Practices of knowledge management are context-specific and they can influence organizational effectiveness. This study examines the possible mediating role of knowledge management in the relationship ...between organizational culture, structure, strategy, and organizational effectiveness. A survey was conducted of 301 organizations. The results suggest that knowledge management fully mediates the impact of organizational culture on organizational effectiveness, and partially mediates the impact of organizational structure and strategy on organizational effectiveness. The findings carry theoretical implications for knowledge management literature as they extend the scope of research on knowledge management from examining a set of independent management practices to examining a system-wide mechanism that connects internal resources and competitive advantage.
Workplace spirituality has received increasing attention during the past few decades, especially their effect on work outcome. The purposes of the research were to: (1) extend the findings of ...Petchsawang and Duchon (
2012
) in examining the relationships among mindfulness meditation, workplace spirituality, and work engagement in an eastern - specifically Thai - context; and (2) compare workplace spirituality and work engagement in organizations that provide mindfulness meditation courses to employees and those that do not. The sample came from four organizations that offered meditation courses (248 from 300) and four organizations that did not (315 from 400) in Thailand. The level of workplace spirituality and work engagement were found to be higher in organizations that offer meditation courses than in those that do not. Additionally, mindfulness meditation has a statistically significant relationship with workplace spirituality and work engagement, and workplace spirituality fully meditates the relationship between meditation and work engagement.
Purpose
Managerial coaching has been popularized as a way of motivating, developing and retaining employees in organizations. Yet, there has been a lack of empirical studies to examine the linkage ...between managerial coaching and its potential impact on employees. This study aims to investigate the interrelationships among managerial coaching, employees’ personal learning and organizational commitment. This study also attempts to revise an existing instrument for measuring coaching skills in organizations created by McLean et al. (2005) to assess managers’ coaching skills.
Design/methodology/approach
Data analyzes were based on 187 employees of a top global technology organization headquartered in the USA. The existing instrument for measuring coaching skills was revised and confirmed through a series of efforts including expert reviews, pilot tests and assessing its reliability and validity. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships among managerial coaching skills and employees’ personal learning and organizational commitment.
Findings
This study identified five dimensions of managerial coaching skills and validated the revised instrument measuring coaching skills in organizations. It also demonstrated that managers’ utilization of managerial coaching skills had a direct effect on employees’ learning and organizational commitment and impacted employees’ organizational commitment through personal learning.
Originality/value
This study examined the interrelationships among managerial coaching and employees’ personal learning and organizational commitment in organizations. In doing so, this study unveiled the process of how managers’ coaching affects employees’ development and attitudes at work. This study also identified five coaching skills as a tool to assess the level of managerial coaching.
PurposeBenchmarking research has explored the role of organizational practices and business processes rooted with human capabilities for achieving growth performance. The role of high performance ...work system as an organizational practice and business process is yet to be studied. Even if studied, no study has been conducted on the role of training transfer climate on high performance work system and organizational performance. The current research aims at examining high performance work system on organizational performance. Further, the study also examine training transfer climate as a mediating variable between HPWS and organizational performance.Design/methodology/approachData collected from 415 executives of a high performance-based power sector company of Gujarat, India. The survey instrument consists of high performance work system, training transfer climate and organizational performance. Confirmatory factor analysis was used for a simultaneous assessment of overall and specific elements of measurement validity and reliability. Structural equation modelling used to test the hypothesized model.FindingsThe result proved the capability of high performance work system to predict organizational performance. Further, the result supports the hypothesis that training transfer climate acts as a mediator between high performance work system and organizational performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe result has important theoretical and managerial implications. Theoretically, the research extends the scope of benchmarking to high performance work system. The managerial implications have been discussed from the training transfer climate perspectives.Originality/valueThe originality of the study lies with proving the role of high performance work system and training transfer climate as an organizational practice and business process within benchmarking research.
Purpose
This study aims to explore how career self-efficacy shapes an individual’s career decisions and how learning and development interventions, including participation in education abroad, might ...play a role in career choice.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used the following databases to review the literature on career self-efficacy: Academic Search Premier, Education Resources Information Center and ProQuest. The following key search terms were used in the search: career self-efficacy, career choice and education abroad. The titles of the identified articles were first reviewed for relevance, followed by the abstract, before further review for inclusion suitability.
Findings
Findings suggest career self-efficacy plays a vital role in career decision-making, generating interests and deciding career goals. By improving career self-efficacy among college students, career interests can be reshaped. Findings evidence a relationship between education abroad and career competencies and career development.
Research limitations/implications
The review offers an invaluable pathway to breed ideas and thoughts about research in the career self-efficacy domain. While education abroad itself may be a useful intervention in the development of a student’s career self-efficacy, among other characteristics and skills, a further empirical study is necessary to determine the extent to which this is true. Using or creating an accurate scale for the measurement of career self-efficacy among undergraduate students is critical to determine a reliable and valid measure, as is controlling for potential differences in self-efficacy between students who self-select for high impact endeavors such as education abroad and those who do not.
Practical implications
Noting that practices in international education support collaboration between career services offices and study abroad offices, the authors point to the importance of interventions that intentionally and explicitly incorporate the career self-efficacy construct.
Originality/value
Findings evidence a relationship between education abroad and career competencies and career development, through research examining connections to career self-efficacy and education abroad is noticeably scarce. The paper explores the above relationship.
Using topic mapping techniques, we provide a review of the 3,236 articles published in the five premier HRD journals between 1990 and 2019. We map the key terms evidencing the emergence of five major ...topic clusters within HRD scholarship: nature and identity of HRD, HRD interventions and outcomes, national HRD, career development, and HRD in academia. Nature and identity of HRD depicts a movement from establishing foundations to expanding horizons. HRD interventions and outcomes reflects a spectrum of research interests from exploring processes to examining desired outcomes. National HRD shows that research topics are increasingly moving toward international and global settings. Career development demonstrates a shift from emphasizing organizational careers to advocating for under‐represented career actors. HRD in academia encompasses topics related to educating HRD professionals and supporting professional development in other fields. We provide a synthesis of the clusters, create a taxonomy of topic areas, and identify the mature, nascent, trending, and growing concepts in HRD. In doing so, our paper provides an overview of where we are in HRD scholarship. We then suggest collaborative, competitive, and configurational boundary work as strategies that HRD scholars can use purposefully to influence future HRD research directions. Our findings inform HRD researchers and can guide interested practitioners in their search for actionable knowledge in HRD.
Purpose
This paper aims to review organizational studies literature and related fields to explore the parallel between organizations and organisms in dealing with change.
Design/methodology/approach
...The authors reviewed the literature to explore organizational change theories. Additionally, they referred to biological studies to explore the connection between organizations and organisms.
Findings
To cope successfully with change, organizations need to be aware of the critical, vulnerable points that may endanger their survival. These vulnerabilities can arise from external or internal factors or both. Organizational leaders, being aware of these criticalities, can act swiftly to deal with threats while keeping an eye on available opportunities.
Research limitations/implications
Future research could be conducted on understanding the elements of biological transformations through an in-depth study focused on species that have undergone frequent mutations and adaptations. It is hoped that HRD researchers, especially organization development (OD) theorists and practitioners, can build upon the ideas presented in this article.
Practical implications
The review and analysis can open doors for HRD practitioners to seek a better understanding of biological transformations, while enabling them to borrow ideas to be used in leading organizational change and design successful organizational change.
Originality/value
In this paper, the authors selected organizational theories to outline parallels between organizations and organisms to emphasize what organizations can learn from the success of organisms changing over billions of years. Thus, this paper uniquely contributes to HRD literature by encouraging OD researchers to conduct more interdisciplinary research. Most importantly, this paper contributes to understanding the underlying theories in HRD/OD.
Purpose
This paper analyzes critically four selected learning theories and their role in online instruction for adults.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review was conducted to analyze the ...theories.
Findings
The theory comparison revealed that no single theory encompasses the entirety of online instruction for adult learning; each theory explains some portion of adult online learning; theories are contextual; and components of all theories can be utilized to improve online learning.
Research limitations/implications
Adult learning theories and their roles in shaping online learning and instruction deserve more attention. The study of adult learning theories, combined with in-depth analysis of psychological and human resource literature, will enable researchers to delve deeper into the subject. More qualitative studies are needed to explore further how instructors’ ability to utilize theoretical principles can improve online learning.
Practical implications
This manuscript offers practical advice to instructors and other practitioners for utilizing adult learning theories for instructional enhancement.
Originality/value
This literature review uniquely contributes to filling the gap in human resource development literature by examining selected adult learning theories, comparing them and extending the theories’ applicability and value in online instruction.
Purpose
This paper aims to explore informal learning experiences among employees working in South Korean small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with fewer than 100 employees. This study ...specifically seeks to understand the characteristics of informal learning in Korean SMEs and culturally sensitive contextual factors that shape informal learning.
Design/methodology/approach
To understand the complex, holistic nature of the phenomenon, the current study used a phenomenological qualitative approach. Eighteen full-time employees working at South Korean SMEs in knowledge-intensive industries were interviewed. Data were analyzed using Moustakas’s phenomenological analysis.
Findings
The findings emerged from the field data revealed four characteristics of informal learning in South Korean SMEs: absolute reliance on informal learning; rapid/immediate learning and application; relationship/client needs-based learning; and extensive trial and error. The current study also identified South Korean SMEs’ unique organizational context (i.e. a family-like atmosphere, one employee-multiple tasks, passive investment in employees and the absence of systems) and Korean culture (i.e. Gab-Eul relations and chemyon) that drive the emergence of SMEs’ informal learning characteristics.
Originality/value
Very little empirical research has been conducted to explain how informal learning actually occurs and why such learning patterns have emerged in South Korean SMEs. The findings of this study have a profound impact on practice and academia, as it unveils characteristics of informal learning in SMEs, the unique cultural context in which Korean SMEs operate and how these characteristics impact the learning process.
