IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v46y2000i11p1385-1396.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Drive out Fear (Unless You Can Drive It in): The Role of Agency and Job Security in Process Improvement

Author

Listed:
  • Nelson P. Repenning

    (Department of Operations Management/System Dynamics Group, Sloan School of Management, E53-339, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142)

Abstract

Understanding the wide range of outcomes achieved by firms trying to implement Total Quality Management (TQM) and similar process improvement initiatives presents a challenge to management theory: A few firms reap sustained benefits from their programs, but most efforts fail and are abandoned. In this paper I study one dimension of this phenomenon: the role of impending layoffs in determining employee commitment to process improvement. Currently, the literature provides two opposing theories concerning the effect of job security on the ability of firms to implement change initiatives. The "Drive Out Fear" school argues that firms must commit to job security, while the "Drive In Fear" school emphasizes the positive role that insecurity plays in motivating change. In this study a contract theoretic model is developed to analyze the role of agency in process improvement. The main insight of the study is that there are two types of job security, internal and external, that have opposing impacts on the firm's ability to implement improvement initiatives. The distinction is useful in explaining the results of different case studies and can reconcile the two change theories.

Suggested Citation

  • Nelson P. Repenning, 2000. "Drive out Fear (Unless You Can Drive It in): The Role of Agency and Job Security in Process Improvement," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(11), pages 1385-1396, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:46:y:2000:i:11:p:1385-1396
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.46.11.1385.12084
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.46.11.1385.12084
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.46.11.1385.12084?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Milgrom, Paul R, 1988. "Employment Contracts, Influence Activities, and Efficient Organization Design," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(1), pages 42-60, February.
    2. Baker, George P. & Wruck, Karen H., 1989. "Organizational changes and value creation in leveraged buyouts : The case of the O.M. Scott & Sons Company," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 163-190, December.
    3. George Baker & Robert Gibbons & Kevin J. Murphy, 1994. "Subjective Performance Measures in Optimal Incentive Contracts," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(4), pages 1125-1156.
    4. Kevin B. Hendricks & Vinod R. Singhal, 1996. "Quality Awards and the Market Value of the Firm: An Empirical Investigation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(3), pages 415-436, March.
    5. Bengt Holmstrom, 1982. "Moral Hazard in Teams," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(2), pages 324-340, Autumn.
    6. John M. Barron & Kathy Paulson Gjerde, 1996. "Who Adopts Total Quality Management (TQM): Theory and An Empirical Test," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(1), pages 69-106, March.
    7. Meyer, Margaret & Milgrom, Paul & Roberts, John, 1992. "Organizational Prospects, Influence Costs, and Ownership Changes," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(1), pages 9-35, Spring.
    8. Clive Bull, 1987. "The Existence of Self-Enforcing Implicit Contracts," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 102(1), pages 147-159.
    9. Shapiro, Carl & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1984. "Equilibrium Unemployment as a Worker Discipline Device," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(3), pages 433-444, June.
    10. John D. Sterman & Nelson P. Repenning & Fred Kofman, 1997. "Unanticipated Side Effects of Successful Quality Programs: Exploring a Paradox of Organizational Improvement," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(4), pages 503-521, April.
    11. Dial, Jay & Murphy, Kevin J., 1995. "Incentives, downsizing, and value creation at General Dynamics," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 261-314, March.
    12. Easton, George S & Jarrell, Sherry L, 1998. "The Effects of Total Quality Management on Corporate Performance: An Empirical Investigation," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 71(2), pages 253-307, April.
    13. Holmstrom, Bengt & Milgrom, Paul, 1991. "Multitask Principal-Agent Analyses: Incentive Contracts, Asset Ownership, and Job Design," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(0), pages 24-52, Special I.
    14. Karen Hopper Wruck & Michael C. jensen, 1997. "Science, Specific Knowledge, And Total Quality Management," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 10(2), pages 8-23, June.
    15. Scott Schaefer, 1998. "Influence Costs, Structural Inertia, and Organizational Change," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(2), pages 237-263, June.
    16. Wruck, Karen Hopper, 1994. "Financial policy, internal control, and performance Sealed Air Corporation's leveraged special dividend," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 157-192, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ignacio J. Martinez-Moyano & David P. McCaffrey & Rogelio Oliva, 2014. "Drift and Adjustment in Organizational Rule Compliance: Explaining the “Regulatory Pendulum” in Financial Markets," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(2), pages 321-338, April.
    2. Anita L. Tucker, 2016. "The Impact of Workaround Difficulty on Frontline Employees’ Response to Operational Failures: A Laboratory Experiment on Medication Administration," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(4), pages 1124-1144, April.
    3. Loukas Balafoutas & E. Glenn Dutcher & Florian Lindner & Dmitry Ryvkin, 2017. "The Optimal Allocation Of Prizes In Tournaments Of Heterogeneous Agents," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(1), pages 461-478, January.
    4. Florence Lebert, 2016. "Voluntary Turnover: A Means of Reducing Perceived Job Insecurity? A Propensity Score Matching Procedure Applied on Swiss Data," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-21, January.
    5. Florence Lebert & Marieke Voorpostel, 2016. "Turnover as a Strategy to Escape Job Insecurity: The Role of Family Determinants in Dual-Earner Couples," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 407-421, September.
    6. Dan Bernhardt & Steeve Mongrain, 2010. "The Layoff Rat Race," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 112(1), pages 185-210, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2373-2437 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Edward P. Lazear, 1995. "Personnel Economics," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262121883, April.
    3. Michael Waldman, 2012. "Theory and Evidence in Internal LaborMarkets [The Handbook of Organizational Economics]," Introductory Chapters,, Princeton University Press.
    4. Ittner, Christopher D. & Larcker, David F., 2001. "Assessing empirical research in managerial accounting: a value-based management perspective," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-3), pages 349-410, December.
    5. Repenning, Nelson P. (Nelson Peter), 1998. "Drive out fear (unless you can drive it in) : the role of agency and job security in process improvement," Working papers WP 4041-98., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    6. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2291-2372 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Edward P. Lazear & Paul Oyer, 2012. "Personnel Economics [The Handbook of Organizational Economics]," Introductory Chapters,, Princeton University Press.
    8. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pb:p:2485-2563 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Ola Kvaløy & Trond E. Olsen, 2006. "Team Incentives in Relational Employment Contracts," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(1), pages 139-170, January.
    10. Oyer, Paul & Schaefer, Scott, 2011. "Personnel Economics: Hiring and Incentives," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 20, pages 1769-1823, Elsevier.
    11. Luis Garicano & Luis Rayo, 2016. "Why Organizations Fail: Models and Cases," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(1), pages 137-192, March.
    12. Cronqvist, Henrik & Fahlenbrach, Rüdiger, 2013. "CEO contract design: How do strong principals do it?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(3), pages 659-674.
    13. Ola Kvaløy & Trond E. Olsen, 2012. "The Rise of Individual Performance Pay," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(2), pages 493-518, June.
    14. Bloom, Nicholas & Van Reenen, John, 2011. "Human Resource Management and Productivity," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 19, pages 1697-1767, Elsevier.
    15. Doh-Shin Jeon & Joel Shapiro, 2004. "Downsizing, Job Insecurity, and Firm Reputation," Working Papers 144, Barcelona School of Economics.
    16. Christian Zehnder & Holger Herz & Jean-Philippe Bonardi, 2016. "A Productive Clash of Cultures: Injecting Economics into Leadership Research," CESifo Working Paper Series 6175, CESifo.
    17. Anders Frederiksen & Elod Takats, 2004. "Optimal incentive mix of performance pay and efficiency wage," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 0418, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    18. Robert Gibbons, 1998. "Incentives in Organizations," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 115-132, Fall.
    19. Madhav V. Rajan & Stefan Reichelstein, 2006. "Subjective Performance Indicators and Discretionary Bonus Pools," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(3), pages 585-618, June.
    20. Nelson P. Repenning, 2002. "A Simulation-Based Approach to Understanding the Dynamics of Innovation Implementation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(2), pages 109-127, April.
    21. Bentley W. MacLeod, 2003. "Optimal Contracting with Subjective Evaluation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 216-240, March.
    22. Vincenzo Scoppa, 2003. "Contratti incompleti ed enforcement endogeno. Una rassegna della letteratura," Economia politica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 3, pages 391-440.
    23. W. Bentley MacLeod & Teck Yong Tan, 2016. "Optimal Contracting with Subjective Evaluation: The Effects of Timing, Malfeasance and Guile," NBER Working Papers 22156, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:46:y:2000:i:11:p:1385-1396. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.