The evidence of high performance work systems in professional service firms

The study draws on the high-performance work systems (HPWS) to explore the different types of HPWS implemented in professional service firms, specifically in Australian law firms. Although there has already been considerable empirical effort toward understanding the relationship between HPWS and organisational performance outcomes, there is no agreement on what constitutes HPWS and more importantly, there is limited evidence exploring how HPWS are implemented in practice. Based on interviews with 21 Managing Partners and Partners of Australian law firms to gain an in-depth understanding of HPWS practices implemented by the firms, we found evidence of nine (9) HPWS practices of recruitment and retention, creating positive organisational culture, training and development, organisational sharing and learning, developing an effective organisational structure, performance management, rewards, job mobility, and succession planning. The research findings offer contributions to theory and practice on the implementation of HPWS in professional service firms

Transformational leadership, corporate cultism and the spirituality paradigm: an unholy trinity in the workplace?

Leadership is a perennially popular topic in the academic and practitioner literature on management. In particular, the past twenty years have witnessed an explosive growth of interest in what has been termed 'transformational leadership' (henceforth, TL). The theory is closely linked to the growth in what has been defined as corporate culturism - an emphasis on the importance of coherent cultures, as a means of securing competitive advantage. This article outlines the central components of TL theory, and subjects the concept to a critical analysis. In particular, similarities are identified between the components concerned and the characteristics of leadership practice in organizations generally defined as cults. This connection has been previously unremarked in the literature. These similarities are comprehensively reviewed. Trends towards what can be defined as corporate cultism in modern management practice are also discussed. We conclude that TL models are overly concerned with the achievement of corporate cohesion to the detriment of internal dissent. Such dissent is a vital ingredient of effective decision-making. It is suggested that more inclusive and participatory models of the leadership process are required

The influence of protean attitude for women in STEM careers: coping-self efficacy as foundational and strong career identity as outcome

PurposeThe under-representation of women working in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers is a persistent problem worldwide. This dilemma is exacerbated by the fact that an insufficient number of women enroll in STEM studies, and a significant proportion of those who do join then opt out of their STEM careers at different points in their lives. The protean attitude emphasizes agentic individual control over one’s career, and thus offers women substantial potential for developing and enhancing career outcomes. Therefore, this study aims to investigate coping self-efficacy as an antecedent and career identity as a consequent of a protean attitude for women working in STEM.Design/methodology/approachUsing a questionnaire survey, data were collected from 482 women working in STEM in the Middle East region. Multiple regression and bootstrapping methods were used in the analysis of the data.FindingsThe findings indicate that coping self-efficacy positively affects both protean attitude and career identity. The results also show that a protean attitude mediates the relationship between coping self-efficacy and career identity.Practical implicationsThis research presents organizational management and government policy recommendations aimed at increasing the recruitment and retention of women in STEM careers.Originality/valueThe study addresses some of the main challenges related to identifying antecedents and outcomes of protean attitude

Mentoring and Coping Self-Efficacy as Predictors of Affective Occupational Commitment for Women in STEM

Purpose: Despite an evident increase in the number of women joining Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) majors at universities, the recruitment and retainment of women in STEM occupations continues to be a substantial challenge. The aim of this research is to investigate several individual and contextual factors that could increase the representation of women in STEM fields. Design/Methodology/Approach: We report the results of a questionnaire survey of women (n= 375) working in STEM industries in the Middle East and North Africa region who have or had a mentor during their careers. Structural equation modeling is used to examine the proposed hypotheses. Findings: The results indicate that both mentoring and coping self-efficacy positively influence affective occupational commitment. Coping self-efficacy is also found to partially mediate the relationship between mentoring and affective occupational commitment. Originality: In our study we investigate individual and contextual factors that have potential to enhance women's occupational commitment in STEM industries based on the Career Self-Management Model. Practical Implications: We recommend that researchers and practitioners give more attention to the contextual factors such as mentoring and its contribution to the coping self-efficacy and affective occupational commitment of employees in STEM occupations

Managing Sustainability Projects for Social Impact from a Corporate Social Responsibility Perspective

Initiatives in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can contribute to many programs for sustainable development. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is considered to have been slower to change in CSR than have other Western developed countries. The purpose of this research is to explore examples in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of how project initiatives in CSR and sustainable development can facilitate heightened awareness, engagement, and execution of action for sustainability. This research utilizes qualitative case study methods analysing a United Nations (UN) supported annual youth engagement program focused on implementation of sustainable development projects in the UAE. The varying degrees of project complexity and “programmification” of sustainability activities in the UAE reveals a more systematic and mature stage of CSR and sustainable development projects and programs than is reported in the literature. The application of project management to organize, implement, align, and monitor sustainability-centred programs provides knowledge relevant to the UAE and other countries interested in the strategic management of change. The study demonstrates the application and value of project management for implementing sustainable development initiatives and highlights the collaborative contribution of corporate and governmental stakeholders to project management in organizations. An important area for future research on sustainable development in the MENA region is to study corporate and public sector partnerships in CSR projects and sustainability programs

Managing physical and virtual work environments during the COVID-19 pandemic: improving employee well-being and achieving mutual gains

Contemporary organisations continue to use flexible workspace configurations and increasingly are adopting more automated and intelligent digital systems to organise work. Workspace configurations have various forms and arrangements composed of the physical workspace (such as open-plan office spaces) and virtual workspace (e.g., teleworking). The aim of this Special Issue (SI) is to stimulate inquiry into the role of management, organisation and HRM in promoting mutual gains for employers and employees working in these environments. The essence of mutual gains is that HRM practices lead to greater employee well-being and increased employee performance, the latter being especially important to employers for achieving organisational goals. In ‘managing physical and virtual work environments during the Covid-19 pandemic’, we consider how work is organised in challenging physical and virtual workspace configurations as well as how people engage in activities that are paced and informed by automated and digital technologies. Our aim is to encourage exciting research on the role and implementation of management, organisation and HRM in physical and virtual workspace configurations, stimulate new scholarly discussions on the topic, and increase understanding of the application of new technology systems and tools. A specific objective of this SI is therefore to increase academic knowledge on the opportunities and challenges faced by employees working in different physical and virtual workspace conditions, and consider the consequences for employee well-being (Guest, 2017; Van De Voorde, Paauwe, & Van Veldhoven, 2012)

The significance of general skills training for early career graduates: Relationships with perceived organizational support, job satisfaction and turnover intention

PurposeThe aim of our study is to address the mixed predictions about the relationship between general skills training and turnover intention of early career graduates by examining the mediating mechanisms of perceived organizational support and job satisfaction through which this relationship might be enacted. We adopt organizational support theory as our guiding theory and examine the concept of perceived organizational support as critical for predicting and explaining relationships in the conceptual framework. Design/methodology/approachA quantitative survey method was used on a sample of 147 Chinese early career graduate trainees. Analysis was conducted using Partial least square-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). FindingsOur main finding is that participation in general skills training does not directly impact turnover intention, rather perceived organizational support is a mechanism through which this negative relationship operates. We also found significant evidence for serial mediation by perceived organizational support on participation in general skills training and its relationship with turnover intention. Importantly, JS only has an effect on turnover intention when in the presence of serial mediation by POS.OriginalityThis research emphasizes the important role of perceived organizational support in the relationship between early career graduate trainees’ participation in general skills training and their turnover intentions.Research limitations/implicationsCross-sectional study of a small survey sample. Nonetheless, the findings have major implications for research theories on the relationship of general skills training with employee turnover.Social implicationsParticipation in general skills training does not directly impact turnover intention, rather perceived organizational support is a mechanism through which this negative relationship operates

The influence of perceived organizational support on employee creativity: The mediating role of work engagement

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between perceived organizational support and employee creativity mediated by work engagement. We report the results from a questionnaire survey on a sample of 492 professional employees (219, 44.51% females and 273, 55.49% males) employed in two major industries in the United Kingdom. Our findings based on regression analysis show that work engagement mediates the relationship between perceived organizational support and employee creativity. In summary, employees who experience perceived organizational support will promote work engagement and employee creativity more so than employees with low levels of perceived organizational support. We contribute to knowledge by proposing an overall theoretical background to organizational support theory and the job demands-resources model by incorporating social exchange theory. To-date, very few studies have examined the role of work engagement in the relationship between perceived organizational support and employee creativity. While researchers know how perceived organizational support effects employees' commitment, productivity, satisfaction and turnover intention, this study concentrates on how perceived organizational support leads to employee creativity

Encouraging more creativity in organizations: the importance of employees’ intrinsic motivation and work engagement

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the contribution of perceived organizational support (POS), work engagement (WE) and intrinsic motivation (IM) on employee creativity (EC).Design/methodology/approachThis study conducted a questionnaire survey obtaining 370 respondents employed in the United Arab Emirates in 6 organizations operating in services industries. The authors test their hypothetical model based on regression analysis.FindingsThe main findings are that WE mediates the relationship between POS and EC. Further, the effect of POS on EC is moderated by IM. The results also indicated that the indirect effect of POS on EC through WE was moderated by IM. The path effect is stronger for employees with high IM.Originality/valueThis study sheds light on the effect of POS on EC through WE and IM in the workplace, making a significant contribution to the POS and EC literatures by offering insights on when and how IM and WE enhances EC

Extrinsic rewards for employee creativity? The role of perceived organisational support, work engagement and intrinsic motivation

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the relationship between extrinsic rewards and employee creativity through the intervening mechanism of perceived organisational support (POS) and work engagement. The moderating role of intrinsic motivation on the relationship between work engagement and employee creativity is also examined. Design/methodology/approach: The authors report the results of a survey completed by 372 respondents employed in the United Arab Emirates. Structural equation modelling was applied to test the hypothesised relationships. Findings: The main findings are that extrinsic rewards influence employee creativity through POS and work engagement. Moreover, the effect of work engagement on employee creativity is moderated by intrinsic motivation. This model effect is stronger for employees with high intrinsic motivation. Research limitations/implications: Convenience sampling was used, which limits its generalisability. Also, the data were collected through a cross-sectional survey at one point in time. Practical implications: Managers should consider provision of extrinsic rewards and support to increase employee motivation and engagement in creative work. Originality/value: This study contributes to the limited amount of available literature on creativity and rewards adding to our knowledge about the influence of extrinsic rewards on creativity considered in the presence of intrinsic motivation. Theoretical and practical recommendations are discussed