“Can politics really be beneficial?” Toward a model for positive politics through consensus

PurposeThis article wants to propose deeper insights and clarifications into the effects of organizational politics which have been at the center of many debates in decision-making literature. For a long time, the debate focused on the negative effects of organizational politics and how to avoid them. This article wants to explore the positive effects of organizational politics and see how this impacts the consensus process in teams moderated by organizational change.Design/methodology/approachThe article model and propositions are grounded in the organisational politics literature. The analysis builds on the “positive” politics literature which has been gaining steam in the last two decades and links this with the consensus literature.FindingsThe article proposes an integrated model which clearly shows how the three core concepts influence each other through the four proposed hypotheses. Organizational politics can help to create more consensus in a team decision-making process, and this can have a positive effect on team performance.Originality/valueThe article aims to expand insights of organizational politics on decision-making by putting the light on possible positive effects of organizational politics. The article addresses the theoretical gap of how organizational politics can impact the consensus process.

Linking employee perceptions and employee attitudes through their levels of organizational identification: a field investigation in India

PurposeDespite organizational socialization and support, contemporary managers often perceive employees to be less engaged and attached to their workplace, multiplying their workload with unsolicited vexations and worries. In this connection, the purpose of this paper is to explore and possibly confirm the ameliorative role of organizational identification as a mediator between employees' perceptions of organizational support and justice and their favorable association to their levels of engagement and attenuation of their intentions to quit.Design/methodology/approachSuitable theories such as the social exchange and fairness heuristics theories were examined to select and support the study constructs. Accordingly, the literature was reviewed to formulate the study hypotheses and connect them through a conceptual latent variable model (LVM). Data were collected from 402 full-time managerial executives all over India. The data thus collected were subjected to structural equation modeling (SEM) procedures.FindingsAll the measures used in this study had acceptable reliabilities as indicated by their Cronbach's Alpha values. Based on the SEM procedures all the study hypotheses and one of the competing LVMs labeled as LVM5 was finally accepted.Originality/valueThe distinctive feature of this study is the theoretical compilation of all the study constructs in one LVM and subsequent empirical verification of the same. This study is, perhaps, the first of its kind to examine the implications of such justice-based perceptions of social exchange relations between employees and their organizations in India more so, since it considers support and justice to complement each other as an interactive whole.

Explaining the relationship between ethical leadership and burnout facets in the academic context: the mediating role of illegitimate tasks

PurposeAlthough the literature shows that ethical leadership reduces the risk of burnout, research still lacks a comprehensive understanding of the mediating effects between ethical leadership and burnout. As media reports on working conditions in the academic context often tie the problem of unethical leadership practices to illegitimate tasks, this study focuses on illegitimate tasks as a mediator between ethical leadership and burnout.Design/methodology/approachThe research model is tested using structural equation modeling and data from 1,053 doctoral and postdoctoral students in randomly selected German state universities.FindingsThe results significantly support all hypothesized effects, showing direct correlations between (1) ethical leadership and illegitimate tasks, (2) ethical leadership and burnout facets and (3) illegitimate tasks and burnout facets. The relationship between ethical leadership and burnout is thus partially mediated by illegitimate tasks.Practical implicationsThe authors recommend three major fields of action for practice. These fields comprise (1) the leadership situation, (2) the leader and (3) the follower.Originality/valueThe presented model is the first that connects the relationship between ethical leadership and burnout with illegitimate tasks and looks at ethical leadership from a stress-as-offense-to-self (SOS) perspective.

Multiteam systems as integrated networks for engaging ambidexterity as dynamic capabilities

PurposeThis inquiry aims to determine the features and mechanisms that specially enable a multiteam system (MTS) to develop ambidexterity that can deal effectively with rapid changes in dynamic environments. The MTS is an emerging organizational unit comprised of tightly integrated networks of teams that may originate from one or more firms. The inquiry also considered how an MTS can engage those features and mechanisms to maximize ambidexterity as dynamic capabilities for increased innovation and long-term adaptation under complex, volatile conditions.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual inquiry integrates the emerging research on MTSs with theory and studies relating to ambidexterity and dynamic capabilities. This inquiry focuses on the attributes and linkages that specially characterize an MTS. It analyzes these to determine the key mechanisms and interactions enabling and engaging ambidexterity at MTS unit level.FindingsMTSs can engage powerful mechanisms for ambidexterity functioning as dynamic capabilities at meso-organizational level. The attributes and linkages that distinguish an MTS from other units enable it to deal effectively and efficiently with near-term task demands by simultaneously balancing the essential tasks of exploration and exploitation, and by being able to rapidly adapt by reconfiguring taskwork and reallocating resources as required for sustainable innovation and long-term success within a dynamic environment.Practical implicationsThis inquiry provides valuable insights for designing MTSs that are equipped with selected teams, flexible memberships, specialized skills and permeable interfaces. Autonomy for an MTS allows the unit to span internal and external organizational boundaries to gain access to new discoveries and to exchange information and material resources for increased innovation. Ambidexterity as dynamic capabilities facilitates exploitation of current resources by efficiently reconfiguring taskwork and reallocating materials for adaptation and competitive advantage.Originality/valueThis inquiry appears to represent the most integrative effort to examine the underexplored potential of MTSs for developing and engaging ambidexterity functioning as dynamic capabilities. The inquiry appears to be a first effort at articulating a concept of MTS ambidexterity distinct from organizational ambidexterity. The analysis synthesizes a systems model that guides organizational leaders and opens new opportunities for future research.

Measuring organizational climate via psychological networks analysis

PurposeThis study investigates organizational climate under the thriving at work perspective using a network approach. The authors demonstrate how organizational climate functions as a complex system and what relationships between variables from different dimensions are the most important to characterize the construct.Design/methodology/approachBy surveying 119,266 workers from 284 companies based in Brazil, the authors estimated a Gaussian graphical model with LASSO regularization for the complete dataset and for two subsets of cases randomly drawn from the whole dataset. The walktrap algorithm was applied for community detection, and a strong model for measurement invariance was fit to test whether the organizational climate is perceived similarly across groups.FindingsResults show that the networks estimated for both groups are quite consistent, with similar number of communities and items detected. The same pattern was found for the expected influence of each item. Measurement invariance was confirmed, showing that organizational climate is perceived similarly in both groups. The most important community detected and whose items have higher levels of centrality was organizational commitment, followed by a community centered around macro-organizational aspects covering cultural integrity, organizational agility and responsible leadership.Research limitations/implicationsStudies in the field have attested to the possibility of investigating the phenomenon from four (Campbell et al., 1970) to over 80 dimensions (Koys and DeCottis, 1991). As a result, since several dimensions have been produced to investigate organizational climate, there is no consensus on the quality and number of dimensions that should be considered to measure such a vast and multifaceted construct. Built on thriving at work perspective, eight dimensions were devised to cover a wide range of characteristics that distinguish organizational climate, including those related to Industry 4.0 (Coetzee, 2019). However, one may argue that a few dimensions, namely social responsibility, diversity and inclusion, or even more items describing work-life balance could expand the depth and breadth of the instrument and potentially trigger new associations that might eventually impose a new logic to the comprehension of climate as a system. Future studies combining the dimensions investigated in this study with other dimensions are therefore highly recommended for an even more comprehensive investigation.Practical implicationsThe results of this investigation show how to apply psychological networks to gain insights into different variables and dimensions of organizational climate. These findings can be used for the development of organizational policies focused on the most relevant aspects of organizational climate. This information would allow organizations to go beyond simply describing the individual frequencies for each item and could even be used to create a weighted scoring model that could prioritize variables with higher levels of centrality.Originality/valueTo the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that investigates organizational climate using psychological networks; it provides a better understanding of the relationships established between items from different dimensions as opposed to the common cause framework whose focus is on the investigation of dimensions separately.

Political and administrative decentralization and responses to COVID-19: comparison of the United States and South Korea

PurposeThis study explains the variation of government responses to the pandemic by focusing on how centralization/decentralization in politics and administration creates conflicts and coordination problems. Specifically, the authors make comparisons between the U.S. and South Korea to reveal differences in macro-level structures and associated responses. One of the key points of comparison is the centralized, hierarchical governance system, which may thwart or facilitate a coordinated response.Design/methodology/approachThis is an in-depth comparative case study of the two countries that showed different trajectories during the initial response to COVID-19. The comparison allows us to highlight the long-standing debate about centralization/decentralization and offers implications for government responses to crises shaped by political systems and administrative structures.FindingsWhile there are inherent pros and cons to decentralization, the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the institutional limitations in American federalism and the advantages that centralized administrative coordination creates during times of crisis. American federalism has unveiled systematic problems in coordination, along with the leadership crisis in polarized politics. The response from South Korea also reveals several issues in the administratively centralized and politically polarized environment.Research limitations/implicationsWhile the authors risk comparing apples and oranges, the variation unveils systematic contradictions in polarized politics and offers important implications for government responses in times of crisis. However, this article did not fully account for individual leadership as an independent factor that interacts with existing political/administrative institutions.Practical implicationsThere is certainly no one best way or one-size-fits-all solution to mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic in countries under different circumstances. This article demonstrates that one of the essential determining factors in national responses to the pandemic is how the political and administrative dimensions of centralization/decentralization are balanced against each other.Originality/valueUnlike previous studies explaining the country-level responses to COVID-19, this study focuses on the variance of political and administrative decentralization within each country from the political-administrative perspective and reveals the systematic contradictions in coordination and the leadership crisis in polarized politics.

Hybrid cognition in medical discharges

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to gain insight into the interaction-sensitive skills medical practitioners enact as they manage multiple organizational factors in the context of discharging patients.Design/methodology/approachFor that purpose, we carried out a cognitive ethnographic study in a Danish hospital, where we video-recorded three pre-ward round meetings, five discharge conversations and conducted seven semi-structured interviews. Fieldnotes and interview transcripts were analyzed using the method Cognitive Task Analysis, and video-recordings were analyzed via the interactivity-based approach Cognitive Event Analysis.FindingsOur findings show that practitioners coordinate multi-scalar resources (e.g. verbal patterns and cognitive artifacts) in order to discharge patients in a safe and integrated way, which we propose amounts to the social and intercorporeal ability to align simultaneously emerging factors, like organizational procedures in the hospital, artifacts in use, sociocultural resources and the individual medical expertise of the practitioner in the emerging social interaction with the patient. In pursing this claim, we investigate the linguistic and cognitive processes emerging in a single case study of a nurse who discharges a patient. We propose that the interaction-sensitive skill which enables the nurse to solve the task of discharging the patient can be characterized via hybrid cognition.Originality/valueThus, the value of the article is dual: On the one hand, it empirically contributes with knowledge of the complex organizational structures that constrains micro-level medical interactions in discharges, and on the other, the article contributes theoretically with a hybrid cognitive framework that allows organizational researchers to understand and assess complex cognitive and linguistic processes that goes into the social micro-coordination in complex organizational-medical task.

A missing link: a distributed cognitive perspective on fit

PurposeThis article presents a cognitive framework to study dynamic/adaptive aspects of a collection of popular fit measures used in organisation research, in an attempt to highlight what there is to be gained.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses a distributed e-cognition (DEC) framework to examine the current organisational literature of fit measures.FindingsThis paper highlights that most measures have a rather narrow focus and do not address dynamic/adaptive aspects in complex social systems (e.g. organisations). To both provide a way to integrate fit measures and cover the cognition gap in this literature, this article highlights the need for a more sophisticated measure.Originality/valueThis paper provides a novel approach to examining organisational fit literature through a distributed (e)-cognitive framework.

The effects of self-other rating agreement on ethical behavior: an experimental investigation

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of self-other rating agreement (SOA) on ethical decisions and behavior.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 169 students (60 women and 109 men) enrolled in a part-time, regional MBA program was divided into three SOA categories: (1) Self-aware, individuals whose self-ratings matched observer ratings, (2) Underraters, those whose self-ratings were lower than observer ratings and (3) Overraters, individuals whose self-ratings were higher than other ratings. Ethical behavior was evaluated with the completion of a managerial in-basket assessment.FindingsThe results revealed that ethical behavior varied by SOA, with underraters exhibiting the highest levels of ethical behavior, followed by self-aware (i.e. accurate) and then overraters. One of the intriguing results is that underraters displayed more ethical behaviors than accurate raters, raising questions about the use of accurate self-assessments as an indicator of personal and professional effectiveness.Originality/valueThe results indicate that organizations should consider SOA in their human resource processes because it has important implications for employee training, selection and promotion. While prior research has examined the effect of SOA on performance, commitment and leadership perceptions, the authors contribute to the literature by examining whether SOA influences actual ethical decisions and actions.