ABSTRACT
Many work organizations are facing incisive changes, due to, for example, the increasing globalization of markets, the diversication of customer needs and expectations, technological innovations, the rising level of education of managers and employees, and, not the least, the emergence of different philosophies (or ideologies) of management. Consequently, “exible” organization responses are required, including the redesign of organization structure (e.g., the introduction of business units), investments in new equipment (which leads to the obsolescence of some types of job and the creation of other ones), gaining access to unexplored markets (e.g., with customer-specied products and services), and different selection, training and education, and attrition strategies (in order to match managerial and employees’ qualications to current and future job requirements). Often, adaptive organizational responses also necessitate different leadership styles (e.g., more transformational behavior), a more supportive organizational culture, a better integrated human resource management (Pfeffer, 1994), a productivity level that exceeds the results gained by excellent competitors, and different instruments to motivate managers and employees.
