Peter R.A. Oeij, Tinka Van Vuuren, Steven Dhondt, Jeff Gaspersz and Ernest M.M. De Vroome
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether insights into high reliability organizations (HROs) are useful for innovation management teams. HRO teams can keep failure to a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether insights into high reliability organizations (HROs) are useful for innovation management teams. HRO teams can keep failure to a minimum level due to high alertness and resilience. Project teams working on innovation management could benefit from HRO principles and thus reduce their chances of failure.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey among in total 260 team members and team leaders of project teams in innovation management was conducted to study the relation between, on the one hand, organizational features of HROs (“mindful infrastructure”) and HRO principles (adjusted as “innovation resilience behaviour”, IRB), and on the other hand, between mindful infrastructure and IRB and project outcomes.
Findings
From the results it could be concluded that mindful infrastructure associates with IRB, and that IRB has a mediating role in the relation between mindful infrastructure and project outcomes. Innovation management project teams can thus learn from the practice of HRO teams.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, HRO-thinking has not been applied to team behaviour in innovation management. A fruitful transfer of insights from the domain of safety and crisis management seems applicable to the domain of innovation.
Details
Keywords
Tinka van Vuuren, Jeroen P. de Jong and Peter G.W. Smulders
The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between subjective job insecurity and self-rated job performance, and to assess how this association is different across…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between subjective job insecurity and self-rated job performance, and to assess how this association is different across different employment groups.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a data set owned by TNO and Statistics Netherlands of more than 89,000 Dutch workers and self-employed that is a representative sample of the Dutch workforce. The authors included data from 2014 and 2016 assessing subjective job insecurity in terms of “a concern about the future of one’s job/business” and self-rated job performance.
Findings
The effect size of the association between subjective job insecurity and self-rated job performance is small. For temporary agency workers and on-call workers, the association between subjective job insecurity and job performance is weaker compared to permanent workers and fixed-term workers. However for self-employed workers with and without employees, however, the relation between subjective job insecurity and job performance is stronger compared to permanent workers.
Research limitations/implications
The biggest limitation is the cross-sectional design of the study, which limits conclusions about causality.
Practical implications
The finding that subjective job insecurity goes together with less work performance shows that job insecurity has no upside for the productivity of companies.
Originality/value
The study provides a deeper understanding of the relationship between subjective job insecurity and self-rated job performance on a national level.
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Jos M.A.F. Sanders, Marc A.W. Damen and Karen Van Dam
Based on the theory of planned behaviour and social learning theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of training participation and learning experience on…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on the theory of planned behaviour and social learning theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of training participation and learning experience on the beliefs of low-educated employees about their self-efficacy for learning.
Design/methodology/approach
Low-educated workers of three different organizations (n=359) filled out a questionnaire at three different points in time, with a half-yearly interval. Regression analyses were used to establish the effects of training participation and learning experience on learning self-efficacy.
Findings
Training participation alone did not affect low-educated workers’ learning self-efficacy, but a positive learning experience did contribute to workers’ post-training learning self-efficacy. These results support the relevance of positive learning experiences.
Research limitations/implications
Follow-up studies could focus on the effects of learning self-efficacy for subsequent learning activities, establish which aspects of training contribute to a positive learning experience, and include contextual characteristics that may predict learning self-efficacy.
Practical implications
To stimulate learning among lower educated workers, it is necessary that they have confidence in their ability to successfully complete their training. Trainers and training developers working for this specific target group of lower educated workers should aim to provide training that is a positive experience, besides being a learning exercise.
Originality/value
The study is the first to analyse the longitudinal effects of training participation and learning experience on post-training learning self-efficacy among low-educated workers.
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Peter R.A. Oeij, Steven Dhondt and Jeff Gaspersz
This paper aims to investigate the principles of high reliability organisations (HROs), present in safety and crisis teams, as applied to innovation teams. Safety and crisis teams…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the principles of high reliability organisations (HROs), present in safety and crisis teams, as applied to innovation teams. Safety and crisis teams cannot fail, as failure leads to disaster and casualties. Innovation teams cannot fail either, as this harms the organisations’ competitiveness and effectiveness. Do HRO principles, rooted in mindful infrastructure, enable innovation resilience behaviour (IRB)?
Design/methodology/approach
A study of 18 innovation projects performed by project teams was carried out. A survey by team members/leaders of these teams was completed; team members/leaders of other projects were added to achieve a larger sample. Mindful infrastructure consists of team psychological safety, team learning, complexity leadership and team voice. The analyses assessed the teams’ mindful infrastructures as a causal condition enabling IRB.
Findings
Applying qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), the findings indicate that mindful infrastructure enables team IRB, which is a set of team behaviours indicating their resilience when encountering critical incidents. Teams apply different “paths” to IRB.
Research limitations/implications
The exploratory study’s generalizability is limited. The findings nonetheless indicate the usefulness of non-linear techniques for understanding different roads to successful innovation processes.
Practical implications
HRO principles are applicable by non-HROs. These require investments in organisational learning.
Originality/value
HRO studies fail to account for the antecedents of HRO principles. This study groups these antecedents of team behaviour into a mindful infrastructure. QCA has not been applied within the domain of HROs before and only scarcely within the domain of innovation teams.