This article examines the impact of computer technology on the workforce and workplace. It summarizes research and examines in practice the implementation and adoption of new technology in companies. Two cases are presented: a metal fabrication factory and a professional publishing company. Results of a pre‐implementation survey given to personnel in the factory highlight how a top‐down change strategy and worker's sense of mistrust and inequity, led to problems with the introduction of computerized machinery and control systems. Surveys taken one and three years after the introduction of word processing and data‐based management tools in the publishing company, by comparison, show how a more participatory change strategy coupled with extensive user training and support, contribute to success with technological change and alter perceptions of the company culture.

Despite the increased use of seasonal employees by organizations, few studies have been completed on the attitudes and service quality of seasonal office workers. Using Lautsch's classification model, we analyzed the organizational context in which the standard and seasonal workers in this study were employed. Hypotheses were developed based upon the organizational analysis and social exchange theory. Results from archival data obtained from a web‐based organizational survey of 205 clerical and professional workers indicated contrary to expectations, standard and seasonal employees did not significantly differ in terms of perceptions of overall job conditions, perceived organizational support (POS), or job engagement. However, seasonal employees did report significantly fewer opportunities to work on challenging tasks, less comfortable physical working conditions, and less job security than the standard workers. As predicted, standard employees reported significantly higher levels of service quality performance than seasonal employees. Additionally, job engagement mediated the relationship between POS and service quality for both the standard and seasonal employees. Implications for managing seasonal employees are discussed.

As the use of outsourcing as a staffing strategy continues, it is important to understand how the landscape of human resource management shifts in response to this strategy. Much of the existing outsourcing research in human resource management and organizational behavior has examined individuallevel responses. In this article, we use this research to identify the outsourcing‐related challenges facing HR professionals in both the service provider and client organizations as they strive to attract, motivate, and retain high‐performing employees and explore HR practices that may help achieve organizational goals. Areas in need of additional research are also identified.

Drawing on self‐determination theory, this study advances our understanding of employees' experiences working from home (WFH). Specifically, we examine the effects of two social‐contextual characteristics of WFH arrangements: whether employees voluntarily initiate their arrangement ( WFH initiation) and the proportion of WFH employees in a unit ( WFH density ). We conducted multilevel analyses on a multisource dataset drawn from organizational HR records and two surveys of 2115 WFH employees in a Fortune 500 organization. Employees who voluntarily initiated WFH, rather than at their employer's direction, experienced higher job autonomy and lower isolation. WFH employees in units with a lower proportion of other WFH employees experienced higher job autonomy. WFH initiation and WFH density also had effects on several distal employee outcomes, including job satisfaction, organizational knowledge, and turnover intentions, through their effects on job autonomy and isolation. Our findings provide valuable insight into the experiences of WFH employees and call attention to two important, yet understudied, factors that shape these experiences.

Despite their prevalence, workplace diversity and inclusion (D&I) practices continue to produce inconsistent effects on employee attitudes and behaviors. This shines a light on the need for evidence‐based approaches in understanding how employees enact D&I goals. Drawing on self‐determination theory, we argue that employee D&I motivation is an untapped pathway for understanding how inclusion‐supportive employee outcomes (i.e., more inclusion and less exclusion) emerge. In addition, we leverage attribution theory to inform when employee motivation can be shaped, demonstrating that employee attributions of the intentions behind their organization's D&I practices play an important role in shaping their subsequent D&I motivation. Across two studies, latent profile analysis identified five distinct profiles of D&I motivation, which were differentially related to inclusion and exclusion (Study 1) and predicted by D&I attributions (Studies 1 and 2). Combined, these findings highlight the importance of understanding employee motivations and attributions within the context of D&I. Such knowledge can inform how employees enact inclusion goals, which has the potential to help organizations realize the desired benefits of diversity.

Interest in the employee engagement construct has gained increasing attention in recent years. Measurement tools focused on nuanced areas of engagement (i.e., job engagement and organizational engagement) have been offered; however, no measure of employee engagement has been advanced despite persistent calls in the research. We present the development, method, and results of a three‐dimensional employee engagement measurement tool developed for use in the human resource and management fields of study. Across four independent studies, the employee engagement scale ( EES ) was found to consist of three subfactors (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral) and a higher‐order factor (employee engagement). Across a series of four studies, we explored the factor structure and reliability of the EES (Study 1), then refined the scale, confirmed the factor structure, and examined reliability and both convergent and nomological validity evidence (Study 2). Next (Study 3), we completed a final reduction in scale items and examined additional evidence of reliability and nomological validity as well as evidence of discriminant validity. Finally (Study 4), we tested for evidence of incremental validity. In the implications for theory and practice section, we discuss the importance of an employee engagement measure aligned alongside an agreed‐upon definition and framework. Limitations and future directions for research—such as the need for further psychometric testing and exploring issues of measurement invariance—are discussed.

Sustainable success calls for contextually ambidextrous organizing. According to theory, this entails enabling simultaneous high levels of exploration and exploitation within a subsystem. The practices involved in enabling contextual ambidexterity form a major and relatively unexplored leadership challenge. Our main aim is to draw on a combination of ambidexterity and complexity theory insights to understand how contextual ambidexterity emerges in dynamic contexts. We contribute to the literature on the role of leadership in enabling contextual ambidexterity by exploring the daily practices leaders enact to stimulate exploration and exploitation as well as to shift dynamically between them to (re)gain contextual ambidexterity. We present the results of two qualitative studies exploring leadership in project‐based organizations where the pressure for contextual ambidexterity is relevant. We show that in responding adaptively to environmental stimuli, leaders shift between practices to emphasize exploitation or exploration to (re)gain the needed high levels of both, and their enactments are bounded by the conditions of keeping exploration and exploitation simultaneously high. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding contextual ambidexterity as a dynamic accomplishment that emerges in everyday interactions, the role of leaders in enabling contextual ambidexterity, and the need for HR managers to support leaders in enacting this dynamic form of leadership.

This study examined the factorial validity of strategic human resource management practices and their effects on company performance in a sample of 465 Chinese enterprises. Data were collected through two questionnaire surveys among general managers and HRM directors on product/service performance of their companies and a range of strategic HRM practices. Our findings indicate that a valid set of strategic HRM practices (training, participation, results‐oriented appraisals, and internal career opportunities) affect both product/service performance and financial performance. Employment security and job descriptions contribute uniquely to product/service performance, whereas profit sharing contributes uniquely to financial performance.

When designing jobs, the degree of specialization is a key consideration. Though functional specialization allows workers to develop deep areas of expertise, it also increases the challenge of coordinating their work. In this article, we propose the concepts of stage‐ and site‐based specialization and posit that together they can counteract the divisive effects of functional specialization. Taking advantage of a natural experiment in physician job design at a Massachusetts hospital, we explore the impact of stage‐ and site‐based specialization on coordination and performance outcomes. Building on recent interest in relational approaches to job design, this study is the first to link relational job design to relational outcomes such as coordination. Our findings have practical implications for job design in professional service settings such as education, consulting, and health care.

Recent research suggests that nonstandard employment relations may be a source of innovation for the firm. In this article, we analyze firms' strategic correlates and perceived benefits from using two types of employment in‐termediaries—consulting firms and temporary help agencies—in their core activities. Organizations with an innovation strategy are more likely to use consulting firms in their core activities, while organizations that compete on the basis of low cost are more apt to use temporary help agencies. Moreover, managers say that consulting firms are more likely than temporary help agencies to provide them with special competencies in their core activities.