THE INFLUENCE OF MANAGERIAL AND JOB VARIABLES ON ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT IN THE POLICE

Like all public sector agencies police forces are under constant pressure to improve their performance through better management of existing resources. However, little research has been done that explains how officers' organizational commitment, an essential requirement for above average employee productivity, can be improved. Using a whole population survey of a county police force in the UK, managerial, job, and demographic variables are analysed that influence officers' organizational commitment. Experiences of the way officers are managed were found to have the strongest influence on their organizational commitment while job related variables were found to have a lesser influence. The decline in organizational commitment found in the early years of officers' careers should be a cause for concern for senior managers in the police. The paper concludes that much need to be done to make police policies more effective in achieving promotion of officers who have the managerial competences needed to engender higher levels of organizational commitment.     

Creating Better Employees through Positive Leadership Behavior in the Public Sector

This paper advances the notion that leaders’ behavior in public organizations impacts employee emotions and workplace functioning. The paper proposes a conceptual model showing the impact that specific leader behaviors have on employee momentary emotions and thereby subjective well-being, organizational citizenship behavior, and job performance. Findings from research on leader behaviors and follower outcomes in private organizations and workplace emotions are used to show the importance of understanding and promoting types of leader behaviors that enhance employee and organizational outcomes within public institutions. It is expected that this model will facilitate future research in this area.     

Abating the Consequences of Managerialism on the Forgotten Employees: The Issues of Support,Control, Coping,and Pay

With the widespread and continuing adoption of managerialism in the public sector, ignoring the impact of change on employees could prevent managerialism from achieving its goals. Subsequently, this study investigates the efficacy of an augmented demand-control-support (D-C-S) model in predicting three of the key employee outcomes in the context of organizational change—psychological health, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Analyses of a survey of 207 employees in the Australian public sector, a sector that has undergone, and continues to undergo, substantial change toward managerialism, found that the augmented D-C-S model explained a significant proportion of the employee outcomes in the public sector context. The most important variables were work-based social support and job control. Coping style and perceptions of work conditions, such as pay, were also significant. The augmented D-C-S model provides a useful, proven tool for managers operating within the contemporary public sector.     

AFFECTIVE ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT AND JOB SATISFACTION: A CROSS‐NATIONAL COMPARATIVE STUDY

Public managers across countries are faced with challenges of attracting and retaining high‐quality employees in the context of widespread financial constraints and increasing inter‐sectoral competition. These changing circumstances have reinforced the need to enhance public employees' affective organizational commitment, which is related to important outcomes such as employees' performance and retention. However, we know little about the factors that can positively influence affective organizational commitment in a cross‐national context. This study applies a cross‐national comparative approach using data from four US states (Oregon, Florida, Washington, and Utah) and India to examine the factors influencing affective organizational commitment. We focus mainly on the effects of job satisfaction, which is considered to be the most important antecedent of affective organizational commitment. Our findings indicate that, in both countries' contexts, job satisfaction has a significant positive impact on affective organizational commitment. We also examine the US–India differences in the levels of affective organizational commitment. Findings indicate that, compared to the four US states of Oregon, Florida, Washington, and Utah, affective organizational commitment is significantly higher among Indian public managers.     

Change leadership and change embeddedness in public organizations: Connecting macrolevel reform to microlevel implementation

Governments initiate major public sector reforms for various reasons. Although change leadership appears crucial, its role in implementing reforms in public organizations receives scant attention. Insights from public administration and change management literature help to bridge the gap between these macrolevel and microlevel perspectives. Our multilevel study of two youth care organizations addressing public sector reform explores how leadership behavior—and in interaction between top and middle managers—contributes to the concept of what we call change embeddedness among front-line employees. The use of leadership behaviors during the reform that are leader centric (shaping) appear to be associated with greater ambiguity and worse change embeddedness. However, leadership focused on engaging employees and boundary spanning with external organizations seems to support the embeddedness of the reform, especially when these behaviors are connected to a clear sense of purpose around the change.     

Formalization and consistency heighten organizational rule following: Experimental and survey evidence

This study examines the attributes of organizational rules that influence rule following. Rule following fosters organizational effectiveness by aligning individual behaviours with organizational preference. While a range of theoretical explanations have been offered for rule following, the characteristics of rule design and implementation have received less empirical attention. Borrowing from the green tape theory of effective rules, this study examines the influence of two particular characteristics—rule formalization and rule consistency—on rule following. Three studies, which include two vignette experiments and a survey of two local government organizations, provide the data for the research. The results suggest that rule formalization and rule consistency independently increase rule following, with mixed evidence of interaction effects. The broad implication is that public managers must attend to both rule design and implementation to foster organizational rule following.     

Empirical Evidence of Organizational Citizenship Behavior from the Health Care Industry

Abstract

This study examined individual and work group correlates of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) among a group of 340 technically skilled, professional, and managerial hospital employees (261 women and 79 men). Individual as well as group characteristics influenced organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Implications for leaders and leadership are discussed. Proposals for future research are made.     

Strategic change,leadership and accounting: A triptych of organizational reform

Strategic change in public sector organizations has been well documented. This article suggests that public management research would benefit from a greater appreciation of how calculative practices are deeply imbricated with, and constitutive of, organizational life. In turn, the article argues that the field of interdisciplinary accounting has much to learn from public administration, especially in terms of leadership. The overarching argument is that understanding strategic change in public organizations can be enhanced by bringing together insights from the academic fields of public administration and interdisciplinary accounting. In this respect, organizational reform can be understood as a triptych, involving strategic change, leadership and accounting practices. We illustrate this thesis through a case study of strategic change in the world's largest public service broadcaster—the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). It is shown how, during the tenure of one organizational leader—John Birt—accounting became pivotal to his leadership.     

FOSTERING AFFECTIVE ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT IN PUBLIC SECTOR AGENCIES: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MULTIFACETED LEADERSHIP ROLES

This study examines whether the various leadership roles undertaken by public sector managers have an important association with subordinates' levels of affective commitment to the organization. Our empirical findings suggest that not all leadership practices matter. It appears that only relations‐oriented and change‐oriented leadership, and to a far lesser extent integrity‐oriented leadership, have a substantive association with affective organizational commitment. Task‐oriented leadership and, to a large degree, integrity‐oriented leadership, are found not to matter much for employees with lower levels of affective commitment, but they look to strengthen fondness of the organization among those with already high levels of affective commitment. Results also suggest that the diversity‐oriented leadership role has no association with affective commitment to the organization.     

Leadership Climate in the Public Sector: Feelings Matter Too!

Abstract

Although there is substantial empirical evidence supporting the important role of leadership in organizational contexts, there is limited empirical evidence that focuses on the distinction between how employees feel about senior leaders and what they think about senior leaders. This is particularly true in the public-sector environment. In this paper, a model is tested that identifies key consequences of affectively and cognitively based perceptions of public-sector senior leadership. Data collected from a large public-sector organization were examined to identify the correlates of affectively and cognitively weighted perceptions of leadership. A series of regression analyses was conducted to identify more clearly the extent to which affectively and cognitively based perceptions of leadership influenced affective commitment, attitudes to change, intention to turnover, and extra-role performance. The results suggest that both affectively and cognitively based perceptions of leadership influenced organizational commitment and cynicism toward change. Extra-role behavior was influenced by the affective dimension alone, and intention to turnover was influenced by the cognitive dimension alone. The results also showed a significant interaction between the affective and cognitive dimensions in predicting intention to turnover. In general terms, the findings will prove helpful to human resource practitioners interested in diagnosing and managing the transformational leadership climate in public-sector organizations.     

Public-Sector Reform: Employment Security and Quality of Decision Making in the Australian Taxation Office

This article examines the impact of structural reforms and industrial relations changes on the employment security and decision behaviors of middle-level managers in the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). This article is based on an empirical study using focus group and survey data that investigated how structural change and public-sector reforms substantially altered the employment environment. This research reveals that the ATO environment can be characterized by low morale, risk aversion, fear, and distrust brought about, in part, by employment insecurity. Where middle managers perceived organizational threats to their employment security, they engaged in self-protective “survivor” behaviors even when no such threats to their employment security existed. The article concludes that a substantial number of middle-level managers, survivors of years of restructuring, downsizing, and organizational change, were unlikely to display high-quality decision-making behaviors.     

Locating Al Qaeda's Center of Gravity: The Role of Middle Managers

This article claims that the ongoing debate about the structure and dynamics of Al Qaeda has failed to appreciate the importance of an organizational layer that is situated between the top leadership and the grass-roots. Rather than being “leaderless,” it is the group's middle management that holds Al Qaeda together. In Clausewitzian terms, Al Qaeda's middle managers represent a center of gravity—a “hub of … power and movement”—that facilitates the grass-roots’ integration into the organization and provides the top leadership with the global reach it needs in order to carry out its terrorist campaign, especially in Europe and North America. They are, in other words, the connective tissue that makes Al Qaeda work. The article substantiates this hypothesis by providing a number of case studies of Al Qaeda middle managers, which illustrate the critical role they have played in integrating the grass-roots with the top leadership. The policy implications are both obvious and important. If neither the top leadership nor the grass-roots alone can provide Al Qaeda with strategic momentum, it will be essential to identify and neutralize the middle managers, and—in doing so—“cause the network to collapse on itself.”     

Between a Scientist and a Government Employee: Analyzing the Occupational Identity of National Research Institute Researchers in Korea

ABSTRACT

This study, using the data from the questionnaire survey of researchers working for Korean national research institutes, investigates the consequences of conflicting occupational identities. Those researchers may have two different occupational identities: as a scientist and/or a civil servant. Those with a strong scientist identity support individualist values (self-development for research capabilities, pro-incentive, and information sharing) more solidly than those with a strong civil servant identity; for public-social values (altruism, trust in other organizational members, and organizational commitment), vice versa. The study casts practical implications for balanced alignment between self-recognized occupational identities and managerial strategies (incentive, performance evaluation, and training).     

Assessing Public Managers' Change-Oriented Behavior: Are Private Managers Caught in the Doldrums?

This article presents a concept and a measurement of managers' change-oriented behavior related to the initiation and implementation organizational change. It is argued that managers have an optimal potential for achieving organizational changes if they have the change-centered leadership style, are intuitive, recognize demands for change, and have power-motivated behavior. Public and private managers are significantly different in relation to change-oriented behavior based on data from 343 managers in two public organizations and one private. One result was unexpected: public managers are more change-oriented than managers in business organizations. As expected, there is no significant difference in change-oriented behavior among managers in public agencies. Possible explanations for these outcomes are presented.     

Managing Goal Commitment in Public Organizations: The Effects of Goal Conflict

Public personnel policies increasingly adapt performance management systems that focus on goal attainment, and this makes goal commitment a critical issue in contemporary public administration research. Few studies have however empirically investigated the relationship between goal conflicts and goal commitment. This study examines the interplay between public managers’ goal prioritization, goal conflict and employees’ goal commitment. Multilevel data from 73 principals and 1464 teachers in secondary education show that goal conflict has a negative effect on the relationship between goal prioritization and goal commitment. The study thus adds to our knowledge about the conditions for influencing public employees’ goal commitment.     

Trust Management in the Finnish Ministries: Evaluation of Management Systems

Abstract

Our purpose was to find out to what extent civil servants—managers, specialists, and experts—in 13 Finnish ministries have confidence in their management systems. We defined trust as a kind of deep sentiment, more fundamental than mere acceptance, satisfaction or legitimacy. Trust and mistrust are strong motivators for cooperation and collaboration. They are logical outcomes of social interaction in terms of management systems and context. We found out that civil servants are more likely to trust management if it acts professionally with no emphasis on political factors. Ministers, for instance, can efficiently earn their trust with administrative experience and behavior norms. Our analysis showed that there are both well‐trusted and ill‐trusted components in management systems implicating that management must be the object of continuous development. As a whole civil servants have more confidence in work community than in strategy, structure, people policies, and administrative processes of the ministries.     

The Causal Relationships among Transformational Leadership,Organizational Commitment,and Employee Effectiveness

This study investigates the structural relationships among transformational leadership practices, organizational commitment, and employee effectiveness. Path analysis was used to understand the direct and indirect effects of four transformational leadership components, three organizational commitment types, and two employee effectiveness types. The results indicated that transformational leadership, especially as regards idealization influence and inspiration motivation components, directly enhances employees' extra-role behaviors and indirectly enhance employees' desire to stay in an organization through internalization, identification, and exchange organization commitments.     

A tough act to follow: traumatic executive departure and the post-transformational context

After turning their organizations around, transformational leaders often move on, taking new roles outside or even within the organization. Sometimes these changes occur in abrupt and traumatic circumstances, raising an important question: what is the impact on an organization when the transformational leader suddenly exits? This article examines the factors that shape the “post-transformational context” facing the successor to a transformational figure. These factors are seen to affect the organization's identity and followers' commitment to it. A framework and research propositions are presented, focusing on: antecedent conditions in the organization; the nature of the leader's departure; the emotional responses characterizing such situations; and the effects on organizational systems. These dynamics are examined in an illustrative case, and suggestions are made for further research.     

What is performance measurement for? Multiple uses of performance information within organizations

Recent research in performance measurement has focused on the tension between two uses of performance information: ‘passive’, to ensure compliance, and ‘purposeful’, to improve services. This article presents an in-depth study of two public sector organizations in England and shows that the main tension may actually lie between a combined purposeful and passive use, and an exclusively passive one. This tension was most pronounced between organizational levels, where a combined use was dominant among senior managers, and an exclusively passive one was prevalent among middle managers and frontline staff. This split was not intentional—instead, it reflected how people interpreted the role of performance measurement, suggesting that simply promoting greater use of information may not be sufficient for linking measurement with service improvement. This study extends the theoretical understanding of the dynamics of performance information use in organizations and generates implications for using performance measurement to improve service delivery.     

A Cross-National Examination of the Techniques of Neutralization to Account for Hacking Behaviors

Abstract

The global spread of technology and the Internet has produced unique threats that previously did not exist, such as computer hacking and the spread of malicious software to compromise computer systems. These acts have considerable economic and social consequences, leading them to be criminalized in most countries. Recent research with U.S. college samples have found that peer behavior and attitudes supportive of offending are correlated with involvement in hacking. Few have considered these relationships in a cross-national context, particularly with respect to the creation of malicious software. This study addresses these limitations through an examination of college students across three regions: the United States, Taiwan, and South Africa (N = 1,065). The findings from this study demonstrate differences in the neutralizations and definitions associated with both hacking and malware use as well as regional influences on offending. The implications of this study for research on the techniques of neutralization are discussed in detail.