bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ANALYSING MANAGEMENT DECISION‐MAKING: FURTHER THOUGHTS AFTER THE BRADFORD STUDIES
Authors: Rowe Christopher
Published: May 2007

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Despite the vast range of contributions, the study of decision‐making has remained highly fragmented. Early writers adopted a psychological perspective, viewing the individual as an information processing system, and this detracted from a consideration of political aspects such as conflict and power. The subsequent move towards an approach that saw decision‐making more as a political process was to be welcomed, and this article argues that this owed much to the work of Thompson and Tuden (1964). Their matrix model was extended further by Astley et al. (1982) and Hickson et al. (1986) in what became known as the Bradford Studies, and the author believes that this lineage in theoretical development can be taken further by focusing upon the ‘flow’ of management decisionmaking. Two explanatory case studies are used to show how, in the specific case of computer installations, different decision‐making processes can move along alternative routes through the matrix. The hypothesis put forward is that a particular process flow depends primarily on the nature of organizational power (i. e. whether it is specialist or structural), and consequently upon the level of management involved, and the stage at which they become involved.
LINKING COGNITIVE, ORGANIZATIONAL AND POLITICAL FACTORS IN EXPLAINING STRATEGIC CHANGE
Authors: Schwenk Charles R.
Published: May 2007

Much recent research on strategic decision‐making and strategic change from many different perspectives challenges the view that decision outcomes are the product of rational choice. Allison's (1971) classification scheme is used to categorize recent strategic decision research within three different perspectives. Discussions of research on cognitive, organizational and political perspectives are followed by an integrative discussion showing how these three perspectives can be combined to deal with the full complexity of strategic decisions and the strategic change process.
EXPLORING STRATEGY PERCEPTIONS IN CHANGING ENVIRONMENTS*
Authors: Grösnhaug Kjell , Falkenberg Joyce S.
Published: May 2007

This article explores how a firm perceives its own strategy and that of its competitors. Findings from an exploratory, sociometric study covering both a period of ‘boom’ and a period of ‘bust’ demonstrated that firms and competitors differ greatly in their strategy perceptions. These perceptions were also found to differ from ‘objective’ evaluations made by the investigator. None of the firms studied was found to change their basic strategy in response to environmental jolts.
LINKING CHANGES IN REVEALED CAUSAL MAPS AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY
Authors: Fahey Liam , Narayanan V. K.
Published: May 2007

This article explores the cognitive maps of the dominant coalition of one firm over time. It begins with an overview of the cognitive mapping literature and discusses ‘revealed cognitive maps’ as one strategy for measuring managerial cognitive structures. Next, the revealed cognitive maps from one company over a 20‐year period are analysed for their fit with the company's environmental context. The data suggest that the fit between cognitive structures and the environment was less than perfect, and that decision‐makers both under‐identified and over‐identified certain environmental factors. These and other data are discussed within the context of a cognitive approach to managerial thinking.
IMPORTANT DIMENSIONS OF STRATEGIC ISSUES: SEPARATING THE WHEAT FROM THE CHAFF*
Authors: Dutton Jane E. , Walton Eric J. , Abrahamson Eric
Published: May 2007

Decision‐makers in organizations use dimensions implicitly or explicitly to sort strategic issues. This article compares the dimensions implied by three literatures and dimensions generated by an empirical study. While some similarities are identified, there are striking differences between what the literature assumes and what dimensions decision‐makers in the NY/NJ Port Authority use to sort issues. Implications for theories of decision‐making and interpretation in organizations are discussed.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TYPES OF INNOVATION AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE
Authors: Damanpour Fariborz , Szabat Kathryn A. , Evan William M.
Published: May 2007

The relationship between adoption of administrative and technical innovations over time and its impact on organizational performance was studied. A confirmatory analysis of the data from 85 public libraries showed that, over consecutive time periods, changes in the social structure, portrayed by the adoption of administrative innovations, lead to changes in the technical system, portrayed by the adoption of technical innovations. Empirical support was also provided for Daft's (1982) framework for organizational innovation that was found to be effective in separating organizations based on their performance levels.
COMPUTER USE AND STRUCTURAL CONTROL: A STUDY OF AUSTRALIAN ENTERPRISES
Authors: Zeffane Rachid
Published: May 2007

This article investigates underlying relationships between the extent of use of computers and dimensions of organization structure. Empirical tests on a sample of 149 Australian work‐units show strong associations between computer use and structural characteristics. Specifically, greater computer use is found to be related to less centralization and greater formalization and departmentalization. Further tests show that these associations are to some extent moderated by size. However, this moderating effect is most apparent in small organizations for formalization and departmentalization while the relationships involving centralization are more prominent in larger work‐units.

Factor analysis led to the diagnosis of two major types of computer use (i.e., informational and operational use). Tests on these categorized effects and the factor‐analysed structural dimensions revealed that: (1) the effects on centralization are more strongly explained by the impact of operational use on the ‘centralization of operational decisions’ sub‐measure and that of informational use on ‘financial decisions’; (2) formalization and departmentalization are found to be most strongly influenced by greater informational use. Here again, significant relationships were found between sub‐measures, the most important of which is the relationship involving the informational factor of formalization with the informational use of computers and the relationship between departmentalization of core functions and the operational use of computing technology.
PROFESSIONALS AND INNOVATION: STRUCTURAL‐FUNCTIONAL VERSUS RADICAL‐STRUCTURAL PERSPECTIVES*
Authors: Drazin Robert
Published: May 2007

The study of the role of professionals in the organizational innovation process has been dominated by a Structural‐Functional perspective. The assumptions associated with this perspective are examined, critiqued, and shown to have led to research findings marked by equivocality and instability. An alternative approach, based on Radical‐Structural principles is developed, and suggestions for implementing this approach in future research are offered.
THE SYMBOLIC IMPACT OF DOUBLE BIND LEADERSHIP: DOUBLE BIND AND THE DYNAMICS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
Authors: Hennestad Bjørn W.
Published: May 2007

They are playing a game. They are playing at not playing a game. If I show them I see they are, I shall break the rules and they will punish me. I must play their game, of not seeing I see the game (Laing, 1971).

Members of an organization are supposedly led, but very often they do not see the way. On the contrary, they are exposed to conflicting management signals and caught in double bind situations. Double bind connotes a situation where conflicting messages occur, but where it is vitally important to discern what message is being communicated, and where the individual is unable to comment upon the ambiguity. The result is that the individual is not capable of meta communication and thus incapable of learning about the situation. We presume that the double bind phenomenon can often be found in organizations. In extreme cases this creates ‘double bind organizations’ in which the members are continuously confronted with double bind situations. The members become incapable of exploring the existing models of organizational behaviour. Organizational dynamics emerge ‘behind the back’ of people in the organization. The organization's meaning horizon is narrowed due to a lack of authentic dialogue. Attempted changes of organizational direction are experienced as just another double bind, and attempted changes of the double bind patterns become victims of the logic they attempt to alter. In such cases, the organization could be said to be characterized by a form of institutionalized learning incompetence. Understanding the double bind phenomenon should be seen as being important for managing organizations in general, and for the change and the management of change in particular.
PUBLIC SERVICES MANAGEMENT: ACTIVITIES, INITIATIVES AND LIMITS TO LEARNING
Authors: Harrow Jenny , Willcocks Leslie
Published: May 2007

Private sector‐style management initiatives to ensure UK public services managers’ learning from private sector management practice are examined, and their rationale questioned. The lack of a coherent, systematic and agreed view of what constitutes ‘management’ and ‘managerial work’ in the private sector is discussed. It is argued that there are reasons for believing that the particular character and organizational contexts of public services will require different managerial behaviours.

The manner in which experimental managerial initiatives in some public services have shifted into mandatory innovations is examined. Such innovations can be incompatible with the values of those managing in the public service, who frequently fail to recognize the advantages of late innovation, incrementalism and circumspection. In public services particularly, many managerial activities are the province of ‘non managerial’ staff. Though frequently not considered, the values of these de facto managers may be central to the progress of such innovations. It is further argued that risk‐taking as applied in a business context is inappropriate to the degree that public services managers must be concerned with the common weal, equity and accountability.

The article concludes with a detailed research agenda to support the need to recognize public services management as a rich and varied area of managerial behaviour in its own right. Its character and variation warrants further investigation as a basis for formulating more appropriate management concepts against which to measure public services managers’ behaviour and performance.
PLANNING AND TACTICAL FACTORS IN THE PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS
Authors: Pinto Jeffrey K. , Prescott John E.
Published: May 2007

It has been a well‐recognized axiom in project management research that the project implementation process can be greatly facilitated by addressing a variety of project critical success factors. It is argued here that critical factors often fall into two distinct sub‐groups: those related to initial project planning and those concerned with subsequent tactical operationalization. A field study was conducted to explore changes in the perceived importance of project planning and tactical factors across four stages in the project life cycle. The sample consisted of 408 managers currently involved in projects. It was found that the relative importance of planning and tactical factors varies across the project life cycle. Further, the perceived importance of these factors is contingent upon the type of success measure employed. When an efficiency success measure is used, planning factors are initially perceived to be of high importance but are overtaken by tactical issues as the project progresses through its life cycle. When ‘external’ success measures (perceived value of the project and client satisfaction) are employed, project planning factors dominate tactics throughout the project's life cycle. Finally, implications for managers are developed and directions for future research are discussed.
STRUCTURED OBSERVATION OF MANAGERIAL WORK: A REPLICATION AND SYNTHESIS*
Authors: Martinko Mark J. , Gardner William L.
Published: May 2007

This study uses structured observation categories to investigate the relationship between managerial behaviour, performance, and environmental and demographic variables. We found significant differences in managerial behaviour related to environmental and demographic variables but not to performance. Our replication and synthesis of other studies generally supports earlier conclusions regarding the brief, varied, fragmented and interpersonal nature of managerial work. The results also point to the important relationship between the environment and managerial behaviour. Implications for managerial practice and research are discussed.
A RESEARCH AGENDA FOR STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN THE 1990s
Authors: Lyles Marjorie A.
Published: May 2007

The importance of thinking strategically is often glossed over when academics try to apply this concept to themselves. This frequently results in research or articles that are not very insightful or useful either to other academics or to practising managers. To overcome this problem and to explore the future needs of the field of strategic management, this article proposes topics for a research agenda for strategic management in the 1990s that is based on the forecast of ‘experts’ in the field.
CORPORATE REJUVENATION
Authors: Stopford John M. , Baden‐Fuller Charles
Published: May 2007

This article examines six British manufacturers that have recovered from imminent disaster to create sustained and profitable growth in four mature, European industries. Their record is contrasted with that of less successful rivals. Rejuvenation was achieved by making a series of ‘holistic’ changes in structure, systems, process and strategy affecting the entire organization. Rejuvenation is shown to be much more than a ‘turnaround’, which concentrates on finance and efficiency. Innovation in ‘emergent’ strategies was critical and was based on chief executives’beliefs in opportunities that could not be sustained by ‘rational’ strategy calculations. A model of the sequence of change is developed to show how these beliefs were translated into action. The behavioural aspects of the process highlight the importance of both the role information plays in shaping how problems and opportunities are perceived, and the ability of teams to manage the dilemmas inherent in these markets. Both attributes determine much of an organization's capacity to learn. The evidence challenges conventional prescriptions of strategy for mature firms.
THE CORPORATE PERFORMANCE CONUNDRUM: A SYNTHESIS OF CONTEMPORARY VIEWS AND AN EXTENSION
Authors: Varadarajan P. Rajan , Ramanujam Vasudevan
Published: May 2007

What characterizes superior organizational performance? The question has always fascinated practitioners and academic researchers, and a string of recent bestsellers attests to the current prominence of performance as an organizational issue. This article brings together recent perspectives on performance and provides some further conclusions of its own based on analysis of a new database. Articles on 74 companies rated by Business Month as being one of the five best‐managed companies during each of the 15 years in the 1972–86 timeframe were content analysed in an effort to isolate the key strategic and organizational factors associated with superior corporate performance. Results indicate that superior performance is associated with a broad product line accompanied by geographic diversity, an emphasis on planning coupled with sound financial controls and reporting systems, a high level of commitment to product and process innovation, investments in modernization of manufacturing facilities, a reputation for superior quality and customer service, and progressive human resource management practices. These findings are compared and contrasted with the conclusions of other recent studies and implications of the findings for management are discussed. Far from being the result of applying any particular formula, superior performance is found to require a diverse mix of competencies and values.
ADOPTING JAPANESE‐STYLE MANUFACTURING METHODS: A TALE OF TWO (UK) FACTORIES*
Authors: Oliver Nick , Davies Annette
Published: May 2007

Japanese manufacturing methods such as just‐in‐time production and total quality control are serving as a model of manufacturing organization which many UK manufacturers are currently emulating. This article describes the implementation of just‐in‐time production and its supporting practices in two factories owned by the same company. Empirical evidence demonstrates a profoundly political dimension to these innovations, requiring a significant rewriting of organizations’ political and cultural maps.
WOMEN'S CENTRES: RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN VALUES AND ACTION
Authors: Brown M. Helen
Published: May 2007

This article adopts an ‘organizing’ perspective to examine the relationship between values and action. Drawing on case studies of organizing activity which is undertaken with reference to the core values of the autonomous women's movement, the essentially negotiated nature of this relationship is argued and illustrated. Variation is shown to occur in the terms and arenas of negotiation and attention is drawn to the dimensions of the characteristic ‘texture of organizing’ in the settings described.
REVIEW ESSAY STUDIES ON TRANSITIONS: MEANINGS AND METHOD
Authors: Starkey Ken
Published: May 2007

This article analyses the link between research methodology and knowledge generation. It argues that the selection of a method of data collection and analysis determines the potential boundaries and depth of knowledge that can be generated. Choice of methodology, therefore, has major constraining or liberating potential. This is illustrated in an examination of three recent texts on transition. The first of these adopts an occupational psychology approach based on large‐scale surveys. It is argued that this approach runs the risk of ignoring key existential issues. The two other texts analysed are a clinical psychology approach to the major transitions in work and power occasioned by the introduction of new information technologies, and a novel examining key transition episodes in the ‘lives’ of its main protagonists. These two texts, it is suggested, provide an extremely rich source of data and are a pleasure to read. The article ends with an argument for the redefinition of the boundaries that constitute knowledge in management and organization studies.
RELATIONSHIPS OF JOB CATEGORIES AND ORGANIZATIONAL LEVELS TO USE OF COMMUNICATION CHANNELS, INCLUDING ELECTRONIC MAIL: A META‐ANALYSIS AND EXTENSION*
Authors: Rice Ronald E. , Shook Douglas E.
Published: May 2007

This study tests hypotheses derived from information processing theory concerning relationships between individuals' job category, organizational level, and levels and patterns of media usage. Media studied include face‐to‐face, meetings, memos/letters, telephone and electronic mail. In the meta‐analysis of over 40 studies, usage of different media was significantly different for managers/executives versus others, and was highly correlated with organizational level. In the individual‐level analyses of four organizations, the majority of respondents were classified into their actual job categories, and according to distances between organizational levels, by a discriminant function involving only relative extent of media use, especially participation in meetings. Contrary to information richness theory, upper‐level respondents (managers) did not necessarily use electronic mail less than did lower‐level respondents (clerical workers). The article concludes by discussing implications for theories of organizational media use and implementation of electronic mail systems.
Entrepreneurial Versus Conservative Firms: A Comparison of Strategies and Performance
Authors: Covin Jeffrey G.
Published: May 2007

This article describes a study of the business strategies and performance levels of firms with entrepreneurial and conservative strategic postures. Data were collected from the senior executives of 111 small manufacturing firms. Results indicate that entrepreneurial firms differ from conservative firms in terms of their growth rates as well as several financial, operating, and marketing‐related variables. the data suggest that the patterns of strategic behaviour associated with high performance are different for entrepreneurial and conservative firms.
The Effect of Decision‐Making Styles and Contextual Experience On Executives' Descriptions of Organizational Problem Formulation*
Authors: Cowan David A.
Published: May 2007

This study investigated the sensitivity of executives' descriptions of the problem‐formulation process to decision styles, to the decision functions that comprise decision styles, and to executive experience. to refine previous research in this area, four types of organizational problem were included for comparison: strategic, operating, human relations, and technical. In addition, the study included executive experience with each problem type, rather than general management experience. the results indicated that decision functions explained more of the variation in problem descriptions for all four of the problem types than did either decision styles or experience. Particularly, the sensing perceptual function related to problem descriptions of the illstructured problem types, strategic and human‐relations, and the thinking judgemental function related to problem descriptions of the well‐structured problem types, operating and technical. Though this offered support for the premise suggested by Ramaprasad and Mitroff (1984) regarding the usefulness of decision functions, it also raised concern about the available technology for measuring executives' experience in particular contexts.
Corporate Contributions As Managerial Masques: Reframing Corporate Contributions As Strategies to Influence Society*
Authors: Haley Usha C. V.
Published: May 2007

Researchers have argued that corporate contributions serve as necessitated investments, social currency, or social responsibility efforts. This article integrates and extends these perspectives to develop a view of corporate contributions as managerial masques. It argues that managers use corporate contributions to influence various stakeholders including stockholders, consumers, employees, investors, publics and societal institutions. A strategic framework is used to explore how managers promote managerial and corporate interests through corporate contributions. the societal implications of managers' discretionary uses of corporate contributions are also discussed.
Diversification and Performance: Critical Review and Future Directions*
Authors: Datta Deepak K. , Rajagopalan Nandini , Rasheed Abdul M. A.
Published: May 2007

This article uses an integrative theoretical framework to review existing empirical research on the diversification‐performance relationship along the three different research streams which have studied this relationship. the article highlights the considerable diversity in the findings across studies in each stream and identifies certain key theoretical and methodological issues which might help to explain the observed diversity. Also discussed is a contingency‐based perspective and several useful directions for future research.
RECEIPT OF INFORMATION AND INFLUENCE OVER DECISIONS IN HOSPITALS BY THE BOARD, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND MEDICAL STAFF
Authors: Provan Keith G.
Published: May 2007

This article examines relationships between receipt of internal administrative information in hospitals, influence over general management decisions, and the extent to which certain organizational characteristics predict the receipt of information by each of the three major groups in hospitals: the board, the CEO, and the medical staff. Using a US national sample of 287 non‐profit community hospitals, CEOs were found to receive the greatest amount of information and had highest influence while medical staffs were lowest on both measures. of five major organizational characteristics, hospital size emerged as the single strongest predictor of receipt of information for both boards (beta =−0.28, p 0.001) and medical staffs (beta =−0.42, p 0.001). Overall, the five dependent variables explained 18 per cent of the variance in receipt of information by boards and 28 percent of the variance for medical staffs.
ACQUISITION AND DIVESTITURE AS A RESPONSE TO COMPETITIVE POSITION AND MARKET STRUCTURE
Authors: Hopkins H. Donald
Published: May 2007

One theory of acquisition motivation holds that some acquisition activity is a defensive reaction to weak or deteriorating industry conditions and competitive position. Designated the ‘defensive diversification hypothesis’, this motive has not been tested directly by relating firms' competitive circumstances to their subsequent acquisitive behaviour. This study does so. Results show that a firm's prior circumstances are related to the intensity of both its acquisitions and divestitures, as well as the type of firms acquired.
THE INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE: STRATEGIES FOR ACTION IN HIGHLY‐ORDERED CONTEXTS*
Authors: Golden Karen A.
Published: May 2007

Writers in the management literature use one of three general concepts of culture: homogeneous organizational culture, heterogeneous subgroup cultures, and ambiguous cultures. In spite of their differences, each of these conceptualizations focuses attention primarily on the context in which the individual member of an organization acts, and suggests that the latitude for individual action increases as the orderliness of that context decreases. In doing so, the culture literature has underestimated the role of individual actors as active agents in their contexts, regardless of the degree of orderliness prevailing in them. By incorporating a more dynamic perspective of action into the cultural analysis of organizations, this article develops a framework which focuses attention on how individuals not only adhere to, but also depart from even highly‐ordered organizational and subgroup cultures. This framework is then used to investigate managerial interactions during a planning meeting in HAPCO (a pseudonym), a Fortune 500 company. Two general conclusions emerge from these analyses. First, the normative force of HAPCO culture suppresses conflict, as well as the discussion of alternative ideas during decision‐making meetings. Thus, this particular organizational culture severely limits the range of individual action. Second, even in large, highly‐ordered organizations such as HAPCO, culture never completely dominates action because individuals comment critically on their situation. Consequently, individuals possess the capacity not only to adapt to, but also to challenge and depart from cultural rules. Four general types of strategies for individual action are empirically observed and conceptually distinguished.
EXPERTISE AND PROBLEM CATEGORIZATION: THE ROLE OF EXPERT PROCESSING IN ORGANIZATIONAL SENSE‐MAKING
Authors: Day David V. , Lord Robert G.
Published: May 2007

Our purpose is to understand more fully the role of managerial cognition in organizations. As such, we adopted an experimental approach in studying the use of expert processing in the categorization of organizational problems. We compared the problem categories of 38 chief executive officers (CEOs) in the machine tool industry (experts) with those of 30 MBA students (novices). The results of a problem sorting task indicated that experts tended to categorize the ill‐structured problems significantly faster than novices. Experts also had greater variance in the number of categories used and they incorporated more problem information. Follow‐up analyses revealed that the number of categories was negatively related to experts’age and positively related to the number of processes and services offered by their respective organizations. These findings are consistent with the contention that experts rely on well‐developed, context‐dependent heuristics in the early stages of their decision‐making. It is argued that such heuristics allow organizational experts to make sense of strategic issues quickly, and respond in an efficient and effective manner.
THE ADOPTION OF THE MULTIDIVISIONAL FORM OF ORGANIZATION: A CONTINGENCY MODEL*
Authors: Mahoney Joseph T.
Published: May 2007

This article examines the proposition that the multidivisional structure is determined by both power and efficiency imperatives. It is theorized that combining the coalitional power and information‐processing perspectives of organizational choice enables us to explain and predict organizational form. The theory is tested on 291 Fortune 500 firms. The results largely confirm theoretical expectations. It is submitted that the multidivisional paradigm illustrates the central premises of the article: (1) a synthesis of efficiency and power perspectives is a viable research programme; and (2) theoretical pluralism increases empirical content and should be valued by those concerned with progress in the emerging field of strategic management.
TOP MANAGEMENT, STRATEGY AND ORGANIZATIONAL KNOWLEDGE STRUCTURES
Authors: Lyles Marjorie A. , Schwenk Charles R.
Published: May 2007

The cognitive aspects of strategic management and organizational learning have been receiving increasing interest from researchers (Fahey and Narayanan, 1986; Prahalad and Bettis, 1986). Researchers have called for more detailed descriptions of the ways that individual‐level cognitions contribute to organizational‐level strategies (Daft and Weick, 1984; Smircich and Stubbart, 1985). In this article, a theory of organizational knowledge structures which include core and peripheral features is presented. From this theory propositions are suggested to guide future research on organizational learning.
THE LIMITS TO EMPLOYEE INVOLVEMENT: PROFIT SHARING AND DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION
Authors: Ogden Stuart
Published: May 2007

This article seeks to exsplore the ways in which profit sharing is used by employers as a means of securing more employoee involvement. Although this is the main reason employeras have gilven for introducing profit sharing, and has been a principal objective of the government's recent initiative over profitrelated pay, the evidence suggests that little so far has been achieved. By examining employers’deeep seated concerns about some of the implications of profit sharing, particularly those that involve disclosure of information, this article argues that employers are reluctant to pursue such a strategy of involvement because of the risk of stimulating employees to demand greater influence in how the enterprise is managed. This prompts a consideration of the conceptual ambiguity surrounding the notion of employee involvement, and the article concludes that the contradicatory implications this entails for employers renders it largely impotent except at the level of rhetoric
PROFESSIONALIZING MANAGEMENT AND MANAGING PROFESSIONALIZATION: BRITISH MANAGEMENT IN THE 1980s
Authors: Reed Michael , Anthony Peter
Published: May 2007

The purpose of this article is to analyse the strategy of managerial professionalizatin through educational reform as it has been attempted in Britain during the course of the 1980s. This strategy‐whatever its internal contradictions and inherent weaknesses‐ is located within the longer‐term historical context in which British management has developed. In turn, this brief historical analysis is complemented by an assessment of the feasibility of the strategy of professionalization in relatin to some of the most recent work carried out on the sociology of the professions/expert knowledge. Finally, we discuss the broader implications of this analysis for current debates concerning the reality of managerial work and management culture, as well as the pedagogical principles and practices thought most appropriate to the latter‐that is, how managers ought to be educated and developed.
THE CULT[URE] OF THE CUSTOMER
Authors: Gay Paul du , Salaman Graeme
Published: May 2007

Much organizational restructuring, at least in the UK and USA, seeks to replace organizational regulation by that of the market. These developments centre around an emphasis on relations with customers ‐ the ‘sovereign consumer’‐ as a paradigm for effective forms of organizational relations; they are apparent in, and underpin, a wide variety of organizational developments: just‐in‐time, total quality management, culture change programmes.

Understanding these developments requires consideration of the discourse of enterprise of which the culture of the (internal) customer constitutes a key element. Defining internal organizational relations ‘as if’they were customer/supplier relations means replacing bureaucratic regulation and stability with the constant uncertainties of the market, and thus requiring enterprise from employees. This discourse has fundamental implications for management attempts to define working practices and relations and, ultimately, has impact on the conduct and identities of employees.

Understanding these developments is not possible if analysis remains at the level of the organization. It requires that organizational restructurings, and the discourse which supports them, be located within the social and political rationality of enterprise. The certainties of management, the conviction that environmental challenge and competitive threat must be met by the cult[ure] of the customer, are due to managements’largely unquestioned acceptance of the normality and perceived good sense of the discourse of enterprise.
STEEL: A CLASSIC CASE OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS CHANGE IN BRITAIN*
Authors: Blyton Paul
Published: May 2007

The interrelations between the search for greater flexibility and the decentralization of industrial relations have received comparatively little attention. The developments within British Steel over the past decade indicate how these two developments can interact. Against a background of a stagnant market for steel, overcapacity, changing state attitudes towards the nationalized sector and a national steel strike, management at British Steel have used local agreements as a key vehicle for introducing widespread restructuring and changes in work organization. In particular, the tying of local bonus payments to achieved performance and to changes in work organization has enabled management to introduce fundamental changes to traditional work arrangements with little worker or union resistance.
PUTTING GIDDENS INTO ACTION: SOCIAL SYSTEMS AND MANAGERIAL AGENCY
Authors: Whittington Richard
Published: May 2007

This article examines the influence of Anthony Giddens on recent work in management studies, especially the contribution of his structurationist perspective to understanding managerial agency. A citation analysis and discussion of prominent exponents such as Ranson et al. (1980), Andrew Pettigrew and Hugh Willmot, concludes that Giddens’influence is substantial but lopsided. Giddens’concern for the intersection and tension between different social systems has been particularly neglected. Drawing on the insights of current ‘institutionalist’studies of societal influences on organizations, the article builds a structurationist account of managerial agency that is founded on the contradictions within and between different social systems. The article ends by considering the implications of this structurationist account for current concerns with managerial leadership, organizational symbolism and strategic choice.
CONCEPTUALIZING LEADERSHIP PROCESSES: A STUDY OF SENIOR MANAGERS IN A FINANCIAL SERVICES COMPANY*
Authors: Knights David , Willmott Hugh
Published: May 2007

Established methodologies of leadership research have placed unnecessary constraints upon our capacity to examine creatively actual leadership practices and to generate fresh insights into their dynamics. A regeneration of leadership research depends upon the development of new frameworks of interpretation which yield new or deeper understanding of processes to which the term ‘leadership’is usually attributed. To this end, the article presents a conceptual framework founded upon well established traditions of social enquiry which have been underutilized in leadership research. The value of this framework is demonstrated through the analysis of data taken from an intensive field study of leadership processes amongst senior managers. It is argued that this methodology for leadership research serves to answer calls for increasing the practical relevance of leadership research without making unacceptable sacrifices to its intellectual credibility.
IN SEARCH FOR THE UNIQUE: CAN FIRM‐SPECIFIC ADVANTAGES BE EVALUATED?
Authors: Aharoni Yair
Published: May 2007

Strategy, whatever its different definitions, entails an attempt by a firm to achieve and sustain competitive advantage against other firms. Competitive advantage can be achieved if the firm is able to be different. Success is based on using a unique strategy. Success is defined as the ability to gain abnormal profits, not simply to stay alive in a competitive industry. the ability to protect the uniqueness against imitators ensures continued success.

Strategy theory research is diverse, and can be divided into distinct schools of thought. Certain researchers describe the process of strategy formation. Others are prescriptive, concerned with analytical tools for strategy formulation. Among strategy content researchers, much recent research concentrates on industry analysis techniques. Since strategy is defined as the ability to gain an advantage, a cross‐sectional study of industry conditions can show the constraints on such a strategy, but is far less useful in defining how to achieve and sustain a competitive advantage. A critical aspect in understanding competitive advantage is that of the identification of firm‐specific advantages, particularly in an outlying rather than the average ‘representative’firm. the process by which managers of such firms gain insights on strategic vision often affects the results.

This article calls for understanding the unique or ‐ as a minimum ‐learning to recognize uniqueness (e.g. as someone running a venture fund reviewing proposals for investment). It is concerned with how a strategy can be evaluated ex ante by outsiders to predict its probability of success.

The strategy research field is not mature enough to settle on only some conceptual boxes. the article also calls for several accepted modes of investigation, including history and political behaviour, to understand better the process by which firms attempt to achieve unique advantages and the evolution of resource deployment.
THE ROLE OF COMPETITIVE GROUPS IN STRATEGY FORMULATION: A DYNAMIC INTEGRATION OF TWO COMPETING MODELS*
Authors: Bogner William C. , Thomas Howard
Published: May 2007

Alternative conceptualizations of competitive groups have been developed in the strategic management literature, namely, the ‘strategic group’and the ‘cognitive group’. These two views each have their own paradigm base and are often seen as incompatible explanations of intra‐industry structure. This article analyses these two views and presents a model for each. It then goes on to develop an integrated model which uses both concepts as tools in framing strategy research. Propositions about the new model are also presented.
CHALLENGES IN RESEARCHING CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING*
Authors: Singh Harbir
Published: May 2007

This article reviews research on corporate restructuring by examining representative studies of acquisitions, divestitures and management buyouts. Theoretical arguments used in prior research on these aspects of restructuring are presented and the empirical evidence is reviewed. Three challenges in researching corporate restructuring are identified: trading off theoretical abstraction for institutional detail, defining strategically meaningful research questions, and the pursuit of partial models versus development of a comprehensive theory of restructuring. the conclusion is that theoretical and methodological pluralism are essential for advancement of research on this topic. the article concludes with a call for more research involving institutional detail and linking modes of restructuring to performance.
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL AND THE EMERGENCE OF MANAGEMENT*
Authors: Townley Barbara
Published: May 2007

This article addresses the debate concerning the study of management. Arguing that definitions of management have suffered from conceptual obscurity, it advocates that an understanding of management must address relational, constitutive and political dimensions of its operation. the work of Michel Foucault, particularly the concept of power/knowledge and his ascending analysis of power, offers such an approach. the relevance of Foucault for recasting the study of management is illustrated through an analysis of performance appraisal systems introduced into UK universities.
JOB EVALUATION AS INSTITUTIONAL MYTH
Authors: Quaid Maeve
Published: May 2007

This article argues that the real function of job evaluation technique lies not in the rational claims upheld in the managerialist literature but rather in the more diffuse area of meaning management. the argument is based on an intensive case‐survey analysis of the introduction of a formal job evaluation plan to one of Canada's ten provincial governments. From the complementary perspectives of social construction theory and institutional theory, job evaluation is ultimately defined as a rationalized institutional myth. First of all, job evaluation isrationalizedbecause it takes the form of rules, specifying the procedures necessary to accomplish the end goal of determining an internally equitable and externally competitive pay structure. Job evaluation isinstitutionalbecause actions are repeated and given similar meanings by the custodians of the system and those who fall under its administration. the set of meanings which evolves from job evaluation is expressed in a belief (ideology), an activity (norms and rituals), language and other symbolic forms through which the members of an organization both create and sustain views and images about the value of one job over another. Job evaluation is amythbecause it is a process based on widely held beliefs that cannot be tested objectively. Despite a number of unexamined assumptions, the technique is accepted as ‘true’because it is believed.
EXECUTIVE REWARD SYSTEMS: A CROSS‐NATIONAL COMPARISON*
Authors: Pennings Johannes M.
Published: May 2007

This article examines executive compensation in the United States, France, and the Netherlands. A brief review of executive compensation literature is conducted to expose its implicit value systems. Next, a qualitative study examines the interpretive schemas that executives express about the pay‐performance relationship; US‐developed expectancy theory and agency theory serve as a benchmark. the results indicate that US executives understand compensation in different terms from those employed by their European counterparts.
STRENGTH IS IGNORANCE; SLAVERY IS FREEDOM: MANAGING CULTURE IN MODERN ORGANIZATIONS*
Authors: Willmott Hugh
Published: May 2007

The article subjects the assumptions and prescriptions of the ‘Corporate Culture’literature to critical scrutiny. the body of the article is devoted to teasing out the distinctive basis of its appeal compared with earlier management theory. It is seen to build upon earlier efforts (e.g.‘theory Y’) to constitute a self‐disciplining form of employee subjectivity by asserting that ‘practical autonomy’is conditional upon the development of a strong corporate culture. the paper illuminates the dark side of this project by drawing attention to the subjugating and totalitarian implications of its excellence/ quality prescriptions. to this end, parallels are drawn with the philosophy of control favoured by the Party in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty‐Four. Specifically, the paper critiques the ‘doublethink’contention that autonomy can be realized in monocultural conditions that systematically constrain opportunities to wrestle with competing values standpoints and their associated life projects.
HOST‐COUNTRY MANAGERIAL BEHAVIOUR AND LEARNING IN CHINESE AND HUNGARIAN JOINT VENTURES*
Authors: Child John , Markóczy Livia
Published: May 2007

Close similarities in the behaviour reported of host country managers in Chinese and Hungarian joint ventures have emerged from recent research. an assessment is offered of four perspectives which purport to account for managerial behaviour in these contexts, namely those referring to the system of industrial governance, the nature of industrialization, national culture and resistance to change. the system of industrial governance provides the most direct and comprehensive explanation, and is also linked with influences from national culture and industrialization. the article concludes by examining the modes of host country learning in process within the joint ventures as foreign partners endeavour to change the behaviour of local managers.
INFORMATION PROCESSING IN STRATEGIC ALLIANCE BUILDING: A MULTIPLE‐CASE APPROACH*
Authors: Thomas James B. , Trevino Linda Klebe
Published: May 2007

Strategic alliance building has proliferated in many industries in recent years. This research focuses on the dynamic aspects of the alliance building process that have been neglected in previous research. the study examines how organizations process information during strategic alliance building and how the effective management of uncertainty and equivocality is linked to alliance success. Analysis of qualitative and quantitative data from a multi‐case study leads to a proposed model of information processing in strategic alliance building and research propositions. the research propositions suggest that strategic alliance success is facilitated or impeded by a number of factors including the selection of information‐processing mechanisms, the management of alliance building momentum, political activity, and information‐processing structure. These factors collectively form information‐processing environments that are linked to the success or failure of the alliance. Successful alliance building efforts seem to require adaptive information‐processing environments that alter information‐processing mechanisms to match information‐processing needs.
SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION, INNOVATION NETWORKS AND ORGANIZATION STRUCTURES*
Authors: Perry Nick
Published: May 2007

This article examines changes in the relation between the organization of social power, the production of advanced scientific knowledge, and the position of scientific and technical personnel, from an institutionalist perspective. This is undertaken largely, but not exclusively, by mapping an exemplar of such inter‐institutional and intra‐disciplinary changes, i.e. the transformation in high‐energy physics associated with the development of the atomic bomb. the contrast between the social imperatives of dominant sponsoring institutions and the organizational preconditions for cognitive efficacy is seen as regulated through the emergence of innovation networks. the article concludes with a brief consideration of the relation between the strategies of knowledge workers and the structure of such networks.