Managers In Large Organizations Research Articles

Complacency and crisis management in large organizations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the nature and importance of crises management in large organizations. The paper highlights factors that lead to complacency in large organizations and the dialectic relationship between complacency and crises. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews current crises, especially at General Motors. It refers to recent debates on the state of management crises and the failure of some large corporations to tackle these crises effectively. Findings – The paper differentiates between complacency and crisis and clarifies how the first leads to crisis. The paper, too, underscores that crisis should not only be viewed from an economic perspective. Rather, its social cost in today’s world must also be considered. Originality/value – The paper provides unique perspectives on the link between complacency and crises and explores avenues to prevent crises or neutralize their impact should they take place.

Contemporary Financial Risk Management Perceptions and Practices of Small-Sized Chinese Businesses

This study investigated the current perceptions and practices of financial risk management at small businesses in China. The researchers took an interpretative approach, using interviews within a case study, to collect qualitative data from Chinese business owners. Despite the well-documented importance of financial risk management in light of the 2008 global financial crises, surprisingly, the data indicated that little progress has been made on implementing an effective financial risk management in many Chinese small businesses. Analysis indicated the core problems in the case study organization stemmed from a lack of expertise, along with insufficient operational resources, for applying risk management. Interestingly, the researchers also found that Chinese small business managers perceived financial risks differently from managers of large organizations in China. Specifically, small business owners preferred to utilize risk transfer and insurance cover to hedge against financial risk.

Application Holy Wars or a New Reformation: A Fugue on the Theory of Knowledge

Application Holy Wars or a New Reformation: A Fugue on the Theory of Knowledge

Embedding Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery within Risk Management

The purpose of this study was to uncover the relationship between the concepts of business continuity and disaster recovery. Utilizing documentary analysis of a comprehensive review of the risk management literature, the study uncovers the chronological evolution of the two concepts dating from 1970 to 2012. Supplementing the review, in-depth interviews were conducted with four risk managers in large organizations located in Melbourne Victoria Australia. Category theme analyses of the interviews generated findings complementing the review and inform the development of a new consolidated 'Holistic Risk Management' model. The innovative model establishes the way in which the two concepts are subsets of, and embedded within, the risk management literature. The findings also show their relationship to emergency management and crisis management.

Can you directly motivate employees? Exploding the myth

PurposeTo guide managers on managing the “organizational environment” of their employees. To return motivation to the employee.Design/methodology/approachFirst by dissecting the psychological contract. Second by matching specific motivations to a maturity model of Human Resource Management.FindingsThe psychological contract is falsely offered as a management tool. Motivation is a function of the maturity level of the organization. The range of motivations available to employees is limited by this maturity level. Employee motivation is not a tool directly available to management. The environment within which employees operate is the maturity level of the organization.Practical implicationsManagement should focus less on attempts to motivate employees directly and concentrate on developing the maturity level of the organization. It is argued that management should attend to managing the environment within which employees work.Social implicationsIn the popular and the professional literature management in large organizations are encouraged to motivate their people. This is a false cry. By understanding and mastering maturity levels, management can make the environment within which employees operate a more fulfilling place to work. Workers can then “draw out” the satisfaction they seek from their own work. “Motivation” is thus returned to its true owner – the employees themselves.Originality/valueThe paper proves that motivation is a function of the maturity level of the organization and not a management tool. It points management to the elements in their organizational environment that indirectly influence employee motivation. The paper will be of interest to business managers, HR managers and academics teaching and researching in related subjects.

Restructuring Managerial Labour in the USA, the UK and Japan: Challenging the Salience of ‘Varieties of Capitalism’

AbstractThis article provides a cross‐national, qualitative investigation into the experiences of middle managers in large organizations in the USA, the UK and Japan, following organizational restructuring. Despite well‐documented national differences in administrative heritage, institutional regimes or ‘varieties of capitalism’, our data point towards considerable similitude across the three countries in terms of a general expression of the need for change, and the concrete impacts of organizational reforms on managerial work. Specifically we analyse the changing nature of work roles, career paths, working hours and spans of control of mid‐level managers in five large firms in each of the three countries. The data demonstrate that middle managers in all three countries face fundamental changes to key areas of their work experience. In Japan, although changes do not amount to a genuine shift towards ‘Anglo‐Saxon’ institutions or business practices, the robust use of organizational reforms with very similar aims and underpinning assumptions to those used in the USA and the UK entails similar impacts in terms of work processes of middle managers across the three nations. This shared experience involved the augmentation of middle management skill levels, responsibilities and span of control, but alongside the downgrading of career expectations, and increased workload and work intensity. We argue that these changes are in keeping with some, but not all, of the features explained and predicted in Bravermanian labour process theory.

Management for sustainable health

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is threefold: to describe how a large organization has successfully worked to achieve sustainable health; compare the work of the large organization with methodologies used by smaller successful organizations; and then to create a model for how managers of larger organizations can work to create sustainable health.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical data were gathered through interviews with managers at different organizational levels and workshops with employees, within a case study in a large bank which received the award “Sweden's best workplace”. The data were also compared to results from earlier case studies of three smaller organizations that have received the same award.FindingsThe results of the studies show coinciding results as to the importance of management commitment and methodologies, such as employee involvement, delegation, goal deployment and coaching, to create a health‐promoting work environment. This indicates that larger organizations do not need any specific methodologies.Practical implicationsBased on the experiences from four successful organizations, managers should mainly consider doing the following: start measuring and evaluating the consequences of sickness absence in their organization; and adopt a management strategy based on humanistic core values that are supported by methodologies and tools.Originality/valueThe paper adds understanding about how managers of large organizations could work practically to overcome management problems in today's working life and support the work and organizational factors earlier described in the literature to create a health‐promoting work environment that stimulates the development of sustainable health.

Research companion to the dysfunctional workplace: management challenges and symptoms

Contents: Preface Introduction PART I: BARRIERS TO PRODUCTIVE WORK 1. When Good People Do Nothing: A Failure of Courage Christopher R. Rate and Robert J. Sternberg 2. Personality Disorders and Derailment at Work: The Paradoxical Positive Influence of Pathology in the Workplace Adrian Furnham 3. Problems of Employees with Personality Disorders: The Exemplar of Obsessive-compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) Michael Kyrios, Maja Nedeljkovic, Richard Moulding and Guy Doron 4. Tyrants and Workplace Bullying Janice Langan-Fox and Michael Sankey 5. The Struggle of the Self: Identity Dysfunctions in the Contemporary Workplace Glen Kreiner 6. Why Bad Leaders Stay in Good Places Debra L. Sharpiro and Mary Ann Von Glinow 7. Leadership and Ethics: The Darker Side of Management Marc J. Schabracq and Iva Embley Smit 8. Employee Loss of Trust in Management: Surviving a New Era Roger C. Mayer 9. Employee Attachment and Deviance in Organizations Thomas E. Becker and Rebecca J. Bennett 10. Work Hours and Work Addiction: Work Now-Pay Later Ronald Burke and Teal McAteer 11. Feedback Phobia? Why Employees Do Not Want to Give or Receive Performance Feeback Jeannette N. Cleveland, Audrey S. Lim and Kevin R. Murphy 12. Everybody Hurts, Sometimes: The Language of Emotionality and the Organization Anjana Anandakumar, Tyrone S. Pitsis and Stewart R. Clegg 13. Humour in Organizations: No Laughing Matter Robert E. Wood, Nadin Beckmann and Fiona Pavlakis PART II: MANAGING ORGANIZATIONAL MAYHEM 14. The Role of Organizational Practices and Routines in Facilitating Normalized Corruption Mahendra Joshi, Vikas Anand and Kevin Henderson 15. The Dysfunction Territoriality in Organizations Graham Brown and Sandra L. Robinson 16. Towards a Relational Model of Workplace Aggression Julian Barling and M. Sandy Hershcovis 17. Understanding and Deterring Employee Theft with Organizational Justice Edward C. Tomlinson and Jerald Greenberg 18. When Teams Fail in Organizations: What Creates Teamwork Breakdowns Dana E. Sims and Eduardo Salas 19. Collective Wisdom as an Oxymoron: Team-based Structures as Impediments to Learning Michael D. Johnson and John R. Hollenbeck 20. The Bright and Dark sides of Personality: Implications for Personnel Selection in Individual and Team Contexts Timothy A. Judge and Jeffery A. LePine 21. Motives and Traits as a Driver of Adaptive and Maladaptive Managerial Styles Sharon L. Grant 22. Avoiding Entrepreneurial Frustration: Building a Management Team Robert D. Hisrich and Julie Lutz 23. Organizational Change and its Effect on Managers in Large Organizations Les Worrall, Cary L. Cooper and Kim Mather 24. Helping Creativity and Innovation Thrive in Organizations: Functional and Perspectives Neil Anderson and Rosina M. Gasteiger 25. Dysfunctional Subcultures in Organizations: Threat or a Key to Enhancing Change? Roy J. Lewicki, David Greenberger and Erin Coyne

Job satisfaction of managers in Cyprus

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify job satisfaction issues for managers from large organizations in Cyprus. It aims at identifying Cypriot managers' areas and levels of job satisfaction and developing recommendations for ways Cypriot managers can improve job satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachPrimary data are collected from a questionnaire using closed ended questions. Data analysis methods used include frequency distributions, factor analysis and regression analysis.FindingsResults indicate that there are three areas that influence the job satisfaction levels for managers in Cyprus: self‐fulfillment, independence, and job environment. It appears that managers in the private sector experience higher levels of job satisfaction in issues regarding their self‐fulfillment. In addition, managers supervising large numbers of employees have higher job satisfaction levels for elements in their job environment than managers with smaller numbers of subordinates.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is limited to Cypriot managers in large organizations in Cyprus.Originality/valueThis is believed to be the first study to look at job satisfaction levels in Cyprus. These results provide some information that may be useful to employers in Cyprus as they work to ensure their managers experience high levels of satisfaction with their jobs.

Modeling mixed push and pull promotion flows in Manpower Planning

Manpower Planning is a useful tool for human resource management in large organizations. Classical Manpower Planning models are analytical time-discrete push and pull models. Push models are characterized by the same promotion and wastage probabilities for people within the same group. This assumption is suitable in organizations where for instance promotions are used for reasons of personnel motivation or employees are promoted after succeeding in an exam. In many organizations, people are only promoted when there are vacancies at other levels. In those cases, pull models can be used. Pull models only assume known wastage probabilities. In practice, both assumptions may occur simultaneously. In this paper, a mixed push-pull model is developed for organizations in which both types of flows are considered.

Modelling heterogeneity in manpower planning: dividing the personnel system into more homogeneous subgroups

Manpower planning is very useful for human resource management in large organizations. Most manpower models are concerned with the prediction of the future behaviour of the staff: they might leave the organization, get promoted or acquire more and new skills. This behaviour can vary a lot among different employees, what makes prediction difficult. It is common to tackle this problem by dividing the whole heterogeneous personnel system in several more homogeneous subgroups. This approach is often used to develop manpower planning models for prediction, control or optimization. Although the division in homogeneous subcategories is a fundamental and important step in the application of the models, up till now literature neglects to discuss a procedure to deal with this in practice. This paper suggests a general framework to find the distinguished homogeneous subcategories by determining and considering observable sources of personnel heterogeneity. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Who are we on the way to the EU? The profile of typical Cypriot employees as seen by their managers

Cyprus has just been accepted to join the European Union. It is essential, therefore, for everybody in Europe to have an accurate perception of the Cypriot labor force. Employee characteristics are identified in an attempt to improve performance, reduce dissatisfaction and manage the workers more efficiently. This study attempts to describe the characteristics of typical Cypriot employees as seen through the eyes of their managers. Primary data collected from questionnaires distributed to managers of large organizations are used for the analysis. Frequency distributions, cross tabulations and factor analysis have been used to analyze the primary data collected. Female managers, older managers and public sector managers utilize similar strategies for managing their workforce. Cypriot employees have been identified to have high levels of ability/initiative, are self‐important and arrogant, highly materialistic and group oriented.

Management accounting change in small technology companies: towards a mathematical model of the technology firm

The primary purpose of this paper is to explain management accounting (MA) change in 93 small Finnish technology firms in terms of their organizational characteristics and motivation patterns. Factor analysis identifies four motivation patterns among the companies. Hence four types of companies emerge called ‘change-oriented’, ‘stable and conservative’, ‘performance-contented’ and ‘discontent resourceless’ organizations. A mathematical model of the technology firm as an adaptive organism with a certain probability to survive, is constructed to obtain expectations for the differences in MA change between the identified types. The model shows that the MA systems (MASs), which help management in large organizations to identify directions for future action (for example, short-term budgeting) may be ineffective in small technology companies. The probability of the company’s survival is sensitive to the intensity of competition and cost efficiency. In an environment where an identified, innovative project cannot be undertaken with certainty, the length of the strategic planning period has a limited optimum level. Moreover, the four types of companies examined have significantly different motivation levels to change their MASs. The change-oriented company must improve its MASs remarkably to compensate for the large negative effect, especially, of high competition, whereas the stable and conservative company has little or no pressure for improvements in its MASs. The performance-contented company has no real motivation to change its MASs because there is no competition. But the discontent resourceless company, which functions in an atmosphere of high competition with shorter customer relationships, is compelled by its environment to adapt its MASs although it has, otherwise, low motivation for change and is acutely resource constrained. These expectations were supported by correlation and regression analyses applied to explore the relationship of the four types to MA change.

Executive coaching by proxy in a large organization: a leadership development tool

Executive Summary The area of executive coaching is gaining rapid interest in the field of organizational consultation. It has expanded beyond the role of helping an executive get back on track, to developing managerial skills and leadership development. Some of the potential benefits of executive coaching have not yet been fully utilized by many organizations in part due to cost. Resource constraints have made it difficult to implement executive coaching across a large group of managers in large organizations. This paper describes how one very large, geographically dispersed organization implemented a comprehensive coaching by proxy program through the use of in-house resources. The specific application content coaching was aimed at helping managers better utilize and benefit from organizational climate surveys.

Entrepreneurial Risk and Strategic Decision Making

Risk taking has long been a central theme of the entrepreneurship literature. However, research on the risk propensity of entrepreneurs has met with virtually no empirical support even though entrepreneurs consistently engage in risky events. This article attempts to resolve this paradox by examining entrepreneurial risk through the lens of cognitive psychology and decision making. The author proposes that entrepreneurial risk may be explained by recognizing that entrepreneurs use biases and heuristics more, which is likely to lead them to perceive less risk in a given decision situation. The data indicate that entrepreneurs do indeed use representativeness more in their decision making and are more overconfident than managers in large organizations. These findings provide a new perspective for understanding how entrepreneurs deal with the inordinate amount of risk associated with starting new ventures.

The Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program: A Brief Case Study in Institutional Constancy

In an article published in November/December 1996 issue of Public Administration Review, LaPorte and Keller argued that management of large organizations that deal with hazardous materials (materials that pose significant risks over long periods) presented extraordinary challenges for public institutions. They postulated that, in our society, such organizations are Pressed to operate at nearly fault-free levels in order to remain viable. LaPorte and Keller went on to describe a concept they called They argued that such constancy is a necessary (but not sufficient) attribute of organizations, if they wish to achieve public acceptance in their operations with hazardous materials (see also LaPorte and Metlay, 1996). LaPorte and Keller describe institutional constancy from a number of perspectives: perceived need for it, barriers to achieving it, and an outline of matters that must be attended to if institutional constancy is to be achieved. In suggesting further paths for research, LaPorte and Keller urge that case studies be developed that examine the characteristics and experiences of institutions that have achieved a degree of institutional constancy. They mention a number of organizations that, based on externally available information, appear to meet their criteria for institutional constancy. One of these organizations is Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. The authors concur that much can be learned regarding institutional constancy by reviewing history, organization, and management of such organizations as Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program (or Naval Reactors, as it is more commonly known). This program is responsible for design, construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning of nuclear power plants that propel approximately 40 percent of major combatant ships of U.S. Navy. As such, Naval Reactors has managed building and operation of approximately 240 nuclear reactors and, importantly in today's environment, safely and responsibly decommissioned more than 50 of these reactors and their associated equipment. Since organization has safely and effectively dealt with hazards associated with nuclear power for almost 50 years, it seems appropriate to evaluate some of reasons for that success. In following discussion, Naval Reactors will first be described from an insider's perspective, that is, discussed in term that program (and its chroniclers) have employed. This description is intended to provide a feel for program The attributes that emerge during this discussion will then be compared to basic structure of institutional constancy described by LaPorte and Keller. Inside Naval Reactors Naval Reactors is a joint program of Navy and Department of Energy. The need for a joint effort stems from fact that Department of Energy is only government agency empowered by law to conduct research and development on power reactors (Rockwell, 1992, 44-46, 54-64; Duncan and Hewlett, 1974, 60-67, 88-94). In basic terms, Navy defines required features of nuclear power plants; Department of Energy develops and tests plants to ensure that they meet requirements. The Navy builds, operates, and decommissions shipboard plants, and then turns decommissioned reactor plants over to other organizations within Department of Energy for burial.(1) Very early in development of naval nuclear power, H. G. Rickover, then a Navy captain, saw that this statutory division of responsibilities posed grave difficulties. He recognized that development and utilization of this revolutionary new source of power should be treated as a series of closely related technical functions including research and development, detailed design, procurement of apparatus, maintenance and repair of equipment, and selection and training of personnel. …

Differences between entrepreneurs and managers in large organizations: Biases and heuristics in strategic decision-making

Executive Summary The purpose of this study was to further explore differences between entrepreneurs and managers in large organizations. However, rather than focusing on previously examined individual differences, this study examined differences in the decision-making processes used by entrepreneurs and managers in large organizations. Building on nonrational decision-making models from behavioral decision theory, we asserted that entrepreneurs are more susceptible to the use decision-making biases and heuristics than are managers in large organizations. To understand why entrepreneurs and managers in large organizations may vary in the extent to which they manifest biases and heuristics in their decision- making, it is important to understand the utility of nonrational decision-making. Under conditions of environmental uncertainty and complexity, biases and heuristics can be an effective and efficient guide to decision-making. In such settings, more comprehensive and cautious decision-making is not possible, and biases and heuristics may provide an effective way to approximate the appropriate decisions. The use of heuristics has also been found to be associated with innovativeness. Perhaps a critical difference between these sets of individuals is the extent to which they manifest biases and heuristics in their decision-making. We examined differences between entrepreneurs and managers in large organizations with respect to two biases and heuristics: overconfidence (overestimating the probability of being right) and representativeness (the tendency to overgeneralize from a few characteristics or observations). In this study, entrepreneurs are those who have founded their own firms and are currently involved in the start-up process with the average time since founding of 1.7 years. The analysis for this study involved responses from 124 entrepreneurs. Managers are individuals with middle to upper level responsibilities with substantial oversight in large organizations. To be included in this study, the managers had to oversee at least two functional areas (sample average was 4.55 functional areas). Usable responses were received from 95 managers. The results from the logistic regression analysis show strong support for both hypotheses. Even after controlling for numerous factors, such as several traits and demographic factors, enduring support was found for the way entrepreneurs and managers in large organizations make decisions. Our overconfidence and representativeness variables correctly categorized entrepreneurs and managers more than 70% of the time. Thus, this research indicates that entrepreneurs do behave differently than do managers in large organizations and that these differences are substantial. Practically, we speculate that without the use of biases and heuristics, many entrepreneurial decisions would never be made. With entrepreneurial ventures in particular, the window of opportunity would often be gone by the time all the necessary information became available for more rational decision-making. Additionally, successfully starting a new business usually involves overcoming multiple hurdles. Using biases and heuristics as simplifying mechanisms for dealing with these multiple problems may be crucial. To face such hurdles from a strict econometric approach would not only postpone decisions, but would in all likelihood make them overwhelming. More specifically, overconfidence may be particularly beneficial in implementing a specific decision and persuading others to be enthusiastic about it as well. The use of biases and heuristics may also offer some help in explaining why entrepreneurs sometimes make bad managers. Whereas the use of cognitive biases may be beneficial in some circumstances, it can lead to major errors in others. Although research has yet to establish performance implications, it is possible that the more extensive use of heuristics in strategic decision-making may be a great advantage during the start-up years. However, it may also lead to the demise of a business as a firm matures.

Ethical issues and dilemmas in the mental health organization.

Agency directors, middle managers in large organizations, and managers in general must be concerned with managing ethics as part of personnel management. The authors discuss the ethical dilemmas that face administrators and how such issues can be resolved.

BIASES AND HEURISTICS IN STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ENTREPRENEURS AND MANAGERS IN LARGE ORGANIZATIONS.

The research question How are entrepreneurs different from managers in large organizations? was addressed. This study hypothesized that entrepreneurs utilize biases and heuristics in strategic de...

Recommendations for decentralized information technology innovation and management

Abstract Numerous factors, such as the emergence of microcomputers and changing attitudes toward job design and responsibility, are leading to the increased decentralization of information technology and management in large organizations. This article presents five recommendations that could foster technology innovation within the context of decentralization. The recommendations have potential value for any large organization, public or private, that has cross‐cutting information technology needs.