Effects of Individual and Team Monitoring on Employee Performance: Differential Outcomes Under Gainsharing and Traditional Pay

Agency and justice theories suggest that pay plans affect monitoring, but the effect of monitoring on job performance has not been studied. Using a new categorization of monitoring behavior (individual/team and observing/advising), this study shows that individual observational monitoring has a positive impact on performance appraisals under gainsharing and traditional pay situations. Team advisory monitoring, however, has a positive effect on performance, measured both by appraisals and suggestions submitted under gainsharing, but a negative effect on both behaviors under traditional pay

Fear: A Misunderstood Component of Organizational Transformation

Corporate transformations are being implemented by many organizations, however, successes are remarkably rare. This paper suggests that a contributing factor might be the ineffective use of fear in employee communications. Rather than reducing fear, companies can enhance the transformation process by harnessing fear to quickly change behavior. Protection motivation theory has been applied by marketing researchers to suggest that fear appeals containing strong threats and information on coping strategies can be successful in changing behavior. Human resource managers can be instrumental in designing effective communications that incorporate fear-inducing messages and information on coping strategies

Valuing Employees: A Success Strategy for Fast Growth Firms and Fast Paced Individuals

This research considers the effect of pace on employee and firm performance. Population ecology and protection motivation theory suggest that to achieve success in a fast paced environment, companies should create an environment where employees feel they are valued. The theories emphasize that both fast pace and value are needed for higher performance. In the first study, I find that firms placing high value on employees and growing at a faster pace achieve higher stock price growth. In the second study, I find that employees working at a faster pace and who feel valued are higher performers

Strategic and Administrative Human Resource Management (HRM): A Study of HRM Reporting in Entrepreneurial Firms

This paper reports the results of an exploratory study examining firm characteristics associated with choosing an administrative or strategic approach to HRM. Strategic HRM is defined as having a senior HRM executive who reports to the CEO, while administrative HRM is defined as having the HRM function report to a Vice President of Administration. Data are gathered from a cohort of firms that went public in 1993. The results show that different sets of characteristics are associated with each HRM reporting form, and analysis of stock price growth after the IPO demonstrates that the strategic HRM companies enjoy increasing stock price, while the administrative HRM firms have decreasing stock price. Implications for new forms of HRM in entrepreneurial firms are discussed

The Role of Distributive and Procedural Justice in Predicting Gainsharing Satisfaction

This paper tests three competing hypotheses on the relative importance of distributive and procedural justice in predicting satisfaction with productivity gainsharing. The analysis provides support for one of the hypotheses, which states that the payout will determine which type of fairness (procedural or distributive) is more predictive of gainsharing satisfaction

Individual Consequences of Monitoring Under Gainsharing: Expanding Agency Theory Predictions

Agency theory suggests that gainsharing produces changes in monitoring within teams, however, the implications of monitoring on individual behavior have not yet been examined. This research expands agency theory by exploring the behavioral implications of peer monitoring under gainsharing. Performance data from both individual workers and managers show that peer monitoring has either zero or positive effects on five categories of individual behavior. However, focus group, interview, and company generated survey data indicate the existence of concealment and perhaps retaliatory behaviors in response to gainsharing

Wall Street Likes its Women: An Examination of Women in the Top Management Teams of Initial Public Offerings

[Excerpt] As part of an overall research project exploring the determinants of initial public offering (IPO) firm success, I examine the effect of having women on the top management teams of IPO firms on the organizations’ short and long-term financial performance. Looking at three different samples, I found that trend data indicate IPO firms are gaining in the number of women they employ in their top management teams (where top management team is defined as those listed in the firm’s prospectus). The results of the study reported in this paper suggest one reason why the trend is growing; women appear to have a positive effect on the firms’ short-term performance (Tobin’s Q, which is market price to book value per share), three-year stock price growth, and growth in earnings per share

Pay for What Performance? Lessons From Firms Using the Role-Based Performance Scale

Companies strive for it; they spend incredible resources to achieve it, but in many cases, they fall short. Why is the relationship so important, why does it seem to be beyond the reach of so many organizations, and how can the relationship between pay and performance be improved? Those are the questions investigated in this paper. The method for exploring this question involves introduction of a new measure of performance and some preliminary evidence based on two different research studies. Although this work is at an early stage, the findings help contribute to important issues surrounding the pay-for-performance relationship

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tenure in Initial Public Offering (IPO) Firms: An Event History Analysis of the Determinants of Turnover

Relying on network theory and power dependence theory, we develop a series of hypotheses that focus on determinants of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) turnover in IPO firms. We studied CEOs who had been with their companies at the IPO with a sample of 120 firms. The results indicate that having outsiders on the board of directors, selling shares at the time of the IPO, and being a part-time CEO all increase the risk of CEO turnover. CEO tenure at the time of the IPO, however, reduces turnover. Contrary to what we expected, being the founder of the company has no effect on CEO turnover

Performance and Growth in Entrepreneurial Firms: What do Unions do?

This paper explores the effects of union presence on the performance of entrepreneurial firms in the mid-1990s (both at the initial public offering (IPO) and after the event). Contrary to prior studies, we find that within our sample, union presence raises Tobin’s q by 14.5 percent. For the critical outcomes of earnings growth and growth in share price, union presence raises earnings over three years by 10.1 percent and raises stock price by 15.7 percent. We interpret these findings using the exit/voice framework. We suspect that union bargaining power in the highly competitive environment of entrepreneurial firms is limited, and therefore, the union effects on compensation are also likely to be limited. In addition, we suspect that unions provide a mechanism for employee voice that constrains managerial prerogative in ways that reduce short-term decision-making and support longer term investment in human capital and the adoption of higher performing production systems