ABSTRACTS
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Organisational Fit
Edwards, J.A. and Billsberry, J. (in press) Testing a multidimensional theory of person-environment fit. Journal of Managerial Issues.
The current study examines the validity of a multidimensional Person-Environment (PE) fit model proposed by Jansen and Kristof-Brown (2006). The overall aim of the paper is to test the model’s factor structure and influences upon outcome measures. A panel of organizational employees from a wide range of companies and locations were asked to complete a survey (n = 1,875) measuring five discrete dimensions of perceptual PE fit (Person-Organization, Person-People, Person-Job, Person-Group, and Person-Vocation) and three outcomes (organizational commitment, intention to leave, and job satisfaction). The first sequence of analysis tested the proposed model using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) statistical approaches. Model comparisons showed that Jansen and Kristof-Brown’s (2006) original model in which the five dimensions of fit coalesce into a multidimensional construct was a poor fit with the data, but that a model in which the five dimensions of fit operate independently fit the data well. The second sequence of analysis found that the model without the multidimensional construct strongly predicted the outcomes of commitment, job satisfaction, and intention to leave. This paper discusses the implication of this research in relation to the PE fit literature.
Coldwell, D.A.L., Billsberry, J., van Meurs, N. and Marsh, P.J.G. (2008) The effects of person-organization ethical fit on employee attraction and retention: Towards a testable explanatory model. Journal of Business Ethics, 78 (4), 611-622.
An exploratory model is presented as a heuristic to indicate how individual perceptions of corporate reputation (before joining) and corporate ethical values (after joining) generate specific individual organizational senses of fit. The paper suggests that an ethical dimension of person-organization fit may go some way in explaining superior acquisition and retention of staff by those who are attracted to specific organizations by levels of corporate social performance consonant with their ethical expectations, or who remain with them by virtue of better personal ethical fits with extant organizational ethical values. Specifically, the model suggests that individual misfits that arise from ethical expectations that either exceed or fall short of perceived organizational ethical performances lead to problematic acquisition and retention behavioural outcomes.
Billsberry, J. (2007) Attracting for values: An empirical study of ASA’s attraction proposition. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 22 (2), 132-149.
Purpose – This paper seeks to report an empirical test of Schneider’s attraction proposition that organizations attract similar types of people.
Design/methodology/approach – The person-people (PP), person-group (PG) and person-organization (PO) fit of applicants to eight utility firms were compared with the similar fits of members of a suitable comparison group.
Findings – The results show an effect for person-vocation (PV) fit but, once this is controlled for, all significant effects disappear. In other words, the PP, PG and PO fits of applicants to the utilities were no different from those in the comparison group once PV fit was controlled for.
Research limitations/implications – These results suggest that applicants choose which organization to apply to based on their desire for a particular type of work rather than their attraction for particular companies, which is contrary to Schneider’s attraction proposition. One reason for this might be the nature of graduates who are largely unaware of the organizational environments to which they are applying. Drawing from the interpersonal attraction literature, it is argued that applicants need familiarity, proximity and exposure to the organization for Schneider’s attraction proposition to appear.
Practical implications – These results suggest graduates choose vocations over organizations and that, if organizations wish to attract people who share their values, they need to put more effort into their recruitment efforts than those described in this study. The absence of an attraction effect suggests that, when applicants make attraction decisions based on their perceived fit, they may not be supported by an actual congruence.
Originality/value – This study extends previous work by including multiple conceptualizations of fit, by including person-group and person-people fits in addition to person-organization fit.
Talbot, D., Billsberry, J. and Marsh, P.J.G. (2007) An exploratory study into the construction of employee fit and misfit. Paper presented at the British Academy of Management annual conference, Warwick.
Although there have been many studies looking at what makes people fit in organisations, there has been little research to ascertain what causes people to become misfits. This paper outlines a preliminary study using in-depth interviews and causal mapping to identify the antecedents of both fit and misfit to ascertain whether these states are two ends of a continuum or whether they are in fact different constructs. The findings suggest that these constructs are categorical, as they are caused by different factors and impetuses and employees seem to step rather than slip from one state to another. Additionally, the study found that misfit appears to be caused by chains of events, the majority of which are managerially influenced, and where this causes negative psychological states in individuals, feelings of misfit ensue.
Billsberry, J., Ambrosini, V., Moss-Jones, J. and Marsh, P.J.G. (2005) Some suggestions for mapping organizational members’ sense of fit. Journal of Business and Psychology, 19 (4), 555-570.
Despite its importance in the organizational behavior literature, person–organization (P–O) fit remains an elusive construct. One reason for this is the lack of research about organizational members’ own sense of their P–O fit. In this paper we discuss the criteria required of suitable research tools to explore this domain. Drawing on arguments from the cognition literature, we argue that storytelling and causal mapping techniques are suitable for exploring organizational members’ sense of fit. We conclude with a short example of the method in action and a discussion of some of the practical issues that researchers will face.
Billsberry, J., Ambrosini, V., Marsh, P.J.G., Moss-Jones, J. and van Meurs, N. (2005) Towards a composite map of organisational person–environment fit. Paper presented at the British Academy of Management annual conference, Oxford.
This paper explores the concept of person–organisation fit to extend the existing literature by revealing organisational members’ sense of fit. This was achieved by using causal mapping and storytelling. These techniques provoked individuals to describe the factors relating to their sense of fit and their causal attributions of these factors utilising specific examples and explanatory narratives. One outcome of this study is the generation of a composite map of factors influencing people’s fit which represents a substantial development of our understanding of how different forms of person–environment fit combine. The findings of the study suggest that respondents’ sense of fit is influenced by five main factors: job, people, organisation, employment and work/life balance. A further thirteen sub-dimensions relating to these factors are also outlined in the paper. The importance of fit and misfit as independent variables in the explanation of specific work-related behavioural outcomes are discussed.
Billsberry, J. (2004) Selecting for fit: A direct test of Schneider’s selection proposition. Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA.
This paper reports an empirical test of Schneider’s (1987) selection proposition that organizations select people who share the organization’s values. The values of 412 applicants to nine utility companies in the United Kingdom were captured and their fit to (1) the values of the organization as viewed by members of the Top Team (P–OV fit), (2) the values of the recruiting departments as viewed by employees within those departments (P– DV fit), and (3) the values of people working in those recruiting departments (P–P fit) was calculated. The results show that selection outcomes are positively associated with P–P fit, negatively associated with P–DV fit, and not associated at all with P–OV fit. Selection effects for fit were small and only present when there was some form of face-to-face contact between applicants and selectors. At the end of the paper, a conclusion discusses the implications of these findings for the fit literature in general and Schneider’s selection proposition in particular. Some managerial implications are also considered.
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Management Education
Billsberry, J. and Birnik, A. (2010) Management as a contextual practice: The need to balance science, skills and practical wisdom. Organization Management Journal, 7 (2), 171-178.
This paper contributes to the debate regarding whether or not management is, or should become, a profession. Using the principles of dialectic logic, arguments for the thesis that management is a profession and the antithesis that management is more akin to an art or a craft are critically reviewed. Aristotle's intellectual virtues episteme (science), techne (skills) and phronesis (practical wisdom) are introduced as a synthesis to this debate. Rather than characterizing management as a profession, it is argued that management is a contextual practice that requires a blend of all three intellectual virtues.
Billsberry, J. (2009) The social construction of leadership education. Journal of Leadership Education, 8 (2), 1-9.
Most leadership theories assume that leadership is a quality of leaders (e.g., trait theory), or a response to environments (e.g., situational theory), or a combination of both (e.g., contingency theory). In all these approaches leadership is something knowable and definite. However, after years of research there is no agreed definition of what leadership is or any universal agreement about who might be regarded a leader. This paper outlines an alternative approach in which leadership is a contested construct and describes two engaging teaching techniques that align pedagogic approach with the underlying theory. In doing so this paper makes a case for the adoption of socially-constructed theories in leadership education.
Ambrosini, V., Billsberry, J. and Collier, N. (2009) Teaching soft issues in strategic management with films: Arguments and suggestions. International Journal of Management Education, 8 (1), 63-72.
Strategic matters are extraordinarily complex and involve many different and interlinked processes and influences. This makes the subject difficult for students lacking managerial experience as they are unaware of the intricacy of the problems being discussed. Strategy requires not just a theoretical understanding of the subject, but also a practical feel for business and organisation. We argue that films can help the instructor because they offer elaborate multidimensional and multi-layered contexts which mirror the reality of business. Moreover, their powerful narratives aid the retention of ideas and encourage engagement with issues. To illustrate the appropriateness of films in teaching strategic management, we review the strategy curriculum, highlight some of the teaching difficulties and show how using films could help students’ learning.
Billsberry, J. (2009) The embedded academic: A management academic discovers management. Transformative Dialogues: Teaching and Learning Journal, 2 (3), 1-9.
In this autobiographical essay, I reflect on three years living a double life as both a management academic and a manager of a department. In particular, I think about the relevance of my own course material to doing a managerial job. Much to my amazement, I found that I rarely used management theory and instead it was my training as an academic that was most helpful to me as a manager. In the concluding section, I consider how I intend to change my management teaching to make it more relevant and useful for prospective and current managers.
Billsberry, J. and Edwards, G. (2008) Toxic celluloid: Representations of bad leadership on film and implications for leadership development. Organisations and People, 15 (3), 104-110.
The notion of toxic leadership can dichotomise the discussion of leadership into images of good and bad leaders. In doing so, it can mask the complexity of toxic leadership and promote simplistic leadership analysis. To avoid this trap in a developmental environment, we advocate the use of feature films as these can be selected to show a more subtle and complex picture of toxicity. Keeping the development practitioner’s perspective in mind, this paper identifies and critically reviews seven cinematic examples of toxic leadership; the goal being to provide a set of examples that practitioners can use in developmental settings. Seven films have been chosen to illustrate each one of Kellerman’s (2004) seven dimensions of ‘bad’ leadership: Incompetence (Path to War), rigidity (The Bounty), intemperance (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan), callousness (Swimming with Sharks), corruptness (The Smartest Guys in the Room), insularity (Erin Brockovich) and evilness (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire). These films are individually described using Walton’s (2007) ACE framework bringing out the interplay between the actors, the context and the environment in shaping toxic leadership. The paper ends with some suggestions for how these films might be used in a developmental setting.
Billsberry, J. and Gilbert, L.H. (2008) Using Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to teach different recruitment and selection paradigms. Journal of Management Education, 32 (2), 228-247.
This article makes a case for using Roald Dahl’s children’s fantasy and morality tale Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to teach recruitment and selection. It draws attention to its relevance in illustrating and explaining three different recruitment and selection paradigms: psychometric, social process, and fit. It argues that the use of this fantasy is particularly useful because its unusual nature causes students to approach the analogy in a critical fashion. Moreover, it offers a compelling approach that will stay long in students’ memories. The article begins with a discussion of different recruitment and selection paradigms, which is followed by a critical explanation of how the plotlines in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory map onto these paradigms. The article ends with specific guidance to recruitment and selection teachers on different ways of using the 2005 film version of the story in the management classroom.
Birnik, A. and Billsberry, J. (2008) Re-orienting the business school agenda: The case for relevance, rigor and righteousness. Journal of Business Ethics, 82 (4), 985-999.
This paper contributes to the debate regarding whether or not management is, or should become, a profession. Using the principles of dialectic logic, arguments for the thesis that management is a profession and the antithesis that management is more akin to an art or a craft are critically reviewed. Aristotle’s intellectual virtues episteme (science), techne (skills) and phronesis (practical wisdom) are introduced as a synthesis to this debate. Rather than characterizing management as a profession, it is argued that management is a contextual practice that requires a blend of all three intellectual virtues.
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Other
van Ameijde, J.D.J., Nelson, P.C., Billsberry, J. and van Meurs, N. (2009) Improving leadership in higher education institutions: A distributed perspective. Higher Education, 58 (6), 763-779.
This paper reports on a qualitative study exploring how distributed patterns of leadership manifest themselves in project teams within a Higher Education institution. The emphasis is on both the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of distributed leadership, thus providing an account of the nature of distributed leadership in Higher Education and the factors which were found to enhance and inhibit its occurrence and effectiveness. The findings are presented in a model of distributed leadership which seeks to provide an integrative account and a framework for further study. The conclusions focus on both the theoretical implications for the study of distributed leadership and the practical implications for HE institutions wishing to promote effective leadership.
Wilks, L.J. and Billsberry, J. (2007) Should we do away with teleworking? An examination of whether teleworking can be defined in the new world of work. New Technology, Work and Employment, 22 (2), 168-177.
This empirical paper analyses data gathered from selfemployed teleworkers, matching this against teleworking’s defining characteristics, which appear in the literature. Our evaluation leads us to question whether the term ‘teleworking’ has lost much of its value in today’s working world. We therefore suggest the new term ‘home-anchored worker’ as a less complex and more useful replacement.
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