Top Management Leadership Research Articles

Critical success factors of corporate social responsibility practices for the Malaysian automotive industry

The aim of this study is to investigate and explore the critical success factors (CSFs) for corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in the Malaysian automotive industry. Data were obtained from 27 top management leaders in Malaysian automotive industry. Reliability analysis empirically verified and validated the underlying items of CSFs of CSR practices. A set of assessment measurements of CSR practices is expected to be suitable for their characteristics and improve their performance. Based on the survey of empirical data, the two factors of employee involvement have been shown to be the extremely important factors for CSR practices implementation in the Malaysian automotive industry. Thus, the results indicate that six CSR practices construct are acceptable for further analysis. The paper with a proposed future direction ends of this study.

Forging a Single-Edged Sword: Facilitating Positive Age and Disability Diversity Effects in the Workplace Through Leadership, Positive Climates, and HR Practices

Increasing demographic diversity is one of the major workforce trends but evidence about its effects is conflicting. The possibility of yielding both positive and negative effects led Milliken and Martins [Milliken, F. J., & Martins, L. L. (1996). Searching for common threads: Understanding the multiple effects of diversity in organizational groups. Academy of Management Review, 21, 402–433.] to call diversity a “double-edged sword.” In this article, we will focus on age and disability heterogeneity, 2 dimensions of diversity that are on the rise and share important commonalities but have not yet received the attention they deserve. We will outline similarities and differences between age and disability, review the literature on age and disability diversity effects on performance, and ultimately provide a conceptual model with variables that moderate the performance effects of age and disability diversity. We argue that to forge a single-edged sword (i.e., foster positive effects of age and disability diversity while preventing negative effects), organizations should pay specific attention to 3 types of moderators: (a) leadership behavior including leader–member exchange, transformational leadership, health-focused leadership, and top management leadership, (b) organizational climates including diversity climate, climate for inclusion, and age-diversity climate, and (c) human resources practices including diversity-related HR practices, age-specific and age-inclusive HR practices, and the more individual-centered approach of idiosyncratic deals. We conclude with an outlook on future research in the fields of age and disability diversity and practical recommendations for managers and organizations.

Antecedents and Consequences of Employer Branding

This study reviewed and analysed the phenomenon of employer branding. We began with a review of recent research in employer branding. Next, drawing the theoretical knowledge from OB, HRM, and marketing, a framework is developed depicting the antecedents of employer branding and its impact on the company performance. For this, primary data were collected administering a questionnaire survey on 347 top-level executives in 209 companies in India, and secondary data were collected on financial performance. The results revealed that realistic job previews, perceived organizational support, equity in reward administration, perceived organizational prestige, organizational trust, leadership of top management, psychological contract obligations, and corporate social responsibility influence employer branding, which in turn impact non-financial and financial performance of companies. Furthermore, leadership of top management is the most potent predictor of employer branding. Greater deviation of the existing state from the ideal state of antecedents adversely affects employer branding. Management can use this framework for developing strategy towards implementation of employer branding.

Relationship between transformational leadership behaviors and manufacturing strategy

Purpose– It is widely agreed that top management's leadership behavior is a source for achieving and sustaining competitive advantage. Very few research studies analyzed the prevalence of transformational leadership style in the manufacturing environment, and importantly, the associations between transformational behaviors and manufacturing strategies in connection with flexibility, quality, delivery, and cost are not yet deeply explored in the literature. In this direction, efforts are initiated to explain the relationships between transformational leadership behaviors and manufacturing strategies in this study. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach– A systematic literature review was conducted by analyzing all traditional and contemporary research studies in the fields of leadership and operations management in order to examine the link between transformational leadership and manufacturing strategies comprising of flexibility, quality, delivery, and cost strategy.Findings– It was found from the review that top-level leaders exhibit transformational leadership behaviors while implementing manufacturing strategies in their firms. In particular, transformational leaders are capable to transform the production system into flexible system, and in addition, they develop new production processes for manufacturing both new and old products. Such leaders ensure quality in all the levels of production process and support to speed up order delivery process with the help of technology. Finally, they also concentrate on reducing cost growth.Research limitations/implications– This study is bounded by its focus on Bass and Avolio's transformational leadership behaviors and Ward and Duray's manufacturing strategies comprising of flexibility, quality, delivery, and cost strategy.Originality/value– This study shows that transformational leaders, in the manufacturing environment, use manufacturing strategy as a tool to improve operational performance. Thus, they have potential to achieve and sustain competitive advantage through formulation of manufacturing strategy.

Metamorphosis of intrapreneurship as an effective organizational strategy

The current economic environment is getting progressively more competitive, demanding and challenging for most organizations. Organizations are currently witnessing a significant rise in globalization trends and revolutionary changes in technologies. This gives rise to several organizational complexities and in order to survive and be successful, organizations need to tackle them by constantly working on their products, services and business models to maintain a competitive advantage. This paper reviews some of the key literature in the intrapreneurial research field and discusses how intrapreneurship can be an effective solution for managing innovation progression in different organizations and thereby resolving a range of such complexities. Intrapreneurship as an organizational concept has evolved substantially over the years and this review highlights how several organizations have now adopted intrapreneurial initiatives to derive distinct benefits. An innovation culture attained through such intrapreneurial initiatives can lead to considerable organizational development in terms of firm performance, innovativeness, profitability and competitiveness. Top management leaders should therefore prioritize intrapreneurship while structuring their management strategies.

최고경영층의 정보보호 리더십에 따른 정보보호 통제활동의 차이 분석

This paper is to analyze how the information security leadership of top management affects controls of information security. Controls of information security include the activity related to making information security policy, the activity related to making up information security organizational structure and job responsibilities, the activity related to information security awareness and training, the activity related to technical measures installation and operation, and the activity related to emergency response, monitering and auditing. Additionally we will analyze how Internet incidents affect controls of information security and find implications.

Benchmarking Six Sigma implementation in services companies operating in an emerging economy

Purpose – The paper reports case studies conducted in services organizations that apply Six Sigma in an emerging economy. Aspects of human resources and full-time specialist, infra-structure, top management leadership, customer requirements, focus on financial and non-financial results, structured method and strategic project selection are investigated. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Case-based research is employed as methodological approach. Data were mostly gathered through semi-structured interviews with managers involved with Six Sigma implementation. When available, archival data were also used to achieve more evidence towards triangulation. Then, the aggregation of the results was done a posteriori. Findings – It was verified that Six Sigma was successfully implemented in those companies, however with some drawbacks. The studied companies adopt Six Sigma in association with other quality management approaches, mainly ISO 9000: 2008 and lean production. Research limitations/implications – The study was limited to three service companies. Therefore, the study findings are not subject to generalisation for other similar firms. Practical implications – The research shows the importance of Six Sigma implementation in service companies in addition to its contribution to practical application by identifying the relevant aspects of its introduction. It enables practitioners to use the findings on factors that should be taken into consideration when applying Six Sigma. Originality/value – It is one of the few studies on Six Sigma analysis in emerging economies. In addition, the empirical results found support in existing theory to some extent.

Organisation Climate, Inclusive Organisation Culture and its Influence on Organisation Effectiveness-A Study of Organisations in Jammu Region

Companies are concerned about organisation climate and culture because they want to be an employer of choice in the local market providing equal opportunity to all employees, to manage talent as an investment as talent is blind to gender, ethnicity, or any other segment of population. Organisational culture has been defined as relatively stable beliefs, attitudes and values that are held in common among organisational members, shared normative beliefs and shared behavioural expectations or a particular set of values, beliefs, and behaviours that characterises the way individuals and groups interact in progressing toward a common goal. The best employers are not because of their perks and benefits, but because of their organisational culture and policies that promote meaningful work, and a nurturing as well as supportive workplace. Lack of gender sensitive policies by the employer are considered as important barriers which affect the career advancement of women professionals to senior positions. Organisational effectiveness or performance is defined as the degree to which an organisation attains its short-term and long-term goals, the selection of which reflects strategic constituencies, the self- interest of the evaluator, and the life- stage of the organisation. As far as the relationship between organisational culture and organisational effectiveness is concerned, it is argued that organisations possessing a strong culture that is congruent with their top management leadership style, organisational structure and internal management practices attain higher levels of effectiveness than their competitors. In this study, the focus would be to know the elements of inclusive organisation culture and organisation climate and their overall impact on organisation performance.

Change Towards Accrual Accounting: Perception of Top Management in the Malaysian Federal Government

Accrual accounting is believed to have power in enhancing financial accountability and providing better asset-liability management. Most developed countries that have successfully adopted accrual accounting exhibit that the change process has to be properly managed to ensure successful implementation of the new accounting system. One of the most critical factors for successful transitions towards accrual accounting is the commitment to change among the public sector accountants. This paper presents findings from a study on the perception of top management in ministries of Malaysian Government on its effort towards transforming governmental accounting system to full accrual in 2015. Interview surveys were conducted with the targeted respondents. Among the findings is evidence of strong support from the top management and organisational leadership. However, level of readiness and commitment across ministries varies. Key recommendations from the study includes active promotion of change programme to policy makers and senior officials, detail action plan for ministries, risk management as well as gap analysis on human capital and IT needs. Keywords: public sector transformation, cash to accrual accounting, change management, organisational commitments

The Influence of “Soft” and “Hard” Total Quality Management (TQM) Practices on Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) in Jordanian Manufacturing Companies

Numerous studies have been separately carried out on total quality management (TQM) and total productivemaintenance (TPM). This paper examines the influence of soft and hard TQM practices on TPM implementationlevel at manufacturing companies in Jordan using survey data and empirical research methodology. The resultsindicate that four soft TQM practices, top management leadership, training, workforce management, andcustomer focus, significantly and positively affect TPM implementation level. The results also show that threehard TQM practices, continuous improvement, information feedback, and process management, significantlyand positively affect TPM implementation level.

Market and technology drivers: shaping an innovation strategy

Purpose – Market strategies and technology strategies are two sides of the same coin that drive innovation efforts. This paper argues that combining them as a balanced force is crucial for innovation performance. Design/methodology/approach – Using an inductive case study with in-depth interviews, the authors analyze a highly successful innovation process in a high-performing German firm. This case is taken from a wider study of innovative German firms completed in 2012. Findings – When top management leadership challenges organizational members to consider market and technological drivers equally, they may outperform rivals who follow only one or the other strategy through isolated silos. During the innovation process this pragmatic approach becomes apparent when the organization focuses on both technically-specific ideas and unexpected actions to surprise the competition. Originality/value – This paper provides a practical dual perspective on the innovation phenomenon to help leaders to be better prepar...

Managing Corruption: How Top Management's Leadership Style and Control Systems Can Reduce Corruption

This article empirically researches how different leadership styles, namely transformational and transactional leadership, reduce the risk of organizational corruption in companies if formal and informal management control systems are in place. This study is based on survey responses from more than 400 CEOs in a developed economy in Western Europe and extensive literature from the relevant fields of research. Our results prove transactional leadership style as a statistically significant antecedent to formal control systems and transformational leadership as antecedent to both types of management control systems. Formal control systems reduce organizational corruption significantly while informal control systems do not have significant effects on corruptive behavior in companies.

Personality And Leadership Composition in Top Management Teams: Implications For Organizational Effectiveness

This study examines whether top management team (TMT) personality and leadership are associated with organizational effectiveness beyond the effects of CEO personality and leadership, as suggested by upper echelons theory. Using direct measures of personality and leadership, rather than proxy variables from archival sources or demographic data, we found that mean levels of conscientiousness among TMT members were related to lagged indicators of organizational performance, as were CEO conscientiousness and transformational leadership. Follower commitment to the organization was found to be associated with higher levels of transformational leadership from both the CEO and TMT. The results are consistent with the upper echelons perspective that organizational effectiveness is influenced not only by the CEO but also by a dominant coalition of leaders. Yet, the results also show that the CEO plays a distinct role in influencing organizational financial performance and collective organizational commitment. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

TONYMOLY Cosmetic Company

Established in 2006 as the forward integration effort by Taesung Industry, the major cosmetic packaging company, TONYMOLY has phenomenally grown to one of the major cosmetic brand companies in the submarket called, ‘one brand-shop’ of cosmetic market since 2008, after overcoming the crisis of ‘going out of business’ in a couple of early years. Within a relatively short period of time, TONYMOLY`s performances have dramatically improved in terms of metrics such as growth in sales revenue, the number of stores, the average sales per store, transaction value per customer, the number of monthly transactions, the number of membership-based customers, and overseas sales. In this case study, we have examined TONYMOLY`s recent marketing activities which may explain the plausible reasons behind the substantial growth of a small but smart cosmetic company. Above all, the first key success factor of TONYMOLY would be found in its adherence to the clear philosophy of the customer value proposition and/or the differentiated position of TONYMOLY as a brand of providing value. Second, this brand concept of value was first penetrated and welcomed among the foothold customer target group of mid and late teens with appropriate products, while the target groups were later expanded into the age group of twenties along with expansion of relevant products. Third, its differentiation efforts have been concrete and meaningful by utilizing unique ingredients in its product development and marketing efforts, unique fun packaging, and continuously introducing new hit-selling products as well as managing steady-selling products. Fourth, TONYMOLY has been smart enough to use its limited marketing money efficiently and effectively in its marketing communication activities. Viral marketing, PPL, and concentrated media planning and execution turned out to produce effective and efficient market-based performances such as awareness, word- of-mouth, and sales. Lastly, the marketing leadership of CEO and top management, emphasizing communications and interactions, was confirmed in the relationship quality with and trust level of its franchisees and internal employees. These key success factors may explain the recent phenomenal market performances of TONYMOLY. Despite recent successes, the major issues are presented for TONYMOLY to consider for maintaining its sustainable advantages and growth. The first issue concerns TONYMOLY`s choice of growth philosophy between product/brand-centric marketing and customer-centric marketing. The second challenging issue relates to how TONYMOLY can cope with ‘growing pains’ plausibly accompanied with the rapid growth.

TQM 특성이 서비스 회복 및 서비스 성과에 미치는 영향 - 외식산업을 중심으로 -

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify the impact of TQM dimensions through service recovery justice on service quality and customer satisfaction. Methods: This study employed structural equation modeling methodology analyzing 265 samples collected. Results: This study found that TQM related factors had positive influence on service recovery justice in general. In specific, top management leadership and employee participation are the most important factors for the service recovery justice. Conclusion: This study reveals that service recovery justice has the positive impact on both service quality and customer satisfaction.

식스시그마의 올바른 실행이 고객관점 성과, 품질성과 및 사업성과에 미치는 영향

This research has seven factors such as top management leadership, belt system operation, implementation of systematic methods, adequate project performance measurement, customer focus performance, quality performance and business performance. Those are critical to correct implementation of Six Sigma. I set seven hypotheses which represented the relationships among the seven factors, gathered questionnaires and analyzed the data. Top management leadership affected positively the adequate project performance measurement and the belt system operation, The belt system operation affected the implementation of systematic methods positively and it also affected the adequate project performance measurement. It affected positively the customer focus performance, the quality performance and the business performance, respectively.

Organizational context and firm‐level entrepreneurship: a multiple‐case analysis

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand firm‐level entrepreneurship in diverse organizational contexts and explain its relationship with organizational factors.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopts a multiple‐case research design. In‐depth interviews are conducted with key informants in four cases. In each case, a firm‐level entrepreneurial story is focused on to understand the entrepreneurial process within its organizational context.FindingsThe findings show that there are two types of entrepreneurial activities in organizations – beyond‐boundary focus and within‐boundary focus. They exhibit different patterns regarding their relationship with organizational factors – top management leadership, strategic orientation, organizational culture, internal mechanisms and organizational performance.Research limitations/implicationsGeneralizability of the results may be limited due to the case study design of this research.Practical implicationsTop management leadership has a vital role in influencing entrepreneurial activity in organizations. When an organizational environment that favours entrepreneurship is supported by top management, then business‐level entrepreneurial activities are cultivated across the company. But if the organizational environment does not favour entrepreneurship, then entrepreneurial activity is mostly limited to the corporate level and only initiated by top management.Originality/valueThe multiple case analyses provide an extensive analysis of the organizational context and firm‐level entrepreneurship. Additionally, the emergent categories of two different types of entrepreneurial activities serve as a major and relevant step to reduce the ambiguity present in the field of study.

An Investigation into Critical Success Factors of Knowledge Management Implementation in TQM Organizations in Malaysia

Knowledge Management (KM) is one of the hottest topics today in both the industrial and research world. In our daily life, the authors deal with huge amounts of data and information. Data and information are not knowledge until they know how to obtain the value out of it. This is the reason the authors need to practise KM. The objective of the research is to identify the relationship between the critical success factors (CSFs) and perceived benefits of KM. This study was accomplished through mail questionnaires to the organisations that are implementing Total Quality Management (TQM). Data gained from the questionnaires were analyzed by using SPSS software. The findings revealed that organisational culture, top management leadership and commitment, employee participation have a positive relationship among the perceived benefits of KM. These findings are useful for both practitioners and academicians.

Impact of Changing Organisational Culture and Leadership Approaches on Total Quality Management Practices in Construction Companies in Kuwait

In the present ever accelerating global competitive business environment, change is absolutely necessary for survival, growth and success of any business organisation. The aim of Total Quality Management (TQM) practices is to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, flexibility, and competitiveness of a business as a whole by providing quality products and services to the customer. Organisations deciding to pursue and successfully improve TQM practices that values customers, improvement and teamwork need cultural change through top management leadership approaches. Leadership is the key in promoting commitment to change efforts by providing a path towards quality culture. Leadership approach is the driving force of the entire quality management systems. The purpose of this study is to find out the impact of changing organisational culture and leadership approaches on total quality management practices in construction companies in Kuwait. The primary data are collected from 108 respondents of 12 (twelve) first class classified civil construction companies. The findings of this study have explored that the implementation of changing organisational culture and leadership approaches; and the enhancement of TQM practices have been made effective from their 5 years before situation (i.e., 2006) to present situation (i.e., 2011). Owing to these changes, organisational culture has become more influential on market and hierarchy culture as well as leadership, which has an increased effect on customer focus and visionary approaches. Similarly, owing to the enhancement of TQM practices, customer focus and satisfaction; and business results have extensively improved. It has also been investigated that the enhancement of TQM practices is positively related to the combined effect of the change both in organisational culture and leadership approaches in the companies in Kuwait under this study and the companies that have implemented more changes have improved their TQM practices successfully.

Accrual Accounting: Change And Managing Change

The Malaysian government has decided to adopt accrual accounting to enhance financial accountability and to have a better asset-liability management. Based on experiences of other countries such as Australia and New Zealand, the change process has to be properly man- aged to ensure successful implementation of the new accounting system. Employees’ com- mitment to change has been identified as a critical factor in organisational change. Commit- ment to change model as proposed by Herscovitch and Meyer consists of three components: affective (want to change), normative (ought to change) and continuance (have to change). Hence it is very important for public sector organisations to identify and manage organisa- tional and individual factors influencing commitment to change. The literature has identified factors including organisational support (ICT and human resource), top management support or leadership, communication channel and flow, attitude towards change, employee participa- tion or involvement, are pivotal to successful implementation of accrual accounting. Thus, a study will be conducted to investigate whether the Malaysian government is ready to embrace the change or otherwise.