Organizational Behavior

Purpose – There is a vast array of literature which investigates the concept and impact of workplace incivility. Evidence suggests that compared to male employees, female employees tend to experience and put up more with workplace incivility. However, there is limited research on how this affects
female employee’s willingness to complete work-related tasks. The purpose of this paper is to set out to examine whether gender moderates the role between tolerance for workplace incivility and those behaviours characterised by work withdrawal.
Design/methodology/approach – In total, 317 employees from a range of business industries and governmental agencies completed a quantitative survey of measures relating to their work withdrawal behaviour and their perception of their workplaces’ tolerance for uncivil behaviours.
Findings – Results revealed that when females perceived high levels of tolerance for workplace incivility, they decreased their work withdrawal behaviour. No relationship between tolerance for workplace incivility and work withdrawal was found for males.
Research limitations/implications – The homogeneity of the sample, that is, the sample comprised predominantly of white-collar, White Australian workers.
Practical implications – Improve managers and organisations’ knowledge and understanding about deviant workplace behaviours – especially between male and female employees.
Originality/value – The paper adds to the work in the workplace incivility, diversity-gender and equity research area. Specifically, it highlights how male and female employees react when they
perceive that their workplace tolerates deviant behaviours. This knowledge will inform managers and their organisations of a more effective way of managing conflict.

In this master thesis, the question is explored of how complexity theory can inform and challenge the study of organizations. Complexity theory researches complex social and natural systems and the phenomena to which they give rise, such as emergence, adaptiveness, self-organization and complexity. It has been suggested that (human) organizations are complex systems, being composed of many actors which, through local interactions, generate emergent behavior on the level of the organization as a whole. If this is true, it challenges many of the – implicit - assumptions we hold when thinking and writing about organizations. Drawing on complexity scholars and organization theorists such as Ralph Stacey, Paul Cilliers, and Edgar Morin, I analyze and critically evaluate (1) How complexity theory has been used in organizations studies so far (2) What theoretical and ethical consequences the insights from complexity theory hold for the way we think about organizations (3) What a theory of organization rooted in complexity studies could look like (4) How professionals working with organizations can develop an attitude that allows them to better deal with complexity in their practice. I conclude that complexity theory has important consequences for the way we think and work in organizations, proposing an approach which is not aimed at reducing complexity for those involved, but at engaging it from an attitude which is both modest and reflective.

My thesis was awarded with the Leo Polak Thesis Prize 2014 (second prize).

Dans un environnement instable et incertain, exigeant une forte capacité à donner du sens, mobiliser, réagir et s’adapter, les modes d’organisation et de management traditionnels en entreprise ont atteint leurs limites. Plutôt que la défiance, l’autorité et le contrôle comme principes clés, l’entreprise a plus que jamais besoin de faire confiance à « ceux qui font », les responsabiliser, libérer leurs initiatives et s’appuyer autant que possible sur l’intelligence collective.

Plusieurs entreprises se sont déjà engagées dans cette voie et des témoignages existent pour montrer tous les bienfaits de ces expériences. Mais quel crédit leur accorder, surtout quand on sait qu’ils émanent généralement soit de dirigeants qui sont à l’initiative de la transformation de leur entreprise, soit de salariés qui sont le plus souvent choisis pour témoigner ? Sans parler du fait que les entreprises qui ont connu des difficultés ou échoué à mener à bien leur transformation rechignent, bien souvent, à témoigner. Pour réussir à croire ces témoignages, il faudrait pouvoir observer les nouvelles formes d’organisation en action, les questionner et évaluer, d’un point de vue aussi indépendant et objectif que possible, leurs effets réels. Or, force est de constater que peu de travaux ayant adopté cette perspective ont été publiés à ce jour. D’où la question qui reste en suspens et que pose cet ouvrage : libérer l’entreprise, ça marche ?

Pour y répondre, 8 études de cas ont été réunies dans cet ouvrage. Ces études sont portées par des disciplines variées : sciences de gestion, psychologie, ergonomie, philosophie. Chacune d’elles concerne une entreprise particulière (parfois deux), dont elle a cherché à comprendre l’origine et les modalités de la transformation ainsi que les effets qu’elle avait eus à travers plusieurs questions : comment la « libération » d’une entreprise impacte le management, son rôle et ses pratiques ? Comment est affectée la vie des collectifs de travail avec des acteurs rendus responsables et autonomes ? Est-ce que les principes de responsabilités et d’autonomie conduisent ces acteurs à réaliser leur travail différemment ? Si oui, est-ce que leurs performances en sont améliorées ? Et quels effets un tel changement a-t-il sur leur santé ?

Les entreprises étudiées sont diverses de par leur taille et leurs secteurs d’activité. Cette diversité permettra au lecteur de découvrir différentes façons de mettre en pratique les principes de responsabilisation et d’autonomie. Et de constater que les effets réels que ces principes produisent sont parfois attendus, parfois beaucoup moins.

Ont contribué à cet ouvrage : Matthieu Battistelli ; Thibaud Brière ; Jean-Luc Christin ; Thomas Coutrot ; Patrick Gilbert ; Théo Holtz ; Laurent Karsenty ; Domitille Léonard ; Sophie Marmorat ; Brigitte Nivet ; Nathalie Raulet-Croset ; Xavier Rétaux ; Ann-Charlotte Teglborg

Unlike the bulk of penological scholarship dealing with managerialist reforms, this article calls for greater theoretical and research attention to the often pernicious impact of managerialism on criminal justice professionals. Much in an ideal-typical fashion, light is shed on: the reasons why contemporary penal bureaucracies endeavor systematically to strip criminal justice work of its inherently affective nature; the structural forces that ensure control over officials; the processes by which those forces come into effect; and the human consequences of submission to totalitarian bureaucratic milieus. It is suggested that the heavy preoccupation of present-day penality with the predictability and calculability of outcomes entails the atomization of professionals and the dehumanization of their work. This is achieved through a kaleidoscope of direct and indirect mechanisms that naturalize and/or legitimate acquiescence.

"Since its very inception, social work has been considered an organizationally based profession, with the majority of its workforce employed within formal organizations. Whether in nonprofit, for-profit, or governmental agencies, the practical realities of human service organizations are a central element of professional social work. This book explores the climate and culture of these agencies and provides essential information for surviving and thriving in this setting. It prepares students for their future careers so that they will feel empowered in their work and be able to fulfill their responsibilities toward organizational, community, and social change. Using real-life examples, the authors examine the internal structures of management, financing, and supervision and discuss common conflicts between agencies and professionals. The book’s straightforward tone and practical advice make it an asset to anyone entering human service organizations.

This new edition contains updated examples, case studies, and references. It also contains valuable information on the effects of the recent financial crisis on human service organizations. Agencies now face increased caseloads and more complex social problems with fewer resources and less money. Understanding how these events have changed the nature of human service organizations will allow students to be better prepared for the work ahead of them.

Features

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Expanded content on the practical aspects of organizational theory and suggestions for developing leadership skills
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Updated examples, case studies, and references throughout the book
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Key points and discussion questions following each chapter
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Updated instructor’s manual available online as a PDF or Word document"

The ineffective governance, irresponsible management, and poor company performance will ‎continue ‎to ‎ravage the businesses, shareholders, employees, and the society, where the ‎perpetrators go free, careers come to a halt, ‎shareholders ‎lose money, suppliers are out of ‎business, and employees struggle to make ends meet. However, running an organization in today’s world is becoming quite a complicated endeavor. When ‎managers reach out to gain theoretical or practical advice they quickly realize that the sum total of available ‎knowledge is fragmented, narrowly relevant or mostly impractical. ‎Thereore, there is a need for a profoundly simple, coherent, and all-encompassing advice

This short essay explores the meaning of crossing borders in contemporary times. Borders are proliferating at a rapid rate, and paradoxically they are also being eroded at a rapid rate. This essay claims that this 'making and unmaking of borders' has a profound social impact, and is a central concern in our personal lives and in wider societal and political realms. The making and unmaking of borders produces fear, anxiety, security, liberation and emancipation depending on where you are in relation to the border. Dr Western explores borders utilising a psycho-social lens, revealing how we constantly have to cross and navigate borders, in the 'real world', digital and virtual world, and in our emotional worlds.

Megaprojects are large, they are constantly growing ever larger, and more and more are being built in what has been called the biggest investment boom in history. This chapter serves as an introduction to megaprojects, and to The Oxford Handbook of Megaproject Management. First, megaprojects are defined and the size of the global megaprojects business is estimated. Second, drivers of the megaproject boom are identified, including monumentalism and the technological sublime. Third, ten things you must know about megaprojects are detailed, from their tendency to suffer from uniqueness bias to their overexposure to black-swan events. Fourth, the "iron law of megaprojects" is identified as a main challenge to megaproject management: "Over budget, over time, under benefits, over and over again." Finally, the main structure of the Handbook is set out as covering the what, the why, and the how of megaproject management, in terms of the challenges, causes, and cures that students of megaprojects must decipher to better understand and better manage megaprojects.

Turist rehberleri, ulusal ve bölgesel açıdan turizm sektörünün ilerlemesinde anahtar bir rol oynamaktadır. Özellikle bir turist rehberi bağlı olduğu ülkenin elçisi, temsilcisi niteliğindedir. Turistler ülkeye geldiklerinde onları karşılayan, ilgilenen ve bu konuda en büyük sorumluluğa sahip olan kişi turist rehberleridir. Dolasıyla turist rehberi bir ülkenin tanıtımında söz sahibi, ülkenin kültürel, doğal ve tarihi değerlerinin, gelenek ve göreneklerinin tanıtıcısı niteliğindedir. Taşıdıkları bu hayati önem, turist rehberlerinin mesleklerini en nitelikli şekilde icra etmelerini gerekli kılmaktadır. Turist rehberliği mesleğinin layıkıyla yapılabilmesi için rehberlerin nitelikleri dışında bağlı olduğu seyahat acentasının ona sunduğu imkanlar ve işbirliği içinde olduğu kişi ve kurumların rehbere olan tutum ve yaklaşımları da önem arz etmektedir. Turist rehberlerinin performansını etkileyen; verimliliğini etkileyen pek çok faktör bulunmaktadır.  Bu bölümde; turist rehberlerinin iş verimliliği ve performanslarını, psikolojilerini doğrudan veya dolaylı olarak, olumlu ve/veya olumsuz şekilde etkileyen stres, mobbing, iş tatmini, motivasyon gibi kavramlar ele alınmış ve turist rehberlerinin sosyo-kültürel yaşamları çerçevesinde irdelenmiştir.

The role of leadership in an organizational system has remained of central concern in organization studies. Over the time, the emergence of various theories has unfolded the unique influential roles of leadership embedded in organizational management. Among various leadership styles and theories, a relatively new concept of Authentic Leadership (AL) is worthy of attention with respect to the changing demands of the media industry. The origin of the concept of authenticity is found in ancient Greek philosophy and it is defined in history as “being true to oneself”. Trust is the basic constituent based on which people can count on one another and work together in a conducive environment. AL is an idea to leadership that focuses on developing leader’s legitimacy via “honest relationships with followers”. In this study, AL is measured through four dimensions that include Self-awareness, Balanced Processing, Moral Perspective and Relational Transparency. Media is expected to be a watchdo...

Leadership is everywhere: it has a dominant and privileged place in our society; it is constantly in our news, politics, businesses, films, books and magazines. Leadership is part of our social narrative, predominantly as a mythological force of goodness and success.
A key aim of this book is to deconstruct leadership, to challenge over-simplified accounts of leadership that may be desirable and offer us the comfort of ‘messiahs’ who can save us, but that actually distort leadership in unhelpful ways. Another aim is to reconstruct leadership, to offer new accounts of leadership for new times.
The  book identifies four dominant leadership discourses that have developed through socio-political and economic forces. The first 3 are Controller Leadership , Therapist Leadership, Messiah Leadership  reveal how leadership has developed in relation to changing contexts the past century. The final emergent discourse outlined is Eco-Leadership, and this chapter points to the need for new leadership for new times.

Stress studies are becoming more and more attention nowadays, the financial crisis and recession of 2008 around the world further contributed in increasing higher levels of stress among employees, particularly in the corporate context. The organizations, to make themselves efficient in utilization of resources, have gone through entire restructuring, layoffs, downsizing, and mergers. This has resulted in unstable employee-employer relationship which has caused a great deal of stress among employees. There is no such thing as a stress-free job in the world. Everyone in his/her work is exposed to tension, frustration and anxiety as he/she gets through the duties assigned to him/her. In order to make our work experience and environment as pleasant as possible, it is better that we learn the technique of moderating and modulating our personal stress levels. Hence the research has shown that high level of stress seriously affect the performance of employees as well as their health condition. This article reviews and summarizes three decades of empirical literature concerned with stress in general and occupational stress in particular with major coping strategies.

The purpose of this article is to review spirituality at work literature and to explore how spirituality improves employees’ performances and organizational effectiveness. The article reviews about 140 articles on workplace spirituality to review their findings on how spirituality supports organizational performance. Three different perspectives are introduced on how spirituality benefits employees and supports organizational performance based on the extant literature: (a) Spirituality enhances employee well-being and quality of life; (b) Spirituality provides employees a sense of purpose and meaning at work; (c) Spirituality provides employees a sense of interconnectedness and community. The article introduces potential benefits and caveats of bringing spirituality into the workplace; providing recommendations and suggestions for practitioners to incorporate spirituality positively in organizations.

The ambition for this inaugural edition of The Oxford Handbook of Megaproject Management is to become the ultimate source for state-of-the-art scholarship in the emerging field of megaproject management. The book offers a rigorous, research-oriented, up-to-date academic view of the discipline based on high-quality data and strong theory. Until lately, the literature in this new field was scattered over a large number of publications and disciplines making it difficult to obtain an overview of the history, key issues, and core readings. Megaproject Planning and Management: Essential Readings, Vols. I-II (2014) assembled the key historical texts in the field. Now the Oxford Handbook of Megaproject Management has been designed to provide the most important contemporary readings. Taken together, the two books are intended to map out the best of what is worth reading in the megaproject management literature, past and present.

It can be argued that the successful management of change is crucial to any organisation in order to survive and succeed in the present highly competitive and continuously evolving business environment. However, theories and approaches to change management currently available to academics and practitioners are often contradictory, mostly lacking empirical evidence and supported by unchallenged hypotheses concerning the nature of contemporary organisational change management. The purpose of this article is, therefore, to provide a critical review of some of the main theories and approaches to organisational change management as an important first step towards constructing a new framework for managing change. The article concludes with recommendations for further research.

Despite the highly creative and dynamic atmosphere experienced by researchers in producing new approaches for understanding leadership effectiveness, little effort has been made to create an integrative perspective on leadership theory. Recently, leadership researchers made a call to the academic community to develop an integrative understanding of leadership in organizations. This paper answers that call by presenting a framework for understanding the causal and underlying factors that drive organizational outcomes. An integrative model is proposed that includes antecedents of leadership, self-regulatory mechanisms, leadership behaviours, affective and efficacy processes, and contextual factors. Through the identification of the main causal factors in this process, organizational leaders will learn to focus on the important skills, attitudes, and behaviours that produce effective outcomes. Implications for future research are discussed.

This Paper explores and summarises the Director's Duties of the UK Companies Act 2006 with emphasis on "the duty to promote the success of the company.

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The role of performance appraisal in employee motivation has been disputed by academics and researchers following complaints by employees that the process leads much to be desired. In Ghana, research reports indicate that the appraisal process of some organisations is fraud with inaccuracies, bias considerations and favouritism on the part of managers. Thus, subordinate employees dread the whole process of appraisal calling into question the professionalism and social wisdom of appraisers. Consequently, a survey questionnaire was distributed among employees of some selected financial institutions to examine the role manager-subordinate employee relationship can play in making the appraisal process more motivating to employees. The results of the study indicated that there is significant positive correlation between manager-subordinate relationship and employee motivation in the areas of good interpersonal communication, managerial tolerance to failure and managerial recognition of employee success. Furthermore, employee participation in setting job objectives and performance review correlate positively with employee motivation whereas self-evaluation of performance correlated negatively with employee motivation. The study, therefore, recommended that management should approach performance appraisal issues with good interpersonal communication and develop the capacity to diagnose and treat poor performance with tolerance. Also, poor performers should be taken through training to improve future performance.

We examined the influence of training focus (similarities or differences) and trainer characteristics (race and sex) on the effectiveness of a diversity training program. An examination of the results reveals that when the training content focused on similarities among individuals, trainees expected fewer instances of backlash and chose more effective conflict resolution strategies than their counterparts whose training content focused on differences among individuals. Trainer race and sex had no impact on trainee evaluations when the course was focused on similarities, whereas trainees in the course highlighting differences responded least favorably to the White male trainer. Further, the purported importance of trainee reactions is supported by evidence of its mediating role between training focus and affectively based learning criteria. We discuss implications and directions for future research.

This study examined the effect of reward and compensation on employee loyalty and performance in Asset Management Corporation of Nigerian (AMCON). A descriptive survey research design was adopted in this study. The sample for this study consisted of randomly selected 179 staff of AMCON. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistic; and Chi-square testing. Results from the study revealed that compensation program does influence employees’ performance in AMCON, that fair rewarding system does enhance employee loyalty in AMCON, Quality of work compensation and conducive working atmosphere do affect employees’ performance in AMCON. It was concluded that there is a need for the management and employees of AMCON to promote fair and adequate compensation system. Thus, it was recommended that the management of AMCON should improve on their monetary and non-monetary incentives scheme and to ensure that employee motivation is well articulated and executed at all level of the organization for the purpose of employee loyalty, job satisfaction and improved employee performance at all times. Also, the management should introduce some level of innovation and flexibility into the company policies concerning employee’s motivation, there is need for better and healthy relationship between the management and its Employees at all level and between the employees themselves.

People abused by angry discipline as children, may tend to abuse or overly punish other people or themselves for perceived wrongs in their adult life. In some individuals, aggressive personality traits may be genetically inherited. The aggressive personality may feel weakened by having guidelines or boundaries for anger. Anger is a normal human emotion, and these guidelines can help express anger in a healthy way.

Abstract: As the world enters a new millennium, the U.S. military simultaneously enters a new era in warfare -- an era in which warfare is affected by a changing strategic environment and rapid technological change. The United States and its multinational partners are experiencing a transition from the Industrial Age to the Information Age. Simultaneously, it is fully engaged in a global war on terrorism set in a new period of globalization. These changes, as well as the experiences gained during recent and ongoing military operations, have resulted in the current drive to transform the force with network-centric warfare (NCW) as the centerpiece of this effort. This document describes how the tenets and principles of NCW are providing the foundation for developing new warfighting concepts, organizations, and processes that will allow U.S. forces to maintain a competitive advantage over potential adversaries, now and in the future. In sum, the report provides an overview of the ongoing implementation of NCW in the Department of Defense (DoD). A brief description of NCW, including its origins, its central role in force transformation, its tenets and principles, and an implementation strategy, are provided in Chapter 1. An examination of NCW as an emerging theory of war, its relationship to the four domains of Information Age warfare, the growing evidence of its benefits, and the warfighting advantages it can provide are examined in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 focuses on network-centric operations (NCO), including the relationship of NCO to the overarching Joint Operations Concepts (JOpsC), the NCO experience in Afghanistan and Iraq, the development of the NCO Conceptual Framework, and the conduct of NCO case studies. An overview of Joint and Service plans and initiatives to develop and implement network-centric capabilities and the growing investment in these capabilities by our allies and multinational partners are provided in Chapter 4

"Table of content:

1: Introduction
2: Praxis and Practice Theory: A Brief Historical Overview
3: Praxeology and the Work of Giddens and Bourdieu
4: Practice as Tradition and Community
5: Practice as Activity
6: Practice as Accomplishment
7: Practice as the House of the Social: Contemporary Developments of the Heideggerian and Wittgensteinian Traditions
8: Discourse and Practice
9: Bringing it All Together: a Toolkit to Study and Represent Practice at Work



"

This is a practical book, but it is not a “how-to” book. Instead, it deals with the what, when, and why; with such tangibles as policies and decisions; opportunities and risks; structures and strategies; staffing, compensation, and rewards. Innovation and entrepreneurship are discussed under three main headings: The Practice of Innovation; The Practice of Entrepreneurship; and Entrepreneurial Strategies. Each of these is an
“aspect” of innovation and entrepreneurship rather than a stage.

In any organization that operates in cyberspace, it is necessary to understand the information battlespace. Defensive information battlespace knowledge can be provided by detailed analysis of carefully selected metrics using automated analysis, data mining, and data calls. Gathering data for metrics involves many of the same pitfalls as collecting data in research but also incurs the intra-organizational communication problems inherent in organizations. These factors make it difficult to turn data and metrics into decision-ready knowledge. This paper explores data gathering in an organization as a research program and a knowledge transfer activity.

The need for reactive behavioural management strategies for aggressive behaviours in adults with intellectual disability has been clearly established, but equivalent information concerning children with challenging behaviour is lacking by comparison. The present study was conducted in order to assess this need. A retrospective study was conducted to ascertain the nature of aggressive behaviours amongst a cohort children referred to a specialist support service. Aggressive behaviours were found to occur at high rates within the study group. Almost 60% of the children displayed aggression that occurred at least daily, and the behaviours resulted in serious consequences for carers in almost one-third of the group. Physical interventions were already in use in 56% of cases, but were largely improvised by carers. The need to include reactive behavioural training as part of an overall intervention package for carers of children with challenging behaviour appeared to be supported by the present results. The implications for training design are discussed.