Showing papers in "Academy of Management Journal in 2013"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore how hybrid organizations, which incorporate competing institutional logics, internally manage the logics that they embody, and identify a specific hybridization pattern that they refer to as "Trojan horse", whereby organizations that entered the work integration field with low legitimacy because of their embeddedness in the commercial logic strategically incorporated elements from the social welfare logic in an attempt to gain legitimacy and acceptance.
Abstract: This article explores how hybrid organizations, which incorporate competing institutional logics, internally manage the logics that they embody. Relying on an inductive comparative case study of four work integration social enterprises embedded in competing social welfare and commercial logics, we show that, instead of adopting strategies of decoupling or compromising, as the literature typically suggests, these organizations selectively coupled intact elements prescribed by each logic. This strategy allowed them to project legitimacy to external stakeholders without having to engage in costly deceptions or negotiations. We further identify a specific hybridization pattern that we refer to as "Trojan horse," whereby organizations that entered the work integration field with low legitimacy because of their embeddedness in the commercial logic strategically incorporated elements from the social welfare logic in an attempt to gain legitimacy and acceptance. Surprisingly, they did so more than comparable organizations originating from the social welfare logic. These findings suggest that, when lacking legitimacy in a given field, hybrids may manipulate the templates provided by the multiple logics in which they are embedded in an attempt to gain acceptance. Overall, our findings contribute to a better understanding of how organizations can survive and thrive when embedded in pluralistic institutional environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
1,546 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify various ontological assumptions underlying process research, explore its methods and challenges, and draw out some of its substantive contributions revealed in this Special Research Forum on Process Studies of Change in Organization and Management.
Abstract: Process studies focus attention on how and why things emerge, develop, grow, or terminate over time. We identify various ontological assumptions underlying process research, explore its methods and challenges, and draw out some of its substantive contributions revealed in this Special Research Forum on Process Studies of Change in Organization and Management. Process studies take time seriously, illuminate the role of tensions and contradictions in driving patterns of change, and show how interactions across levels contribute to change. They may also reveal the dynamic activity underlying the maintenance and reproduction of stability.
1,483 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine whether shareholders are sensitive to corporations' environmental footprint and find that companies reported to behave responsibly toward the environment experience a significant stock price increase, whereas firms that behave irresponsibly face a significant decrease.
Abstract: This study examines whether shareholders are sensitive to corporations' environmental footprint. Specifically, I conduct an event study around the announcement of corporate news related to environment for all US publicly traded companies from 1980 to 2009. In keeping with the view that environmental corporate social responsibility (CSR) generates new and competitive resources for firms, I find that companies reported to behave responsibly toward the environment experience a significant stock price increase, whereas firms that behave irresponsibly face a significant decrease. Extending this view of “environment-as-a-resource,” I posit that the value of environmental CSR depends on external and internal moderators. First, I argue that external pressure to behave responsibly towards the environment―which has increased dramatically over recent decades―exacerbates the punishment for eco-harmful behavior and reduces the reward for eco-friendly initiatives. This argument is supported by the data: over time, the ...
955 citations
TL;DR: The authors developed a process model of navigating such paradoxes: in sensemaking about paradoxical outcomes, actors grapple with definition of success and can transform the organizational logic, or novel synthesis between them when outside perspectives enable a clearer view of the paradox.
Abstract: Hybrid organizations combine institutional logics in their efforts to generate innovative solutions to complex problems. They face unintended consequences of that institutional complexity, however, which may impede their efforts. Past scholars have emphasized conflicting external demands, and competing internal claims on organizational identity. Data from an in-depth field study of the public-private Cambridge Energy Alliance suggest another consequence: paradoxes of performing (Smith & Lewis, 2011) that generate ambiguity about whether certain organizational outcomes represent success or failure. This article develops a process model of navigating such paradoxes: in sensemaking about paradoxical outcomes, actors grapple with definition of success and can transform the organizational logic. The result can be oscillation among logics, or novel synthesis between them when outside perspectives enable a clearer view of the paradox. Hybrid organizations' capacity for innovation depends in part on the results of this change process.
930 citations
TL;DR: This paper introduced the concept of climate for inclusion, which involves eliminating relational sources of bias by ensuring that identity group status is unrelated to access to resources, creating expectations and opportunities for heterogeneous individuals to establish personalized cross-cutting ties, and integrating ideas across boundaries in joint problem solving.
Abstract: I introduce the construct of climate for inclusion, which involves eliminating relational sources of bias by ensuring that identity group status is unrelated to access to resources, creating expectations and opportunities for heterogeneous individuals to establish personalized cross-cutting ties, and integrating ideas across boundaries in joint problem solving. I show that within inclusive climates, interpersonal bias is reduced in such a way that gender diversity is associated with lower levels of conflict. In turn, the negative effect that group conflict typically has on unit-level satisfaction disappears. This has important implications, as unit-level satisfaction is negatively associated with turnover in groups.
560 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the connections between a firm's human resources (HR) system and its ability to exhibit "organizational ambidexterity" and find that the utilization of certain HR practices may be linked to a context marked by discipline, stretch, trust, and support.
Abstract: This study explores central questions related to the connections between a firm's human resources (HR) system and its ability to exhibit "organizational ambidexterity." We build from existing work on the behavioral view of ambidexterity to assess the extent to which the utilization of certain HR practices may be linked to a context marked by discipline, stretch, trust, and support. We further argue that these disparate practices may be combined into a single high-performance work system (HPWS), which allows the firm to achieve both the alignment and the adaptability necessary to produce ambidexterity. Thus, we examine HPWS as a systematic tool for enhancing organizational ambidexterity. We explore this link using data from 215 high-tech small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and find that HPWS utilization is positively related to a measure of organizational ambidexterity. In turn, ambidexterity mediates the relationship between HPWS utilization and firm growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
393 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a three-week longitudinal field study with an experimental intervention examined the association between daily events and employee stress and health, with a specific focus on positive events, and found that positive events were associated with better mental health.
Abstract: This three-week longitudinal field study with an experimental intervention examines the association between daily events and employee stress and health, with a specific focus on positive events. Re...
382 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a multilevel approach was adopted to examine how team goal orientation may relate to team creativity and individual creativity, and the bottom-up process linking individual creativity and team creativity was examined.
Abstract: Adopting a multilevel approach, we examined how team goal orientation may relate to team creativity and individual creativity. We also theorized and examined the bottom- up process linking individual creativity and team creativity. Multisource data were collected from 485 members and their leaders within 100 R&D teams. The results indicated that a team learning goal and team performance approach goal were positively related-whereas a team performance avoidance goal was negatively related- to both team creativity and individual creativity through team information exchange. Furthermore, a trust relationship with a team leader played a moderating role: when the trust was stronger, the indirect positive relationship with team creativity and individual creativity was stronger for the team learning goal but weaker for the team performance approach goal. We also found that average individual creativity within a team was positively related to team creativity (going above and beyond the effect of team information exchange) through a supportive climate for creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
380 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the relationship between formal institutions, social networks, and new venture growth and found that weak and inefficient formal institutions are associated with a larger number of structural holes in entrepreneurial social networks.
Abstract: What is the interrelationship among formal institutions, social networks, and new venture growth? Drawing on the theory of institutional polycentrism and social network theory, we examine this question using data on 637 entrepreneurs from four different countries. We find the confluence of weak and inefficient formal institutions to be associated with a larger number of structural holes in entrepreneurial social networks. While the effect of this institutional order on the revenue growth of new ventures is negative, a network's structural holes have a positive effect on revenue growth. Furthermore, the positive effect of structural holes on revenue growth is stronger in an environment with a more adverse institutional order (i.e., weaker and more inefficient institutions). The contributions and implications of these findings are discussed.
331 citations
TL;DR: The authors integrated theories from the leadership and team development literatures to resolve ambiguity regarding the relative benefits of empowering and directive leadership in teams by focusing on their influence on team development processes over time.
Abstract: This study integrates theories from the leadership and team development literatures to resolve ambiguity regarding the relative benefits of empowering and directive leadership in teams by focusing on their influence on team development processes over time. Empirical results based on longitudinal performance data from 60 teams suggest that teams led by a directive leader initially outperform those led by an empowering leader. However, despite lower early performance, teams led by an empowering leader experience higher performance improvement over time because of higher levels of team learning, coordination, empowerment, and mental model development. Implications for current and future team leadership research are discussed.
320 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compared the impacts of directive and empowering leadership on customer-rated core task proficiency and proactive behaviors in a field experiment in the United Arab Emirates, and found that directive leadership enhanced proactive behaviors for work units that were highly satisfied with their leaders.
Abstract: Using a field experiment in the United Arab Emirates, we compared the impacts of directive and empowering leadership on customer-rated core task proficiency and proactive behaviors. Results of tests for main effects demonstrated that both directive and empowering leadership increased work unit core task proficiency, but only empowering leadership increased proactive behaviors. Examination of boundary conditions revealed that directive leadership enhanced proactive behaviors for work units that were highly satisfied with their leaders, whereas empowering leadership had stronger effects on both core task proficiency and proactive behaviors for work units that were less satisfied with their leaders. We discuss implications for both theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explain how multinational enterprises respond to pressure to conform to their stakeholders' expectations for greater attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR), and propose that mounting stakeholder pressure in an MNE's home country leads to the transfer of socially irresponsible practices from its headquarters to its overseas subsidiaries.
Abstract: In this study, we explain how multinational enterprises (MNEs) respond to pressure to conform to their stakeholders' expectations for greater attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR). We invoke institutional theory to propose that mounting stakeholder pressure in an MNE's home country leads to the transfer of socially irresponsible practices from its headquarters to its overseas subsidiaries. This transfer is more pronounced when a subsidiary is apparently unconnected to an MNE, yet is controlled by an MNE's headquarters through the appointment of the subsidiary's board members; the institutional environment of the MNE's home country enforces compliance; and the degree of institutional enforcement, vigilance, and sanctions for noncompliance in the subsidiary's host country is low. Our hypotheses are empirically supported using panel data on 269 subsidiaries in 27 countries belonging to 110 MNEs from 22 countries. Results are robust to alternative measures, explanations, and sample.
TL;DR: In this article, the emergence and performance of what they call values practices are studied, drawing on an analysis of the development of an honor code within a large business school, they theorize the multiple kinds of values work involved in dealing with pockets of concern, knotting local concerns into action networks, performing values practices, and circulating values discourse.
Abstract: Existing cognitive and cultural perspectives on values have undertheorized the processes whereby values come to be practiced in organizations. We address this lacuna by studying the emergence and performance of what we call values practices. Drawing on an analysis of the development of an honor code within a large business school, we theorize the multiple kinds of values work involved in dealing with pockets of concern, knotting local concerns into action networks, performing values practices, and circulating values discourse. We conclude by discussing some opportunities and challenges that values work implies for future organizational scholarship.
TL;DR: The authors argue that creativity is influenced by the dynamic interplay of positive and negative affect, and that high creativity results if a person experiences an episode of negative affect that is followed by a...
Abstract: We argue that creativity is influenced by the dynamic interplay of positive and negative affect: High creativity results if a person experiences an episode of negative affect that is followed by a ...
TL;DR: This article found that early support and undermining had more significant relationships with work outcomes assessed after 90 days of employment than did increases or decreases in support or undermining over that time period, suggesting early support may lay a foundation for later work outcomes.
Abstract: While much organizational socialization occurs through interpersonal interactions, evidence regarding how these processes unfold over time has not been forthcoming. Results from a 14-wave longitudinal study with a sample of 264 organizational newcomers show that support of newcomers from coworkers and supervisors declines within the first 90 days of employment. Early support and undermining had more significant relationships with work outcomes assessed after 90 days of employment than did increases or decreases in support and undermining over that time period, suggesting early support and undermining may lay a foundation for later work outcomes. Proactive behavior partially mediated the relationship between support and more distal work outcomes, including withdrawal behaviors. Supervisor undermining was uniquely associated with higher turnover (exit) hazard.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the connection between individuals' volunteering and their jobs and found that volunteering was associated with both volunteer and job meaningfulness, and that the pull of meaningful volunteer work was even stronger when employees had less meaning in their jobs.
Abstract: Volunteering is prevalent and on the rise in the United States, but little research has examined the connection between individuals' volunteering and their jobs. In the absence of that research, it remains unclear whether employees volunteer to build on meaningful work experiences or to compensate for the lack of them. Similarly, it remains unclear whether volunteering is beneficial to jobs in some way or if it is a distraction, akin to moonlighting. In this research, several theoretical perspectives from the multiple domain literature--particularly, compensation, enhancement, and resource drain--were employed in two studies to examine the intersection between volunteering and work domains. Results suggested that volunteering was associated with both volunteer and job meaningfulness, and that the pull of meaningful volunteer work was even stronger when employees had less meaning in their jobs. The results further revealed benefits of volunteering for employers. Volunteering was related to job absorption but not job interference, and it was therefore associated with better job performance. Implications of these findings for future theorizing on volunteering are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed and tested an attention-based theory of search by top management teams and the influence on firm innovativeness, using an in-depth field study of 61 publicly traded high-technology firms and their top executives.
Abstract: We develop and test an attention-based theory of search by top management teams and the influence on firm innovativeness. Using an in-depth field study of 61 publicly traded high-technology firms and their top executives, we find that the location selection and intensity of search independently and jointly influence new product
TL;DR: This article developed a theoretical model that explains the role of managing emotions in the incidence and outcomes of voice and found that emotion regulation knowledge predicted more frequent voice, mediated by the emotional labor strategies of deep acting and surface acting, and enhanced the contributions of voice to performance evaluations.
Abstract: Intense emotions such as frustration, anger, and dissatisfaction often drive employees to speak up. Yet the very emotions that spur employees to express voice may compromise their ability to do so constructively, preventing managers from reacting favorably. I propose that to speak up frequently and constructively, employees need knowledge about effective strategies for managing emotions. Building on theories of emotion regulation, I develop a theoretical model that explains the role of managing emotions in the incidence and outcomes of voice. In a field study at a health care company, emotion regulation knowledge (1) predicted more frequent voice, (2) mediated by the emotional labor strategies of deep acting and surface acting, and (3) enhanced the contributions of voice to performance evaluations. These results did not generalize to helping behaviors, demonstrating that emotion regulation uniquely affects challenging but not affiliative interpersonal citizenship behaviors. This research introduces emotion regulation as a novel influence on voice and its consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the effect of minority state ownership on firms' returns on assets and on the capital expenditures of financially constrained firms with investment opportunities, finding that minority stakes are less affected by the "agency distortions" commonly found for full-fledged state ownership.
Abstract: In many countries, firms face institutional "voids" that raise the costs of doing business and thwart entrepreneurial activity. We examine a particular mechanism that may address those voids: minority state ownership. Minority stakes are less affected by the "agency distortions" commonly found for full-fledged state ownership. Using panel data from publicly traded firms in Brazil, where the government holds minority stakes through its development bank, we find a positive effect of those stakes on firms' returns on assets and on the capital expenditures of financially constrained firms with investment opportunities. However, these positive effects are substantially reduced when minority stakes are allocated to business group affiliates and as local institutions develop. Therefore, we shed light on the firm-level implications of minority state ownership, a topic that has received scant attention in the strategy literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
TL;DR: In this article, the authors develop and test theory about how achievement setting readily activates team member goal orientations that influence the diversity-performance relationship and identify goal orientation as a moderator of the performance benefits of cultural diversity and team information elaboration as the underlying process.
Abstract: As workforce diversity increases, knowledge of factors influencing whether cultural diversity results in team performance benefits is of growing importance. Complementing and extending earlier research, we develop and test theory about how achievement setting readily activates team member goal orientations that influence the diversity-performance relationship. In two studies, we identify goal orientation as a moderator of the performance benefits of cultural diversity and team information elaboration as the underlying process. Cultural diversity is more positive for team performance when team members' learning approach orientation is high and performance avoidance orientation is low. This effect is exerted via team information elaboration.
TL;DR: The authors studied how an individual's exposure to external information regulates the evaluation of entrepreneurial opportunities and entrepreneurial action, finding that technical information shaped opportunity evaluation and social information about user needs drove individuals to entrepreneurial action.
Abstract: We study how an individual's exposure to external information regulates the evaluation of entrepreneurial opportunities and entrepreneurial action. Combining data from interviews, a survey, and a comprehensive web log of an online user community spanning eight years, we find that technical information shaped opportunity evaluation and that social information about user needs drove individuals to entrepreneurial action. Our empirical findings suggest that reducing demand uncertainty is a central factor regulating entrepreneurial action, an insight that received theories of entrepreneurial action have so far overlooked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
TL;DR: This article explored the microprocesses through which highly institutionalized practices are maintained by examining how institutional inhabitants collectively restore breakdowns in institutionalized practice and found that the salience and importance of different forms of maintenance work vary with the nature and process history of practice breakdowns.
Abstract: Using a 199-day ethnography of Cambridge's 2007 season preparations for the annual University Boat Race, we explore the microprocesses through which highly institutionalized practices are maintained by examining how institutional inhabitants collectively restore breakdowns in institutionalized practice. Our analysis reveals how institutions can be inoculated against such breakdowns through maintenance work. We find that the salience and importance of different forms of maintenance work vary with the nature and process history of practice breakdowns. This lends institutions the plasticity through which ever-changing practice performances can be accommodated without necessarily effecting permanent structural change.
TL;DR: This paper found that resource munificence related to sponsorship can potentially decrease or increase survival rates among new organizations and that these effects are contingent on fit of resource type with its respective geographic-based founding density.
Abstract: Organizational sponsorship mediates the relationship between new organizations and their environments by creating a resource-munificent context intended to increase survival rates among those new organizations. Existing theories are prone to treat such resource munificence as the inverse of resource dependence, indicating that the application of new resources in an entrepreneurial context should always benefit new firms. These existing theories, however, often overlook heterogeneity in both types of applied resources as well as founding environmental conditions. By attending to these nuances, we reveal that resource munificence is not necessarily predictive of organizational survival. We find that resource munificence related to sponsorship can potentially decrease or increase survival rates among new organizations and that these effects are contingent on fit of resource type with its respective geographic-based founding density. These findings confirm the need for a more-nuanced theory of sponsorship that attends to the mechanisms and conditions by which resource munificence is likely to alter new organization survival rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
TL;DR: The authors revisited predictions of the behavioral effects of equity-based pay using the behavioral agency model (BAM) and provided an explanation for previous conflicting empirical results by theorizing that the anticipation of prospective wealth attenuates the negative effect of accumulated current equity wealth upon CEO strategic risk taking.
Abstract: Conceiving of stock options as providing CEOs with cues for the possibility of both greater prospective wealth and losses to current wealth, we revisit predictions of the behavioral effects of equity-based pay using the behavioral agency model (BAM). We refine the BAM's original formulation and provide an explanation for previous conflicting empirical results by theorizing that the anticipation of prospective wealth attenuates the negative effect of accumulated current equity wealth upon CEO strategic risk taking. In doing so, we offer an advancement of the dialectic between: (1) classical agency scholars, arguing that equity-based pay leads to more risk taking, and (2) behavioral scholars, arguing that equity wealth creates risk bearing, leading to less risk taking. We also suggest that the influences of prospective wealth and current wealth on strategic risk taking depend on the extent to which agents can manage the risk inherent in their compensation package and agent vulnerability to losses. Formal hypotheses to test these expectations are made by focusing on equity-based compensation. Our findings offer strong support for these theoretical expectations.
TL;DR: Some managers and entrepreneurs decide to act in ways that result in harm to the natural environment, despite the fact that such actions violate their own values as discussed by the authors. But they do not consider the consequences of their actions.
Abstract: Some managers and entrepreneurs decide to act in ways that result in harm to the natural environment, despite the fact that such actions violate their own values. Building on moral self-regulation ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a detailed empirical study of an automotive company's efforts to adapt to "relentless" change and argue that an unowned view of process that elevates chance, environmental uncertainty, and the unintended consequences of choice in accounting for strategic change is a more processual way of understanding the eventual demise of NorthCo Automotive.
Abstract: Strategic change is frequently viewed as emanating from the purposeful choices of organizational actors intent on achieving a prespecified goal against a backdrop of existing environmental forces. Conversely, population ecology advocates maintain that change is a consequence of species populations being subjected to environmental selection. Either way, change is deemed epiphenomenal to social entities (i.e., actors, organizations, environments, etc.); change processes involve the doings of/to things. This reflects an “owned” view of change processes. We present a detailed empirical study of an automotive company's efforts to adapt to “relentless” change. We argue that an “unowned” view of process that elevates chance, environmental uncertainty, and the unintended consequences of choice in accounting for strategic change is a more processual way of understanding the eventual demise of NorthCo Automotive.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify a pattern in which focus moved from equality to equity to less emphasis on distributive justice in postmerger integration, and develop a process model that explains how actors reconcile pressures of value creation and sociopolitical concerns.
Abstract: The objective of this article is to elucidate how justice in general and distributive justice in particular are given sense to and made sense of in postmerger integration. Drawing on a longitudinal real-time analysis of a recent merger, we identify a pattern in which focus moved from equality to equity to less emphasis on distributive justice. To understand the dynamics involved, we develop a process model that explains how actors reconcile pressures of value creation and sociopolitical concerns in dialogical “sensegiving” and “sensemaking” processes that lead to the enactment of specific norms of justice. This analysis adds to research on mergers and acquisitions by facilitating understanding of the crucial role that norms of justice play in postmerger integration, of the way in which they change over time as integration processes unfold, and of the intergroup dynamics through which these norms of justice are enacted. By uncovering the microdynamics of dialogical sensegiving and sensemaking processes, we also contribute to research on organizational justice, sensemaking, and process studies.
TL;DR: In this article, an explorative analysis of 67 European insurance companies between 1995 and 2004 reveals that corporate strategic changes occur in four distinct rhythms, which are classified as either regular or irregular (focused, punctuated, and temporarily switching).
Abstract: This study examines how different rhythms of change relate to firm performance. An explorative analysis of 67 European insurance companies between 1995 and 2004 reveals that corporate strategic changes occur in four distinct rhythms, which are classified as either regular or irregular (focused, punctuated, and temporarily switching). Subsequent quantitative analysis shows that companies that change regularly outperform those that change irregularly. This finding prevails under different internal and external contingencies, under different change characteristics, and over time periods. We also find that the rhythm and frequency of change have distinct performance effects. Our findings contribute to research on the change-stability paradox by showing that a regular and sequential balance between change and stability is associated with long-term success.
TL;DR: The authors examined the impact of the subjective experience of power on leadership dynamics and team performance and found that the psychological effect on formal leaders spills over to affect team performance, and argued that a formal leader's experience of heightened power produces verbal dominance which reduces team communication and consequently diminishes performance.
Abstract: We examine the impact of the subjective experience of power on leadership dynamics and team performance and find that the psychological effect of power on formal leaders spills over to affect team performance. We argue that a formal leader's experience of heightened power produces verbal dominance, which reduces team communication and consequently diminishes performance. Importantly, because these dynamics rely on the acquiescence of other team members to the leader's dominant behavior, the effects only emerge when the leader holds a formal leadership position. Three studies offer consistent support for this argument. The implications for theory and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the unit-level relationship between employee voice and exit with multi-source data collected over two time periods in 136 restaurants and find that three managerial characteristics that signal the ability and willingness to engage in change management team change orientation, manager participation in decision making, and manager access to organizational resources moderate the unit level relationship between voice and leave.
Abstract: We examine the unit-level relationship between employee voice and exit with multi- source data collected over two time periods in 136 restaurants. We find that three managerial characteristics that signal the ability and willingness to engage in change- management team change orientation, manager participation in decision making, and manager access to organizational resources-moderate the unit-level relationship between voice and exit: Employee voice is positively related to turnover when each of these factors is low and negatively related to turnover when each is high. Implications for research on voice, leadership, and turnover are discussed.