Karl Pajo

Formal Development Opportunities and Withdrawal Behaviors by Employees in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

This study explores direct and indirect relationships between involvement in formal training and development events, employee attitudes and withdrawal responses including turnover intentions and neglectful behavior for those employed in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Questionnaire data were obtained from 185 staff employed in a diverse range of SMEs. Our results suggest that employees that participate in more training and development events are less likely to be considering leaving their employer and less likely to engage in neglectful behavior. However, the analysis revealed that the effects of participation in formal training and development are fully mediated by perceptions of organizational support and job satisfaction. In contrast to results from studies in large organizations, affective commitment was not found to be an influential determinant of employee exit intentions or neglect.

CONSTRUCTION OF A MULTIDIMENSIONAL SCALE OF JOB SATISFACTION

A comprehensive, multidimensional scale measuring job satisfaction was constructed for use in a major project concerned with personnel recruitment and retention of health professionals. 11 dimensions relating to opinions of immediate supervisors, physical working conditions, satisfaction with coworkers and with pay, aspects related to promotion and work motivation, are identified. These dimensions are shown to distinguish among health professionals on sex and between locations and different occupations. The scale also has high internal validity, producing a multiple R of .78 with over-all job satisfaction.

Move it or lose it: an examination of the evolving role of the human resource professional in New Zealand

What is the current state of play of human resource management in New Zealand? Nearly a decade has passed since the last survey of the human resource profession. This paper presents the results of a recent survey - providing a snapshot of contemporary human resource management which profiles the human resource practitioners, the organizations for which they work and the role they fulfil. It is clear that the role of the human resource function in New Zealand organizations has changed dramatically. Further, respondents to this survey believe that the human resource function will continue to encounter significant changes into the millennium. This raises questions as to whether human resource practitioners are equipped to meet the challenges posed by the continuing evolution of the human resource role. If the human resource management profession ignores these changes, or fails to adapt to them, it does so at its peril.

Profiling the pioneers: women directors on New Zealand’s corporate boards

While the absence of female directors on corporate boards in New Zealand is controversial, little is known about the first wave of women in boardrooms in the private sector. This benchmark study, a questionnaire survey, provides the first demographic data about females in the boardrooms of the top 200 companies. The findings show that only 4.4 per cent of directors of major companies in New Zealand are female. Analyses the relevant skill base for directorship, the barriers to recruitment and male cronyism as a factor in the gender imbalance. The findings show that a high public profile is important for women wanting to open the boardroom door. Suggests that agencies which target potential directors apply conservative criteria which discriminate against the qualified but untested female candidate.

The Institutionalisation of Business Ethics: Are New Zealand Organisations Doing Enough?

ABSTRACT This paper reports the results of a survey investigating the institutionalisation of business ethics among New Zealands top 200 organisations. A majority of the respondents indicated that steps were being taken by their organisation to incorporate ethical values into daily operations. However, fewer than a quarter of those surveyed indicated that resources were being set aside to accomplish the objective. The most popular tech-nique for institutionalising ethics was the development of a code of ethics. Training in ethics, ethics officers, and ethics committees were not in common use amongst the companies surveyed. Furthermore, very few organisations indicated that ethical behaviour was specifically rewarded. In contrast, a clear majority indicated that they punished unethical actions and made use of disciplinary processes to regulate employee behaviour. Follow-up interviews with a sample of managers from the organisations surveyed high-lighted a preference for the use of informal processes for the institutionalisation of business ethics. THE INSTITUTIONALISATION OF BUSINESS ETHICS: ARE NEW ZEALAND ORGANISATIONS DOING ENOUGH? Well publicised occurrences of unethical practises in many high profile organisations such as Enron, WorldCom, and others has fuelled public interest in the topic of business ethics (Bianco 2002; Byrne 2002; Colvin 2002; Dwyer, Dunham, Cohn, McNamee, Barrett, & Weintraub 2002). Amongst the general public there appears to be increasing concern that many business organisations may only pay lip service to ethical considerations. Indeed, even amongst business people themselves there is a belief that there has been a decline in ethical standards (Vitell, Dickerson & Festervand 2000). At the same time there is a growing body of evidence pointing to the benefits for businesses accruing from an ethical stance. These benefits include enhanced job satisfaction, greater levels of organisational commitment, and reductions in employee attrition (Carlson & Kacmar 1997; Fritz, Arnett & Conkel 1999; Schwepker 1999a; Sims & Kroeck 1994; Viswesvaran & Deshpande 1996; Vitell & Davis 1990). Researchers have also documented positive links between corporate social responsibility and financial performance (Aupperle, Carroll & Hatfield 1985; Pava & Krausz 1996; Stanwick & Stanwick 1998; Zahra & LaTour 1987). Prompted by concerns about the moral state of business, and the realisation that good ethics can pay dividends, many researchers have focussed their attention on attempts to understand the process by which sound ethical practises can be inculcated into an organisation. Several commentators have noted, that broadly speaking, business behaviour can be made more ethical either through the application of external force (e.g. through government and other regulatory mechanisms, media attention, pressure from stakeholders and other interest groups) or by changes driven from within the organisation (Collins 1989; Izraeli & BarNir 1998; Nakano 1999). While external regulations and sanctions can be effective, they do have drawbacks. Regulatory approaches often introduce additional compliance costs for both society and organisations, and can prove difficult to implement effectively. Moreover, many of the external mechanisms intended to ensure ethical conduct are purely reactive in nature and require a serious incident to occur before taking effect (Izraeli & BarNir 1998). It has even been suggested that when regulations are introduced some individuals may take it as a challenge to try to circumvent them (Gross-Schaefer, Trigilio, Negus & Ro 2000). Consequently, regulatory approaches tend to be most effective in coping with situations that are familiar and where problems have arisen in the past. The vast array of behaviours possible in most work settings, coupled with rapid changes occurring in the workplace and in society in general, mean that we cannot hope to anticipate and encompass all possible moral breaches. …

Tyranny of Distance: Is This the Case?

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