The virtual world of implications for practice

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The virtual world of implications for practice

• Jean M. Bartunek
• Boston College
• With
• Sara Rynes (University of Iowa)
• Joe Reganato (BC MBA student)

This presentation describes work in progress as
of April 17, 2009. the reliability of some
indices has not been checked. Please do not
quote without permission
2
This talk will be

• A kind of virtual quasi-ethnography of
  implications for practice within (some)
  management journals
• With the aim of understanding whats going on in
  them less stereotypically and more deeply

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Some context

• A 50 year incredibly abbreviated mini-history of
  academic-practitioner relationships and divides
• Starting with 1959 reports by the Ford (Gordon
  Howell, 1959) and Carnegie Foundations (Pierson,
  1959)

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And skipping over 50 years to JMS 2009

• Kieser Liener (2009)
• Can/should academic research inform practice and
  vice-versa?
• Luhmanns (1998) theory states that the
  specialized systems of modern societies are
  highly autonomous autopoietic, operating in
  isolation from each other (p. 519).
• By definition, communication elements of one
  system, such as science, cannot be authentically
  integrated into the communication of other
  systems, such as the practices of a business
  organization
• From a system theory perspective it is
  impossible to merge two communication systems
  (p. 525)

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Moreover

• Collaboration with members of alien
  institutions with different interests,
  qualifications and thought worlds could
  detrimentally interfere with the processes of the
  primary institutions (p. 518)

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Hodgkinson and Rousseau response (JMS, 2009)

• Kieser and Leiners argument represents an
  assertion by Luhmann that lacks any accompanying
  empirical support.
• Management and organizational research function
  as dynamic and adaptive, rather than closed,
  systems.
• Both of us have conducted field research in
  partnership with organizations, their leadership
  and members where the output has included
  scientific publications in top journals (p. 539)
• Further, there are a number of instances in
  which social science findings are both useful and
  used. (p. 541)

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Kieser and Leiner (in press) rejoin that

• Hodgkinson and Rousseau (2009) do what
  management researchers usually do they do not
  assess relevance, they socially construct
  relevance in a self-referential fashion.
• Hodgkinson and Rousseau (2009) accuse
  Luhmanns theory of lacking any accompanying
  empirical support and take this as an excuse
  not to examine it . This we find astonishing,
  considering the fact that this theory forms the
  basis of our essay and that opponents in a
  scholarly debate are supposed to take each
  others scientific positions seriously.

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What about implications for practice in journal
articles?

• Kieser and Leiner (2009) state
• Most reviewers checklists of leading management
  journals list the criterion relevance for
  practice. Authors comply with this criterion by
  pointing out what implications their results
  might have for practice. Evidence in the form of
  successful implementations of the results in
  practice is not required.
• Practitioners would not comprehend the majority
  of these texts and, in addition, they would
  probably state that usefulness of a concept can
  only be assessed by testing it in practice. (p.
  522).

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This raises some questions

• Are implications for practice pretty much useless
  for practitioners, as Kieser and Leiner seem to
  suggest?
• Are they legitimate ways for academics to relate
  to practitioners?
• How are they constructed, and what impacts might
  their construction have?

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Are they legitimate ways for academics to relate
to practitioners?

• The word relate is key
• They should (we believe) be thought of in
  relational terms
• And if they represent relationships they are
  characterized by sets of cultural norms, as all
  relationships are

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For example, are they helpful?

• Words for helping (from Schein, 2009, p. 7)
• Assisting, aiding, advising, care giving,
  catalyzing, coaching, consulting, counseling,
  doing for, enabling, explaining, facilitating,
  giving, guiding, handing, improving, mentoring,
  ministering, offering, prescribing, recommending,
  showing, steering, supplying, supporting,
  teaching, telling

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How are they constructed?

• What type of rhetorical devices do they use? Do
  they illustrate persuasive communication, as
  articles introduction sections do (Golden-Biddle
  Locke, 2007)?

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We decided to explore implications for practice

• As much as possible, on their own terms
• To enter into their world, rather than simply
  cast aspersions on them from outside
• Theyre (potentially) very important, though
  often denigrated.

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This is a study in progress

• Its very exploratory..
• But based on the premises that
• Implications for practice enact relationships
• They do so using particular cultural patterns
  that are reflected in their rhetorical style
• And assumes that understanding this style may be
  particularly useful for appreciating their
  potential.

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a way to enter into the study

• Imagine a practitioner entering into the world
  of implications for practice
• as if entering into second life
• as Hildegard did a few days ago

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Hildegard enters second life
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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Welcome to the virtual lives of implications for
practice in five journals

• Academy of Management Journal
• Journal of Applied Psychology
• Journal of Organizational Behavior
• Organization Science
• Personnel Psychology

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Implications for practice
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Academy of Management Journal

• The mission of the Academy of Management Journal
  is to publish empirical research that tests,
  extends, or builds management theory and
  contributes to management practice (AMJ mission
  statement)

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Journal of Applied Psychology

• Publishes articles that are conducted in either
  the field or the laboratoryas long as the
  article enhances our understanding of behavior
  and practice when the research is brought into
  the field for application

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Journal of Organizational Behavior

• Began as a journal focused on the quality of
  worklife. We wanted the mixing of concept and
  empiricism, of theory and practice and of science
  and practice (Cooper, 2009, p. 5)
• Currently evaluates manuscripts in part on
  Practical implications Advances understanding
  of well-being and effectiveness in organizational
  settings

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Organization Science

• 1990 Organization Science is based on a
  philosophy that interesting work can be
  informed by the problems extant in organizations,
  and that theories can influence and be influenced
  by the practice of management (Daft Lewin, p.
  7)
• 2008 Reflecting back on the 16 years since
  launching OS, it has become clear to us that part
  of our original mission for OS was unrealistic
  We argue that OS should publish basic research
  that serves as a source of knowledge about
  organizations to diverse academic communities. OS
  has not been and should not strive to be an
  immediate source of knowledge for practical
  managerial applications (Daft Lewin, p. 177).

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Personnel Psychology

• Personnel Psychology publishes applied
  psychological research on personnel problems
  facing public and private sector organizations.
  Articles deal with all human resource topics

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We collected all the implications for practice
sections associated with empirical articles
during seven years.

• Before Don Hambricks (1994) What if the Academy
  mattered presidential speech
• 1992 1993
• Well after his speech, and during a time when AOM
  presidents were stressing collaboration
• 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

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We are addressing several questions related to
implications relationships and rhetorical style

• (a) Do academics communicate the implications of
  their research for practice?
• (b) To whom?
• (c) What do they recommend that practitioners
  do?
• (d) How do they talk?
• (e) Does Joe Reganato think the implications are
  helpful?
• (f) Does time period make a difference?
• (g) Does journal make a difference?

Usually not Usually it does
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What weve learned so far

• Number of empirical articles in each journal over
  the time period
• (total 1746)

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Number of empirical articles each of the years we
studied
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(a) Do academics communicate the implications of
their research for practice?

• 51
• of articles include implications for practice

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of articles listing implications for practice
each year

• Year
• 1992 35
• 1993 30
• 2003 51
• 2004 52
• 2005 56
• 2006 56
• 2007 70

P lt .001 major differences are between the 1990s
and 2000s
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of articles in each journal listing
implications for practice

• Journal
• AMJ 47
• JAP 50
• JOB 54
• Org Science 46
• PPsych 51

P lt .001 major differences are between JOB and
AMJ/Org Science
33
of articles with implications for practice by
journal by decade
Ps. A three-way log linear analysis is significant
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(b)To whom are implications addressed?

• Just about everyone
• More than 60 different categories of individuals
  and/or groups or other entities have at least one
  implication for practice addressed to them

e.g. acquiring firms, affirmative action
officers, applicants, biodata test developers,
board members, change agents, Chinese policy
makers, decision-makers, department managers,
educational establishments, employment agencies,
ethics education, foreign multinationals,
government agencies, health care administrators,
hiring agencies, international joint ventures,
job analysts, key stakeholders, leaders, major
league baseball, negotiators, organizational
authorities, part-time professionals, ratees,
raters, service firms, team designers, units,
venture capitalists, website owners, world
outside the laboratory
35
But most frequently to
Managers (19 of articles) Organizations (18 of
articles)
36
managers
organizations
Implications for practice
37
(c) What do they recommend that practitioners do?

• There are four common types of recommendations
  for practice that we have explored.
• Increase awareness of some phenomena
• Training
• Design/structure
• Selection/hiring

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managers
organizations
Implications for practice
AWA Be More Aware AWA Conduct training AWA
Redesign/restructure AWA Select and hire
Academic writing article
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Be More Aware

• Appears in 30 of the articles with implications
  for practice
• Illustrative terms include attentive, cognizant,
  recognize, sensitive to, aware.

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Some illustrative excerpts

• Special attention should be paid to individuals
  with low Neuroticism who usually appear calm
  and capable of handling turbulence. This
  quiet group consists of those who may become
  extremely vulnerable to falling into the trap of
  throwing good money after bad. (Wong et al, JAP,
  2006
• Managers can alleviate the negative impact of
  breach of psychological contract by paying
  closer attention to employees' emotional states
  and putting out the "fire" before negative
  behaviors occur (Hao et al, PPsych 2007)

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Is awareness emphasized more in some journals
than others?

• Journal
• AMJ 37
• JAP 23
• JOB 36
• OS 34
• PPsych 27

P lt .004. The largest differences are between
AMJ and JAP
There is no difference in emphasis on awareness
by year
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Conduct training

• Training is discussed in 27 of articles with
  implications for practice

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Some illustrative excerpts

• Given that people in many occupations appear to
  seek out and persist in highly challenging jobs,
  organizations could implement training ,
  managerial support practices, and other programs
  that could effectively reduce the associated
  strain. (Podsakoff et al., JAP, 2007)
• At the team level, training and facilitation in
  negotiation and conflict resolution may be
  necessary (Ancona Caldwell, OS, 1992)
• To avoid costly absenteeism and possible
  turnover, we encourage firms toprovide high
  quality diversity training, by competent
  trainers, to eliminate potential sources of bias
  (Avery et al., PPsych, 2007)

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Is training emphasized more in some journals than
others?
(p. lt .001) In particular, its recommended less
in Org Science than the other journals

• Journal
• AMJ 23
• JAP 34
• JOB 25
• OS 10
• PPsych 35

Year doesnt make a difference in emphasis on
training
45
Redesign/restructure

• Structure and design are mentioned in 23 of the
  articles with implications for practice

46
Some illustrative excerpts

• Network orchestration as a competency entails
  managers simultaneously focusing on the macro
  logic of network structure and the micro logic
  of network processes (Venkatraman Lee, AMJ
  2004)
• Managers can also foster trust by crafting formal
  reporting requirements to increase and broaden
  communication ties (Ferrin et al, JAP, 2006)
• Increased on-the-job training coupled with a
  redesign of career development may also prevent
  the fear of losing ones competence by
  facilitating resource gain perspective (Neveu,
  JOB, 2007)

47
Is structure/design emphasized more in some
journals than others?
No significant differences over journals or years
48
Select and hire

• Selection and/or hiring is mentioned in 20 of
  the articles that include implications for
  practice

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Some illustrative excerpts

• In their employment selection procedures,
  managers may consider applicants levels of
  conscientiousness and extraversion, among other
  selection criteria, to improve customer service
  performance (Liao Chuang, AMJ, 2004)
• The framework may also suggest some ideas for
  selecting group members or composing groups,
  given that issues such as self-monitoring,
  similarity, and personal OCB norms play a role in
  the development of OCB norms in the group
  (Ehrhart Naumann, JAP 2004)

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Are selection and hiring emphasized more in some
journals than others?
(p. lt .001) Most emphasized in the journals
closest to I/O Psych, and least emphasized in Org
Science

• Journal
• AMJ 18
• JAP 25
• JOB 14
• OS 6
• PPsych 30

There are no significant differences by year in
emphasis on selection/hiring
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(d) How do authors talk to the intended
recipients of their messages?

• Tentatively
• In the language of shoulds
• Indicating contingencies
• At high reading levels

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managers
organizations
Implications for practice
AWA our results suggest the possibility that
you may want to / be more aware AWA You should
/ conduct training AWA Under some circumstances
/ you might want to redesign/restructure AWA
Select and hire / (said in very big words)
Academic writing article
53
tentatively

• 74 of the implications for practice include
  words/phrases such as may speculate,
  potentially

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Some illustrative examples

• Our article identifies the motivational
  mechanisms that may be involved (Meyer et al.,
  JAP, 2004)
• Managers may have little control over promises
  made by recruiters but they may be able to help
  employees make more realistic assessments of
  fulfillment (Ho Levesque, OS, 2005)
• It is possible that if the system had been
  explained better, or differently, pay
  satisfaction may not have declined to the extent
  that it did (Brown Huber, PP, 1992)

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Tentative speech by journal

• Journal
• AMJ 82
• JAP 74
• JOB 67
• OS 66
• PPsych 76

P lt .01 AMJ authors are much more tentative than
JOB and OS authors are
There were no significant differences over years
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X should

• The practitioner should do something is present
  in 55 of the articles with implications for
  practice.
• Terms used include should, must, need to

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Some illustrative examples

• Employees should focus more on reinterpreting a
  negative situation or focusing their thoughts on
  more positive experiences (Beal et al., JAP,
  2006)
• Because intervention activity affects parts of a
  work setting other than those changed directly by
  the intervention, practitioners must insure that
  the various work setting changes are congruent
  with each other (Robertson et al., AMJ, 1993).
• Leaders in healthcare organizations should focus
  sharply on developing a sophisticated and
  internally coherent HRM system that encourages
  high performance and commitment amongst employees
  (West et al., JOB, 2006)

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• Journal
• AMJ 58
• JAP 45
• JOB 64
• OS 62
• PPsych 58

P lt .001. JOB and OS authors are significantly
more likely to say you should than JAP authors
are There are no significant differences over
years
59
They describe contingencies and moderators

• Moderators/contingencies are discussed in 37 of
  the articles with implications for practice.
• Terms include on the other hand, weighed
  against, fine line, contingent on

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Some illustrative examples

• It is clear that programs intended to increase
  employee retention should be customized for an
  organizations own workforce. Retention programs
  that might work for one organization might not
  work for another (Donnelly Quirin, JOB, 2006)
• The results of this study suggest that third
  parties who are supervisors are likely to use
  both autocratic and mediational behaviors to
  resolve disputes. Third parties who are peers,
  on the other hand, generally refrain from using
  autocratic behaviors they rely instead on
  mediational behaviors (Karambayya et al., AMJ,
  1992).

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Contingencies by journal

• journal
• AMJ 43
• JAP 28
• JOB 42
• OS 37
• PPsych 49

P lt.001 PPsych authors are much more likely to
discuss contingencies than JAP authors are
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They require a lot of education to read

• Average required reading level 17th grade
  (first year of graduate school in US)

AMJ 18.69 JAP 16.40 JOB 17.76 OS 16.65 PPsy
ch 17.23
There are no significant differences across
journals or years.
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(e) Does Joe Reganato think the implications are
helpful?
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Joes criteria for what makes implications
practical

• I first searched for articles with examples, and
  found 249.
• I found some articles to be practical for
  managers based on the following criteria
• Clear and concise
• Incorporates concrete examples, often of real
  companies
• Addresses non-obvious findings such as managing
  across cultures
• Easy to implement
• Tied to business value (reputation, retention,
  employee turnover, employee satisfaction, cost
  savings, revenue growth, risk mitigation,
  recruitment, and increased productivity).

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• Reasons why I did not code implications as
  practical include
• Too general or too broad
• Had too many contingencies (too complicated)
• Esoteric language or terminology
• Mentioned problem, but did not adequately
  describe solution
• Raised more questions rather than providing
  guidance based on research.

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Practical Implications

• Based on Joes criteria, 5.5 of the articles
  have implications that are truly practical

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Some illustrative examples

• A more comprehensive dispute resolution
  should provide a means to address perceptions of
  mistreatment, regardless of whether employees
  want to pursue them formally. For example, a
  comprehensive system might include employee
  training on constructive reactions to perceived
  mistreatment and on seeking the guidance of
  employee assistance programs. A comprehensive
  system could also include several dispute
  resolution alternatives to an appeal process,
  such as mediation and use of an ombudsperson and
  systematic follow-up of the affected relations to
  ease recovery (Boswell, Olson-Buchanan, AMJ
  2004)

68

• A positive reputation and an internally
  consistent OI organizational identity can be
  realized simultaneously through a meld of
  substantive management and symbolic management
  Examples of the latter include developing a
  clear mission statement, relating stories and
  myths that embody and edify the 0I, crafting
  traditions and rituals that honor the
  organization's history and 0I, and championing
  individuals who exemplify the OI examples of the
  former include using the core values and beliefs
  in the mission statement as an active guide for
  decision making and practices, emphasizing
  product quality, institutionalizing high
  involvement practices (Kreiner Ashforth, 2004)

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Practicality
Neither year nor journal had a significant impact
on the practicality of the implications
70
Quite a few of the other indices are slightly
correlated with practicality

• Speaking to managers, ? .09, p lt.01
• Emphasizing increasing awareness, ? .09, p lt.01
• Recommendations related to structure and design,
  ? .07, p lt.04
• Saying that x should ? .08, p lt.02
• The use of moderators/contingencies, ? .07, p
  lt.04

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Clarity Real examples Easy to implement Tied to
business value
managers
organizations
Practicality
Implications for practice
AWA our results suggest the possibility that
you may want to / be more aware AWA You should
/ conduct training AWA Under some circumstances
/ you might want to redesign/restructure AWA
Select and hire /(said in very big words)
Academic writing article
72
Summary answers to the questions posed

• Do academics communicate the implications of
  their research for practice?
• Yes, about 1/2 of the time, and doing so has
  gone up dramatically since the 1990s
• To whom?
• To a wide variety of people, groups,
  organizations and larger entities particularly
  often to managers and organizations

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• (c) What do they recommend that practitioners
  do?
• Pay more attention, train, deal with structure,
  and select/hire carefully
• (d) How do they talk?
• Using tentative language, you should, using
  moderators and complicated sentence structures
• Does Joe think the implications are practical?
• The few of them that are clear, give real
  examples, are easy to implement, and tied to
  business value are practical

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The non-effects of time and the effects of
journals

• (f) Year of publication had almost no impacts on
  what was included. Although the percentage of
  articles with implications for practice has
  increased, it isnt clear that whats being
  suggested is very different from what was
  suggested in the early 90s.
• (g) Journals did have some impacts, suggesting
  that they represent some overlapping but also
  somewhat unique virtual worlds.

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Implications of the findings?

• Implications for practice contain their own
  rhetorical style, and it is possible to
  understand some of this styles dimensions
• The dimensions include who is addressed, what it
  is recommended that they do, and how the
  recommendations are given
• There are implicit, and sometimes explicit,
  relationships being enacted

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• The rhetorical style that characterizes
  implications for practice across a range of
  journals suggests that implications for practice
  sections of articles are located within a
  particular kind of virtual world.
• This world may be alien to outsiders who dont
  (initially) know the rules and dont usually
  share the language

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Remember Hildegard, clueless in Berlin?
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Coming back to the Kieser Liener critique

• Are implications for practice basically useless?
• No.
• (at least not all of them)
• (and Joes criteria suggest ways that many more
  implications for practice can be more practical)

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Is there more to implications for practice than
appears on the surface?

• Much more there are apparent rules for
  discourse that are often followed.
• There are multiple relationships that are more or
  less explicit.
• (and, of course, may not be known at all by
  those to whom the implications are addressed)
• There appear to be some areas of organizational
  life that are particularly salient to authors of
  scholarly management articles.

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Will Hildegard ever find her way around Berlin?

• Probably not. But shes starting to feel at
  home there anyway. And maybe theres something
  to staying with the journey.