement this work. Practical implications The main practical interest is to make entrepreneurs of SMEs and their employees aware of the BYOD phenomenon and its related risks and benefits. Originality/value From a theoretical perspective, very little work has been published in the field of management sciences about the benefits and dangers associated with the introduction of BYOD among entrepreneurs and employees in SMEs. Moreover, this study identifies a twofold “security paradox” related to information security that has never been studied in work settings.

Shining the light on the dark side of medical leadership – a qualitative study in Australia

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erwin Loh ◽  
Jennifer Morris ◽  
Laura Thomas ◽  
Marie Magdaleen Bismark ◽  
Grant Phelps ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Professional Associations ◽  
Public Hospitals ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Health Departments ◽  
Negative Perception ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Medical Leadership

Purpose The paper aims to explore the beliefs of doctors in leadership roles of the concept of “the dark side”, using data collected from interviews carried out with 45 doctors in medical leadership roles across Australia. The paper looks at the beliefs from the perspectives of doctors who are already in leadership roles themselves; to identify potential barriers they might have encountered and to arrive at better-informed strategies to engage more doctors in the leadership of the Australian health system. The research question is: “What are the beliefs of medical leaders that form the key themes or dimensions of the negative perception of the ‘dark side’?”. Design/methodology/approach The paper analysed data from two similar qualitative studies examining medical leadership and engagement in Australia by the same author, in collaboration with other researchers, which used in-depth semi-structured interviews with 45 purposively sampled senior medical leaders in leadership roles across Australia in health services, private and public hospitals, professional associations and health departments. The data were analysed using deductive and inductive approaches through a coding framework based on the interview data and literature review, with all sections of coded data grouped into themes. Findings Medical leaders had four key beliefs about the “dark side” as perceived through the eyes of their own past clinical experience and/or their clinical colleagues. These four beliefs or dimensions of the negative perception colloquially known as “the dark side” are the belief that they lack both managerial and clinical credibility, they have confused identities, they may be in conflict with clinicians, their clinical colleagues lack insight into the complexities of medical leadership and, as a result, doctors are actively discouraged from making the transition from clinical practice to medical leadership roles in the first place. Research limitations/implications This research was conducted within the Western developed-nation setting of Australia and only involved interviews with doctors in medical leadership roles. The findings are therefore limited to the doctors’ own perceptions of themselves based on their past experiences and beliefs. Future research involving doctors who have not chosen to transition to leadership roles, or other health practitioners in other settings, may provide a broader perspective. Also, this research was exploratory and descriptive in nature using qualitative methods, and quantitative research can be carried out in the future to extend this research for statistical generalisation. Practical implications The paper includes implications for health organisations, training providers, medical employers and health departments and describes a multi-prong strategy to address this important issue. Originality/value This paper fulfils an identified need to study the concept of “moving to the dark side” as a negative perception of medical leadership and contributes to the evidence in this under-researched area. This paper has used data from two similar studies, combined together for the first time, with new analysis and coding, looking at the concept of the “dark side” to discover new emergent findings.

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