Intervention for supervisors, based on social skills and leadership, in order to improve organizational climate perception and organizational performance outcomes

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Adrian Cuadra-Peralta ◽  
Constanza Veloso-Besio ◽  
Jose Iribaren ◽  
Rodrigo Pinto

Purpose Interventions to develop leadership have attracted the interest of both the professional world and academia. The latter through review papers has highlighted the need to incorporate organizational performance outcomes when evaluating the effectiveness of programs for leadership development, because they have been particularly scarce. Keeping this in mind, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at direct supervisors, on the basis of social skills and transformational/transactional leadership, in order to improve organizational climate (OC) perception and objective outcomes of organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design was used, with no quasi-control group. Intervention was applied to all direct supervisors (n=8) of a private company in the industrial sector, with national implementation. The intervention covered a period of two months, with a total of eight sessions. The frequency of the intervention was a weekly session of 90 minutes each. The impact was measured in their direct subordinates (n=34). The outcome variables were OC perception and various indicators of organizational performance. Findings The results showed a statistically significant increase, moderate-to-high magnitude (dMR=0.38-1.21), in most sub-dimensions of OC. The various organizational performance indicators (e.g. volume of sales, positioning of the company, etc.) also showed improvements. Practical implications Results suggest that the authors’ intervention program, based on social skills and leadership, aimed to develop leadership, has an effect on organizational efficacy outcomes, such as OC perception and organizational performance. The implications of this study’s findings for HR managers are that there is a direct relation between improvement in outcomes associated with organizational effectiveness and the training of direct supervisors; this is because the leadership in the levels that deal directly with workers is responsible for carrying out the main tasks of the organization. Originality/value The overall objective of this research was to analyze the effectiveness of an intervention aimed at direct supervisors, on the basis of social skills and transformational/transactional leadership, in order to improve OC perception and objective outcomes of organizational performance.

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 906-929 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santiago Melián-González ◽  
Jacques Bulchand-Gidumal ◽  
Beatriz González López-Valcárcel

Purpose – Employee satisfaction appears in any discussion about how employees can contribute to organizational performance. The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between employee satisfaction and organizational performance; this later measured with three firm-level performance outcomes (return over assets, operating margin, and revenue per employee). Design/methodology/approach – At different times and from two independent sources the authors obtained firms’ data about worker attitudes and financial and productivity performance, respectively. The analyzed sample of 475 firms is the biggest among the studies that analyze performance and employee satisfaction at the firm level. The impact of employee satisfaction over firm performance was assessed. Findings – Overall satisfaction and satisfaction with senior leadership, compensation, and work/life balance, respectively impact firm performance. Research limitations/implications – The ratings come from both employees and ex-employees and the individual characteristics were unknown. Additionally as an internet-based sample there has been a lack of control over the individuals’ response process. Practical implications – Managers have evidence about the importance of their employees’ satisfaction on firm performance, and on how the facets involved on worker satisfaction impact the performance. Social implications – Employer review web sites are increasing their popularity. However, unlike the marketing field with consumers HR area has not taken advantage of this trend. The found results may contribute to highlight the importance of this kind of data. Originality/value – Hitherto there is only one empirical evidence about the positive role of worker satisfaction in objective and financial firm level performance. That was based in best-firms type data. The current study draws in a big sample independent of this kind of rankings. Additionally, the job facet satisfaction conceptualization considered demonstrates the usefulness of this way to understand the employee satisfaction.


Author(s):  
Arash Shahin ◽  
Javad Shabani Naftchali ◽  
Javad Khazaei Pool

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of employees’ perception of organizational climate on organizational citizenship behaviour outbreak and the impact of both of them on organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach – This survey has been performed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The statistical population composed of the managers of Mazandaran small- to medium-sized enterprises. The analysis of the data obtained from distributed survey questionnaire has been performed by SPSS18 and AMOS18 software. Findings – Findings imply that positive perception of organizational climate influences on increasing organizational citizenship behaviour outbreak and performance of enterprise, and organizational citizenship behaviour in turn has positive and significant impact on organizational performance. Results of this survey also indicate that organizational citizenship behaviour impacts on sub-criteria of enterprise performance (i.e. financial, customer, learning and growth, internal processes). Moreover, the influence of organizational climate on all sub-criteria of performance except internal processes has been confirmed. Research limitations/implications – Lack of sufficient information concerning organizational climate in internal resources, and in some external ones, and low number of surveys performed in this field, limits the possibility of comparing the results of this survey with other similar surveys. Originality/value – This survey can be considered as an innovative survey, since there is no similar survey conducted in which three variables of organizational climate, performance, and citizenship behaviour studied, considering their specified sub-criteria.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Majeed Hameed Taher ◽  
Namariq Abdulkareem Muhsen ◽  
Luma Majid Hameed

Purpose This study aims to measure the basic foundations of organizational health in the General Company for Food Products and to indicate the extent of its presence or not within the company under investigation. Design/methodology/approach This research was completed using a descriptive and analytical approach using a sample of 97 employees from the General Company for Petroleum Products. Calculating the arithmetic mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, and confirmatory factor analysis are all part of the data processing process. Findings The basic components of organization health are present in the General Company for Petroleum Products, but they have not reached high levels to be called regulatory health. Originality/value The findings of this study can provide important information about the impact of basic organizational health components on the general level of companies, particularly the General Company for Oil Products and its prominent role in its leadership in strengthening the organizational climate with a healthy, pressure-free environment that contributes to raising employee and organizational performance levels.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Logan Schuetz ◽  
Bomin Paek ◽  
Brent D. Oja ◽  
Minjung Kim

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how flourishing is achieved among sport employees working at intercollegiate sport organizations in the USA. To do so, a model is constructed that examines the impact of pride and path-goal leadership on job engagement and then flourishing. The model is grounded in the Human Resource Development (HRD) paradigm to extend the literature on positive performance outcomes in sport organizations.Design/methodology/approachQuantitative methods were used to analyze the data. Altogether, 282 useable surveys were completed by sport employees working in intercollegiate athletics departments. The hypotheses were examined with structural equation modeling to provide robust calculations of the relationships within the model.FindingsThe findings of this study demonstrated that both path-goal leadership and pride enabled job engagement, which in turn supported flourishing among intercollegiate athletics employees (e.g. equipment, marketing or facility/event positions). Job engagement is positioned as an important variable as it linked path-goal leadership and pride with flourishing.Originality/valueThis study examined mechanisms (i.e. path-goal leadership, pride) to enhance intercollegiate athletics employees' personal resources (i.e. job engagement, flourishing) through the HRD paradigm. The HRD framework posits that improved employee functioning leads to a superior organizational performance and has yet to be assessed within intercollegiate athletics. The findings add to the HRD literature by focusing on employees' workplace experiences and generating pathways to improved job engagement and the subsequent influence on intercollegiate athletics employees' ability to flourish, which is also understudied.


2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 517-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlo Bellavite Pellegrini ◽  
Bruno S. Sergi ◽  
Emiliano Sironi

Purpose – Alternative corporate governance systems (CGSs) have attracted a significant bulk of research recently. While the connection between the adoption of an alternative system (one tier board or two tier board system) and firms’ performances has not been fully analysed yet, the purpose of this paper is to analyse whether companies which have turned into an alternative board system have eventually improved their performance over time. Design/methodology/approach – Using a sample of more than 15,000 Italian unlisted joint stock companies, the authors compare performance outcomes in 2009 of firms adopting alternative systems with performances of firms that maintained the system in force before the 2003 Corporate Law Reform (defined as “traditional”). Because of the choice of an alternative system (one tier or two tier board) instead of a traditional one is not random, the authors reduce selection bias implementing matching methods and comparing firms that are close in terms of propensity score measured in 2003 (the year before the new CGSs have been introduced by a corporate law reform). Findings – The authors do not find evidence of a significant improvement of performances in 2009 concerning those firms that have adopted a one tier or two tier board systems with respect to those which maintained a traditional one. Originality/value – The novelty of the study concerns the application of propensity score matching for the evaluation of the impact of the change of the CGS that is possible in presence of two conditions that are all verified in our setting: first, to have a country where corporate law allows for choosing among different systems; in this case Italy is a good laboratory, because it allows for the choice among three different systems; and second, to have the opportunity to evaluate the effect of the change in light of a relatively recent “pre-treatment” condition; this is made possible by the fact that before the 2003 Reform of corporate law all the companies had a traditional system.


2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 517-541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wadid Lamine ◽  
Sarfraz Mian ◽  
Alain Fayolle

Purpose – This paper seeks to advance ongoing research in entrepreneurial perseverance. While the concept of perseverance is not new, few researchers paid attention to behavioural persistence in the entrepreneurial context. The purpose of this paper is to explore the emergence of new technology based firms (NTBF) by focusing on the role of nascent entrepreneurs’ social skills in the meeting the changes of entrepreneurial perseverance. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper the authors study the start-up phase of entrepreneurial process. The authors opted for a longitudinal case study approach in order to enhance the knowledge on entrepreneurs’ social skills and perseverance. For triangulation purpose the data were gathered using four different information sources. The use of Nvivo8 as the data analysis tool helped to impose a discipline and structure which facilitated the extraction of core insights. Findings – This paper contributes to the understanding of the entrepreneurial perseverance in the context of new venture creation. Particularly, reading the entrepreneurial process through the lens of the perseverance strategies model (Van Gelderen, 2012) provided a way to identify and then to assess the impact of the social skills on the overall entrepreneurial perseverance and their combined impact on the performance of NTBF creation process. In doing so, the authors identify the impact of entrepreneurs’ social skills to deal with a series of entrepreneurial problems such as scarcity of resources, uncertainty and ambiguity and consequently their impact on the likelihood of survival for new ventures. The issues that arose mostly reflected the inherent complexity of technology transfer processes, the university and entrepreneurs’ diverging cultures, and the very characteristics of the start-up phase of NTBFs. The findings reveal how social skills impact the entrepreneurial paths and probable outcomes. Research limitations/implications – This paper contributes to the understanding of the entrepreneurial perseverance in the context of NTBF creation. The findings reveal how social skills and perseverance impact the entrepreneurial paths and probable outcomes. Practical implications – The paper has implications for entrepreneurial support mechanisms such as technology business incubators in helping them to improve the efficacy and efficiency of their assistance to entrepreneurs through the development of their skill-sets and perseverance and providing enabling networking. In addition, the research has implications for entrepreneurship education and training. Indeed, there is an urgent need to design and implement courses and programs aiming at developing soft skills in entrepreneurship. Originality/value – In exploring networking and issues of perseverance for nascent entrepreneurs operating in new technology-based sectors, which the authors consider as an under searched area in entrepreneurial literature.


2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fauzia Jabeen ◽  
Mohamed Behery ◽  
Hossam Abu Elanain

Purpose – The aim of this study is to examine the impact of the psychological contract, relational psychological contract and transactional psychological contract on organisational commitment as mediated by transactional leadership in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) context. The paper also explores the contractual status to determine if the theory remains valid, regardless of the fact whether one is employed as a contingent or permanent worker. Design/methodology/approach – This research made a longitudinal study spanning a 24-week time period. Data were collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire prepared in English and Arabic, at three stages representing three visits to the participating companies in the UAE. Pearson’s correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were used to examine the research hypotheses. Findings – The results show that the psychological contracts (transactional and relational) are positively related to transactional leadership. This study categorizes several consequential relationships between transactional leadership and organisational commitment. It also advocates that transactional leadership has only a fractional mediating role in relation to relational psychological contract, transactional psychological contract and organisational commitment. Practical implications – The findings suggest that practitioners and academics alike should note that the nature of the psychological contract employed will impact upon commitment and retention. Originality/value – This study makes a significant contribution to the body of literature, being the second part of a longitudinal study that aimed at testing the mediating effect of transactional leadership on organisational commitment within the context of the UAE. In the earlier study, the intent was to analyse the role of transformational leadership as a mediator between the psychological contract and organisational commitment. Typically, transformational leadership has been found to partially mediate the above mentioned relationships. In addition, it also advocates that there may be some value in considering the employees’ contractual status with regard to the psychological contract and its impact on organisational commitment.


Kybernetes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Josef Spurný ◽  
Ivan Kopeček ◽  
Radek Ošlejšek ◽  
Jaromír Plhák ◽  
Francesco Caputo

Purpose The aim of the paper is to analyze the impact of cooperativeness of managers who occupy central positions in interaction networks on the performance and stress levels of a whole organization. Design/methodology/approach To explore this relationship, a multi-parameter agent-based model is proposed which implements the prisoner’s dilemma game approach on a scale-free network in the NetLogo environment. A description of the socioeconomic aspects and the key concepts implemented in the model is provided. Stability and correctness have been tested through a series of validation experiments, including sensitivity analysis. The source code is available for further exploration and testing. Findings The simulations revealed that improving the stress resistance of all employees moderately increases organizational performance. Analyzing managers’ roles showed that increasing only the stress resistance of managers does not account for significantly higher overall performance. However, a substantial increase in organizational performance and a decrease in stress levels are achieved when managers are unconditionally cooperative. This effect is stronger for the lowered stress resistance of employees. Therefore, the willingness of managers to cooperate under all circumstances can be a key factor in achieving better performance and building a more pleasant, stress-free working environment. Originality/value This paper aims to present a model for analyzing cooperation, specifically in the organizational context, extending the prisoner’s dilemma with novel concepts and mechanisms. Although the results confirm the existing theories about the importance of central nodes in complex networks, they also provide further details on how the cooperative behavior of central nodes (i.e. the managers) might benefit the organization.


2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (8) ◽  
pp. 1124-1137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satish Mehra ◽  
Joshua T. Coleman

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of successfully coordinating infrastructural capabilities, such as technology, and structural capabilities, such as people, on the performance of service businesses. Effective coordination of these two types of capabilities is shown to impact the implementation of quality management practices and the design of marketing strategy, both of which when utilized properly, lead to enhanced organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach The authors surveyed retail banking firms for this study to analyze empirical data on infrastructural and structural capabilities. Results were corroborated on the basis of in-depth interviews with several banking managers to provide real world verification of the findings. Findings Results indicate that both infrastructural and structural capabilities positively impact the design of marketing strategy, while only structural capabilities impact the implementation of quality management practices. Both, successfully implemented quality management ideals and a well-designed marketing strategy, are shown to enhance overall organizational performance. Research limitations/implications Research was conducted on a specific sector of the service industry, the banking sector. Also, the relatively small size of the study sample may have impacted the outcome of research applicability in some large businesses. Continuously emerging financial regulations could not be incorporated in the study. On the positive side, strong managerial feedback provides guidance toward adopting the study results, and lays the foundation for future research. Originality/value As today’s rapidly evolving society pushes people out of service encounters, replacing them with efficient and cost-saving technology, roles of both the people and the technology in an organization must be fully understood. This paper shows that, despite the exponential growth of technological innovation, both people and technology are critical to enhancing organizational performance through sound quality management practices and supportive marketing strategies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel I. Prajogo ◽  
Brian Cooper

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the multi-level relationship between people-related total quality management (TQM) practices and employee job satisfaction. The authors draw upon organizational climate theory to hypothesize that TQM is related to job satisfaction at the individual employee level, as well as at the organizational level in the form of shared perceptions of TQM practices in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach Multi-level modelling was used to test the study hypotheses. The sample was drawn from 201 employees working in 23 organizations in Australia. Findings The findings show that people-related TQM practices are positively related to job satisfaction at both individual and organizational levels, with a stronger effect on employee attitudes observed at the organizational level. Research limitations/implications The statistically significant multi-level relationship between people-related TQM practices and job satisfaction extends the findings of previous studies conducted only at the individual level; thus, supporting the sustainability of TQM as a management principle at a company-wide level. Practical implications The findings broadly support the implementation of people-related TQM practices as part of a strategy of creating a “high performance” climate in organizations, which in turn, will likely to positively affect both individual and organizational performance. Social implications From a wider social perspective, the implementation of TQM practices as a company-wide initiative could facilitate greater corporate social responsibility of the organization. Such practices as training, involving, and empowering employees can promote social commitment by valuing employees as one important stakeholder. Originality/value This is the first empirical study to the best of the author’s knowledge that uses multi-level modelling to examine the relationship between TQM practices and employee attitudes such as job satisfaction.


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