Top Management Perspective Research Articles

Evaluation of Critical Success Factors in The Indonesian Automotive Industry using DEMATEL-Based ANP to Implement Green Supply Chain Management

<p> <strong>Analysis of Indonesian car production</strong><strong> data in 2022 shows significant trend for increase in production and sales from year to year. The automotive industry in Indonesia is currently an important non-oil and gas sector which has a major contribution to the national economy. Currently, Indonesia has 22 four-wheeled motor vehicle industry companies. The higher the level of car production, the higher the CO2 emissions produced, and the higher the worldwide pressure to the countries to reduce the CO2 emission damage. Therefore car companies must implement Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM). However, the many criteria in GSGM implementation make it difficult for industry players to decide on the appropriate strategic decisions. The aim of this study is to find out the critical success factors in implementing GSCM in the Indonesian automotive industry and their interrelationship. The method used in this study is the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) based on the Analytic Network Process (ANP). The results of this study show that the top five of 25 critical success factor in global weight are: top management perspective 4.86%, company competitiveness 4.57%, economic interest 4.55%, Using energy-efficient machinery and equipment 4.49% and Carbon footprint identification 4.48%.</strong></p><p><strong><em>Keywords</em></strong> - <em>Automotive Industry, Critical Success Factors, DEMATEL Based ANP, Green Supply Chain Management.</em></p>

A Study on Usage of Formal Knowledge Sharing Systems in Project-Based Organizations

Projects are one-time activities that have time and resource limitations. Projects are considered as arenas for learning. There are opportunities for creating new knowledge and utilizing existing knowledge in projects. Since projects are per definition unique, there is at least some degree of uniqueness associated with each project. This uniqueness provides opportunities to learn something new in each project. The known element in projects – such as existing solutions that have been proven to produce good results – can be shared and utilized to avoid using time and resources to create the same or similar solutions from scratch. Knowledge sharing and learning can play a notable role in improving the ability of project-based organizations to carry out their projects successfully and contributing to obtain higher productivity, profitability and sustainable competitive advantage. However, there are several challenges. This paper looks at one of the challenges, namely ineffective usage of formal knowledge sharing systems in project-based organizations. In this regard, the following two research questions are considered: (1) What are the challenges of using formal knowledge sharing systems? (2) How can the challenges be addressed? Formal knowledge sharing systems play an important role in supporting knowledge sharing and learning in organizations. Technological development has created many possibilities to enhance functions as well as benefits of such systems. However, there are several factors that are to be taken into consideration in order to make sure an effective usage of formal knowledge sharing systems in project-based organizations. This paper presents six factors in this regard and emphasizes the need to have a strategic view and a top management perspective of knowledge sharing and learning in project-based organizations. The study on which this paper is based, is of qualitative nature. In this regard, interviews have been conducted to gather information from five public project-based organizations in Norway.

Analysis of organizational culture and e-commerce adoption in the context of top management perspectives

Objectives: The aim of this study is to examine the factors influencing e-commerce adoption (ECA) among SMEs and evaluate its impact on their business performance. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) owners and managers across diverse industries and geographical locations.Methods: The analysis involved collecting and scrutinizing data from various organizations to provide a quantitative understanding of the relationship between organizational culture and ECA perceptions among top management. The factorability of the collected data was tested using the Bartlett’s test of sphericity and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test, which are commonly used to assess the appropriateness of data for factor analysis.Findings: This work underscores the importance of acknowledging the role of culture in ECA and emphasizes the significance of further research and strategies for fostering a culture that promotes and supports e-commerce within enterprises. Finally, barriers of ECA and Influencing and user satisfaction factors are identified and the conceptual framework of factors influencing ecommerce adoption in SMEs (Service sector) of ASSAM is developed.Novelty: Applying these tests specifically to the context of ECA in SMEs is a novel application.

MANAGING BUSINESS CHALLENGES OF INDIAN AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY - A COST BASED APPROACH

Any organization, big or small conducts its operations with profit being one of the main objectives to continue its existence and growth. As the Indian manufacturing industry has evolved through different stages since post-independence era, it has been by far observed that as the regular business takes over, internal and external problems plague a manufacturing unit in difference measures but they are hardly examined systematically to arrive at sustainable measures to address them. Automobile industry is found to be an apt example of Indian growth story as it is reflective of Indian customer sentiment through the years, hence can be appreciated better. This paper studies various constraints based on problems identified through discussions with management of Indian automobile manufacturers across different function, which have been broadly explained throughout the paper. It also offers practical solutions which are suggested as outcome of these discussions while connecting dots through top management perspective.

A study to determine human-related errors at the level of top management, safety supervisors & workers during the implementation of safety practices in the construction industry

The safety performance of the Indian construction industry is not satisfactory, due to which many accidents are still prevailing in the construction industry. To execute the project successfully without any accidents all the levels of employees must be consciously involved in preventing accidents without committing errors at their individual level. Many researchers have conducted studies to find out the major issues that lead to causes of accidents at single employee level. Finding out major issues at single employee level alone may not be sufficient to prevent accidents, because construction is not a domain of a single category of employees; instead, it is a field of several categories of employees working at various levels in the execution of the projects. Any single error committed at any of the employee level may contribute to major issues that would leads to accidents. Therefore, in order to identify the potential errors that occur at multi-level employees, the present study has adopted three-dimensional view strategy to investigate human related errors that occur during the implementation of each stage of safety practices such as supply & usage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Safety training (ST) and Safety supervision (SSV) from Top management (TM), Safety supervisors (SS) and workers (W) perspectives. This study has identified three major issues such as lack of supply & usage of PPE, improper safety training, poor safety supervision and 140 contributing errors (responses) behind the occurrence of these three major issues through focus interviews carried out at construction organizations based in Chennai city, South India. Out of identified 140 contributing errors, 45 contributing errors were behind the occurrence of lack of supply & usage of PPE (TM level −26 errors; SS level-13 errors; W level −6 errors), 32 contributing errors were behind the occurrence of improper safety training (TM level-18 errors; SS-12 errors; W level-2 errors) and 63 contributing errors were behind the occurrence of poor safety supervision (TM level-32 errors; SS level −21 errors; W level −10 errors). The results obtained are explained figuratively by comparing it with the results of similar previous studies. The study results shows that any major issue that lead to cause of accidents possibly cannot occur alone, but would occur as a result of several contributing errors from various levels of employees. The findings of the study may be helpful for the construction organizations to prevent accidents in future by avoiding the identified contributing errors at the levels of TM, SS, and W.

Walking the managerial tightrope: top management involvement in product innovation projects

PurposeThis study examines how technical drivers as well as social drivers influence organic communication and top management involvement (TMI) in new product development (NPD) projects. Technical drivers are of strategic importance and product innovativeness and social drivers are of intrinsic and extrinsic relevance. Organic communication is defined as continuous, bidirectional and informal communication between top management and the NPD teams. Further, arguing that TMI must be studied as a multifaceted construct, it is conceptualized to occur as guidance, active motivation and providing resources and creating a tolerant climate. Subsequently, the effect of TMI and organic communication on NPD performance is investigated.Design/methodology/approachThe data set, collected via surveys from top managers and project managers involved in 86 NPD projects in 85 firms, is analyzed using PLS structural equation modeling.FindingsThe authors show that the strategic importance of the project has a positive influence on TMI through active motivation, providing resources and creating a tolerant climate for innovation, but does not have an effect on guidance. Results also show that active motivation and organic communication improve budget and schedule adherence, whereas providing guidance and stimulating a tolerant climate have detrimental effects. In summary, the results show that only active motivation enhances all types of performance while stimulating a tolerant climate appears to have the opposite effect. The results revealed that organic communication between top management and the NPD team has a strong positive effect on all elements of TMI (providing guidance, actively motivating the NPD team, providing resources and creating a tolerant climate). In other words, when top management communicates with the NPD team throughout the project in an informal way and listens to them in addition to engaging in a one-way communication, they are more likely to be seen by the team as being deeply involved in the project.Practical implicationsExecutives must walk a managerial tightrope to actively motivate and to assist in providing resources, yet they must not be overbearing with direct guidance and must limit their tolerance for failures.Originality/valueInvolvement of key organizational actors such as top management and the link to project performance has attracted significant attention in research. However, nuanced empirical insights into the dyad of top management and project teams has so far been absent. The study’s findings detail the effect of technical and social drivers of top management involvement in new product development projects. Most notably, (1) the effect of motivation and stimulating a tolerant climate on performance, and (2) the effect of organic communication on top management involvement. Moreover, this study is unique in that it empirically examines TMI from both top management and team perspectives.

Exploring the Catalyst and Constraint Factors of Agriculture Cooperative Performance

Performance can be affected by various factors that differ across organisational contexts. This study aims to identify and describe the catalyst and constraint factors for agriculture cooperative performance based on top management perspectives. Structured interviews were used to gather data from six informants, who were board members of their respective cooperatives. Thematic analysis was used to extract significant patterns from the interview transcripts. The findings indicated the themes of catalyst factors, namely, members’ support, internal commitment and cooperation, obeying rules and maintaining good reputation with the responsible authority, the management team's integrity and the management's determination to achieve the desired objective(s). Meanwhile, the constraint factors for cooperative performance include high-risk avoidance amongst cooperative board members, disagreement amongst board members, market competition and uncertainty of the fresh fruit bunch produce. The originality of this study lies in its qualitative approach, which provides a rigorous understanding of the examined topic based on the cooperative practitioners’ experiences.

Bold ambition, blunted agency? Examining top management perspectives on a circular economy transition in Finland

The circular economy is proposed as a company-driven means to further sustainability transitions. Top managers have a critical role in fostering the circular economy as they are responsible for shaping and implementing a company's sustainability strategy and performance. In this paper, we adopt a microfoundations perspective to enhance our understanding of the influence of top managers as agents of the sustainability transition to the circular economy. In a qualitative research study, we interviewed 34 top managers of Finnish companies that are actively pursuing the circular economy. The main implication of our study is in exploring the role of top managers, as they engage in actively structuring a new, circular regime. To this end, our paper provides salient insights into the prevailing debate on the structure-agency question in the sustainability transitions literature. We find that power is a key characteristic of how top managers exercise their agency. Our findings imply that while top managers are perceived as the most powerful members of a company, their agency is often limited by structural constraints on multiple levels within their companies, in the industry, and in the broader regime. Furthermore, we find that top managers' power and agency towards the transition is heavily dependent on their abilities to secure business profitability.

An analysis of the influence of organizational leadership on innovation management using the Fuzzy-AHP method

Purpose – The changes that occurred in the market, resulting from technological advancement, made companies pay attention to innovation in their processes, products or services, as a way to stand out. To enhance innovation in companies, focusing on leadership is an effective way. In this sense, the present study aimed to develop a model in order to list the priorities related to leadership and its interface with innovation, under the top management perspective of a telecommunications company.Design/methodology/approach – For the development of the model, the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy-AHP) method was used to identify such factors and the best alternatives so that the investigated company can make consistent decisions. Thus, the criteria chosen by the Manager and Director were discovered, as well as the alternatives that they cherish, contributing to the development of innovation within the company.Findings – The results showed that the perception of the two interviewees was similar, however, it is emphasized that they should better choose how to apply innovation within the company.Originality/value – This study opens the way to highlight the importance of the theme of leadership and its interface with innovation for professionals in the management area, favoring decision making, in addition to contributing to the literature, deepening the debate on the theme of leadership and innovation, which is still incipient and needs development.

Starbucks and HMSHost: addressing discrimination across organizational boundaries

Theoretical basis 1. Maria Jarlstrom, Essi Saru, and Sinikka Vanhala, “Sustainable Human Resource Management With Salience of Stakeholders: A Top Management Perspective,” Journal of Business Ethics, 152, (2008): 703–724. 2. Benjamin A. Neville, Simon J. Bell, and Gregory J., “Stakeholder Salience Revisited: Refining, Redefining, and Refueling an Underdeveloped Conceptual Tool,” Journal of Business Ethics, 102, (2011): 357–378. 3. Mick Marchington, Fang Lee Cooke, and Gail Hebson. “Human Resource Management Across Organizational Boundaries,” Sage Handbook of Human Resource Management, (2009): 460–477. Research methodology This secondary source case is based mainly on three documents: the 20-page report by a labor union, Unite Here, titled “One Job Should Be Enough: Inequality at Starbucks”; and two reports by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. and Covington & Burlington, LLP. Case overview/synopsis In February 2020, Unite Here, a labor union, released a damming report about employment practices at the airport Starbucks stores operated by licensee, HMSHost. Among other charges, the report identified several instances of racial and gender discrimination that HMSHost dismissed as a ploy by a union intent on organizing its employees. The adverse publicity, however, put Starbucks Corporation in the spotlight because of the company’s publicly stated commitment to workplace equality. The recently hired Nzinga Shaw, the company’s first-ever Global Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer, had to address the issue at HMSHost lest it adversely affect Starbucks’ reputation as a progressive employer. Complexity academic level The case is best suited for a graduate or undergraduate course in human resource management or labor relations. As diversity is typically covered in the first third of such courses, the ideal placement of this case would be in the early part of the course. As Starbucks is a well-known name, and it is very likely that students have had their own experience with Starbucks, as either a customer or an employee, the case is likely to draw their interest. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Who cares about ethical practices at workplace? A taxonomy of employees’ unethical conduct from top management perspective

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to explore the various kind of prevailing unethical practices at workplace along with identification of factors triggering such unethical practices. Growing incidences of indulgence of employees in unethical acts in various organisation and negative consequences associated with it for the organisation such as erosion of reputation because of advance digital media coverage, shareholder value and others made compulsive to study the root cause of unethical behaviour at the workplace.Design/methodology/approachThis study extracts meaning from the experiences of top managers working in nine Indian organisations to understand the challenges faced by individuals at the workplace using the Gioia methodology. A total of 33 top management team (TMT) members were interviewed in detail to capture their experience in regard to various challenges that impose a threat to ethical conduct in the organisation.FindingsThe authors identified four categories of unethical behaviour, namely, pro-self, lack of autonomy, pro-organisation, systemic and negligence. Further, the authors have developed a taxonomy suggesting strategies to control unethical conduct at the workplace. Besides, the current study unravels the triggers behind different categories of unethical conduct, such as bottom-line mentality, rent-seeking behaviour of government officials, fluid ethical study culture and others.Originality/valueVarious types of unethical behaviour have been identified and frameworks to address such unethical practices are suggested in the paper. TMTs views have been captured to understand the root cause of unethical practices and strategies for addressing them have been discussed in the paper.

Organizational Support to HRM in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis

Abstract The paper studies organizational support with respect to Human Resource Management during the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines HRM initiatives regarding changing in jobs, working routine, workplaces, and remote working conditions. The paper analyses how HR managers supported employees during the pandemic and how top-management encouraged employee wellbeing. It also explores whether HRM practice and employee emotions are a strategic focus for companies. Quantitative data for this research was collected with survey from forty-eight organizations located in Georgia. The findings suggest that HRM supported staff with helping them to update their skills for remote working, established flexible working hours, and adopted less strict policies regarding performance management. Additionally, HR managers have been encouraged by the top-management in implementing initiatives concerning employee physical and emotional wellbeing. Furthermore, HRM should be a strategic focus for any organization to lay foundation of employee relationship and organizational culture in order to overcome difficulties and adapt to the changes. The novelty of the research highlights the importance of HRM practice when economies are facing the threat of recession. It contributes to HRM in terms of supporting employees during the pandemic as well as from the top-management perspective to promote HR initiatives, and paves the way for further studies in this field.

Assessing User Satisfaction of Current Enterprise Systems and Their Adaptability From the Perspective of Top Management

Due to the dynamic nature of the business environment, organisations regularly face rapid changes for which they need to adapt their Enterprise Systems (ESs). This makes ES adaptability essential. We identify ES adaptability as a conceptual notion that bridges the strategic and the technical domains. We provide a conceptual and empirical analysis that captures the current state of ESs from a top management perspective and shows the challenges of and potential for ES adaptability. Results show that having an adaptable ES is critical for an organisation to manage uncertainties and continue providing services that meet the expectations of their customers. However, the evidence from this study suggests that many in top management may have not fully understood the meaning of ES adaptability and as a result did not assess the current state of their implemented ES accurately. Therefore, they perceived their current ESs as adaptable in essence, when, in fact, they were less adaptable in practice. The study findings, limitations and possible future research are discussed.

The strategy implementation process as perceived by different hierarchical levels: The experience of large Croatian enterprises

Purpose: Although the implementation process involves employees from different hierarchical levels, previous research on the implementation topic focused mostly on a top management perspective, omitting the perspective of lower hierarchical levels. We believe that employees from different hierarchical levels perceive differently the way the implementation process is carried out because of many intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Considering the primary role of lower hierarchical levels during the implementation process, we decided to include lower levels of management and operatives in our research. Methodology: We investigate the way employees from different hierarchical levels perceive the implementation process. The implementation process in our research was evaluated using four implementation factors: 1) People, 2) Resources allocation, 3) Communication, 4) Operational planning & control. We sent the questionnaire to all large Croatian enterprises (396) and gathered 208 questionnaires from 78 enterprises. Findings: The research findings confirm that the evaluation of key implementation factors differs significantly between hierarchical levels in two of the four identified factors: 1) Communication and 2) Operational planning & control. Frontline managers and operatives mostly consider the instructions for implementing the strategy too vague and unclear, their suggestions not taken into account, the communication generally too slow, what creates confusion and reduces the efficiency in coordinating operational tasks and introducing potential changes. Implications for theory and practice: Although we proved the statistically different perception about two out of four implementation factors, we contributed in a way to point out that this stream of research, with multiple factors and multiple respondents from different hierarchical levels, should be taken into consideration in future research about strategy implementation. Top managers should include feedback from lower hierarchical levels in order to grasp the pitfalls of strategy implementation. This study highlights the operational problems that might occur such as vague or slow communication, budget discrepancy, inadequate definition of timeline for activities and its dynamics, and ways to measure performance during strategy implementation. We believe that the research results are beneficial for academics and consultants when creating teaching and training programs for future managers about strategy implementation. Originality and value: Based on the analysis of the literature review and the research findings, we develop a new implementation model with questionnaire to analyze the way employee from different hierarchical levels perceive the implementation process.

A total quality service framework for private higher education in South Africa

The primary purpose of this study was to develop an industry-specific total quality service framework for private higher education institutions in South Africa. Service quality for higher education operations is a key performance objective due to the increasingly competitive, marketing-oriented, and highly regulated environment. Using a mixed methods research approach (exploratory sequential mixed methods research design), this research was conducted at six private higher education institutions. The first stage consisted of a qualitative exploration of total quality service dimensions from a top management perspective by means of semi-structured, in-depth interviews, followed by a thematic data analysis approach. Instrument development followed in the second primary stage, in terms of the quantitative exploration of the importance of total quality service dimensions from the internal (lecturers) and external (students) customer perspectives. Data analysis included an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) approach followed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). A final step was another thematic analysis of narrative data from the only open-ended question, which yielded additional service quality dimensions. Finally, a total quality service framework was compiled consisting of five primary constructs. This study is a pioneering contribution that bridges a significant gap with the development of the first total quality service framework for private higher education institutions in South Africa.

A top management perspective of total quality service dimensions for private higher education institutions in South Africa

The growing need for higher education in Africa with the concurrent explosive growth of private higher education institutions in South Africa indicates the concomitant need for quality assurance of these institutions. This article presents leadership perspectives on the strategic need for developing a service quality excellence framework for private higher education institutions, a need which arises from the limitations of conventional quality assurance instruments, and highlights the importance of a holistic approach to service quality management in terms of a total quality service framework. The development of such a framework is being done in two phases: (1) from a top management perspective (the qualitative phase) and (2) from the perspective of academics and students (the quantitative phase). This article explains the first phase of the research with the focus on prominent South African private higher education institutions offering degree qualifications. In-depth semi structured interviews were conducted with 15 principals (CEOs or top managers) of these institutions. A thematic analysis approach was followed to identify service quality dimensions as the point of departure for the eventual development of a total quality service framework.

What drives E-Health usage? Integrated institutional forces and top management perspectives

As hospitals increase their reliance on healthcare information technology to deliver services, there is a growing need to understand how to promote E-Health innovation usage within a hospital. Drawing on institutional theory and top management perspectives, we develop a theoretical model that explains how E-Health usage is influenced by external institutional forces and top management support. Three types of institutional forces: mimetic, coercive and normative pressures and two actions: top management beliefs and E-Health championing by which top management champions E-Health usage are identified and examined. Our empirical results show: 1) mimetic and coercive pressures positively affect top management beliefs and mimetic pressure also positively affects E-Health championing, 2) the effect of mimetic pressure on top management beliefs and E-Health championing is significantly stronger than other pressures, 3) both top management beliefs and E-Health championing promote E-Health usage, and 4) institutional forces' influence on E-Health usage is mediated by top management support. These findings highlight the important role of top management support in mediating the effect of institutional forces on E-Health usage and provide insight into how hospitals govern the institutional forces that drive top management support for E-Health innovations, thereby leading to actual E-Health usage.

Ethics in the selection processes for the execution of public works

Currently, due to various cases of corruption, various academic and non-academic spaces have focused on evaluating and understanding how public works contracting processes aredeveloped.Due to the discoveries of journalistic studies, in several countries, especially in the region, cases of corruption have been found in officials of all levels. Given this situation, an ethical evaluationis relevant and important.The present study seeks to understand, from a management and top management perspective, from sociology and neuroscience, the reason for the inappropriate behavior of the aforementioned public officials. This in a frame of affirmation that indicates that, if we do not take care of evaluating ethical and humanistic aspects, we will not be able to have a sustainable development in public and privatespaces.

Management across boundaries: A municipal dilemma

AbstractPublic sector mergers have the potential of being viable alternative to other public sector reforms in the striving toward making public service provision more equipped to confront some of the challenges faced today. Mergers however often fail to deliver promised results. Previous research point to the importance of post‐merger integrating processes for realizing the synergies expected from mergers. However, so far these studies have focused on what occurs inside organizations and less on the interplay between different levels. By adopting a governance and top management perspective, this study increases our understanding of the importance of political decisions on the outcome of a merger in the public sector context. Further, this study increases our understanding of how organizational boundaries on different levels of merging organizations influence post‐merger integrating processes and the role of different actors as boundary spanners. The results of this study are based on five case studies of public sector mergers at the local level in Sweden.

The adoption of vendor managed inventory for hospital pharmaceutical supply

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate vendor managed inventory (VMI) for the supply of medicines between distributors and hospitals to identify factors that may affect VMI adoption.Design/methodology/approachTwo contrasting VMI initiatives involving five organizations (three hospitals, one distributor and one manufacturer/supplier) are studied. A case study method with semi-structured interviews is used with triangulation in data collection, site visits and document analysis to enhance reliability and validity. The cases are analyzed and compared with respect to hospital, supplier, product and supply chain integration characteristics.FindingsA successful public sector VMI initiative and an unsuccessful private sector VMI initiative are identified. The public sector supplier focuses on improving service level while the private sector supplier seeks to strengthen relationships with a key customer. Hospital characteristics, including type of hospital, top management perspectives and the hospital’s willingness to share information, are critical in decisions on VMI initiation or termination. Relatively stable demand products are preferred for a VMI approach. Hospitals may perceive risks in VMI adoption for medicines as it involves relinquishing control of critical supplies and may result in “lock-in” with a particular supplier.Research limitations/implicationsThe cases have been conducted in one country, which may affect generalization of the findings. Wider empirical evidence from other countries in both developed and less developed regions will be beneficial.Practical implicationsVMI is advocated as being beneficial in many supply contexts. However, it is challenging to implement. The study identifies factors that affect the adoption of VMI for hospital pharmaceuticals and provides guidance on initiating VMI in a hospital context.Social implicationsThe potential for VMI in public health projects to enable greater access to critical medicines is highlighted.Originality/valueThe paper provides supply side and demand side perspectives on VMI adoption in an important sector. It highlights the need for greater understanding of the perceived and actual risks in VMI from the perspective of both the hospital and the supplier and for much clearer advice on which pharmaceutical products are appropriate for VMI control in a hospital context.