An experimental study of the interaction effects of incentive compensation,career ambition,and task attention on Chinese managers' strategic risk behaviors

Building on the person–pay interaction model, we developed and tested a model for the influence of managers' career ambition and task attention on their responses to incentive compensation under different conditions of firm performance. We argued that managers with greater career ambition and task attention will be more responsive to incentive compensation, thereby engaging in more strategic risk behaviors, such as strategic risk taking and strategic change. Results of our experiment using a managerial decision‐making game with a sample of Chinese managers partially supported this contingency perspective. Under the condition of performance decline, managers' career ambition only accentuated the positive relationship between incentive compensation and strategic change. By contrast, task attention strengthened the positive relationships between incentive compensation and both strategic risk taking and strategic change. However, under the condition of performance growth, neither managers' career ambition nor their task attention influenced their responses to incentive compensation. We discuss the implications for how organizational leaders can use incentive compensation to influence the strategic risk behaviors of managers. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stock market responses to chemical accidents in Japan: An event study

Despite recent major chemical process accidents in Japan, the top management teams of firms still avoid taking costly risk reduction measures because of their low perceived impact on firm performance. The disclosure of information on accident risks might motivate managers to enhance workplace safety because of the subsequent evaluation of firms by investors in stock markets. If the disclosed risk information is newly available for investors, firms with a high risk of accidents would receive a poor evaluation by stock markets and thus managers would take risk reduction measures to prevent stock prices from declining. In this study, we conduct an event study analysis to examine whether accident risk information is already reflected in stock prices, using data on the Japanese chemical industry. The results of our event study show that the estimated cumulative average abnormal returns of firms' stocks are significantly negative after severe accidents actually occurred. This finding implies that risk information is not already reflected in the stock prices of Japanese chemical firms and that the disclosure of accident risk information has the potential to motivate the top management teams of firms to reduce their firms’ accident risk.     

Organisational learning and continuous improvement of health and safety in certified manufacturers

Certified management systems have increasingly been applied by firms in recent decades and now cover the management of health and safety, principally through the OHSAS 18001 standard. In order to become certified, firms must not only observe the relevant legislation, but also improve performance and raise goals within health and safety on a continuous basis. The article examines how certified occupational and health management systems influence this process to evaluate how far they hinder or support learning. It presents a model with which it is possible to identify and analyse improvement processes. The model is applied to five cases from a qualitative study of Danish manufacturers with certified health and safety management systems. The cases illustrate the wide variation in health and safety management among certified firms.Certification is found to support lower levels of continuous improvement performance in handling health and safety issues. However, more advanced improvement practices are shown to be connected to the integration of health and safety in other managerial areas, as well as to the employment of similar advanced improvement processes within firms. The article argues that certified health and safety management does not obstruct learning, and can support advanced learning. Improvement practices with regard to health and safety are mainly dependent upon the firm’s overall organisational processes and do not automatically arise from the standard alone.     

The mediating role of psychological capital between perceived management commitment and safety behavior

Introduction: Among attempts that address high incidences of fatalities and injuries in coal mines, increasing attention has been paid to management commitment to complement the traditional focus on technological advances in safety management. However, more research is needed to explain the influence of perceived management commitment, with extant research drawing commonly on Griffin and Neal (2000) to focus on safety knowledge, skills, and motivation. This study draws on social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986) to investigate psychological capital as a link between thought process and safety behavior. Method: This study uses survey data from 400 frontline workers in China’s coal mines to test hypotheses. Result: Results suggest that perceived management commitment to safety correlates positively with workers’ safety compliance and participation, and four constituents of psychological capital—self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience—explain the influence of perceived management commitment on safety compliance and participation. Practical Applications: Findings offer both researchers and practitioners an explanation of how perceived management commitment influences safety behaviors, and clarify the roles psychological capital constituents play in explaining the influence of perceived management commitment on safety compliance and safety participation.     

业务外包环境下的企业安全管理

涉及承包商的生产安全事故不断发生,需要关注企业安全管理所处的业务外包环境以及外包环境对企业安全管理的深刻影响。分析和研究表明:当前的业务外包环境存在着供需关系不平衡、供需信息不对称、配套资源制约、风险转嫁思想和现象等种种与业务外包相关的问题,都在很大程度上影响着企业安全管理。目前,改善业务外包环境下的企业安全管理可从3方面入手:其一,加强立法与监管、调控风险因子组合;其二,引导企业增强社会责任感;其三,完善企业业务外包管理措施。当前在业务外包环境下加强承包商管理是政府和生产经营单位安全管理工作的重要内容,但影响业务外包环境下企业安全管理的因素还有涉及更广泛的内容。     

Organizational career development is not dead: a case study on managing the new career during organizational change

New forms of careers have received increased attention in contemporary organizational research. A prominent focus in this research has been whether and how, in an increasingly unpredictable career environment, individuals are taking responsibility for their own career development. The implication is that career is becoming less central to organizational management practices. At the same time there is evidence that organizational changes typically described in this literature (such as delayering the organization in a quest for flexibility) have had a negative impact on career progress, resulting in resistance to change. The implication here is that career concerns are more central to organizational management practices. This in‐depth qualitative case study examines whether individuals do in fact take more responsibility for their career development during times of organizational change. We also examine whether this does indeed mean that the organization takes less responsibility for career management. Our data indicate that individuals are, in fact, taking more responsibility for their own careers. At the same time we found that the organization in our case study also became more actively involved in career development and management. However, this active approach did not resemble traditional top‐down career management and development. To us, the pattern of organizational and individual career development actions appear to constitute a kind of ‘organizational dance,’ a highly interactive mutual influence process, in which both parties are at once the agent and the target of career influence. Strengths and limitations of the study are discussed, as are directions for future research. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Management practices as antecedents of safety culture within the trucking industry: similarities and differences by hierarchical level

PROBLEM: A homogeneous perception of safety is important for the achievement of a strong safety culture; however, employees may differ in their safety perceptions, depending on their position and/or hierarchical level within the organization. Moreover, there is limited information on the antecedents of safety culture. This study examines how safety training, driver scheduling autonomy, opportunity for safety input, and management commitment to safety influence individuals' perceptions of safety culture. METHOD: Data for this study were drawn from 116 trucking firms, stratified by three safety performance levels. The data were collected from drivers (lowest hierarchical level), dispatchers (medium hierarchical level), and safety directors (highest hierarchical level), regarding their perceptions of their respective corporate safety cultures. Perceptions of safety culture were analyzed through a linear regression using dummy variables to differentiate among the three hierarchical groups. The resulting model allowed for examination of the specific antecedents of safety culture for the three employee groups and the extent to which the hierarchical groups were in agreement with each other. RESULTS: Driver fatigue training, driver opportunity for safety input, and top management commitment to safety were perceived to be integral determinants of safety culture in all three groups. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: Trucking firms seeking to strengthen employees' perceptions of safety culture might begin by improving these safety management practices while appreciating that they may have a different impact depending on the employee's hierarchical position (e.g., drivers' perceptions of safety culture are more influenced by top management commitment and driver fatigue training). A fourth safety practice examined, driver scheduling autonomy, was not found to be instrumental in shaping safety culture for any of the three hierarchical levels. Consistent with previous research, implementation of stronger safety cultures should result in fewer accidents.     

垂直管理背景下建设二级环境监测站能力的策略

尽管近些年我国经济已经得到了较大的发展,但是与此同时也带来了严重的环境污染问题,在新的时代背景下,国家越来越重视环境整治力度,因此做好环境监测工作显得尤为重要。为了发挥出环境监测站的工作职能,目前该领域朝着垂直管理的方向不断发展,有效地提高了整体的质量管理意识,建立起了标准的工作体系。本文将着重针对在垂直管理背景下如何提高二级环境监测站能力进行深入分析。     

Negotiations after the sale: The roots and ramifications of conflict in an acquisition

This paper presents a case study of negotiations over the combination of a small manufacturing firm into a multi-billion dollar conglomerate following its 'white knight' acquisition. It focuses on the strategic and tactical conflicts between the two firms and traces these to the party's emotional reactions to the combination. Feeling of loss versus gain in the two firms, each party's sense of uncertainty and threat, and their moves toward proactive versus reactive control in the combination are analysed to identify the roots of strategic conflict. These feelings, plus incompatibilities in the two company's managements, business systems, corporate cultures, and goals for combination ramify in conflict in the negotiations themselves. The paper concludes with a more generic model illustrating contextual features of combinations that shape human reactions and conflicts in negotiations after the sale.     

Organizational diversity,integration and performance

This research examines how integrative methods of open communications, involvement, and conflict resolution in implementing an organizational change initiative moderate the relationship between cognitive diversity among employees and organization performance. In this longitudinal study of 37 medical clinics, we find that the interaction of integrative methods and diversity of models for organizing among employees has a significant positive effect on clinic revenue, productivity, and patient satisfaction. An important practical implication of these findings is that instead of seeking consensus on a singular vision of a strategic change initiative, managers are more likely to improve organization performance by focusing their interventions on creating integrative methods for encouraging and learning from diverse and opposing views of an organizational change initiative. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Do not like it when you need it the most: Examining the effect of manager ego depletion on managerial voice endorsement

This paper advances the understanding of managerial voice endorsement based on a self‐regulation perspective. We suggest that although managers might potentially benefit more from employees' upward voice when they are more depleted, they are paradoxically less likely to diligently process or endorse such voice under ego depletion. We draw from ego depletion theory and argue that when managers are more depleted of their self‐control resources, they will spend less cognitive effort in processing voice. In turn, they tend to reject employee voice due to status quo bias and confirmation bias. We further suggest that the detrimental effect of ego depletion on voice endorsement is stronger when the voicing employee is perceived as having low expertise. We conducted an experience sampling study surveying 62 managers about voice events they encounter at work over 10 days (Study 1) and an experiment with 198 managers (Study 2). These two studies support our hypotheses. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.     

An empirical analysis of surface acting in intra‐organizational relationships

Prior research analyzing surface acting—employees' regulation of emotional expressions—has mostly focused on the interactions between front‐line employees and their customers in service industries and paid very little attention to intra‐organizational relationships. With an aim to shed light on this important yet relatively unexplored area, I developed a theoretical model analyzing the antecedents and outcomes of surface acting within organizations, by drawing on the sociometer theory and self‐presentation theory frameworks. To test the model, I conducted a cross‐level field study in a sample of 65 work groups and 478 employees in two organizations, located in a large city in Northern California. I have collected the data from two sources, including employees and their supervisors who rated their performance. Results indicated that employees were more likely to engage in surface acting when their affective traits and personal goals were less congruent with work environment. Surface acting was also positively related to perceived organizational politics and self‐monitoring. As for outcomes, surface acting was positively related to emotional exhaustion and negatively to performance. I discuss limitations, implications, and future research direction. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Technical,human, and organizational factors affecting failures of firefighting systems (FSs) of atmospheric storage tanks: Providing a risk assessment approach using Fuzzy Bayesian Network (FBN) and content validity indicators

Most risk assessment methods have problems such as uncertainty, static structure, and lack of validation. Also, in most of these studies, less attention has been paid to human, managerial, and organizational issues. Therefore, this study proposes a risk assessment method based on the Fuzzy Bayesian Network (FBN) to prevent failure of firefighting systems (FFSs) in the atmospheric Storage Tanks of a Petrochemical Industry. The first stage of the study is the development of a fault tree (FT) and investigation of basic events (BEs). In this study, content validity indices and brainstorming technique were used to validate the FT structure and reduce the uncertainties of Completeness, Modeling, and Parameter. After determining the probability of basic events (BEs) by the expert team opinions and fuzzy logic, events were transmitted to the Bayesian Network (BN) and then analyzed with deductive and inductive reasoning, followed by sensitivity analysis in the GeNIe software. Finally, results of a case study in the Atmospheric Storage Tanks of the Methanol Floating Roof of a Petrochemical Industry showed that FBN simulation and FT validation could provide a practical way to determine FFSs probabilities, identify impactful events, and reduce the above uncertainties. Also, taking account of hidden factors of events, such as organizational and managerial factors, can help managers to prevent FFSs in tanks.     

矮塔斜拉桥单侧断索和双侧对称断索影响效应分析

为研究断索现象对矮塔斜拉桥力学性能和安全性的影响，以浙江某实际工程为背景，使用Midas/Civil建立有限元模型，研究单侧单束断索和双侧对称断索两种工况分别对斜拉索索力、塔顶DX位移和主梁跨中弯矩的影响。研究发现：单侧断索对断索侧索力和跨中弯矩、主塔塔顶DX位移的影响较大；双侧对称断索对主塔两侧索力和跨中弯矩影响趋势相同，对边塔塔顶DX位移影响较大；最外侧斜拉索断裂对3个力学指标的影响均为最大，故实际运营中应重视对外侧斜拉索的保护。     

Two roads to effectiveness: CEO feedback seeking,vision articulation,and firm performance

Humble leadership is attracting increased scholarly attention, but little is known about its effects when used in conjunction with less humble leadership behaviors that rely on a perception of the leader as confident and charismatic. This study contrasts the effects on top management team (TMT) potency and organizational performance of a more humble (feedback seeking) and a less humble (vision) CEO leader behavior. We hypothesize that CEO feedback seeking increases TMT potency and firm performance by communicating to TMT members that the organization values their input and encouraging their own feedback seeking, whereas CEO vision articulation influences these outcomes by fostering greater clarity about the firm's direction, and an enhanced ability to coordinate efforts within the TMT. CEOs who have not developed a vision can achieve a similar positive impact on TMT potency and firm performance by seeking feedback. In a sample of CEOs and TMT members from 65 firms, both CEO feedback seeking and vision articulation exhibit positive direct relationships with firm performance. However, only feedback seeking displays an indirect effect on performance via TMT potency. Finally, CEO feedback seeking has its strongest effects on firm performance and TMT potency for CEOs who are not seen as having a vision.     

Exploring the perceived influence of safety management practices on project performance in the construction industry

Although safety management is known to be vital to construction projects, very few studies have solicited views from construction practitioners about their perceptions of which safety management practices (SMPs) are important to construction projects and related to project performance. An empirical study was undertaken in Hong Kong in order to shed more light on this topic. In the study, the importance levels of 15 popular SMPs and five project performance criteria were rated by 232 respondents. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted, and three SMP categories - information, process, and committees - were extracted. Of these three categories, safety management process was perceived by the construction practitioners as being the most important, followed by safety management information and committees. Moreover, the effect of the three SMP categories on a composite project performance variable was tested using hierarchical regression analysis. Results indicate that the “information” and “committees” categories were associated with project performance positively and significantly. One of the major conclusions of the study is that the construction industry has paid relatively less attention to safety management committees, which were empirically analyzed as having a strong perceived impact on project performance. In order to improve project performance, construction companies should promote the criticality of safety management committees.     

我国建筑业安全生产状况浅析

建筑业是我国国民经济的支柱产业,也是安全事故率较高的行业之一,其安全生产状况一直受到各方面的广泛重视。为了分析我国建筑业近年来安全生产形势,对我国近十年来的建筑业安全生产现状进行统计,结果表明建筑生产安全事故起数和死亡人数持续下降,建筑业安全生产整体形势逐年趋好。同时从政府管理职能、企业管理机构和职业卫生管理三个层面对建筑业安全生产中存在的问题进行剖析。从政府管理部门的职能、行业协会、劳动保护机构、企业内部的安全保证体系等几个方面剖析了德国的建筑安全管理体系的构成。通过与建筑业安全生产管理体系先进的德国进行对比分析,提出加强政府管理职能、从政府到企业真正做到以人为本以及增强安全文化建设三个解决措施。     

The derivation of job designs

This paper presents a theoretical account of the derivation of job designs incorporating consideration of technology, structure and managerial control, viewed from an information processing perspective. A conceptual distinction is made between tasks and roles which has practical relevance in that organizations have independent choices regarding their design. These choices are underpinned by economic and psychological values as well as by managerial needs for control. The paper argues that whilst options exist, organizations typically choose to simplify jobs, a strategy which may well be ineffective, especially under conditions of uncertainty. New, more complex job designs may be very difficult to implement for economic, psychological, managerial and political reasons. Research and development should now be directed towards a more detailed cognitive and social psychological understanding of the derivation and impact of job designs as well as towards study of the introduction and impact of new technology. These represent qualitative shifts in research emphasis.