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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of personality heterogeneity on team performance. Relationships were tested from 267 business students in 59 teams working on process improvement projects sponsored by organizations. The impact of personalitycomposition on two types of team tasks (oral vs. written) was examined. Relationships between predictors and criteria differed depending on the type of task performed. Specifically, higher variability on agreeableness and neuroticism resulted in lower oral presentation scores, whereas higher variability on extraversion resulted in higher oral presentation scores. Teams with higher mean cognitive ability scored better on written reports. The implications of these findings for the study of team performance are discussed.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the progression of business excellence (BX) in 13 repeat applicants for the New Zealand Business Excellence award over the period 1993‐2007.Design/methodology/approachA multiple case approach analyses quantitative scoring data along with qualitative interview and secondary data.FindingsFormal, external assessments play a critical role in promoting continuous improvement toward BX. However, effective responses to feedback differ for enabler processes vs results. Achieving improved results requires a fundamental review of measurement approaches, as well as better alignment of performance measures to overall activities. Successful paths to continuous improvement vary depending on the starting point for this journey. Organisations starting with a relatively strong position can use external feedback to target improvement efforts for maximum benefit. Organisations starting at a more basic level of performance need to generalise improvement efforts across their full range of business activities. The research also identified the existence of hurdles along the road to BX.Research limitations/implicationsThe New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation, which administers the award scheme in New Zealand (NZ) had adopted the US Baldrige criteria as a whole, and no work has yet been done to validate the criteria for NZ conditions. This paper uses changes in scores between applications as a measure of progress to BX, so there is the possibility of applicants "gaming" the system (e.g. one research participant admitted they gained a large one‐off scoring improvement largely on the basis of writing a better application). Future research could extend this work by: studying the performance over time of a control group using Baldrige‐type criteria for internal assessment only; comparing one‐time applicants with repeat applicants; and studying the extent to which Baldrige criteria are appropriate within other national contexts such as NZ.Practical implicationsThis research provides insight and advice into what works and what does not in implementing the Baldrige BX criteria.Originality/valueThis paper analyses a unique data source and contributes to the literature on drivers and barriers to continuous improvement, a key literature within operations management.

Internal processes of corporate greening have received little scholarly attention. A two-study investigation of consumer-goods producers, implementing environmental management and subject to the 1991 German Packaging Ordinance offers new insights. Findings from Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis, suggest two independent dimensions of environmental management: Policy Commitment and Approach to Implementation. We expand traditional strategic change models, and generate a typology of four types of corporate greening: Deliberate Reactive, Unrealized, Emergent Active, and Deliberate Proactive greening. These are fleshed out with four known cases in Study 2. Alternative conceptual scenarios, developed to explain those types with inconsistent values for Policy Commitment and Implementation, point to new directions for research on the dynamics of internal processes of corporate greening. We conclude with implications for corporate social performance and strategic process models.

Social class inequality is growing at a record pace. What happens when individuals from different social classes work on the same team? We examined the direct and moderating influences of social class as an underexplored form of diversity on team viability in 132 student project teams. Guided by an overarching framework from the team diversity literature, we explored perspective taking and conflict resolution norms as moderators that may safeguard against the negative effects of social class diversity on team viability. As predicted, teams with a mix of higher and lower social class members who were less able to see their teammates' points of view or develop open conflict resolution norms reported less desire to work together in the future. Given these promising results and the ongoing importance of social class inequality in organizations, future research should continue to examine social class in a team context.

PurposeJob market shifts, such as workforce mobility and aging societies, cause the exit of knowledgeable personnel from organizations. The ensuing knowledge loss (K-loss) has broad negative effects. This study analyzes the knowledge management literature on K-loss published from 2000 to 2021 and identifies fruitful directions for future research.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conduct a systematic literature review of 74 peer-reviewed articles published between 2000 and 2021. These articles were retrieved from ProQuest Central, Science Direct, EBSCOhost and Emerald databases. The analysis utilizes Jesson et al.'s (2011) six principles: field mapping, comprehensive search, quality assessment, data extraction, synthesis and write-up.FindingsThree sub-topics emerge from the systematic literature review: K-loss drivers, positive and negative impacts of K-loss and mitigation strategies. Over half of the literature addresses mitigation strategies and provides solutions for K-loss already in progress, rather than proposing preventive measures.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has limitations related to the time span covered. Moreover, it focuses on articles published in refereed journals. Therefore, important contributions from conference papers, books and professional reports were excluded.Originality/valueThis research comprehensively synthesizes the K-loss literature and proposes future avenues of research to address under-investigated areas and potentially lead to theoretical and empirical advancements in the field. This study also provides suggestions for improving managerial practices.