Contributions published at Human Resource Management

Workplace bullying is a prevalent evil in organizations all over the world. As such, there need to be appropriate measures implemented into the company to fight off or, in the best case, prevent it from happening in the first place. One such preventive measure is the main topic of this thesis, the workplace bullying policy. The study concentrates on the deleterious effects of bullying throughout the whole organization, including its employees, and the policy’ s effec-tiveness to reduce or eliminate this threat. The concept of efficiency is established in a theo-retical setting. For that matter, the content of several policies existing in the Swiss infor-mation technology (IT) sector is analyzed based on the scientifically sound recommendations provided by the empirical literature. The policies are provided by IT companies with repre-sentatives in Switzerland. The outcome reveals that the majority of the reviewed organiza-tions are in line with at least half of the scientific foundation and sufficient as a first instance of prevention. However there exists a lot of room for improvement, especially concerning the inclusion of guidelines for the alleged bullies.

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Envy is still regarded as a taboo subject in our society and rarely anyone talks about it openly when he envies someone. But if envy occurs in the workplace it can have serious consequences for work colleagues and the whole company. It was found that the majority of bullying cases were caused by envy and bullying in turn often is the reason for absences. These absences harm the company and cause unnecessary costs. In addition, it hurts the com-pany if the relationships within the organization get worse, because lots of things can just be achieved as a team. For this reason, the company is keen to prevent envy if possible. In this work, the relationship of workplace envy and workplace relationships were studied. First the causes of envy were examined in the workplace, in order to show why this negative feeling can occur at work. Furthermore the effects of envy were shown. It was found that envy does not have to always develop destructively, but can also have constructive consequences under certain circumstances. In the end it was tried to derive implications for businesses to prevent destructive envy or even encourage constructive envy. Keywords. Envy, workplace relationships, LMX, CWX, CWB

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Attracting talents to an organization has become a major point of competition because the success of an organization is determined to a significant extent by their workforce. Having the right workforce represents an important competitive advantage to an organization. Hence the decision whom to recruit is one of the most important questions that an organization needs to address (Breaugh, 2013, p. 396). However, knowing who the target employees are is only the first step of a successful recruitment strategy. The most delicate task is how to attract the target employees and how to retain them. A valid recruitment strategy for targeting applicants with specific characteristics is targeted recruitment. Targeted recruitment is concerned with attracting the attention of exactly those people that an organization aspires to employ. There is a wide range of recruitment methods which may differ significantly in terms of their results. Many researchers have analyzed the effects of recruitment methods and strategies on applicant pool characteristics (e.g. Newman & Lyon, 2009; Walker et al., 2013; Casper, Wayne & Manegold, 2013; Cable & Yu, 2006; Dineen & Williamson, 2012) and on post-hire outcomes (Breaugh 1981, Caldwell & Spivey 1983). Breaugh (1981) showed that the sources through which employees are recruited are related to subsequent job performance, absenteeism, and work attitudes. However, the practices of recruitment strategies have changed considerably with the introduction of web-based technologies. E-Recruitment has not only become a new widely researched subject in the field or recruitment research but it has become common practice for most companies. Findings of previous studies directed at recruitment sources are no longer up-to-date because of changed practices. Attracting those people who will present a good person-job and person-organization fit is a major challenge for recruitment because in the end it is all about retention. A good person-job fit can be anticipated to a certain extent by prospective employees with the help of Realistic Job Previews (RJP). The concept of RJP has been given a great deal of research attention (e.g. Meglino, Ravlin & De Nisi, 1997; Wanous 1973; Buckley, Fedor, Veres, Wiese & Carraher, 1998; Earnest, Allen & Landis, 2011). RJP were associated with higher job survival, in particular through adapting newcomers’ initial expectations (Wanous, 1973). Once an organization successfully attracted the right talents, they are presented with the challenge to retain them. The organization is keen to retain those employees who present a good person-organization fit. They help to foster the organization’s culture which may ultimately lead to increased productivity. Furthermore, if they fit in well and are happy to be a part of the organization, they also have an interest to stay which makes it easier for the organization to retain them. A good person-organization fit results when employees fit well into an organization’s culture (Van Vianen & De Pater, 2012, p. 141). Newcomers have to go through a process of socialization in order to assimilate to the organization’s culture. Organizational socialization is regarded as „the process by which an individual acquires the social knowledge and skills necessary to assume an organizational role“ (Van Maanen & Schein, 1979, p. 211). Researchers have been trying to explain successful socialization with numerous factors which may have an effect on it (e.g. Cable & Parsons, 2001; Bauer, Bodner, Erdogan, Truxillo & Tucker, 2007; Song & Chathoth, 2010; Takeuchi & Takeuchi, 2009; Chao, 1997; Kim, Cable & Kim, 2005; Cable, Gino & Staats, 2013; Korte, 2010; Chang, Chi & Chuang, 2010; Korte & Lin, 2012; Commeiras, Loubes & Bories-Azeau, 2013). However, to our knowledge, there is still a lack of research on the effects of recruitment strategies on employee socialization. This thesis argues that having a workforce that presents a competitive advantage to the organization can be achieved by attracting and recruiting employees who present a good person-organization and person-job fit and successfully undergo the process of organizational socialization. This is due to the fact such a workforce is stable, productive and enriching for the organization’s culture.