Boosting organizational learning through team-based talent management: what is the evidence from large Spanish firms?
Talent management (TM) can crucially help optimize organizational learning (OL) processes. The aim of this article is to study whether certain TM practices related to teamwork design and dynamics stimulate and develop learning (i.e. knowledge creation) processes within the organization and across the different ontological levels (individual, group and organizational–institutional). A model linking team-based TM and OL is tested in a sample of large Spanish companies. Our empirical results emphasize the distinction between individual–group and institutional levels of learning as the two pillars of OL. The results also highlight the role of team autonomy and creativity as crucial factors for …
Facilitating radical innovation through secret technology-oriented skunkworks projects: Implications for human resource practices
Technology-oriented skunkworks projects aim at facilitating radical innovation through approaches different from ‘normal’ research and development processes and have their specific organisational challenges. Joint human resource management (HRM) and innovation management research on HRM requirements for technology-oriented skunkworks is so far scarce, revealing a timely research gap and propelling our research question: what are the human resources (HR) practices that best support secret technology-oriented skunkworks projects (compared to HR practices in innovation contexts)? An exploratory case study of a skunkworks project at PSA Peugeot-Citroën (currently Groupe PSA) reveals seven skunk…
The pivotal role of students’ absorptive capacity in management learning
Within a research context dominated by an increasing interest in innovative learning method- ologies in management education, an individual’s capacity to establish links between existing and new knowledge, that is, absorptive capacity (AC), has been surprisingly neglected in management (higher) education inquiry. This study helps to close this gap by investigating the role of management students’ AC on their academic performance. The study also examines the moderating effect on this relationship of using traditional learning methodologies (such as lectures), innovative learning methodologies (such as interacting with digital platforms), and having a cooperative climate in the classroom. Sec…
Knowledge management effectiveness factors: the role of HRM
PurposeWithin the search of the key factors that explain knowledge management (KM) effectiveness, this paper aims to advance a simultaneously conceptual and practical framework that links human resource management (HRM) and KM.Design/methodology/approachA literature‐based preliminary framework assumes that a number of critical KM characteristics and KM‐related human resource (HR) practices impact on KM effectiveness. Qualitative methods are used for data collection and analysis. Three knowledge‐intensive Spanish business units of multinational companies are the target case‐study settings.FindingsSystematic patterns are found regarding the impact of critical KM characteristics and KM‐related…
Does CSR Enhance Employer Attractiveness? The Role of Millennial Job Seekers' Attitudes
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become increasingly important in labor market communication. To express organizational identity, reinforcing commitment to sustainable development and stakeholder engagement, organizations report their CSR activities. The impact of a company's employer branding (EB) strategy depends on how information recipients interpret corporate messages. Therefore, we assume that job seekers may show diverse attitudes toward CSR. The extant literature has hardly explored the interplay between CSR, EB, and job seekers' attitudes, so we identify a relevant research gap to be tackled. The aim of this paper is to examine how millennial job seekers' attitudes toward …
Individual Performance in Turbulent Environments: The Role of Organizational Learning Capability and Employee Flexibility
Organizational learning capability (OLC) and employee flexibility help firms navigate the challenges faced by organizations operating in turbulent environments. OLC includes dimensions such as experimentation, risk taking, openness, dialogue, and participative decision making. Employee flexibility is considered a crucial tool for strategic human resource management in tackling environmental turbulence. Accordingly, we pose the following research question: how, and to what extent, is individual performance enhanced by OLC and employee flexibility in turbulent environments? The major impact that environmental turbulence has on change and flexibility requirements suggests that employee flexibi…
How Effective are Business Ethics/CSR Courses in Higher Education?
AbstractConcern is increasing worldwide for introducing dedicated courses on business ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in higher education curricula. In this study, awareness of business ethics is investigated from a sample of 307 undergraduate and postgraduate management students at a Polish university. This investigation aims at assessing management students’ awareness of business ethics issues, focusing on the potential differences in such perceptions depending on previous business ethics/CSR courses taken. Surprisingly, our results do not match prior findings in the extant literature. Notably, in our sample, having taken previous courses on business ethics/CSR does not p…
Facilitating organisational learning through teamwork-based knowledge management: evidence from Spain
[EN] In the context of organisational learning optimisation through knowledge management policies, it is essential to pay careful attention to teamwork design and dynamics. Having these ideas in mind, the aim of our paper is to empirically study whether a number of knowledge management policies related to team design and dynamics facilitate organisational learning processes across the different ontological levels (individual, group, and organisational-institutional). Hence, we propose a model linking teamwork-design based on knowledge management policies (including the sub-dimensions of team composition, team bonding, and team bridging) and organisational learning. We test this model in a s…
Learning, knowledge and dynamic capabilities: theoretical implications for competitiveness and innovation in the 21st century
The aim of this paper is to support dynamic capabilities as a strategic tool for company management. We will begin by illustrating the evolution that can be discerned in the process of developing competitive advantage as a result of the organisation s internal analysis. In a first stage, interest was centred on understanding the nature of the firm s assets, and knowing which conditions would make it possible to turn them into lasting and sustainable sources of competitive advantage. During a second phase, interest was shifted towards the dynamic processes of generation, development and accumulation of assets. In this sense, dynamic capabilities are those which allow managers to activate and…
You are crazy! A classroom experiment to enhance creativity among management students
PurposeThe paper aims to focus on fostering a strategic attitude and creativity‐related competences among management students, through alternative teaching‐learning methods, whereby students propose “crazy” ideas that can be applicable to (business) organizations.Design/methodology/approachThe approach taken was an active learning classroom experiment. In total, 22 participants volunteered among the authors' own students, enrolled at different management‐related degrees at the University of Valencia (Spain).FindingsFive student teams proposed very interesting and original ideas (some “crazier” than others, many highly relevant and feasible), aimed at tackling relevant challenges at the work…
“Don't try to teach me, I got nothing to learn”: Management students' perceptions of business ethics teaching
[EN] Interest is growing towards including business ethics in university curricula, aiming at improving ethical behaviour of future managers. Extant literature has investigated the impact of ethics education on different ethics-related students' cognitive and/or behavioural outcomes, considering variables related to training programmes and students' demographic aspects. Accordingly, we aim at assessing students' understanding of business ethics issues, by focusing on the differences in students' perceptions depending on gender, age, work experience, and ethics courses taken. Testing our hypotheses on a sample of 307 management students at a Polish university, and controlling for social desi…
Scientific production in the field of academic spin-off: A bibliometric analysis
Objecte: Revisio de la literatura existent de les spin-off academiques amb l’objecte de presentar la situacio actual de la produccio cientifica d’aquest camp. Disseny/metodologia: Analisi bibliometrica. Aportacions i resultats: L’analisi bibliometrica de la literatura (1990-2014) sobre spin-off academiques ha permes esbrinar els autores mes rellevants, les revistes que tant directament (no de publicacions) com indirectament (no de cites) contribueixen a la literatura, l’analisi de coautoria, paraules clau, la geolocalitzacio i cocitacio entre els articles. La produccio cientifica d’aquest camp esta composta principalment per articles escrits en angles, en revistes de alt impacte (publicats…
Business Ethics as a Sustainability Challenge: Higher Education Implications
Recent financial scandals worldwide have intensified concern for business (and especially accounting) ethics. Hence, under an overall economic and social sustainability approach, it is crucial to improve the effectiveness of business ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) education, in terms of its impact on business students&rsquo
THE ROLE OF ONTOLOGICAL LEARNING LEVELS IN DEVELOPING DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES
This paper explores the links between the fields of dynamic capabilities and organisational learning (OL), emphasising the role of the different ontological learning levels. The resource-based view (RBV) is pinpointed as the key origin of the dynamic capabilities view (DCV), in connection with OL and knowledge management. Ontological learning levels are identified as key OL stages. The knowledge-based view (KBV) of the firm is introduced as a key link between OL processes and dynamic capabilities development. Specifically, we propose a novel and integrative framework for understanding the role that the RBV, the DCV, OL, and the KBV, have, in an inter-connected way, have played in achieving …