bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Decision‐Making Styles and Contextual Experience On Executives' Descriptions of Organizational Problem Formulation*
Authors: Cowan David A. 
Published: May 2007

ABSTRACTThis 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

ABSTRACTResearchers 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

ABSTRACTThis 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

ABSTRACTThis 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

ABSTRACTOne 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

ABSTRACTWriters 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

ABSTRACTOur 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

ABSTRACTThis 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

ABSTRACTThe 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

ABSTRACTThis 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

ABSTRACTThe 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

ABSTRACTMuch 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

ABSTRACTThe 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

ABSTRACTThis 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

ABSTRACTEstablished 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

ABSTRACTStrategy, 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

ABSTRACTAlternative 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

ABSTRACTThis 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

ABSTRACTThis 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

ABSTRACTThis 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

ABSTRACTThis 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

ABSTRACTThe 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.