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Full-Text Articles in Human Resources Management
Organizational Performance In Services, Rosemary Batt, Virginia Doellgast
Organizational Performance In Services, Rosemary Batt, Virginia Doellgast
Virginia Doellgast
The question of performance in service activities and occupations is important for several reasons. First, over two-thirds of employment in advanced economies is in service activities. Second, productivity growth in services is historically low, lagging far behind manufacturing, and as a result, wages in production-level service jobs remain low. In addition, labor costs in service activities are often over 50% of total costs, whereas in manufacturing they have fallen to less than 25% of costs. This raises the question of whether management practices that have improved performance in manufacturing, such as investment in the skills and training of the workforce, …
When Does Employee Turnover Matter? Dynamic Member Configurations, Productive Capacity, And Collective Performance, John Hausknecht, Jacob A. Holwerda
When Does Employee Turnover Matter? Dynamic Member Configurations, Productive Capacity, And Collective Performance, John Hausknecht, Jacob A. Holwerda
John Hausknecht
In theory, employee turnover has important consequences for groups, work units, and organizations. However, past research has not revealed consistent empirical support for a relationship between aggregate levels of turnover and performance outcomes. In this paper, we present a novel conceptualization of turnover to explain when, why, and how it affects important outcomes. We suggest that greater attention to five characteristics—leaver proficiencies, time dispersion, positional distribution, remaining member proficiencies, and newcomer proficiencies—will reveal dynamic member configurations that predictably influence productive capacity and collective performance. We describe and illustrate the five properties, explain how particular member configurations exacerbate or diminish turnover’s …
Organizational Performance In Services, Rosemary Batt, Virginia Doellgast
Organizational Performance In Services, Rosemary Batt, Virginia Doellgast
Rosemary Batt
The question of performance in service activities and occupations is important for several reasons. First, over two-thirds of employment in advanced economies is in service activities. Second, productivity growth in services is historically low, lagging far behind manufacturing, and as a result, wages in production-level service jobs remain low. In addition, labor costs in service activities are often over 50% of total costs, whereas in manufacturing they have fallen to less than 25% of costs. This raises the question of whether management practices that have improved performance in manufacturing, such as investment in the skills and training of the workforce, …
Performance And Growth In Entrepreneurial Firms: Revisiting The Union-Performance Relationship, Rosemary Batt, Theresa M. Welbourne
Performance And Growth In Entrepreneurial Firms: Revisiting The Union-Performance Relationship, Rosemary Batt, Theresa M. Welbourne
Rosemary Batt
[Excerpt] A substantial body of research has examined the relationship between unions and firm performance. It generally has found a positive relationship between unions and productivity and a negative relationship between unions and financial performance (Freeman & Medoff, 1984; Addison & Hirsch, 1989; Belman, 1992; Freeman, 1992). The exit/voice model is most commonly used to explain this paradox (Freeman & Medoff, 1984). Freeman and Medoff argued that the “monopoly power” of unions leads to high union wages and restrictive work rules, both of which raise the costs of production and lower profit margins. The presence of unions, however, also lowers …
Collective Failure: The Emergence, Consequences, And Management Of Errors In Teams, Bradford S. Bell, Steve W. J. Kozlowski
Collective Failure: The Emergence, Consequences, And Management Of Errors In Teams, Bradford S. Bell, Steve W. J. Kozlowski
Bradford S Bell
The goal of the current chapter is to examine the emergence, consequences, and management of errors in teams. We begin by discussing the origin and emergence of errors in teams. We argue that errors in teams can originate at both the individual and collective level and suggest this distinction is important because it has implications for how errors propagate within a team. We then consider the paradoxical effects of errors on team performance and team learning. This discussion highlights the importance of error management in teams so that errors can prompt learning while at the same time mitigating their negative …
Team Learning: A Theoretical Integration And Review, Bradford S. Bell, Steve W. J. Kozlowski, Sabrina Blawath
Team Learning: A Theoretical Integration And Review, Bradford S. Bell, Steve W. J. Kozlowski, Sabrina Blawath
Bradford S Bell
With the increasing emphasis on work teams as the primary architecture of organizational structure, scholars have begun to focus attention on team learning, the processes that support it, and the important outcomes that depend on it. Although the literature addressing learning in teams is broad, it is also messy and fraught with conceptual confusion. This chapter presents a theoretical integration and review. The goal is to organize theory and research on team learning, identify actionable frameworks and findings, and emphasize promising targets for future research. We emphasize three theoretical foci in our examination of team learning, treating it as multilevel …
Merit Pay For School Superintendents?, Ronald G. Ehrenberg, Richard P. Chaykowski, Randy A. Ehrenberg
Merit Pay For School Superintendents?, Ronald G. Ehrenberg, Richard P. Chaykowski, Randy A. Ehrenberg
Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Given the important role that school district administrators play in the educational process, one might expect their 'performance" to be of fundamental importance in determining both how much students learn and the cost of public education to taxpayers. Yet, while public debate has considered the issue of merit pay plans for teachers, virtually no attention has been directed to the methods by which school administrators are compensated. This paper provides evidence on whether school superintendents are explicitly or implicitly rewarded for their "performance" by higher compensation and/or greater opportunities for mobility. We analyze panel data from over 700 school districts …
The Relationship Of Achievement Motivation To Entrepreneurial Behavior: A Meta-Analysis, Christopher J. Collins, Paul J. Hanges, Edwin A. Locke
The Relationship Of Achievement Motivation To Entrepreneurial Behavior: A Meta-Analysis, Christopher J. Collins, Paul J. Hanges, Edwin A. Locke
Christopher J Collins
Entrepreneurship is a major factor in the national economy; thus, it is important to understand the motivational characteristics spurring people to become entrepreneurs and why some are more successful than others. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis of the relationship between achievement motivation and variables associated with entrepreneurial behavior. We found that achievement motivation was significantly correlated with both choice of an entrepreneurial career and entrepreneurial performance. Further, we found that both projective and self-report measures of achievement motivation were valid. Finally, known group studies yielded a higher validity coefficient than did individual difference studies.
Executive Compensation In Municipalities, Gerald S. Goldstein, Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Executive Compensation In Municipalities, Gerald S. Goldstein, Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Ronald G. Ehrenberg
[Excerpt] In this paper we are concerned with the salaries of three important municipal officials; city-managers, police chiefs, and fire chiefs. We present a model that relates the salaries of these officials to a set of explanatory variables, the most important being measures associated with job performance. Two of these measures of performance are developed in the study. Further, the influence of the city-manager form of government on the incentive structure facing police chiefs and fire chiefs, and the interdependence betwen the salaries of police chiefs and fire chiefs is investigated. The model is tested using cross-section data for 1967.
Officer Performance And Compensation In Local Building Trades Unions, Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Officer Performance And Compensation In Local Building Trades Unions, Ronald G. Ehrenberg
Ronald G. Ehrenberg
[Excerpt] This paper presents estimates of the relationship between the performance and compensation of local building trades union leaders. A growing literature has revived the common-sense notion that organizations should structure the compensation of both their employees and their executives so as to encourage them to take actions consistent with the goals of the organizations. One way to minimize the probability that executives will take actions contrary to the organization's goals is to tie their compensation to measures of their organization's performance.
An Employment Systems Approach To Turnover: Hr Practices, Quits, Dismissals, And Performance, Rosemary Batt, Alexander Colvin
An Employment Systems Approach To Turnover: Hr Practices, Quits, Dismissals, And Performance, Rosemary Batt, Alexander Colvin
Alexander Colvin
This study examines the relationship between alternative approaches to employment systems and quits, dismissals and customer service, based on cross-sectional and longitudinal data from nationally representative surveys of call center establishments. Contrary to prior literature, the antecedents and consequences of quits and dismissals are quite similar. Comparing three dimensions of employment systems, we find that high involvement work organization and long-term investments and inducements are associated with significantly lower quit and dismissal rates, while short term performance-enhancing expectations are related to significantly higher quit and dismissal rates. Establishments with higher quit and dismissal rates have significantly lower customer service, as …
Recruitment And Selection, Christopher J. Collins, Rebecca R. Kehoe
Recruitment And Selection, Christopher J. Collins, Rebecca R. Kehoe
Christopher J Collins
[Excerpt] In this chapter, we look to address the second issue by developing a theoretical model of the link between different staffing systems and firm-level performance. We first look to existing theory on organizational design and structure to better understand the role of recruitment and selection. Specifically, we argue that organizations are structured into unique subunits of employees based on the equivocality of available information in their jobs and the resulting need for organizational rationality or openness. Drawing on existing empirical work on strategic human resource management, we argue that unique systems of recruitment and selection practices are necessary to …
Entrepreneurial Human Resource Strategy, Christopher J. Collins, Matthew Allen, Scott Snell
Entrepreneurial Human Resource Strategy, Christopher J. Collins, Matthew Allen, Scott Snell
Christopher J Collins
[Excerpt] Entrepreneurship is the process by which "opportunities to create future goods and services are discovered, evaluated, and exploited" (Shane and Venkataraman, 2000: 218). In other words, it is the process by which organizations and individuals convert new knowledge into new opportunities in the form of new products and services. Strategic human resource management (SHRM) has been defined as the system of organizational practices and policies used to manage employees in a manner that leads to higher organizational performance (Wright and McMahan, 1992). Further, one perspective suggests that sets of HR practices do not themselves create competitive advantage; instead, they …
Work Teams, Bradford S. Bell, Steve W. J. Kozlowski
Work Teams, Bradford S. Bell, Steve W. J. Kozlowski
Bradford S Bell
[Excerpt] Teams serve as the basic building blocks of modern organizations and represent a critical means by which work is accomplished in today's world. Therefore, significant research during the past few decades has been focused on understanding work team effectiveness. This entry looks at the history of this research and what it says about team types, team composition, team development, team processes, and team effectiveness.
[Review Of The Book The Mismanagement Of Talent: Employability And Jobs In The Knowledge Economy], Bradford S. Bell
[Review Of The Book The Mismanagement Of Talent: Employability And Jobs In The Knowledge Economy], Bradford S. Bell
Bradford S Bell
[Excerpt] In The Mismanagement of Talent, Brown and Hesketh argue that rooted within the dominant discourse of the "war for talent" are several core assumptions that have shaped our perspective on employability in the KBE. The most central of these is that there is a limited pool of talent capable of rising to senior managerial positions, which creates fierce competition to recruit the best and brightest. The perception of talent as a limited commodity is seen as driving organizations to diversify their talent pools and adopt more rigorous recruitment and selection tools in an effort to get the right people, …
Do Major League Baseball Hitters Come Up Big In Their Contract Year?, Heather M. O'Neill, Matthew J. Hummel
Do Major League Baseball Hitters Come Up Big In Their Contract Year?, Heather M. O'Neill, Matthew J. Hummel
Business and Economics Faculty Publications
In sports, especially baseball, there is a lot of talk about contract year performance. Beginning in spring training and continuing throughout the season, sports journalists and fans converse about how players in the last year of their contract will perform. Experts in the media, often ex-baseball players themselves, speculate contract year players will have break-out seasons in order to secure a better contract in upcoming contract negotiations. This leads to the question: do baseball players increase their effort and performance during their contract year to increase the value of their next contract?
Strategic Segmentation In Frontline Services: Matching Customers, Employees, And Human Resource Systems, Rosemary Batt
Strategic Segmentation In Frontline Services: Matching Customers, Employees, And Human Resource Systems, Rosemary Batt
Rosemary Batt
This paper examines variation in the use of high involvement work practices in service and sales operations. I argue that the relationship between the customer and frontline service provider is a central feature that distinguishes production-level service activities from manufacturing. In particular, through strategic segmentation, firms are able to segment customers by their demand characteristics and to match the complexity and potential revenue stream of the customer to the skills of employees and the human resource system that shapes the customer-employee interface. Unlike manufacturing, where high involvement systems have emerged in a wide variety of product markets, therefore, service organizations …
Who Benefits From Teams? Comparing Workers, Supervisors, And Managers, Rosemary Batt
Who Benefits From Teams? Comparing Workers, Supervisors, And Managers, Rosemary Batt
Rosemary Batt
This paper offers a political explanation for the diffusion and sustainability of team-based work systems by examining the differential outcomes of team structures for 1200 workers, supervisors, and middle managers in a large unionized telecommunications company. Regression analyses show that participation in self-managed teams is associated with significantly higher levels of perceived discretion, employment security, and satisfaction for workers and the opposite for supervisors. Middle managers who initiate team innovations report higher employment security, but otherwise are not significantly different from their counterparts who are not involved in innovations. By contrast, there are no significant outcomes for employees associated with …
Telecommunications 2004: Strategy, Hr Practices & Performance - Cornell-Rutgers Telecommunications Project, Rosemary Batt, Alex Colvin, Harry Katz, Jeffrey Keefe
Telecommunications 2004: Strategy, Hr Practices & Performance - Cornell-Rutgers Telecommunications Project, Rosemary Batt, Alex Colvin, Harry Katz, Jeffrey Keefe
Rosemary Batt
This national benchmarking report of the U.S. telecommunications services industry traces the tumultuous changes in management and workforce practices and performance in the sector over the last 5 years. This is a follow-up report to our 1998 study. At that time, when the industry was booming, we conducted a national survey of establishments in the industry. In 2003, we returned to do a second national survey of the industry, this time in a sector that was recovering from one of the worst recessions in its history.
Human Resource Management, Service Quality, And Economic Performance In Call Centers, Rosemary Batt, Lisa M. Moynihan
Human Resource Management, Service Quality, And Economic Performance In Call Centers, Rosemary Batt, Lisa M. Moynihan
Rosemary Batt
This paper examines the relationship between human resource practices, operational outcomes, and economic performance in call centers. The study draws on a sample of 64 call centers serving the mass market in a large telecommunications services company. Surveys of 1,243 employees in the 64 centers were aggregated to the call center level and matched to archival data on service process quality, as measured by customer surveys; call handling time, revenues per call, and net revenues per call. Our path analysis shows that human resource practices emphasizing employee training, discretion, and rewards lead to higher service quality, higher revenues per call, …
The Indian Call Centre Industry: National Benchmarking Report Strategy, Hr Practices, & Performance, Rosemary Batt, Virginia Doellgast, Hyunji Kwon, Mudit Nopany, Priti Nopany, Anil Da Costa
The Indian Call Centre Industry: National Benchmarking Report Strategy, Hr Practices, & Performance, Rosemary Batt, Virginia Doellgast, Hyunji Kwon, Mudit Nopany, Priti Nopany, Anil Da Costa
Rosemary Batt
Report of the Global Call Centre Industry Project
The dramatic growth of the call center industry is a world-wide phenomenon, fueled by advances in information technologies and the precipitous decline in the costs of voice and data transmission over the last two decades. As part of this global industry, call centres in India have experienced spectacular growth in the last five years. They generate seventy percent of the revenues of the Indian Business Process Outourcing (BPO) industry, according to estimates by Mckinsey (www.nasscom.org).
This rapid growth has also brought managerial challenges in terms of recruitment,staffing, training, and retention of workers …
How High Performance Human Resource Practices And Workforce Unionization Affect Managerial Pay, Alexander Colvin, Rosemary Batt, Harry C. Katz
How High Performance Human Resource Practices And Workforce Unionization Affect Managerial Pay, Alexander Colvin, Rosemary Batt, Harry C. Katz
Rosemary Batt
Using data from a nationally representative sample of telecommunications establishments, this study finds that HR practices and workforce unionization influence managerial pay levels and the ratio of manager-to-worker pay. High performance HR practices, including investment in the skills of the workforce, in computer-based technologies, and in performance-based worker pay practices, are all positively related to managerial pay; but the use of workforce teams, which shift some managerial responsibilities to workers, has the opposite association. High performance HR practices also are associated with lower manager to- worker pay differentials. In addition, workforce unionization is positively associated with managerial pay levels, with …
What Are The Effects Of Work Restructuring On Employee Well-Being And Firm Performance? Evidence From Telecommunications Services, Rosemary Batt
What Are The Effects Of Work Restructuring On Employee Well-Being And Firm Performance? Evidence From Telecommunications Services, Rosemary Batt
Rosemary Batt
The purpose of this study was to assess whether there are benefits to employees and firms associated with new forms of work organization and human resource and industrial relations practices. I examine a series of interrelated questions that may be summarized as follows. First, does participation in either total quality improvement teams or self-directed teams have benefits for workers, managers, and firms? If benefits exist, are they undermined by the negative effects of understaffing and job insecurity associated with downsizing? And finally, is there a coherent set of work organization, human resource, and industrial relations practices that provides mutual gains …