Showing papers in "Journal of Management Studies in 1984"

Organizational characteristics associated with export activity

Abstract: Can various organizational and manager characteristics be empirically related to the level of export activity in the firm? This article attempts to provide an answer to this question using data obtained from a mail-survey of exporting firms. A comprehensive review of the literature is presented first, in order to identify the relevant organizational characteristics hypothesized to be related to export activity. Then, a set of ten characteristics are statistically related to level of export activity (percent of sales exported) using Multiple Classification Analysis and Automatic Interaction Detector technique. The multiple classification analysis reveals five significant correlates of export activity. The automatic interaction detector analysis produced seven distinct exporter types ranging from least active to most active exporter, as well as generating some insights into the nature of interactions among the correlates of export activity. Implications of the findings for public policy, management, and education are discussed last in the article.

Learning and developing from managerial work experiences

Abstract: DURING the last decade there has been an increasing interest in the waymanagers learn from normal work experiences. This has emerged fromscepticism about whether formal management training ever gets used at all(Davies, 1973; Mant, 1969), and questions about whether, even if it is used,it produces the kind of behaviour which might lead to effective management,and hence business, performance (Hays and Abernathy, 1980; Livingston,1971; Revans, 1981). Furthermore the potency of natural learning has beenemphasized at a theoretical level by Kolb e

The importance of boundary spanning roles in strategic decision-making [i]

Abstract: The influence of boundary spanning roles on strategic decision-making was explored in a field study in fifteen organizations. Results support the importance of boundary spanning roles in the strategic decision-making process and the relationship of technology to the differential strategic decision-making influence of different boundary spanning roles.

Subjectivity, sophistry and symbolism in management science

Abstract: Three common criticisms of management science are highlighted: first, the tendency of researchers to subjectively bias substantive approaches, methodologies and research findings; second, the failure to establish within the discipline a core of consensually validated knowledge or commonly accepted body of truth about the nature of management; and three, the inability of management theory to provide tools and techniques of greater pragmatic relevance to corporate decision-makers. Though a basis for these characterizations of management science is confirmed, their significance is reinterpreted. Instead of being regarded as pathologies, they are viewed as inevitable, and not necessarily dysfunctional, concomitants of the emergence and development of management science as a field of intellectual activity possessing reality and significance in its own right.

Devil's advocacy in managerial decision-making

Abstract: There is some debate about the potential value of using devil's advocates in top-level organizational decision-making. In this paper, the contrasting views on this question are summarized briefly and the field and laboratory research on the devil's advocate and related techniques is discussed. This research is then used as the basis for detailed suggestions on the effective use of devil's advocates in improving managerial decisions.

Plateaued managers: their need gratifications and their effort-performance expectations [i]

Abstract: The repeal of mandatory retirement laws will result in new pressures on organizations to motivate and satisfy those managers who have reached their ceiling in the organization. This study compares the satisfaction and motivation (in terms of performance-reward instrumentalities) of a group of plateaued and non-plateaued managers. This was done both with and without controlling for the managers age. Age, rather than plateauing, seemed to be implicated in any observed differences. We found that older managers reported lower satisfaction with future organizational rewards and see stronger instrumentalities for mentoring type activities then do their younger colleagues.

Diversification within australian manufacturing enterprise

Abstract: This study examines diversification of the activities of business organizations. The meaning of diversification has been ambiguous in many studies that have used the concept as a way of describing strategic resource allocation decisions within firms. Many previous studies of diversification have suffered from a number of deficiencies. Some studies have observed the consequences of firms’ resource allocation and made inferences about the influence of organizational and external environmental factors on managers’ decisions affecting diversification. Other studies, that have been concerned with investigating diversification from a focus within the firm, have often adopted a molecular approach, being concerned with a limited number of organizational or environmental characteristics. In an attempt to redress these deficiencies, a contingency theory framework is used to describe and, in part, explain the formulation of decisions affecting diversification. This involves developing an unambiguous definition of diversification, and identifying organizational and external environmental characteristics that may be used to aid understanding of why firms diversify their activities in different ways.

The interdepartmental influence of managers: individual and sub‐unit perspectives

Abstract: This paper examines the extent to which managerial influence over group-interdepartmental decisions is derived from sub-unit contingencies or is due to more individualistic characteristics of the manager. Both individual and sub-unit perspectives are presented in a framework composed of seven power factors each of which is investigated empirically. The major finding from a survey of 142 departmental managers is that individual managerial expertise is more important than sub-unit-based power with access to and control of information being of equal importance. We suggest that the investigation of managerial influence from a sub-unit perspective alone may be insufficient and that, in certain circumstances, both individualistic and sub-unit perspectives should be taken into account.

Comparative organizational effectiveness research leading to an intervention strategy [i]

Abstract: Several literature reviews have concluded that there is little consistency among researchers and practitioners when referring to the concept, ‘organizational effectiveness’. In this study, multiple data gathered on several organizational constituencies for three models of organizational effectiveness are studied to examine empirically the comparability of those models. The relative effectiveness of each organization varied both between and within the theoretical models providing the bases of analysis. Little convergence exists among the models so that problem diagnosis intervention in the processes of small organizations may be more accurate when treating effectiveness as a multivariate concept examined via a given organization's constituencies over time.

Public expenditure cuts and job loss: a union response

Abstract: This article is based upon the findings of a survey which was directed at assessing the response of a public sector union to job loss amongst its members. The study was prompted by the anticipated effects on the union of cuts in public expenditure announced by Mrs. Thatcher's Government in 1979 and 1980. The purpose of the survey was, first, to investigate the processes through which job loss occurred and, secondly, to examine the ways in which the union contested those managerial decisions that affected the job security of its members. The main conclusion of the paper is that union resistance has been relatively sparse and it is suggested that this may be in part explained by the way in which job loss occurred. Of particular importance in this context is the loss of jobs through what we have called ‘job erosion’.