Türkiye’de yönetim modalarının firma içi uyarlanma sürecini anlamak: Aktörler, moda etkileşimleri ve çevre ülke konumu

Çalışmada dört farklı yönetim modasının –Toplam Kalite Yönetimi, Altı Sigma, Yalın Üretim ve Kurumsal Karne– Türkiye’deki firma içi uyarlanma süreçleri incelenmekte ve uyarlama sürecine katılan aktörlerin yeni modaların farkına nasıl vardıkları ve birden fazla modayı aynı anda nasıl uyguladıklarına odaklanılmaktadır. Bulgular, Türkiye bağlamında modaların farkına varma ve uygulama safhasında merkez ülkelerdekinin aksine, talep yönlü etkilerin ve özellikle de, işletme grupları veya çokuluslu firmalarla geliştirilmiş sahiplik bağlarının etkili olabileceğini göstermektedir. Ayrıca, bazı firmaların birden fazla modayı sentetik araç, süreç ve/veya rol tanımları üzerinden harmanladıkları anlaşılırken, bazı firmaların ise modalara ilişkin süreç, rol ve faaliyetleri birbirinden ayrıştırdıkları ve dönemsel olarak bir veya fazlasını diğerlerine oranla önceliklendirdikleri görülmüştür.Publisher's Versio

Explaining adoption of management innovations in less advanced settings: evidence from Turkey

This study aims to explain how globally circulating management innovations are adopted by the firms operating in less advanced settings based on an integrative framework. The framework incorporates certain characteristics of national business systems, particular inter-organizational ties developed with transnational or local carriers, and the potential absorptive capacity of the local organizations. By this way, it includes the effects of temporal interactions between different adoption decisions. The components of the framework are operationalized and tested within the Turkish setting by using the adoption data of three different management innovations: TQM, six sigma and lean production. The data is collected from a sample of 375 large-sized firms using a telephone-based interview protocol. While the findings provide satisfactory support for the framework as a whole, they also call attention to the relative differences in the explanatory power of each factor in accounting for the adoption of particular innovations. Variations among the explanatory factors can be attributed to the differences between the life-cycles of TQM, six sigma and lean production as well as to the relative divergence of their conceptual framing

Reconciling History and Organization Theory: Challenges and Prospects of a Hermeneutical Program of Inquiry

One of the hottest debates in the past two decades in the business history domain seems to revolve around as to whether organizational theory and history can be reconciled in such a way that one does not prevail over the other. Although recent suggestions display a potential to guide business history scholars, further elaboration on the relationship between history and organization theory is required due to the increasing expectations for theoretical contribution by toptier journals. In this study, we try to reveal the potential contributions of the hermeneutical research method to the above-mentioned debate by unfolding the ontological, epistemological, and methodological similarities between history as a distinct discipline and hermeneutical philosophy. Moreover, with the aim of contributing to the relevant literature, our study lays out the issues that need special consideration while applying the hermeneutical method in business history research

Türkiye’de iş dünyası için ilk ‘işletme’ dergisi: işletme – işletme ekonomisi ve organizasyon mecmuası

Bu makalede, 1943-1948 yılları arasında yayımlanmış, işletme konularında uygulama dünyasına yönelik Türkiye’deki ilk dergi olan İşletme incelenmektedir. İnceleme, dergideki yazıların büyük bölümünün dayanağını Almanya’dan ithal edilen işletme iktisadı disiplininin oluşturduğunu, ancak bu gelenek dışından gelen bazı makalelerin de bulunduğunu göstermektedir. İş dünyasına ulaşma, uygulamacı yazarlara ve pratik bilgiler gösterme iddiasındaki yazılara yer vererek sağlanmaya çalışılmıştır. Bir yandan da, öğütlenen ilke ve usullerin daha fazla kazanç getireceği, sağlayacakları rasyonelleşmenin milli bir mesele olduğu, savaş sonrası ortamın rasyonelliği zorunlu kılacağı gibi söylemlere başvurulmuştur. İnceleme ayrıca, dergi yoluyla, başta “işletmeci” kavramı etrafında olmak üzere, girişilen meslekleşme mücadelesini de aktarmaktadır. Makale, yaklaşık 20 yıl kadar sonra yayımlanan benzer bir dergiye de değinerek, uygulama dünyasını etkileme meseleleri üzerine bir tartışmayla son bulmaktadır

Affective components of organizational commitment: A comprehensive structural equations model in a public sector organization

Örgütsel bağlılık, yazında bugüne dek çok araştırılmasına rağmen hem bağlam duyarlılığı hem de belirleyicileri ve sonuçları açısından karmaşıklığı nedeniyle hala ilgi toplayan bir araştırma başlığıdır. Çalışmamızın amacı, örgütsel bağlılığın duygusal bileşenlerinin belirleyicilerinden sayılan “iş tatmini” ve “genel yaşam tatmini” gibi faktörler ve sonucu sayılabilecek “örgütsel performans algısı” ve “ayrılma niyeti” gibi diğer faktörlerle eş anlı etkileşimini bir model çerçevesinde sınamaktır. Öncelikle yazın incelemesinden duygu tabanlı örgütsel bağlılığın belirleyicileri ve sonuçları sentezlenerek bir kuramsal model geliştirilmiş, geliştirilen bu modeldeki nedensellik ilişkileri önsavlara dönüştürülmüştür. Bu kuramsal modelin tamamını ve faktörler arası etkileşimleri eş anlı olarak test edebilmek için yapısal denklem modelleme yönteminden faydalanılmış ve AMOS 4.0 yazılım programı kullanılarak test modelleri geliştirilmiştir. Geliştirilen modeller bir kamu kuruluşunda çalışan 752 memur personelden soru formu yoluyla toplanan veriler üzerinde sınanmıştır. Kuramsal modelde duygusal tabanlı örgütsel bağlılık için öngörülen kompozit faktör yapısı veri setine tam uymayınca iki faktörlü çözüme geçilmiş, elde edilen iki faktör “duygusal aidiyet” ve “sadakat” olarak adlandırılmıştır. Çift faktörlü yapı belirleyicilik ve sonuçlar açısından test amaçlı yapısal denklem modellerine dahil edildiğinde bulgular bazı önsavları tamamen, bazılarını kısmen desteklemiş, bazılarını ise hiç desteklememiştir. “İş tatmini”, “duygusal aidiyet” ve “sadakat” arasındaki ilişkilerin yön ve şiddeti konusunda bu kavramlar arasındaki yoğun çoklu bağlantılar nedeniyle berrak bir değerlendirme yapmak zorlaşmıştır. Buna rağmen denilebilir ki “iş tatmini” genel olarak “duygusal aidiyet” ve “sadakat”i, bu ikisinin iş tatminini belirleme düzeyinden çok daha fazla belirliyor görünümdedir. İşinden tatmin olan bir kamu çalışanı özellikle örgüte karşı duygusal aidiyet geliştirmekte ve bu duygusal aidiyet sadakate yol açmaktadır. Ayrıca, yazındaki bulgulara benzer şekilde sadakatin ayrılma niyetini azalttığı, iş tatmininin ise örgütsel performans algısını arttırdığı gözlemlenmiştir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Örgütsel bağlılık, iş tatmini, ayrılma niyeti, yapısal denklem modelleri.Organizational commitment construct has attained widespread attention from the organizational scholars during the last three decades. Yet, its close relations to other organizational attitudes and behaviors have rendered its causal identification quite complicated. Besides, many recent studies have indicated that the concept might reveal different characteristics in different contexts. Thus, this study attempts to identify and explain the affective component of organizational commitment with regard to a set of correlated organizational attitudes in a Turkish public sector organization. In order to achieve a reliable and causally robust analysis only the affective component of organizational commitment was analyzed. A thorough literature survey was performed to synthesize a theoretical model about the causal linkages of the construct. According to this survey, one of the most important correlates of organizational commitment is job satisfaction and organizational performance. Therefore, job satisfaction and perceived organizational performance was included in the model with two-way causal paths. Life satisfaction was found to be strongly correlated to job satisfaction and thus integrated to the theoretical model. The last construct included in the model was intent-to-leave. Five testable hypotheses were constituted to test the causal paths between the main constructs of the model. As method, we designed self-administrative questionnaires to measure these organizational attitudes. Questionnaire items were developed based on reliable scales for each construct but adapted to the Turkish and public sector domain. We ran a pilot sample and rechecked validity and reliability of our measures. Then we proceeded to apply our questionnaire to the whole civil servant population of a public sector organization. The total of returned questionnaires were 752 (approx. 90% of population), and due to missing values we ended up with 704 usable observations. Before testing our hypothesis, we started to examine the reliability and validity of our constructs. We used Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) method and Cronbach's Alpha for testing construct reliability. EFA did not load on a composite factor for affective organizational commitment scale but supported a two-factor solution. Since this was not expected, a confirmatory factor analysis was run to verify this solution. We found considerable support for a two-factor solution of affective organizational commitment construct, which we named "affective belongingness" and "loyalty" respectively. Having confirmed our measures, as a next step, the theoretical model was moved to AMOS 4.0 program to test the whole model simultaneously. Structural Equations Modeling (SEM) technique enables testing of multiple latent (unobserved) constructs and their interactions, using simultaneous structural equations derived from observed variables. Using SEM, we tested our theoretical model but due to the complex two-way interactions between key constructs, two test models were needed to account for all hypothesized relations. The first test model's overall fit, determined by  2 and GFI, was deemed acceptable, but some of the causal paths were observed as insignificant. The second test model fitted poorly to the data and again some paths were found to have insignificant scores. An optimum model with all paths significant and a good overall fit was produced and designated. Test models using SEM revealed that job satisfaction determined affective belongingness and by being emotionally attached to their organizations, public sector civil servants became more loyal. On the other hand, as predicted, loyal civil servants became less inclined to leave their organization. Yet, there were no statistically significant causal relations between affective based commitment and perceived organizational performance. However, test models indicated that the more satisfied the employees became the more inclined they were to rate their organization as performing well. Also, job satisfaction was found to determine life satisfaction more, even though the reverse is also statistically true. Thus, we conclude that job satisfaction has become even more critical a factor for public organizations to create loyal and emotionally charged employees. To increase satisfaction not just tangible categories such as pay system count but also good administrative capabilities matter. Keywords: Organizational commitment, job satisfaction structural equations model, intent-to-leave

Bus type selection with fuzzy approach for public transportation

There is tightening political pressure on cities to publish zero-emission strategies to decrease greenhouse emissions. To achieve these targets, decreasing public transportation emissions has become critical. There are different types of green transportation such as electric, compressed natural gas, hydrogen, biofuel, etc. This study develops a model regarding a holistic view that not only focuses on economic and operational conditions but also on business and strategy to decide the best bus type for public transportation for Istanbul metropolitan area. To handle the vagueness and complexity of the problem, the Spherical Fuzzy AHP method is applied to the model, as the method can handle three membership functions, which are membership, non-membership, and hesitancy. Also, to compare the results a classical AHP is performed with the same data. Results show that the diesel bus type stands out as the best option for both methods regarding the chosen criteria for Istanbul. The others varied with respect to methods. This study sheds light on results that could vary regarding the country’s context such as economic, social, and political factors. Although there are lots of studies on vehicle selection problems by applying multi-criteria decision-making methods, many of them have not utilized Spherical Fuzzy Set. To test the proposed model, a real case study is conducted. From this point, this study will not only contribute to the literature but also inform decision-makers and practitioners in terms of prioritizing their selection criteria

Convergence or Divergence among Business Models of Public Bus Transport Authorities across the Globe: A Fuzzy Approach

Building on the debate about global convergence or divergence of practices, this study aims to query the viability of a new strategic action tool specifically geared to the interests of public bus transportation authorities (PBTA) around the globe and explore the degree of homogeneity in their responses as well as the possible drivers of them. To answer its research question, the study first offers a generic business model design for a PBTA, which integrates an extended version of the business model canvas with external environmental factors in order to enhance its sustainability. Subsequently, the importance attributions of international transportation experts to different model components are evaluated by using the Spherical Fuzzy AHP method. The model is developed in three hierarchical layers and evaluated by experts from four continents: America, Asia, Australia, and Europe. The results indicate that the expert opinions tend to converge more on the internal components of the model and diverge on the external components, especially regarding economic and technological factors. A strategic response action set is also designed to facilitate the adoption of the model by PBTA. The study not only extends the research on the strategic management of the public bus transportation domain but also contributes to the convergence and divergence debate by offering a reconciliatory duality perspective