Perceptions Of Senior Executives Research Articles

U.S. Student Knowledge Gaps in the Interpersonal Skills Competency

A national survey was conducted to determine the current state of senior executive perceptions of recent entrant managers within corporate headquarters, hospital systems, and freestanding hospitals. The survey was constructed based on leadership interpersonal competencies and competency-based career development programs. The goal of the study was to determine the perceptions that senior executives have about the interpersonal skills of recent entrants. A total of 676 respondents returned the survey, representing 31 percent of the mailing sample. In a follow-up study to 368 matriculating graduate students to determine their knowledge gaps in the transformation, execution, and people domains of the NCHL competency model, it was determined that the “people competency” received minimal attention in comparison to competencies in the transformation and execution domains. Graduate students did not recognize that their interpersonal skills needed enhancement. The conclusion is that impressing upon students that interpersonal skills are important to their long-term career success requires reinforcement at the graduate school level.

La influencia de los escalafones superiores en el retorno sobre el activo de las empresas del sector de consumo no cíclico

The upper echelons theory, which was initially introduced by Hambrick and Mason (1984), affirms that the cognitions, values, and perceptions of senior executives influence the strategy selection process, and consequently, the company’s performance. Accordingly, the overall objective of this study was to verify the existence of the influence of demographic characteristics of senior executives in the business economic performance of the companies listed in the non-cyclical sector of the BM&FBOVESPA (Sao Paulo Stock Exchange in Brazil) in 2014. The study sample consists of 39 companies of the non-cyclical sector and the data collected were then provided by 182 directors. Based on the results, it was noted that among variables such as education level, age, gender, and time in office, age was the only variable that did not show any statistically significant relationship with the organizational performance.

Alignment of governance and senior executive perceptions of culture.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the alignment of perceived organizational culture between Health Board chairs and Board members with that of their respective senior executive teams. It compares the degree of alignment between these two groups, and analyses them against District Health Board (DHB) performance using the New Zealand Ministry of Health's national measure "shorter stays in Emergency Departments." Design/methodology/approach Primary survey data were collected across eight DHBs using a modified version of the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument and utilizes a sample of both higher and lower performing DHBs as defined by the "shorter stays" measure. Findings Many health organizations cite Ovseiko and Buchan's (2012) preferred culture as an ideal model. However, this study's findings indicate that most DHBs scored higher than the preferred score for "Hierarchical" and "Rational" cultures, and lower for "Clan" and "Developmental" cultures, and therefore calls into question the validity of this organizational profile as the "preferred" cultural state. Research limitations/implications This research considers perceived organizational culture from the perspective of the Board members and their respective senior executive teams. It uses a relatively small sample size and excludes potential interactions of national culture. Practical implications The findings indicate that healthcare organizations should de-emphasize the dominant "Hierarchical" and "Rational" cultures, and promote "Clan" and "Developmental" cultures within their organizations as a means of potentially improving healthcare performance. Originality/value Organizational culture has been highlighted as a major component of performance within healthcare organizations, yet very few studies examine how organizational culture is perceived by governance and executive groups. This study empirically counters prevailing knowledge regarding the most appropriate organizational cultures for healthcare organizations.

Self and senior executive perceptions of fit and performance: A time-lagged examination of newly-hired executives

Drawing on the person–organization fit literature and person-categorization theory, we proposed that new executive performance depends on both their self-perceptions as well as their fit as seen by senior executives. Using three-phased, multisource data from newly-hired executives of a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company across their first six months on the job, we found that senior executive pre-entry person–organization fit expectations of their followers (new executives) are positively related to their post-entry person–organization fit perceptions through the partial mediating role of their leader–member exchange relationships. Furthermore, results also revealed that senior executive person–organization fit perceptions were significantly and positively related to new executive in-role and extra-role performance, but only when new executives’ own perceptions of person–organization fit were low.

Organizational capabilities and business performance: When and how does the dark side of managerial ties matter?

Though the dark side of business-to-business relationships exists at both the firm and personal level, recent research evidence suggests that the theoretical conceptualization and empirical investigation concerning the latter is still under development. Building upon theoretical perspectives of organizational capability, organizational networking and social capital theories, this study investigates the boundary conditions of personalized business-to-business relationships (managerial ties) on business performance. Specifically formulated hypotheses are tested using the perceptions of senior executives in 137 Taiwanese firms operating in a variety of industrial sectors. Our study extends extant literature by revealing that the dark side of managerial ties is evident in the perceived management capability-political ties-performance and technology capability-business ties-performance interplays. More importantly our survey results are corroborated by evidence from interview results with twelve senior executives. Such findings collectively demonstrate the dark side of political ties (governmental interference in employment, blockage of information flow as well as conflicts of interest), and business ties (reciprocal obligations, time consuming factors and maintenance costs).

How Health Management Leaders Evaluate the Interpersonal Skills of U.S. Business and Health Management-Trained Professionals

Abstract A national survey was conducted to determine the current state of senior executive perceptions of recent entrant managers within corporate headquarters, hospital systems, and freestanding hospitals. The survey was constructed based on leadership interpersonal competencies and competency-based career development programs. A total of 676 respondents returned a survey, representing 31 percent of the mailing sample. The goal of the research was to determine the perceptions that senior executives have about the interpersonal skills of recent entrants to the field of health care management and identify best practices for organizational training of such entrants. The research in this study focuses on MBA versus MHA preparation and how senior executives view entry managers from each discipline. While there is no statistically significant difference in how senior executives evaluate REMs with an MBA or MHA, there were interpersonal competencies that REMs from all educational backgrounds needed to develop. Senior executives reported that the MBA graduates needed to enhance their ability to accept constructive criticism, take direction, control their emotions, read other’s emotions, enhance their ability to work with others, handle situations with diplomacy, and build rapport with the management team. Senior executives reported that MHA graduates need to enhance their ability to exercise authority, confront others about mistakes, and improve their understanding of organizational politics. Senior executives also observed the need to require additional training of recent entrant managers in areas of management skills on understanding organizational politics, using a variety of techniques to influence others, handling difficult people or situations using diplomacy, confronting others about their mistakes, and exercising authority.

The interpersonal skills of recent U.S. entrants to the field of healthcare management

A national survey was conducted to determine the current state of senior executive perceptions of recent entrant managers within corporate headquarters, hospital systems, and freestanding hospitals. The survey was constructed based on leadership interpersonal competencies and competency-based career development programs. A total of 676 respondents returned a survey, representing 31% of the mailing sample. The goal of the research was to determine the perceptions that senior executives have about the interpersonal skills of recent entrants to the field of health care management and identify best practices for organizational training of such entrants. Findings reveal that senior executives view the recent entrant manager favorably regardless of age, gender, education, and non-clinical/clinical background. Senior executives also observed the need to require additional training of recent entrant managers in areas of management skills on understanding organizational politics, using a variety of techniques to influence others, handling difficult people or situations using diplomacy, confronting others about their mistakes, and exercising authority.

Barriers and motivations affecting Information Systems usage by Hajj–Umrah religious tourism operators in Saudi Arabia

Hajj & Umrah religious tourism accounts for seven million visitors each year in Saudi Arabia. The government has recently taken initiatives to promote the use of Information Systems (IS) in the religious tourism industry, encouraging firms to adopt IS innovations like e-commerce and enforcing the use of the Makha’a information system in Umrah for external pilgrims and the Yosr information system in Hajj for internal pilgrims. This study outlines the motivations and challenges that affect the utilisation of various IS services in the Saudi religious tourism industry through a qualitative analysis of the views and perceptions of senior executives and owners of travel firms. The findings suggest that while government initiatives and industry competitiveness were two positive factors promoting IS use, there are some major barriers preventing private firms from fully utilising the advantages of information systems. These include external factors such as lack of support from the IT industry and access to IT resources as well as internal factors within an organisation such as lack of commitment or the need for professional IT expertise. The study finds that relative advantage is a critical contributor to IS utilisation which depends on information systems characteristics.

The spirits of Corporate Social Responsibility: senior executive perceptions of the role of the firm in society in Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and the USA

This is a pre-print of an article in the Socio-Economic Review. The definitive publisherauthenticated version is: Witt, Michael A., and Gordon Redding. 2012. The Spirits of Corporate Social Responsibility: Senior Executive Perceptions of the Role of the Firm in Society in Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and the United States. SocioEconomic Review, 10(1), 109-134. It is available at: http://ser.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/mwr026?ijkey=oHwpzKdZ0K7KLzc&keytype=ref

Analysing the lobby-effect of port competitiveness’ determinants: a stochastic frontier approach

Building upon a formerly performed study on port competitiveness, this article discusses the use of a stochastic frontier model as an interesting novel use to test, identify and correct respondents’ bias by applying it to competitiveness analysis based on perceptions of senior executives. Measuring the importance of competition determinants of seaports, conventionally analyzed using a SWOT-analysis based on (transport) infrastructure as a prime requirement for port activity growth, is an important issue to port management. However, it seems that the “institutional” environment of a seaport is also critical in obtaining a competitive advantage. In Haezendonck et al. (2000 and 2001) those port specific advantages and disadvantages were identified using factor analysis and L1-regression on the perceptions of 75 respondents, all senior executives and experts, through a survey. As regards the results of this study, critiques were formulated on the use of perceptions, often biased due to the political lobbying potential of the results. Since respondents often see independent studies as an opportunity to obtain more or early government subsidies, attract new investment projects or at least highlight the attention on their specific problems and demands, they were prone to underestimating the positive impact of the key success factors of the studied seaport compared to its main rivals, in this case major seaports in the so-called Hamburg–Le Havre competitive range. The purpose of this article is to test the assumption that respondents significantly underestimate the positive impact of port specific advantages and to see which of the respondent subgroups within the 75 respondents sample are more responsible than others for this underestimation. In addition, we argue and demonstrate that the use of a stochastic frontier method is appropriate for this matter. Each of 25 considered competition determinants of the original study is decomposed into a noise and “efficiency” term, based on the Bayesian stochastic frontier model (BSFM). In this article, we find evidence that BSFM could be used to test the “lobby-effect” or underestimation of the real effect of determinants, that terminal operators as a subgroup of respondents, are more likely to underestimate the key success factors than the subgroup of port experts and that those determinants that are directly related to government action show more underestimation than competitiveness determinants that result from private investments.

Comparing senior executive and project manager perceptions of IT project risk: a Chinese Delphi study

AbstractThe success rate for information technology (IT) projects continues to be low. With an increasing number of IT projects in developing countries such as China, it is important to understand the risks they are experiencing on IT projects. To date, there has been little research documenting Asian perceptions of IT project risk. In this research, we examine the risks identified by Chinese senior executives (SEs) and project managers (PMs), and compare these two groups. The importance of top management support in IT projects is well documented. Prior research has shown that from the perspective of IT PMs, lack of support from SEs is the number one risk in IT projects. Surprisingly, senior executives' perceptions towards IT project risk have never been systematically examined. One reason why lack of support from senior executives continues to represent a major risk may be that senior executives themselves do not realize the critical role that they can play in helping to deliver successful projects. In this study, we use the Delphi method to compare the risk perceptions of senior executives and project managers. By comparing risk factors selected by each group, zones of concordance and discordance are identified. In terms of perceived importance ascribed to risk factors, PMs tend to focus on lower‐level risks with particular emphasis on risks associated with requirements and user involvement, whereas SEs tend to focus on higher‐level risks such as those risks involving politics, organization structure, process, and culture. Finally, approaches for dealing with risk factors that are seen as important by both SEs and PMs are provided.

Whatwerethey thinking? Reports from interviews with senior finance executives in the lead-up to the GFC

The impact of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) on capital markets has demonstrated that corporate stakeholders (including shareholders, lenders and independent board members) need to be far more aware of the decision-making processes followed by corporate executives. Gaining insight into these processes is difficult at any time, yet attempting to uncover (in any meaningful sense) how executives reached critical decisions in the lead-up to the GFC is almost impossible in hindsight. This article overcomes this problem in that it reports the results of interviews conducted with senior Australian finance executives in the lead-up to the GFC. These interviews were designed to elicit granular explanations for the rationale underpinning major corporate finance decisions, and their timing and subjects provide a unique ex ante profile of the perceptions of senior executives in large firms as the GFC developed. The most significant finding is that the corporate executives shared a decision framework with core feat...

Maybe Wilson Was Right: Espoused Values and Their Relationship to Enacted Values

Public administration scholars have little understanding of the operation of values within public sector organizations. Because the institutional values literature suggests that behavior consistent with American values by public organizations and officials can make a difference in successful policy outcomes, this research focuses on identifying the espoused and enacted value perspectives for two sets of U. S. government officials, presidents and senior executives. Through a content analysis of agency mission statements and speeches of Presidents Bush, Clinton and Bush, a subject matter analysis of executive orders, and a survey of senior executives, the following information is identified: The three presidents espouse the same set of values (i.e., ethics, performance, and support) in their speeches, but enact only one common value (i.e., commitment) in their executive orders. Although not statistically significant, two (i.e., performance and ethics) of the three top values in the agency mission statements are consistent with the values of the presidents. Senior executive perceptions of the most important values (i.e., authority, reward, and support) differ from the presidents. This unexpected difference lends support to Woodrow Wilson’s politics/administration dichotomy in that senior executives focus on values that address policy implementation while presidents focus on values related to politics.

Effects of socio‐technical factors on organizational intention to encourage knowledge sharing

PurposeTo examine how socio‐technical factors (e.g. organizational climate and IT support) affect the intention to encourage knowledge sharing through their effects on three innovation characteristics: perceived relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity.Design/methodology/approachThe data from a survey of 154 senior executives in Taiwan were used empirically to test the proposed research model. Moreover, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the validity of the measurement model, and the structural model also was analysed to test the associations hypothesized in the research model.FindingsThe results showed that organizational climate significantly influences perceived relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity, which in turn positively affected the intention to encourage knowledge sharing. Contrary to previous studies, this study found that IT support did not significantly affect the three innovation characteristics of knowledge sharing.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper was limited to examine the perceptions of senior executives regarding knowledge sharing. Therefore, a similar research model should be developed to predict and explain the determinants of organizational intention to encourage knowledge sharing by perceptions of employees.Practical implicationsThis paper suggests that make an increased effort to allow employees to suggest ideas for new opportunities and foster a positive social interaction culture before introducing knowledge sharing initiatives. Specifically, creating an organizational climate characterized by top management support, open communication, stimulus to develop new ideas and respond rapidly to new opportunities is likely to encourage both management and employees to socialize and interact frequently with each other thus driving knowledge sharing intentions.Originality/valueThis paper has implications for business managers or policy makers to formulate policies and target organizations appropriately to ensure the effective creation of a knowledge sharing culture.

An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Internet Advertising Tools

ABSTRACT This study explores a wide variety of Internet advertising tools. It presents an assessment of the persuasive impact of Internet advertising tools based on the perceptions of senior executives at interactive advertising agencies. The persuasion matrix developed by McGuire (1978) is used as a framework for assessing the impact of Internet advertising tools on the response hierarchy of consumers. Based on this assessment, a series of research propositions are offered in the spirit of propositional inventories for future testing. Finally, included is a discussion that alerts managers to important issues involved in using Internet advertising tools.

The Impact of Capital Taxation upon UK Unquoted Companies

The authors present findings from the initial phase of an ongoing externally funded research project into senior executive perceptions of the impact of capital taxation upon unquoted companies incorporated in the United Kingdom. Open-ended interviews were conducted with the senior executives of six unquoted companies which are also multigenerational family businesses. The interviews guided the executives to explore the history of their company; the values and aspirations of the founding or owning family(ies); the impact of capital taxation regimes, previous and current, both on ownership and on management succession; and strategies being pursued. Using content analysis to identify key themes, the authors suggest that their findings indicate that capital taxation may have a major impact both on ownership and on management succession as well as on succession planning. However, the current capital tax regime in the United Kingdom is perceived to be more favourable than that of previous regimes and vis-à-vis the regimes currently operating in most European countries. Capital taxation is not thought to influence strategic or operational decisions either positively or negatively. Companies use taxation-planning devices, frequently involving trusts, in order to reduce the actual burden of capital taxation falling upon individual shareholders at ownership succession. The present capital taxation regime, which includes gift relief and business asset taper relief within capital gains tax, and 100% business property relief within inheritance tax, eases succession planning. Business asset taper relief also facilitates shareholder exit strategies.

Opportunities for pharmacists as managers: perceptions of senior executives in the pharmaceutical industry.

To determine how senior-level executives in the pharmaceutical industry perceive pharmacists as managers in their industry. Mailed survey. Senior executive officers of 72 companies who were members of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers' Association indicated in which of 47 different areas an entry-level pharmacy degree would be beneficial for management positions. 40 responses (56%) were received after a follow-up mailing. The areas chosen most frequently were product development and quality control in pharmaceutics (88%), formulation (88%), drug information (88%), quality assurance (85%), pharmaceutics in research (83%), and product management (83%). The 25% of respondents who had a pharmacy background chose more areas where a pharmacy degree would be beneficial (t = 6.87, df = 38, p < .05) than did nonpharmacists. To the extent that senior executives represent the current culture and the future direction of the pharmaceutical industry, pharmacists have a variety of career opportunities within pharmaceutical companies.

TQM implementation: organisation practices and information infrastructures

This paper provides deeper exploration of the attitudes and perceptions of senior executives reported in an earlier paper. In particular, it investigates two issues; (a) differences in TQM implementation practices due to organisation size and (b) inconsistencies between the senior executives' attitudes and perceptions and their organisations' practices. The method used is to compare the attitudes and perceptions from earlier work with actions, practices and behaviours, including the propensity for measurement and information management. The results underline the central role of data and information, and hence measurement, in successful TQM implementations. Further questions arise which suggest the need for still deeper investigation via in-company case research. The data did not support the interim prediction that TQM implementation is poorer in small firms. Moreover, the more optimistic perceptions of TQM reported in medium and large firms were not sustainable when compared with their actual practices. The paper also provides a foundation for the next phase of this longitudinal research programme, which will track this cohort of firms ( n=113) beyond the so-called “two year barrier” to see how many are still practising TQM thereafter. Finally the data shows TQM for this regional sample to be predominantly internally focused on cost reduction at operational levels.

The influence of Country and Industry on Ethical Perceptions of Senior Executives in the U.S. and Europe

This paper reports the results of a large-scale survey among senior executives in the U.S., the U.K., Germany and Austria. The research provides empirical evidence on the variation of perceptions of ethical issues by country and type of firm. Our findings suggest that country and industry type have significant effects, both with regard to identification of ethical problems and the comprehensiveness of written ethics policies and ethics training.