Rita Campos e Cunha

Does privatization affect corporate culture and employee wellbeing

This article analyses how privatization influences corporate culture and employee wellbeing in the privatized companies. We hypothesized that the change process initiated with privatization and preparation for privatization would lead to a change in corporate culture and also to an increase in employees’ perceptions of occupational stress and symptoms of mental and physical ill health, as well as a decrease in job satisfaction. In the long term, these symptoms should be reversed. The study was carried out in three companies, one of them with two data collections, which allowed for a cross‐sectional analysis and a quasi‐longitudinal one. The two types of analyses supported most of the hypotheses. In general, corporate culture changed towards a greater emphasis on performance and people orientation and on organizational integration. Occupational stress was found to be higher and job satisfaction lower before privatization. Mental and physical ill health, however, were found to be higher in the companies that had already been privatized for some time.

Primary health care services: workplace spirituality and organizational performance

Purpose ‐ The paper aims to study the influence of three dimensions of workplace spirituality (inner life, meaningful work and sense of community) on perceived and objective organizational performance in two primary health care settings: health centres (HCs) and family health units (FHUs), differing in terms of work organization. Design/methodology/approach ‐ Data on workplace spirituality and perceived organizational performance were collected from a sample of 266 health care workers (doctors, nurses and administrative staff). Data on objective performance were obtained from the respective regional health authorities. Multiple regression, GLM, and tests of mediation were carried out. Findings ‐ In both groups, perceived and objective organizational performance are predicted by sense of community. Additionally, FHUs presented significantly higher values in perceived and objective organizational performance, as well as sense of community and meaningful work. Finally, workplace spirituality and sense of community were found to mediate the relationship between work group and perceived and objective organizational performance. Research limitations/implications ‐ The study’s limitations include the convenience sample, as well as lack of control for the social desirability effect. Patient satisfaction surveys as well as the inclusion of predictive variables such as leadership should be considered in future studies. Practical implications ‐ Primary health care services, and particularly FHUs, revealed the importance of workplace spirituality. Work teams with higher sense of community had higher performance results, which may therefore be an input in policy decisions regarding primary health care. Originality/value ‐ This study compared the scores of workplace spirituality and perceived and objective organizational performance in two types of primary health care services, in a setting that approximates the quasi-field experiment. Workplace spirituality emerged as significantly mediating the relationship between work unit type and organizational performance.

Changing a cultural grammar

This study investigates one of the multiple aspects involved in the transfer of management knowledge between countries: the transfer of timeframes. More than an objective and macro‐level variable to be managed, time is analyzed from the perspective of the individual experiences of a sample of managers located in Portugal. Portugal, together with the other Southern‐European cultures, has been presented as a polychronic culture. The Southern, polychronic timeframe, however is being openly criticized by managers, both Portuguese and foreign, on the basis of “time as money” assumption. The articulation of the macro and micro levels of analysis showed that the dialectical opposition between Northern and Southern times is being interpreted under three main perspectives: Latin time is deeply entrenched and difficult to change but is dysfunctional; time management in the Northern time is part of the good manager “toolkit” and hence must replace Southern time; a synthesis must be found to articulate in some virtuous manner the two previous perspectives. The paper contributes to the literature with an articulation between the macro level (national and occupational identity) and the micro perspective (the lived experience of time). It also contributes to the under‐researched aspect of management in Southern Europe.

The dialectics of human resource management in Cuba

Dialectical theory is applied to the examination of how institutional and organizational level changes are leading to a new human resource management (HRM) paradigm in Cuba. The paper starts with a general overview of economy and enterprise in Cuba, which serves to expose the nature of the pressures and contradictions facing managers and organizations in this country. Based on a focus group study, an analysis of the process of change in the HRM paradigm as perceived by a sample of Cuban managers is presented. The emerging dialectical paradigm is to a great extent influenced by the institutional context, namely by the control of the state. The states role in the protection of the communist principles, combined with the need to open the economy to the logic of the market, is constituting a singular case in the world of management in general and of HRM in particular: that of a communist country with an increasingly market-based economy, where the socialist cadre is simultaneously becoming a market-oriented HR manager.

The interplay of planned and emergent change in Cuba

This paper analyses the interplay of planned and emergent change in fin de siecle Cuba. The situation in this nation is analysed according to a theory of action that sees change as the result of interplay between top-down, State-directed planned change and emergent, bottom-up, problem-driven change. Drawing on a series of eight focus groups with a total of 106 Cuban executives and management scholars, this paper addresses the Cuban case to suggest that the essence of change may be captured through a structural perspective, where agents and structure interact to produce the social innovations required in face of environmental change. The article reports how the need to protect the nations core ideology is being combined with the adoption of Western management practices, and how the process of social innovation can be thought of as the recursive interplay between planned features emanating from the institutional context and emergent actions resulting from individual attempts to deal with local conditions.

Exploring the Role of Leader—Subordinate Interactions in the Construction of Organizational Positivity

In this article we discuss individual implicit theories of how positive and negative organizing unfold. The discussion is grounded in data collected from 89 individuals working in different organizational contexts. An inductive logic was followed, based on critical incidents of positive and negative processes and outcomes presented by participants, according to how they viewed their professional situation. Through a dialectical process of analysis, we extracted six dimensions that were present in different combinations among narratives provided by the participants: recognition/indifference, communication/silence, interaction/separation, confidence/ distrust, loyalty/betrayal, and organizational transparency/organizational secrecy. We then analysed how these dimensions fit together and discovered that they could be organized around four major patterns combining the clarity/secrecy of organizational rules and the considerate/detached behavior of leaders. We assert that positive leaders are essential in the creation of patterns of organizing, regardless of the features of the external context.

Market forces, strategic management, human resource management practices and organizational performance: a model based on a European sample

This study uses structural equation modeling to test a model of the impact of human resources management practices on perceived organizational performance, on a large sample of European companies. The influences of competitive intensity, industry attractiveness, and strategic management are considered in the model, and their direct and indirect influence on organizational performance is assessed. The model produced an adequate fit, and results show that strategic management does influence human resource practices. Human resource flexibility practices and performance management have a positive impact on organizational performance, while training was not found to have a significant impact. A direct positive impact of competitive intensity and industry attractiveness on strategic management was supported by the data, as well as a direct positive effect of industry attractiveness on perceived organizational performance.

Institutional legacies and HRM: similarities and differences in HRM practices in Portugal and Mozambique

Abstract This is a study of institutional change and continuity, comparing the trajectories followed by Mozambique and its formal colonial power Portugal in HRM, based on two surveys of firm level practices. The colonial power sought to extend the institutions of the metropole in the closing years of its rule, and despite all the adjustments and shocks that have accompanied Mozambique’s post-independence years, the country continues to retain institutional features and associated practices from the past. This suggests that there is a post-colonial impact on human resource management. The implications for HRM theory are that ambitious attempts at institutional substitution may have less dramatic effects than is commonly assumed. Indeed, we encountered remarkable similarities between the two countries in HRM practices, implying that features of supposedly fluid or less mature institutional frameworks (whether in Africa or the Mediterranean world) may be sustained for protracted periods of time, pressures to reform notwithstanding. This highlights the complexities of continuities which transcend formal rules; as post-colonial theories alert us, informal conventions and embedded discourse may result in the persistence of informal power and subordination, despite political and legal changes.

The role of mediatory myths in sustaining ideology: the case of Cuba after the ‘special period’

After the collapse of the Soviet bloc, management researchers devoted considerable energy to investigating ways to operate the transition to market economies. However, one country of the former Soviet bloc, Cuba, resisted transition and reaffirmed loyalty to the values of La Revolucion. Little is known about management in Cuba. This study seeks to approach one particular aspect of management in this country: the relationship between national ideology and management practice. To analyse the topic, qualitative data from Cuban managers and management professors were gathered over a 10‐year period. Results suggest that the dynamics of managerial ideology can be understood as the interplay of several processes operating at distinct levels: institutional, professional, organizational and individual. The interplay between conformance to the ideology and its use as a practical resource is a potential source of change and of conflict demands that are tackled with recourse to mediatory myths.

The human resources management contribution to social responsibility and environmental sustainability: explorations from Ibero-America

Abstract In this paper we aim to advance the discussion on HRM’s quest to create value around social responsibility and environmental sustainability. We explore the perceptions reported by Human Resource managers in three Ibero-American countries (Spain, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica). We focus on the hospitality sector, one of particular relevancy for these countries and with significant sustainability challenges. Relying on in-depth interviews in twenty-eight organizations and a mixed-methods approach, we examine HR managers’ underlying notions around social and environmental issues, stakeholder collaboration, HRM practices, roles and internal organization. Analysis of the interviews suggests varying views on those dimensions, as well as identifies Active and Advanced firms, the latter showing more commitment to sustainability (as part of the organizational culture), usage of HRM practices and engagement with multiple stakeholders. From this empirical exploration and relying on current sustainability developments, we contribute to the literature by outlining an externally-oriented model (centred on corporate priorities, communities’ flourishing and ecosystems’ resilience) aiming to advance HRM’s engagement with sustainability-driven agendas.