Senior Line Research Articles

“It is competence first”: executives navigating gender equality targets and meritocracy in technology companies

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to understand how executives in technology companies relate to targets for gender equality, especially pertaining to top management.Design/methodology/approachThe study draws on 19 interviews of CEOs, senior line managers and HR directors in ten technology companies operating in Finland. The method is (reflexive) thematic analysis.FindingsPrevious studies on the role of executives in promoting gender equality provide somewhat mixed results: while their role is vital, senior leaders may not be inclined to support gender equality targets and measures. Drawing on critical feminist theorizing, this study identifies three ways in which the executives in technology companies related to gender equality targets: endorsing, negotiating and resisting. However, all these responses were constrained by the executives’ assumption that their companies are meritocratic. The study illustrates how executives’ narrow understanding of gender equality and reliance on the presumably well-working systems, combined with underlying doubts about the competence of women, hinder the advancement of women to top management.Originality/valueWhile previous studies have evaluated targets to increase the number/percentage of women, both in certain “ideal case” companies and in terms of their effectiveness more broadly, this study discusses how technology company executives navigate these targets in relation to women's assumed “competence”.

Micro-political strategies in negotiating the role of women's networks in organizations

PurposeThe authors aim to contribute to current knowledge on women's networks in organizations by exploring the strategies employed by members of women's networks, Human Resources (HR) management and senior line management to negotiate the role of these networks in their organizations.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employ the theoretical perspective of micro-politics to analyze qualitative data they collected in an action research project using open-ended interviews and participant observation. The interviews were conducted with network board and active members, and members of their organizations' HR departments and senior management. Participant observation of the interviewees' interactions took place during facilitated workshops.FindingsAdding to the literature, the authors find that members of the different parties employ different micro-political strategies. Many senior HR and management members demand that the networks' activities contribute to the organizations' diversity aims and bottom line. They largely avoid strategic cooperation with the networks. Most network members, in turn, resist the restricted role of the networks as an instrument to realize their organizations' business case. They claim some freedom to independently decide on the networks' strategies and activities. They resist being attributed tasks and responsibilities that they consider to reside with their organizations. Moreover, they try to sustain cooperative relationships with senior HR and management in an advisory role.Originality/valueThe action research approach enabled the authors to contribute to existing knowledge and extend the micro-politics theoretical perspective to include the collective agency of members of organizational groups and cooperation between these groups.

The Systematic Development of an Online Career-Oriented People Management Training for Line Managers of Professionals: A Pilot Field Intervention Study

This study systematically develops an online training program improving line managers’ career-oriented people management behavior, including a pilot test. This program was developed based on the six steps of the Intervention Mapping protocol. Interviews were held with line managers and physicians to understand their needs and challenges with regard to people management. The program aimed to create (self-)awareness, enhance knowledge, support the exchange of experiences, and stimulate reflection on career-oriented people management behavior and leadership style and skills. Eight senior line managers of medical professionals employed in a large Dutch academic public hospital followed the training as part of the pilot test. The program was evaluated through observations, follow-up interviews, and a survey. This study makes a methodological and theoretical contribution to the human resource management literature. It shows how career-oriented people management behavior of line managers can be enhanced, which is important as earlier studies have demonstrated the benefits of this behavior. Systematically developing this program is relevant as studies have shown that the effectiveness of leadership programs is limited because of research design issues. Moreover, this study contributes to leadership development programs as this training could be offered as part of leadership programs.

Recz nad Iną czy Raciąż koło Tucholi, czyli jeszcze raz o miejscu uwięzienia księcia wschodniopomorskiego Mściwoja II (1269 r.)

Recz nad Iną czy Raciąż koło Tucholi, czyli jeszcze raz o miejscu uwięzienia księcia wschodniopomorskiego Mściwoja II (1269 r.)

Current trends of HRM towards Effectiveness of the organisation

Human Resource Management (HRM) like many other fields in Business continues to rely largely on trends in the practices strategic objectives in maximising the performance of the employee while understanding them towards the effectiveness of the organisation. The HR Management Trends is the one which is concerned with focusing on the organizational design, system, HR and policies. It is essential that Human Resource Management is operating appropriately and in accordance with the latest trends impacted by ‘Covid19’ and technology to be able to deal with the business life challenges. In the study, current trends of HRM and their implications are identified and evaluated in understanding the present challenges towards better performing organisational activities following the design, system, HR and policies leading to the effectiveness of the company ensuring sustainable competitive advantage. Methodology utilizes the reviewing the current findings on studies coupled with a survey done with senior managers/HR managers of the corporate sector in the world with special reference to Australia.
 Hence, in addition to the literature review, this study was based on senior line managers and HR managers, and measures a range of subjective and objective outcomes. The analysis confirms the strong positive relationship between HR focused practices and HR effectiveness and it is proven that more the strong HR focused practices leads to higher range of performance outcomes. The associations are mostly stronger for HR effectiveness. There are low levels of agreement between HR and line managers about HR effectiveness and where agreement exists; it is not associated with superior outcomes. According to the study it is revealed that trends including personalisation of individual needs, work-life balance, Trusting issue of technology and leaders, Balancing three bottom-lines via proper managing HR towards CSR and sustainability, attitude towards Development, decreasing of the Employee Experience, withdrawn Paternalism, People Analytics, More expectation out of less effort (smart move), dealing with big innovative technology, HR is about People, HR Innovation Labs mainly resulted by the trends including handling the Covid19 context. This study, therefore, confirms the importance of HR effectiveness by well addressing these upcoming trends including handling the impact of Covid19 towards higher productivity and sustainable competitive advantage through proper managing most valuable live resource: people. It could be safely concluded that impact of coronavirus (Covid19) towards HRM as an accelerator for defining the role of the corporation, remote working, re-skilling, skills based hiring, and the transformation of corporate learning.

Homophily: functional bias to the talent identification process?

PurposeThis empirical study aims to analyse the talent spotters' perception of their tendency to be homophilic in the talent identification process and their stance on it. Besides, this article examines the type of homophily and the homophily attributes involved.Design/methodology/approachBased on a qualitative design, 37 middle and senior line managers, working for two Argentine conglomerates in six Latin American countries, participated in the study. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews.FindingsHomophily was perceived by most of talent spotters, who judged it as natural, while it was not perceived by a small group of the interviewees. In addition, among those who recognized its presence, another group advocated the homophilic advantages, while a final one admitted the presence of homophily and its negative implications. In addition, a variety of homophily attributes were identified; most of them within the value category. We posit that if homophily attributes are, at the same time, components of high potential models, homophily will constitute a functional bias to the talent identification process.Originality/valueThis is the first study that explores the talent spotters' perception of their homophily bias as well as the diversity of homophily attributes present in the talent identification process. This research highlights the relevance of the homophily attributes' analysis, taking into account its alignment to the potential model in order to improve the talent identification process.

An exploration of key human resource practitioner competencies in a digitally transformed organisation

Orientation: Digital transformation lies at the heart of what has been termed the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and many researchers consider this as one of the most significant drivers of change in the area of human resource management. For this reason, organisations and human resource practitioners (HRPs) are encouraged to re-evaluate their roles to ensure that they are able to impact the business performance.Research purpose: This study reflects upon the potentially unique competency requirements of the HRP in a digitally transformed organisation by exploring the perceptions of the line partner.Motivation for the study: Digitalisation is transforming the roles of HRPs. Consequently, HRPs may need a different set of competencies. Despite the transformation and the associated change in competency requirements, little knowledge exists regarding the HRP competencies needed (especially in digitally transformed organisations).Research approach/design and method: The researcher identified 43 senior line partners through a purposive sampling procedure to participate in semi-structured interviews. Nineteen participants completed the interview process. The researcher analysed the interview data using thematic analysis.Main findings: The main themes are the ability to design, extract, understand, analyse, interpret and apply information (data); continuous learning; stakeholder relationship management; and cultivating positive organisational practices.Practical/managerial implications: The exploration of competencies provides organisations with additional context in terms of the complexity of the environment for the HRP, and provides a model that can be utilised for talent management.Contribution/value-add: This study contributes to the limited knowledge regarding HR competencies in digitally transformed organisations, especially from the perspective of line partners.

Risk Assessment and Quantification in Manufacturing Enterprise

In this research first time in Latvia a multidimensional risk assessment is carried out in a manufacturing enterprise in the pharmaceutical industry according to the only international risk management standard ISO 31000:2018. The key multisided risks were identified and prioritized in the manufacturing pharmaceutical enterprise by applying the common metrics method: obtaining evaluations of risk occurrence and impact severity, made by the two highest levels of enterprise management, i.e. Board and senior line managers. A Top 10 of key risks was created from identified 64 different risks and the convergence and divergence in the risk rankings, evaluated by the enterprise’s Board and senior line management were obtained and analyzed. The main conclusion is that manufacturing enterprises in the pharmaceutical industry have specifics regarding exposure to multisided risks, where the main key risk is a regulatory risk and not different financial risks. Different rankings of enterprise operational risks, investment assessment risks, technological innovations risks made by the enterprise Board and senior line managers are signalling that exactly in these directions of the enterprise’s business activities it is necessary to review the strategic and operational planning with the aim to mitigate the potential risk impacts.

Goffman관점에 따른 실버여성라인댄스 지도자의 연극학적 자아유형

본 연구는 Goffman의 연극학적 이론을 토대로 실버여성라인댄스 지도자들의 자아에 대한 본질과 내면의 양면성을 탐색하였다. 이를 위해 질적 방법인 사례연구를 채택하였다. 연구참여자는 KoSCAA의 실버여성라인댄스 지도자(51~60세)를 유목적 표집으로 10명 선정하였다. 자료분석은 심층면담, 참여관찰과 비참여관찰 병행, 관련자료 수집 등의 자료를 확보하여 텍스트분석을 실시하였다. 자료의 진실성을 확보하기 위해 삼각검증법, 동료간 협의, 반성적 주관성, 심층기술, 연구참여자의 점검 등을 활용하였다. Goffman관점에 따른 실버여성라인댄스 지도자의 연극학적 자아유형은 공연자로서의 자아와 배역으로서의 자아가 본질적으로 연극학적이기는 하지만 자아추구적 자아와 인상관리적 자아로 구분한다. 인상관리적 자아의 모습 내에는 상호작용 의례적 자아와 자기 관리적 자아가 존재한다. 결과적으로 Goffman관점에 따른 실버여성라인댄스 지도자의 연극학적 자아유형은 첫째, 자아추구적 자아로 행위주체의 연출, 구속된 자아탈피가 도출되었다. 둘째, 실버여성라인댄스 지도자의 인상 관리적 자아인 상호작용 의례적 자아는 반성적 자아, 도덕적 자아가 도출되었으며, 자기 관리적 자아는 실버여성라인댄스 지도자의 나르시시즘적인 이미지연출, 퀄리티를 높이기 위한 투자소비가 도출되었다. 실버여성라인댄스지도자의 연극학적 자아유형의 결과를 설명하면 그들은 미적경험과 신체이미지를 향유하고 지도할 수 있어 긍정적인 정서가 형성된다. 또한 다양한 사람들과 어울려 자신의 역할 확인을 통해 존재감을 찾아 당당하고 자신감 넘치는 지도자로 노후생활을 영위하고 있다.

Talent Management Implementation at an Open Distance E-Learning Higher Educational Institution: The Views of Senior Line Managers

<p>The war for talent remains a challenge that many organisations face but more so for distance education institutions to deliver on its mandate to provide effective online academic offerings. The question that remains is: How can intellectual capital be managed effectively in order to recruit and retain talent that is necessary for success? This study was conducted at a mega open and distance learning institution, and this institution has identified talent management as one of the key strategic initiatives to ensure institutional strategic goal attainment and adopted an inclusive/developable talent approach as its framework. The aim of this article is to report on the perceptions of senior line managers regarding their experience with implementing the talent management strategy in their operational areas at the institution. This study adopted a qualitative approach and purposive sampling was used to select interviewees. The population group included chairpersons of 26 talent committees who are senior line managers and 11 of them were interviewed. Participants were of the opinion that policies and strategies do not always support the implementation of talent management in their respective environments. The findings show that although the university embraces the inclusive/developable talent approach in its strategy, the impact thereof is inhibited by a lack of methodological implementation, a lack of integration of supporting Human Resources policies with talent management, and insular line manager discernment.</p>

The evolving diversity agenda

Purpose In this paper, the authors share answers to the following questions based on data collected from 183 global companies in the most recent round of Aon Hewitt Top Companies for Leaders®: Does diversity and inclusion matter? What is diversity? What practices build more diverse workforces and more inclusive cultures? Design/methodology/approach Much of the research cited in this paper comes from the Aon-Hewitt Top Companies for Leaders® data set. In the latest round of data collection, completed in late 2014, 183 companies participated from around the world. Each completed a detailed online questionnaire of leadership practices. From those submissions, finalists were identified and hundreds of interviews were conducted with senior line and executives of human resources. A panel of expert judges determined the global and regional winners based on their responses to the survey questionnaire and interviews, as well as financial and other publicly available information. Findings Whether it is a causal relationship or merely a correlated finding, companies that have diverse, inclusive talent strategies appear to out-perform their peers on both talent and financial outcomes. Practical implications This paper highlights the differences between top companies in managing diversity compared to other companies in the research data. It also highlights some best practice methods to build diversity. Originality/value This paper documents the evolution of the definitions of diversity and considers diversity as a means to business ends rather than an end in itself.

Perspectives of US military commanders on tobacco use and tobacco control policy

BackgroundTobacco use among members of the US military service is unacceptably high, resulting in substantial healthcare and personnel costs. Support of military command is critical to the success of tobacco...

Learning to Think Strategically: A Book Review

In Learning to Think Strategically, Julia Sloan examines the relationship between strategic thinking and the continuous learning. The book is a primer on how to think strategically. It traces the history of strategy, differentiates strategic thinking from planning, describes the influence of culture, streamlines the roles of rationality and intuition and identifies the key ways of learning to think strategically. Julia Sloan asserts - based on her continuous-learning, teaching, research and consultancy experience - that learning can transform thinking strategically into sustainable competitive advantage. The book links strategic thinking with continuous communication, knowledge management and engagement. Through its examination of personality development and strategic decision-making it promotes selfanalysis and understanding. It is written clearly and organized systematically, with good indexing, a full bibliography and thorough notes to help the reader to a full understanding of the topic. The book is a complete solution to learning how to think strategically, both for individuals and organizations. It will be particularly valuable to chief learning officers, human-resource and organizational-development specialists, senior line managers and students of HR.

Role of “haraam” practices on behavior and performance of employees: a case study of business organization

Subject area Management sciences (organizational behavior). Study level/applicability The case is suitable for MBA students, employees of any organization, human resource practitioners, organization administrators, human resource directors and senior line management. Case overview The study deals with unethical or “haraam” practices at the workplace. It is based on the observation of the researchers. The business organization was selected and the behavior of employees was observed for two months. An interesting behavior of an employee was observed and the change in behavior was followed. The study describes the various factors influencing the behavior and performance of the employee and emphasis is made on the “haraam” practices of drinking alcohol and unacceptable behavior. The focus is on the performance of the employee. Major events and changes were elaborated to deduce the descriptive cause and effect results based on observation. It was found that behavior as well as performance was reduced due to “haraam” practices, which can be a lesson for other employees to follow as well as for managers to devise strategies in order to improve the most important resource of their organization, i.e. the human resource. Expected learning outcomes As this case was designed for an executive education programme, no detail regarding where it fitted into the curriculum is applicable as would be the case with cases designed for students. The case is intended to develop skills in students to creatively approach a common and wide spread problem and to think about the solution in an innovative way. The overall purpose of the case is to engage human resource practitioners (students) in creatively constructing innovative solutions to address the problem of compulsive drinking in the organizational environment. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available, please consult your librarian for access.

Heraldic investigations anent early Murray genealogy

A detailed analysis of the early sigillographic and heraldic data relating to the de Moravia/Murray family has been carried out. It has been concluded that the Murrays of Drumsargard were the senior line of their branch of the kindred, one which included the Murrays of Bothwell and the Murrays of Petty as cadet lines. Armory also throws light on the antecedents of Joanna Murray, the wife of Archibald the Grim, 3rd Earl of Douglas.

Enhancing Information Usefulness by Line Managers’ Involvement in Cross-Unit Activities

Organization and management scholars have long advocated that efficient use of information is critical for firms to compete successfully in the modern marketplace. This study examines whether the use of managerial cross-unit involvement in an organization enhances managers’ propensity to use useful information provided by a functionally related unit in the organization. Senior line managers in a major global bank participated in our study in which they provided information related to their information processing and assessments of the usefulness of corporate audit information. We analyse the effect of line managers’ prior involvement with Corporate Audit using Throughput Modeling. This model allows us to understand how line managers’ cross-unit involvement influenced the way they process information received from Corporate Audit. Our results show that managers’ cross-unit involvement positively influences their assessment of information from Corporate Audit in a way that influences their propensity to use information from that unit. The results indicate that cross-unit involvement is more than an effective means of transmitting information — it can also be used as a means of building boundary-spanning capabilities in managers.

The impact of HR practices, HR effectiveness and a ‘strong HR system’ on organisational outcomes: a stakeholder perspective

This paper explores the general hypothesis that effectiveness of human resource (HR) practices will help to explain the well-documented association between human resource management and performance. This paper adopts a stakeholder perspective, hypothesising that the ratings of HR effectiveness of senior line managers will be more strongly associated with the outcomes than those of HR managers. Furthermore, building on Bowen and Ostroff's concept of consensus as part of a ‘strong’ HR system, it is hypothesised that shared perceptions of (high) effectiveness will be associated with higher performance. This study is based on a sample of 237 matched pairs of senior line managers and HR managers, and measures a range of subjective and objective outcomes. The analysis confirms the association both between more HR practices and higher HR effectiveness and a range of performance outcomes. The associations are mostly stronger for HR effectiveness. There are low levels of agreement between HR and line managers about HR effectiveness and where agreement exists, it is not associated with superior outcomes. This study, therefore, confirms the importance of HR effectiveness, but fails to support any impact of consensus.

A study of the relationship between senior line and staff managers’ development in Ministry of Education and organizational effectiveness in the Educational System of Iran

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between the top executives in different provinces and the managers’ development of Education Ministry with the effectiveness of educational organizations. Therefore, the sample included all the top executives of education Ministry which included the managers in the ministry and those in the provinces with the total number of 72. Among the total questionnaires, 17 questionnaires of the ministry managers and 17 of the managers in the provinces were analyzed because of being complete. To achieve the desired goals of the research, 3 variables of managers’ development (skill, ability and knowledge) were selected and their relationship with organizational effectiveness were studied by using questionnaires. Pearson's correlation coefficient showed no significant relationship between knowledge, skill and ability and organizational effectiveness. While correlation coefficient of Pearson and the linear relationship with multiple regression relationship showed a signification relationship between the 3 variables; the t-test findings showed no significant differences between the view points of the managers out of the ministry and those of ministry about the dimensions and factors of development of the managers. However, theory shows the fact that these 3 variables showed a close relationship with philosophical mentality of the managers and the philosophical mentality had a direct relationship with organizational effectiveness.

Desperately seeking alignment: reflections of senior line managers and HRD executives

This paper offers a qualitative assessment of strategic human resource development (HRD) and alignment ‘in practice’ from the personal and organizational perspective of senior decision-makers in UK organizations. Semi-structured interviews with senior managers and HRD executives form the basis of the data, and allow an examination of the meanings and understandings attached to alignment and the extent to which they are affected by contextual factors such as organizational size and sector or the professional location of the interviewee. The paper indicates that experiences of HRD alignment are complex, ambiguous and contextually orientated. Alignment is depicted as an iterative process involving dialogue and bartering; involvement in different organizational and business planning processes, and the use of benchmarks and other organizational metrics. The data also suggest a range of tensions and challenges associated with the pursuit of alignment, and highlight approaches to organizing HRD that suggest passive rather than actively aligned practices. It concludes that the conceptual and practical difficulties of HRD alignment as it is presented in the strategic HRD literature and as it is described by those with experience of trying to achieve it may mean that it may be neither achievable nor even desirable.

Senior managers' perceptions of the practice of human resource management

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to investigate the perceptions of senior managers in companies in the Sunday Times list of UK best employers on the practice of HRM in their organisations.Design/methodology/approachThe approach taken was to conduct semi‐structured interviews with senior line and HR directors/ managers.FindingsIn the organisations investigated, HRM is afforded high‐level organisational support at chief executive, if not always senior operational manager, level. It is generally recognised by senior managers as contributing to business effectiveness when it centres on business needs. It is integrated with business strategy processes at both strategic and operational levels. Indeed HRM is elemental to business strategic planning processes, which has the effect of reducing the potential gap between strategic rhetoric on HRM and practical implementation of HRM. Leadership and performance management are current HR policy priorities.Research limitations/implicationsThe generative primary data represent senior managers' perceptions of how HRM operates in their organisation therefore cannot be generalised.Practical implicationsSenior manager support of HRM means focusing HRM efforts in organisations on business needs and integration between HRM and business strategy processes. The corollary is that HRM policy priorities are derived from the strategic business direction and that they are perceived to support business operations and, consequently, business performance.Originality/ valueSenior line managers and HR specialists inform the research which contributes to understanding of current, best practice HRM from an evidence base; a model of contemporary best practice is proposed.