Abstract: There have been frequent calls for IS researchers to make their research more relevant to practice (Zmud 1998), yet it seems IS researchers continue to struggle to make excellent research practically relevant. We believe action research methods provide one potential avenue to improve the prac tical relevance of IS research. Action research has been accepted as a valid research method in other applied fields such as organization development and education, (e.g., Carr and Kemmis 1986; Elden and Chisholm 1993; Van Eynde and Bledsoe 1990). It has been described as "the touchstone of most good organizational develop ment practice" and "remains the primary methodo logy for the practice of organizational develop ment" (Van Eynde and Bledsoe 1990, p. 27). We see no reason why action research should not be accepted in the field of information systems.

Abstract: This research describes efforts to develop and validate a multidimensional measure of the learning organization. An instrument was developed based on a critical review of both the conceptualization and practice of this construct. Supporting validity evidence for the instrument was obtained from several sources, including best model-data fit among alternative measurement models, nomological network among dimensions of the learning organization, and organizational performance outcomes. Acceptable reliability estimates were obtained for the seven proposed dimensions. Consequently, the instrument, Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire, was recommended for use in organizational studies.

Abstract: Many researchers have demonstrated that the organizational design employed by an agent system can have a significant, quantitative effect on its performance characteristics A range of organizational strategies have emerged from this line of research, each with different strengths and weaknesses In this article we present a survey of the major organizational paradigms used in multi-agent systems These include hierarchies, holarchies, coalitions, teams, congregations, societies, federations, markets, and matrix organizations We will provide a description of each, discuss their advantages and disadvantages, and provide examples of how they may be instantiated and maintained This summary will facilitate the comparative evaluation of organizational styles, allowing designers to first recognize the spectrum of possibilities, and then guiding the selection of an appropriate organizational design for a particular domain and environment

Abstract: Despite the growing awareness of the importance of researching core strategic resources and activities, the work that has been done to date has largely taken the form of anecdotal reports and case study analysis. We have yet to see large-sample studies demonstrating how organizational elements, independently, complementarily and interactively, may or may not enhance the organization's performance. Moreover, little attention has been given to researching this topic in public sector organizations. The present study aims to bridge this gap by examining the impact of a set of independent intangible organizational elements and the interactions among them on a set of objective organizational performance measures in a sample of local government authorities in Israel. The results of a multivariate analysis indicate that organizational performance (measured by self-income ratio, collecting efficiency ratio, employment rate, and municipal development) can be well explained by six intangible organizational elements (managerial capabilities, human capital, internal auditing, labor relations, organizational culture, and perceived organizational reputation) and the interactions among them, which need to be taken into account in any cost effective development. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract: In this journal, Rainey and Steinbauer proposed a theory of effective government organizations, and Brewer and Selden conducted an empirical study with data from the 1996 Merit Principles Survey that confirmed most hypothesized relationships in the theoretical model of organizational performance. Following these studies, this study focuses only on the individual-level factors, such as job satisfaction, affective commitment, public service motivation, and organizational citizenship behavior. It empirically tests the effects of these variables on organizational performance in the public sector of Korea. When the survey data of 1,739 public employees in government agencies were analyzed, the hypothesized relationships in the proposed model were confirmed. I discuss the survey results in light of previous studies, especially those of Brewer and Selden. In this journal, Rainey and Steinbauer (1999) proposed a theory of effective government organizations, urging that this theory be tested empirically; Brewer and Selden (2000) conducted an empirical study with data from the 1996 Merit Principles Survey and confirmed most hypothesized relationships in the theoretical model of organizational performance. In those studies, both individual-level and organization-level factors are involved in the theoretical models; thus each level was not fully examined, and some important factors remain to be considered. Brewer and Selden (2000) inspire me to pursue further evidence about whether the individual attitudes and behaviors of public employees may affect government performance. Popovich defined high-performance organizations as "groups of employees who produce desired goods or services at higher quality with the same or fewer resources" (1998, 11). Good public employees may be imagined to have such characteristics as high satisfaction with their jobs, high commitment to the organization, high motivation to serve the public, and strong intentions to work for the organization willingly and devotedly. I assume that public employees with these characteristics will contribute to organizational performance and thus that individual-level factors will positively affect organizational performance. I will discuss the individual-level factors and develop the model that relates I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for the useful suggestions and comments provided through the review process. Address correspondence to the author at smook@snut.ac.kr. doi:l 0.1 093/jopart/mui013 Advance Access publication on December 16, 2004 Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Vol. 15, no. 2 ? 2005 Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Inc.; all rights reserved. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.186 on Sun, 09 Oct 2016 04:20:00 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 246 Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory Figure 1 Theoretical Model of Individual-Level Factors and Organizational Performance

Abstract: Introduction SECTION I: THE ROOTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTITY IN SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 1 Society and the Individual 2 The Self 3 The Arts of Impression Management 4 An Integrative Theory of Intergroup Conflict 5 Who is this 'We'? Levels of Colletive Identity and Self Representations SECTION II: EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTITY THEORY 6 Organizational Identity 7 Amto-Social Actions of Committed Organizational Participants: An Existential Psychoanalytic Perspective 8 Social Identity Theory and the Organization 9 Organization: From Substance to Image? 10 Keeping an Eye on the Mirror: Image and Identity in Organizational Adaptation 11 Organizational Impression Management as Reciprocal Influence Process: The Neglected Role of the Organizational Audience SECTION III: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTITY THEORY SECTION IIII: MULTIPLE IDENTITIES 12 Organizational Dress as a Symbol of Multilayered Social Identities 13 Breaches in the Boardroom: Organizational Identity and Conflicts of Commitment in a Nonprofit Organization SECTION IIIII: STABILITY AND CHANGE IN ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTITY 14 Organizational Identity, Image, and Adaptive Instability 15 The Dynamics of Organizational Identity SECTION IIIIII: IDENTITY AS NARRATIVE AND DISCOURSE 16 Identity Regulation as Organizational Control Producing the Appropriate Individual 17 Narratives of Individual and Organizational Identities SECTION IIIIV: AUDIENCES FOR IDENTITY 18 Members' Responses to Organizational Identity Threats: Encountering and Countering the Business Week Rankings 19 Organizational Identity: Linkages Between Internal and External Communication

Abstract: Relatively little study has been performed on knowledge management and knowledge transfer in the public sector, and even less in the developing countries. This paper investigates the relationship between organizational elements and the performance of knowledge transfer. Five main independent variables were identified – organizational culture, organizational structure, technology, people/human resources and political directives – and these were tested against creation of knowledge assets and knowledge transfer performance using the Spearman rank test. Tacit and explicit knowledge were also tested against knowledge transfer performance. To achieve an in‐depth empirical study, the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development of Malaysia was chosen for a case study. The findings are based on replies to a questionnaire survey done from September to December 2001. The results reveal that there are significant relationships between some of the variables and either the creation of knowledge assets or the performance of knowledge transfer. Therefore, it is necessary for organizations to consider some of the elements that show a relationship between the tested variables in implementing a knowledge management strategy in an organization. However, certain variables that did not show any relationship should not be ignored totally, as they are still very important for some organizations.

Abstract: Introduction PART I: EXPLORATIONS INTO ORGANIZATIONAL KNOWLEDGE 1 The Firm as a Distributed Knowledge System 2 Forms of Knowledge and Forms of Life in Organized Contexts 3 What is Organizational Knowledge? 4 The Tyranny of Light: The Temptations and the Paradoxes of the Information Society 5 Where Does New Organizational Knowledge Come From? PART II: COPING WITH ORGANIZATIONAL COMPLEXITY 6 Understanding Social Reforms: A Conceptual Analysis 7 Chaos, Compelxity, and Organiztion Theory 8 Complex Thinking, Complex Practice: The Case for a Narrative Approach to Organizational Complexity 9 Reading Organizations: Uncertainty, Complexity, Narrativity PART III: META-KNOWLEDGE: THE EPISTEMOLOGY OF MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 10 Refining Common Sense: Types of Knowledge in Management Studies 11 The Word and the World: A Critique of Representationalism in Management Research 12 What is Good Theory? Arguments for a Discursive Organization Science 13 The Conduct of Strategy Research

Abstract: This research examines data collected as part of a 10-year case study of the creation and evolution of organizational control during organizational founding. Past research has taken a cross-sectional approach to examining control use in mature, stable organizations. In contrast, this study examines organizational controls during the founding period and takes a longitudinal perspective on organizational control. By examining how organizational controls are created and evolve through specific phases of the founding period, the research also provides new data and insights about what drives shifts in the use of various types of control. Specifically, this research sheds light on the role of imbalance among formal and informal controls as the key driver of shifts in control configurations, and provides a step toward making organizational control theory more dynamic.

Abstract: Aims to analyze how the organizational culture impacts knowledge management, organizational learning and ultimately the performance of the firm. The degree to which collaborative culture influences organizational learning and performance is investigated for 195 Spanish firms. The technique used was structural equation modeling (SEM). The results show, first of all, that collaborative culture encourages the development of organizational learning, which at the same time, has a significant effect on business performance. And, second, it is highlighted that collaborative culture does not constitute in itself a source of competitive advantages. Collaborative culture must modify, through learning, the organization’s guidelines and attitudes in order to improve competitive performance. Perhaps the most significant limitation of the study is associated with the use of cross‐sectional data. While we presented and tested models in which we assumed a causal flow from collaborative culture to organizational learning to organizational performance, there is the possibility that these relationships may occur in reverse order. In future researches it would be interesting to analyze the influence that other variables, such organizational structure, leadership and corporate strategy have on learning. The establishment of a knowledge strategy can be determined by a global approach, which affects all fields in organization. For knowledge management initiatives to be truly effective must take into account the social contexts in which learning take place. Culture need to be re‐examined in light of its role in managing the overall organizational learning infrastructure. This study provides empirical evidence for the hypothesis that collaborative culture influences organizational learning which in turn influences business performance. The current study provides some understanding of the manner in which collaborative culture influence organizational outcomes.

Abstract: This chapter argues that learning environments that offer employees diverse forms of participation foster learning at work Case study evidence is used to illuminate the relationship between work and learning in relation to three participatory dimensions: (1) opportunities for engaging in multiple (and overlapping) communities of practice at and beyond the workplace; (2) access to a multidimensional approach to the acquisition of expertise through the organisation of work and job design; and (3) the opportunity to pursue knowledge-based courses and qualifications relating to work Our research indicates that where organisations have created 'expansive learning environments' and practise an expansive approach to learning, they also provide the basis for the integration of personal and organisational development

Abstract: This article develops a conceptual framework to theorize about and to intervene in multi-party collaboration projects related to natural resource issues. It is a recent trend in public and private interorganizational policy that multiple actors get involved to collaborate around issues of water and soil management, nature preservation, land use, farming practices, introduction of new technologies in life sciences and related problem domains. Awareness grows that blue print planning- implementation approaches are no longer sufficient to obtain viable and sustainable outcomes. The technical complexity and social embeddedness of these issues, require the collaboration of public authorities, private business, scientific experts, groups of users and social interest groups, non-governmental organizations and representatives of stakeholders in the particular ecological domain. The central concern is always an interdependent involvement of the stakeholders, the development of a shared problem definition, the coordination of the different actions on all levels and the orientation towards a shared common script and action strategy. Social psychology and particularly organizational psychology, building on theories of interorganizational collaboration and social and organizational development, are challenged to make a contribution here. The different stakeholders engage in joint practices where the acknowledgement and the development of viable interdependencies are at stake. Learning about those interdependencies is considered in this article as the critical constitutive process and form of these multi-party projects. Through sharing problem perspectives and working with different kinds of knowledge and competencies, multiple actors or stakeholder parties co-construct a social learning process in an emerging community of practice. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract: This is an exploratory study of leadership, organizational culture, and organizational innovativeness in a sample of nonprofit human service organizations: Associations of Retarded Citizens. Although leadership has been held out as one of the most important predictors of innovation, this study found it was not correlated with organizational innovativeness. Examination of the relationships between leadership and cultural variables provided some alternative explanations for this finding. Positive relationships among transformational leadership, organizational values, and cultural consensus (degree of agreement among employees on those values) indicate that leadership practices employed in this sample created strong cultural consensus around values that may inhibit innovation. These findings suggest that examining the link between leadership and organizational culture is important for understanding how leadership and innovation are related. This article sets out practical implications, based on the results of the study, that may help nonprofit managers create workplaces supportive of innovation.

Abstract: Participation in strategic change processes is frequently assumed to have a number of positive consequences for decision quality, affective responses to change and success of strategic change implementation. To date little research has successfully established the validity of these claims. The fact that results from research into the effects of participation in other contexts are inconclusive is adding to the ambiguity concerning participation's efficacy in a strategic change context. This article uses data from a major strategic reorientation of a national telecommunications firm in order to assess the outcomes of participation in strategic change. Findings indicate a strong positive relationship between participation and goal achievement and organizational commitment, and a strong negative relationship with resistance. The results also suggest that the effects of participation are moderated by the changes' compatibility with organizational culture and the personal goals of change recipients.

Abstract: This paper develops a ‘third way’ of organizational learning (OL) encompassing two metaphors for learning: acquisition and participation. These two metaphors can be found in the learning theories o...

Abstract: This study investigates the influence of organizational culture on attitudes toward organizational change in Malaysia. Based on the work of Goffee and Jones and Dunham et al., a structured questionnaire was developed and self‐administered to 258 companies listed in the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturing directory. The results showed that there is an association between organizational culture and the affective, cognitive, and behavioral tendency of attitudes toward organizational change. The findings also showed that different types of organizational culture have different levels of acceptance of attitudes toward organizational change. This means that certain type of organizational culture could facilitate the acceptability of change, while other types of culture could not accept it. The implications of this research are also discussed.

Abstract: Many writers acknowledge the significance of Kurt Lewin's contribution to organizational change. However, over the last 20 years, where the focus has been on rapid, transformational change, Lewin's work has increasingly become seen as outmoded and irrelevant to the needs of modern organizations. It might be expected that this tendency would increase as academics and practitioners draw on the work of complexity theorists to portray organizations as complex, dynamic, non-linear self-organizing systems. Though there are some who do take this view, there are others who point to the similarities between Lewin's work and that of complexity theorists. In order to examine these conflicting views, the article begins by reviewing Lewin's Planned approach for change and arguing that it is a more robust approach than many of its detractors acknowledge. This is followed by a review of the literature on complexity theories which draws out the main implications of these for organizational change. The discussion of the t...

Abstract: Section One: Positioning Organizational Culture Introduction What is an Organization? What is Organizational Communication? What is Culture? What is Organizational Culture? Integration of Artifacts, Values, and Assumptions Organizational Culture and You Feature: Does Organizational Culture Really Matter? Summary Section Two: Unpacking Organizational Culture Core Characteristics of Organizational Culture Communicating Culture The Structure of Organizational Culture A Divided View of Organizational Culture Cultural Consensus and Division What Organizational Culture is Not Feature: Organizational Culture or Organizational Climate Myths about Organizational Culture Summary Section Three: Lenses for Understanding Organizational Culture The Development of Organizational Culture Construct The Lens of Symbolic Performance The Lens of Narrative Reproduction The Lens of Textual Reproduction Feature: The Two Sides of Managerial Views The Lens of Power and Politics The Lens of Technology The Lens of Globalization Summary Section Four: Developing, Managing, and Changing Organizational Culture Culture Formation Cultural Maintenance Cultural Change in Organizations Feature: Two Levels for Addressing Cultural Change Creating a Vision of the Organization and its Culture Socializing New Employees to the Culture Leadership and Organizational Culture Personal, Professional, and Organizational Ethics Can Organizational Culture be Managed? Summary The Culture Toolkit: Methods for Exploring Organizational Culture Steps in Coducting a Cultural Analysis Cultural Tools Putting It All Together Summary Appendix

Abstract: There is a long-running debate in the business literature on the causes of organizational failure. On the one hand, classical industrial organization (IO) and organization ecology (OE) scholars have typically assumed a deterministic role of the environment and argued that managers are constrained by exogenous industrial and environmental constraints leaving them with little real strategic choice, and hence managers' role should be ignored. On the other hand, the organization studies (OS) and organizational psychology (OP) literature takes a more voluntaristic perspective and argues that managers are the principal decision makers of the firm and, consequently, their actions and perceptions are the fundamental cause of organizational failure. This paper addresses the major deficiencies observed in the diverse body of literature covering this field, suggests an integrative framework and identifies the specific theoretical and methodological challenges ahead for researchers seeking to advance knowledge in the field of organizational failure.

Abstract: With the development of the global economy in the late 1980s and 1990s, organizations have been forced to continually reevaluate operations and strategies. As a result, the one constant in this dynamic world is the everchanging work environment. The human resource and organizational development fields have long looked to investigate what makes change efforts successful. Researchers and practitioners have both found employee readiness to be a critical factor in successful change efforts. This article provides a theoretical foundation for one of the most complete models of organizational readiness. Specifically, the Armenakis, Harris, &Feild five-message component model of organizational readiness is presented with a theoretical foundation for the importance of each of the five specified components. A case study is provided to display the need to communicate each of the message components. Implications and conclusions draw attention to the importance of taking proactive steps in creating readiness.

Abstract: The present study explored the issue of organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) as a context-related phenomenon, from a multidimensional perspective. More specifically, it was hypothesized that organizational learning (structures and learning values) would be positively related to (a) OCB that benefited the organization as a whole (OCBO) and (b) OCB that immediately benefited particular individuals (OCBI). The hypotheses identified the school as the unit of analysis; so all variables were aggregates of individual responses to the organizational level of analysis. Justification for aggregation was provided by a within-group similarity index (r wg ) and a within- and between-entities analysis (WABA). Results from a sample of 31 schools confirmed the main hypotheses, and generally supported the notion that OCB could be treated as a context-related phenomenon. These results should encourage researchers and practitioners to focus more attention on the organizational context and its characteristics as related to OCB.

Abstract: Organizational culture, organizational leadership, and Chief Knowledge Officers (CKOs) each play important roles in overcoming human barriers associated with knowledge creation, transfer and sharing. This paper examines three key components of organizational culture: cooperative involvement, trust and incentives. In addition, the impact of organizational leadership on knowledge management as well as the roles and qualifications of CKOs are discussed. Through an examination of previous research and existing literature on knowledge management, this paper also shows where gaps in research exist and suggests directions for future organizational research.

Abstract: This study investigates the contribution of organizational support and personal relations in accounting for Chinese workers' affective commitment to the organization for which they work and their organizational citizenship behavior. In a sample of 605 matched cases of employees and their immediate supervisors from a large, reformed state-owned firm, organizational support was found to relate to affective commitment more strongly than to organizational citizenship behavior. Personal relations, however, were found to relate similarly to affective commitment and organizational citizenship behavior. Moderator effects are evident with the less-traditional Chinese employees manifesting greater citizenship behavior than do more-traditional Chinese, in response to a high-quality relationship with their supervisor. More-traditional Chinese contribute citizenship behavior that is moderately high, regardless of the quality of their relationship with their supervisor. These findings suggest a need to revise certain assumptions regarding the nature of the employee-employer exchange relationship in China and in similar transitional societies.

Abstract: This article describes the construct of citizenship performance and summarizes some of the industrial-organizational psychology research on organizational citizenship. Citizenship performance is defined as behaviors that go beyond task performance and technical proficiency, instead supporting the organizational, social, and psychological context that serves as the critical catalyst for tasks to be accomplished. The research reviewed addresses these topics: (a) the weights supervisors place on task and citizenship performance when making judgments about organization members' overall performance; (b) whether personality predicts citizenship performance better than task performance; (c) links between citizenship performance and organizational effectiveness; and (d) relations between organizational characteristics such as justice in the workplace and citizenship performance. Citizenship on the part of organization members is important in contemporary organizations. Because of current trends, such as increased...

Abstract: Informal learning's roots emerged from educational philosophers John Dewey, Kurt Lewin and Mary Parker Follett to theorists Malcolm Knowles and other successive researchers. This paper explores the background and definitions of informal learning and applications to the global workplace. Informal learning's challenges are applied to developing global professional competence, including theory, practice and policy implications. The paper argues that informal learning plays a considerable role in developing professional expertise in the workplace and private life, yet believes no current theoretical model exists to balance conflicts between the role of individual and organizational benefits in a global context.

Abstract: A growing disillusionment with many of the mainstream theories and methodologies that underpin organizational studies has encouraged scholars to seek alternative ways in which to describe, analyse and theorize the increasingly complex processes and practices that constitute ‘organization’. One outcome of this search has been that ‘organizational discourse’ has emerged as an increasingly significant focus of interest. It is now difficult to open a management or organizational journal without finding that it contains some sort of discursivebased study, and there has been a recent flurry of books, edited collections and

Abstract: Organizational communication covers an eclectic mix of approaches, theories, and methodologies, developed within organizational settings or applied from other areas. The authors start their assessment of recent literature with 6 challenges for the field that have been delineated in previous reviews: (a) to innovate in theory and methodology, (b) to acknowledge the role of ethics, (c) to move from micro- to macrolevel issues, (d) to examine new organizational structures and technologies, (e) to understand the communication of organizational change, and (f) to explore diversity and intergroup aspects of communication. All 6 challenges implicate the importance of considering the intergroup level of analysis as well as the interpersonal and organizational levels, to undertake multilevel research in context, and to consider the role and place of voice in organizations. Finally, researchers must make their research ethical and consequential.

Abstract: This study uses multivariate analysis to assess the basic question asked by resource-based view researchers: Do organizational resources and capabilities account for variations in firm performance? An analysis of survey responses of 93 industrial enterprises in Israel indicates that superiority of an industrial enterprise, in terms of four performance measures (return on sales, return on equity, market share change, and customer satisfaction), can be explained by a set of four core organizational resources and capabilities (managerial skills, organizational culture, organizational communication, and perceived organizational reputation). The results lend significant support to the premise of the resource-based view of strategic management. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.