Antecedents to employee suggestion schemes: the study of UAE

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 497-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehrajunnisa Mehrajunnisa ◽  
Fauzia Jabeen

PurposeThe purpose of this study is identifying and ranking the various antecedents or enablers that will enhance performance through employee suggestion schemes (ESSs) in various sector-specific businesses based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), an emerging Arab country.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to prioritize the factors affecting ESS. The AHP model was developed with five criteria and 24 subcriteria based on the interactional theory of organizational creativity. Data were collected through interviews with 27 top-level managers and industry experts from nine government agencies, nine semigovernment agencies, and nine privately owned UAE-based businesses.FindingsThe findings show that leadership support and management style, individual attributes, and corporate strategy are the most important factors that influence performance through ESS.Research limitations/implicationsThe research model had limited dimensions and the findings cannot be generalized. To generalize the findings, the study should be carried out in other GCC countries because of homogeneity in the political, organizational, and sociocultural context. The outcome of the study provides both organizational and managerial implications for the better organizational performance through ESS.Originality/valuePast studies on ESS have neglected the construct of individual characteristics of employees that generate novel ideas. This paper addresses the gap of sector-specific studies by considering that individual attributes of creative people as individuals are the heart of innovation, along with contextual factors that could help organizations to transform innovative engines through ESS. The originality of this research stems from a reliable and valid framework that can be subsequently used for driving performance through ESS. This study is a relevant contribution to both the academic literature and practical implications.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mayuree Sengupta

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand how Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the National Research Development Corporation, India, Hanumanthu Purushotham had facilitated a turnaround of the organization and ensured profitability during his tenure there. This is one of the series of interview-based studies that focuses on a South Asian CEO, with the goal of ascertaining his leadership and management style in a volatile situation. This brief paper expounds how leader traits and transformational leadership can positively impact an organizational turnaround and fuel growth.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses primary interviews and complements the findings with secondary data sources such as annual reports and management literature on leadership trait, transformational leadership and organizational turnaround.FindingsThe study found that socioeconomic factors have a bearing on leadership attributes. In this instance, the CMD's early years, diverse work experiences, bright traits and transformational leadership positively impacted organizational performance. Therefore, not only the qualifications but also the qualities of a leader are pivotal in shaping success of an organization.Originality/valueThe narrative provides an instance of how decision-making driven by strategic leadership can change firm performance. The rich experiences of the India-educated CMD, a government job holder all-through, provides a veteran's view to decision-making in a state-controlled firm and helps us understand how an organization can be transformed in a limited time and with scarce resources.


2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 940-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mukesh Kumar ◽  
K.S. Sujit ◽  
Vincent Charles

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose the microeconomics concept of elasticity to estimate the SERVQUAL gap elasticity to derive important insights for service providers to develop the right strategies to bridge the overall gap in service. Design/methodology/approach The dimensions of SERVQUAL adopted from Parasuraman et al. (1988) and Kumar et al. (2009) are first verified for their unidimensionality using structural equation modeling and reliability in the context of United Arab Emirates banking industry. Furthermore, the technique of dominance analysis is used to derive the relative importance of dimensions for different groups of banks. Finally, the stepwise log-linear regression models are used to estimate the gap elasticity to measure the responsiveness of the overall SERVQUAL gap to a change in customers’ perception on different dimension. Findings The results reveal that the dimension which is prioritized as the most important dimension need not to be the one to be targeted under the resource constraint to react faster to the changes of customers’ banking behavior. Originality/value This is probably the first attempt to examine the service quality through gap elasticity. This method is especially useful when the traditional approach to measure relative importance of critical factors fails to clearly discriminate between two or more dimensions, which, in turn, may lead to failure in decision making to choose the right strategies to bridge the overall gap in the service.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 737-752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherine Farouk ◽  
Fauzia Jabeen

PurposeResearch about ethical governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the United Arab Emirates is still in its infancy. This study aims to explore the public sector employee’s perception toward ethical climate, codes of ethics and CSR and its impact on organizational performance. This research sheds light on the link between formalized ethical procedures and employee responses including CSR, organizational engagement and organizational performance.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 426 middle-level public sector employees in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, using structural equation modeling to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe findings of this study suggest that an ethical climate is an important organizational component, and that the incorporation of effective codes of ethics and CSR initiatives is desired. Perceptions of public sector employees are positively influenced by the organization’s ethical climate and CSR activities, which in turn affect organizational performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe study provides managerial insights for improving the ethical climate and CSR within the public sector context in the United Arab Emirates.Practical implicationsThe study offers implications for public sector employers and points out that public sector employers should formulate policies to boost the ethics and CSR environment at workplace to attain competitive advantage.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the literature by being one of the first to study organizational ethical climate and CSR within a Middle Eastern public sector context and offers implications for theory and practice.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moein Yousefi ◽  
Iman Raeesi Vanani

Abstract Human resources are considered as one of the most valuable assets of an organization. Therefore, the top priorities of organizational managers include paying attention to manpower and providing necessary facilities to bring about satisfaction with workplace and working conditions in the light of mental and physical health. Accordingly, mental health has partly been neglected by managers because it lacks concrete and tangible aspects on the contrary to other organizational dimensions such as buildings and machinery. This study was conducted to achieve the fundamental goal of identifying the aspects and characteristics affecting the mental health of employees at technology-based companies as well as the factors resulting in mental problems and disorders. It was also decided to develop a model to predict affliction or non-affliction with mental problems among employees in the long term. For this purpose, this study focused on data mining techniques in order to identify latent relationships and introduce a prediction model. Therefore, the important and major factors were identified as individual characteristics, occupational characteristics, organizational performance features, and organizational governing culture features in mental health. The analysis and evaluation of results indicated that Classification algorithms managed to predict the mental health of employees with nearly %85 of accuracy. Besides, Clustering algorithms succeeded in dividing the samples into high-risk, medium-risk, and low-risk classes. The designed models can help organizational managers identify the factors affecting the mental health of employees and predict the chances of affliction with mental health disorders to prevent destructive harm to employees and organizations.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guido Capaldo ◽  
Nicola Costantino ◽  
Roberta Pellegrino ◽  
Pierluigi Rippa

Purpose This paper aims to investigate factors and weaknesses influencing university–industry interactions diffusion and success by focusing on the research services initiatives because there are limited studies in literature focusing on this specific form of interaction between the two actors. Design/methodology/approach The authors carried an explorative research based on multiple case studies referring to research services experienced between two big Italian universities and small and medium-sized enterprises located in the same area. Findings By conducting a cross-case analysis, the authors highlight categories of data in terms of factors influencing interactions’ diffusion and success, as perceived by researchers and by firms; and weaknesses in the interactions process to identify suggestions for improving interactions’ diffusion and success, from researchers and firms. Practical implications The outcomes provide managerial implications useful for agencies supporting the diffusion of innovation among firms and firms’ systems for defining new policies and action plans aimed at making the university–industry interactions faster and more effective, improving the innovation processes within firms. Originality/value This paper gives new insight in the analysis of factors enhancing university–industry relationships with a focus on research services collaborations and focusing both on university and industry, where large contributions focus predominantly on both groups.


2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Mas-Machuca ◽  
Frederic Marimon

PurposeMission statements (SMs) are a frequent strategic tool, yet little is known about their effects on economic performance. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to model and assess the relationships among the sense-making of the SM, employee mission engagement (EME), organizational mission fulfillment (OMF) and perceived organizational performance (PER) and, second, to determine the path that best explains these connections.Design/methodology/approachThis paper reports the results of an empirical investigation drawn from a sample of 132 managers at different levels in two Spanish companies. The data analysis was performed in two steps: the first was to assess the reliability of the measurement scales and the second was to build a causal model using structural equation modeling analysis.FindingsThe findings suggest that the best path to explain the relationships between the SM and perceived organizational performance (PER) is SM, EME, OMF, PER, with a full mediation effect for EME and OMF. These findings are consistent with previous research.Practical implicationsThe managerial implications of these results are that just having a good mission and effective communication of the mission is not enough. The mission has to be related to employee engagement and, at the same time, the organization needs to be mission driven.Originality/valueThis research provides a new paradigm for understanding the relationships between sense-making around the SM, EME, OMF and PER, and helps to adjudicate among possible outcome paths and better explain the inter-relationships among these constructs.


Information ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 490
Author(s):  
Vida Davidaviciene ◽  
Khaled Al Majzoub ◽  
Ieva Meidute-Kavaliauskiene

Organizational reliance on virtual teams (VTs) is increasing tremendously due to the significant benefits they offer, such as efficiently reaching objectives and increasing organizational performance. However, VTs face a lot of challenges that, if overlooked, will prevent them from yielding the required benefits. One of the major issues that hinders the effectiveness of VTs is the decision-making process. There is a lack of scientific research that attempts to understand the factors affecting decision making processes in VTs. Studies in this area have only been done in the United States and Europe. However, such research has not been conducted in the Middle East, where specific scientific solutions are still required to improve the performance of VTs. Therefore, this study is conducted in the Middle East, namely in the United Arab Emirates, to gain scientific knowledge on this region’s specificity. An online questionnaire (Google forms) was used to obtain the necessary data. Hypotheses were developed to test the influence of ICT (Information and communications technologies), language, information sharing, and trust on the decision-making processes, and the effect of decision making on team performance. Structural equational model (SEM) methodology was used to test our proposed model. The results showed that factors such as trust, ICT, and information sharing have a direct effect on decision-making processes, while language has no effect on decision making, and decision-making processes have a direct effect on the performance of the VTs.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Waheed ◽  
Qingyu Zhang ◽  
Abaid Ullah Zafar ◽  
Hashim Zameer ◽  
Muhammad Ashfaq ◽  
...  

PurposeThis study investigates the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on organizational performance, especially competitive performance (CP) along with moderating role of the organizational culture (OC) from the banking sector of China. Drawing on the stakeholder theory, the first goal is to examine the relationships between CSR and organizational CP. Second, the purpose is to evaluate the moderation of OC between the relationship of CSR and CP, respectively.Design/methodology/approachSEM using SmartPLS was majorly engaged to ascertain the relationship and to inquire the assumed hypotheses. The convenience sampling was engaged to collect the data from the Chinese banking market with the help of students, colleagues and personal visits.FindingsThe findings exhibited that CSR both external and internal CSR has significant correlations on organizational CP within banking sector of China. Second, the findings revealed a positive moderation influence of OC between the relationships of CSR and organizational CP. The comprehensive analysis of each factor of CSR on organizational CP was autonomously inspected to understand the insights which ensure that how the incorporation of CSR and OC activities may improve organizational CP.Research limitations/implicationsThis study faces numerous limitations related to sample and geographic locations that assure new work possibilities for researchers across the world.Practical implicationsThis study equips insightful information for management on how organizations can obtain CP by consolidating CSR and OC activities as their more productive strategic tools. This article endows with potential theoretical and managerial implications with empirical addition to concerned literature of OC, CSR and organizational CP.Social implicationsUnderstanding OC and CSR activities can provide interesting and helpful insights for the personnel to perform well within the banking institutes.Originality/valueThe topic of CSR and culture has been known as the evolving concept that is getting strong concern for the researchers. The additional work particularly empirical is yet required to explore the insights on CSR and OC themes worldwide, especially in developing nations.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Matošková ◽  
Ottó Bartók ◽  
Lucie Tomancová

Purpose Knowledge sharing becomes crucial in today’s competitive world to foster organizational performance. This paper aims to explore which employee characteristics facilitate knowledge sharing in the organizations and to examine the dimensions of these characteristics. Design/methodology/approach Opinion-based questionnaires among employees in Czech companies were applied. The research design in this study was cross-sectional. The hypotheses were tested by Pearson’s correlations and regression analyses. Findings The findings support the idea that specific individual employee characteristics increase knowledge sharing in the organization. Four categories of potentially appropriate employee individual characteristics were suggested: social and communication skills; positive work feelings; competences for problem-solving; and employee’s self-efficacy. However, only employee’s positive work feelings and self-efficacy significantly predicted the extent of knowledge sharing in the organization. Practical implications The findings offer a basis for future research. The results of the study can be used in recruiting new employees and managerial decision-making. The recruitment methods and the selection methods deployed should enable the firm to attract those whose values are in harmony with the organization’s values. Managers should build a work environment that promotes greater and more trusting ties among employees via organizing social activities for employees, a supervisor’s acceptance of an employee’s autonomy and responsibility and increasing employees’ confidence in their abilities. Originality/value This is one of the first studies to investigate dimensions of employee knowledge-oriented characteristics. It supports the idea that some individual employee characteristics boost spontaneous knowledge sharing behaviour.


2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (8/9) ◽  
pp. 663-672
Author(s):  
Maryam Nakhoda ◽  
Samaneh Rahimian

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study promoting and inhibiting factors in empowerment of female librarians in the opinion of female managers. It is necessary that library managers identify and monitor influential factors in empowering librarians, and attempt to eliminate factors with negative effects. Design/methodology/approach – This study is conducted in a phenomenological approach, which relies on in-depth interviews among nine female managers of top public library in Tehran. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews. Qualitative thematic analysis method was used for analysis of data. Findings – Interviews analysis revealed that job skills, participation and teamwork, role resolution, access to information, motivation, role modeling, recognition, and appreciation were among the effective factors in empowerment of female librarians. On the other hand, poor organizational communication system, negative attitudes toward staff, and instructional management style were among the inhibiting factors in empowerment of female librarians in the opinion of female public library managers. Originality/value – Results of the present study can help managers of public libraries to identify factors affecting empowerment of female librarians’. Also the findings can be used in managers’ planning and decision-making process.


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