LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

Understanding Leadership and Management at CIRANO

Understanding Leadership and Management at CIRANO

Introduction

CIRANO is a non-profit organisation incorporated under the Companies Act of Quebec. The financing of its infrastructure and its research activities comes from contributions of its organisations, members, an infrastructure grant from the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology, as well as subsidies and mandates obtained by its research teams.

In this study, conducted among 536 Quebec employees and managers, we examine the perceived influence of four HRM processes (sharing information, empowerment, skills and recognition), on the one hand, as well as the role of Organisational commitment (affective and continuous) in the motivation to mobilize some discretionary behaviour at work. The results of the multivariate analysis show that discretionary behaviours are more highly mobilized when employees have a high level of emotional commitment to the organisation. The study also shows strong sense of autonomy and influence, and the ability to use the skills at work, have a strong positive influence on the mobilisation of independent discretionary behaviour. Finally, this research highlights the role of non-monetary recognition and procedural justice in the formation of a bond with the organisation and motivation of employees to the success of the organisation.

Description and Analysis

Increased competition in international markets has attracted national increasing with respect to innovations in the workplace to improve efficiency, productivity, quality and profitability. Managers realize that the changes needed to make organisations more competitive and efficient, not only in terms of investment capital and technology but also changes in the way organisations are structured, and how people are managed. Different terminologies have been used to describe organisations that treat their human resources as a source of competitive advantage which results in high commitment, high performance, mutual gains, and mobilisation. These work, mostly advocate the idea that a significant investment in human capital and the implementation of HRM practices and appropriate consistency could give a competitive advantage and result in better financial performance. This perspective, referred to as universal because of its low position vis-à-vis the organisational context, suggests that good HRM practices can only lead to positive effects on organisations. Empirical studies of Huselid (1995), Jackson and Schuler (1997), and Delery & Doty (1996), showed that a standard deviation in the implementation of innovative HRM practices were associated with increased profits of 23%, 16% and 23% respectively.

Other work, such as Welbourne and Andrews (1996) and Gerhart and Milkovich (1990), revealed that certain practices earnings were associated with survival of organisations and the increase in their profitability. If this work has been an important echo in the academic community and helped strengthening the strategic importance of human resources, these studies, however, are deficit of answers to why HRM practices are related to indices of organisational performance. Becker & Gerhart (1996), as Dyer & Shafer (1999) have recently stressed the need to distance measures financial institutions such as financial profitability and stock prices, and apply rather to identify the processes leading to these financial ...