Free-riding and team performance in project education

This article derives lessons from the quality approach for further developing the organizational sustainability approach. Taking a responsibility perspective on organizational sustainability, four issues emerge that need to be resolved, i.e. what is the responsibility?, what is the responsibility area?, who is involved in determining responsibilities and area?, and, in what way is the organization able to take care of these responsibilities?. The article explores in what way the quality approach has been dealing with these issues, which is the basis for some lessons for the sustainability approach. An important lesson is that the who is involved question should be leading. The stakeholder who is willing to pay for sustainability dominates answering the other three issues. With respect to the accounting practices, sustainability programmes could be inspired by the same need for protective and accountable behaviour as quality programmes, if the well-known negative aspects are minimized.

The Structure and Management of Conflict: Fighting or Defending the Status Quo

Although conflict and negotiation studies have examined symmetrical structures in which both parties want change, or asymmetrical structures in which one party wants change and the other to maintain the status quo, no research provided a direct comparison of both structures. Two experiments were conducted to fill this void. Results show that in asymmetrical structures challengers engage in more problem solving and more contending, have less of a loss frame and perceive less control than defendants, and are perceived be less successful. In symmetrical structures, behavior and attitudes of parties are more alike and there is more reciprocation of problem solving and yielding. Furthermore, findings reveal that challengers see their defendant as less friendly and more dominant than defendants see their challengers. Finally, no evidence was obtained that social value orientation moderates these effects. Implications for conflict theory and research, and for third party interventions in symmetrical versus asymmetrical conflicts, are discussed

Ticket to ride : I-deals as a strategic HR tool for an employable work force

We describe how idiosyncratic deals (I-deals), in this case I-deals focused on workers' employability enhancement, can serve as a powerful strategic HR tool for simultaneously meeting both the strategic goals of employers and the career goals of employees. Building on a sustainable career perspective, I-deals are interpreted as highly valuable, as they can help individual employees to more easily adapt to the fast-changing environments that nowadays characterize society and the labor market. After theoretical outlines on the concepts of I-deals and employability, we argue that I-deals can form the basis for integrative employment relationships aimed at employability enhancement. This article concludes with concrete recommendations for practice, indicating that in order to enable the sound use of I-deals as a strategic HR tool, organizations should discuss I-deals and employability openly through constructive dialogue. Moreover, examples for achieving this through specific practices, such as working with employability coaches and world cafés on employability, are described. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2021 Van der Heijden, Nauta, Fugate, De Vos and Bozionelos.

Oog om oog en baas boven baas : interactiepatronen bij interpersoonlijk conflict op bureaucratische en organische organisatie-afdelingen

This dissertation is focused on interaction patterns in interpersonal conflict within organizations. Starting point is the interpersonal theory (IPT; Kiesler, 1983; Leary, 1957) that distinghuishes two dimensions to describe interpersonal (conflict) behavior, namely dominance-submissiveness and friendliness-hostility. Furthermore, with respect to interaction patterns, which exist when two people influence each other’s consecutive behaviors, IPT poses that dominance pulls submissiveness and vice versa (complementary interaction pattern), whereas friendliness leads to friendliness and hostility to hostility (symmetrical interaction pattern). Former research revealed insufficient evidence for complementary dominance-submissiveness, but amply sufficient evidence for symmetrical friendliness-hostility. Moreover, conflict behavior in organizations has never before been described and predicted with IPT. Therefore, the first goal of this dissertation was to test hypotheses about interaction patterns in interpersonal conflict within organizations. The second goal of this dissertation was to examine whether the micro phenomenon of conflict interaction is influenced by the macro phenomenon of organizational structure. Organizations can roughly be divided into bureaucratic systems, characterized by low decision participation and by relatively simple, standardized work, versus organic systems, characterized by high decision participation and by relatively complex work that is coordinated by means of mutual adjustment. Former research revealed communication differences between bureaucratic, non-participative systems and organic, participative systems. In organic systems, the communication climate is more open than in bureaucratic systems. Therefore, conflict handling is expected to be more open, assertive, and confrontative than in bureaucratic systems. However, ther are only a few studies of differences between bureaucratic and organic systems with respect to interaction patterns in interpersonal conflict. Another organization variable that probably influences conflict interaction is status difference. In accordance with findings from former research, it might be expected that high-status persons will show more dominant and more hostile conflict behavior than low-status persons. However, no specific predictions can be derived from former research about the influence of status difference upon interaction patterns in interpersonal conflict. The third goal of this dissertation was to gain insight into determinants of effective conflict management. On the basis of earlier research it can be stated that more dominant and more hostile conflict behavior is less effective. Once again, no direct indications can be derived from former research about the effectiveness of interaction patterns in interpersonal conflict.

Social cohesiveness and absenteeism: The relationship between characteristics of employees and short-term absenteeism

This study tries to explain the relationship between characteristics of the employees (e.g., gender and working hours) and short-term absenteeism by examining the social cohesiveness of a team. Hypotheses are formulated concerning gender and working hours of employees, social cohesiveness, and short-term absenteeism. To test these hypotheses, network data on 56 employees in 8 comparable teams within an organization were collected. The results show that similarity in gender and percentage of full-time employees within a team were positively related to the social cohesiveness of a team and that social cohesiveness is negatively related to short-term absenteeism