| dc.description.abstract | This study explores the relationship between the practices embedded in the notion of
freedom within the corporate context and corporate effectiveness. It hypothesizes that those
corporate organizations that grant greater freedom to their managers are more effective than
those corporate organizations that grant lesser freedom. Further, such organizations are not
only ethically, politically and socially desirable, but also economically effective. Insomuch
as the theorists of democracy conceived freedom as central to the revitalization of
democracy, this research seeks to promote the democratization of corporate life by extending
the logic of freedom into the corporate organizations.
For the purpose of this study, freedom is defined as that quality and that condition in
which self-mastery by an individual was possible within the parameters of similar
opportunities and conditions for others, Within the corporate context, freedom is
conceptualized as being built upon a constellation of freedom related practices that are
expressly granted and/or explicitly implicitly permitted. Based upon the unraveling of
those management practices which are freedom related in nature, case studies, and the
theory of freedom in political and social philosophy, a list of civil, justice related and
participation related freedom related practices have been generated. The amount of freedom
in an organization has been conceptualized as the extent to which this freedom related
practices are present in that organization.
Given the above, this research explores the following questions:
1. Under what conditions does the amount of freedom vary in organizations?
2. What is the relationship between freedom and corporate effectiveness?
3. How does this relationship vary across different dimensions of freedom and corporate
effectiveness?
The research has conceptualized three antecedents of freedom related practices:
management style, collective bargaining orientation of the managers, and organizational
slack. However, this relationship between the antecedent and the freedom related practices
has been hypothesized to be moderated by (1) hierarchical level; (2) the quality of
managerial, social relations; and (3) function performed by the department. The research has
adopted a stakeholder perspective for the definition of corporate, effectiveness and the
identification of its indicators. It has hypothesized that freedom in corporate organizations
tends to be positively related to perceived corporate effectiveness.
In order to facilitate greater familiarity with the phenomena and a more precise
identification of freedom related practices in different corporate context, three focussed case
studies were performed through 67 partly structured and partly open-ended interviews. The
understanding of the phenomena was furthered by insights obtained from interviews of 7
army officers who represented a context where freedom related practices are worked out in
the considerable detail in a system known for its centralized command and control structure.
Based on the insights gained from these case studies and the reading of prior
research, the instrument was developed to measure the extent of freedom in the organization
and the constructs that were hypothesized to be its antecedents, moderators, and the
consequences. The instrument was then put through two stages of refinement—the test for
face validity involving the theorists and practitioners of management, and a pilot test on 49
managerial employees belong to all the levels and functions of a large organization in the
private sector. The questionnaire-based survey elicited fully completed and valid responses
from 50 organizations and involved in all 962 managerial employees across hierarchical job
levels, functions, and work units. Tests were conducted to check for the psychometric
properties of the scales. Subsequently, the data were analyzed, and the hypotheses were
tested by applying appropriate statistical techniques such as correlation analysis, tests of
equality of means, IVANOVA, and standard, stepwise and mediated regression analysis.
The major findings of the study are as follows:_
l. The organic, professional, altruistic, participative, bureaucratic and entrepreneurial
styles of top management and the collective bargaining orientation of the managers are
positively and significantly associated with the extent of freedom related practices in the
corporate organizations.
2. The participative style of the top management and the collective bargaining orientation
of the managers are positively and significantly associated with the extent to which the
appeal mechanism relating to the violation of freedom is institutionalized in the
corporate organizations
3. Amongst the factors hypothesized as antecedents of freedom related practices, the
organic, professional and altruistic styles of top management and the collective
bargaining orientation of the managers are the significant predictors of the extent of the
freedom related practices in corporate organizations. The collective bargaining
orientation of the managers and organizational slack are the significant predictors of the
extent to which these freedom related practices are secured from violations.
4. Hierarchical level moderates the relationships between the professional, altruistic and
bureaucratic management styles and the freedom related practices.
5. The function performed by the department moderates the relationships between the professional
and bureaucratic styles of top management with the extent of freedom related practices
and the relationships of the participative style of management with the extent of
institutionalization of the appeal mechanism relating to violation of freedom.
6. The quality of social relationship moderates the relationships of the entrepreneurial,
professional and bureaucratic management styles with the extent of justice related and
. participation related freedom in the organizations.
7. The aggregate freedom is a significant predictor of the composite corporate
effectiveness and in particular of the innovative excellence of the corporate
organizations. However, freedom related practices have no significant effect on the
dimensions of business excellence and ethical excellence. Besides, the extent to which
the freedom related practices are secured from violations has _no significant positive
effect on corporate effectiveness.
8. Civil, justice related and participation related freedom and aggregated freedom mediates
the relationships between the top management styles and collective bargaining
orientation amongst the managers and the dimensions of corporate effectiveness.
Aggregated freedom, participation related and justice related freedom mediates the
relationships of the entrepreneurial, professional, participative and bureaucratic top
management styles and collective bargaining orientation amongst the managers with
innovative excellence. Civil freedom, however, mediates the relationships of the organic
and altruistic styles of management with ethical excellence.
The study has robust implications for the theory and practice of management. It
enhances the understanding of the effect of freedom related practices on different
dimensions of corporate effectiveness under various styles of management. It can help the
top management develop more effective practices for bringing about corporate change and
corporate turnaround. It can contribute to organization design for facilitating organizational
citizenship behavior. Finally, it can facilitate the top management in developing effective
practices for enhancing organizational learning, knowledge, and innovativeness. | en_US |
