Managerial Excellence Research Articles

What the Overall doesn’t tell about world university rankings: examples from ARWU, QSWUR, and THEWUR in 2013

In the various world university ranking schemes, the Overall is a sum of the weighted indicator scores. As the indicators are of a different nature from each other, Overall conceals important differences. Factor analysis of the data from three prominent ranking schemes reveals that there are two factors in each of the ranking systems. For Academic Rankings of World University, the two factors are both academic in nature with a time element and are negatively correlated. For the QS World University Ranking (QSWUR) and Times Higher Education World University Rankings (THEWUR), there are two factors each, one for academic excellence and one for managerial excellence. The two factors in QSWUR have a low negative correlation, but the two factors in THEWUR are not correlated. These findings do not support the assumption that the indicators are mutually supporting and additive as conceptualised by the ranking providers. To avoid misinterpretation of the Overall, it is suggested that world university ranking needs be re-conceptualised to have a higher-order institutional excellence, comprising two lower-order measures based on academic excellence and managerial excellence. Possible future development is discussed.

Reflections on the Management of Soccer Clubs in Brazil

Objective . I discuss the present reality and future trends of the Brazilian soccer market, which primarily involves the big clubs. These clubs are already undergoing major changes, particularly with respect to increasing adoption of best practices in business management. However, there is still major challenges to be overcome in the future until our major clubs can finally achieve a standard of management excellence that guarantees them a financial sustainability and the possibility of forming increasingly strong and competitive teams. Methodology . This work follows a more free and open methodology seeking to stimulate a discussion, in the academic and practical arenas, about management and governance of football clubs. The paper has two parts: the first is a discussion about the current situation of the Brazilian soccer clubs, and the second is a projection of some future trends, given the need to professionalize the clubs and make them more prepared for a possible internationalization and transformation of managerial excellence in organizations. Limitations . This work does not pretend to make an accurate and definitive diagnosis of soccer clubs in Brazil, nor to discuss a final set of actions to be undertaken by the clubs themselves, in order to improve and modernize their management. I believe, however, that it can be a first step towards a more formalized and well directed discussion on the subject. Originality/Value . We dealt with an academically underexplored theme, particularly in Brazil, and we think such a theme deserves a greater attention given the importance of soccer in our country. Copyright © 2015 Instituto Brasileiro de Inovacao Financeira All rights reserved

Leadership Competencies Profiles and Managerial Effectiveness in Greece

This paper investigates the association of leadership roles’ competencies as well as managerial effectiveness profiles with gender and job outcomes (job satisfaction and performance). In addition, the influence of leadership competencies on individual effectiveness of managers is explored, providing a course for action toward managerial excellence. Drawing upon a sample of 132 male and female managers in Greek firms, a structured questionnaire was developed adopting the Competing Values Framework (CVF) in order to measure both leadership roles’ competencies and managerial effectiveness. Resultsrevealed that managers characterized by high levels of job performance excel in practicing all leadership competencies, while gender does not exert significant impact. A similar pattern emerged for managerial effectiveness profiles. Moreover, leadership competencies associated with the innovator, director and mentor roles found to contribute most to managerial effectiveness, thus specific directions for managerial action has been derived.

Competencies required of project managers at the design phase of mass house building projects

AbstractContemporary management researchers argue that competency-based measures are the only viable means for refocusing project managers (PMs) on what it takes to achieve managerial excellence towards engendering their professional development in a modern competitive work environment. Subsequently, a study has identified the need to establish and match the competency profiles of PMs to the project lifecycle in Mass House Building projects (MHBPs), to help improve managerial performance on these projects from inception to completion. Drawing on the well acclaimed task-contextual organizational theory of job performance, 110 structured questionnaires containing design related behavioural competencies were delivered to Property Developers in Ghana to establish their consensus on what they consider to be the core competencies that PMs must possess at the design phase of MHBPs. The data was then subjected to multiple regression analysis (stepwise method) towards isolating the relevant competencies. The findings suggest that from the perspective of senior managers (specifically managing directors of housing development companies in Ghana), they expect PMs to possess the following competencies towards ensuring effective design management at the design phase of the lifecycle of MHBPs: job-knowledge of mass contract packaging; job knowledge of performance characteristics of materials for design of MHBPs; technical quality of strategies for managing the design process; job knowledge of thermal comfort assessment and provisions in the design of MHBPs and then job knowledge of relevant design codes, legislation and regulation for MHBPs. The paper provides an important empirical impetus to a foundation paper which has already established competencies for the construction phase of the lifecycle of MHBPs. It is therefore important that PMs focus their attention on these findings towards improving their managerial and professional development for effective design management of MHBPs.

Ethics and Managerial Excellence Through Diversity Management Among Employed Women and Men in Nigeria

The study was designed to explore the need for sound behavior and managerial excellence through employed women and men in Nigeria and make necessary recommendations. Managing diversity is about the realization of the potential of all employees. Diversity is both an ethical question as well as a productivity issue. It is a combination that extends to personnel and human resource management functions. Any organization that values and promotes diversity creates a work environment that respects and supports employees with non-traditional backgrounds so that they can contribute to their fullest productivity potential. The survey research design was used while the questionnaire and personal interview methods were used to generate data for the study. The respondents were selected through the simple random sampling technique. Data analyses were done through tables, frequencies, percentages and the X2 statistics. It was found that diversity management was not being promoted among employed women and men in Nigeria. Eleven recommendations were made based on the result of the study.

Legend of titanic or how to search for hospital excellence: On best-in-class comparison

Hospital benchmarking initiatives are normally based on the comparision of figures and ratios, e.g. mortality rate, infection rate, length of stay, and number of conversions. However, is it fair to compare mortality rates without having specific informations pertaining to the patient severness level, the quality and efficiency of the pre-clinical emergency organization? The new setup European Health Management Association (EHMA) special interest group ‘Best Practice Management’ is focused to look for clinical and/or organizational and managerial excellence in European hospitals. Learning from best practices, not from figures marks the apporach this initiative is working on.

Embedded sustainability: the next big competitive advantage

Companies know how to meet the demands of shareholder value: years of managerial excellence testify to this achievement. Many also know how to create stakeholder value – through traditional approaches such as CSR and philanthropy which predictably lead to trade-offs and added costs. What remains elusive is discovering is how to meet both shareholder and stakeholder requirements in the core business – without mediocrity and without compromise – creating value for the company that cannot be disentangled from the value it creates for society and the environment. What if sustainability was embedded into the DNA of your organization? How can you incorporate environmental, health and social value into its very core? Many companies, despite their best intentions, bolt on sustainability as an afterthought to their core strategies. They trumpet green initiatives and social philanthropy which lie at the margins of the business, with symbolic wins that inadvertently highlight the unsustainability of the rest of their activities. Today's ecological and social pressures require a different business response – one that existing strategy frameworks fail adequately to address. In Embedded Sustainability, authors Chris Laszlo and Nadya Zhexembayeva explain and predict how companies can better leverage global challenges for enduring profit and sustained growth. They introduce the marquis concept of embedded sustainability: the incorporation of environmental, health, and social value into the heartbeat of the product life-cycle with no trade-off in price or quality – no social or green premium. This book helps readers to comprehend and implement the notion of embedded sustainability. At its best, embedded sustainability is invisible, similar to quality. In addition to delivering socially and environmentally conscious products for consumers, it is capable of considerably motivating employees. Most of all, it enables smart companies to create even more value for both their shareholders and stakeholders.

Reading Human Nature for Managerial Excellence – An Indian Way

It is only the mankind that strive their best to alter the environment they live in for their betterment or detriment. The 19th C and 20th C have seen that the mankind is making and managing the changes on a large scale given the contribution of the various ‘revolutions’ starting from the Industrial Revolution to the Information revolution. The change management, though it involves giving up of or modifying the existing technology or practices and going in for new technologies or practices altogether, basically involves managing the change in the minds of the people. This requires the knowledge of human nature or characteristics. Many scholars have suggested various methods including reading verbal language, non-verbal communication, body language, psychometric tests to know the aspects of people. It is also suggested in the literature that the behavior of people varies across different cultures, faiths, religions, countries, etc. This paper attempts to present, from Indian Management Thought dating back to 100-500 CE, ten parameters or symptoms or indicators to know or read ten human nature or aspects or behavioural characteristics that are ‘universally’ applicable to all the mankind on this Earth irrespective of culture, religion, etc. They seem to be not only consistent with the modern views but also relevant and valid even today!

Corporate governance in a developing economy: barriers, issues, and implications for firms

PurposeEffective corporate governance is significant for firms in developing countries because it can lead to managerial excellence and help firms with a weak corporate governance structure to raise capital and attract foreign investors. The purpose of this paper is to examine the barriers, issues, and challenges hindering effective development and implementation of corporate governance in Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachA combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods was employed to collect information. Specifically, data were collected from 296 managers, company presidents, and board of directors in selected firms. Descriptive data and interview analyses are presented with respect to the barriers and issues hindering effective corporate governance development and implementation in Nigeria.FindingsThe study provides significant current information on corporate governance and barriers hindering its development and implementation in Nigeria. The findings reveal a number of constraints that hinder the implementation and promotion of corporate governance in Nigeria. These constraints include weak or non‐existent law enforcement mechanisms, abuse of shareholders' rights, lack of commitment on the part of boards of directors, lack of adherence to the regulatory framework, weak enforcement and monitoring systems, and lack of transparency and disclosure.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was limited to four cities in Nigeria. A broader geographic sampling would better reflect the national profile. Another limitation could stem from the procedure used in data collection (drop off and pick up). However, extreme measures were taken to protect the identities of the respondents.Originality/valueThe significance of this study stems from the fact that very few studies have explored the impact of human resource challenges and prospects in Nigeria. The results provide additional insights into corporate governance practices in Nigeria, a sub‐Saharan African country. This region has thus far been neglected by management researchers, and so the insights gained from this study will contribute to the future development of this line of research, particularly in a non‐Western country like Nigeria.

Competitive excellence in the global supply chain

Competitive pressure forces companies to exert themselves in order to survive and to grow. When competition is intense, only excellent companies are positioned to survive. Competitive excellence derives from managerial excellence which has turned to the creation of world-class supply chain operations, along with its philosophies, approaches, tools and technologies to assure excellence. Even though talk of protectionism has surfaced with the strains of the downturn in the world economy, globalisation has changed the fabric of competition in the market and has imposed new and more exacting requirements on companies and their supply chains. In the global market, a company must achieve excellence on five critical competitive requirements, namely on quality, cost, flexibility, innovation and customer service, creating a compelling paradigm by which supply chain operations will be judged. This paper explores how companies can pursue competitive excellence in their supply chain, and thereby gain a global mindset, rapid response time and sustainable competitive performance.

Bridging bureaucracy and democracy in Europe: A comparative study of perceived managerial excellence, satisfaction with public services, and trust in governance

The cross-country study of public administration based on citizens’ surveys in Europe is a relatively novel approach to analyzing the social and political dynamics of the continent. The goal of this study is to examine some aspects of bureaucracy and democracy as perceived by knowledgeable citizens in six countries (Ireland, Israel, Lithuania, Norway, Slovakia, and Spain). A rationale is developed to support hypotheses about the relationship between democracy and bureaucracy. The study also proposes hypotheses about differences between the countries in terms of satisfaction with public services, trust in governance and public administration agencies, and a set of managerial-oriented variables of the public sector (i.e. perceived innovation, responsiveness, professionalism, organizational politics, leadership and vision, ethics and morality). The study’s findings indicate that various aspects of bureaucracy and democracy differ across countries and that democratic longevity may be a good explanation for these differences.

Decision-Making: Some More Decision-Rules for Managerial Excellence

Various scholars in modern times have provided decision-rules to give criteria to guide the decision-makers, such as maximization of benefits, minimization of costs, both maximization of benefits and minimization of costs simultaneously, optimization (maximizing or minimizing satisfying the gives constraints) of the given measures, mini-max rule, maxi-min rule, mini-min rule, maxi-max rule, Hurwicz rule, Laplace or Basyes criterion, mini-max regret rule, satisficing rule, break-even rule, etc. All these decision rules consider only the ‘quantitative’ criteria or ‘benefits’ arising out of the given alternatives or works. This paper attempts to present some more decision-rules, focusing not only both on quantitative and qualitative criteria but also various dimensions of management decisions, from an Indian contribution to management thought from a more-than-2000-year-old Thirukkural, to help guide decision-makers in managing business at both micro level and macro level.

Time Dimensions for Managerial Excellence

‘The first or second evidence, of genuine intelligence, is – leave a business unbegun, or, if begun, then see it done.’ So says the more-than-5000-years old The Panchatantra. The science of management prescribes various methods of accomplishing the tasks or businesses undertaken. In all these methods ‘time’ plays a crucial role. Various aspects of time have to be carefully considered by the managers, i.e. the decision-maker. This paper attempts to present the various dimensions or aspects of Time to be carefully considered for decision-making as prescribed in a more-than-2000-years old Indian work on management – The Thirukkural.

The challenge of effective governance: the case of Swiss Air

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to address corporate governance structures. Effective corporate governance can lead to managerial excellence but managerial ethical excellence does not always exist without effective corporate governance. Embedded in both effective corporate governance and managerial excellence is the “rightness of decisions” or the ethical decision making process. This paper analyzes this key process in the case of the failure of Swissair.Design/methodology/approachThe authors examine the key corporate governance structure through an explanatory case analysis of Swissair. They look at the structure by applying institutional theory rather than agency theory. It is hypothesized that corporate governance structures must comply with the norms generated by various stakeholders as well as economic incentives. No one set of norms may dominate the compliance; otherwise a corporation loses legitimacy and resources. It is contended that this lack of compliance of all stakeholder norms led to the failure of Swissair.FindingsThe authors examined the strategies for governance in Swissair leading up to its failure. Critical examination of the various elements of effective corporate governance results in a model presented here for assimilating appropriate norms of behavior into the corporate decision‐making process. They purport that adoption of the model by corporations will improve decision making leading to improved survival and performance.Originality/valueThe case analysis provides for the development of a model of corporate governance which includes consideration of all facets of society, its stakeholders and the norms the stakeholders generate. It is contended that companies must consider ethical, social and political norms of behavior in corporate governance structures as well as economic concerns.

A non‐profit theater's strategy focuses on experiences

PurposeThis case study aims to demonstrate how the Timeline Theatre, a non‐profit organization that has won awards for managerial excellence and artistic achievement, has implemented both an experience‐driven strategy (its conscious choice) and an ongoing commitment to co‐creation of unique value through experiences (its values‐based approach). By adopting both, TimeLine has achieved significant artistic and organizational growth.Design/methodology/approachThe case traces the non‐profit's strategy development and its implementation of two innovative strategic management concepts.FindingsThe paper finds that TimeLine's strategy and core values are both important factors underpinning its run of success.Practical implicationsThe case provides a model for other organizations that want to experiment with these strategic concepts.Originality/valueThe ideas of co‐creation of value and experience‐based strategy are mutually reinforcing and become more powerful taken in combination. In settings where experience‐based offerings involve the customer directly, opportunities for co‐creation become abundant. Further, application of the co‐creation model can lead directly to “new engagement experiences of value to the customer.”

Quality measurement in oncology practices

The prolonged, ubiquitous use of practice management systems and the more recent use of electronic medical record systems in oncology have led to the accumulation of significant repositories of financial, operational, and clinical data. This article examines the use of these data to provide peer-to-peer benchmarking of operational and financial information and a series of data-driven national indices of clinical treatment patterns in oncology. Although not directly a measure of the presence or absence of managerial excellence or clinical quality outcomes, these benchmarks and indices do measure the degree to which processes in place may be beneficial to higher quality management of clinical, financial, and operational outcomes.

A Handbook of Management Techniques: A Comprehensive Guide to Achieving Managerial Excellence and Improved Decision Making (3rd ed.)

A Handbook of Management Techniques: A Comprehensive Guide to Achieving Managerial Excellence and Improved Decision Making (3rd ed.)

A multifaceted performance excellence framework for project-based organisations

Project-based work has become increasingly prevalent in many industries and sectors. However, it presents a particular challenge in terms of managing and assessing the performance of those involved, as outcomes are often the product of complex patterns of involvement from a wide range of stakeholders. This paper reports on a research that has attempted to overcome this difficulty through the development of a multifaceted performance excellence framework for project managers. The framework is based on three interrelated components of managerial performance excellence: role-focused, performance excellence criteria; job-focused, task-task competences; and person-focused, attribute-based competencies. This hybrid approach to performance management provides an evaluative framework adaptable for a variety of applications, including recruitment, development and training, succession planning and deployment. It offers an innovative alternative to normative competence-based approaches, which arguably do little to engender performance excellence within dynamic project-based sectors.

Gestão do Conhecimento na análise de falhas: mapeamento de falhas através de sistema de informação

O desempenho das empresas em ambientes concorrenciais encontra-se cada vez mais relacionado com a capacidade das empresas em produzir, armazenar e disseminar conhecimento. Esta importância é intensificada quando o conhecimento é usado para a análise de falhas, com o objetivo de evitar a ocorrência de problemas e aumentar a confiabilidade dos sistemas. Dentro deste contexto o presente trabalho apresenta a aplicação da Gestão do Conhecimento para a análise de falhas em uma empresa distribuidora de energia elétrica. O foco deste artigo é a apresentação de um modelo para mapeamento de falhas e de um sistema de informação que operacionaliza o método. Tal sistema auxilia na construção das árvores de falhas, no armazenamento de documentos, fotos e descrições relacionadas para cada árvore de falhas desenvolvida. Em suma, este trabalho apresenta uma aplicação prática da Gestão do Conhecimento que enseja uma metodologia nova e de uso comprovado.

Framework Programme 5 (FP5) impact assessment: a survey conducted as part of the five-year assessment of European Union research activities (1999-2003)

Every four years, the European Union conducts an assessment of its past research activities. On the last two occasions (2000 and 2004) this has involved a questionnaire survey to Framework Programme participants focused on goal attainment, project impacts and overall satisfaction with the programmes. This paper reports the results of the 2004 survey. It concludes that goal attainment and impacts were in line with expectations but that programme efficiency could be improved. The chances of project success could also be enhanced via selection criteria prioritising clearly specified goals, technical and managerial excellence and strategically important projects in core technology areas. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.