Complex Organizational Phenomena Research Articles

Mitigating Workplace Burnout Through Transformational Leadership and Employee Participation in Recovery Experiences.

Description Burnout is a complex organizational phenomenon that diminishes employee well-being and overall organizational productivity. Researchers propose that leadership style contributes to employees' well-being, which impacts employee productivity. Organizations and leaders must address the causes of burnout and promote techniques employees can use to mitigate burnout, such as employee participation in recovery experiences. Recovery experiences are non-work activities that create positive outlooks and restore the energy needed to focus on one's work. This literature review examines current research in employee recovery experiences, conservation of resource theory (COR), burnout, and transformational leadership theory. Studying burnout through the lens of COR shows how important resource gain and recovery activities are to healthy employees and their job performance within the organization. The research reviewed suggests that transformational and transactional leadership styles have higher probabilities of promoting employee participation in recovery experiences than passive avoidant leadership style. The literature consistently showed burnout as a significant organizational phenomenon negatively affecting productivity, employee well-being, and turnover rates. The literature revealed that mitigating burnout happens through participation in recovery experiences. The literature on leadership styles supports the assumption that leaders play a significant role in employee well-being, group identity, and organizational climate. Leaders who desire to mitigate employee burnout will benefit from research that links transformational leadership style behaviors and employee participation in recovery activities.

Revealing the hidden facets of normative assessments: improving the management of major infrastructure projects through engaged scholarship

PurposeThis study focuses on the dynamic relationship between organizational actors and engaged scholars involved in a normative assessment conducted in a public organization managing major projects.Design/methodology/approachWe build on a 15-month engaged scholarship experience carried out in the Ministry of Transport of Quebec. We explain and analyze the normative assessment process, using a storytelling approach and vignettes to explore four situated learning moments.FindingsThis study offers a deeper understanding of how normative assessment is conducted, and how situated and collective learning occur throughout. We find that both organizational actors and researchers learn through this process and synchronize their mutual learning such that researchers actually participate in a larger organizational transformation.Research limitations/implicationsLike any qualitative endeavor, this research is context-specific. We offer several research avenues to extend the applicability of findings.Practical implicationsThis article could inspire organizations and scholars to collaborate on normative assessment during organizational transformation. This approach is of particular interest in the context of a worldwide pandemic where public and private organizations all have to adapt to new sanitary, economic, technological and social realities.Social implicationsIn a context marked by growing concern for the research-practice gap and the relevance of scholarship, our study illustrates the development of a mutually beneficial collaboration between practitioners and researchers that enhances understanding of complex organizational phenomena and issues.Originality/valueThis research highlights the relevance of engaged scholarship and supports normative assessment as a social process to generate mutual learning.

Observing to Coproduce a Collective Narrative: Emplotment of Multiple Parallel Stories

Observation captures complex organizational phenomena in situ. The literature on this method explains the possible data collection methods but says less about the use and organization of the data collected. As a result, the question of the meaning of observation data remains open. This article explores that question with the focus on a specific form of observation, dynamic observation, which can grasp indeterminate situations whose meaning is elusive for both practitioners and the researcher. Drawing on the work of Ricœur, we propose a conceptual tool kit founded on mimesis. We show that organizing observation data into a plot and narrative, through an inquiry conducted by researchers and practitioners together, can shed light both on the observation data and the situation observed. We embody our method by applying this tool kit to a dynamic observation conducted in a high-risk industry. We discuss the methodological issues of this co-construction of shared meaning and its role in restoring centrality to observation in the management sciences, and resituating the situations and the actors as core concerns.

Behind the Numbers: Questioning Questionnaires

Is complex, ambiguous, and fluctuating social reality measurable? Sometimes yes, perhaps, but often not. At least not in the fairly straightforward way assumed by many researchers. This study is an ethnographic inquiry into data collection during a survey research project. Based on our observations of participants’ spontaneous thoughts and confusions as they filled in questionnaires on “leadership” and “teamwork”, we draw attention to hidden problems in much organizational research. Many respondents found measures ambiguous, irrelevant, or misleading. We (a) underline the inherently interpretative nature of research into complex organizational phenomena, (b) warn against lack of reflexivity and overreliance on existing survey instruments when we study complex social aspects of organizations, (c) identify five categories of possible problems, and (d) suggest paths towards better informed research that take context seriously.

Exploring the opportunity for a hybrid methodology in project management: a focus group approach

Nowadays, project-based work is no longer a challenge for a today company. Optimizing the workforce, better managing the results, delivering in time, quality and budget (the triple constrains [1]) are just a few of the advantages. Still, to re-organize an entire company into a project-based organization requires a lot of efforts and energy across its departments and teams. However, some companies step forward and change the project management methodologies multiple times. That brings another wave of changes, stress and reorganizations combined with a complex organizational phenomenon, which requires far more effort than just to replace the current tools and technologies with new ones [2]. Thus, the main purpose of this paper is to reflect and present the results of the workshop called “Going Agile – the journey”, which was held on Project Management Forum 2019, a Conference organized inside of Continental Automotive Romania for all project managers working in the company. Based on the focus group technique there was identified the main struggles associated with the adoption of Agile methodology within Automotive Industry, the similarities with the plan-driven methodologies and willingness to advance the agility in company’s daily working life.

Organizational Ethnographic Case Studies: Toward a New Generative In-Depth Qualitative Methodology for Health Care Research?

A growing body of literature suggests combining organizational ethnography and case study design as a new methodology for investigating complex organizational phenomena in health care contexts. However, the arguments supporting the potential of organizational ethnographic case studies to improve the process and increase the impact of qualitative research in health care is currently underdeveloped. In this article, we aim to explore the methodological potentialities and limitations of combining organizational ethnography and case study to conduct in-depth empirical health care research. We conducted a scoping review, systematically investigating seven bibliographic databases to search, screen, and select empirical articles that employed organizational ethnographic case study to explore organizational phenomena in health care contexts. We screened 573 papers, then completed full-text review of 74 papers identified as relevant based on title and abstract. A total of 18 papers were retained for analysis. Data were extracted and synthesized using a two-phase descriptive and inductive thematic analysis. We then developed a methodological matrix that positions how the impact, contextualization, credibility, and depth of this combined methodology interact to increase the generative power of in-depth qualitative empirical research in health care. Our review reveals that organizational ethnographic case studies have their own distinct methodological identity in the wider domain of qualitative health care research. We argue that by accelerating the research process, enabling various sources of reflexivity, and spreading the depth and contextualization possibilities of empirical investigation of complex organizational phenomena, this combined methodology may stimulate greater academic dynamism and increase the impact of research. Organizational ethnographic case studies appear as a new in-depth qualitative methodology that both challenges and improves the conventional ways we study the lives of organizations and the experiences of actors within the interconnected realms of health care.

Commentary On Wayne and McCosh (2018): “Diversity as a Problematic Predictor of Organizational Performance: Issues of Context and Expectations”

In their article, Wayne and McCosh (2018) problematize uncritical ways in which diversity research has studied the link between extant diversity variables and organizational performance. They point out that researchers may be overpromising the benefits of diversity while not addressing the critical tensions that arise in organizational settings due to diversity. Further, they suggest that there is little standardization in the field around not only the definition of diversity or its conceptualization but also around which variables and concepts are used in studies. As a consequence, studies that study ‘diversity’ and its potential impact on various dimensions of organizational performance suffer from a lack of precision, replicability, and generalizability. As Wayne and McCosh (2018) contend, the central issue is around how diversity is defined, multiple different variables that are used to represent facets of diversity and scholarly interest in making the business case for diversity. To address these shortcomings, the authors instead call for a more nuanced and context-specific approach to the study of diversity and its potential to impact organizational performance. Their approach is to borrow from Hofstede’s (1988) work on cultural frameworks to query complex organizational phenomenon related to diversity.

Management systems integration: survey results

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report the results from a survey carried out among Portuguese companies with their management systems (MSs) certified according to, at least two of the following standards: ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001. In addition, the results from a second survey conducted amid a group of experts that pointed out several aspects that impact on the integration level will be dissected.Design/methodology/approachThe phenomenon of MSs integration is hardly transferable to a contained environment so some of the common research methods traditionally adopted include case studies, surveys, interviews and observation in situ. The findings from two surveys online among Portuguese companies and Portuguese experts are reported in the current paper.FindingsThe results suggest that a set of common characteristics is present on the majority of the surveyed companies. On first hand, there is evidence of an effective integration of the policies and the existence of an integrated system manager on the organizational structure of the companies. On the other hand, results suggest that training was provided to top management concerning integration issues, an integrating concept was taken into account during the implementation process and tools, and methods and objectives of the subsystems are aligned.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper addresses the issues raised in the mainstream scientific bibliography through the collection of information amidst Portuguese companies. At this stage, it is not possible to infer at which extent the conclusions may be transferable to other geographic contexts. The small number of companies that completed the survey precludes the statistical generalization of the findings but the analytical generalization is not impaired.Originality/valueThe authors believe that the conclusions of this paper may aid both practioneers and scholars in the understanding of a complex but manageable organizational phenomenon. In addition, through the contents of this paper companies may collect information regarding the pertinent issues to address when developing their IMSs.

Master data management and its organizational implementation

PurposeMaster data management (MDM) aims to improve the value of an organization’s most important data, such as customer data, by bridging the silos between organizational units and information systems. However, incorporating data management practices into an organization is not a simple task. The purpose of this paper is to provide a new understanding of the challenges in establishing and developing the MDM function within an organization.Design/methodology/approachThis papers report an ethnographic study within a municipality. The data were collected from two consecutive MDM development projects over the time period of 32 months by observing MDM-related activities and interviewing appropriate actors. Observations, interviews, and impressions were documented to a diary that was later qualitatively analyzed. Various project documentation were also used.FindingsIn total 15 challenges were identified. Seven of these were not identified earlier in the literature. New challenges included legislation-driven challenges, mutual understanding of master data domains, and the level of granularity for those domains. Eight issues, such as data owner and data definitions, were MDM specific, others being more generic. All of the issues were identified as preconditions or as affecting factors for the others. Three of the issues were identified as pivotal. The issues emphasize strong alignment between the complex concept of MDM and the organization adopting it.Research limitations/implicationsThis research was based on a single qualitative case study, and caution should be exercised with regard to generalizations. The findings increase understanding about the complex organizational phenomena. The study offers public sector and private sector practitioners insights of the organizational issues that establishing a MDM function can encounter.Originality/valueThe issues discovered in the research shed light on the strong alignment between the complex concept of MDM and the organization. The results of this study assist researchers in their endeavor to understand the organizational aspects of MDM, and to build theoretical models, frameworks, practices, and explanations.

Human Side of Collaborative Partnerships

The research on collaborative partnerships has accumulated a vast body of knowledge, which has assisted us with comprehending several complex organizational phenomena, including mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, joint ventures, and entrepreneurial partnerships. Yet, the existing studies have not paid sufficient attention to the human side factors. We join the current conversation within the microfoundations perspective of management and organization studies by suggesting that investigating the human side factors as the microfoundations of collaborative partnerships can advance our collective understanding of the phenomena in important ways. This article has three general objectives. First, we show that collaborative partnerships have been a long-standing issue in management and organization studies and provide an overview of the puzzles that informed and motivated this special issue. Second, we highlight the key insights and contributions of the articles included in this special issue by reviewing their theoretical underpinnings, methodological approaches, and findings. Finally, we outline a future research agenda on the human side of collaborative partnerships that can help advance management and organization studies.

Don't Simplify, Complexify: From Disjunctive to Conjunctive Theorizing in Organization and Management Studies

ABSTRACTIn this paper I argue that, rather than theory development aim at simplifying complex organizational phenomena, it should aim at complexifying theories – theoretical complexity is needed to account for organizational complexity. Defining the latter as the capacity for ‘nontrivial’ action, I explore a complex ‘system of picturing’ organizations as objects of study that provides an alternative to the hitherto dominant disjunctive style of thinking. A complex ‘system of picturing’ consists of an open‐world ontology, a performative epistemology, and a poetic praxeology. Complex theorizing is conjunctive: it seeks to make connections between diverse elements of human experience through making those analytical distinctions that will enable the joining up of concepts normally used in a compartmentalized manner. Insofar as conjunctive theorizing is driven by the need to preserve the ‘living‐forward – understanding backward’ dialectic, it is better suited to grasping the logic of practice and, thus, to doing justice to organizational complexity. We come close to grasping complexity when we restore the past to its own present and make distinctions that overcome dualisms, preserving as much as possible relationality, temporality, situatedness and, interpretive open‐endedness. I illustrate the argument with several examples from organizational and management research.

A Model of Organizational Symbolism: Understanding the Different Shades of Green

Despite growing institutional pressures for greater transparency, accountability and sustainability in socio-environmental terms, a number of organizations respond to stakeholder demands and expectations in a symbolic way. We develop a richer conceptual understanding of how, when, and why organizations pursue this strategy. Specifically, we characterize the behavioral antecedents and the resulting heterogeneity in organizational symbolism. We use the context of “greenwashing” - an often monolithically perceived, yet fundamentally strategic and complex organizational phenomenon. Drawing on the concepts of conformity and compliance, symbolic and substantive actions, our model considers this heterogeneity (i.e., the “different shades of green”) based on the materiality of the issue and organizational costs and benefits of resource mobilization (or acquisition) to respond to the issue. More specifically, we suggest a model whereby firms decide whether and in what way to decouple their response to a specific issue based on its materiality, and a calculus of the costs and benefits associated with the use of organizational resources and capabilities versus the costs of inaction. We extend the basic model by considering the moderating role of institutional pressures and organizational characteristics. We offer several propositions for future research to unpack organizational symbolism, its various degrees and antecedents.

Methodological considerations in the use of audio diaries in work psychology: Adding to the qualitative toolkit.

The use of longitudinal methodology as a means of capturing the intricacies in complex organizational phenomena is well documented, and many different research strategies for longitudinal designs have been put forward from both a qualitative and quantitative stance. This study explores a specific emergent qualitative methodology, audio diaries, and assesses their utility for work psychology research drawing on the findings from a four‐stage study addressing transient working patterns and stress in UK temporary workers. Specifically, we explore some important methodological, analytical and technical issues for practitioners and researchers who seek to use these methods and explain how this type of methodology has much to offer when studying stress and affective experiences at work. We provide support for the need to implement pluralistic and complementary methodological approaches in unearthing the depth in sense‐making and assert their capacity to further illuminate the process orientation of stress.Practitioner points This study illustrates the importance of verbalization in documenting stress and affective experience as a mechanism for accessing cognitive processes in making sense of such experience.This study compares audio diaries with more traditional qualitative methods to assess applicability to different research contexts.This study provides practical guidance and a methodological framework for the design of audio diary research and design, taking into account challenges and solutions for researchers and practitioners.

Innovations in Qualitative Methods For Organizational Behavior and Human Resources Management

The use of qualitative methods in organizational behavior and human resource management research has attracted increasing attention. Indeed, qualitative methods provide effective tools and rich data for understanding complex, implicit, and subtle organizational phenomena and relationships. Yet, those new to qualitative research, especially those trained in a strict quantitative approach, are often puzzled by its methodological principles and specific operations in practice. This symposium brings together four presentations that highlight innovative qualitative techniques and their applications to organizational behavior and human resource (OBHR) management topics. The first presentation extends the application of repertory grid interview and aggregative analysis to the development of group constructs (e.g., work performance). The second presentation suggests the use of innovative interview structures, which assists qualitative researchers to cultivate trust and gain richer data when exploring obscurities and darkness in organizations. The third presentation tackles the conceptual confusion regarding theoretical saturation and proposes a new approach to detecting saturation. The last presentation focuses on video ethnography strategies and demonstrates a video ethnographic study on top management team dynamics and their strategic decision making. This symposium aims to offer OBHR researchers insights into up-to-date qualitative techniques with hopes of enhancing the quality of OBHR research using qualitative method. Doing Video Ethnography in Top Management Team Strategic Decision Making Research Presenter: Feng Liu; Warwick Business School Presenter: Sally Maitlis; U. of Oxford Theoretical Saturation in Qualitative Research: Insights from Quantitative Methods and Engineering Presenter: Xiaoxi Chang; Queen's School of Business, Canada Presenter: Silvia Bonaccio; Telfer School of Management, U. of Ottawa Presenter: Francois Chiocchio; Telfer School of Management, U. of Ottawa Presenter: Fanqi Kong; U. of Ottawa Aggregative Analysis of Repertory Grid Interviews to Examine Shared Understanding? Presenter: Céline Rojon; U. of Edinburgh Business School Presenter: Mark N. K. Saunders; U. of Surrey Presenter: Almuth McDowall; Birkbeck College The Eight-Hour Interview Presenter: Brett Crawford; U. of Pittsburgh

Marketing culture and business performance

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the validity and reliability of marketing culture measurement scale developed by Webster (1990, 1993) in the context of Jordanian tourism restaurants industry. Further, the paper aims to assess the impact of marketing culture, and its dimensions, over Jordanian restaurants performance.Design/methodology/approach– A structured and self-administered survey was employed targeting managers and employees of tourism restaurants operating in Jordan. A sample of 334 of tourism restaurants managers and employees were involved in the survey. A series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to assess the research constructs dimensions, unidimensionality, validity, and composite reliability. Two structural path models analyses were also used to test the hypothesized relationships of the research model.Findings– The empirical findings indicate that marketing culture dimensions are found to be seven rather than six dimensions as proposed by the original model; service quality, interpersonal relationships, management-front-line interaction, selling task, organization, internal communication, and innovativeness. A new dimension is found, named as management-front-line interaction, which exerted a positive and significant effect on restaurants performance. The structural findings indicate that the marketing culture “construct” has a positive and significant effect on restaurants performance, meanwhile only three out of seven of its dimensions exerted a positive and significant effect on restaurants performance; innovativeness, management-front-line interaction, and organization, respectively.Research limitations/implications– Theoretically, the author examined only seven components of marketing culture; meanwhile there could be other factors of marketing culture, or other organizational factors, that may affect restaurants performance. Empirically, the research has also examined the effect of marketing culture on restaurant financial performance only. Further, the research is industry limited; tourism restaurants in Jordan. Accordingly, the findings cannot be generalized to other service industries without further examination.Practical implications– Tourism restaurants managers should recognize that marketing culture is not simply a number of dimensions that shape it rather; it is a complex organizational phenomenon that affects performance. Marketing culture is a multidimensional construct that consists of seven dimensions not just six as proposed by the original model. Tourism restaurants managers and executives can benefit from the research findings while designing their marketing culture strategies to achieve long-term performance objectives.Originality/value– This is the first research effort devoted to reveal the marketing culture dimensions and examine their effect on tourism restaurants performance in Jordan. Executives and managers can benefit from the research findings to enhance their marketing culture strategies to achieve long-term objectives. International tourism restaurants planning to expand their operations in Jordan's tourism industry have now empirical evidence concerning the marketing culture dimensions and their effect on performance.

Organization as Information – a Space Odyssey

This Vita Contemplativa has been written in recognition of Max Boisot, who died in 2011. It reflects on his work and its contributions to organization studies and beyond. Boisot created a knowledge-based lens for studying complex organizational phenomena. He argued that the ways in which agents process information have fundamental implications for our understanding of groups and organizations within the emerging knowledge society. He articulated this argument with a set of elegant conceptual frameworks that have been widely used by scholars and practitioners to address the dynamics of information, knowledge and learning and the organization of social and scientific activity. We provide an overview of Boisot’s conceptual frameworks before reviewing the impact of his work in the organizational field, which included contemporary developments in China, the role of information in organizations, and more recently organizational complexity and the management of Big Science at CERN. Boisot’s analysis opens up a number of avenues for further development, which are also discussed.

Healthy organizations: toward a diagnostic method II

Purpose – To contribute to the search for new viewpoints that will enrich the understanding of the complex organizational phenomenon, in particular by contributing to the development of a method that allows qualifying, in the fullest possible way, whether an organization can be said to be healthy. So the objective of this work has been to experiment with the diagnostic method of the organizational health situation – proposed in a previous paper published in this journal – through applications that allowed backfeeding it and offering a new improved version of it. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The present work takes up the challenge of advancing in the development of the method of determining the health condition of an organization, revising the general homomorphism as well as the information that will be considered, its sources, the way of obtaining it, and the way of making the synthesis that will allow issuing the final overall judgement of healthy or not of the organization that is being studied. To that end, recourse is made to the experience obtained from eight applications made to different kinds of small organizations in the city of Santiago, Chile, from 2008 to 2012. Findings – The human-being/organization homomorphism was reformulated, going from eight component systems of the human body to 13, by reformulating some and incorporating others. Although a set of indicators may be used in different kinds of organizations, each one of them also presents a specificity that makes it highly complicated to make comparisons; the health situation of an organization is related only to itself. Consequently, the set of indicators that are selected to determine the health condition of an organization depends on itself. Not all the variables, systems and dimensions have the same weight for those interested in the overall health judgement to be issued, so this task of searching for the weights becomes a key aspect of the method: what was found to be most advisable was to set up a group of experts composed of key informants belonging to the organization itself and of external analysts. The symptoms – perceptions of the key informants – must be transformed into signs that allow objectifying the judgement of healthy or not of an organization. Originality/value – The work contributes new elements that enrich the method for diagnosing organizational health proposed earlier, starting from the homomorphism established between the way in which allopathic physicians study their patients and the way the analyst operates with an organization.

Methodological Approaches for Researching Complex Organizational Phenomena

An international association advancing the multidisciplinary study of informing systems. Founded in 1998, the Informing Science Institute (ISI) is a global community of academics shaping the future of informing science.

Why and How Context Matters

The purpose of this panel symposium is to show why and how context matters, and to draw attention to the benefits of integrating causal mechanisms and context to explain complex organizational phenomena. Our goal is to initiate a new dialogue among various constituents of the Academy of Management by bringing forward new questions and perspectives that highlight the salience of “contexts”. We believe this panel will generate fresh new debates particularly among Business Policy and Strategy (BPS), International Management (IM), and Organization and Management Theory (OMT) division members; and also will be of interest to members of the Entrepreneurship, Organization Behavior and Research Methods Divisions.

It's About Time: New Developments in Organizational Temporality Research

A 2001 special issue of the Academy of Management Review called for a temporal lens to shed light on complex organizational phenomena. A decade later, we take stock of key developments that have shaped the terrain of temporality literature. This symposium serves as a timely checkpoint for our progress on the topic. The participants in this symposium represent a diverse group of experts who have successfully engaged with temporal complexities surrounding a wide range of organizational issues such as person-organization fit, strategic change, employee engagement and inter-generational interactions. The format of the symposium is aimed at engaging the audience in a lively discussion on the next generation of temporality research in organizations.Fit Narratives: A Qualitative ExplorationPresenter: Karen Jansen; James Madison U.Presenter: Abbie J. Shipp; Texas Christian U.The Anticipatory Psychology of Strategic Change: Evidence from a Recent IPOPresenter: Scott Sonenshein; Rice U.Presenter: Ryan Quinn; U. of VirginiaBeyond Job Engagement: Examining the Interplay of Organizational Identification and Fit ConstrualPresenter: Morela Hernandez; U. of WashingtonPresenter: Cristiano Levi Oseliero Guarana; U. of WashingtonTalkin' Bout My Generation: A Qualitative Study of Generations at WorkPresenter: Gentzy Franz; U. of Illinois, Urbana-ChampaignPresenter: Aparna Joshi; U. of Illinois, Urbana-ChampaignPresenter: Tiffany Dawn Johnson; U. of Illinois, Urbana-ChampaignPresenter: Teresa Cardador; U. of Illinois