Employee Relations 

Abstract: This paper contributes to the development of the knowledge management and human resource management literatures through developing the linkages between them. Increasingly it is being acknowledged that the success of knowledge management initiatives is fundamentally predicated on having workers who are prepared to share their knowledge. It is suggested that HRM concepts and frameworks could be utilized to improve our understanding of what shapes the willingness (or reluctance) of workers to share their knowledge. Specifically the paper considers how the motivation of workers to share their knowledge may be shaped by their level of organizational commitment. Guest and Conway’s model of the psychological contract is modified to link commitment with knowledge‐sharing attitudes and behaviours. Finally, it is suggested that, if commitment is linked to knowledge‐sharing attitudes, then the apparently low commitment levels reported by a number of surveys may mean this represents a key problem for knowledge management initiatives.

Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of remote e-working on the key research areas of work-life balance, job effectiveness and well-being. The study provides a set of generalisable themes drawn from the key research areas, including building trust, management style and the quality of work and non-working life. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is an exploratory study into the psychological factors affecting remote e-workers using qualitative thematic analysis of eleven in-depth interviews with e-workers, across five organisations and three sectors. All participants worked remotely using technology independent of time and location for several years and considered themselves to be experts. Findings: The paper provides insights into the diverse factors affecting remote e-workers and produces ten emerging themes. Differentiating factors between e-workers included access to technology, ability to work flexibly and individual competencies. Adverse impacts were found on well-being, due to over-working and a lack of time for recuperation. Trust and management style were found to be key influences on e-worker effectiveness. Research limitations/implications: Because of the exploratory nature of the research and approach the research requires further testing for generalisability. The emerging themes could be used to develop a wide-scale survey of e-workers, whereby the themes would be further validated. Practical implications: Practical working examples are provided by the e-workers and those who also manage e-workers based on the ten emerging themes. Originality/value: This paper identifies a number of generalisable themes that can be used to inform the psychological factors affecting remote e-worker effectiveness.

Abstract: – Although the phenomenon of organisational silence is widely seen in organisations, there is little empirical evidence regarding its nature and main components. This paper aims at investigating the dimensions of silence climate as they are perceived by individuals and exploring the effects of these dimensions on job attitudes., – In a sample of 677 employees, three dimensions of silence climate are constructed and measured in order to examine their effects on employee silence behaviour, organisational commitment and job satisfaction., – Results indicate that supervisors’ attitudes to silence, top management attitudes to silence and communication opportunities are associated and predict employees’ silence behaviour. These three dimensions are also associated with organisational commitment and job satisfaction., – Although the phenomenon of organisational silence is expected in organisations, there is little empirical evidence in the literature aimed at defining it, analysing it and coping with it. Silence climate has an impact on organizations’ ability to detect errors and learn and, therefore, organizational effectiveness is negatively affected. This exploratory study aims to measure organisational silence as a continuum between silence and voice explain silence behaviour through organisational climate dimensions. Based on the findings of this study, there are some important implications that are discussed.

Abstract: Purpose – Both for-profit and not-for-profit organisations have been replacing face-to-face HRM activities with web-based HRM tools, e-HRM for short, for employees and managers since the 1990s. This paper aims to look at whether this is of benefit to an organisation. Design/methodology/approach – The study was conducted in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in The Netherlands, where e-HRM in the form of employee self-service applications was introduced. Findings – The study shows that individual assessment of e-HRM applications influences HRM technical and strategic effectiveness. This is especially so in the perceived quality of the content and the structure of e-HRM applications which have a significant and positive effect on technical and strategic HRM effectiveness. Research limitations/implications – It is difficult to form generalizations from the research into only one company. Practical implications – The basic expectations are that using e-HRM will decrease costs, will improve the HR service level and will give the HR department space to become a strategic partner. This study investigates whether this is the case. Originality/value – The area on which this study concentrates has not had extensive academic research conducted into it