Ignace Ng

The interplay between organizational and national cultures: a comparison of organizational practices in Canada and South Korea using the Competing Values Framework

This paper examines the concept of organizational culture using the Competing Values Framework (CVF) in organizations from six different industries in Canada and South Korea. The Competing Values Framework (Quinn and Rohrbaugh, 1983; Quinn, 1988) is used to compare organizational cultures of similar firms and their HRM in the two countries. The data reported are from thirty-nine Canadian and forty Korean organizations. The findings show that, even though some aspects of organizational culture are related and can be attributed to the differences between the national cultures (Korean versus Canada), industry and contextual variables do contribute to a significant extent to the perception of organizational culture. In addition, the analysis reported here shows that other organizational aspects that are closely related to organizational culture (organizational climate and leadership) have significant associations with national cultures as well as industry and contextual factors. The aspects of organizational context under study included size, age and ownership of the firms, uncertainty and unpredictability of the environment, organizational support for training and unionization. Implications of the study for cross-national research, and for the use of competing Values Framework are discussed.

Human resource management in the Canadian manufacturing sector

Using a sample of 356 Canadian manufacturing organizations, this study examines the pattern of implementation of a wide range of HRM practices including external recruitment procedures, internal job posting systems, performance appraisal methods, job evaluation methods and pay-for-performance systems. A comparison of the adopted HRM practices between large and small firms and between union and non-union firms is also made. The results show that the main difference between large and small firms lies in the recruitment procedure and the job evaluation process. The difference between the union and non-union firms is associated with the greater emphasis placed on performance by the latter. This study also presents some evidence regarding the perceived importance of twenty HRM activities. The evidence suggests that the three most important activities include health and safety compliance, employee/labour relations and disciplinary issues. On the other hand, the three least important ones are conducting attitudi...

Determinants of Grievance Outcomes: A Case Study

Analyzing 1,160 grievance cases from the Canadian federal sector, all of which were resolved short of arbitration, the authors find that the highest percentages of decisions favorable to grievants occur in the early steps of the grievance procedure; the grievances of higher-paid employees are more likely to be granted than are those of lower-paid employees; and grievance outcomes vary depending on the nature of the issue, with grievances over working conditions most likely to be granted and grievances over assignment of work duties least likely to be granted.

Perceived training benefits and training bundles: a Canadian study

The purpose of this study is to examine the link between training and the perceived contribution of training to enhanced productivity or cost reduction. Using data from 92 Canadian organizations, the results show that organizations with higher percentage of trained employees are likely to perceive training to be beneficial. In addition, the results indicate that perceived benefits of training are further enhanced by the presence of human resources management practices that either encourages employees to undertake training (the motivation bundle) and/or provides a systematic assessment of post-training effectiveness (the assessment bundle). The evidence however also shows that open climate as measured by autonomous work systems nullifies the benefits of training, suggesting that under such a structure, employees are unlikely to put in practice the skills they acquired during training.

Cross‐gender networking in the workplace: causes and consequences

Purpose – This study seeks to examine how individual and organizational characteristics as well as attitudinal factors can affect the network composition of female managers. Another of its objectives is to examine the effect of cross‐gender network on the quit intention of female managers.Design/methodology/approach – A survey questionnaire was administered, seeking information on the personal characteristics and attitudes of the 91 managers, the characteristics of the organization for which the respondent works, and the network characteristics of the respondents in Hong Kong.Findings – The results show that positive attitudes towards womens leadership qualities and higher ratio of females in top management positions are associated with a lower cross‐gender instrumental network for females. Perceived discrimination or being married encourages female managers to seek a cross‐gender network. Cross‐gender networks reduce the quit intentions of female managers.Originality/value – The study offers a better un...

Risk-taking and relational perspective on turnover intentions

This study investigated risking-taking and network ties and their impact on an individuals intention to quit from a relational perspective. Using the social identity and social capital as the theoretical foundation, hypotheses were developed to examine how internal instrumental and external ties as well as ties with higher ranked individuals and their association with turnover intention. These hypotheses were empirically tested using data collected from 126 full-time employees in a Chinese setting. The results showed that high risk propensity was positively associated with turnover intention. Not only internal ties that binds, but external networking also matter in turnover decisions.

A Comparative Analysis of Managerial Practices among SMEs from Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand

The primary purpose of this article is to compare and contrast the managerial practices and problems faced by the SMEs operating in Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. While such a comparative analysis has been done in the past, this study differs from previous studies in two ways. First, the same questionnaire is used across the three countries thus allowing for more consistent comparison. Second, this study is the first to examine human resource management problems and practices.

Chinese Managerial Activities: Culture versus Local Isomorphism

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which managerial activities differ across a sample of Taiwanese and Hong Kong managers, with their Canadian counterpart serving as the control group. The study contributes to the comparative management literature in several ways. First, it provides an opportunity to compare Taiwanese against Hong Kong managers. Aside from the fact that the comparative management literature has seldom contrasted these two groups, there is another reason why such a comparison is warranted. Since Taiwanese and Hong Kong managers share a common heritage – the Chinese culture which emphasizes a strong work ethic (Evans and Sculli, 1981), practicality (Doktor, 1990), face saving (Hofstede and Bond, 1988), and group orientation (Hofstede, 1980) – studies of Chinese managerial values (Chang, 1985; Hofstede and Bond, 1988) traditionally made no distinction between these two groups of managers. A comparison of Taiwanese and Hong Kong managers will therefore provide some evidence as to whether such practice is defensible. Thus, if the evidence suggests that managers differ in terms of their activities, it would then be misleading to group Chinese managers from different regions as a single entity and to talk about ‘Chinese management’ without accounting for country differences. This will also add credence to Bond’s (1996) study suggesting that only certain Chinese values are common across different Chinese societies. What managers do at work has been the subject of numerous studies in the management literature. Mintzberg (1973), for example, identified ten managerial roles while Kotter (1982) added networking activities as another set of activities for managers. Luthans and associates (Luthans, 1988; Luthans et al., 1985), on the other hand, categorized managerial activities into traditional, communication, networking, and human resource management activities. Others (Black and Porter, 1991; Carroll and Gillen, 1987) examined how these activities relate to job performance or organizational effectiveness. In spite of the contribution of these studies, however, those factors explaining why managerial activities differ across managers remain unidentified. A survey of comparative management studies also reveals a similar gap. While cross-country comparisons have been conducted over factors such as