How Unjust! An Experimental Investigation of Supervisors' Evaluation Errors and Agents' Incentives

In our simple model the supervisor: i) cannot observe the agent's effort; ii) aims at inducing the agent to exert high effort; but iii) can only offer rewards based on performance. Since performance is only stochastically related to effort, evaluation errors may occur. In particular, deserving agents that have exerted high effort may not be rewarded (Type I errors) and undeserving agents that have exerted low effort may be rewarded (Type II errors). We show that, although the model predicts both errors to be equally detrimental to performance, this prediction fails with a lab experiment. In fact, failing to reward deserving agents is significantly more detrimental than rewarding undeserving agents. We discuss our result in the light of some economic and managerial theories of behavior. Our result may have interesting implications for strategic human resource management and personnel economics and may also contribute to the debate about incentives and organizational performance.agency theory, organizational justice, compensation, type I and type II errors, real effort

THE MATRIX: TECHNO-HUMAN ACTORS AND SPECIAL EFFECTS AS A VEHICLE FOR IS RESEARCH DISSEMINATION

A variety of theoretical foundations and methodologies populate the IS field of research. At odds, there is a general uniformity in the ways of presenting the outcome of research. As a result, traditional empirical research structures and wording may inadequately conveys research results to the relevant audience or undermine the potential impact of IS studies. To overcome such limitations, alternative genres of research are sought. In our paper, we posit that albeit narratives and ethnographies have been somewhat applied in IS, a promising genre is offered by modern cinematography, as popular movies and their screenplays can offer an understandable and yet explicative frame to discuss IS related issues and to develop a sort of situated knowledge and critical observation. We offer an example of this representation analysing the information infrastructures and sensemaking processes by means of the popular movie “The Matrix”

L'outsourcing nella sanit\ue0

Il ricorso all’esternalizzazione si inquadra tradizionalmente in politiche di conte- nimento di costi e ricerca dell’efficienza da parte delle imprese, configurandolo come una pratica aziendale virtuosa, attraverso la quale si attua la gestione strate- gica dei processi aziendali. Di converso, nei settori di pubblica utilità, l’impiego di politiche di esternalizzazione ha dato luogo a dibattiti controversi. In particolare, per quanto riguarda la sanità pubblica, le scelte di esternalizzazione sono coerenti con una più generale trasformazione verso la managerializzazione delle aziende ospedaliere, non sempre e non da tutti giudicata positivamente

Caring more by doing less: An enquiry about the impact of outsourcing on patient care

This paper presents a report dealing with the potential impact of outsourcing on health care processes. By referring to a wider scope of industries and sectors, as they have been the experimental fields of most of the studies on outsourcing, we highlight the pros and cons of the outsourcing of activities related to patient care. Although the lack of empirical evidence, this paper intend to show and contextualize the (yet) ambiguous effects of relying on external partners in delivering services which are related to the health of patients. We argue that the seek for efficiency might sometimes hinder the global outcome of care; further we state that given the peculiar nature of the healthcare, outsourcing need to be used within a wider strategic analysis of the activities and thus organizations should carefully identify the threshold for its extension

Lenient performance evaluations cause less damage than severe ones

Both hurt employee performance, but severity errors impact the perception of organisational justice, write Lucia Marchegiani, Tommaso Reggiani and Matteo Rizzoll

Revitalising the Outsourcing Discourse within the Boundaries of Firms Debate

Despite outsourcing has been at the core of managerial practice and literature for a long time, still authors do not agree on a clear understanding of the overall outsourcing process. This article answers two main questions, relevant to researchers and practitioners: 1.What are the main findings so far in outsourcing literature? 2. What do we still need to learn? Through a comprehensive review of the literature, we offer systematization of the existent body of knowledge on outsourcing, its implications on firms’ boundaries, and the theoretical challenges. In conclusion, implications for managers are drawn

Business outcomes of outsourcing: lessons from management research

Outsourcing has been broadly recognized as an important strategic choice made by companies and other organizations to achieve a wide variety of goals. Many studies have focused on the economic and financial impacts and on the relationship between outsourcers and outsourcees. This chapter offers a comprehensive overview of actual outsourcing outcomes found in management research, including impacts on human capital. Analysis of the evidence on outsourcing in the OECD STAN database (OECD 2011: 1970-2009) shows that both the number of transactions (deals) and their scope (activities involved) have increased constantly during the last 20 years. Over time, outsourcing popularity peaks have coincided with certain trends, such as business process reengineering, strategic focusing on core business, outsourcing/offshoring strategies, shared services and corporate downsizing (e.g. Brunetta and Peruffo 2014). Furthermore, as recent research shows, companies are expeditiously outsourcing non-core business processes and functions in order to maximize their profits. Business profits can be increased through reducing costs and/or via acquiring external sources of strategic differentiation (e.g. higher-quality raw materials or distinctive expertise/competences able to improve the overall quality of products and services, enabling companies to sell them at higher prices) (De Fontenay and Gans 2008; Gospel and Sako 2010; Angeli and Grimaldi 2010; Doellgast and Gospel 2012; Giustiniano et al. 2014). In such a scenario, multinational companies (MNCs) have a wider range of opportunities for outsourcing and offshoring activities due to their scope and international presence. On the other hand, MNCs are exposed to possible changes in employee relations models in the diverse labour markets in which they operate (Marginson and Meardi 2006; Sippola 2011). At company level, the decision to outsource activities is linked to expected structural and strategic changes which can be assessed through the adoption of a long-term perspective. While immediate results are related to purely economic assessments, long-term effects are more strategic and made up of opportunities (e.g. focus on core competencies and pursuit of greater higher specialization) and drawbacks (e.g. less strategic flexibility). Nevertheless, in a company\u2019s strategic plans, management focus is generally on the short-term results due to the (shorter, expected) timespan of their individual assignments and the contingent pressures of shareholders and financial markets. The short-term nature of outsourcing assessments is also a traditional argument used by trade unions and emphasized by the widening geographic scope of outsourcing and offshoring. While unions have been traditionally considered as opposing outsourcing and offshoring (e.g. Lommerud, Meland and Straume 2009), more recent studies have detected a significant shift from resistance to proactive strategies (Ramioul and De Bruyn 2006). Similarly, MNCs embracing outsourcing are better able to interpret the differences existing in national cultures, business practices, workplace representation systems and collective bargaining structures (Anner et al. 2006; Doellgast and Gospel 2012; Pulignano and Doerflinger 2013), contributing to a better local strategic responsiveness in their local subsidiaries (Almond et al. 2005; Arrowsmith and Marginson 2006; Bartlett and Ghoshal 1992). The aim of this chapter is to illustrate the main findings on the expected outcomes as reported in management and financial literature. To achieve this, the chapter explains a number of management paradoxes related to outsourcing, as well as how companies relate to their stakeholders. Management paradoxes referred to include: a) the paradox of financial and economic vs. strategic and organizational outcomes; and b) the time paradox. The chapter draws on previous research conducted on outsourcing antecedents, processes and outcomes, both in general (Marchegiani et al., 2012) and applied to specific activities within the value chain (Gospel and Sako 2010; Doellgast and Gospel 2012; Giustiniano et al. 2014; Brunetta, Giustiniano and Marchegiani 2014; Sorrentino et al. 2015). The focus is on analysing the \u2018lessons learned\u2019 reported in management and financial literature to nurture implementation strategies, for use by workers representatives (e.g., Benassi 2011). Among these lessons, it seems useful to affirm that in order to maximise the positive outcomes of outsourcing strategies, organizations have to take into account all the human implications of outsourcing, such as the effects on workers and their representatives. To illustrate this, the investigation on the outsourcing outcomes will be complemented by an analysis of certain aspects related to organizational design (i.e. company boundaries, coordination mechanisms) and labour issues (i.e. human reactions: resistance to change, hidden costs and the loss of competences and competitive advantage)

Learning in an Agile Setting: A Multilevel Study on the Evolution of Organizational Routines

Recognizing a serious lack of research on routinized individual actions and organizational adaptation in the stability-change paradox, we intend to provide an in-depth explanation of the way in which agile methods affect organizational learning in self-managed, team-based organizations, taking a multi-level evolutionary approach. We explore learning in agile organizations by breaking the analysis of organizational routines down into different levels \u2013 individual, team and organization \u2013 and describing the process of variation, selection and retention of routines at each level. Leveraging on multiple case studies, we discuss how team members learn and gain knowledge, from both direct and indirect experience, and analyze how teams develop conceptual frameworks and interpret those experiences. Finally, we discuss how organizational memory develops and how teams in agile organizations adapt simultaneously within an ecological structure that also comprises the changing environment. Our findings reveal substantial flaws in the capacity of agile methods to foster organizational learning

J.D. Thompson’s Organizations in Action 50th anniversary: a reflection

At the 50th anniversary of James D. Thompson’s fundamental book, Organizations in Action, TAO Digital Library proposes a reflection on this great master’s legacy and the evolution of organizational studies. Twelve researchers, from different disciplinary fields, analyze both the texts utilized for teaching and the contribution of several important journals, particularly in recent decades. The outcome is an overall picture that may stimulate different, divergent evaluations and, even more importantly, desirable, deeper reflections