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BACKGROUND: Top managers are heavily exposed to strong negative emotions due to the difficult decisive situations that they experience and the persistent pressure of time and uncertainty. At the same time, the relationships they build within TMTs shape their decisions, experiences and reactions at work. The paper refers to defence mechanisms as relatively persistent means of individual response to unwanted emotions and affects. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the paper is to examine the defence mechanisms of TMT members as antecedents of perceived trustworthiness of other team members and positive relationships in the team. METHODS: The empirical study was conducted in a sample of 123 members of top management teams representing furniture industry companies in Poland. RESULTS: The results show that defence mechanisms determine TMT members’ perception of trustworthiness of other team-members and that perceived trustworthiness mediates the relation between the defence mechanisms of TMT members and their evaluation of relationships within a team. CONCLUSIONS: The study explains links between individual characteristics of TMT members and processes within the teams. It contributes to upper echelon theory and literature on trust and positive relationships at work. It also contributes to the line of research introducing unconscious processes and emotions to management studies.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine how employee competences can be developed through corporate volunteering (CV). Specifically, this study focuses on diversity of volunteering studies categorized according to the type of beneficiaries and intensity of volunteer contact with them. The study examines how the beneficiary-employee relation influences the development of employee competences in CV projects.Design/methodology/approachIn this qualitative empirical study, interview data collected in Poland about the perceived effects of CV projects on employee competences was used.FindingsThe findings suggest that to understand the competences generated in CV, attention needs to be paid to the nature of the volunteering study itself. The study proposes four different logics of competence development in CV, based on the type of the beneficiary and contact with them.Research limitations/implicationsThe study builds on managers’ perceptions of competence development. For a holistic understanding, future research should include employees’ perceptions of the process. Also, more research is needed regarding national and organizational settings as factors in competence development through CV.Practical implicationsThe study suggests how companies could best engage in volunteering programs and improve existing ones to make them more beneficial for all parties involved.Social implicationsThe findings build the better business case for CV and other corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, i.e. they deliver rationales for business engagement in this regard.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the conceptual understanding of CSR activities by presenting four logics of competence development in CV.

PurposeWe propose an integrative model of how leaders (individual level) effectively relate to their social networks as a whole (network level). Additionally, we focus both on the leader constructs and the followers shared constructs about those networks.Design/methodology/approachOur conceptual paper uses the integration of literature from two main bodies of knowledge: individual and shared cognitions, fundamentally from psychology, and a structural perspective, mainly from sociology, organisational studies and social network analysis. We take a psycho-structural approach which allows the emergence of new perspectives on the study of leadership and more specifically on the study of relational leadership.FindingsWe propose a leader-network exchange (LNX) theory focussed on the behaviours and cognitions of leaders and followers as well as the relations between them.Research limitations/implicationsOur model represents a new perspective on leader–followers relationship by stressing the importance of both followers and leaders' cognitions. We highlight the importance of the relationships between followers on the creation of shared meaning about the leader.Practical implicationsOur model helps leaders and managers make sense of the cognitions and behaviours of their teams. By considering the teams characteristics, i.e. cognitions and network structure, it allows leaders to adopt the most appropriate behaviours for effective leadership. Leadership and management development programmes designed around our model will enhance the use of networking skills.Originality/valueContrary to the traditional view of LMX, our approach considers the social context of leaders and followers. It also adds a new layer of knowledge going beyond what members think of their leaders by considering the social networks of leaders and followers.

The article presents the results of research on strategic choices made by manages of furniture companies on the Polish market. Three strategic dilemmas resolved at the level of company development strategy are taken into account: the dilemma regarding the level of sectoral diversification, the dilemma regarding the geographic coverage of operations, and the dilemma regarding the scope of vertical integration. The basis for conclusions was provided by a survey conducted under a broader project funded by the National Science Centre on team strategic decision-making in companies. The survey was carried out in 2018 in a group of 200 medium-sized and large furniture companies operating in Poland. The dominant strategic choices of managerial staff were identified on the basis of the so-called “strategic option cube” at the development strategy level. The survey found that that managers of furniture companies on the Polish market more often choose a development strategy based on geographical expansion rather than on sectoral diversification and a development strategy focused on selective or full vertical integration rather than on virtualisation of operations. At the companies surveyed, so-called international or nationwide specialists with selective or full vertical integration were dominant.

The aim of the article is to determine the relatedness between the quality of interpersonal relationships, measured by the level of their positivity, with knowledge sharing among members of the top management teams (TMT). The analyses primarily concerned the relatedness between interpersonal relationships and a) the declared individual tendency to share knowledge, b) the motives of knowledge sharing among members of the surveyed teams, c) the forms of knowledge sharing. The empirical basis of the article is a CATI research on a sample of 123 managers who are members of decision-making teams in the furniture industry in Poland. The results obtained suggest that knowledge sharing within management teams is related to the level of positive interpersonal relationships of their members. These relationships strengthen the intrinsic motivation to share knowledge, reducing the importance of extrinsic motivators, as well as foster informal and direct forms of knowledge sharing, reducing the importance of institutionalized forms.

PurposeTogether with increasing ambiguity and frequency of changes, management becomes full of seemingly conflicting choices, i.e. paradoxes, coming up in the process of decision-making. Successful management of paradoxes, i.e. treating them as “both/and” constructs leads to innovative solutions and better overall organizational performance. In response to a significant research gap regarding antecedents of managing paradoxes, the aim of the paper is to investigate how individual characteristics of strategic decision-makers, specifically their age, tenure and educational background, affect the ability to combine contradictions in their strategic choices.Design/methodology/approachAn empirical study was conducted among 201 managers representing furniture companies in Poland. The CATI technique with an interview questionnaire was adopted in order to identify respondents' opinions on the main features, traits and dimensions of the strategy implemented in their companies. Participants' tenure, age and education were measured by single items.FindingsThe study suggests that the ability to manage paradoxes increases with age and tenure in a company and at a current position. At the same time economic/business educational background appears to be unsupportive in this regard.Originality/valueWhile the issue of managing paradoxes energizes researchers in various disciplines, we still do not know much about antecedents of the process. The study shed light on effects that managers' demographics have on their ability of managing paradoxes. It contributes to the theory on strategic paradoxes as well as theory on the influence of decision-makers' individual characteristics on their decisions.

The article substantiates the need to integrate employee competencies for industry 4.0. The approaches to systematizing the skills necessary for the digital economy are analysed. A conceptual framework for the development of such skills is proposed. For the competencies of management employees, a balanced scorecard serves as a convenient management tool that can provide relevant and timely information.

Corporate volunteering is becoming increasingly popular among the ways that companies manifest their social responsibility. Its popularity is due to the variety of benefits it brings to all parties. Among other things, it is capable of strengthening social capital, although specific phenomena and processes related to this remain largely unexplored. The aim of the paper is to identify how the frequency and intensity of contacts between volunteers and beneficiaries affect social capital building. The empirical study was based on a qualitative research approach and conducted in the form of individual semi-structured interviews with employees responsible for corporate volunteering in their companies. The results of the study suggest that corporate volunteering strengthens social capital regardless of the extent to which volunteers have contact with the beneficiaries of their volunteering work. However, the frequency and intensity of this contact may affect specific dimensions of social capital, leading to the strengthening of bonding social capital and/or bridging social capital.

Coraz częściej uważa się, że innowacje w organizacjach należy traktować jako nowości w sensie względnym, tzn. jako rozwiązania nowe dla danego podmiotu, a niekoniecznie dla innych. Takie rozumienie innowacji prowadzi do wniosku, że tworzyć je może każdy pracownik. Warunkiem tego jest jednak istnienie w organizacji sprzyjającego klimatu organizacyjnego. Celem artykułu jest analiza związków zachodzących między poczuciem bezpieczeństwa psychologicznego pracowników, traktowanym jako kluczowy wymiar klimatu innowacyjnego, a zachowaniami menedżerów wyrażającymi autentyczność przywództwa. Zasadność analizy tego rodzaju związków poparta jest ilustracją z badań przeprowadzonych wśród studentów.

The idea of corporate social responsibility (CSR) responding to the challenges of sustainable development is currently being questioned, mainly due to its implied nature and alleged lack of genuine involvement of businesses in the implementation of CSR ideas. We argue that the basic requirement for genuine involvement of a company is the engagement of its employees in projects supporting sustainable development goals. Such projects can create positive social change in the organization and lead to various beneficial outcomes for the company. However, factors that trigger company willingness to conduct the aforementioned projects are still unclear. The aim of the paper is to present a theoretical framework in this regard.

Purpose : The aim of this paper is to identify benefits of corporate volunteer programs gained on employee behaviors’ side. Specifically, the following research question is posed: what benefits of corporate volunteer projects are there observed by employees participating in them? Methodology/approach : The paper is based on a qualitative study conducted in the form of semi-structured in-depth individual interviews with employees participating in volunteer programs. Findings : The study shows that corporate volunteering leads to positive effects on employees, including increased work meaningfulness, competence development and strengthen interpersonal relationships at work. Simultaneously, the study suggests that work meaningfulness plays focal role in the overall process. Implications : Results of the study deliver practical implications for companies implementing corporate volunteering. Volunteer programs should be organized in a way giving employees full autonomy in crafting their projects. The programs should also support and intensify employee interactions and favor volunteer actions requiring wide range of skills. Originality/value: The study contributes to theory development in the field of both corporate social responsibility and organizational behavior. Specifically, it gives an insight on how responsible business practices may strengthen employees’ sense of meaningfulness of work and subsequently improve their competences and mutual relations.

Analyses and international comparisons of university organisational cultures are rare or even non-existing in management studies. Our paper fills this gap, presenting the results of a pilot study conducted in two units representing a Polish and a Dutch university. The survey has been carried out on a basis of a model and a measuring tool created by the Dutch researcher Aldert P. Dreimüller. Using two dimensions of change tolerance vs. control; and internal vs. external orientation he proposed a typology of four organisational cultures: task, aim, team and process culture. Each type is described with the same set of criteria. The types identified in the course of our survey are interpreted through the lens of the national cultures of the Netherlands and Poland. However, the main result of the study, and thus the main aim of this paper, is a multi-faceted usage and test of the Dreimüller’s tool.

Innovations are the essence of the successful organization. The process of their creation is strongly based on individual and team commitment to create improvements in every organizational area. This commitment is triggered by innovation climate including employee positive relationships (PRW) and supporting internal communication facets. The aim of the paper is to defi ne causal relations among the aforementioned variables. We hypothesize that positive relationships at work are a prerequisite of the innovation creation process, i.e. they stimulate employee commitment to innovation creation regardless of the employee position in an organization as well as infl uence internal communication facets that support innovativeness. Notably, among internal communication elements we analyze open communication of both good and bad information and employee informal meetings. The analyses are based on the quantitative survey conducted on the sample of 200 Polish companies representing various sectors and selected from rankings of the most dynamically developing organizations in Central Europe. In each company we obtained information from a person involved in leading a team creating innovations, i.e. representing different functional departments. In the course of data analyses we used the hierarchical regression and the linear regression analysis. The results support the hypotheses of PRW key role in the innovativeness process, and the effect appeared to be linear. Specifi cally, positive relationships at work stimulate both employee individual commitment to innovations and internal communication supporting innovativeness. These fi ndings contribute to the research stream connected with the Positive Organizational Scholarship umbrella concept. Practical implications of the survey point to the need of positive relationships at work stimulation in organizations.

Over the last decade researchers paid considerable attention to the conditions needed for innovation emergence and implementation. However, the issue concerning the influence of employee relationships in a workplace on the organizational innovativeness has received little attention in research. On the ground of the studies carried out in Polish companies we are trying to narrow the gap in the field. The correlation and regression analysis of the research participant opinions showed that positive relationships at work stimulate employees, regardless of their position and job description, not only to come up with innovative ideas but also to develop the innovations proposed by others. So the executives managing organizations should focus on all kinds of factors creating positive relationships at work. We assume that the results presented in the paper may be regarded as a contribution to both the Positive Organizational Scholarship umbrella concept and to the Research stream concerning the conditions for being successful at innovation creation and implementation Udostępnienie publikacji Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego finansowane w ramach projektu „Doskonałość naukowa kluczem do doskonałości kształcenia”. Projekt realizowany jest ze środków Europejskiego Funduszu Społecznego w ramach Programu Operacyjnego Wiedza Edukacja Rozwój; nr umowy: POWER.03.05.00-00-Z092/17-00.

Poruszono problem wpływu kultury narodowej na proces zarządzania wiedzą. Omówiono takie zagadnienia jak: organizacja zarządzająca wiedzą jako wytwór kultury oraz kulturowe uwarunkowania zarządzania wiedzą w przedsiębiorstwie.

The main purpose of this article is to present links identified among manifestations of employee positive relationships and organizational citizenship behaviour. The presentation is based on the results collected through a questionnaire survey conducted in Polish companies. The data analysis shows particular associations between positive relationships and organisational citizenship behaviour(OCB). Our results suggest that OCB-I (the behaviours targeted toward other individuals in an organisation) may be triggered by respect and acceptance and that OCB-O (i.e. the behaviours targeted toward an organisation itself) may be considered as effects of the relationships manifesting honesty and reliability. We suggest research avenues to capture the processes behind the described associations.

The analyses presented in this paper are based on the first step of the research project concerning the links between Positive Organizational Potential (POP), Organizational Commitment (OC) and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB). The survey was conducted in two samples and covered French and Polish firms. The results support a model adopted in the analysis and thus the importance of influence of POP, organizational culture and climate on employees’ behaviours and Organizational Development. The results also point out cultural differences between the French and Polish firms: one dimension of OC, the willingness to continue membership in the organization and the general compliance dimension of OCB are lower in the French sample. The present paper also presents the next, planned step of the research.

Research purpose: The aim of the paper is to analyze the role of leadership in shaping interpersonal relationships in the context of Positive Organizational Potential. In order to achieve our aim, the three following research objectives have been set: (1) to assess the infl uence of intra-organizational antecedents related to leadership on interpersonal relationships, (2) to identify and analyze the correlations between top management behaviors and interpersonal relationships considered as the key areas of Positive Organizational Potential, and (3) to identify and analyze the correlations between middle management behaviors and interpersonal relationships considered as the key areas of Positive Organizational Potential. Methodology/approach: The analyses are based on the findings of the questionnaire survey conducted in companies operating in Poland and the Delphi panel grouping researchers and business practitioners. Findings: Leadership-related factors are identified as a category of intra-organizational antecedents of a strong impact on interpersonal relationships. Such findings are confirmed for the majority of studied intra-organizational antecedents related to leadership including: leaders’ ability to influence and inspire others, models of relationships provided by both the top and middle managers, leaders’ emphatic behaviors, treating subordinates with respect and building the climate of trust. The study of correlations between the key areas of Positive Organizational Potential confirms that interpersonal relationships are much strongly correlated with the attitudes and behaviors of middle managers than with those of top managers. Limitations/implications: The small number of firms participating in the survey (N = 73) and the fact that the research sample included only companies operating in Poland should be considered as limitations to extend the findings and conclusions to a wider population. Originality/value: The paper is based on the findings of empirical research including a questionnaire survey and a Delphi panel. It makes references and is the extension of works by Glinska-Neweś (2013) and Haffer (2013) based on the same empirical material. The added value of the paper is the thoroughness of the study and its increased objectivity being the result of combining various data elicitation techniques.

Focus group -metoda jakościowych badań marketingowych