A model for the comparison of business units
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-02-2016-0022 |
| Published date | 05 February 2018 |
| Date | 05 February 2018 |
| Pages | 150-165 |
| Author | Momčilo Dobrodolac,Libor Švadlenka,Marjana Čubranić-Dobrodolac,Svetlana Čičević,Bojan Stanivuković |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
A model for the comparison of
business units
Momčilo Dobrodolac
Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering,
University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
Libor Švadlenka
Jan Perner Transport Faculty,
University of Pardubice, Pardubice, Czech Republic, and
Marjana Čubranić-Dobrodolac, Svetlana Čičevićand
Bojan Stanivuković
Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering,
University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to propose a methodology for the comparison of business units and to
illustrate its implementation. Job stress is introduced as a mediator variable. A postal company is taken as a
case study and its three business units are compared. The units (i.e. employees who have direct contact with
customers) analyzed are postal clerks, couriers and call center operators.
Design/methodology/approach –Quantitative data were collected using two questionnaires: the first to
assess the state of predefined organizational parameters, and the second to measure the stress levels of
employees. The χ
2
test of independence (χ
2
test) and Fisher’s exact test are used to calculate correlation. Work
stress score and stress distribution index, which are proposed in this study, are used to quantify the levels of
stress, the state of organizational parameters and possible improvement points, as well as to compare the
business units.
Findings –According to the results, the most demanding job is that of couriers, followed by postal clerks
and call center operators.
Originality/value –The proposed model could be used to assess and improve businesses and to reduce the
stress levels of employees. Further, a model for the comparison of business units might be a useful tool for
managers in defining working hours, breaks, length of holiday periods and even in creating a wage structure.
Keywords Quantitative, Stressors, Qualitative, Improvement, Comparison, Business parameters,
Postal company
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Organizational productivity and efficiency are both widely analyzed in the literature.
Productivity generally refers to how much an organization achieves a particular outcome
for the given input, while efficiency comprises of the actual output or results as measured
against the organization’s intended outputs. These two related concepts give insight into
how well a business is organized. A problem arises when attempts are made to compare how
efficient or well organized two or more business units or companies are. A general principle
is to consider each business unit as a system that has a certain number of inputs and
outputs. In this case, a comparison is made by using the appropriate mathematical
techniques, something that is only possible if all units are described using the same input
and output parameters (Ralevićet al., 2016). A motive for defining the model proposed in
this paper is the possibility of comparing units that are organizationally different, i.e. do not
have the same input or produce the same output.
Personnel Review
Vol. 47 No. 1, 2018
pp. 150-165
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-02-2016-0022
Received 6 February 2016
Revised 27 November 2016
Accepted 4 April 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
This research was supported by the Czech Project CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0058 and Serbian Ministry of
Science and Technological Development with Project TR 36022.
150
PR
47,1
In the model proposed in this paper, employee stress is a central factor because this
variable is common in all business units in which employees participate. Here, job stress is
used for organizational purposes, however, it could also be used to assess other phenomena,
such as interpersonal trust (Guinot et al., 2014). The initial idea to define such a model came
from analyzingworking processes in a postal company.The researchers were inspired by the
fact that occupations in the field of transport are quite demanding and stressful, something
that has also been confirmedby other authors (Theurel et al., 2008). Transport can be seen as
something that is continuously changing, in terms of routes, clients, demands, expectations
and technology.It involves working with varioustypes of people, working to strict deadlines,
and managing goods of different value. Therefore, workers in the transportation industry
experiencea degree of pressure and stress caused by the natureof their work. For this reason,
it is interestingto test the stress levels of these employees. However, a common assumption is
that employees’stress levels greatly depend on their manager’s organizational capabilities
(Dobrodolac et al., 2014). A hypothesis is introduced whereby stress levels are analyzed in
correlation with particular organizational parameters, to produce a quantification of
organizational success. This model could also be used to improve business processes in
critical areas or to compare different business units and even companies.
Job stress is an important element to address for organizations to function in an efficient
way. The negative impact of stress on job performance has been identified in the literature
( Jex, 1998). This is even more pronounced if we consider the absence from work caused by
stress. In these kinds of circumstances it can be very difficult to organize the business,
which is particularly evident in the case of employees who need lengthy training to do the
job. For example, one of the requirements for the position of manual mail sorting in the main
sorting center of the Serbian postal company is the following: an employee should be
familiar with the position of approximately 5,000 streets in Belgrade, so that by reading the
street name and house number they can assign the address to one of 89 delivery posts. It
should be kept in mind that different house numbers in the same street may belong to
various delivery posts. To perform this type of work in an efficient way requires several
months of training, which indicates that the company incurs significant costs due to the
absence of its workers.
This study could be useful for managers who are aiming to assess and improve the way
that their company or unit is organized. Also, by implementing the proposed methodology,
recommendations could be reached on potential trouble spots in the company, the
improvement of which could lead to a possible reduction in the stress levels of employees.
Additionally, the results of the implemented model may be considered a very useful
managerial tool for various purposes, for example, to compare occupations in the sense of
how demanding they are, to define the optimal working hours, breaks and length of holiday
periods and even to create a wage structure.
The paper is organized as follows: in the next section, the proposed model is described.
Then, to demonstrate the model’s applicability, an empirical example is given whereby three
business units are analyzed: the postal clerks, couriers and call center operators. Finally, the
paper concludes with a description of the improvements that could be made to the company
in which the proposed model was implemented.
Methods
Comparison is widely used in the field of organizational behavior as a tool to assess the state
of a business process and to reach a conclusion about best practice. It is very common for
business units (Mohamedpour et al., 2008) or companies (Stendahl and Roos, 2008) to be
compared; however, it is even possible to compare nations (Liu et al., 2007).
The proposed model establishes the stress levels of participating employees as a
common parameter of each business process. There are also other examples in the literature
151
Model for the
comparison of
business units
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