Paradox Mindset: A Multilevel Framework

This study investigates how multiple simultaneously pursued conflicting goals impact the levels of exploration and exploitation behaviour of the employees. Multiple goal theory is silent on predicting the outcomes of multiple goal conflicts on individuals exploration and exploitation behaviour when more than two goals are followed concurrently through different hierarchical levels in large firms. We use a multilevel survey to examine the relationship between four different operational goals (safety, availability, environment, innovation) that employees have to persecute coinstantaneous and the individuals innovative behaviour in a large energy company. Theories of paradox mindset and top management team alignment were included to moderate the relationships at individual level and team level. We found that goal conflicts negatively impact employees exploitation behaviour and that paradox mindset reduces goal conflicts on exploration behaviour. We extend current theories on multiple goals by showing how multiple goal conflicts shape individuals innovative behaviour under different organizational levels. In addition, theory on employees antecedents for individuals exploration and exploitation behaviour is also advanced by illustrating new insights by goal setting considerations.

Purpose This study aims to investigate the impact of tenure, performance evaluations and gender of sales leaders at the director (Level 3) and manager (Level 2) levels on sales agent performance. Anchored in the upper echelons theory, the study explores how these leadership interactions, particularly tenure and performance, shape sales outcomes based on empirical findings. By examining cross-level interactions, the study provides a nuanced understanding of leadership effectiveness in sales organizations. This research contributes to the broader discourse on optimizing leadership strategies, emphasizing the importance of tenure, performance and demographic factors in driving organizational success. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a multi-level modeling approach to examine data from an 18-month period at a Fortune 100 financial services company. The sample comprises 605 participants and 7,692 interactions, enabling a thorough investigation of how leader characteristics impact sales agent performance. Multi-level modeling is well-suited to this research, as it accommodates the hierarchical nature of the data and facilitates the examination of interactions between leader gender, tenure, performance ratings and sales outcomes. This methodological approach yields robust insights into the relationships among these variables across different organizational levels. Findings These findings highlight the nuanced impact of leadership characteristics across organizational levels. At the manager (Level 2) tier, leader performance is the key driver of sales agent outcomes, while tenure exhibits conditional effects moderated by director (Level 3) attributes. At the director tier, tenure negatively impacts agent performance but enhances the benefits of managerial experience through cross-level interactions. Gender influences outcomes at the director level but plays a minimal moderating role overall. These results emphasize the importance of leadership effectiveness, tenure dynamics and cross-level interactions in optimizing sales performance within organizational hierarchies. Practical implications The findings offer actionable insights for optimizing sales leadership. Managerial performance is crucial for driving agent outcomes, emphasizing the need for targeted leadership development and performance management programs at the Level 2 tier. At the director (Level 3) level, tenure and performance interactions highlight the importance of balancing experience with adaptability in leadership roles. While gender has limited moderating effects, promoting diversity at higher leadership levels remains valuable for fostering inclusivity. Organizations should focus on developing leadership strategies that address cross-level interactions, ensuring alignment between director and manager roles to enhance overall sales team performance. Originality/value This study significantly extends the upper echelons theory to the sales domain, offering fresh insights into the impact of gender diversity in leadership across organizational levels. It addresses a major gap in the literature by examining how leader gender and performance ratings jointly influence sales outcomes within a multi-level framework. By exploring these intricate dynamics, the research enhances understanding of how gender, tenure and performance intersect in sales organizations. The results are relevant for organizations that strengthen leadership diversity and improve sales performance through informed talent management strategies.

Pervasive and multi-level paradoxical tensions continue to impact many organisations and the individuals who work there. Despite burgeoning literature that has explored paradoxes in general, the existing research into paradoxical thinking (PxT) as an effective response to paradoxical tensions has been fragmented and lacking an overarching framework. This thesis examined several dimensions of PxT, with the aim of better understanding how PxT unfolds. Contributions include a novel conceptualisation of multilevel PxT and how it unfolds within and between individuals, collective and organisational levels, as well as over time.

PurposeThis study aims to investigate supply network (SN) resilience capabilities across the organizational, supply chain (SC) and industry levels by drawing on the complex adaptive systems (CASs) theory and the social–ecological perspective of resilience. An empirically grounded framework operationalizes the concept of social–ecological resilience by expounding resilience capabilities across phases of the CAS adaptive cycle.Design/methodology/approachThis research uses a qualitative multiple case study approach. It draws on the case of the Australian Defence Manufacturing SN (ADM SN) during COVID-19 disruptions. A total of 28 interviews with senior decision makers from 17 companies, complemented by 5 interviews with the Australian Defence SC organizations and secondary data analysis, support the findings.FindingsIndividual organizations’ SC visibility and flexibility enabled by effective risk management and collaboration enhance the ability of the SN to anticipate and prepare for disruption. At the same time, the strength of SC relationships reduces resilience. SN disruption response velocity is enabled by inventory redundancy, process flexibility at the organizational level and visibility and collaboration at the SC level. Institutional support at the national industry level, development of value-adding capabilities and manufacturing process flexibility at the organizational level enhances the SN’s ability to re-organize. The transition from hierarchical to decentralized collaborative governance enhances SN resilience.Practical implicationsFrom a practitioner’s perspective, the findings highlight the need to embrace a broader view of SC beyond immediate tiers. Decision-makers in multinational companies must recognize the long-term impact of their procurement decisions on the supplier ecosystem. Developing local supplier capabilities rather than relying on established global SCs will pay off with future resilience. It, however, demands substantial investment and radical changes across all SC tiers. The lesson for smaller firms is not to over-rely on the existing relationships with supply partners. Although trust-based relationships and collaboration are essential, over-commitment can be counterproductive during global disruptions. With a lack of visibility and control over the SC, operational flexibility is critical for small firms to adapt to shifts in supply and demand.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this empirical research is one of the first attempts to operationalize the social–ecological perspective of SN resilience. Evidence-based theoretical propositions contribute to the emerging conversation about the CAS nature of resilience by demonstrating the multi-level effects of resilience capabilities.

BackgroundAttracted by the expected benefits such as reduced absenteeism and increased productivity, more and more firms decide to implement workplace health promotion programs (WHPPs). However, those programs can only be effective if employees actually participate. This study aims to (1) gain insight into the degree of enrolment rates in such programs across companies and (2) identify organizational level factors that are associated with employee participation. Building on existing theory on organizational drivers of participation in corporate wellness programs, the study’s main goal is to investigate which organizational factors determine whether employees enroll in a corporate fitness program or not.MethodsA business-to-business fitness platform company provided organizational level data on 61 client firms that have recently implemented a corporate wellness program. The data contained information on the enrolment rate per company and different organizational level variables. The following potential determinants of participation were analyzed: firm size, organizational program support and employee co-payment. A random effects model was used to examine associations between potential determinants and the program enrolment rate.ResultsThe average participation is limited (15.37%) but varies highly across companies (range 0.07–100.00%, monthly basis). Looking at the determinants of program enrolment, we find that organizational program support – the degree to which firm leadership encourages participation – positively influences the enrolment rate (β = 0.051 p < 0.001) while employee co-payment – the financial contribution employees have to make to participate – has a negative impact (β = − 0.002, p < 0.001). Furthermore, firm size has a negative relationship with firm enrolment.ConclusionsEnrolment rates in WHPPs are limited, as many companies have difficulties to promote participation in WHPPs among employees. Strong organizational program support and low employee co-payment were identified as drivers of employee participation in corporate health programs. Hence, intensifying both social and financial support of employee participation may help to drive enrolment rates. Firm size was found to negatively affect the enrolment rate in WHPPs, implying that larger firms have to account for their size and corresponding complexity when implementing such a program.

Innovative strategies set a company apart from its competitors. Lindsay and Hopkins (2010) said strategy is making the most of a current situation and devising a plan for the future. Likewise, if banks and other financial organizations want to enhance their brands, reduce costs, increase customer satisfaction, boost innovation, increase revenue, and maintain their competitive positions, they need to embrace social media. Social networks are used by marketers to connect and communicate with customers (Mangold &amp; Faulds, 2009). Organizations must be receptive and flexible to remain relevant in the business environment (Bouckenooghe, Devos, &amp; Van den Broeck, 2009). The environment outside of an organization is constantly changing (Burnes, 2004). Banks and financial organizations must decide how they will respond to social media as a disruptive innovation. This non-empirical paper will discuss financial organizations and the competition they are facing. It will discuss how the financial organizations competitors are using social media and other innovative technologies. It will discuss the influence of social media in the financial services industry and how financial organizations are using social media. It will also explain how and why the financial services industry can use social media to market products and services and build brand awareness. Finally, it will also discuss how financial services organizations can use social media to reach out to employees, develop interpersonal social networks, and build effective relationships as part of a successful Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) program. Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) said that social media allow firms to engage in timely and direct end-consumer contact at relatively low cost and higher levels of efficiency than can be achieved with more traditional communication tools. Social media is on the top of the agenda for many executives. Decision makers, as well as consultants, try to identify ways firms can make profitable uses of applications such as Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook, Second Life, and Twitter. Yet despite this interest, there seems to be very limited understanding of the term social media. Mangold and Faulds (2009) found that the tools and strategies for communicating with customers have changed significantly with the emergence of social media. Therefore, when developing and executing integrated marketing communications strategies, marketing managers should include social media in the marketing mix (Mangold &amp; Faulds, 2009). According to Farshid, Plangger, and Nel (2011, p.220): Social media has changed the way both organizations and their brands interact with customers, as well as the way in which business gets done. The emergence of the phenomenon known as Internet-based social media has made it possible for individuals to communicate with thousands of others about companies' products, services and brands. Organizations use social media not only to reach existing customers and capture new ones, but also to become part of their customers' conversations to build or maintain their brands’ credibility and reputation. When facing disruptive innovations, organizations must be receptive and open to change. In times of change, people are not motivated to change unless there are compelling reasons to do so. Bouckenooghe, Devos, and Van den Broeck (2009, p. 59) said that “a key issue in managing and planning change is creating a basis that supports change.” Therefore, when facing disruptive innovations, organizational success may be related to the internal circumstances under which change occurs, the process of how change is dealt with, and the level of readiness for change in understanding the processes that lead to successful change implementation The pace of change in the use of social media is increasing and can be generated from both internal and external forces (Burnes, 2004; Kotter, 1995; Luecke, 2003). In developing a social media strategy, organizations must be and flexible in order to remain relevant in the business environment (Bouckenooghe et al., 2009).

This article explores how authentic leaders enable learning in organizations through the mechanism of dialogue. Using Crossan et al.'s multi-level framework, we examine how top managers who exhibit the authentic leadership capabilities of self-awareness, balanced processing, self-regulation and relational transparency can shape an organizational culture characterized by authentic dialogue. This culture then supports feed-forward and feedback learning across individual, group and organizational levels, promoting and reinforcing double-loop learning. We develop propositions that integrate the leadership and organizational learning literatures and offer suggestions for future research.

tional stress researchers may investigate individual factors related to stress and well-being (e.g. personality, work-life balance, emotions, coping skills, etc.); job and organizational factors (e.g., work hours and schedules, role overload/underload/ambiguity, emotional labour, job insecurity, organizational climate); and even societal and national factors (e.g. cultural values; social, economic and environmental indicators). Yet, all too often, these variables are all measured at a single level, usually at the individual level. Thus, while we acknowledge that individual, group, organizational and even cultural variables are theoretically necessary to understand and predict stress outcomes, we rarely measure these variables at their appropriate level. The purpose of this editorial is to encourage researchers to take a multilevel approach to considering the relationships between occupational stress and wellbeing. This entails intentionally refl ecting on the individual, job, organizational and macroeconomic antecedents of employee stress. Such a multilevel framework can be fruitful not only for understanding the stress-strain process, but also crucial in developing and conceptualizing stress interventions. Thus, a multilevel approach can enhance both our theoretical and empirical understanding of occupational stress as well as the practical implications stemming from our research. Using a multi-level modelling (MLM) approach means explicitly taking into account the often hierarchical nature of our data structure (e.g. individuals working in groups, students in classrooms, children in families). Such a hierarchical dataset has traditionally posed three problems within an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression approach: (1) the units of analysis problem; (2) the violation of independent observations assumption problem; and (3) the heterogeneity of slopes problem. Let us consider each in turn. Most behavioural science models of stress acknowledge that a complete understanding of the structure and process of stress invariably requires a consideration of individual, group and environmental/situational characteristics (Sulsky & Smith, 2005). Such models originally arose from an awareness that purely biological models of stress fail to reliably predict which potential stressors will be perceived as stressful and how this process is infl uenced by personal and contextual factors. For example, the cognitive-transactional model of stress (Lazarus & Launier, 1978) posits that there are few, if any, universal stressors. Rather, the perception of and reactions to a potential stressor will vary within and across individuals and may differ over occasions and time. Whether the potential stressor is perceived to be stressful, therefore, intimately depends on characteristics of the individual (e.g. needs, abilities, personality) and the situation (e.g. demands, resources). As a result, most contemporary models of stress include some variation of a person-environment (P-E) fi t perspective [e.g. Karasek’s (1979) demands-control model; Hobfall’s (1989) Conservation of Resources theory; French and colleagues’ P-E fi t model, (French, Caplan, & Van Harrison, 1982, Van Harrison, 1978)]. Despite the fact that our models of stress explicitly consider individual and contextual factors, researchers often do not appropriately model these environmental and individual factors either in their research design, data collection or subsequent analyses. Thus, organiza-

BackgroundLung cancer, a highly lethal malignant disease, requires timely and accurate differentiation between benign and malignant pulmonary nodules (PNs) to enable early intervention and improved prognosis. Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is a multimodal imaging technique that integrates metabolic information with anatomical details, playing a crucial role in tumor diagnosis. This study aimed to develop a multimodal fusion-based classification model for the automated diagnosis of PNs, ultimately supporting clinical decision-making.MethodsWe propose a novel multi-level cross-modal fusion classification framework, of which the core architecture comprises: (I) a dual-path densely connected network for hierarchically extracting modality-specific features; and (II) a multi-level cross-modal interaction mechanism to facilitate complementary feature fusion. This end-to-end framework performs a comprehensive diagnostic categorization of PNs, effectively distinguishing between benign and malignant cases, thereby enhancing the efficiency and accuracy of clinical decision-making.ResultsThe proposed model was evaluated on a real-world clinical dataset. The experimental results demonstrate that it achieved an accuracy of 0.7778, a precision of 0.7590, a recall of 0.7968, and an F1 score of 0.7725.ConclusionsThe proposed model outperforms state-of-the-art baselines, validating the effectiveness of its feature extraction and multi-level cross-modal interaction strategy. These findings highlight the potential of the proposed model as a robust and reliable tool in clinical settings, capable of supporting intelligent, automated diagnosis of PNs.

Applying multilevel structural equation modeling to energy-saving behavior: The interaction of individual- and city-level factors

The role of organisational motivation and coordination in continuous improvement implementations: an empirical research of process improvement project success

As a potentially very powerful business strategy that can deliver significant economic benefits for organisations, the subject of CRM has attracted growing attention throughout the 1990s to date. There has, however, been increasing criticism recently of the approach, because it does not appear to be delivering the expected results in practice. The concept of relationship marketing has also been criticised for being difficult to implement in practice, with many organisations failing to implement the approach according to the advocated principles. Based on data collected from financial services organisations in Surrey and Hampshire, this research study was conducted to address these two issues. The research findings show that the actual results being measured and achieved in organisations are consistently and significantly falling short of expectations, supporting the criticisms that CRM is only producing disappointing results in practice. Based on an analysis of these results in the context of the theoretical work, it is highlighted that practitioners need to ensure that the measurement systems in place are adequate and specific to CRM to measure the full benefits of the approach; that they are setting realistic, long-term time scales over which to measure the effects; and that realistic objectives and expectations are being set. Comparing how CRM is currently being implemented in organisations to the recommendations for the adoption of the approach, some clear areas are identified where organisations are falling short in practice. It is recommended that organisations concentrate on implementation issues very carefully, ensuring that their adoption of CRM, both at the organisational level and for the implementation of specific CRM initiatives, is well executed and therefore successful in terms of delivering real results.

The ability to understand application performance and pro-actively manage system state is becoming increasingly important as infrastructure services move toward commodisation models such as cloud computing. The complexity of systems being monitored in large corporations means that detailed component-by-component analysis and/or simulation of behaviour can be impractical. The key problem is to find practical systems management approaches that enable behavioural profiling and detection of anomalous events in complex real world systems. This paper details a system performance measurement method that enables slowdown event detection and characterisation of application behaviour. These measurement techniques can underpin IT service management frameworks such as the IT Infrastructure Library. This enables business to manage the stability and performance of the end-user experience in order to support productivity and effectiveness of business processes. This paper examines anomaly detection efficiency in two case studies using six detection models in a large Australian financial services organisation. The whole of service anomaly detection methodology proposed in this paper was found to be more efficient than alternative individual transaction and whole of service models.

BackgroundA range of evidence informs decision-making on innovation in health care, including formal research findings, local data and professional opinion. However, cultural and organisational factors often prevent the translation of evidence for innovations into practice. In addition to the characteristics of evidence, it is known that processes at the individual level influence its impact on decision-making. Less is known about the ways in which processes at the professional, organisational and local system level shape evidence use and its role in decisions to adopt innovations.MethodsA systematic scoping review was used to review the health literature on innovations within acute and primary care and map processes at the professional, organisational and local system levels which influence how evidence informs decision-making on innovation. Stakeholder feedback on the themes identified was collected via focus groups to test and develop the findings.ResultsFollowing database and manual searches, 31 studies reporting primary qualitative data met the inclusion criteria: 24 were of sufficient methodological quality to be included in the thematic analysis. Evidence use in decision-making on innovation is influenced by multi-level processes (professional, organisational, local system) and interactions across these levels. Preferences for evidence vary by professional group and health service setting. Organisations can shape professional behaviour by requiring particular forms of evidence to inform decision-making. Pan-regional organisations shape innovation decision-making at lower levels. Political processes at all levels shape the selection and use of evidence in decision-making.ConclusionsThe synthesis of results from primary qualitative studies found that evidence use in decision-making on innovation is influenced by processes at multiple levels. Interactions between different levels shape evidence use in decision-making (e.g. professional groups and organisations can use local systems to validate evidence and legitimise innovations, while local systems can tailor or frame evidence to influence activity at lower levels). Organisational leaders need to consider whether the environment in which decisions are made values diverse evidence and stakeholder perspectives. Further qualitative research on decision-making practices that highlights how and why different types of evidence come to count during decisions, and tracks the political aspects of decisions about innovation, is needed.

BiF-DETR:Remote sensing object detection based on Bidirectional information fusion