Moshe Sharabi

Improving employees' work centrality improves organizational performance: work events and work centrality relationships

High work centrality is related to positive performance and behaviour of employees. This unique paper discusses a longitudinal study, comparing change in work centrality among individuals who experienced meaningful work events to individuals who did not experience these events, over the course of twelve years. The findings indicate that not experiencing expressive work events (which leads to an improvement in autonomy, interest, variety, and responsibility) reduces work centrality, whereas work events such as promotion, advancement (including to a managerial position) and qualifications, are effected by high work centrality. Work events, such as improvement in pay, working conditions, and interpersonal relations at work, had no effect on those who experienced them and those who did not. The theoretical and practical implications for Human Resources Development (HRD) are discussed.

Changes in Work Centrality and Other Life Areas in Israel: A Longitudinal Study

This unique longitudinal study examines the state of work centrality and other life areas (family, leisure, community and religion) in Israel among the same individuals (n=407) over a 12-year period. A new representative sample (serving as a control group) of the Israeli labour force in 1992–93 (n=942) assists us in exploring whether the changes occurred by cohort, life course or period effect. The restudied sample maturation led to a decrease in the importance of leisure, while the importance of work, family, community and religion remained stable. The increase of work centrality between the 1980s and the 1990s was found to be influenced by period effect; there was no evidence of a life course or cohort effect on work centrality, while life course effect was found on the importance of community. In contrast to findings from other countries showing that young people attributed relatively high importance to leisure and relatively less importance to work, cohort effect regarding the latter was not observed in Israel. There, young people in the 1990s tended to view work and leisure as important as their predecessors did in the 1980s. Compared with research findings from the United States, Germany and Japan, work centrality in Israel was higher and more stable.

Managing and improving service quality in higher education

Purpose – In todays environment, higher education (HE) institutions need to become more efficient and participate in a competitive global market where client expectations are continually rising. In this new reality, quality is critical for success. While the economic benefits of quality have been long established, many HE institutions still ignore them at their own risk. This is especially true for service quality and this paper will focus on HE service quality management and improvement. This paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach – The paper implements Schneider and Bowens model of the three tiers of service organizations and service quality management and improvement methods, on HE institutions.Findings – An analysis of the service process within HE institutions reveals that the quality of service given to the customer tier (the students) by the boundary tier (all the employees who have contact with the students) is greatly dependent on the coordination tier (top HE management...

Promotion according to who or what you know: managers' and workers' perception of factors influencing promotion

This paper presents partial findings of research examining the perceptions of managers and workers regarding promotions in the Israeli high-tech industry. A questionnaire containing a series of factors related to promotion was conducted with 95 workers and 36 managers in an international high-tech corporations subsidiary located in Israel. The initial findings indicated a high degree of consent between workers and managers that the most important factor influencing promotion was success in projects. While workers and managers gave similar rankings for the most and least important factors influencing promotions, there were substantial differences in the ranking of the other factors. Among managers, education and multidisciplinary knowledge were ranked second and third, whereas among workers, politics and pressure on the supervisor were ranked second and third. The findings are discussed in terms of HRD in the organization.

Work values, employment and ethnicity

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to compare the importance of work and other areas of life, as well as preferred work goals, among Jewish and Muslim academic graduates who work in the Israeli labor market.Design/methodology/approach – The Meaning‐of‐Work questionnaire was conducted on 362 Jewish and 73 Muslim academic graduates.Findings – The research findings reveal significant differences in all areas of life (work, family, leisure, community and religion) and in six of the eleven work goals. The MDS of Jews and Muslims also demonstrate different perceptions and internalization of work values among the two ethnic groups.Research limitations/implications – The limitations of this study are related to the measures (importance of life areas and preferred work goals). Using a single‐item measure and ranking measures may not be the optimal, but those measures were used in a variety of studies conducted in several countries.Practical implications – The findings attributed to cultural differences, ethnic ...

The relative centrality of life domains among Jews and Arabs in Israel: the effect of culture, ethnicity, and demographic variables

The centrality of major life domains (work, family community leisure and religion) have not, to date, been studied among Arabs in Israel. This paper examines life domains centrality of 909 Jews and 286 Arabs (or Palestinians that have Israeli citizenship), who work in the Israeli labor market. The findings reveal significant differences in the importance of all life domains. Work centrality, as well as the importance of religion and community is significantly higher among Arabs than among Jews. Among Jews, the importance of family and leisure are significantly higher than among Arabs. A hierarchical regression analysis indicates that demographic variables have a low ability to explain the differences in the centrality of life domains among Jews and Arabs. The findings can be explained by cultural differences, the high degree of segregation, occupational discrimination, and mainly by the regional Palestinian/Arab-Israeli conflict.

Gender and the relative centrality of major life domains: changes over the course of time

The current preliminary research presents initial findings of a cross-sectional study between 1981 and 2006. This is follow-up research regarding ‘meaning of work’ studies held in 1981 and 1993 and examines the changes of relative centrality of major life domains (work, family, leisure, community and religion) in Israel according to gender. The participants are representative samples of the Israeli labor force in 1981, 1993 and 2006. The results indicate that, as in the past, family centrality is higher among women than among men. While in 1981 and 1993 men showed a higher work centrality than women, in 2006 no traditional gender differences were found in work centrality. Moreover, only in 2006 community and religion are regarded more important among men than among women. The paper discusses the main changes taking place and suggests some explanations.

Changes of work values in changing economy: perspectives of men and women

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the changes of life domains centrality (work, family, leisure, community and religion) and of work goals preferences (interest, good pay, interpersonal relations, job security, etc.) in Israel, according to gender, between 1981 and 2006. Design/methodology/approach - This is a follow-up research regarding “meaning of work” studies, held in 1981 and 1993. The participants constitute representative samples of the Israeli labor force in 1981, 1993 and 2006. Findings - While in the past, men showed a higher work centrality than women, in 2006 no traditional gender differences were found in work centrality; however, family centrality, as in the past, was higher among women than among men. The most meaningful change among men and women was regarding “job security”, and this goal has become more and more important throughout the 25 years of the study. Social implications - The transformation of mens and womens work values reflect the economic and social changes and those changes are influenced mainly by governmental decisions, for better or for worse. The findings disclose an increased potential for work-family conflict among Israeli women in the last decade and this conflict can be reduced by economic and social policy. Originality/value - This unique cross-sectional study explores the changes in the importance of life domains and work goals among men and women over the course of time. Moreover, the study explains the causes for the major trends by social, economical and political factors.

Service quality implementation: problems and solutions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the problems in the measurement of service quality, why management seems to ignore some of the costs of poor service quality, as well as the repercussions of this, and how to implement service quality correctly in organizations.Design/methodology/approach – The paper defines service quality and highlights some of the main points of the literature. The paper then focuses on developing a matrix to categorize quality costs which offers insights as to why more managers have not fully implemented service quality in their organizations.Findings – Utilizing this quality costs matrix, the paper focuses on describing several of the main problems or pitfalls in service quality implementation.Practical implications – In light of these findings, the paper discusses the practical implications and focuses on recommendations how to implement service quality correctly.Originality/value – The paper suggests a novel categorization of quality costs and suggests recommendat...

Core and Peripheral Values An Over Time Analysis of Work Values in Israel

The longitudinal research presented here is unique, having examined a model of stability and change in work values of the same people over the course of time. The purpose was to reflect the changes in work values that occurred in Israel during this period. The research focused on three domains: work goals, job satisfaction, and work centrality. Following an analysis of research literature, a model of work values was examined by the LISREL method. Instrumental and expressive goals effected work centrality both directly and indirectly (through job satisfaction as mediating factor). While in 1981 only the positive effect of expressive goals on work centrality was significant, the 1993 analysis revealed that beyond the positive effect of expressive goals, there is also significant negative effect of instrumental goals on work centrality. Our research shows that the main changes occurred in peripheral values (work goals) as compared with the stability of core values (work centrality). Slight changes occurred in semi-peripheral values (job satisfaction).