Business Commons^™

An Investigation Of Authentic Leadership's Individual And Group Influences On Follower Responses, Carol Gill, Arran Caza

Carol Gill

In this study, we investigated and clarified aspects of the multilevel nature of Authentic Leadership (AL) and its effects on followers. Specifically, we hypothesized that AL would have distinct effects through both personalized AL (P_AL), which is a leader’s direct effect on a follower, and through generalized AL (G_AL), which is a leader’s indirect or group-based effect on a follower as a result of leadership effects among the follower’s coworkers. These hypotheses were consistent with a complete review of the empirical literature on AL’s effects and the results from a sample of leaders and followers working in a large multinational …

Union Presence, Employee Relations And High Performance Work Practices, Carol Gill, Denny Myer

Carol Gill

Purpose – To investigate the relationship between unions, employee relations and the adoption of High Performance Work Practices (HPWP). Design/methodology/approach – This study uses survey data collected from the senior members of the HRM function in 1789 large Australian organisations. Findings – We found that unions, when coupled with good employee relations, facilitate the adoption of HPWP and consequently have a positive impact on organisational competitiveness, contradicting the simplistic notion that unions are ‘bad for business’ Research limitations/implications – This study used cross sectional survey data from HRM managers, who whilst being the best single source of information, may have …

The Role Of Leadership In Successful International Mergers And Acquisitions: Why Renault-Nissan Succeeded And Daimlerchrysler-Mitsubishi Failed., Carol Gill

Carol Gill

This paper compares and contrasts the Renault-Nissan and DaimlerChrysler Mitsubishi mergers to consider the relative and combined effects of national and organizational culture on the performance of Nissan and Mitsubishi. It also examines the reasons why the Renault-Nissan merger was successful and the Daimler-Chrysler merger failed. It finds that Japanese national culture influenced organizational culture and HRM practices which created organizations that had no sense of urgency, profit orientation and accountability and led to poor market and financial performance. It also finds that leadership was a major factor impacting on the success of the turnaround efforts of these two organizations. …

The Role And Impact Of Hrm Policy, Carol Gill, Denny Meyer

Carol Gill

Purpose – This study seeks to investigate the role and impact of HRM policy, and the gap between policy and practice, on organizations and their employees. It looks at the role that soft policy plays in obscuring hard practice and considers the impact of unions and HRM role on policy. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses survey data collected from senior members of the HRM function in 189 large Australian organizations. Findings – The research found a gap between policy and practice with soft policy being used more often than soft practice. This gap had a negative impact on outcomes. Strategic …

The Impact Of Japanese Culture On Inter And Intra Organization Supply Chains, Carol Gill

Carol Gill

Asian Practices Can Get Lost In Translation, Carol Gill

Carol Gill

From Nissan we learn that organisational culture can become independent of the influences of national culture with effective leadership.

Don't Get Mad, Get Psychological Flexibility, Carol Gill

Carol Gill

No abstract provided.

Union Impact On The Effective Adoption Of High Performance Work Practices, Carol Gill

Carol Gill

This paper examines the literature and research on unions relevant to the effective adoption of High Performance Work Practices and demonstrates that unions that have a cooperative relationship with management can play an important role in overcoming barriers to the effective adoption of practices that have been linked to organizational competitiveness through the development and application of human capital. In particular, unions have the unique advantage of delivering independent voice that can not be substituted by management. Not only can unions make a contribution to organization competitiveness but they can also ensure that employees benefit from High Performance Work Practice …

How Unions Impact On The State Of The Psychological Contract To Facilitate The Adoption Of New Work Practices, Carol Gill

Carol Gill

This article draws together empirical research in the psychological contract, trust, unions and NWP literatures to draw conclusions on the way in which unions impact on NWP. It finds that strong unions that have a co-operative relationship with management prevent and heal breaches in the psychological contract and facilitate a virtuous trust cycle that is important to the implementation of NWP. This has significant implications for theory and practice, particularly in anti-union institutional contexts that are focused on union avoidance, suppression and substitution.

High And Low Road Approaches To The Management Of Human Resources: An Examination Of The Relationship Between Business Strategy, Human Resource Management And High Performance Work Practices, Carol Gill, Denny Meyer

Carol Gill

The Contingency approach to human resource management leads to the hypothesis that High Performance Work Practices (HPWP) are more compatible with ‘High Road’ business strategies that emphasize product differentiation through quality and innovation. More traditional human resource management is better suited to ‘Low Road’ business strategies that emphasise cost control and competition based primarily on price. Using data collected from a sample of 179 large Australian workplaces we tested the contingencies that influence HPWP implementation and impact. Our results support the Contingency approach in that High Road organisations are more likely to adopt HPWP and the Universal approach in that …

The Relationship Between New Work Practices, Trust And Unions, Carol Gill

Carol Gill

This paper examines extant theory and empirical research on new work methods, employee voice, employee trust and unions to draw conclusions on the relationship between these constructs and make recommendations for future empirical research. It found that trust is an important antecedent of new work methods and that union collective voice when coupled with collaborative industrial relations enhances employee trust which facilitates the successful adoption of new work methods and delivers sustainable competitive advantage. This refutes the proposition that unions are a threat to productivity which leads management respond with union avoidance and suppression. This paper has implications for management …

How Unions Impact On The State Of The Psychological Contract To Facilitate The Adoption Of New Work Practices, Carol Gill

Carol Gill

This article draws together extant knowledge from the psychological contract, trust, union and new work practices (NWP) literature to develop a model on how union presence impacts on the effective adoption of NWP. It proposes that the strength of unions, coupled with the quality of industrial relations, determines whether unions will have a positive or negative impact on NWP. Unions can have a positive impact on the adoption of NWP by reducing the gap between management rhetoric and reality through employee voice and workforce stability. This builds trust between management and employees creating a virtuous cycle that can mitigate contract …

The Impact Of Culture On Inter And Intra Organization Supply Chains At Nissan, Carol Gill

Carol Gill

This paper examines how national and organizational culture influences supply chain management. To do this it reports on the case of Nissan Motor Company and finds that Japanese national culture had a significant impact on Nissan’s inter organizational supply chain. In addition to this, national culture influenced organizational culture which had a substantive impact on Nissan’s intra organizational supply chain. This article also analyses how Nissan was able to integrate its internal supply chain through culture change that successfully introduced Anglo business and human resource management practices into a Confusion Asian culture. It concludes that Nissan's organization culture had a …

A Review Of The Critical Perspective On Human Resource Management, Carol Gill

Carol Gill

Implementing An Employee Survey That Is Linked To Business Strategy, Carol Gill

Carol Gill

Employee Surveys And Hrm Strategy, Carol Gill

Carol Gill

This article demonstrates that employee surveys can be an important strategic tool but poor implementation can diminish their value. Specifically surveys should be linked to Business Strategy and have actionable outcomes.

Psychological Testing: Rogues, Romance And Roadside Assistance, Carol Gill

Carol Gill

Psychological testing has the mystique of white magic…potential and existing employees complete several relatively brief paper and pencil tests and the organization receives a concise report (accurate to the percentile!) that is able to describe personality, intelligence and various other significant characteristics in detail…to predict the future! This magic though, in most cases, can only be performed by a witch doctor (Psychologist), which contributes to the “black box” aura of testing. Despite the reported validity of testing there are a range of methodological and ethical issues in using psychological tests, however, the most important question is how significant is the …

A Fitting Strategy, Carol Gill

Carol Gill

Take advantage of the tools available to check the fit between HRM and business strategy

Hrm As Chameleon: Is Soft Hrm Rhetoric Used To Disguise An Increase In Managment Control?, Carol Gill

Carol Gill

The Critical Perspective proposes that HRM is ineffective, suggesting that only a name change differentiates HRM and its precursor Personnel. Simultaneously, it presents HRM as a predator that uses rhetoric to disguise an increase in management control. This research examines these propositions from the Critical Perspective through a survey sent to Human Resource Managers in 896 large, Australian organizations. The results challenge the propositions of the Critical Perspective indicating that HRM has been implemented in rhetoric and reality. The results also show that HRM does not manipulate the workforce to increase management control by using soft rhetoric to obscure hard …

Review Blues, Carol Gill

Carol Gill

Performance assessments can be a shattering experience, writes Carol Gill, who looks at one way of making them more objective

Talent Wins, Carol Gill

Carol Gill

Progressive HR Practices can make your business an employer of choice if you can move beyond 'toxic accounting' and 'downsizing' anorexia.

Balancing The Rhetoric And Reality Of Workplace Stress, Carol Gill

Carol Gill

Workplace stress and its causes can pose a dilemma for HR practitioners

Use Of Hard And Soft Models Of Hrm To Illustrate The Gap Between Rhetoric And Reality In Workforce Management, Carol Gill

Carol Gill

At the rhetorical level many organisations espouse the "soft" version of Human Resource Management (HRM) that focuses on treating employees as valued assets and a source of competitive advantage. However, organisational reality appears "hard" with an emphasis on the quantitative, calculative and strategic aspects of managing a "head count". The dichotomy of soft and hard HRM (termed Developmental Humanism and Utilitarian Instrumentalism) has been identified by Legge (1989) in her critique of the normative model of HRM. Noon (1994) suggests that this dichotomy in HRM manifests itself as a gap between rhetoric and reality. Truss et al.'s (1997) study involving …