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Findings from two field studies support the proposition that the way individuals define their role, or their role orientation, is a powerful influence on their behaviour, resulting in more or less effective job performance. The first study showed that, within a relatively self-managing context, flexible role orientation predicted supervisory assessments of overall job performance, as well as a change in job performance. The second study showed flexible role orientation predicted job performance in high autonomy jobs but not low autonomy jobs. In both studies, role orientation predicted performance more strongly than other work attitudes, including job satisfaction, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and job aspiration. Collectively, the findings suggest that the development of a more flexible role orientation represents a relatively unexplored avenue for enhancing employee performance, particularly in self-managing contexts. As such, further research on the process of shaping and promoting employees' role orientation is recommended.

It is not yet clear whether work redesigns actually affect individual-, team- or organizational-level performance. In a synthesis of this literature, we conclude there is good overall evidence, with the most promising evidence at the individual level. Specifically, our systematic review assessed whether top-down work redesign interventions affect performance and, if so, why (mechanisms) and when (boundary conditions). We identified 55 heterogeneous work redesign intervention studies, of which 39 reported a positive effect on performance, two reported a negative effect, and 14 reported mixed effects. Of five types of work redesign, the evidence that work characteristics can explain the effect of redesign interventions on performance was most promising for relational interventions, and participative and non-participative job enrichment and enlargement. Autonomous work group and system-wide interventions showed initial evidence. As to 'why' work redesigns enhance performance, we identified change in work motivation, quick response and learning as three core mechanisms. As to 'when', we showed that intervention implementation, intervention context (including alignment of organizational systems, processes and the work redesign) and person factors are key boundary conditions. We synthesize our findings into an integrative multilevel model that can be used to design, implement and evaluate work redesigns aimed at improving performance.

We propose four theoretically competing climates that are important for business-unit performance: climates for external control, internal control, internal flexibility, and external flexibility. Using a sub-sample of 620 business units from multiple companies across different industries and countries, we identified mechanisms by which climates influence business performance, accounting for different stakeholder interests. Climate for external control related directly to perceived business performance; climates for external flexibility and internal control both related to customer loyalty, which in turn predicted perceived business performance. Importantly, we show the moderating role of context whereby climate for internal flexibility was positively associated with perceived business performance, but only when market volatility was high. Drawing on the notion of ambidexterity, business units with higher effectiveness measures for all stakeholders also had high levels of all four climates, concurrently. The study supports the value for organizational effectiveness of having multiple climates that collectively accommodate an internal- and external-focus, as well as control and flexibility.

This article examines the influence of organizational practices on role breadth self-efficacy (RBSE); a person's confidence in performing proactive, interpersonal tasks that go beyond traditional boundaries. A longitudinal study showed that increased task control, membership of an active improvement group, and breadth of training were associated with increased RBSE. Providing a stronger basis for causal inference, membership of active improvement groups at Time 1 also had a positive lagged effect on later RBSE. These findings support the proposition that RBSE can be enhanced via organizational intervention. The study also showed that, after controlling for greater involvement, job enlargement had a negative lagged effect on RBSE. This suggests the potential detrimental consequences of enlarging jobs without also expanding employees' autonomy and influence.

This study investigates how employees craft narratives of organisational change failure through the lens of their work identity. We analysed change recipients' retrospective sensemaking accounts of an organisational re-structuring in a university, finding these accounts to be filled with widely varying descriptions of failure – of errors, dysfunction, and loss. We explored how employees' organisational, professional, and work-group identities were intertwined with, and fundamentally challenged by, their sensemaking about the change and its failure. Our inductive analysis revealed four distinct narrative trajectories – Identity Loss, Identity Revision, Identity Affirmation, and Identity Resilience – each characterised by distinct cognitive, affective, and behavioural patterns. We discuss the unique contributions that this study makes to the literatures on organisational change failure, sensemaking, and identity.

Abstract
In this commentary, we synthesize the literature on mature workers in organizations to support the development of an intervention-focused research program. We identify 3 broad approaches, or "meta-strategies," which theory and research suggest organizations can use to reap the benefits associated with a mature and age-diverse workforce. "Include" involves strategies to create an inclusive climate in which mature workers are welcomed and fairly treated and is based on theories such as optimal distinctiveness theory. "Individualize" involves strategies to adapt the work to meet the individual needs and preferences of an aging workforce, such as work redesign and is based on theories about how people change over the life span. "Integrate" involves strategies to address the greater age diversity that comes with an aging workforce, such as how mentoring schemes enable younger and older workers to better learn from each other, and is based on theories such as those concerned with team diversity. We believe that this framework will help organizational decision makers to think more broadly and more proactively about how to manage, and harness the benefits of, an aging workforce. Our framework also challenges researchers to give more attention to intervention studies, including considering what configurations of strategies might be most helpful, as well as whether sequencing of strategies is important.