Person-Environment Mismatch: Does One Square the Hole or round the Peg?

1983 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 66-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alwyn P. Moerdyk

In this paper a look is taken at organizational effectiveness in terms of a Person-Environment (P-E) match and it is argued that the various approaches to the improvement of on-the-job performance focus either on changes at the individual level (‘fitting the man to the job’) or at the organizational level (‘fitting the job to the man’). Furthermore it is also argued that these interventions occur at either a global preventative level or at a localized remedial level. The resulting 2 × 2 classification of four basic strategies for enhancing P-E match are discussed and evaluated. It is concluded that in a mixed-economy situation, such as occurs in South Africa at present, attention should be given to adapting organizational structures and job processes to make them more compatible with the needs and values of the local work force.

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Therese Öhrling

Like many other industries, today the cleaning industry is affected more than ever by competition and pressure toward low prices, which leads to a nonadvantageous situation for cleaners. These days many Swedish municipalities choose to outsource cleaning service in order to save money, although the situation for the cleaners appears to be worsening. The aim of this paper is to evaluate an alternative organizational structure within a Swedish public cleaning division to investigate how good work environment for cleaners can be combined with economical savings for a municipality. Like many other cleaning organizations, both national and international, the present cleaning division has been struggling for a long time with high levels of sick leave and early retirements. After years of unsuccessful attempts to improve the situation by reducing the physical load, cleaning managers made a decision to broaden their strategy by changing the structure of their organization. In this study, both qualitative and quantitative methods have been applied to identify and understand the effects of the organizational change, both on an individual level and on an organizational level. The results show that the organizational change, which leads to increased participation and autonomy for the cleaners, in combination with a high degree of social support, had a positive effect on job satisfaction, work motivation, and pride among the cleaners. Sick leave within the division has decreased, and both the quality and efficiency of the cleaning service have increased. It can be concluded that there are other alternative organizational structures that could be applied within the public sector and prove advantageous, both for the individual cleaners and for the municipality. Further research of similar organizational structures within the private cleaning sector is recommended.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0095327X2098519
Author(s):  
Celeste Raver Luning ◽  
Prince A. Attoh ◽  
Tao Gong ◽  
James T. Fox

With the backdrop of the utility of grit at the individual level, speculation has begun to circulate that grit may exist as an organizational level phenomenon. To explore this potential construct, this study used an exploratory, qualitative research design. This study explored grit at the organizational level by interviewing leaders’ perceptions of what may be a culture of organizational grit. Participants included 14 U.S. military officers. Seven themes emerged relative to the research question: “What do U.S. military officers perceive as a culture of organizational grit?” Themes included professional pride, team unity, resilience-determination, mission accomplishment, core values, growth mindset, and deliberate practice. This study indicated that a culture of organizational grit is likely a combination of converging organizational elements. Overall, findings indicate that there may be a culture of organizational grit in the military and at the least, more research examining the concept is warranted.


Author(s):  
Heather Getha-Taylor ◽  
Alexa Haddock-Bigwarfe

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine public service motivation (PSM) and the connection with collaborative attitudes among a sample of homeland security actors representing the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Design/methodology/approach – This study examines relationships between measures of PSM and collaboration using original survey data and hierarchical multiple regression. Findings – Findings reveal strong positive relationships between PSM measures and attitudes toward collaboration at the individual and organizational level. Research limitations/implications – Survey results are cross-sectional and are from respondents participating in a single state's homeland security summit. Practical implications – It is expected that results can be used to enhance collaboration at the individual and organizational levels. At the organizational level, results can be used for matching individuals with collaborative opportunities. At the individual level, results can be used for enhanced self-reflection and effectiveness purposes. Originality/value – This study provides insights on the relationship between PSM measures and collaborative attitudes. The research contributes to the body of scholarly work connecting PSM and correlates of interest.


2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 915-952
Author(s):  
Petra Kipfelsberger ◽  
Heike Bruch ◽  
Dennis Herhausen

This article investigates how and when a firm’s level of customer contact influences the collective organizational energy. For this purpose, we bridge the literature on collective human energy at work with the job impact framework and organizational sensemaking processes and argue that a firm’s level of customer contact is positively linked to the collective organizational energy because a high level of customer contact might make the experience of prosocial impact across the firm more likely. However, as prior research at the individual level has indicated that customers could also deplete employees’ energy, we introduce transformational leadership climate as a novel contingency factor for this linkage at the organizational level. We propose that a medium to high transformational leadership climate is necessary to derive positive meaning from customer contact, whereas firms with a low transformational leadership climate do not get energized by customer contact. We tested the proposed moderated mediation model with multilevel modeling and a multisource data set comprising 9,094 employees and 75 key informants in 75 firms. The results support our hypotheses and offer important theoretical contributions for research on collective human energy in organizations and its interplay with customers.


MEDIASI ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-107
Author(s):  
Shania Shaufa ◽  
Thalitha Sacharissa Rosyidiani

This article explains about online media iNews.id in implementing gatekeeping function. This study aims to find out how gatekeeping efforts iNews.id in the production process on the issue of preaching restrictions on worship in mosques during Ramadan in 2020. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the current media situation, especially in the midst of a crisis, encourages the public to become heavily dependent on media coverage. With a qualitative approach, researchers analyzed five levels of influence on the gatekeeping process in online media iNews.id. The results of this study show that factors that influence the way iNews.id in the production process of preaching restrictions on worship in mosques due to the Covid-19 pandemic are the individual level of media workers, the level of media routine, the organizational level, the extramedia level, and the social system level. The conclusions of this study state the most dominant levels is the organization level and the media routine level in the iNews.id.


1982 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 189-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. P. Moerdyk ◽  
David A.L. Coldwell

In a previous article (Coldwell and Moerdyk, 1981) it was argued that many blacks in South Africa are at a disadvantage in the 'White man's world' of business and industry as a result of a number of cultural factors, some of which were described. In this paper, the suggestion is made that it is probably easier and more cost-effective to find ways in which both tasks and organizations can be restructured along socio-technical design lines, than it is to try to change the personality and value structures of the labour force to fit them to the demands of the work place. A number of cultural differences are outlined and suggestions put forward about possible ways in which jobs and organizations can be modified to make them more compatible with the characteristics of the work force. A closer 'match' between the individual and his work environment is seen as the key to enhanced productivity, reduced stress, and consequent improvements in both job satisfaction and company profitability.


Author(s):  
C. Victor Herbin III

Prior studies provided insight on arrogance at the individual level and how arrogant individuals express superiority through (1) overconfidence in capabilities, (2) dismissiveness, (3) and disparagement, and how these behaviors may negatively impact those employees in and around their work teams, yet did not indicate how these behaviors impact organizational culture. Organizational arrogance represents an emerging concept that describes arrogance at the organizational level. Organizational arrogance provides the body of knowledge with a comprehensive and inclusive definition that led to the development and validation of the Organizational Arrogance Scale with a Cronbach Alpha of .922 that accurately measures the presence of organizational arrogance.


Author(s):  
Jesper Strömbäck ◽  
Adam Shehata

Political journalism constitutes one of the most prominent domains of journalism, and is essential for the functioning of democracy. Ideally, political journalism should function as an information provider, watchdog, and forum for political discussions, thereby helping citizens understand political matters and help prevent abuses of power. The extent to which it does is, however, debated. Apart from normative ideals, political journalism is shaped by factors at several levels of analysis, including the system level, the media organizational level, and the individual level. Not least important for political journalism is the close, interdependent, and contentious relationship with political actors, shaping both the processes and the content of political journalism. In terms of content, four key concepts in research on political journalism in Western democratic systems are the framing of politics as a strategic game, interpretive versus straight news, conflict framing and media negativity, and political or partisan bias. A review of research related to these four concepts suggests that political journalism has a strong tendency to frame politics as a strategic game rather than as issues, particularly during election campaigns; that interpretive journalism has become more common; that political journalism has a penchant for conflict framing and media negativity; and that there is only limited evidence that political journalism is influenced by political or partisan bias. Significantly more important than political or partisan bias are different structural and situational biases. In all these and other respects, there are important differences across countries and media systems, which follows from the notion that political journalism is always influenced by the media systems in which it is produced and consumed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 410-421
Author(s):  
David R. Dunaetz

The focus of much missionary work concerns sharing the gospel with others so that they may put their faith in Jesus Christ. However, members of some cultures are much more resistant to this than are members of other cultures. The concept of cultural tightness-looseness helps explain why some cultures are more closed to the gospel than are others. Tight cultures, in contrast to loose cultures, have strong social norms, violations of which are met with intense sanctions. Numerous recent studies reveal the antecedents, consequences, and the geographical distribution of cultural tightness-looseness. There are important missiological implications at the societal level, the individual level, and the organizational level when missionaries work in host cultures which are tighter than their home cultures. Understanding these implications can help the missionary better love and respond to the needs of members of their host culture.


Author(s):  
Jianhao Wang ◽  
Mingwei Yan

An improved accident causation model which demonstrates the relationships among different causal factors was proposed in this study. It provides a pathway for accident analysis from the individual level to the organizational level. Unsafe acts and conditions determined by individuals’ poor safety knowledge, low safety awareness, bad safety habits, etc. are the immediate causes of an accident. Deficiencies in safety management systems and safety culture remain the root causes, which can cause consequences at the individual level. Moreover, the weaknesses of an organization’s safety culture can have a great impact on the formation of a good safety climate and can further lead to poor decision-making and implementation of procedures in the safety management system. In order to contribute to a better perception and understanding of the accident causation model, one typical case in the process industry, the oil leak and explosion of the Sinopec Donghuang pipelines, was selected for this study. The causality from immediate causes to root causes is demonstrated in sequence and can be shown in this model explicitly and logically. Several important lessons are summarized from the results and targeted measures can be taken to avoid similar mistakes in the future. This model provides a clear and resourceful method for the safety and risk practitioner’s toolkit in accident investigation and analysis, and the organization can use it as a tool to conduct staff trainings and thus to keep accidents under control.


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