Search

The goal of this paper is to explain the commitment behaviour of highly skilled professionals in Canadian business-to-business (B2B) technology services companies that do not have a formal and explicit managerial commitment strategy and to emphasize the need to take the organizational context into consideration when developing a theory that seeks to account for differences in employee's organizational commitment. Our contribution is to reappraise the relevance of the traditional organizational commitment definition in this organizational context, a new organizational form. We demonstrate that in the companies which are different from the traditional bureaucratic organizational forms and which employ highly qualified professionals, the employment relationship is based on a psychological contract that is not accounted for in the strategic HRM theory. Indeed, the basic principles of strategic HRM dictate that an organization's most valuable asset is its employees; it is therefore incumbent on management to do whatever is necessary to retain its workforce, readily described as a key resource, and to use human resources management (HRM) practices as tools to elicit commitment. In a study of highly skilled workers in Canadian business-to-business (B2B) technology services companies belonging to the so-called 'new economy', we observed that although the competitive advantage enjoyed by these companies depends to a large degree on the creativity and innovativeness of their workforce, these companies barely have any official HRM policies, and the HR department plays a very unobtrusive role. Yet, no one could say that the employees in these firms are not committed - on the contrary! This situation has several implications in terms of career for these professionals, in terms of HR practices for the employers. Nevertheless, until now, existing theoretical models of organizational commitment have shown little interest in highly skilled workers in general and even less in new economy professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past few years, few human resource practices have received as much attention as multi-source feedback systems (MSFSs). In the US and Canada, it is estimated that over one-third of organizations are using some form of MSFS and recent surveys show that this practice is still gaining popularity. Concurrently, a substantial amount of literature has focused on the effectiveness of this performance management practice. However, while few would dispute the popularity of MSFS, relatively little has been published on the use of these systems outside North America and thus little is known about their form and effectiveness in international contexts. This paper outlines the results of an international survey of MSFS. Interview data from HR managers and consultants from Argentina, Australia, China, Slovakia, Spain and the UK demonstrate that MSFS are being implemented, in slightly different ways, in each of these six countries. The main challenges in the application of MSFS in these various countries are the communication efforts necessary before and after implementation, and the inherent difficulty in giving and receiving feedback. The results of this study also provide data as to the perceived future of MSFS in each of the countries surveyed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper relies on subjective data obtained from a survey of managers with primary responsibility for human resource management in 141 Canadian firms reporting a workplace reform programme. It explores the beliefs of respondents as to the objectives and outcomes of workplace reform programmes, and the extent to which these vary in accordance with the specific reforms adopted. It finds that, although a sizeable minority of respondents admit that the objectives and/or outcomes of reform programmes involve some deskilling or union avoidance, the primary objectives and outcomes which managers associate with these programmes have to do with improved flexibility, customer relations, quality and worker attitudes. It also finds that JIT and quality management appear to be consistent with a ‘control’ approach, while re-engineering appears to be consistent with a ‘commitment’ approach, that socio-technical reforms are of major importance to the perceived success of a workplace reform programme, and that neither ‘off-line’ participative reforms nor compensation reforms make much difference in the perceived success of these programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the influence of individual and plan characteristics and work-related factors on salaried employees' attitudes towards profit sharing. Employees who were committed to their company, had a high work ethic, did not feel there should be a guaranteed minimum pay-out and who believed that there was a connection between exerting effort and their job performance as well as between their own performance and profit-sharing pay-outs had a more favourable attitude towards profit sharing in general. Employees who were committed to their company, had greater knowledge of their company's profit-sharing plan, preferred the cash bonus distribution scheme and believed there was a connection between their own performance and profit-sharing pay-outs had a more favourable attitude towards their company's profit-sharing plan. The results suggest that individual characteristics and work-related factors are as important to the successful implementation of a profit-sharing plan as the features of the plan itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]