Managerial Interventions Research Articles

Mitigating Tannery Pollution in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia

The global leather market is worth more than $270 billion annually, and provides an important and accessible source of manufacturing exports for countries in the Global South. Leather is the source for a range of apparel items, including handbags, belts, shoes, wallets, gloves, and various other products, such as furniture, car seats, and luggage. Behind all leather goods is the tannery industry, with much of the raw materials processing located in the Global South (Lund-Thomsen, 2009, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 90, p. 57). Unlike most synthetic fibers, which are derived from plastics and associated with the petrochemical industry, leather has the potential for a comparatively lighter footprint because it is based on natural and renewable materials not associated with the carbon emissions of fossil fuels. However, leather has suffered from various concerns, including animal rights and toxic effluents. It is ranked as the fourth most dangerous global industry to human health, with many tanneries in the Global South lacking basic protection for the workers and leaching toxic chromium into rivers (Green Cross and Pure Earth, 2016, World’s worst pollution problems: The toxics beneath our feet). This article explores the prospects for reducing the environmental footprint of tanneries in the Global South, focusing on the Sustainable Manufacturing and Environmental Pollution (SMEP) program, a series of projects in South Asia (SA) and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) that explore ways to reduce manufacturing pollution. The article lays out a series of technical and managerial interventions that would vastly reduce the negative impacts on human health and the natural environment.

Digital technologies shaping the nature and routine intensity of shopfloor work

Drawing on data from Hungarian manufacturing companies, this paper aims to explore the ways in which digital technologies affect the nature and routineness of work. It concludes that digital technologies impinge on some defining features of occupations, such as workload and intensity of work; the degree to which the tasks can be explicitly defined, measured and codified; composition and amount of skills required for task execution; and the importance of experience or tacit knowledge for task execution. Non-technological factors, such as managerial approach to technology and work design moderate outcomes. Evidence indicates that a reduction in the routine content of job tasks applies only to relatively skilled employees. For low-skilled employees, certain digital assistance solutions increase routine and engender deskilling. We conclude that a qualitative enrichment of shopfloor work becomes apparent only if (1) employees are skilled enough to become upskilled – and thus engaged not only in digitally enabled but also in digitally augmented, high-value activities; (2) employees’ work tasks are reorganised, work design and work practices modified, and employees upskilled. Without appropriate managerial interventions envisaging the augmentation of work, digital technology implementation entails deskilling and/or technological unemployment, rather than providing richer dimensions to shopfloor work.

Security of Energy Interests of Enterprises: Innovative Competencies of Personnel, Public Administration and Role of Exchange Trade

The article proposes a methodology for assessing the state of security of energy interests of enterprises. In order to apply this methodology, security of energy interests is split into two components: security of energy efficiency and that of energy supply. Indicators and their corresponding liminal values are set for each of the components. A feature of the proposed assessment methodology is that it takes into account the speed at which actual security indicators can reach their liminal value. Application of the methodology allows us to conclude about the need for managerial intervention, decision-making and taking appropriate measures to improve security of energy interests as a whole and its individual components. The calculations conducted reveal that the actual indicators of energy supply security in 2018-2019 were equal to 1 at all mining enterprises of Ukraine. According to the value interpretation scale developed in the study, this value means that the state of security of energy supply was excellent (very high). In contrast, the state of energy efficiency security was not so stable and tended to deteriorate. The catastrophic state of energy efficiency security was detected at one of the mining enterprises under study, namely the PrJSC InGZK, in 2019, as the corresponding security indicator equaled zero. The obtained values of the state of security of energy efficiency are determinant for the general state of security of energy interests of the enterprises under study. In the article there are presented four directions to ensure security of energy interests of mining and metallurgical enterprises. The first direction provides for improvement of government regulation of the energy market. The second direction deals with reorientation of the production apparatus and introduction of resource-saving technologies that are to dramatically reduce energy and fuel intensity. The third direction involves more active participation in energy exchange trading. The fourth direction consists in attracting and training employees in new competencies and professions necessary for development, introduction and implementation of innovative energy-saving technologies at the enterprises and transition to an energy business model.

Global integration barriers at international branch campuses: the IBC Othering Loop

PurposeThe quality and market viability of international branch campuses (IBCs) depend upon their integration with university headquarters. Recent trends toward localizing branch-campus hiring have raised questions about the extent to which non-parent-campus lecturers will support global integration pursuits. This paper aims to examine IBC lecturers’ orientations towards global integration, exploring how they identify themselves and their campuses as part of their wider universities.Design/methodology/approachEmploying constructivist grounded theory methodology, 37 lecturers and leaders at four Australian branch campuses in Southeast Asia were interviewed, engaging them in semi-structured discussions of their identities and experiences. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed using NVivo in an iterative process of theory development.FindingsBranch-campus lecturers interviewed generally construct their individual and campus identities as separate from their wider universities. Barriers to branch campuses’ global integration include low organizational identification of lecturers, challenges in their relationships with headquarters colleagues and perceptions of cross-campus disparities in resources and students. Branch campuses’ organizationally separate identities are enacted in practice, fueling a self-reinforcing “Othering Loop” that could undermine these campuses’ quality and viability.Originality/valueThis research is the first emic exploration of locally-hired branch-campus lecturers’ views toward global integration. These findings provide an important corrective to the existing literature on this topic, challenging assumptions that localizing branch-campus hiring is the primary risk to integration. Multiple points of potential managerial intervention were identified, highlighting opportunities for university leaders to address contextual barriers and improve international branch campuses’ global integration while continuing current trends toward localized hiring.

Temporary and permanent agency workers. A study of perceived organizational support and dual commitment

PurposeThis study aims to analyze the effects of the type of agency contract on the relationship between agency workers' organizational commitment and perceived organizational support.Design/methodology/approachThe authors extend a previously developed model considering organizational support and affective commitment by including also continuance commitment in the Italian employment agency industry. The authors use a probabilistic stratified sampling method on a sample of 8,283 agency workers. Data were analyzed with structural equation modelling (SEM) and multiple group analyses.FindingsThe findings confirm the positive relationship between perceived organizational support from both the agency and the client organization and agency workers' affective commitment to them. The authors also find that agency workers develop a mutually related dual commitment in response to the support they receive from both organizations.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the literature on agency workers and suggests useful managerial and policy makers interventions for both temporary work agencies and client organizations for the development of the agency industry as well as the well-being of workers.

Implementing strategic changes in universities’ knowledge exchange profiles: The role and nature of managerial interventions

In a context of increasing managerialization of higher education and growing importance of the so-called ‘third mission’, universities increasingly seek to align their knowledge exchange (KE) profiles—i.e., the KE channels they use and the stakeholders with which they interact—to their institutional objectives. Using the lens of management control systems theory, we mapped changes in KE profiles to different management interventions. Building on 12 case studies of UK universities and combining content analysis and qualitative comparative analysis, we found that a) universities that had diversified their KE profiles had implemented belief and interactive control system interventions to encourage all staff members to exploit a wide range of KE opportunities; b) universities that had increased their KE specialization had implemented boundary and diagnostic control system interventions targeted at staff members performing specific KE activities; and c) universities that had reoriented their KE profiles had used a mix of interventions.

Fake smiles. Customer reactions to employees’ display inauthenticity and choice restrictions

AbstractFrontline employees’ fake smiles (i.e., positive emotion display inauthenticity) frequently occur despite firms’ efforts to ensure real smiles in service delivery. Previous research on the effects of display inauthenticity on customers reveals considerable heterogeneity. Attempts to resolve this have largely been limited to stable and dispositional factors, which often escape managerial control. The present research investigates the impacts of display inauthenticity, choice restrictions, and their interaction on service performance. Choice restrictions may buffer inauthenticity effects as demonstrated by results from three factorial experiments in different contexts (e.g., restrictions of service provider choice in predelivery in Study 1 and in‐store choice restrictions during service delivery in Studies 2 and 3). Frontline employees’ display inauthenticity negatively affects service performance only if customers are subjected to low but not high choice restrictions. The interaction effect is explained by customers’ interdependent self‐construal and is generalizable to actual spending behaviors. Our findings inform managers about the interplay of increasingly common inauthenticity and choice restrictions due to market shocks such as COVID‐19 and provide insights into managerial interventions that can be used to mitigate the effects of inauthenticity on customers.

Development of fuzzy based ergonomic-value stream mapping (E-VSM) tool: a case study in Indian glass artware industry

In a competitive working environment, conscious workers and stringent labour regulations have forced Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to focus on operational performance along with workers' performance and their health issues. Evidence from literature uncovered that lean implementation in the manufacturing industry worsens the workers' health and safety due to the lack of consideration of social aspects. This ignorance has forced SMEs to focus on considering social aspects along with economic and environmental aspects for improving their workers' health and safety. Therefore, this study aims to develop a tool that integrates lean and ergonomics to improve the workers' health and safety, along with operational performance. Hence, Human Factors and Ergonomic (HFE) indicators were incorporated into the VSM tool under a fuzzy environment. The Fuzzy-based Ergonomic-Value Stream Mapping (E-VSM) tool identifies the area of scope for ergonomic and managerial interventions at the workplace and evaluates the HFE indicators with lean indicators. This integrated tool helps management to improve the Workers’ health and safety and enhance operational performance synergistically.

Addressing social concern through business-nonprofit collaboration: Microfoundations of a firm’s dynamic capability for social responsibility

While there is a widespread view that business-nonprofit collaboration creates the opportunity to effectively address sustainability-related challenges, we still have limited understanding of the mechanisms through which these interorganizational relationships contribute to the creation of social and business value. We address this gap by adopting a profit-based organization's perspective and investigating the microfoundations of the firm’s dynamic capability for social responsibility. Drawing on a case study of a business-nonprofit collaboration, the paper examines how the micro-processes within the firm shaped that interorganizational relationship. We offer a framework that explains how key microfoundations of sensing, seizing, and transforming capabilities are developed and deployed in different stages of the collaboration. We find that this process is built upon a combination of routinized mechanisms and managerial ad-hoc interventions that shape the underlying role that cognition plays in the social issue that began with pure altruism and shifted to instrumental framing over time.

Impact of Knowledge Hiding Behaviors on Workplace Invincibility: Mediating Role of Psychological Contract Breach.

In recent years, knowledge hiding has gained much popularity in the knowledge management literature. Apart from that, antecedents and consequences of knowledge hiding are being scrutinized at present. There have been many studies on the triggering forces of knowledge hiding; however, the uncivil behaviors at the workplace have led the organizations and employees in trouble due to its possible associating factors, which is well explained by social influence theory. One such factor that this study has identified is knowledge hiding behavior at the workplace. This is a quantitative cross-sectional study based on a survey. The population taken in this study is the middle and low-level managerial staff of the software houses located in China. The respondents were selected based on convenient random sampling, and a sample size of 287 is used in this study. The data collected were employed with the partial least square structural equation modeling using Smart-PLS 3. The findings of this study show that apart from evasive hiding, playing dumb and rationalized hiding plays a significant role in predicting workplace incivility. In addition, psychological contract breach (PCB) has been taken as the mediating variable. The violation of psychological contracts among employees can indulge them in negative feelings that may convert to workplace incivility at any available opportunity of revenge which is well explained by social influence theory. Workplace incivility cannot be completely eradicated from the organizations; however, it can be controlled by making relevant policies. The civility among the employees can be attained by due managerial interventions and training of the employees considering the protection of victims and due punishment to the perpetrator.

Value co-creation and employee service behaviours: The moderating role of trust in employee - hotel relationship

Value co-creation (VC) is generally considered as having mutually beneficial implications for all actors involved. Nonetheless, emerging evidence on value co-destruction and its consequences on the wellbeing of co-creating actors implies that narrowing down on specific fallouts of this process is needed for managerial interventions. This paper contributes to the value-co-creation literature by exploring the relationship between customer participation in VC on some difficult to detect employee service behaviors: workaholism and fear-based silence. The extent to which employee trust (TRS) in employee – hotel relationship moderates these relations is assessed. While the findings from 422 frontline employee-customer data within luxury hotels in Ghana support a negative effect of VC on fear-based silence and workaholism, TRS buffered these effects. We recommend that VC in service failure and recovery be approached with tact, compassion, and forgiveness.

Using the Change Point Model (CPM) Framework to Identify Windows for Water Resource Management Action in the Lower Colorado River Basin of Texas, USA

In water-stressed river basins with growing urban populations, conflicts over water resources have emerged between urban and agricultural interests, as managerial interventions occur with little warning and tend to favor urban over agricultural water uses. This research documents changes in water use along an urban-to-agricultural gradient to examine whether it is possible to leverage temporal fluctuations in key quantitative data indicators to detect periods in which we could expect substantive managerial interventions in water resource management. We employ the change point model (CPM) framework to locate shifts in water use, climate-related indicators, lake and river characteristics, and agricultural trends across urban and agricultural counties in the lower Colorado River basin of Texas. Three distinctive groupings of change points appear. Increasing water use by urban counties and a shift in local climate conditions characterize the first period. Declines in agricultural counties’ water use and crop production define the second. Drops in lake levels, lower river discharge, and an extended drought mark the third. We interpret the results relative to documented managerial intervention events and show that managerial interventions occur during and after significant change points. We conclude that the CPM framework may be used to monitor the optimal timing of managerial interventions and their effects to avoid negative outcomes.

Improved HIV case finding among key populations after differentiated data driven community testing approaches in Zambia.

IntroductionOpen Doors, an HIV prevention project targeting key populations in Zambia, recorded low HIV positivity rates (9%) among HIV testing clients, compared to national adult prevalence (12.3%), suggesting case finding efficiency could be improved. To close this gap, they undertook a series of targeted programmatic and management interventions. We share the outcomes of these interventions, specifically changes in testing volume, HIV positivity rate, and total numbers of key populations living with HIV identified.MethodsThe project implemented a range of interventions to improve HIV case finding using a Total Quality Leadership and Accountability (TQLA) approach. We analyzed program data for key populations who received HIV testing six months before the interventions (October 2017–March 2018) and 12 months after (April 2018–March 2019). Interrupted time series analysis was used to evaluate the impact on HIV positivity and total case finding and trends in positivity and case finding over time, before and after the interventions.ResultsWhile the monthly average number of HIV tests performed increased by only 14% post-intervention, the monthly average number of HIV positive individuals identified increased by 290%. The average HIV positivity rate rose from 9.7% to 32.4%. Positivity rates and case finding remained significantly higher in all post-intervention months. Similar trends were observed among FSW and MSM.ConclusionsThe Open Doors project was able to reach large numbers of previously undiagnosed key populations by implementing a targeted managerial and technical intervention, resulting in a significant increase in the HIV positivity rate sustained over 12 months. These results demonstrate that differentiated, data-driven approaches can help close the 95-95-95 gaps among key populations.

Antibiotic-free farming for poultry meat production: impact on animal welfare

Abstract Background Multidrug-resistant zoonotic pathogens represent a risk for human health. The irrational use of antibiotics in production animals has contributed to the spread of antibiotic resistance (AMR) also in humans. The search for alternative systems to the use of antibiotics, including the study of ‘animal welfare-friendly' management tools, should be encouraged. The reduction of the use of antibiotics should be a controlled process, as their absence could have a negative impact on animal welfare, if not accompanied by adequate structural and managerial interventions. Methods Welfare Quality® protocol was used to measure the level of welfare in 14 batches of broiler chickens from 6 farms of an integrated poultry company and the results were compared (antibiotic-free vs conventional). The number of animals per batch ranged from 9,000 to 41,700. Assessments were made throughout a 9-month period, from 2018 to 2019, at-farm the day before slaughtering (age from 42 to 48 days old). Results No statistically significant differences between antibiotic-free and conventional in the general ‘welfare score' were reported. Stocking density was higher in antibiotic-free batches, and the ‘good feeding' principle was averagely higher in conventional batches (74.7 vs 63), with statistical significance (t=-2.45; p < 0.05). Other welfare principles (good housing, good health and appropriate behaviour) were slightly higher for antibiotic-free batches, without statistical significance. The absence of antibiotics did not affect the ‘good health' principle, ranging from 24.1 to 44.7, with the minimum in a conventional batch and the maximum detected in an antibiotic-free batch. The highest mortality (3.9%) was found in a conventional batch. Conclusions The absence of antibiotics in broiler farming doesn't affect animal health and welfare if associated with good management practices. Antibiotic-free farming should be standardized in order to protect both animal welfare and consumers' health. Key messages The absence of antibiotic use does not impact on broiler chicken general welfare score. High stocking density due to the high demand of antibiotic-free meat should be avoided and specific guidelines for antibiotic-free farming should be produced.

Leader mindfulness and employee creativity: The importance of leader–member exchange

The main objective of this study was to clarify the mechanisms through which leader mindfulness enhances employee creativity, and we proposed that leader–member exchange (LMX) would act as a mediator of this relationship. To test our hypotheses we conducted a survey with 329 subordinates and 51 supervisors employed at three large manufacturing companies in China. The results of structural equation modeling show that the association of leader mindfulness with employee creativity was positive, and that LMX partially mediated this link. This study provides useful insights in explaining the impact that leader mindfulness has on employee creativity by focusing on LMX as a mediator. Our findings indicate that organizations should take leader mindfulness into account, and that managerial interventions should be implemented to establish high-quality LMX relationship.

Experience is not enough: A dynamic explanation of the limited adaptation to extreme weather events in public organizations

This study advances theory articulating the micro-level processes behind public organization adaptation to extreme weather. It tackles a persistent puzzle about the limited adaptation to extreme weather among public organizations: why does adaptation remain deficit after public organizations have experienced repeated extreme weather and some catastrophic consequences? We develop a computational agent-based model that integrates extant theory and data from semi-structured interviews of U.S. public transit agency managers, and use the model to investigate how micro-level cognition and behavior interact with environmental constraints to facilitate or impede the diffusion of adaptation. We articulate in greater detail how experience with influential extreme weather events matters to adaptation, highlighting that such experience is insufficient for adaptation to occur. A key insight is that the potential benefits from both increased risk perception and additional financial resources stemming from disaster- or non-disaster-induced opportunities can be underutilized, absent effective coupling between heightened risk perception and availability of resources that creates windows for adaptation. Using this insight, we further identify managerial and policy interventions with maximum leverage to promote adaptation to extreme weather in public organizations. The experiments show that slowing risk perception decay and synchronizing opportunities with extreme weather occurrences can stimulate adaptation.

The enemy within: The legitimating role of local managerial elites in the global managerial colonization of the Global South

This paper contributes to the drive to decolonize management and organization knowledge by unpacking the role played by indigenous managerial elites in the global managerial colonization of the Global South. We focus on the narratives managerial elites construct to legitimate managerialism to a dissenting population. We conducted an ethnographic study of efforts by members of the city council of Yaoundé, in Cameroon to implement and legitimate a global managerial intervention. Our findings show that to successfully legitimate the imposition of managerialism to a dissenting populace, managerial elites construct hybrid narratives. These hybrid narratives are not ignorant of the local context and are particularly potent because of the manner in which they factor in some local concerns, making the managerialist intervention more palatable to locals and yet continuing to impose a foreign way of life.

No room at the top? A system dynamics view of the recursive consequences of women's underrepresentation in international assignments

PurposeThe expatriation literature has developed an insightful body of research on the reasons why women are not assigned abroad as frequently as men. However, the authors know very little about the systemic and recursive consequences of women's underrepresentation in international assignments (IAs), which are examined in this conceptual paper.Design/methodology/approachDrawing upon expatriation research and a system dynamics perspective, the authors propose a conceptual model to explain both women's underrepresentation in IAs and its recursive consequences.FindingsThe authors highlight how women's underrepresentation in IAs results from a complex system of recursive effects that jeopardizes women's professional development and undermines both their own career progression to top management and firms' competitive advantage and international growth. The authors argue that organizations make decisions that contravene their own interest in a competitive global context. First is that they are limiting their talent pool by not considering female candidates. Second is that they are missing the opportunity to use IAs to advance women's careers.Research limitations/implicationsThe model provides a solid grounding for future research on selecting the most effective organizational actions and designing supportive measures to disrupt the persistent dynamics contributing to women's underrepresentation in IAs. Future research could also expand our study by incorporating individual differences and the proactive role that women may take.Practical implicationsThe model points to specific managerial interventions (e.g. increased access to job training and specific training ahead of the assignment, dual-career support, women's mentoring and affirmative action) which have the potential to reduce women's underrepresentation in IAs and in top management.Originality/valueThe system dynamics approach enables a broader understanding of why women are underrepresented in IAs, how this underrepresentation further exacerbates gender segregation in international business, and how these recursive outcomes can be averted to the advantage of firms' sustainable growth.

INVESTIGATING THE EFFICIENCY OF INDIVIDUAL-EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE IN THE TELECOMMUNICATION’S SECTOR OF AN EMERGING ECONOMY

This study investigated efficiency in the utilization of the individual-explicit knowledge of a firm. The sample included 42 customer service centers (CSCs) of the four most active Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) organisations in Lagos State and FCT, Nigeria. The research adopted the input-oriented data envelopment analysis model to determine the extent to which individual-explicit knowledge, as a vital input resource to telecommunications firms, is efficiently utilized by the CSCs to improve the firms’ values. The study revealed that 10 CSCs, representing 23.8 percen of those studied, were technically efficient using the constant returns to scale model. In contrast, the variable returns to scale model showed that 22 CSCs, or 52 percent of them, were technically inefficient. The results suggest that, with less than 50 percent of the total number of CSCs in Nigeria’s telecommunications industry being inefficient, there is a large volume of operational inefficiency, especially concerning the utilization of individual-explicit knowledge. As such, the telecommunications industry could benefit from managerial intervention, especially in building the capacity of the customer desk officers in the CSCs to attend promptly and accurately to customers’ queries. Also, the study established that a viable strategic direction would be that organizations in the telecommunications industry renew their focus on a balanced mix of supervisor-subordinates in each CSC. This study contributes to operations management and the organizational knowledge management literature by showcasing the data envelopment analysis methodology as a legitimate tool for improving understanding of the investigations into the efficiency of individual-explicit knowledge. This study offers practical implications for firm managers about specific activities and units of their firm that contribute the most to the organization, and other specific units/activities that are less productive. The study also provides directions for future studies.

The knowledge hiding loop: exploring the boundary conditions

PurposeUsing norms of reciprocity, this study explores how employees' exposure to workplace ostracism (WO) affects their task performance through the mediating role of knowledge hiding (KH). Moreover, drawing on social identity theory, this research outstretches the boundary conditions of KH, i.e. under which KH is less likely to occur.Design/methodology/approachTime-lagged, multisource data collected from 297 employees in service sector organizations in Pakistan were analyzed using SMARTPLS (v 3.3.3).FindingsThe findings reveal that perception of WO provokes KH behavior in employees, which, in turn, deteriorates their task performance. Results also disclose that moral identification (MI) and organizational identification (OI) buffer against the positive association between WO and KH, such that the ostracism-KH link is weaker at higher levels of MI and OI, and vice versa.Practical implicationsThe study envisages that a KH loop occurs between the knowledge hider and the knowledge seeker, which fosters spirals of conflict that might prevail in organizations over an extended period of time. Therefore, the occurrence context of KH should be mitigated through appropriate managerial interventions. In addition, nurturing self-identities will be beneficial for both employees and organizations.Originality/valueThis is the first study that investigates the relationship between WO and task performance while also considering the mediating role of KH and the moderating roles of MI and OI.