Employee Strengths Research Articles

Resilience in Business and Management Research: A Review of Influential Publications and a Research Agenda

This paper identifies the development of and gaps in knowledge in business and management research on resilience, based on a systematic review of influential publications among 339 papers, books and book chapters published between 1977 and 2014. Analyzing these records shows that resilience research has developed into five research streams, or lines of enquiry, which view resilience as (1) organizational responses to external threats, (2) organizational reliability, (3) employee strengths, (4) the adaptability of business models or (5) design principles that reduce supply chain vulnerabilities and disruptions. A review of the five streams suggests three key findings: First, resilience has been conceptualized quite differently across studies, meaning that the different research streams have developed their own definitions, theories and understandings of resilience. Second, conceptual similarities and differences among these streams have not yet been explored, nor have insights been gleaned about any possible generalizable principles for developing resilience. Third, resilience has been operationalized quite differently, with few insights into the empirics for detecting resilience to future adversity (or the absence thereof). This paper outlines emerging research trends and pathways for future research, highlighting opportunities to integrate and expand on existing knowledge, as well as avenues for further investigation of resilience in business and management studies.

A self-determination perspective of strengths use at work: Examining its determinant and performance implications

We investigate the role of strengths use in the workplace by drawing on self-determination theory (SDT) to propose that strengths use at work can yield performance benefits in terms of task performance and discretionary helping, and that the social context, in the form of leader autonomy support, can promote employees’ strengths use. Further, consistent with an interactional psychology perspective, we contend that the relationship between autonomy support and strengths use will be stronger among individuals with strong independent self-construal. We tested the model using matched data from 194 employees and their supervisors and found evidence for the relevance of strengths use at work, even after accounting for the role of intrinsic motivation. In addition to providing practical implications on developing employee strengths use and how to do so, this study advances theory and research on workplace strength use, SDT, and positive organizational behavior.

Effective use of social media recruiting

With the rapid evolution of digital media, online presence is becoming a front-runner factor for the success of business and entities, alike. Tapping on the pace of this evolution, socially active employers are transcending towards social media platforms and online portals for attracting and sourcing talent. What attracts these organisations is ease of access, continuous availability, spontaneity and transparency. At forefront of this change is human resources department, which plays the dynamic role of designing strategies for attracting talent digitally while making sure that the digital footprint of the company is constantly evolving. This research paper delineates the digital media presence of nearly 50 companies that are categorised in accordance of industry and employee strength. The paper further probes into the digital practices followed by a selected few of these 50 companies, by studying their efforts in social media, their approach towards change in recruiting policies, benefits derived and management level interventions taken to promote this change.

Risk Factors for Non Communicable Diseases among Industrial Workers of Coimbatore, India

Background : Workplace is one of the most important settings affecting the physical, mental, economical and social wellbeing of the workers and thereby, the health of their families, community and society. Recently, there are reports of high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors among industrial populations in various parts of India. Aim : To identify the risk factors of Non communicable diseases among employees of a foundry in Coimbatore. Setting and Design : Industrial setting, Cross sectional study. Method: A study was undertaken between November 2009 and January 2010 in a foundry of suburban Coimbatore with permanent employee strength of 136 with questionnaire capturing information on age, nature of work, and details on risk factors. Anthropometric measurements and fasting and postprandial blood sugars were done. Statistical analysis : Was done using SPSS-11.5 version and Chi-square test was used to look for an association between the risk factors and the non communicable diseases. Results and Conclusions : The study population consisted of 132(97%) males. 35(25.7%) were current tobacco users and 55(40.4%) involved themselves in light physical activity. 21(15.4%) and 35(25.7%) had high Systolic and Diastolic Blood Pressure respectively; 33(24.3%) had high blood sugars. 54(39.7%) were overweight/obese and 46(33.8%) had their waist circumference above normal. There was a statistically significant association between increased waist circumference and Diabetes status (χ2=6.093, p=0.014). Similarly a person being overweight/ obese was significantly associated with he being diabetic (χ2=5.812, p=0.016). The results could help to motivate industries to initiate lifestyle modifications and health promotion programs for the prevention and control of non communicable diseases among their workers.

The effect of gender on leadership and culture

AbstractIncreasingly, human resource managers are recognizing the need to understand how the differences between men and women affect organizational culture and leadership. This study of 314 workers examines the influence of gender on the leadership and cultural dimensions identified in the acclaimed Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) research program. The results show that gender is a significant predictor in two of the nine cultural dimensions—gender egalitarianism and assertiveness—and two of the six leadership dimensions—participative leadership and self‐protective leadership. These findings can help HR managers capitalize on the strengths of both male and female employees as they design policies and practices to achieve organizational objectives. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Why Did ‘Zombie’ Firms Recover in Japan?

AbstractThe Japanese economy experienced prolonged recessions during the 1990s. Previous studies suggest that evergreen lending to troubled firms known as ‘zombie firms’ distorted market discipline in terms of stabilising the economy and caused significant delays in its recovery. However, the eventual bankruptcy of zombies was rare. The purpose of this study is to investigate why zombie firms recovered in Japan. We first extend the method of Caballero et al. (2008) and identify zombies from among the listed firms. Subsequently, we investigate the nature of corporate restructuring that was effective in reviving zombie firms. Our multinomial logistic regressions suggest that reducing the employee strength of zombie firms and selling its fixed assets were beneficial in facilitating their recovery. However, corporate restructuring without accounting transparency or by discouraging incentives for managers was ineffective. In addition, corporate restructuring lacked effectiveness in the absence of favourable macroeconomic environment as well as substantial external financial support.

Acquiring overseas market knowledge: a comparison of strategies of expatriate and immigrant employees

PurposeThis conceptual paper starts from the recognition that internationalisation of business is an information‐intensive process and aims to investigate two key modes for the acquisition of knowledge: expatriates and immigrant employees.Design/methodology/approachThe paper sets out a conceptual framework which examines nine popular modes of knowledge acquisition essential to the internationalisation process and their comparative strengths and weaknesses. This is coupled with a more intensive evaluation of the relative merits of the two strategies of expatriates and immigrant employees.FindingsThe analysis suggests that the modes of expatriates and immigrant employees can both be cost effective and yield high levels of relevant knowledge underpinning internationalisation. However, there are key differences between the two and it may be more useful to consider them as complements rather than simply substitutes. The strength of expatriates is their considerable knowledge of the home market, industry and firm. Their weakness is the need to gradually acquire overseas market knowledge. The strength of immigrant employees is their knowledge of overseas target markets. Their weaknesses are limited understanding of the home country business system, the firm and even the industry.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper has several limitations. It is conceptual in nature and tentative in assessment. It does not consider all available knowledge gathering modes. To fully understand this process more research is required, particularly work that extends the narrow case approach typically used.Practical implicationsThe analysis suggests that different information gathering modes offer different advantages with none clearly superior in all situations. A similar situation appears to also hold for the modes of expatriates and immigrant employees and the two modes may be more usefully considered as complements.Originality/valueThe key contribution of the paper is in evaluating these two modes from the perspective of market knowledge and diffusion.

Sustainability in HRIS implementation through effective project management

This paper discusses sustainability of an already published implementation framework, which would help in achieving stakeholders' objectives. The framework has been found to be feasible for small organisations where employee strength is less than 2,000. However, in large organisations, spanning across geographies, it becomes difficult to implement HRIS applications and many times such implementations have not been successful because of lack of stakeholders' involvement, end users acceptance of features of the application, non-alignment of business goals with functionalities of human resource information systems and non-commitment from senior management. The paper discusses how step by step these parameters be addressed by using the published framework. The methodology adapted is case study for HRIS implementation for FAO has been illustrated. The benefits of such an approach are enormous in terms of on time implementation and meeting business needs.

Validation of the Inventory of Professional Functioning (IPF): Occupational Health of Social Workers

This article reports on the validation of the Inventory of Professional Functioning (IPF), a four-dimensional scale designed to measure the professional functioning of social workers. The IPF was developed as an outcome measure to be used with independent measures of substance use, depression, distress, relationship problems, and organizational variables, as well as protective factors such as social support, self-esteem, and coping strategies. Data from a random sample of 215 social workers were collected in an anonymous Internet survey that measured factors related to social workers' health. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the new measure was found to have acceptable reliability and construct validity at the scale level. Convergent and discriminant validity were established at the scale level of analysis by examining correlations of the items of the IPF and its subscales with Class I, II, and III Criterion variables. The IPF is a useful measure to assess employee strengths in the workplace.

Level of Formalisation of Human Resource Management in Small and Medium Enterprises in India

In this article, the current state of management of human resources in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in India is explored. The owner-managers play important roles in managing human resources in SMEs. The direct involvement of the owner manager also leads to ad hoc and informal HR practices. However, formal HRM systems can help increase performance. This study specifically examines the level of formalisation of human resource management in small and medium enterprises in India. Formalisation is defined as the extent to which regular and written-up procedures exists, a stated policy is in place, and a specialist designs and executes the HR systems. Data were collected using a questionnaire from 89 small enterprises and 54 medium enterprises on the level of formalisation of twelve HR functions. It was found that the level of formalisation of HRM systems in SMEs was low and owner-managers played a central role in the HR functions of their enterprises. Compared to small enterprises, the level of formalisation was found to be higher for medium enterprises. The level of formalisation increased with increase in employee strength. An inverse relationship between the extent of involvement of the owner-manager in managing human resources and the existence of a formal policy for HRM was evidenced. Implications of decisions by owner-managers to keep HR functions informal or formal in small and medium enterprises are discussed. It is necessary for SMEs to find ways in which formal and flexible systems can co-exist.

Predicting Customer Service Employees’ Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intentions: The Roles of Customer Interactional Injustice and Interdependent Self-Construal

Research has primarily examined supervisors and coworkers as sources of unfair interpersonal treatment (i.e., interactional injustice) in the workplace. Unfair treatment, however, can also originate with customers. Using a cross-sectional, correlational research design (N = 172), we examined the associations among customer injustice, employee job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. Drawing on relational theories of fairness, we also examined whether employees who more strongly define themselves through their interpersonal relationships (i.e., those with stronger interdependent self-construals) would exhibit stronger injustice-attitudes associations. Results showed that, overall, greater injustice was associated with lower job satisfaction but not greater turnover intentions. Moreover, as expected, the strength of employees’ interdependent self-construals moderated the injustice-attitudes relations: Relationship-oriented employees showed significant associations between injustice and both job satisfaction and turnover intentions, whereas those with weaker relationship orientations did not. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

The constancy of work-related empowerment

This study describes experiences of work empowerment among staff members at the Rheumatism Foundation Hospital in Helsinki, Finland. The data were collected on two occasions in 2004 and 2005 using a structured questionnaire with background variables and items concerning verbal, behavioural and outcome empowerment. The questionnaires were sent to all (n1=115, n2=112) members of multidisciplinary teams at the Rheumatism Foundation Hospital, with the exception of physicians, departmental secretaries and administrative personnel. The response rate at both data collections was 58%. The data were analysed by statistical methods. No statistically significant differences were seen in work empowerment between the two data collections. Perceptions of work-related empowerment were relatively strong. Work-related empowerment appears to be relatively constant and independent of changes in the organization. Indeed there is good reason to ask whether work empowerment is primarily a function of the individual employee's strengths and competencies.

The effects of tie strength and tie diversity on job search, pay increases, and promotions in Singapore and Thailand

This study assessed the effects of an employee's strength and diversity of network ties within the organization to job-search behavior, pay increases, and promotions in two East Asian countries (Singapore and Thailand). Contrary to predictions, there were no significant associations between the strength of ties with one's supervisor or peers with job-search behavior, pay increases, or promotions. However, as predicted, the diversity of ties was positively associated with job-search behavior, pay increases, and promotions. Finally, the community in which an employee is embedded had no moderating influence on job-search behavior, pay increases, or promotions after accounting for employee tenure, suggesting a convergence of results for these relationships in Singapore and Thailand.

Building on employee strengths at Sony Europe: A three‐step process to maximize staff contributions to the business

When Sony Europe began a restructure in 2003, Roy White, its VP of HR, realized that identifying and focusing on each employee’s key strengths would be crucial to enhancing performance. Here, he explains how by introducing mentoring projects under a three‐step plan, the organization encouraged employees to focus on what they do best and maximize their contribution to the bottom line.

Managing Interest Cost - a Case Study

In today's cost competitive environment, the basic motto for a company to run a business is to cut down the cost of production, so that it can generate higher revenues. In such a scenario the company's management starts looking into various avenues by which it can resolve the cost issue. Some of the common measures which are generally taken are cutting down the employee's strength, putting increments and fresh recruitments on hold, check cost on raw material purchases and so on. In addition to these, a very significant cost incurred by the companies is the interest due. The case introduces the problems confronting Grasim Industries Ltd. situated at Madhya Pradesh, India, in the interest cost reduction and how it achieved one of the best cost competitive strategies. The case examines how with the help of a bank, the company introduced Cash Management System, negotiated with different banks, used alternative mode of finance and finally succeeded in reducing a substantial interest cost.

An Enterprise Needs to Be Both Big and Small: A Strategic Perspective

Beauty of an enterprise lies in neither it being big or being small. Beauty of an enterprise lies in its success in marketplace and undoubtedly not in its size; no matter how it is measured, be it capital outlay, employee strength and the like. The most pertinent quote of Charles Darwin amply captures the sum and substance of this paradigm- It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. According to Richard D’Aveni, the author of the well-known book, ‘Hyper competition: Managing the Dynamics of Strategic Manoeuvring’, “with hyper-competition, there are only two kinds of companies - the disruptive and the dead.” These new realities mean enterprises must be perpetually hyper-entrepreneurial. The present paper addresses the strategic perspective of enterprises that behave as both big and small, no matter what they actually are. Clusterising and competing could be a good strategy especially for small enterprises. This will in a way neutralise the scale disadvantage the small enterprise suffers from. Once this happens, the cluster itself becomes capable of impacting the bottomline of its member firms positively. This amounts to the pursuit of a strategy wherein small enterprise, though small in reality, acts as one virtually big enterprise when needed. On the other hand, big enterprises obviously need to do their act otherwayround. An enterprise while being big in reality needs to act as if it is virtually small when needed. Many a big enterprise did adopt this strategy successfully to compete with small enterprises. Whether an enterprise should act big or small depends upon the productivity achievable in either case and adopt the one that maximises ‘Total Productivity’-after all, the success hinges on maximising productivity.

Implementation of VRS in India

In today's Indian business environment, inter-organization rivalry has become intense. Most of the organizations in the erstwhile protected business environment had focused on production volumes, not necessarily on productivity. Consequently, they often got overstaffed as they tried to neutralize the adverse impact of absenteeism and unionization on production volumes by hiring new staff. Organizations are now exposed to the inevitability of improving productivity in order to survive in the competitive environment. Many of them have taken recourse to Voluntary Retirement Schemes (VRS) to reduce the employee strength. This paper examines different types of VRS offered by organizations in the year 1999–2000 in India. It also examines the effect of VRS on the profitability of these organizations. The authors adopted two approaches to the study. In the first phase, they collected the details of VRS that were announced by organizations in India in the year 1999–2000 and examined the performance implications of these schemes after a time lag of two years. They gathered 30 such responses in total and did a content analysis of these schemes. In the second phase of the study, the authors met managers in four organizations which were selected based on their willingness to discuss about the schemes. Having discussed with the managers, the employees, and the union leaders in these organizations, they developed detailed cases. These cases provided an insight about various qualitative issues relating to VRS. The discussion with managers in the companies showed that managers spent substantial time to decide the following characteristics of VRS: duration of VRS eligibility for VRS discretions with managers compensation The authors considered PAT⁄Total assets as a measure of success of implementation of VRS as, conceptually, VRS should result in improvement in PAT owing to reduction in labour expenses. Further, in the gap of two years after VRS, there would be no expenditure on scheme-related payments as in the first year. It should inflate the change in PAT. Hence, lack of gain in PAT⁄Total assets would be a clear signal of decline of financial performance of the organization in the post-VRS phase. The study reveals that: There is no fixed pattern of VRS among organizations and even the implementation of VRS differs significantly between organizations. The design of schemes that target older employees and remain conservative to work out compensation to employees should be encouraged. The schemes that are kept open for appropriate period of time seem to be more effective. The success of VRS significantly depends on how the scheme is implemented and the perception of the persons opting for VRS and the survivors. Factors contributing to the success of VRS are effective communication, building trust among employees about procedural justice, and involvement of multiple stakeholders.

The architecture of employee attitudes to safety in the manufacturing sector

This study examines the relationships between components of organisational safety climate, including: employee attitudes to organisational and individual safety issues; perceptions of the physical work environment and perceptions of workplace hazards; and relates these to self‐reported levels of safety activity. It also attempts to replicate the explicative model derived by Cheyne et al. in a similar study within the manufacturing sector. Data were collected from a large manufacturing organisation using a questionnaire. A total of 708 valid questionnaires were returned and formed the basis for the subsequent analyses. These data showed that a common structure of attitudes to safety issues and perceptions of the work environment can be constructed in line with the previous model, with a few differences, providing some evidence of a sector‐wide safety culture. The strength of employees’ attitudes with regard to safety management and individual responsibility once again played central roles in the model and are consistent with earlier findings. Comparisons are made between the two organisations and mean scores on each of the model components show that there are differences between the two organisations in terms of individual responsibility and personal involvement, as well as levels of safety activity and perceived levels of workplace hazards. The results are discussed in terms of generating general models of attitudes to safety, which in turn may facilitate climate change.

The productive use of strengths: a shared responsibility

Suggests that the only way to get the right person in the right job at the right time is through understanding the unique make‐up of the employee and using that knowledge to satisfy the operational needs of the organization and the motivational needs of the individual. The failure of organizations to adequately recognize and address this issue presents trainers and the training organization with a key responsibility: educating their organization on the critical importance of job‐fit to the overall productivity of the organization and preparing both line managers and employees for their shared responsibilities in the productive use of employee strengths.

Comprehensive Assessment in Occupational Social Work: The Development and Validation of the Corporate Behavioral Wellness Inventory

Objective: The objective is to report on the development and validation of the Corporate Behavioral Wellness Inventory (CBWSI), specifically designed for use by social workers in occupational social work. Method: One thousand and forty employees from different organizations in South Africa were subjected to the original validation research done on the CBWSI. Results: The results clearly indicate that the different subscales on the CBWSI have good reliability, that the scale is strong enough in terms of its measurement error characteristics to recommend it for use in occupational settings, and that the CBWSI appears to be acceptable in terms of its content and construct validity. Conclusions: The CBWSI is a new assessment tool specifically designed for social workers in occupational practice settings, that can be recommended to serve as a tool for assessing diverse employee strengths or to use as part of service delivery to employees.