Aleksandra Rudawska

ABSTRACT This research paper examines relation between organizational learning capability and firm performance taking into consideration ten dimensions of learning capability on three learning levels that were identified basing on 41 organizational learning framework. The survey was conducted on the sample of 92 medium and large manufacturing firms in Westpomeranian region in Poland. The results suggest that firms with above-average performance have greater learning capabilities in four dimensions. These firms create better organizational learning environment on every learning level then their lower performance counterparts, and this may have important implications for developing conditions enhancing learning in Polish companies.

PurposeThe contemporary world's pressure, oriented on flexibility and quick actions, has permanently changed work characteristics. Taking the employees' perspective into account, it seems important to identify whether and which of the employees' individual resources help them cope with those job demands. Therefore, the main research question is what is the relation between holistically conceptualised employees' individual resources and perceived work overload?Design/methodology/approachBased on the literature on individual resources and job demands, the authors test for relations between three components of individual resources (physical, emotional, spiritual potentials) and job characteristics (work variability and work diversity) and the perceived work overload. Data were collected using a survey method amongst 336 Polish knowledge workers.FindingsThe results partially supported the posed hypotheses. Both work variability and work diversity relate positively to wor...

ABSTRACT Współcześnie praca zespołowa stanowi użyteczną metodę, za pomocą której realizowane są cele w różnych obszarach ludzkiego działania, np. w biznesie, nauce, sporcie, polityce. Z analizy potrzeb obecnego rynku pracy wynika, że umiejętność pracy w zespole jest kompetencją pożądaną przez pracodawców, a nawet wymaganą na wielu stanowiskach. Efektywność pracownika jako członka zespołu zależy od jego postawy względem pracy zespołowej oraz stopnia opanowania istotnych umiejętności. Celem artykułu jest identyfikacja postaw studentów względem pracy zespołowej oraz identyfikacja obszarów, w których należy doskonalić ich umiejętności zespołowe. Zostały w nim zaprezentowane wyniki badania dotyczącego postaw studentów wobec pracy zespołowej oraz oceny efektywności ich działań jako członków zespołu. [An analysis of contemporary labour market indicates that teamwork skills are among the competences most desired by employers. Therefore, students, future employees, should develop and improve their teamwork skills. The authors argue that team member effectiveness depends, among other things, on the teamwork attitudes. The paper’s aim is to identify students’ attitude towards teamwork as well as to characterize the needs for the improvement of students’ teamwork skills. The results of a survey among 108 students of master degree are presented. The survey inquired several teamwork issues among students in three areas: students’ understanding of a teamwork concept, their attitudes towards teamwork and assessment of team member effectiveness with the usage of CATME instrument. The results show that students are not convinced of positive teamwork effects and they rather prefer to work individually. The analysis of their effectiveness as team members indicates that their communication skills, specialized knowledge and competences needed for project tasks are on a quite satisfactory level. However, three other dimensions of effective teamwork behaviour require improvement, i.e. task controlling and keeping team on track, expecting quality of teamwork and contributing to the team’s work. Finally, basing on the literature review, the authors propose several hints on how the students’ team projects should be pursued by academic teachers.]

Dzielenie sie wiedzą przez pracownikow jest jednym z wazniejszych procesow zachodzących w organizacjach. Literatura z zakresu zarządzania wiedzą doradza, by wdrozyc system nagrod doceniający przekazywanie i szukanie wiedzy. Celem artykulu jest analiza wplywu systemu nagrod na dzielenie sie wiedzą przez pracownikow. W artykule zastosowano metodyke systematycznego przeglądu literatury, koncentrując sie na literaturze światowej.

The flow of knowledge between employees contributes to the knowledge development which in turn influences individual and organizational creativity. However, knowledge sharing by employees is not a simplistic and homogeneous behaviour. Basing on the literature review in the area of intraorganizational knowledge sharing and creativity, the author aims to explain the relation between giving knowledge and individual (giver) creativity and organizational creativity. The knowledge sharing is analysed from the knowledge giver perspective. Author has distinguished two forms of knowledge giving—proactive and reactive—that are situation depended. This conceptual article indicates that proactive and reactive knowledge sharing relates differently with creativity and that sharing knowledge with others is not always positive to the giver’s creativity, while it is influential for organizational creativity. The theoretical deliberations are summarized in nine propositions. They indicate that managers need to take into account the likelihood of individual creativity loss as a cost of reactive knowledge sharing; otherwise, the quality of sharing could be harmed by knowledge manipulation by the sharer, with a negative influence on organizational creativity.

W warunkach dynamicznych zmian otoczenia organizacje poszukują różnych sposobów na zdobycie przewagi konkurencyjnej – od optymalnego dopasowania do zmian w otoczeniu po celowe kreowanie niedopasowania. Każda z tych opcji niesie określone konsekwencje, widoczne zarówno w postawach i zachowaniach pracowników oraz ich indywidualnych wynikach, jak też w wynikach finansowych i rynkowych zatrudniających ich organizacji. W opracowaniu dokonano analizy przyczyn i konsekwencji niedopasowania organizacyjnego. Podstawę prezentowanych rozważań stanowią studia literatury przedmiotu oraz wyniki badań empirycznych.

Knowledge sharing by employees within organizations has captured researchers and manager’s attention for more than a decade, as it is the base of organizational knowledge flow. But the sharing of knowledge itself is a very complex issue and it can be stated that research results on the knowledge sharing antecedences are not always consistent. Therefore, knowledge sharing among employees should be studied as a diversified activity, trying first to classify types of individual knowledge sharing mechanisms. In the paper the author’s aim is the identification of which mechanisms of knowledge sharing among employees can be found in the exploitative organizational setting, and whether there are differences within one department. A case study was undertaken in the Polish subsidiary of MNC. The results suggest that in the quality assurance department there is a wide portfolio of knowledge sharing mechanisms with the advantage of knowledge retrieval and that different mechanisms can be found...

The long-term success of the firm depends on organizational balance between continuity and change (e.g. Tushman and O’Reilly, 1996; Brown and Eisenhardt, 1997), while the increasing market pressure engendered both by clients, competitors or other actors in the value chain, causes repeatedly that firms are in accelerating pace of changes striving for performance improvement (Rumbles and Rees, 2013). The successfully implemented changes can also initiate the further ones, since the success evokes in managers optimism and higher risk in taking attitude (Gino and Pisano, 2011). They are eager to introduce new modifications and innovations in order to learn and adapt faster than the competition. This pace, among other things, causes minimalisation of relative stability periods (for resources reconstruction) and scarcity of time for preparing implementation of new changes. One of the negative consequences of this state is the organizational burnout (Probst and Raich, 2005; Bruch and Menge...