1,720,982 research outputs found
Exploring performance attribution: the case of quality managment systems adoptions and business performance
Full text linkPurpose. Accreditation to the ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems Standard has proven to be a persistent and growing phenomenon in services and manufacturing, yet to date little attempt has been made to explore how performance results in cross-sectional research may be attributed to different causation mechanisms and how their influences may alter over time.
Methodology. The paper defines four possible causation mechanisms before searching and analysing the empirical literature on quality management system certification to ISO 9001 and business performance for evidence of their causal influence.
Findings. From the analyses it is found that the benefit that can safely be attributed to the treatment-effect of ISO 9001 accreditation is lower waste; while the benefits of lower costs and better quality are less likely unless motives for adoption are developmental rather than externally driven. From an analysis of longitudinal studies a strong selection-mechanism is found where more profitable firms have a greater propensity to adopt than less profitable firms. From the finding propositions are developed to show how the influence of these mechanisms change over time.
Implications for research. The existence of the selection-mechanism has profound implications for interpreting business performance achievements because the benefits that are attributed to the treatment-effect from adopting quality management system standards are likely to be greatly inflated by the influence of the selection-mechanism. The author suggests that richer theory is needed that can incorporate bi-directional influences and new research is needed to explore the underlying causes of the selection effect.
Value of paper. The paper is believed to be the first to systematically explore attribution of performance in the ISO 9001 literature. Its findings provide new insights into the complexities of attribution of performance in studies of new practices and systems.
Keywords:
Performance, Causation, Quality, ISO 9001 Certification
The influence of managerial factors on bullying in the Police
Full text linkRecently there has been a growing trend to recognise the damaging nature of workplace bullying in organisations' Dignity at Work policies (CIPD, 2004). In this
article the author explores negative behaviours experienced by police officers and how their managerial environment influences the extent of these bullying behaviours.
Quantitative methods are used to analysis a whole force survey to explore the nature of bullying behaviour in the police and its antecedents. The findings indicate that
negative behaviour is widespread amongst officers and a minority experience it at intense levels. However, the nature of bullying experienced is predominantly indirect
and discreet. Senior ranks experience a different mix of behaviours but overall experience higher levels of bullying than junior ranks. The managerial environment
was found to be an important predictor of the degree of bullying experienced. The findings suggest that bullying research may be advanced when it is considered in a
broader frame, where managerial and organisational factors that create an environment in which bullying is possible and is precipitated are considered. The author suggests that the consequences of poor interpersonal management and
communication skills go beyond the expected negative consequences for weak commitment and low involvement because they create an environment in which bullying is more likely. Also suggested is monitoring the level of workplace bullying to allow early intervention to prevent serious consequences for employees’ well being,
and consequential organisational costs. In addition to being one of the few published studies to capture the total police population, the study appears to be the first
academic study that explores bullying in the police. The research highlights the importance of the managerial environment and how it might act as a gateway that
enables or discourages bullying behaviours
Bullying and Organisational Commitment: Common antecedents?
Full text linkThe paper’s aim is to provide new theoretical insights by examining whether organisational commitment and workplace bullying co-vary, and if this is due to direct effects and/or indirect effects of their organisation and supervision environment. From a survey of all uniform officers in a UK police agency the author analyses the bullying behaviours experienced by police officers and if the organisational and managerial factors that are known to influence organisational commitment also change the extent of these bullying behaviours. The findings show that the supervision environment was found to be a substantial predictor of the degree of bullying experienced, as well as a dominant influence on organisational commitment levels. In contrast, the direct influence of bullying on organisational commitment (or vice versa) was not found
Exploring Performance Attribution: The case of Quality Management Standards Adoption and Business Performance
Full text linkPurpose. Accreditation to the ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems Standard has proven to be a persistent and growing phenomenon in services and manufacturing, yet to date little attempt has been made to explore how performance results in cross-sectional research may be attributed to different causation mechanisms and how their influences may alter over time.
Methodology. The paper defines four possible causation mechanisms before searching and analysing the empirical literature on quality management system certification to ISO 9001 and business performance for evidence of their causal influence.
Findings. From the analyses it is found that the benefit that can safely be attributed to the treatment-effect of ISO 9001 accreditation is lower waste; while the benefits of lower costs and better quality are less likely unless motives for adoption are developmental rather than externally driven. From an analysis of longitudinal studies a strong selection-mechanism is found where more profitable firms have a greater propensity to adopt than less profitable firms. From the finding propositions are developed to show how the influence of these mechanisms change over time.
Implications for research. The existence of the selection-mechanism has profound implications for interpreting business performance achievements because the benefits that are attributed to the treatment-effect from adopting quality management system standards are likely to be greatly inflated by the influence of the selection-mechanism. The author suggests that richer theory is needed that can incorporate bi-directional influences and new research is needed to explore the underlying causes of the selection effect.
Value of paper. The paper is believed to be the first to systematically explore attribution of performance in the ISO 9001 literature. Its findings provide new insights into the complexities of attribution of performance in studies of new practices and systems
Is the Force Still With Her? Gender and Commitment in the Police
No full textAlthough there is a substantial literature that discusses gender issues in the Police, there are few empirical studies and none that address whether gender has an influence on organisational commitment and it antecedents in the Police. The article is unique as its findings contradict the literatures’ view that women police officers’ perceptions of management behaviour are likely to more negative than their male colleagues experience. The article also provides evidence to dispel the stereotype held by many senior male officers of women officers having less commitment to the police than male officers.
The paper was awarded the outstanding paper of 2002 by the Women in Management Review editorial board.
Contribution 45%
Responsible for research questions, data analysis, presentation of findings, writing up of the methodology, and discussion of findings. Co-author responsible for survey administration, literature review, and conclusions
The progress of female police officers?An empirical analysis of organisational commitment and tenure explanations in two UK police forces
Full text linkPurpose of paper.
Although the number of women in UK police forces has grown rapidly, it appears that they continue to be under-represented in senior ranks. This research paper aims to establish empirically whether there is any foundation in the premise that female officers' lesser tenure and or lower levels of commitment than men explain their lack of career progress.
Methodology.
Using whole population surveys of two county police in the UK we compare the promotion of men and women police officers controlling for tenure. We then compare the organisational commitment of male and female officers and analyse whether female officers experience managerial and organisational influences that undermine their organisational commitment compared to men.
Findings.
The findings refute some of the widespread beliefs about reasons for female officers’ lack of progress in their policing careers since the analysis indicates that gender differences in length of tenure and organisational commitment can be discounted as possible explanations for lack of advancement in these two police forces. Overall, our results clearly show that female officers are just as committed as male officers and thus cannot be justified as a reason for lack of career progression. Managerial variables were found to be the strongest influence on organisational commitment and it appeared that there was no evidence that management support or organisational support were different for female officers compared to their male colleagues.
Research Implications/Limitations.
We accept that survey methods such as ours do not capture the entirety of employee feelings and responses since they tend to homogenise male and female working experiences. However, survey methods do have the advantage that it is possible to generalise from the results and thus these two studies allow us to suggest that our findings can be viewed as providing insights to other UK police forces in particular and to the broader field of the antecedents of organisational commitment in general.
Practical implications.
The relatively low levels of organisational commitment found should be a cause for concern for senior managers in the Police. The key importance that management has in influencing organisational commitment has been shown by our findings and this indicates the importance of the current Police Leadership Development Board’s agenda to improve workforce management skills to encourage transformational leadership styles. Moreover, there clearly remains much to be done to make police HRM policies more effective in achieving equality in promotion opportunities since the data presented shows that women’s careers are lagging behind even when tenure is taken into account.
Value and originality of the paper. The paper make an original contribution by refuting widely held assumptions about the reasons for under-representation of female officers in senior ranks. It also contributes to the sparse literature that examines organisational commitment in the police and its antecedents
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Management Standards Adoption and Business Performance: Towards a Theory of Performance Attribution in Bandwagons
Full text linkThe question of direction of causation is explored in management related fields such as Economics or Psychology but in the main, the possibility of reverse or bi-directional causation is ignored in Operations Management research. Indeed, in the research it is difficult to find papers that do not present results in ways that imply or assume that management system change leads to performance improvement. Even when researchers do acknowledge that cause and effect cannot be proven, when their findings enter the world of the consultant and practitioner the findings are always presented as if management system change leads to performance improvement.
Overall, the research on quality management systems indicate that benefits are possible but the evidence is mixed (Sousa and Voss 2002). Could the explanation for this be the influence of different causation mechanisms, on cross-sections of high vs. low performing organizations, as quality management systems adoption becomes more widespread?
The paper’s theory is grounded on empirical results that explore Quality Management System Certification to ISO 9000 Standards (hereafter referred to as QCert) and its benefits. The paper starts by defining a ‘causal quality improvement model’ and a series of propositions that can be used to test the validity of the causal paths. This is then used as a framework for analyzing the business benefits reported in the empirical literature. Particular attention is given to the results of three longitudinal studies that can show direction of causality. A theory is then expounded that can explain the contradictory findings in the literature on QCert and its links to business benefits. This theory acknowledges that cause and effect between QCert and business benefits exists in both directions but in different subsections of organizations within a cross-section of certified and non-certified organizations. The paper then suggests ways that this theory may be useful in fully understanding cause and effect mechanisms in management system adoption studies that claim performance improvement
The influence of job demands and managerial variables on organisational commitment in the police
Full text linkPolice forces are under constant government pressure to improve their performance through better management of existing resources. However, little research has been done that explains how officers’ organisational commitment, an essential requirement for above average employee productivity, can be improved. Using a whole population survey of a county police force in the UK, managerial and job demand variables are explored that influence officers’ organisational commitment. It was found that the way officers were managed had the strongest influence on their organisational commitment while job demand variables were found to have a lesser influence. The findings indicate the importance of the current Police Leadership Development Board’s agenda to improve workforce management skills to encourage transformational leadership styles. However, there clearly remains much to be done to make police HRM policies more effective in achieving the promotion of officers who have the managerial competences needed to engender higher levels of organisational commitment
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