In this article we offer a view that suggests that a firm's critical resources may span firm boundaries and may be embedded in interfirm resources and routines. We argue that an increasingly important unit of analysis for understanding competitive advantage is the relationship between firms and identify four potential sources of interorganizational competitive advantage: (1) relation-specific assets, (2) knowledge-sharing routines, (3) complementary resources/capabilities, and (4) effective governance. We examine each of these potential sources of rent in detail, identifying key subprocesses, and also discuss the isolating mechanisms that serve to preserve relational rents. Finally, we discuss how the relational view may offer normative prescriptions for firm-level strategies that contradict the prescriptions offered by those with a resource-based view or industry structure view.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/259056.pdf

The Relational View: Cooperative Strategy and Sources of Interorganizational Competitive Advantage

Although aspects of social identity theory are familiar to organizational psychologists, its elaboration, through self-categorization theory, of how social categorization and prototype-based depersonalization actually produce social identity effects is less well known. We describe these processes, relate self-categorization theory to social identity theory, describe new theoretical developments in detail, and show how these developments can address a range of organizational phenomena. We discuss cohesion and deviance, leadership, subgroup and sociodemographic structure, and mergers and acquisitions.

Social Identity and Self-Categorization Processes in Organizational Contexts

\"What are your assumptions (implicit as well as explicit) about the most effective way to manage people?\" So began Douglas McGregor in this 1960 management classic. It was a seemingly simple question he asked, yet it led to a fundamental revolution in management. Today, with the rise of the global economy, the information revolution, and the growth of knowledge-driven work, McGregor's simple but provocative question continues to resonate-perhaps more powerfully than ever before. Heralded as one of the most important pieces of management literature ever written, a touchstone for scholars and a handbook for practitioners, The Human Side of Enterprise continues to receive the highest accolades nearly half a century after its initial publication. Influencing such major management gurus such as Peter Drucker and Warren Bennis, McGregor's revolutionary Theory Y-which contends that individuals are self-motivated and self-directed-and Theory X-in which employees must be commanded and controlled-has been widely taught in business schools, industrial relations schools, psychology departments, and professional development seminars for over four decades. In this special annotated edition of the worldwide management classic, Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, Senior Research Scientist in MIT's Sloan School of Management and Engineering Systems Division, shows us how today's leaders have successfully incorporated McGregor's methods into modern management styles and practices. The added quotes and commentary bring the content right into today's debates and business models. Now more than ever, the timeless wisdom of Douglas McGregor can light the path towards a management style that nurtures leadership capability, creates effective teams, ensures internal alignment, achieves high performance, and cultivates an authentic, value-driven workplace--lessons we all need to learn as we make our way in this brave new world of the 21st century.

The Human Side of Enterprise.

On death and dying

Research on the relationship between work group diversity and performance has yielded inconsistent results. To address this problem, the authors propose the categorization-elaboration model (CEM), which reconceptualizes and integrates information/decision making and social categorization perspectives on work-group diversity and performance. The CEM incorporates mediator and moderator variables that typically have been ignored in diversity research and incorporates the view that information/decision making and social categorization processes interact such that intergroup biases flowing from social categorization disrupt the elaboration (in-depth processing) of task-relevant information and perspectives. In addition, the authors propose that attempts to link the positive and negative effects of diversity to specific types of diversity should be abandoned in favor of the assumption that all dimensions of diversity may have positive as well as negative effects. The ways in which these propositions may set the agenda for future research in diversity are discussed.

/pdf/work-group-diversity-and-group-performance-an-integrative-2cpbjtaw0h.pdf

Work group diversity and group performance: an integrative model and research agenda.

An extended case study of a recent merger between two mutual savings banks is studied from the perspective of organizational culture. Data on organizational culture and organizational climate are analyzed from pre- and post-merger interviews, observations, archival information, and survey questionnaires. Results suggest that even within the same industry, there are major difficulties in trying to merge two different though viable organizational cultures.

When Cultures Collide: The Anatomy of a Merger

The human side of mergers and acquisitions

The Human Side of Mergers and Acquisitions: Managing Collisions Between People, Cultures, and Organizations.

Management and Organizational Behavior. The Research Process in Organizational Behavior. Motivation. Perception, Attitudes, and Individual Differences. Communication. Group and Intergroup Behavior. Leadership and the Manager. Macro-Organizational Behavior: The Organization's Environment. Organization Structure, Design, and Dynamics. Organization Development and Quality of Work Life: Philosophy and Intervention Approaches. Organizational Applications: Diagnostic Techniques, Participative Management, and Work Innovations. Appendices. Author Index. Subject Index.

A Primer on Organizational Behavior

Roughly 20 years ago, Business Week (Prokesch et al., 1985) ran a cover story questioning whether mergers “really worked,” focusing on the extent to which the organizational combination strategy actually enhanced such desired outcomes as market share, profitability, and shareholder value. The analysts’ conclusion was “not very often.” During the subsequent two decades there has been a literal avalanche of work, by scholars and practitioners alike, delving into the nuances, subtleties, and dynamics underlying the merger and acquisition (M&A) process, with an eye toward enhancing our understanding of this complex strategy and improving M&A performance. The literature is too voluminous to even reasonably cite, but a few oft-noted works include Buono and Bowditch (1989), Haspeslagh and Jemison (1991), Hitt, Harrison, and Ireland (2001), Jemison and Sitkin (1986), Mirvis and Marks (1992) and Schweiger (2002). Yet despite all of this work and related intervention, a recent Business Week cover story (Henry and Jespersen, 2002) reached essentially the same conclusion as its 1985 counterpart, pointing out that M&As continue to wreak havoc on organizations, often destroying shareholder value in the process.

Anthony F. Buono

Papers

When Cultures Collide: The Anatomy of a Merger

The human side of mergers and acquisitions

The Human Side of Mergers and Acquisitions: Managing Collisions Between People, Cultures, and Organizations.

A Primer on Organizational Behavior

Mergers and Acquisitions: Managing Culture and Human Resources: