Meghna Sabharwal

Is Diversity Management Sufficient? Organizational Inclusion to Further Performance

This study focuses on the concept of organizational inclusion, which goes beyond diversity management, the dominant paradigm in the field of public administration. Although several studies in public administration mention the importance of inclusion, none of these studies have empirically tested its association with performance beyond diversity management. Data for this study comes from a survey conducted among public managers in Texas agencies. The study finds that diversity management alone is insufficient for improving workplace performance. What is required instead is an approach that promotes greater inclusion of employees in ways that takes their views into account and promotes self-esteem. The results show that productive workplaces exist when employees are encouraged to express their opinions, and their input is sought before making important organizational decisions. This requires supportive leadership and empowering employees with information and resources that will help them make important decisions about their jobs.

Comparing Research Productivity Across Disciplines and Career Stages

Abstract In academia, productivity continues to be a major factor in decisions of salary raises as well as promotion. The current study thus examines and compares the research productivity of faculty members across disciplines and career stages. The research tests three life course theories (cumulative advantage, utility maximization theory and obsolescence theory) with data from eight disciplines (biology, computer sciences, mathematics/statistics, physical sciences, psychology, social sciences, engineering, and health fields). The data for this study are taken from the 2003 Survey of Doctorate Recipients. Unlike past studies, which solely use journal articles as a measure of research productivity, this study also takes into consideration publications in books and monographs. The study found that the majority of the research output (articles and books) produced in Health and Physical Sciences disciplines is by early and mid career faculty members, providing support for the obsolescence theory, which suggests that research performance declines as faculty members progress in their careers. Further, aging shifts the output mix more towards books for social scientists, making them the most productive group when books or monographs are taken as a measure of research productivity.

Education–Job Match, Salary, and Job Satisfaction Across the Public,, Non-Profit, and For-Profit Sectors: Survey of recent college graduates

Abstract Using data from the 2006 Survey of Recent College Graduates, this study examines how education–job match and salary may explain recent college graduates’ job satisfaction in the public, non-profit, and for-profit sectors. The results imply that while education–job match increases job satisfaction in all three sectors, for-profit workers may compensate the loss in job satisfaction due to poor match with increased satisfaction from higher salary. The findings suggest that, in the public and non-profit sectors, increased salary cannot make up the loss in job satisfaction from poor education–job match as much as it does in the for-profit sector.

High-Skilled Immigrants: How Satisfied Are Foreign-Born Scientists and Engineers Employed at American Universities?

The growing numbers of foreign-born scholars in the academy has triggered interest in investigating the contributions made by foreign-born to the economy of the United States. However, only a handful of studies have examined the work lives of these scientists; this study is a step in that direction. The central question under investigation is “How does job satisfaction of foreign-born faculty members belonging to various citizenship categories compare with native-born citizens?” Understanding the behavior, attitudes, and satisfaction levels of foreign-born faculty members is important to retain them and not lose them to other nations or industry. After controlling for various job, organizational, personal, and cultural factors, the findings of this study indicate that foreign-born faculty members across all citizenship categories express lower job satisfaction than native-born faculty members.

Productivity and Leadership Patterns of Female Faculty Members in Public Administration

Though the number of female faculty members has risen in public administration programs throughout the nation, few studies have analyzed the advances made by them at universities and colleges. The most commonly used method of examining success in academic settings is by analyzing the research productivity patterns of faculty members. However, evaluation should not be limited to measuring publication productivity alone, but also through measuring gender equity in leadership positions. Thus the purpose of this research is to analyze the scholarly output and leadership patterns of faculty members in fields of public administration and policy by gender. The study uses data from the Survey of Doctorate Recipients to examine career trajectories and 241 schools offering degrees in public administration, affairs, policy, and management listed on the NASPAA website to examine leadership patterns by gender. The results suggest that female faculty members have lower productivity despite controlling for demographic, institutional, and career factors. However, when interaction terms are introduced between female faculty and ages of children, the productivity gap by gender disappears.

The Impact of Societal Culture on the Use of Performance Strategies in East Asia: Evidence from a comparative survey

Abstract The role of societal culture affecting bureaucratic processes is often suspected and asserted, but seldom researched in comparative ways. This article provides a general framework and systematic, comparative evidence showing societal values permeating organizational practices relating to performance. This study examines effects of work ethic, group belonging, and followership in a survey of public managers in South Korea, Mainland China, Taiwan, Malaysia, India, and the United States. Results show (i) culture having foremost indirect effects on performance strategy and (ii) culture being as relevant an explanatory factor as HRM or leadership, when both direct and indirect effects of culture are considered. A key study implication is that researchers should not ignore societal culture in decisions surrounding the selection and implementation of management efforts and conditions that shape performance practice in organizations. This study contributes by providing a framework and evidence showing how culture’s effects on performance occur.

The Importance of Ethical Environment to Organizational Performance in Employment at Will States

This article highlights the importance of ethical environment in enhancing organizational performance. It is vital that organizations set ethical standards for their employees alongside providing an environment that fosters trust and commitment, provides leadership, and creates a high quality of workforce to improve organizational performance. To study the impact of ethical environment on organizational performance, we employ elements from André de Waal’s high-performance organization (HPO) framework. Data for this study come from a national survey conducted in four states in the United States, which are classified as at-will employment states: Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Florida. We find evidence that ethical environment plays an important role in determining organizational performance. This is particularly important in the context of at-will employment, where state governments are facing the challenge to maintain employee commitment while improving organizational performance.

A Conceptual Content Analysis of 75 Years of Diversity Research in Public Administration

Diversity is an important facet of public administration, thus it is important to take stock and examine how the discipline has evolved in response to questions of representative democracy, social equity, and diversity. This article assesses the state-of-the-field by addressing the following question: How has research on diversity in the field of public administration progressed over time? Specifically, we seek to examine how the focus of diversity has transformed over time and the way the field has responded to half a century of legislation and policies aimed at both promoting equality and embracing difference. We utilize a conceptual content analysis approach to examine articles published on diversity in seven key public administration journals since 1940. The implications of this study are of great importance given that diversity in the workplace is a central issue for modern public management.

Does Demographic Dissimilarity Matter for Perceived Inclusion? Evidence From Public Sector Employees:

This study examines the relationship between individual dissimilarity and perceptions of organizational inclusion. Data from a national survey of public agencies conducted in Florida and Texas show that gender dissimilarity is negatively associated with perceptions of inclusion and the negative relationship is more acute for men than for women. In contrast, tenure dissimilarity is positively related to perceptions of inclusion and this positive association is more acute for those with longer tenure than for those with shorter tenure. These results suggest that the effect of dissimilarity on the perception of inclusion depends on both the observability of individual-level characteristics and the status of the demographic group. In particular, dissimilarity along characteristics that are easily observable (such as gender) is more likely to influence perceptions of inclusion and dissimilarity is more influential for higher status groups (such as men or long-tenured employees).

Charting Ethics in Asia-Pacific HRM: Does East Meet West, Ethically?

Enforceable ethical standards and human resource management (HRM) strategies are important to the progress of any nation and both can be used to avoid or correct ethical wrongdoing. Using survey data from 6 Asia-Pacific countries and 4 U.S. states, this study finds that while most employees are aware of ethical requirements at work, there are clearly differences between East and West in the perceived frequency of unethical behaviors and the ethical infrastructure used to address wrongdoings. The study concludes that required adaptations to improve ethical behavior are not exclusively the East adapting to the West or the West adapting to the East. There is also some ethical convergence where similar ethical problems and anticorruption strategies are found in both cultural settings. Further, there are substantial national variations as well as some ethical convergence within the Asian context. Selected HRM strategies to promote ethics are highlighted.