Engineering interaction:Structural change, locus of identification, and the formation and maintenance of cross-unit ties

Cross-unit ties-relationships that facilitate discretionary information sharing between individuals from different business units-offer a range of organizational benefits. Scholars argue that organizations can promote cross-unit ties by: (a) formally bringing together individuals from different business units into structural links (e.g., cross-unit strategic committees) to encourage the formation of new cross unit ties and, (b) transferring individuals across units, which can increase cross-unit interaction when ties to the prior unit are maintained. This study considers the notion that the success of these formal interventions in fostering cross-unit interaction is contingent on identification with the local unit relative to identification with the broader organization. Specifically, we propose that structural links are more likely to foster cross-unit ties when organizational identification is high and unit identification is low. In contrast, lateral transfers are more likely to result in cross-unit ties when both organizational identification and unit identification are high. We find general support for these propositions in data obtained from a sample of senior leaders of a Fortune 200 agribusiness company before and after a restructuring designed to stimulate cross-unit information sharing. Our model and results make important contributions to our understanding of the relationship between formal and informal structure and reconcile conflicting views regarding the moderating effect of unit identification on intergroup relations

Accounting for reciprocity in negotiation and social exchange

People generally adhere to the norm of reciprocity during both tacit and negotiated exchange. Emotional responses generated from profitable and unprofitable exchange facilitate the formation of motives to settle scores with others. In two studies we examine how exchange incidents trigger positive and negative emotional responses, bargaining behavior, and process. In Study 1, we developed measures of emotional response toward the counterpart that can index the state of relational accounts between parties. In a complex, multi-issue negotiation, The measures show that prior profitable or unprofitable exchange experiences shifted affect and individual social motives, as well as initial bargaining positions. In Study 2, shifts in relational accounts altered the bargaining process and subsequent implementation of agreements. The relational accounting concept represents an important link for understanding how negotiation functions as a sub-process in the wider stream of social exchange

Smart Healthcare Digitalization: Using ICT to Effectively Balance Exploration and Exploitation within Hospitals

Most of the literature on healthcare digitalization is focused on the benefits, the barriers and the determinants of the adoption of ICT-based solutions within hospitals. Little is understood about how hospital digitalization can be accomplished or how this digitalization fosters an increase in hospital performance — both in terms of quality improvement and cost rationalization — by ambidextrously combining the exploration and exploitation of hospital assets. This paper sheds a preliminary light on the topic, identifying a set of action-oriented propositions for smart healthcare digitalization within hospitals