Anna-Maija Lämsä

Development of organizational trust among employees from a contextual perspective

It is becoming increasingly accepted that trust in the workplace is an important factor which potentially leads to enhanced organizational performance and can be a source of competitive advantage in the long run (e.g. McAllister 1995, Whitener et al. 1998, Leana & van Buren III 1999, Wicks et al. 1999, Gould-Williams 2003). Although it may be unreasonable to expect that any firm can have boundless trust among employees, the starting point of this paper lies in the argument that organizational trust is more desirable from the viewpoint of the firm’s economic prosperity than its lack. Organizational trust is important for successful socialization, cooperation and effective teamworking (cf. Putnam 1993, Fukuyama 1995) and in the long run helps to minimize risks and decrease operating costs (Connell et al. 2003). In addition, trust provides a foundation for social order (Lewis & Weigert 1985, Hosmer 1995, Lewicki et al. 1998) and contributes to improved quality of life. In recent years, the issues of globalization in the business world have drawn scholars’ attention to the role of socio-cultural context in organizational life (Putnam 1993, Doney et al. 1998). Expanding internationalization implies a need for companies to understand the impact of the socio-cultural context on their operations and to pay attention to the risks arising from it. Despite rapid development in theory building in the field of organizational trust during recent decades, the literature on the subject has been criticized for insufficient focus on the role of the context in formulating theories and practical methods of trust-building (Doney et al. 1998, Wicks & Berman 2004). Consequently, too little work has been done to understand how a socio-cultural context is related to the development of organizational trust. Through this article, we attempt to contribute to the existing gap and develop a contextsensitive theoretical model of organizational trust. The model derives from the theory of resource dependence (Aldrich & Pfeffer 1976, Pfeffer & Salancik 1978, Wicks & Berman 2004) and identifies four different contexts from the viewpoint of the level of work morale of the employees in a particular society. Based on the findings of prior research, we argue that trust among employees is not inherent, but management can nurture it with the help of appropriate and context-sensitive managerial practices (Creed & Miles 1996, Paine 1997, Whitener 1997, Whitener et al. 1998, Connell et al. 2003, Gould-Williams 2003, Blunsdon & Reed 2003, Young & Daniel 2003). For example, interventions by the management, such as development of workplace ethics, better provision of information, and support for employees have an impact on employees’ trust in the workplace. Respectively, Professor, School of Business and Economics, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland and Doctoral Student, Center for Business Ethics, Kaunas Faculty of Humanities, University of Vilnius, Lithuania.

Building organizational trust in a low‐trust societal context

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to explore the interrelations between organizational trust and ethics management tools as well as ethical organizational practices in a post‐socialist context.Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual framework of the interrelations among organizational trust, ethics management tools and ethical organizational practices is reasoned and the interrelations among the variables are explored using quantitative methods of data analysis. The method of data gathering is a questionnaire survey that was carried out in Lithuania which is taken as an example of a post‐socialist society where trust is rather low. In total, answers from 519 respondents were collected.Findings – The empirical findings confirm the interdependence of the variables. A significant dependence of organizational trust on ethical organizational practices has been established.Research limitations/implications – The research findings imply that ethics management tools just weakly predict emergence of organiz...

A narrative approach for organizational learning in a diverse organisation

Purpose – This paper aims to construct an approach referred to as “the participatory narrative” for organizational learning in diverse organizations. The approach is grounded in an understanding of organizational learning as the process of social construction which is narratively mediated.Design/methodology/approach – The participatory narrative is constructed theoretically. Additionally, the approach and its potential use are illustrated by means of a practical example.Findings – It is shown that the participatory narrative enables interplay between various perspectives of diverse people. It makes it possible to overcome the temporal and spatial limits of organisational learning situations and helps to question self‐evident assumptions about diverse people and makes such assumptions visible and negotiable.Research limitations/implications – The application of the participatory narrative is only highlighted with the help of an illustrative example.Practical implications – The participatory narrative helps...

The nature of managerial commitment to strategic change

This article explores the nature of managerial commitment to such strategic changes as downsizing and quality improvement. Its purpose is to develop a theoretical framework of managerial commitment. Findings from a qualitative study are presented resulting in the classification of commitment in two dimensions: reward‐based and trust‐based commitments. A theoretical typology of the four types of managerial commitment is developed based on the dimensions: passive, calculative, trustful, and balanced types of commitment. The article argues that the general assumptions in commitment literature that people need material, social or psychological incentives and rewards which facilitate identification with an organization are one‐sided. It proposes that much more emphasis should be put on studying trust‐based commitment and elements affecting it for both economic and ethical reasons than prior research has done.

Ethical managers in ethical organisations? The leadership‐culture connection among Finnish managers

Purpose – The main aim of the present study is to discover whether the managers’ self‐evaluations of their ethical leadership style are associated with their assessments of the ethical organisational culture (measured with an eight‐dimensional Corporate Ethical Virtues‐model). It aims to hypothesise that the more ethical the managers evaluate their own leadership style to be, the higher evaluations they give on the ethical culture of their organisation. The underlying assumption is that ethical managers can enhance the ethical culture by behaving in accordance with their own values.Design/methodology/approach – This quantitative research was based on a questionnaire study with 902 respondents throughout Finland. A linear regression analysis was conducted to examine how ethical leadership was related to ethical organisational culture.Findings – Managers who appraised their own leadership style as ethical also evaluated the ethical culture of their organisations more positively. The result implies that an e...

The ethical culture of organisations and organisational innovativeness

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the ethical culture of organisations and organisational innovativeness.Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative empirical analysis was conducted on the basis of a survey of 147 respondents within the public sector in Finland. A multivariate linear regression analysis was done to examine how the ethical culture of organisations is related to organisational innovativeness.Findings – A positive link was found in the ethical culture of an organisation and organisational innovativeness: ethical culture was important to behavioural, strategic and process innovativeness. Within the ethical culture of an organisation, the dimension of the congruency of management in particular had an important role in organisational innovativeness.Research limitations/implications – The data were collected from the public sector, and therefore, future studies from the private sector organisations are needed. The results lend support to previous researc...

The spouse of the female manager: role and influence on the woman's career

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the role of the spouse, specifically the husband, for the woman managers career by focusing on the gender role construction between spouses, and the relationship of these roles to the womans career.Design/methodology/approach – The topic was investigated within a Finnish context by analyzing the narratives of 29 female managers. A common feature among the women was their managerial position and extensive work experience. All the women had or had had one or more spouses in the course of their careers, and all but one were mothers, mostly of teenage or adult children.Findings – A typology distinguishing five types of spouses was constructed: determining, supporting, instrumental, flexible, and counterproductive. The results suggest that fluidity in gender roles between spouses is associated with the woman managers sense of success and satisfaction in her career compared with more conventional gender role construction. It seems that traditional gender roles between spo...

Values and Their Change During the Business Education – A Gender Perspective

Modern management and organization theory have been criticized for being based on masculine values and concepts. The theory and associated values influence not only managerial behavior in practice, but also business educations value system. In this study, we analyze the change in values during business education from a gender perspective. By values we mean feminine and masculine values. Our empirical study is based on the literature of cultural values and gender socialization theories. We surveyed 324 students. The result of our study lends support to earlier research: men are more masculine and women more feminine in their values. The change towards masculinity during business education is not supported statistically in this study. However, there may be a weak tendency towards masculinity, especially among female students. In addition, we propose that it is possible that business students have a tendency to try to fulfil masculine needs in their occupational choice. Further research is needed to investigate the empirical findings of our study.

Organizational downsizing – an ethical versus managerial viewpoint

Since the 1980s downsizing has become popular in western companies. It is a pervasive and understudied phenomenon. Downsizing means a big change in the firm’s situation. Managing change has been much researched, but often only during a growth period. So, the question of management and leadership of downsizing is a relevant and an independent research issue. This article considers the experiences of four case‐ managers who have participated in managing staff reductions in big Finnish firms. As managing downsizing can be ethically demanding, even a problematic challenge for a manager, the managers’ experiences are described and interpreted from the ethical viewpoint. The study is designed to contribute to theory by generating some exploratory conceptual themes based on the in‐depth interviews. It tries to elicit from actors the ways in which they understand ethical concerns in their managerial work, and then proceeds to refine and clarify the concepts and build theory.

Career counselling for women managers at mid‐career

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a framework for career counselling designed particularly to support the career development of mid‐career women managers. This approach is referred to as an autobiographical approach to career counselling. The practical application of the approach is described.Design/methodology/approach – The autobiographical approach draws upon social constructionism and narrativity. It was developed and applied together with 22 women managers. Various methods were used as narration tools.Findings – At mid‐career, women managers are often in a transition process in their career. They can be expected to benefit from counselling that focuses on their long work experience and from their willingness to make new career moves, and contributes to their own understanding of their strengths and motivation in their search for more meaning into their careers – and into life in general. The career autobiographies of women do not reflect the continuous, uninterrupted upward mobility that is tradit...