Abstract Versus Concrete: How Managers’ Construal Influences Organizational Control Systems and Problem Solving

This research considers how frontline managers’ construal affects their conceptualization of organizational problems, which in turn influences how they incentivize employees to search out appropriate solutions. Depending on whether they conceptualize problems in more abstract or more concrete ways, frontline managers will vary in organizational control mechanisms they use to incentivize their employees to engage in exploration and exploitation. Based on these relationships, we expect the solutions achieved by employees to vary in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. Using a database of 267 projects in a single firm, we find that, after holding project attributes constant, concrete-oriented managers tend to utilize more process controls that lead employees to solve organizational problems more efficiently, whereas abstract-oriented managers tend toward use of more outcome controls that lead to more effective problem solving. When employees engage in ambidextrous learning, both effectiveness and efficiency of outcomes are enhanced. This research sheds light on important microfoundational influences on organizational outcomes.

Managing innovation on the public frontline: three approaches to innovation leadership

Purpose For decades, there has been a call for the public sector to be more innovative, and there is widespread agreement that managers play a crucial role in meeting this goal. Most studies of innovation management focus on top-level managers, despite the fact that most innovation activities take place on the frontlines, deeply embedded in professional practice. Meanwhile, micro-level studies of innovation tend to focus on the agency of employees, which leaves a knowledge gap regarding the mobilizing role of frontline managers. This is unfortunate because frontline managers are in a unique position to advance the state of the art of their professions, in scaling public innovation and in implementing public reform.Design/methodology/approach To explore how frontline managers approach innovation, a case study has been constructed based on in-depth interviews with 20 purposely selected frontline managers, all working within the Danish public childcare sector.Findings The article explores how frontline managers perceive their role in public innovation and finds three distinct approaches to innovation leadership: a responsive, a strategic and a facilitating approach.Originality/value This paper contributes to the research on public management by applying existing research on leadership styles in order to discuss the implications of how frontline managers perceive their role in relation to public innovation.

The “hard, relentless, never-ending” work of focusing on discharge: a qualitative study of managers' perspectives

PurposeInterventions to hasten patient discharge continue to proliferate despite evidence that they may be achieving diminishing returns. To better understand what such interventions can be expected to accomplish, the authors aim to critically examine their underlying program theory.Design/methodology/approachWithin a broader study on patient flow, spanning 10 jurisdictions across Western Canada, the authors conducted in-depth interviews with 300 senior, middle and frontline managers; 174 discussed discharge initiatives. Using thematic analysis informed by a Realistic Evaluation lens, the authors identified the mechanisms by which discharge activities were believed to produce their impacts and the strategies and context factors necessary to trigger the intended mechanisms.FindingsManagers' accounts suggested a common program theory that applied to a wide variety of discharge initiatives. The chief mechanism was inculcation of a sharp focus on discharge; reinforcing mechanisms included development of shared understanding and a sense of accountability. Participants reported that these mechanisms were difficult to produce and sustain, requiring continual active management and repeated (re)introduction of interventions. This reflected a context in which providers, already overwhelmed with competing demands, were unlikely to be able (or perhaps even willing) to sustain a focus on this particular aspect of care.Originality/valueThe finding that “discharge focus” emerged as the core mechanism of discharge interventions helps to explain why such initiatives may be achieving limited benefit. There is a need for interventions that promote timely discharge without relying on this highly problematic mechanism.

Green mindfulness and green creativity nexus in hospitality industry: examining the effects of green process engagement and CSR

Purpose This study aims to examine the effect of frontline managers’ green mindfulness on their green creativity directly and through green creative process engagement (GCPE). Furthermore, perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) moderates the link between green mindfulness and GCPE. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected from 592 frontline managers from the hospitality industry of Pakistan. The data were analyzed using Hayes’ PROCESS macro. Findings The findings indicate that green mindfulness has a positive relationship with GCPE and green creativity. Moreover, GCPE mediates the relationship between green mindfulness and green creativity. Perceived CSR also moderates the link between green mindfulness and GCPE. The moderated-mediation effect of perceived CSR is also found to be significant. Research limitations/implications The results imply that mindfully green frontline managers’ cognitive resources provide greater attention toward environmental problems and connectedness to nature, which encourages hospitality service firms’ frontline managers’ green creativity. Originality/value The novelty of the present study is the development and empirical testing of an integrated framework to investigate that when and how green mindfulness affects green creativity.

Walk A Mile in Their Shoes: Perspective-Taking as an Intervention for Difficult Customer Interactions

An important gap in the customer mistreatment literature is understanding how employees’ affective reactions can be modified to decrease negative affective reactions. The current study draws from affective events theory to examine how customer-focused perspective-taking, or employees taking the customer’s point of view, can modify employees’ affective reactions to customer mistreatment. Withholding customer compensation was examined as an outcome of customer-focused perspective-taking, and anger and empathy were examined as mediators. A two-group (customer-focused perspective-taking: yes or no) experimental design examined the between-subjects effect of customer-focused perspective-taking among 128 frontline managers. The results indicate mediation of anger and empathy between perspective-taking and customer compensation, supporting customer-focused perspective-taking as an intervention to help employees maximize service delivery. The most important theoretical contribution of the article is showing that by interrupting the affective events theory process at a within-person level, affective reactions and episodic performance can be modified when reacting to customer mistreatment.

Managerial Communication and Frontline Workers’ Willingness to Abide by Rules: Evidence From Local Security Agencies in China

Previous research has studied both rule- and individual-level determinants of rule abidance of frontline workers, but the effect of managerial communication has not been adequately explored. Based on extant literature on street-level bureaucracy, managerial communication, and behavioral public administration, this study develops a novel framework to theorize the relationship between managerial communication and frontline workers’ willingness to abide by frontline rules. The framework highlights that managerial communication could improve frontline workers’ willingness to abide by rules by directly monitoring their behaviors or indirectly increasing their perceived rule clarity and risk of punishment. Moreover, as organizational size increases, the effect of managerial communication on frontline workers’ willingness to abide by rules decreases. The study uses unique data from a 2018–2019 survey covering 94 frontline managers and 717 frontline workers in local security agencies in mainland China to empirically test the hypotheses.

Turnaround Management of Airport Service Providers Operating during COVID-19 Restrictions

Many sectors worldwide have been impacted by government restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, restrictions on travel have resulted in major losses for organizations operating within the aviation sector. This study aims to emphasize the challenges faced by these organizations while they implement turnaround management strategies. The study is based on 30 semi-structured interviews with frontline managers working for airline service providers in three different departments of an airport in Australia. The organization has implemented several turnaround management strategies to survive the crisis caused by COVID-19 restrictions, creating new challenges for its work environment. Our findings indicate that the frontline managers faced two main challenges during and after the implementation of turnaround management strategies. First, inadequate human resources, caused by a lack of personnel resources and poor leadership selection. Second, a lack of communication, caused by excluding frontline managers from the turnaround management planning stage; poor sharing of information during the implementation stage; inadequate direction of frontline managers; and a lack of feedback channels regarding the change process. Based on its findings, the study recommends building a frontline manager task force and creating a strategic communication plan for frontline and senior managers.

Making effective referrals happen: a theory-informed policy analysis

Effective referral is a critical element of a well-functioning health system. While having a good referral policy in place is important, equally important is its effective implementation. Using the implementation of a policy on referral of obstetric emergencies in Shanghai as a case, we illustrate the application of the ‘Inhabited Institutions’ analytical approach for studying policy implementation. In doing so, our study highlights how ‘referral’ is a quintessential systems process embedded in institutional, social and historical contexts. We show that multiple institutional logics, in the form of explicit and tacit organizing principles and assumptions, intersect to influence and shape actors’ actions, sometimes with good outcomes and sometimes with poor outcomes. We reveal the embedded agency of frontline healthcare managers and providers across different levels of care. We show how frontline managers and providers, operating under conditions of uncertainties and ambiguities in organizational processes, actively draw upon their experience and network capital to creatively adapt to get referrals done in a timely manner to save lives of critically ill pregnant women. From our findings, two sets of linked implications emerge for strengthening referral systems. Given that referral often involves ill and complicated cases, getting referrals right depends on the exercise of discretion and judgement by those at the frontline to arrive at timely and workable solutions—health systems need to recognize this. We also conclude that to get referrals right, while one needs clearly defined policies and implementation processes that are locally appropriate, well understood by all concerned and easy to follow, this is not enough. In addition, explicit measures that enable the exercise of discretion and judgement at the frontline need to be locally identified and adopted.