Knowledge that Transforms

This paper reports the results of two studies undertaken in the same Fortune 500 company as it adopted an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) program. Study 1 assessed employees' perceptions of fairness, trust, and turnover intentions regarding ADR options. Compared with other options for ADR, a program consisting of mandatory mediation followed by mandatory and binding arbitration (MMBA) resulted in significantly lower levels of procedural fairness perception, organizational trust, and intentions to stay with the firm. Contrary to previous research, no significant effects were found related to respondents' demographic characteristics and their reactions to ADR program characteristics. In Study 2, job‐applicant flow data were evaluated and compared by corporate region to determine the effects of an MMBA program installed in one region. Results revealed no significant effects related to the MMBA program on the organization's ability to recruit and ultimately fill key positions. As in Study 1, no significant effects were found in Study 2 for the demographic characteristics of applicant race/ethnicity, gender, or age on applicant recruitment decisions. Although Study 2 results indicated job candidates are unaffected by the existence of an MMBA program, given Study 1's results, practitioners should be cautious about implementing such a program for current employees.

The author reflects on the 50th anniversary of the journal "Human Resource Management" and on the evolution of human resource knowledge in business enterprises in the future. He comments on the development of "Human Resource Management" and on the societal impact of human resource knowledge. He suggests that human resource professionals need to stretch their human resource knowledge creation beyond their comfort zones and develop a stronger relationship between theory creation and corporate application.

Although discretion among employees at organizations' lower levels seems to be increasing, it is uncertain whether this is a desirable HRM policy. To understand this issue better, this study tests competing organization theory predictions about the performance consequences of middle managers' perceived discretion. Discretion is defined as the freedom of action or decision authority available in managing subordinates. Survey data from a multinational, European sample of research and development (R&D) units were used to assess the effect of managers' perceived discretion on unit performance. The results show that a combination of ecology theory and strategic choice theory best predicts the relationship between discretion and unit performance. Greater perceived managerial discretion was linked to increased unit performance in a relationship moderated by managerial experience and limited by unit size. These findings have implications for HRM theory and practice, particularly regarding policies related to empowerment and leadership development.

Bridging the literature of procedural justice, social identification, and voice, we present a conceptual model of observers' voice responses to injustices perpetrated on coworkers. Based on social identity theory, we contend that similarity to the target of injustice influences observer identification with the target, as moderated by the observer's scope of justice, which then influences the observer's perceptions of injustice and decision to express voice. Additionally, we posit that the link between observers' perceptions of injustice and expressed voice is moderated by the observer's perceived opportunity to express voice. Finally, we propose that the decision to express voice individually or collectively depends on the justice climate along with the costs and benefits associated with each option. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Mergers of equals are often considered simply symbolic. Whereas existing literature on the topic views equality as underscoring the importance of distributive justice, power, or identity, the role of culture remains relatively obscure. In this study, the authors explore equality as a dynamic construct associated with two major processes in mergers of equals: cultural clash and cultural construction. The authors employ a qualitative case study with interviews and analysis of company materials from BroadBand, a wireless Internet access provider, to address the role of culture and equality in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The results shed light on how and why social actors entering into mergers may enact a culture of equality. First, firms may develop new aspirations and patterns of appreciation and initiate practices and strategies that construct equality as an integral part of the merger. Second, when distributive equality becomes a liability, it incites change. In the context of equality, this change results in strategic action that transforms the meaning of “a merger of equals” to a more practical, pragmatic, and integrative equality, which takes into account the interests and the needs of the merged firm. Third, contrary to the common skeptical and cynical portrayal of mergers of equals, this study found equality to be a crucial factor during postmerger integration.

This study examines the relationship between employee voice and job satisfaction using data from the 2007 Australian Workplace Representation Survey (AWRPS) of 1,022 employees. Drawing on human resource management and industrial relations literature, we test hypotheses concerning the relationship between direct and union voice arrangements and job satisfaction. This relationship represents a gap in the literature, which is important from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Controlling for a range of personal, job, and workplace characteristics, regression analyses suggest that although evidence of voice complementarity exists, direct voice appears to be the central voice arrangement underpinning employees' job satisfaction. The article concludes by highlighting the study's implications for management practice and identifies avenues for further research.