The quality of working life has been central to the sociological agenda for several decades, and has also been increasingly salient as a policy issue, and for companies. This book breaks new ground in the study of the quality of work by providing the first rigorous comparative assessment of the way it has been affected by the economic crisis. It examines the implications of the crisis on developments in skills and training, employees' control over their jobs, and the pressure of work and job security. It also assesses how changing experiences at work affect people's lives outside of work: the risks of work-life conflict, the motivation to work, personal well-being, and attitudes towards society. The book draws on a rich new source of evidence-the European Social Survey-to provide a comparative view over the period 2004 to 2010. The survey provides evidence for countries across the different regions of Europe and allows for a detailed assessment of the view that institutional differences between European societies-in terms of styles of management, social partnership practices, and government policies-lead to very different levels of work quality and different experiences of the crisis. This comparative aspect will thus forward our understanding of how institutional differences between European societies affect work experiences and their implications for non-work life.

This work critically examines diversity, discrimination, and inclusion in the English-speaking Caribbean nations, with a specific emphasis on persons with disabilities. The chapters include an evaluative analysis on the extant theoretical and empirical literature on persons with disabilities in employment, exploring the nature of their disability, the role of information technology in gaining and retaining employment, and an analysis of the laws and relevant policies which prohibit the discrimination against persons with disabilities in the Caribbean region. Though the enactment of legislation outlawing the discrimination of persons with disabilities is not widespread in the Caribbean, a few select territories have taken positive steps towards recognition of the need to achieve inclusion of persons with disabilities and accept the diversity of the Caribbean populace. After exploring the general state of disability and discrimination in the Caribbean region, the authors analyze workplace accommodations provided to persons with disability, particularly as relations to IT and assistive devices, before focusing on workplace stigmas related to mental health disability and employment law. In addition to literature-based analyses, the book includes qualitative case studies, with the goal of providing benchmarks in organizational responses to employees with disabilities. Further, the authors highlight lessons to be learned from other countries in addressing inequality in the workplace for disabled persons. With its analysis of employment as well as socio-economic and legal issues, this interdisciplinary text will serve as a useful resource in not only understanding the organizational challenges faced by persons with disabilities in the region but also the necessary legislation needed to address discriminatory practices on a wider scale.

Utilizing Information Technology in Developing Strategic Alliances Among Organizations deals with two important topics for a firm's competitiveness in the framework of the information society: alliance strategies and the role played by IT in alliances. While technical solutions to distance work abound, there is a lack of a strong and theoretically-grounded approach on how best to implement these solutions. This book offers a theoretical framework, allowing strategic alliance managers to implement the IT required in these alliances, supported by their work teams. Utilizing Information Technology in Developing Strategic Alliances Among Organizations analyzes many important topics, such as: the development of global business-to-business electronic markets, and whether these markets are becoming a way of improving trust between organizations at an international level; problems in implementing interorganizational systems and their solutions; and how IT and alliance strategy are important both to multinational corporations and family firms, regardless of firm size.

Learning in labour markets is a key feature concerning how labour markets operate. This research reviews discusses classic and important recent contributions by leading scholars concerning how firms learn about worker abilities and other worker attributes. Topics covered include; theory of symmetric learning, evidence of symmetric learning and evidence from asymmetric learning. This research review will serve as a valuable resource for scholars, libraries, and graduate students.

If you suspect that you and your organization are being hindered or stolen from in ways you don't know or understand; if you have problems that seem unsolvable; this book is for you. You will learn about the five negative spiritual roots underlying all organizational problems and how to remove them. You will learn how to apply Transforming Your Business principles to free your business into your organizational destiny.

A first-of-its-kind, science-backed toolkit takes a holistic approach to burnout prevention by helping individuals, teams, and leaders build resilience and thrive at work. Burnout has become one of the most talked about workplace topics, and its impact is far-reaching. The 24/7 pace of work, constant demands, and scant resources can easily put busy professionals on a path to burnout, a cycle that has only accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Burnout affects the health and well-being of the entire organization, yet most attempts to help focus on quick-fix strategies aimed at individuals. Something is missing. In Beating Burnout at Work: Why Teams Hold the Secret to Well-Being and Resilience, Paula Davis, founder of the Stress & Resilience Institute, provides a new framework to help organizations prevent employee burnout. Davis's research-driven, fast-reading, and actionable book is the first of its kind to explore a new solution to the burnout problem at work: a comprehensive approach focused on building the resilience of teams of all sizes. Davis argues that teams, and their leaders, are uniquely positioned to create the type of cultures that are needed to prevent burnout. In Beating Burnout at Work, Davis shares stories from her work coaching, teaching, and training leaders and teams of all sizes, and she explores:How she navigated her own burnout as a lawyer, and how that led her to study burnout and launch a business with the aim of helping organizations and their employees become more resilient; How teams and leaders can utilize simple, science-backed strategies to create cultures that promote resilience and well-being and reduce burnout; How the Mayo Clinic, one of the most renowned medical centers in the world, has developed a powerful model to reduce burnout in its organization; How organizations dealing with high-stress challenges, including the US Army, work to increase resilience in a systemic way; andHow the German company trivago is piloting a new approach to work amid COVID-19 in order to increase team connection and resilience.Solving the burnout puzzle requires a systemic approach. In Beating Burnout at Work, Davis offers an actionable method to help leaders create cultures of well-being and resilience in their organizations.

For an organization to survive, it will need to do more than merely improve its production, administration, and human-interaction processes. Survival will require deep cultural and structural transformation. Tsunami: Building Organizations that can survive Tidal Waves is an indispensable resource for any business or community leader whose organization must survive in today's wildly changing business, political, and technological environments. In Tsunami Victor Pinedo deals with the real world of business organization and management, revealing the principles that can give your company: Increased market share and profitability Increased loyalty from all stakeholders Agility and ability--not just to survive potentially catastrophic threats, but to take advantage of their inherent opportunities. competitiveness, market share, and profitability An approach to organizational and cultural change that is effective even in a violently changing environment.--Jaime H. de Sola, Former Senior Executive: Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Amerada Hess Corporation & Amoco Corporation I think this book offers a great framework for change and is an important read for any manager attempting to bring maturity and excitement to their organizations.--Paul Tolchinsky, Author, Whole-Scale Change: Unleashing the Magic In Organizations

If, as many CEOs claim, employees are our most valuable resource, why are those resources being depleted? More precisely, why are employees being depleted of the energy, motivation and pride that make them fulfilled and proud employees - and human beings? Dysfunctional organizations and demoralized employees are the result, Daniel Wentland writes, of a management-employee relationship that must be redefined and revitalized. As he writes, when leaders truly value employees and treat them as partners rather than subordinates, everyone in the organization will find that giving forth their maximum effort is the best - and easiest thing to do. Nothing less than a new paradigm is needed, and in the book Daniel combines his academic research with the insights he developed as a manager with large organizations to describe the important steps that will enable employees and managers to create that new, exciting paradigm. Stephen Bernhut, Editor, of the Ivey Business Journal Leaders everywhere can be grateful to Professor Wentland for providing comprehensive guidance that allows them to shape organizational culture in a way that releases the full potential of managers and staff members alike. Wentland effectively combines his hands-on knowledge of organizational best practices with a synthesis of the relevant scholarship available on key points. Managers will find this book a useful and provocative tool as they continue to move their organizations from ""good"" to ""great."" Karen Halbersleben, President of Northland College, Ashland, Wisconsin The information in Organizational Performance in a Nutshell provides a comprehensive framework for understanding questions like why does one organization thrive while another struggles for survival even though both are operating in the same industry, or how can some of the largest global organizations such as GM, Ford, Chrysler, Home Depot, Sears, Kmart, Airbus, Citigroup, Gateway, and Dell perform so poorly after being such colossal leaders in their industry? A new way of thinking about organizational effectiveness will emerge from the information contained in this book. In sum, organizational performance in a nutshell will be revealed.

As the importance of the social sector has increased in recent years, utilising social enterprise aids in the development of knowledge, research, and practices in order to achieve an organisations' goals. Therefore, an understanding of ICT implementation in regards to social enterprise is crucial for effectiveness. Social E-Enterprise: Value Creation through ICT provides research on the understanding of ICT in the social enterprise field as it emerges as a major component of both business model and developed economy. This reference source focuses on the role of information communication technology as it promotes the development of the social sector.

This book explores a range of theories used to explain the phenomenon of innovation and learning in individual thought, organizations, industries, and economies. The author draws on insights and perspectives from management and organization studies, economics, and cognitive science, bringing these together in a unifying framework for an analysis of innovation systems and the management of learning.

The application of holistic optimization methods in the tourism, travel, and hospitality industry has improved customer service and business strategies within the field. By utilizing new technologies and optimization techniques, it is becoming easier to troubleshoot problematic areas within the travel industry. The Handbook of Research on Holistic Optimization Techniques in the Hospitality, Tourism, and Travel Industry features innovative technologies being utilized in the management of hotels and tourist attractions. Highlighting empirical research on the optimization of the travel and hospitality industry through the use of algorithms and information technology, this book is a critical reference source for managers, decision makers, executives, tourists, agents, researchers, economists, and hotel staff members.

The Handbook of Advances in Trust Research presents new and important developments in trust research. The contributors are all prominent and highly respected experts in the field. Firstly, they provide a contemporary overview of the most crucial issues in current trust research including contracts, innovation and negotiation, trust and control. Thereafter, themes which have gained prominence since the original Handbook are considered, such as trust and the financial crisis, public trust in business, and trust and HRM. The book also explores recent theoretical advances and points the way for future research on trust. The Handbook contributes to an area of key importance to business and society and will appeal to practitioners and students of organization theory, strategy, sociology, organizational psychology and economics. Contributors: R. Bachmann, K.T. Dirks, N. Gillespie, T. Gubler, J.D. Harris, R. Hurley, A.A.C. Keevil, F. Kroeger, R.J. Lewicki, P.P. Li, G. Moellering, J. Nickerson, B. Nooteboom, B. Polin, L. Poppo, R.H. Searle, F. Six, P.W.L. Vlaar, A. Weibel, A.C. Wicks, A. Zaheer

The latest edition of the gold-standard guide for leadership development In the new seventh edition of The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations, best-selling leadership authors and business scholars James Kouzes and Barry Posner deliver an essential strategic playbook for effective leadership. The book's actionable advice is grounded in robust research and deep insights into the complex interpersonal dynamics of the workplace. Premier authorities in the field, the authors frame leadership as both a skill to be learned and as a relationship to be nurtured. They demonstrate how to achieve extraordinary results in the face of contemporary business challenges with engaging stories, current case studies, and straightforward frameworks for those who seek continuous, incremental improvement. The book also offers: Incisive commentary on the shift toward team-oriented and hybrid work relationships Key insights into how to break through a new and pervasive level of cynicism amongst the modern workforce Strategies for leveraging the electronic global village to deliver better results within your team, in your department, and across your organization Perfect for every practicing and aspiring leader who wants to stay current, relevant, and effective in a rapidly evolving business environment, The Leadership Challenge will help you remain impactful and capable of inspiring and motivating your constituents at every level.

Modern society is increasingly information-driven, relying heavily on Information Systems (IS) and Information Technology (IT). Business enterprises are no exception, and managers and leaders must learn to make the most of the information resources at their disposal or risk falling behind the times. Information Systems and Technology for Organizations in a Networked Society discusses methods of using information technologies to support organizational and business objectives in both national and international contexts. This reference book describes the latest research on both the technical and non-technical aspects of contemporary information societies, including e-commerce, e-learning, e-government, and e-health; supporting professionals and academicians in developing a deeper understanding of the most effective models for communication, collaboration, and business development. This book is part of the Advances in Business Information Systems and Analytics series collection.

Organizational Culture provides a sweeping interdisciplinary overview of the organizational culture literature, showing how and why researchers have disagreed about such fundamental questions as: What is organizational culture? What are the major theoretical perspectives used to understand cultures in organizations? How can a researcher decipher the political interests inherent in research that claims to be political neutral -- merely "descriptive"?

Expert author Joanne Martin examines a variety of conflicting ways to study cultures in organizations, including different theoretical orientations, political ideologies (managerial, critical, and apparently neutral); methods (qualitative, quantitative, and hybrid approaches), and styles of writing about culture (ranging from traditional to postmodern and experimental). In addition, she offers a guide for those who might want to study culture themselves, addressing such issues as: What qualitative, quantitative, and hybrid methods can be used to study culture? What standards are used when reviewers evaluate these various types of research? What innovative ways of writing about culture have been introduced? And finally, what are the most important unanswered questions for future organizational culture researchers?

Intended for graduate students and established scholars who need to understand, value, and utilize highly divergent approaches to the study of culture. The book will also be useful for researchers who do not study culture, but who are interested in the ways political interests affect scholarly writing, the ways critical and managerial approaches to theory differ, the use and justification of qualitative methods in domains where quantitative methods are the norm.

Myths, stories, and folklore are part of the fabric and life of all organizations, enabling us to understand, identify, and communicate the character of the organization - its ambitions, conflicts, and peculiarities. Drawing on extensive fieldwork of storytelling in five organizations, this book argues that stories open valuable windows into the emotional and symbolic lives of organizations. By collecting stoires in different organizations, by listening and comparing different accounts, by investigating how narratives are constructed around specific events, by examining which events in an organization's history generate stories and which ones fail to do so, researchers can gain access to deeper organizational realities, closely linked to their members' experiences. In this way, stories enable researchers to study organizational politics, culture, and change in uniquely illuminating ways, revealing how wider organizational issues are viewed, commented upon and worked upon by their members.