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This study tests the “strategic choice” proposition that variation in workplace industrial relations policies and practices is related to differences in business strategy. A cluster analysis of data from a 1988–89 questionnaire examining workplace industrial relations and business strategies in U.S. steel minimills suggests that the industrial relations systems of these mills can be broadly categorized as emphasizing either cost reduction or employee commitment; similarly, the business strategies of the mills appear to stress either the manufacture of a few products in large quantities at the lowest possible cost, or more flexible manufacturing, with products marketed on some basis other than cost. Further investigation shows a significant association between the type of workplace industrial relations system and the business strategy choices in these mills.

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In this study, we propose that the upward leader-leader exchange (LLX) relationship is an important moderating condition in predicting the consequences of leader-member exchange (LMX) differentiation within work groups. We assert that the structural and operating efficiencies created by LMX differentiation will depend on group members' appraisal of the legitimacy of the within-group LMX disparity. Drawing on relative deprivation theory, we argue that the level of perceived legitimacy of LMX differentiation varies with levels of LLX. Using data collected from 579 subordinates and 74 managers in 74 work groups over two time periods, we propose and test hypotheses that the quality of a leader's LLX relationship will moderate the mediated relationship between LMX differentiation, group-level teamwork, and team effectiveness. We find support for our moderated-mediation model and suggest implications for theory and practice.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Academy of Management is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Academy of Management Journal. We propose a model of gainsharing as an organizational learning system. Analyzing employee suggestions submitted over the first four years of a gainsharing plan at one plant, we found that although conventional explanations of how gainsharing works predicted changes in the volume of total suggestions, changes in their content were consistent with an organizational learning process. Suggestions indicating "first-order learning" were initially high but declined over time as a percentage of total suggestions, and suggestions congruent with "second-order learning" became a larger portion of the total suggestions over time. This content downloaded from 91.229.248.81 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 09:47:08 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Academy of Management Journal literature for a better theory-based understanding of how gainsharing works. PERSPECTIVES ON GAINSHARING EFFECTIVENESSA number of theoretical perspectives have been proposed to explain gainsharing effectiveness (e.g., Welborne & Gomez-Mejia, 1995). Most of these theoretical treatments focus on one of the two primary characteristics of gainsharing: employee participation and contingent, or performance-based, pay. Early gainsharing research tended to focus on the role of participative management and employee involvement in explaining the success of gainsharing plans. Both Katz and Kahn (1966) and McGregor (1960) devoted sections of their influential books to describing how the Scanlon plan was able to achieve success by embodying the concepts of systemwide participation and "theory Y management" (management emphasizing employees' desire for personal growth and recognition at work). An underlying assumption in this participation literature on gainsharing was that employees possessed an untapped reservoir of effort and knowledge that could improve organizational processes and effectiveness and that the Scanlon plan's participation and communication mechanisms as well as an equitable reward structure would release this reservoir in the interest of their firm (