Showing papers on "Organizational culture published in 1998"

Market orientation and organizational performance: Is innovation a missing link?

Abstract: In recent years, a market-oriented corporate culture increasingly has been considered a key element of superior corporate performance. Although organizational innovativeness is believed to be a pot...

Culture and climate for innovation

Abstract: Notes that many companies pay “lip service” to the idea of innovation and stresses that becoming innovative requires an organisational culture which nurtures innovation and is conducive to creativity. Considers the nature of organisational climate and of organisational culture, focusing on factors which make for an effective organisational culture. Looks at the interplay between various organisational factors and innovation and suggests elements which promote innovation. Concludes that the most innovative companies of the future will be those which have created appropriate cultures and climates.

Winning through Innovation: A Practical Guide to Leading Organizational Change and Renewal

Abstract: Winning Through Innovation: A Practical Guide to Leading Organizational Change and Renewal Tushman, Michael L. and O'Reilly, Charles A., 256 pp., Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1997. Reviewed by Subodh P. Kulkarni, Assistant Professor in School of Business at Howard University, Washington, D.C. Professors Tushman and O'Reilly are well known for their research on innovation and organizational culture. In this book, the authors address a fundamental and interesting issue underlying organizational change and innovation: that of how firms can achieve a balance between stability and change. Businesses are not likely to prosper or survive in the long run without this balance. One of the book's key premises is that short-term success may constrain a firm's ability to change. Short term successes often occur in larger, older, more structured organizations, the source of structural and cultural inertia, which yields success in stable environments and failure when environments change. Therefore, a company's culture holds the key to success (or failure) in the long run. To create and sustain a competitive edge in the long run, companies must learn how to manage incremental and revolutionary change. The key, according to the authors, is to develop an "ambidextrous organization." Tushman and O'Reilly define ambidextrous organizations as those having internally consistent structures and an internal operating culture that provides for excelling today, while also planning for the future. The ambidextrous organizations are, thus, engaged in a balancing act between the management of incremental and revolutionary technologies. Further, these organizations have very different cultures within a company (or even a business unit, for that matter). Vision is vital to ambidextrous organizations, often displaying one vision that hosts multiple cultures in the unit. Of course, a firm can have multiple cultures under one roof by spinning off different business units and managing them independently. This is unacceptable to the authors. It is important to manage them as a whole, or as a system. The thing that holds the system components together is the overarching vision for the technology firm. That is why the book emphasizes strategic intent or competitive vision; because without a common, overarching purpose and set of values, the ambidextrous company just does not hold together. So it is not only different cultures, but different structures, systems, rewards, and competencies that need to be managed together. Drawing on their extensive research, consulting practice, as well as the experiences of managers from several "ambidextrous companies," the authors develop a model that can be used by executives to understand the dynamics of change necessary for long-term success. Toward this end, the book provides several tools for identifying and diagnosing the causes of performance gaps and for developing action plans to attain, and maintain, industry leadership. The book is divided into nine chapters. Chapter 1 is introductory, and it outlines the concepts underlying the authors' model. Chapter 2 highlights the significance of the concepts introduced earlier in the context of global change and innovation. Chapters 3 through 6 focus on the building of capabilities, competencies, and cultures that can generate a sustainable competitive advantage. Chapter 4 develops a model that highlights the congruence among an organization's strategies and four distinct factors: critical tasks, culture, structure, and people. A lack of congruence often results in performance gaps. Chapter 5 outlines how organizational culture-the selecting, socializing, and rewarding of workers consistent with the company's goals-promotes this congruence. It also illustrates how to assesses an organization's culture. Chapters 7 and 8 stand out in particular because in these chapters the authors introduce techniques for building an ambidextrous organization. …

Being Different Yet Feeling Similar: The Influence Of Demographic Composition And Organizational Culture On Work Processes And Outcomes

Abstract: This research was supported by a Center for Creative Leadership grant to the first author. We thank Dan Brass, Ben Hermalin, Rod Kramer, and three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on earlier drafts of the paper, and Linda Johanson for working her usual editorial magic. We also thank Zoe Barsness, Joe Baumann, Mary Cusack, Brenda Ellington, Tiffany Galvin, Anne Lytle, Ann Tenbrunsel, Melissa Thomas-Hunt, and Kim Wade-Benzoni for help in administering the study. Drawing from self-categorization theory, we tested hypotheses on the effects of an organization's demographic composition and cultural emphasis on work processes and outcomes. Using an organizational simulation, we found that the extent to which an organization emphasized individualistic or collectivistic values interacted with demographic composition to influence social interaction, conflict, productivity, and perceptions of creativity among 258 MBA students. Our findings suggest that the purported benefits of demographic diversity are more likely to emerge in organizations that, through their culture, make organizational membership salient and encourage people to categorize one another as having the organization's interests in common, rather than those that emphasize individualism and distinctiveness among members..

Attitudes, Values and Organizational Culture: Disentangling the Concepts:

Abstract: Sentiments collected through paper-and-pencil surveys are often arbitrarily classified according to categories imposed by the researcher, such as attitudes, values, and manifestations of organizational culture. The question is, to what extent are such classifications supported by the distinctions that respondents make in their own minds? In this paper, distinctions between categories of sentiments are supported empirically from the results of an employee survey in a large Danish insurance company (n = 2,590). The 120 questions used were classified into attitudes, values, perceptions of organizational practices (for diagnosing organizational cultures), and demographics.Perceptions of organizational cultures were measured using an approach developed by the author and his colleagues in an earlier study across 20 Danish and Dutch organizational units. In the insurance company study, employee attitudes were found to be clearly distinct from employee values. Perceptions of organizational practices were unrelate...

Learning and knowledge acquisition through international strategic alliances

Abstract: Executive Overview Global competition is forcing firms to rethink the question of how new organizational knowledge is acquired. New knowledge provides the foundation for new skills, which in turn can lead to competitive success. However, few firms systematically manage the process of knowledge acquisition. This paper explores international strategic alliances and their potential for learning and knowledge acquisition. In bringing together firms with different skills, knowledge bases, and organizational cultures, alliances create unique learning opportunities for the partner firms. Based on the assumption that organizational learning is both a function of access to new knowledge and the capabilities for using and building on such knowledge, the paper focuses on alliance knowledge accessibility and firm learning effectiveness.

Understanding gender and organizations

Abstract: The Many Faces of Gender and Organization Different Perspectives on Gender Division of Labour and Sex Typing Masculinities, Femininities and Work Gender and Identity Gender, Organizational Culture and Sexuality Women in Management Women in Management II Four Positions Broadening the Agenda Reconstructing Gender and Organization Studies

Culture at Work in Aviation and Medicine: National, Organizational and Professional Influences

Abstract: The book looks at culture as a complex framework of national, organizational and professional attitudes and values within which groups and individuals function. The focus of this book is an exploration of the influences of culture in two professions: aviation and medicine. A further focus is on commercial airline pilots and hospital operating room teams, showing the effects of professional, national and organizational cultures on individual attitudes, values and team interaction. The attention has been directed not only to applied research but also to seeking practical tools with which to work with myriad relationships between culture, error, and error management. Numerous case studies and practical examples are presented from Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas to make the book valuable to practitioners and managers to help them improve their organization, as well as to researchers who are interested in gaining understanding of types of culture.

Understanding Compensation Practice Variations Across Firms: The Impact of National Culture

Abstract: With operations spread worldwide, firms that find themselves competing in a global marketplace are looking at the implications of the admonition, “When in Rome.…” This raises the question: “Do cultures of countries have an impact on the generally accepted methods of managing human resources?” The answer to this question is the focus of this article. By developing culture-specific propositions for four categories of compensation practices based on status, performance, social benefits and programs, and employee ownership plans, we seek to determine the extent to which Hofstede's four dimensions of culture are associated with specific compensation practices. Support is found for most of the propositions. The implications of the finding for the management of human resources by multinational firms are discussed.

Modal Choice in a World of Alliances: Analyzing Organizational Forms in the International Hotel Sector

Abstract: In the new management landscape, where interfirm collaborations are common, international companies today have fully owned operations and equity joint ventures, as well as non-equity alliances, which in the service sector include franchising and management service agreements. What determines the optimum choice of organizational mode? The new syncretic theory developed in this paper combines concepts from transaction costs theory, agency theory, corporate knowledge and organizational capability theories to answer this question. The paper then tests these concepts to explain the incidence of these modes in the international hotel business, using canonical discriminant analysis, as well as logistical regression using a generalized LOGIT model. The choice of “entry mode” is shown to be determined by both country or environmental variables, as well as firm-specific variables.

Managing Like a Man: Women and Men in Corporate Management

Abstract: "Why can't a man be more like a woman?" seems to be the catchcry of modern management gurus. They claim to be revaluing feminine "soft" skills as qualities necessary for corporate success. This book looks behind the rhetoric and investigates the gender relations of senior management in a post-equal opportunities world. The proportion of women managers has risen dramatically in the last twenty years, yet there are still very few women "getting to the top". Based on a major study of five multinational corporations with model equality policies, this book takes a critical look at women's and men's experience in a changing corporate climate. Wajcman brings to bear feminist theories on equality and difference in employment, together with organisational analysis, in her assessment of whether women really do bring a distinct feminine style of management to tomorrow's organisations. The main focus is on the process of masculine organizational culture that sexualizes women and excludes them from senior management. But how comfortable are men with the masculinity of management? This book presents fascinating material on the private lives of managers and looks at the interconnections between home and work for men as well as women. The author reveals how relations between the sexes are negotiated in the corridors of power and at the kitchen sink. The book will be of interest to undergraduates, postgraduates and academics in the fields of sociology, gender studies and management.

Identifying Organizational Subcultures: An Empirical Approach

Abstract: Organizations have cultures, but parts of organizations may have distinct subcultures. The question of what is the proper level for a cultural analysis of an organization is generally handled intuitively. The organizational culture of a large Danish insurance company (3,400 employees) was measured, based on employees’ answers to 18 key questions about work practices. Subsequently, scores were determined separately for 131 work groups, and these were subjected to a hierarchical cluster analysis, which produced a dendrogram. The dendrogram showed that within the company there were three distinct subcultures: a professional subculture, an administrative subculture, and a customer interface subculture. These fit a theoretical prediction by Jones (1983); the cultural rifts between the subcultures could be readily recognized in the company’s practice, and had tangible consequences.

Strategic Intent for IT Outsourcing

Abstract: Companies today are outsourcing the activities of their IS departments at unprecedented rates. Interviews with senior executives in fifty companies worldwide show that three kinds of strategic intent drive the decision to outsource. Companies pursuing IS improvement seek cost reduction, better performance from core IS resources, and the acquisition of new technical skills and competencies. Outsourcing for business impact focuses on deploying IT to improve critical aspects of business performance. Outsourcing for commercial exploitation aims to leverage technology-related assets through the development and marketing of new technology-based products and services. Each type of strategic intent requires different approaches and tactics in the areas of the contract type, the performance measurement and evaluation scheme, the compensation system, and the assignment of decision-making rights to the vendor. Since the nature of the risks and rewards for each of the three types is different, the control mechanisms must be different as well. In all cases, the customer's relationship with the vendor must be aligned with the strategic intent underlying the outsourcing initiative. When strategic intent is well understood and the critical issues are carefully addressed, the chances for success are greatly increased. In evaluating IT outsourcing opportunities and structuring relationships, managers should design the outsourcing contract to reflect and reinforce each strategic intent pursued; make sure that their organization and the vendor have the right mix of competencies and know-how; make sure that their organizational culture and work practices are compatible with those of the vendor; and enable continuity by designing contracts and relationships to anticipate change.

Creating a Market Orientation

Abstract: A market orientation is a business culture in whichall employees are committed to the continuous creation of superiorvalue for customers. However, businesses report limited successin developing such a culture. One approach to create a marketorientation, the approach taken by most businesses, is the ’’programmatic‘‘approach, an a priori approach in which a business uses educationprograms and organizational changes to attempt to implant thedesired norm of continuously creating superior value for customers.A second approach is the ’’market-back‘‘ approach, an experientialapproach in which a business continuously learns from its day-to-dayefforts to create and maintain superior value for customers andthereby continuously develops and adapts its customer-value skills,resources, and procedures. Theory suggests that both approachescontribute to increasing a market orientation. It also suggeststhat when the a priori education of the programmatic approachis sharply focused on providing a foundation for the experientiallearning, the combined effect of the two learning strategiesis the largest. The implication is that the two strategies mustbe tailored and managed as a coordinated joint strategy for creatinga market orientation.

Managing at the Speed of Change

Abstract: panamabustickets.com Study has actually finished composing Managing At The Speed Of Change This is a most recent edition presented for you. Now, you can be read and downloaded Managing At The Speed Of Change in pdf, txt, rar, word, zip, ppt, as well as kindle. managing at the speed of change keith walker managing at the speed of change how resilient managers succeed and prosper where others fail daryl r. conner e x e c u t i v e b o o k s u m m a ry ?executives who suc-cessfully implement change, regardless of their location, display many of the same basic emotions, behaviors,

Exploring the Conceptual Expansion within the Field of Organizational Behaviour: Organizational Climate and Organizational Culture†

Abstract: textDevelopments within social and exact sciences take place because scientists engage in scientific practices that allow them to further expand and refine the scientific concepts within their scientific disciplines. There is disagreement among scientists as to what the essential practices are that allow scientific concepts within a scientific discipline to expand and evolve. One group looks at conceptual expansion as something that is being constrained by rational practices. Another group however suggests that conceptual expansion proceeds along the lines of ‘everything goes.'The goal of this paper is to test whether scientific concepts expand in a rational way within the field of organizational behavior. We will use organizational climate and culture as examples. The essence of this study consists of two core concepts: one within organizational climate and one within organizational culture. It appears that several conceptual variations are added around these core concepts. The variations are constrained by rational scientific practices. In other terms, there is evidence that the field of organizational behavior develops rationally.

Validating the competing values model as a representation of organizational cultures

Abstract: The competing values model (CVM) describes organizational culture in terms of what appear to be mutually exclusive value dimensions: structural control vs. flexibility, focus on internal vs. external stakeholders, and means vs. ends. The apparent paradox in simultaneously expressing competing values has implications for a variety of organizational phenomena, including leadership, decision making, and strategic management. The CVM thus offers promise for providing a common metric for multi‐level, trans‐organizational, and cross‐cultural analyses. To date, however, underlying assumptions regarding the competing values framework as a characterization of culture have not been fully validated. This research provides a test of the competing values model with methodology that is conceptually consonant with the paradoxical nature of the theory. Using a sample drawn from 10 U.S. organizations, a Qsort and multidimensional scaling analysis produce qualified support for a structure of organizational cultural values consistent with the CVM. Further, this study elaborates the CVM by suggesting a mechanism whereby the apparent paradox of competing values might be more effectively managed.

Market orientation and dimensions of strategic orientation

Abstract: The specific domain of market orientation has been the subject of much scrutiny this decade. Both conceptual and empirical advances have been made to establish the marketing orientation construct as central to marketing decisions, business activities and organizational culture. However, a lacuna remains in understanding how market orientation may be related to competitive strategy. It is argued that market oriented activities and behaviours are articulated through strategic means which guides the firm in its product‐market. Conceptualized as “strategic orientation of the business enterprise”, competitive strategy is discussed as an important vehicle through which market orientation may be manifest. Six dimensions of strategic orientation are presented and statistical analyses, of data generated from a survey of medium and large industrial manufacturing businesses, specified “proactiveness”, “analysis” and “futurity” as positive and significant in their association with firms’ levels of market orientation. Discussion of these findings is made, along with various conclusions and implications of the study for executive and academic audiences.

Doing Leadership Differently: Gender, Power, and Sexuality in a Changing Business Culture

Abstract: The Australian workforce is amazingly diverse, with men and women bringing a huge range of cultural backgrounds, skills and life experiences to their jobs. But this wonderful diversity is not reflected in the ranks of our senior business and corporate leaders. This book argues that we are clinging to an outdated leadership.

Two Cheers for the Virtual Office

Abstract: Technology has made it possible to redefine where work is done. The "virtual office" offers companies and their workers many benefits: lower real estate costs, higher productivity, and increased flexibility. At the same time, organizations forfeit the benefits of the traditional office: a shared understanding of the corporate culture; a sense of loyalty; informal communication; access to people, information, and materials; and managerial control. Drawing on the results of field research, the authors discuss how firms can maximize the benefits while minimizing the losses of these alternative work arrangements. The authors identify five common arrangements: "telecommuting" refers to situations in which workers with fixed offices occasionally work at home; "hotel"-based workers come into the office frequently, reserving a cubicle where they can use the telephone and link their laptop computers to the network; the "tethered worker" has some mobility but reports to the office on a regular basis; "home" workers work entirely from a room in their homes; and "fully mobile" workers are on the road or at customer sites during the workday. Companies considering adopting virtual work must be clear about the type of virtual office that best addresses their needs and its advantages and disadvantages. If virtual work is to pay off, managers must adopt new approaches in five key areas: managing people, managing information, managing teams, managing processes, and managing facilities. Companies need to institute new information flows to replace those that are lost; educate workers on how to be more effective providers and consumers of information; provide training in virtual worker management skills and personal work strategies; and create dialogue on how to deal with changed family relationships. Effective management of alternative work arrangements means mixing virtual and nonvirtual offices. Companies should analyze the variety of approaches possible and their particular circumstances to determine just how much virtuality is appropriate.

The Character of a Corporation: How Your Company's Culture Can Make or Break Your Business

Abstract: It is corporate culture which really makes organizations triumph in the long term. Gareth Jones and Rob Goffee introduce a way of assessing and harnessing corporate culture. Having identified four distinct types of corporate culture - Networked, Mercenary, Fragmented and Communal - they advise executives on how to change their culture. They pose and answer two questions: what is your organization's culture? and is it the right one for the business challenges of the 21st century? In addition, the authors a ddress the ethical issues of manipulating the ways in which people relate to one another, and describe what kind of leadership styles tend to emerge in each type of culture.

"Reinventing" Government: Does Leadership Make the Difference?.

Abstract: What makes management reform or reinvention successful? The operating principle of the Clinton-Gore reinvention model for changing the federal bureaucracy is that an organization's culture is a major determinant of organizational performance. The Clinton-Gore model was operationalized in 1993 when President Clinton announced, "Our goal is to make the entire federal government both less expensive and more efficient, and to change the culture of our national bureaucracy away from complacency and entitlement toward initiative and empowerment" (Gore, 1993, 1. Emphasis added.) This article examines leadership as the most significant variable that affects the operating principle underlying the Clinton-Gore reinvention model of management reform. Inability to change the culture has been identified as the most serious obstacle to change in the federal government (Kettl, 1994; Carroll, 1995; Carroll and Lynn, 1996) and simultaneously criticized as too simplistic and unrealistic in its approach (DiIulio, Garvey, and Kettl, 1993; DiIulio, 1994; Moe, 1994). While this article assumes, along with Wilson (1989), Barzelay (1992), and many others, that organizational culture does affect organizational performance, it examines what a leader does in a specific type of organizational change. From the clearly defined role of leaders in public sector organizations described by Robert Denhardt (1993) to the broadly applicable examples of the role of the leader in the private sector collected by Hesselbein, Goldsmith, and Beckhard (1996), the argument has been made clearly and strongly that leaders have a tremendous effect on individual organizations and on the performance of those organizations. The key question for empirical validation of those intuitions appears to be, "How can any observable effects of leadership on organizational culture and performance be identified and recorded?" This article approaches the issue of evidence by offering empirical observations organized around the four competencies of leadership developed by Bennis (1993) as the independent variable, organizational culture as the intervening variable, and two measures of reinvention, the dependent variable. The two measures used are National Performance Review (NPR) implementation and organizational performance. The observations lead to the conclusion that the most effective leaders foster, support, and sustain organizational cultures that facilitate the type of management reform envisioned by "reinventing government" and the attendant increases in effectiveness and efficiency. Reinvention Is a Major Initiative of the Clinton Administration Reinvention as a type of executive management reform remains a major initiative of the Clinton administration. The reinvention effort was launched in 1993 by the work of 200+ members of the federal bureaucracy who prepared and published, under the leadership of Vice President Gore, the NPR. The review identified specific and general changes required to improve efficiency and effectiveness in each executive department and agency. It also provided the philosophical basis for those changes--changing the current organizational culture, described by the President as one of "complacency and entitlement," (Gore, 1993, 1), to one of initiative and empowerment. The National Performance Review asserts that organizational culture plays a large role in bringing about improvements in efficiency and effectiveness. Although few recommendations of the review specifically address organizational culture, most assume changes in organizational culture once implemented. The purpose of the first phase of this research was to test the Clinton-Gore model relationship between organizational performance and organizational culture explicit in the President's 1993 statement. If such a relationship exists, how does organizational culture contribute to a government that works better and costs less? The first phase found a strong relationship between organizational culture and performance, but many ambiguities remained. …

Measures of Performance in UK International Alliances

Abstract: This study examines measures of performance for a sample of UK international alliances. The paper builds on previous studies in comparing objective and subjective measures of performance and examining the influence of national culture on performance evaluation, but it goes beyond them by examining in detail the ways in which measures of performance are affected by differences in perception arising from the parent companies. Corporate culture is also included with national culture as a key determinant in the evaluation of performance. The paper also reports on new work on the differences in subjective performance evaluation between organizational modes of alliances and develops this in the context of alliance termination, and perceptions of differences in national culture and corporate culture.

Professional Ethics and The Culture of Trust

Abstract: The cause of ethical failure in organisations often can be traced to their organisational culture and the failure on the part of the leadership to actively promote ethical ideals and practices. This is true of all types of organisations, including the professions, which in recent years have experienced ongoing ethical problems. The questions naturally arise: what sort of professional culture promotes ethical behaviour? How can it be implemented by a profession and engendered in the individual professional? The answers to these questions are of interest to business ethicists since the causes of ethical problems in business are often the same and the professions, as ethically challenged organisations, make useful and informative analogues for the measures to be adopted or avoided when the attempt is made to raise the ethical standards of business. Given this focus on the professions, it will be argued that the usual, direct attempts to control unethical behaviour by using codes of ethics, legislation and self-regulatory regimes, are not successful. The answer, it will be argued, lies in using an enforced self-regulation model that aims for ethics indirectly. Such a strategy seeks to develop a goal-orientated professional culture which is actively promoted by the leadership of the profession as well as the members. Specifically, the culture is one that seeks to promote trust in the profession and trustworthiness as a virtue exemplified in each individual. It will be argued that in order to develop a professional culture that cultivates trust a profession will need to develop certain institutions, programs and structures within the profession. I conclude by setting out a model of these trust-cultivating structures.

Chinese Business Negotiating Style

Abstract: Introduction Theoretical Foundation Chinese Business Culture Illustrations and Analyses Conclusions

Managing the global workforce: Challenges and strategies

Abstract: Executive Overview The globalization of the workplace has become a fact of life for a substantial segment of U.S. companies, bringing a dramatic expansion of the scope of workforce management and a whole host of new organizational challenges. Using data collected from interviews with international human resource managers in eight large companies, this paper identifies three practical challenges to managing the global workforce and four strategies for meeting those challenges. The three challenges are: deployment. knowledge and innovation dissemination, and talent identification and development. The four strategies are: aspatial careers, awareness-building assignments, SWAT teams, and virtual solutions. A diagnostic framework for each challenge is provided that indicates when to use which strategy and basic implementation points are presented.

Measuring the Effectiveness of Nonprofit Boards

Abstract: The Board Self-Assessment Questionnaire (BSAQ) was developed to assess board performance in six areas that previous research has shown to characterize highly effective boards. Data from 623 board m...

Cultural and structural constraints on total quality management implementation

Abstract: We present a model delineating the influence of national culture and organizational culture/structure on the eff ectiveness of total quality management (TQM) implementation. Researchers can use this model to examine further connections between contextual variables and TQM success. Practitioners can identify the expected success of TQM programmes in their company, and use the four-step proactive approach to diagnose and change the company's culture and structure.