Showing papers in "British Journal of Management in 2004"

Should I stay or should I go? Explaining turnover intentions with organizational identification and job satisfaction

Abstract: The social identity approach is a powerful theoretical framework for the understanding of individuals behaviour The main argument is that individuals think and act on behalf of the group they belong to because this group membership adds to their social identity, which partly determines ones self-esteem In the organizational world, social identity and self-categorization theories state that a strong organizational identification is associated with low turnover intentions Because identification is the more general perception of shared fate between employee and organization, we propose that the relationship between identification and turnover will be mediated by job satisfaction as the more specific evaluation of ones task and working conditions In four samples we found organizational identification feeding into job satisfaction, which in turn predicts turnover intentions

Social Capital and Knowledge Integration in an ERP Project Team: The Importance of Bridging AND Bonding

Abstract: A project team, set up to design and implement a large-scope IT system, is essentially tasked with integrating distributed knowledge. This suggests that the social capital of members will be organizationally important. However, we suggest that in understanding the relationship between social capital and knowledge integration within a project team, it is necessary to distinguish between two forms of social capital – external bridging social capital and internal bonding social capital. We argue that for the effective mobilization of ‘weak’ social capital bridges for collective purposes, there is first a need to create ‘strong’ social capital bonds within the project team so that it becomes a cohesive social unit that will be able to effectively integrate knowledge that is acquired through members' bridging activity.

Translating Local Knowledge at Organizational Peripheries

Abstract: This article theorizes about the kinds of knowing present in organizations that share both a structural similarity in the organization of work and work practices – a ‘double periphery’ in which a community of practitioners acts across both a horizontal, geographic periphery and a vertical, hierarchical periphery – and a common mode of practice – translating across these peripheral borders. In principle, these workers develop knowledge in interaction with clients and customers that could be valuable to the organization, were it but to learn from them. Instead, the ‘local knowledge’ they learn in acting across these peripheries is discounted, if not disparaged, by more centrally-located managers and executives. The article theorizes about the nature of translating local knowledge concerning organizational practices and about the structural character of local versus ‘expert’ knowledge.

The Benefits and Pitfalls of Social Capital: Empirical Evidence from Two Organizations in the United Kingdom†

Abstract: Recently, there has been a shift in the way management scholars view the firm, from traditional models that are based on ideas of opportunism and market failure to newer knowledge-based theories that argue for a more socialized perspective. One of the key components of these theories is the notion of social capital. Social capital is the set of resources that accrue to an individual or group by virtue of their social connections. As such, it is a resource that is jointly owned. Most recent research adopts a more-is-better approach to social capital, suggesting that individuals with larger quantity of ties derive more positive benefits. However in this paper, we argue that using social capital has both benefits and drawbacks for organizations, and that these positive and negative aspects of social capital occur simultaneously. To substantiate our claim, we use data collected from sets of interviews with senior and middle managers in two organizations in the United Kingdom. Our findings indicate that while social capital has many beneficial effects with respect to information access and retrieval, community building, and underlying group norms, there are also a number of less-beneficial aspects, which are under-explored in the current empirical literature. Furthermore, we suggest that organizations must develop an understanding of the bridging and bonding elements of social capital, as these are critical for its implementation. Implications of the research findings and future research directions are discussed.

A Conceptual Model for Researching the Creation and Operation of Supply Networks

Abstract: This paper presents a conceptual model for the creation and operation of supply networks. Existing conceptual research relating to interorganizational relationships and networks is reviewed in terms of its relevance to understanding supply networks; this research is drawn from the fields of strategic management, channel management, industrial marketing and purchasing, organizational behaviour and supply-chain management. The different perspectives each field has on networks are highlighted. Contributions made by each in assisting to understand supply networks are discussed and synthesized. Findings from an exploratory survey are used to structure the design of a conceptual model for analysing the processes involved in the creation and operation of supply networks. The authors identify nine different types of networking activities and discuss the nature of these activities in the context of supply. Four different types of contextual factors relating to supply networks are identified. The model is tested in eight in-depth case studies and a validating survey of 58 focal firm networks. It is concluded that it provides a robust structure that enabled complex, cross-case analysis of multi-variable, multi-disciplinary data from interorganization product/service supply networks, but that further testing by other researchers is required.

Strategies for Knowledge Creation in Firms

Abstract: We extend the knowledge-based view by providing an explanation of how firms develop the capability to create knowledge. We take the view that firms are distributed knowledge systems composed of individuals who embody knowledge, and theoretically identify and empirically test the existence and effectiveness of two strategies – organization and project team – that promote their interactions to develop this capability. On the one hand, building on what we call the organization-level innovation literature, we identify the organization strategy, which suggests investment in organization-level integrative management practices to facilitate interactions to create knowledge among individuals situated in different parts of the system, independently of when a knowledge-creation task is established and individuals are organized to create knowledge. On the other hand, building on what we call the team-level innovation literature, we identify the project team strategy, which suggests investment in project team-level integrative management practices to facilitate interactions to create knowledge among individuals once a knowledge-creation task is defined and individuals are placed into teams to create knowledge. The two strategies are substitute approaches for the development of the capability, although the organization strategy appears to better predict outcomes of the capability. However, this approach might be more costly, so not all managers will choose to follow it.

A Grounded Theory Exposition of the Role of the Supervisory Board in China

Abstract: This paper reports the findings of an investigation, through a series of interviews, into the role of the supervisory board (SB) in Chinese listed companies. The interviews were conducted and analysed using the grounded theory methodology. It is found that the SB performs one of four roles under the Chinese corporate environment: an honoured guest, a friendly advisor, a censored watchdog or an independent watchdog. The role of the SB is dependent on a variety of factors: SB characteristics, power relations between the Board of Directors and the SB, shareholding structure, the influence of the Communist Party of China and government, the role of independent directors and the requirements of the corporate law.

Journal Rankings in Business and Management and the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise in the UK

Abstract: The public availability of detailed data from the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise in the UK allows an analysis of the publications cited in submissions to the Business and Management panel. Eighty per cent of the 9,942 publications submitted were journal articles. Submissions to the RAE can be scored in terms of the number of citations they make to journals that appear on various lists, such as the Financial Times list. The concentration of articles in a minority of journals, with 50% of all citations to just 126 journals, means that a core list of business and management journals can be compiled. The core list presented contains 562 journals out of the 1582 journal titles that were cited in Business and Management submissions. It includes all journals with more than two citations overall at least one citation in a 5*, 5 or 4 rated submission. It also includes all journals cited in the RAE from Starbuck’s ranked lists of journals and the Financial Times list.

Introduction: Knowledge Construction and Creation in Organizations*

Abstract: While adopting a knowledge-based perspective on organizations has been valuable, since, among other things, it enables us to see links between organizational learning and a firm's competitive advantage through the development of idiosyncratic capabilities, it has nonetheless tended to treat organizational knowledge as ‘given’, exploring how it is related to other ‘given’ variables. The focus of this special issue is to unpack the notion of organizational knowledge by exploring the processes and practices through which knowledge is constructed and created in organizations. A constructivist perspective assumes that ‘knowledge’ presupposes work and seeks to explore how what comes to be considered as organizational knowledge is established and validated (or fails to do so). By seeing organizational knowledge as work we can further probe into how knowledge is shaped by organizational strategies and incentives and, more radically, how power and politics influence the struggle between competing bodies of knowledge in organizations.

Rethinking Knowledge: A Bergsonian Critique of the Notion of Tacit Knowledge*

Abstract: The recent focus on the intangible resources of the organization in general, and specifically the notion of knowledge, has problematized the notion of organization. Rather than seeing organizations as systems that integrate the use of all kinds of physical, financial and human resources, the knowledge-based view (KBV) of the firm and knowledge management literature emphasize the organization as a site for the development, use of and dissemination of knowledge and other forms of intellectual resources and assets. KBV and knowledge management literature also address the notion of knowledge as such; is knowledge what can be represented by concepts, figures, and statistics, or are there qualities inherent in knowledge that cannot easily be described, disseminated, or procured? The notion of tacit knowledge has been used to denote all forms of knowledge that cannot be represented: knowledge that cannot be fully articulated, expressed in formulas or described in documents. This paper aims to provide a critique of the notion of tacit knowledge as it is used in KBV and knowledge management literature. It examines the notion of tacit knowledge through the philosophy of Henri Bergson and concludes that the notion of tacit knowledge is little more than an umbrella term for unrepresentable knowledge. Thus, the notion of tacit knowledge should be used with care rather than being a residual category of knowledge.

Maybe Bacon Had a Point: The Politics of Interpretation in Collective Sensemaking1

Abstract: Despite major contributions to theories of organizational knowledge from socially situated, practice-based approaches, there remains a blind-spot in this literature concerning power and politics. This paper makes some initial attempts to address this absence by thinking about how far alternative theories of power/knowledge can strengthen and extend practice-based approaches to knowledge. The need for a detailed analytic of the multiple techniques, strategies, and expressions of power/knowledge in concrete social situations and the different ways in which they come together through specific episodes of enactment is highlighted. To illustrate this, we draw on an ethnographic study of an inter-organizational collaboration in the telecommunications sector. This illustration focuses on struggles over meaning during a problem-solving encounter during the later stages of a project for developing and implementing new software for telephone exchanges.

Developing the Concept of Transparency for Use in Supply Relationships

Abstract: Management concern surrounding the supply of goods and services from business to business, and the related attempts to understand the phenomena observed therein, appears to rest upon a broad range of incompatible perspectives, from political science (often limited to considerations of power) to the logistical (akin to manipulation of a great, benign but dynamic jigsaw puzzle). It appears that all perspectives abrade against the difficulties of exchanging information, knowledge and innovation within the relationships between buying and selling organizations and the apparent chronic systemic inefficiency that transactions often represent in this context. This article addresses these concerns, exploring the concept of transparency and the developments necessary for it to be useful in exchanging sensitive information and tacit knowledge in supply relationships. Our central concern is how the understanding of transparency and its commercial importance may change when it is expressed as a manageable element of the relationship between two organizations rather than as a general property of a broader system (e.g. a supply network, industrial sub-sector, geographical cluster) and what utility this differentiation might hold for managers. The conclusion to the article, and the implication for managers, is that transparency might indeed be created and usefully managed within supply relationships but that it would differ fundamentally in meaning from previously posited concepts, with the same name, in different contexts.

The Role of Shocks in Employee Turnover

Abstract: This paper reports the findings from a recent study of nurse leavers at eight large hospitals in the National Health Service (NHS) of England and Wales. The study develops and extends an influential theory of employee turnover by describing how for some leavers a single, jarring event or shock triggers the decision to quit. By elaborating on the nature of shocks for this sample of 352 nurse leavers, the paper allows for improved understanding of nursing turnover and thus offers an example of relevant management research. The analysis of shock illustrates how conventional research methodologies can lead to a distorted picture of turnover. This has wider implications, both for any organization wishing to manage turnover effectively and for future research. The paper adds to the limited body of empirical analysis on actual leavers, thereby contributing to an ongoing methodological debate concerning the use of proxy variables. By highlighting flaws in the dominant methodology used to study turnover, the paper offers an example of management research that is also rigorous, and thus ‘pragmatic’.

An Empirical Investigation of Corporate Citizenship in Australia and Turkey

Abstract: This paper describes a study of corporate citizenship practices and its relationship to dimensions of internal and external corporate culture, customer loyalty and organizational commitment. Empirical data was collected from a cross-industry sample in Turkey and Australia using a questionnaire form developed and validated for other cultures. It was shown that Australian and Turkish firms' practices differed significantly on a number of important variables, but also that it is possible to compare corporate citizenship practices in a way that is not culture-specific.

Bridging the gap between rhetoric and reality : line managers and the protection of job security for ill workers in the modern workplace

Abstract: In the light of the long-standing concern in management regarding the gap that can arise between organizational policy prescriptions and line-management practice, the purpose of this article is to provide insights into the nature and causes of that gap. The particular focus of analysis is the line manager's role in facilitating the employment security of employees who have contracted serious illness, injuries or disabilities. More specifically, the article presents findings from four case-study organizations in the UK, and identifies a number of factors that militate against the ability of line managers to comply with organizational policies on the provision of workplace adjustments and employment security for ill or disabled workers. These factors include: contradictory policy requirements, weaknesses in training, lack of support from relevant internal and external specialists and various work and budgetary pressures. The authors suggest four areas of action that may begin to reduce the potential for conflicts between management and employees, and minimize the legal vulnerability of organizations in an area of increasing domestic and international regulation.

Gender and Employee Attitudes: The Role of Organizational Justice Perceptions

Abstract: In this study, using path analysis, we tested whether procedural justice perceptions mediated the relationship between gender and distributive justice perceptions. Furthermore, we also tested whether the two forms of commitment (affective and normative) mediated the relationships between justice perceptions (distributive and procedural) and tenure intent. One hundred and eighty-three employees from Irish manufacturing organizations participated in the study. As hypothesized, we found support for the mediating role of procedural justice perception on the relationship between gender and distributive justice perception. Results also indicated that affective commitment mediated the relationships between justice perceptions and tenure intent and affective commitment. Finally, normative commitment did not mediate the relationships between justice perceptions and tenure intent. Further analysis using moderated regression analysis showed that gender moderated the relationships between distributive justice perceptions and affective commitment only. Gender did not have any moderating effect on normative commitment or tenure intent. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Narcissus Revisited: The Values of Management Academics and their RoleinBusiness School Strategies in the UK and Canada*

Abstract: The myth of Narcissus provides an appropriate metaphor for the continuing debate over the relationship between academics, business and other stakeholders; most recently expressed in terms of Mode 1 and Mode 2 knowledge and academic entrepreneurialism. Both myth and debate are based partly on conflicts over identity. However, surprisingly little empirical work has been conducted on the identity of management academics. A step towards this is made here by exploring the role of embedded and enduring values as a primary element of academic identity in business schools. Contextualized in the Mode/entrepreneuralism debate, a layered metaphor of academic organization is adopted, in which values are located among deep-set constructs and a comparative and longitudinal perspective employed. A value-ranking instrument is devised, applied and retested over five years in two business schools in Britain and Canada. This reveals values that are widely held by management academics and those that are more pervasive in each institution. Understanding such values helps provide insight into the strategic role of academic identity, grounded in ontological and epistemological frameworks.

National Competitiveness: A Question of Cost Conditions or Institutional Circumstances?

Abstract: The issue of national competitiveness is a matter of considerable importance to both managers and public policy makers alike. Business scholars reflect this importance by their annual production of international indices of country competitiveness. Nevertheless, the notion of national competitiveness is controversial and has both (i) a narrow, concise conception that relates primarily to cost conditions as determined by exchange rates, and (ii) a broader, more nebulous conception that comprises the institutional and systemic circumstances of an economy, such as legal, governmental, public policy and other factors framing countries' wider business environments. In practical managerial terms, national competitiveness is a combination of both these narrow and broad conceptions. However, exactly how important cost conditions as opposed to institutional circumstances are to national competitiveness from a practical business perspective has never been investigated and is not known. This study uses qualitative and quantitative data gathered from senior firm executives in a specimen economy to find out. Hierarchical regression analyses suggest that institutional circumstances are significantly more important than cost conditions to the competitiveness of an economy from a practical managerial viewpoint.

A Study of Industry Evolution in the Face of Major Environmental Disturbances: Group and Firm Strategic Behaviour of Spanish Banks, 1983–1997*

Abstract: This paper examines the story of the evolution of a specific industry through the application of dynamic strategic group analysis. In particular, we analyse the relationship between major environmental disturbances and changes that have occurred over time in the competitive structure of the industry regarding two closely related central questions. First, the way in which these environmental transformations have influenced group patterns and stability, and second, the way in which such environmental disturbances has affected the strategic positioning of individual firms. We resort to alternative theoretical perspectives in an attempt to answer both questions. The empirical setting is the population of Spanish banks over the period 1983–1997. We make use of a new grouping algorithm – the Model-based Clustering or MCLUST – which may be enormously fruitful in future empirical works on strategic groups. This method allows researchers to obtain the optimal number of groupings over time in a much more objective way than the cluster techniques used until now. Compared to previous dynamic studies that only consider the largest firms, our research illustrates how a richer analysis of an industry dynamics can be obtained by using a dynamic analysis of strategic groups. Our results show that while there have been no industry-wide identical groupings year to year, there is an important strategic stability at group and firm-level punctuated by a high degree of strategic instability at times of major environmental disturbances.

Japanese Retailing Through the 1990s: Retailer Performance in a Decade of Slow Growth

Abstract: The development of Japanese retailing through the 1990s is used to illustrate the applicability of a Europe-based growth model in a recessionary market. Through the 1990s the Japanese economy suffered low growth and periods of recession, after strong growth through the 1980s. Retail sales in the 1990s increased only slightly whilst floorspace developments begun in the 1980s and the result of retailer expansion strategies generated increased retail capacity. Large retailers pursued strategies of opening more stores in order to generate sales, but this proved disastrous and resulted in lower productivity, high levels of debt, low levels of innovation and consequential need to restructure. General merchandise and department-store retailers were slow to see the need to restructure and innovate. In contrast, three groups of retailers obtained competitive advantages from the recession, namely retailers who responded quickly to emergent market segments, foreign retailers and e-retailers. The strategic responses to recession and the reasons behind these responses are illustrated and suggestions made on how the experiences of the 1990s will affect development in the early 2000s. Implications of the retailers’ behaviour are indicated for retailer strategies, the restructuring of the sector and for research on strategy and structural change.

Women and Part‐time Work: The Careers of Part‐time NHS Nurses

Abstract: This paper examines theoretical explanations of the employment disadvantage experienced by many female part-time workers. Data from a survey of 643 qualified National Health Service (NHS) nurses is used to establish employment profiles of respondents. Employment profiles reveal that, contrary to many predictions, part-time female nurses do not ‘invest less’ in their careers than their full-time counterparts in terms of qualifications and experience. Neither are part-time nurses relatively ‘uncommitted’ to their careers compared to full-time nurses. It is found that the organizational context affects how opportunities are structured for part-time nurses. The management implications of the findings for the NHS are also considered.

Trope Control: The Costs and Benefits of Metaphor Unreliability in the Description of Empirical Phenomena*

Abstract: The process of communicating and interpreting the meaning of metaphors in business writing is deeply unreliable. This stems from the structure of metaphors in which some of the characteristics of a source domain are transferred to a target domain. The precise selection of characteristics is made by the reader rather than the author of the metaphor, thus creating uncertainty of meaning. Although there are some benefits stemming from the inherent ambiguity of metaphor, the unreliability of the trope not only makes it impossible to choose between competing metaphors, but may distort our view of reality and thus lead to poor management decision-making. Moreover, the unreliability of the interpretation process is so pronounced that some authors have attempted to reject the use of metaphor entirely. However, this paper argues that although it is impossible to avoid employing metaphor, contrary to the conventional wisdom in this subject area, it is possible to improve meaning reliability. Drawing on linguistic theory to explain the recommendations, and illustrative examples from business literature and practice, the papers offers several recommendations for so doing that may be applied throughout the Business and Management field.

Supply and operations: Parallel paths and integrated strategies

Abstract: This paper provides evidence of links between the nature of strategic formulation within firms and subsequent plant performance. The research focuses on how some firms have managed to link operations and supply into an integrated set of mutually supportive strategies. In the current competitive arena firms can no longer rely wholly on internal resource-based capabilities but must instead form strategic partnerships within what are often complex networks. The paper explores how operations and supply functions have pursued parallel paths but have often not been fully integrated within firms. It is argued that such integration, which forms part of what has been termed strategic resonance, can reap enormous benefits in terms of plant-level capabilities for firms.

Demographic and Attitudinal Correlates of Employee Satisfaction with an ESOP

Abstract: A firm’s adoption of an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) has been hypothesized to increase employee productivity. Resulting employee productivity is hypothesized to improve firm profitability and thus ultimately improve stock performance. Most studies to date have tested potential relationships between the mere presence of an ESOP and changes in employee productivity and firm profitability. Few studies have attempted to identify the variables that are associated with employee satisfaction with an ESOP. In order to maximize the productivity gains associated with the adoption of an ESOP, researchers must first identify the relationships and variables most likely to positively affect employee attitudes and subsequently their satisfaction toward an ESOP. The purpose of this paper is to identify the demographic and attitudinal correlates of employee satisfaction with an ESOP. This exploration will provide a more substantive foundation for future research efforts in the area. Correlation and regression results indicated that employees’ perceived influence on decision-making, perceived pay equity and perceived influence on stock performance, when examined separately, were each significant correlates of ESOP satisfaction. When combined with the modelled employee demographics in a step-wise regression model, only employees’ perceived influence on stock performance, perceived influence on decision-making and age explained a statistically significant amount of variance in ESOP satisfaction.

On Financial Crises

Abstract: In the wake of September 11th, the crisis field has gained a great deal of relevance in both academic and practitioner circles. Suddenly, policymakers and managers have become interested in crisis research findings, funding is forthcoming, and academics of many a feather are flocking to the scene. Crisis used to be a ‘sexy’ topic, but it is now red hot. The crisis field is marked by ill-defined boundaries. It is made up of specialized academics drawn from many disciplines (i.e. disaster sociology, public administration, political science, international relations and management). They tend to define crisis in terms of some basic threat to the core values of a system, necessitating urgent response under conditions of severe uncertainty. It is this catch-all character of the crisis definition that allows for communication between these academics and makes for what I here refer to as a ‘generic’ crisis field. So what interesting research findings has this field yielded? This is best discussed and evaluated on the basis of two crucial questions, which, incidentally, signal the societal relevance of this research field. The first question asks why a social system – a firm, a town, a nation or a global network – experiences a crisis. The second question asks why some systems manage to minimize the crisis impact where others suffer severe damages. A general consensus is emerging in the crisis field with regard to these questions, and can be summarized in a handful of principles. The first principle, which can be considered the bottom line of this research consensus, holds that crises will always be with us. We may learn from previous out-of-the-box events and develop tailor-made coping repertoires only to discover that the nature of crisis is continuously changing. The implications are sobering: crisis prevention is a good idea, but it will never make us safe from new crises. Increased airport safety may be great, but it will not protect us from future terrorist attacks. The second principle is deduced logically from the first. If crisis prevention is essentially impossible, organizational and societal resilience must be the proper way to prepare for and deal with crises. The idea of resilience, perhaps explained best by the late Aaron Wildavsky (1988) in his classic Searching for Safety, directs our energy toward the design of organizational structures that facilitate flexible and resourceful answers to unknown future problems. This translates into a formidable challenge. Whereas modern organizations are typically geared toward routine production – effective and efficient – this principle of crisis management demands inherent redundancy. However, this is not something stockholders, stakeholders or voters tend to reward. British Journal of Management, Vol. 15, 191–195 (2004) 191

Network Parenting in International Service Development

Abstract: This paper explores theoretical and practical aspects (i.e. resources allocated, activities undertaken, actors/decisions involved) of corporate 'parenting' in the development of international service networks. A review of the relevant corporate strategy, supply-chain, networks and services management literature underpins a preliminary content (capability; market orientation) and process (top-down; bottom-up) typology of network parenting. This provides the structure for discussion of two telecommunications-sector case studies. Analysis of the data acknowledges the influence of generic network mechanisms (e.g. weak and strong social ties) but the parenting typology also highlights other mechanisms, the effectiveness of which appears contingent on specific parenting roles. The paper details these roles (labelled: governing; training; curating; facilitating) and makes some preliminary comments on the role trajectories (e.g. governing - training) observed. The paper concludes with a discussion of possible directions for future work.