Krista Jaakson

Management by values: are some values better than others?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to clarify the concept of organizational values from the management by values perspective and develop an understanding of the features of well-functioning organizational values in the context of management by values. Design/methodology/approach – Organizational values and management by values are analyzed using the systems theory approach, whereby organization consists of individuals and both the organization and the individuals have values interdependent of each other. Findings – The paper concludes that there are specific features about organizational values and values statements that make it more effective to manage by values. It is argued that management by values deals with only a certain layer of organizational values – the layer that is conscious and explicit. The paper shows that, from a management by values perspective, organizational values should be instrumental (as opposed to basic), regulate employee character (as opposed to behaviour), and relate to wellbeing and the ethical (as opposed to survival) dimension. Practical implications – There are clear implications for managers in their attempt to formulate or revise organizational values. Originality/value – The main value of the paper lies in the thorough analysis of extensive literature that has been published in relation to organizational values and their management to date. The paper shows the state of play in the field and suggests a way forward.

Beyond Flexibility: Reallocation of Responsibilities in the Case of Telework

Based on eight in-depth case studies, this paper argues that telework transfers bigger (and legally unbinding) responsibility to employees whereas both employees and employers accept it. This is likely due to the fact that adoption of telework alters some aspects of psychological contract between employees and employers.

Organizational culture and CSR: an exploratory study of Estonian service organizations

Purpose - This paper sets out to investigate the effect of organizational culture on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in service companies in Estonia. CSR is defined here as a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis. Design/methodology/approach - In order to develop hypotheses, studies that relate culture at the organizational and societal level and social responsibility were analyzed, leading the authors to the hypotheses that the more extensively an organization engaged in CSR activities, the less likely would task-orientation exceed relationship-orientation in this organization, and second, organizational culture in general would be stronger. An empirical study was conducted in 17 service organizations operating in Estonia. It used task- and relationship-orientation as characteristics of organizational culture. These data were obtained from an Organizational Culture Questionnaire completed by the randomly selected employees of respective organizations. Organizational culture data were supplemented by data on CSR, provided by top managers or appropriate persons in all organizations as a response to a questionnaire. Findings - Results could not statistically confirm the hypothesis that strong organizational culture characterizes higher CSR performers, but results are inconclusive in this respect. On the other hand, there was no evidence that organizations with higher CSR are more relationship- than task-oriented; however, relationship orientation was more strongly correlated with most CSR elements. The specific nature of services in the light of this result is discussed. Originality/value - The current paper is the first attempt to systematically relate organizational culture with its CSR behavior. Based on literature review, the main contribution to the existing literature is the outlining of possible relationships between the two phenomena.

The dual value of honesty among Russians in selected former Soviet countries

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to analyse the factors associated with the perception of the value honesty among Russian organisational members from selected former Soviet countries: Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.Design/methodology/approach – Using the Rokeach Value Survey, the respondents were asked to rank their own values and to speculate on how their co‐workers would rank the same values. The following analysis focused on the importance of honesty, its concurrence with speculations about co‐workers, the impact of other personal values and socio‐demographic characteristics.Findings – One of the most important findings of this study is that value honesty is amongst the most important values for Russians, while the importance of this value was not similar for Russians living in Russia and the Baltic States. Value consensus tells us the most about how important honesty is for the focal person. Results also reveal that other personal values, namely, family security, comfortable life, imaginative...

Is there a coherence between organizational culture and changes in corporate social responsibility in an economic downturn

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how different types of organizational culture (OC) manifest in certain corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and to uncover how the presence of certain OC types induces changes in CSR caused by drastic shifts in the economic environment.Design/methodology/approach – The analysis relies on a case study and uses qualitative and quantitative data obtained via interviews, employee survey and analysis of documents. The paper focuses on Ecoprint Ltd, a small printing house in Estonia, and analyzes its reactions to the economic downturn in 2008 and 2009 in terms of CSR. The authors then analyze the concurrence of these changes with its OC, based on a survey that relies on the Competing Values Framework.Findings – The dominant type of OC in the organization did not predict all its CSR practices, but described rather well how adaptation in the sphere of CSR took place as a result of economic downturn. The case demonstrated that CSR activities that relate...

Organisational innovativeness in Estonian biotechnology organisations

Purpose – The biotechnology sector provides business‐to‐business service and continuous innovation is an imperative for biotechnology organisations in order to survive. The aim of this paper is to outline the elements in Estonian biotechnology organisations that inhibit them from becoming more innovative, and based on that, suggest how managers can increase their organisational innovativeness (OI).Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on single‐respondent structured interviews that were carried out in 15 biotechnology organisations in Estonia. The questions were divided into five categories: strategic orientation to innovation, processes related to resource allocation, processes related to work organisation, behaviour related to innovation initiation and behaviour related to innovation implementation. For each category OI the score was calculated and analysed.Findings – The study hypothesised that OI is about half of its potential and the lowest scores were expected to emerge in the resource al...

Labour market flexibility and spatial mobility

Purpose - – Recent economic recession has highlighted the role of labour market flexibility as a key factor of competitiveness of a country. Despite the fact that labour mobility can essentially be seen as part of labour market flexibility, there is notable research gap concerning spatial mobility and other facets of labour market flexibility. The purpose of this special issue is to fill these gaps. Design/methodology/approach – - The papers in the special issue represent various quantitative methods and databases, whereas mainly micro data (workplace, labour force or immigrant surveys, job search portal, etc.) is used. However, the type of labour market flexibility addressed is both micro- and macro-level. Findings - – It is demonstrated that labour occupational mobility is determined by the business cycle, numerical flexibility, occupational categories, and sector. Spatial mobility may have counterintuitive effects on individual occupational mobility depending on gender and it is related to various flexibilities in the workplace. It is also suggested that different types of flexibilities on a firm level are interdependent of each other. Originality/value - – The special issue adds to the labour market related knowledge by integrating labour market flexibility and mobility. Individually, both phenomena have been studied before, but not much research is devoted to their inter-linkages. The special issue also contributes by examining labour market flexibility and spatial mobility in the context of different countries, economic cycles, and institutional settings.

Engagement of Organizational Stakeholders in the Process of Formulating Values Statements

Although the literature on organizational values is plentiful, little is known about the process of formulating them. Both in theory and practice, stakeholder groups are treated dramatically differently when it comes to their engagement in the values formulation process and there is no consensus on whether, whom, and how much to involve when adopting values statements. The aim of the current article is to offer a model for stakeholder engagement in the process of formulating organizational values statements. Three distinct levels of engagement are proposed—information, consultation, and partnership. The model rests on the idea that the higher the impact of the values statement on stakeholders, the higher the level of their engagement. The model was tested in four banking sector organizations operating in Estonia.

Two representatives but no representation: cases from Estonia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discover how non‐unionised representatives (NERs) are created and what their role is in comparison to unionised representation. The authors aim to analyse why the institution of non‐unionised employee representation is created if its functions overlap with those of the unions, including the functions of collective bargaining and information‐consultation.Design/methodology/approach – The case study involves interviews with representatives and executive directors, as well as a survey of the employees of two companies.Findings – The results show that when there is a weak union, the employers initiate an NER in order to involve the whole workforce in the collective agreement. The NER is elected by employees even though it was initiated by the employer. The roles of the two representatives do not differ much, the main function for both being collective bargaining with some provision for information and consultation.Originality/value – The unique situation in Estonia, w...

Who uses employee financial participation in an adverse environment? The case of Estonia

This article focuses on profit-sharing and employee share ownership practices, with the aim of analysing the effect of company size and industry on financial participation, as well as the substitution or complementary effect of other direct and indirect participation methods adopted in Estonian private companies. The article uses survey data from more than 900 Estonian companies obtained via telephone interviews in 2011. The results indicate that share ownership is more common in micro enterprises, but contrary to expectations the incidence of employee financial participation is no higher in knowledge intensive sectors. The results also show that financial participation has different complementarities depending on the scheme. It seems that profit-sharing is part of the ‘package’ of employee participation, but this does not apply to employee share ownership. The article challenges the common understanding that certain innovative service sectors and bigger companies are more inclined to adopt employee financial participation; and raises doubts about the presumed development towards a higher degree of financial participation in Eastern European countries.