Debate : towards a more comprehensive understanding of ritualized bureaucracy in digitalized public organizations

Often, technology enforces new types of red tape to abolish older forms of red tape (Peled, 2001, p. 424).Rules and regulations that require follow up, but serve no direct functional purpose—referred to in the literature on ritualized bureaucracy as ‘red tape’—afflict public organizations worldwide (Bozeman, 2012; Kaufmann et al., 2018; Lodge & Wegrich, 2009). While many rules and regulations have their merits, red tape limits the available space for innovative ideas, deteriorates the organizational culture and weighs in on employees’ work satisfaction and their intention to continue working for the organization (George et al., forthcoming).So are public organizations powerless against red tape? Many thought a solution was within reach with the introduction of information and communication technologies (ICT) in public organizations. Expectations were that red tape would be eradicated, or at least severely reduced (Kim et al., 2014). However, despite significant investments in ICT (Mergel et al., 2019), red tape remains a pathology in digitalized public organizations. This comes as no surprise, given Bozeman and Youtie’s (2020) warning about the risk of ICT not reducing, but ‘automating’ red tape through bureaucratic software. Indeed, nowadays, compliance to (dys)functional rules and procedures occurs digitally, supported by ICT or other technologies. Think about ill-designed, outdated, e-portals curtailing leeway for personnel administration; the panoply of steps for travel cost reimbursements and tax filing; or the endless lists of PDF manuals and hard-to-find forms on intranets

Challenged by great expectations? Examining cross-level moderations and curvilinearity in the public sector job demands–resources model

This article extends the job demands–resources model in the public sector by including (a) cross-level (moderation) effects of job demands and resources, (b) positive and nonlinear effects of job demands, and (c) vitality as a key work engagement concept. Data on expected contributions and developmental rewards in public university colleges (n = 65 teams and n = 219 employees) reveals that individual-level higher expected contributions are associated with higher performance, mediated by vitality. This mediation is stronger in the presence of more team-level developmental rewards, suggesting a cross-level moderated mediation. We find indications for curvilinear effects of expected contributions. Contrary to expectations, these effects do not show inverted U shapes, but rather exponential relations. Our results contribute to “bringing in a psychological perspective” in public administration and suggest that public leaders could apply the job demands–resources model as a practical tool and vitality as a metric to create healthy and effective work environments

Leader psychological need satisfaction trickles down:The role of leader-member exchange

This article addresses the impact of leader psychological need satisfaction on employees. We draw on the self-determination theory (SDT) and leader-member exchange (LMX) theory to investigate if and how leader psychological need satisfaction trickles down to employee psychological need satisfaction. Adopting a multi-actor, multilevel design, results from 1036 leader–employee dyads indicate that employee-rated LMX mediates the trickle-down effect of leader psychological need satisfaction. Additional analyses of leader psychological needs show that leader competence is the main psychological need that underlying this relationship. We also found an unexpected negative association between leader autonomy need satisfaction and employee competence need satisfaction. Overall, this study shows the importance of both (1) leaders’ psychological need satisfaction and (2) employee perceptions of the relationship quality for employee psychological need satisfaction

Fostering societal impact and job satisfaction : the role of performance management and leader-member exchange

Performance management (PM) can alienate employees from experiencing societal impact. This is problematic since societal impact influences employees' job satisfaction. To avoid such unintended effects, we investigate two conditions under which PM could instead benefit the societal impact and job satisfaction of employees: consistency and leader-member exchange. Results show consistent PM fosters job satisfaction, mediated by societal impact and moderated by leader-member exchange. Public organizations should streamline expectations communicated through PM and constructive leader relationships could reinforce this process. By examining the conditions under which PM can avoid unintended effects on employees, we add to the debate on PM effectiveness

Prestatiemanagement in het Hoger Onderwijs:Naar meer aandacht voor leiderschap, welzijn en jongere medewerkers

This paper deals with the question of how we can improve performance management systems in higher education institutions. Performance management systems are defined as configurations of complementary human resource management (HRM) practices that enable organizations to set goals, give feedback and evaluate the efforts of their employees. Higher education institutions have adopted performance management systems to manage their staff more efficiently and effectively against the backdrop of challenges like democratization, marketization and public accountability. However, in higher education institutions, such systems often result in unintended effects on academic employees’ well-being and performances. Like burnout, reduced innovation and lower team performances. This particularly applies to non-professorial higher education staff. In response, scholars have started to inquire into the ‘success conditions’, particular conditions under which the unintended effects of performance management systems can be avoided or reversed. Drawing on four empirical studies, this paper examined how and when performance management systems yield positive outcomes for the well-being and performance of academic employees in higher education institutions. The findings show that performance management systems have positive synergies with both employees’ well-being and performances (mutual gains). In addition, leaders are observed to be key supporters of performance management systems. However, they should not be regarded as a panacea, as our findings also seem to suggest a more complex interplay. Such findings contrast with the dysfunctional effects of performance management systems as described in higher education literature. However, it is important to remain critical. The main message is that academic employees’ personal perceptions of performance management implementation are a force to be reckoned with in striving for healthy and performant academic employees. Therefore, the subsequent challenge moves to managing those perceptions and building academic leaders

Challenged by great expectations?:Examining cross-level moderations and curvilinear influences in the public sector job demands-resources model

This article extends the job demands–resources model in the public sector by including (a) cross-level (moderation) effects of job demands and resources, (b) positive and non-linear effects of job demands and (c) vitality as a key work engagement concept. Data on expected contributions and developmental rewards in public university colleges (n= 65 teams, n = 219 employees) reveals individual-level higher expected contributions are associated with higher performance, mediated by vitality. This mediation is stronger in the presence of more team-level developmental rewards, suggesting a cross-level moderated mediation. We find indications for curvilinear effects of expected contributions. Contrary to expectations, these effects do not show inverted U-shapes, but rather exponential relations. Our results contribute to ‘bringing in a psychological perspective’ in public administration and suggest public leaders could apply the job demands resources model as a practical tool and vitality as a metric to create healthy and effective work environments

Needs before deeds:Psychological need satisfaction as a mechanism linking inclusive leadership to organizational citizenship behavior

Purpose:Drawing upon self-determination theory (SDT) and the proactive motivation model, this study examined how inclusive leadership is related to organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) through psychological need satisfaction (PNS). Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from a large Dutch private company in the financial sector (N = 264) and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings: Inclusive leadership positively influenced all three PNS dimensions (autonomy, competence and relatedness). Both autonomy and relatedness fully mediated the relationship between inclusive leadership and OCB. However, this was not the case for competence, although additional analyses revealed the serial mediation of all three PNS dimensions.Originality/value: By highlighting the mediating role of PNS, this study contributes to the inclusive leadership literature by helping unravel the underlying process through which leaders influence team outcomes. The findings emphasize the importance of inclusive leaders in satisfying employees' individual psychological needs, so that they can redirect their attention toward prosocial behaviors.</p