Discovering Open Governance

Questions to consider for Academy of Management Conference, Vancouver 2015

Are women the same as men in the workplace?

Nobel prize winner Tim Hunt suggested women shouldn’t be allowed in labs because they ‘distract men’, and ‘are emotional’.

Gender in Management suggests both men and women bring their own values into the working environment:

“Individuals embody the gendered and gendering social structures and values that are constantly being produced and reproduced within society and academia.”

How can you improve employee retention to enhance productivity and morale?

Journal of Management Development encourages incorporation of “empowerment initiatives” (EIs) into their work-life offerings:

“EIs may teach employees how to recognize whether a particular work-life policy is appropriate … [and] for employees who do not use traditional policies, there may be strategies and skills that they can learn to more effectively manage multiple life roles in their existing work context”

If employees are perceived as low maintenance, does this influence leader cognition, affect, and behaviour?

Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management suggests that when employer-employee relationships flourish, employees experience need fulfilment and employers, customers, and local communities benefit from organizational members’ labour.

When employment relationships derail “the ability of organizations to satisfy the interests of its many stakeholders may be compromised.”

Will a human resource management (HRM) solve all your problems?

Journal of Organizational Effectiveness suggests human resource practices can help build the knowledge and skill base as well as evoke relevant behaviour.

Reward systems, culture, and other aspects of HRM influence the extent to which employees are willing to create, share, and apply knowledge internally.

How does the HRM strategy shift through descending hierarchies?

Journal of Organizational Effectiveness suggests that, after a strategic shift, successful implementation of a HRM strategy decreases down through the hierarchies.

A large strategic shift will pose problems as human capital further down the hierarchy is likely to stay aligned to the old strategy.

How can you have mutually satisfying employment relationships?

Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management puts the emphasis on leader perceptions of employment relationships.

Maintenance perceptions are central to understanding how employee behaviour is understood and acted upon by individuals in leadership positions.

Can you achieve open governance in your organization?

Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management suggests that high-risk behaviours are more likely to translate into higher maintenance evaluations for low-LMX employees than for high-LMX employees:

“As leader-member exchange quality increases, the strength of the relationship between the behavioural risk factors and employee maintenance will decrease.”

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