Autonomy and Regulation of State Agencies: Reinforcement,Indifference or Compensation?

This paper analyses the relationships between the autonomy and regulation of state agencies in Norway, Ireland and Flanders (Belgium). The empirical basis is provided by broad surveys of public sector organizations carried out in 2002–2004. Three hypotheses on these relationships are formulated and examined, indicating different patterns. The reinforcement hypothesis, stating a negative relationship does not get any support. On the other hand, the compensation hypothesis, stating a positive relationship gets some support. In general, however, the indifference hypothesis, stating low or no correlations seems to be the most adequate. The hypotheses are also linked to prevalent administrative doctrines, and the empirical findings indicate how relevant they are.

Old and New Organizational Cages. What about Autonomy and Freedom?

The discourses on the so-called “post-bureaucracy” emphasizes the importance of autonomy and freedom in present-day organizations. Yet, differently to the discourses, the practices are not univocal and there is a mix of continuity and transformation to be investigated. The article addresses these issues aiming to understand if and how organizational cages are changing, in particular in the public sector. After discussing the issues of autonomy and freedom in the contemporary organizations, the analysis focuses on the New Public Management in Italy on the basis of a case study. The research highlights the role of institutional and social resources that mediate freedom and autonomy.     

Vertical Integration under Competition: Forward,Backward, or No Integration?

We consider two competing supply chains, each consisting of supplier, a manufacturer, and a retailer. The suppliers exert effort to improve product quality, and the retailers sell products competitively. Each manufacturer chooses one of the three strategies: forward integration, backward integration, or no vertical integration. We seek for a subgame perfect Nash equilibrium and study the resulting market structure. Moreover, we characterize the effect of vertical integration on profitability, product price, and quality in a competitive setting. Existing literature has shown that, when manufacturers consider only forward integration, they may choose not to vertically integrate in equilibrium. In contrast, we find that, when both forward and backward integration options are considered, disintegration cannot be an equilibrium outcome. In this case, both manufacturers either forward or backward integrate, and the degree of product perishability, cost of quality, and how much consumers value quality are critical for the chosen direction of integration. Furthermore, competition increases attractiveness of backward integration relative to forward integration. We show that, while integrating backward unilaterally is always beneficial, unilateral forward integration can harm a manufacturer's profitability. Finally, vertical integration can result in a better quality product sold at a lower price.     

Optimal Software Free Trial Strategy: Limited Version,Time‐locked,or Hybrid?

Limited version, time‐locked, and hybrid are three software free trial strategies employed by software firms to exploit increased installed base and/or reduction of consumers' uncertainty about software quality. We develop an analytical model to examine these three software free trial strategies. We find that the hybrid strategy weakly dominates the limited and time‐locked versions, and the intensity of the network effects is a key factor determining which strategy is optimal.     

Complementarity between CSR dimensions and innovation: behaviour,objective or both?

This research assesses the impact of combining the economic, social and environmental dimensions of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) on firm innovation. In particular, we test whether the three dimensions of CSR (economic, social and environmental) are interrelated (behavioural complementarity), and whether their joined adoption will generate super-additive innovation performance effects (objective complementarity). To that end, we draw on the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) for Spain during the period 2009–2014. The analyses confirm behavioural complementarity among the three dimensions of CSR, as well as differences on objective complementarities depending on the innovation performance measure considered. In particular, the combination of the social dimension with any of the two others (economic and environmental) is the one that gives the best results in terms of radical innovation, whereas both the economic and environmental dimensions of CSR seem to be fundamental to foster incremental innovation. These results have implications for academics and practitioners, since they provide useful guidelines for the design of CSR in order to enhance firm innovation.     

Discourses of Diversity,Equality and Inclusion: Trenchant Formulations or Transient Fashions?

Using bibliometric analysis of published work, we examine the discursive trends, patterns and implications of three different anti‐discrimination solutions (equality, diversity and inclusion) over a 40‐year period from 1970 to 2010. The findings reveal that the anti‐discrimination discourses are consistent with management fashions, in terms of both their trends and the rhetorical strategies used by proponents to establish the dominance of their favoured approach, particularly by denigrating previous approaches. Practitioner‐facing academics play a key role in the process by giving shape, exposure and credibility to the anti‐discrimination solutions, but not in creating them. Only by breaking free of the oppositional discursive patterns can the debate move on to anti‐discrimination solutions that attempt to blend together equality, diversity and inclusion.     

Regulatory False Positives: True,False, or Uncertain?

Hansen et al. (2007) recently assessed the historical performance of the precautionary principle in 88 specific cases, concluding that "applying our definition of a regulatory false positive, we were able to identify only four cases that fit the definition of a false positive." Empirically evaluating how prone the precautionary principle is to classify nonproblems as problems ("false positives") is an excellent idea. Yet, Hansen et al.'s implementation of this idea applies a diverse set of questionable criteria to label many highly uncertain risks as "real" even when no real or potential harm has actually been demonstrated. Examples include treating each of the following as reasons to categorize risks as "real": considering that a company's actions contaminated its own product; lack of a known exposure threshold for health effects; occurrence of a threat; treating deliberately conservative (upper-bound) regulatory assumptions as if they were true values; treating assumed exposures of children to contaminated soils (by ingestion) as evidence that feared dioxin risks are real; and treating claimed (sometimes ambiguous) epidemiological associations as if they were known to be true causal relations. Such criteria can classify even nonexistent and unknown risks as "real," providing an alternative possible explanation for why the authors failed to find more false positives, even if they exist.     

Organizational Environments and Performance: A Linear or Nonlinear Relationship?

The external circumstances that organizations confront are an important influence upon their prospects of success. The resources available within the environment, the multiplicity of stakeholder demands to be addressed and the rates of change in these, each have serious implications for organizational functioning. Nevertheless, it remains conceivable that the effects of different dimensions of the environment are not straightforwardly positive or negative, but may follow nonlinear patterns posing very different challenges at different levels. To draw lessons for public organizations seeking to understand how best to respond the circumstances that they face, this paper examines linear and nonlinear effects of different dimensions of the organizational environment on the performance of over 500 organizations using both objective and subjective measures of the environment. Strong support is found for the presence of linear relationships between each environmental dimension and type of measure and performance, but no evidence of statistically significant nonlinear environmental effects. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Coping resources,coping strategies and adjustment to organizational change: Direct or buffering effects?

Abstract

This study examined the effects of personal and social resources, coping strategies and appraised stress on employees' levels of anxiety and depression. In relation to the effects of resources and coping strategies, two different models were tested. The main effects model proposes that, irrespective of the level of stress, coping resources and coping strategies have direct effects on well-being. In contrast, the buffering model predicts that the buffering effects of coping resources ad strategies are only evident at high levels of stress. One hundred lawyers completed a structured self-administered questionnaire that measured their personal and social resources, use of problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies, and appraisals of the stressfulness of the situation. Results revealed generally strong support for the main effects model in the prediction of employee levels of anxiety and depression. Lower levels of anxiety were linked to judgements of lower levels of organizational change, greater self-confidence, greater internality of control beliefs and less use of emotion-focused coping strategies. Lower levels of depression in employees were also linked to judgements of lower levels of organizational change, greater use of resources and less appraised stress. There was only limited support for the buffering effects model. Due to the small size of the sample, the findings need to be explored further in other contexts.     

The panopticon,an emblematic concept in management and organization studies: Heaven or hell?

The well-known metaphor of ‘panopticon’, derived from Bentham's project and popularized by Foucault, has long informed scholarly conversations in management and organization studies (MOS). Herein, we question the power of this emblematic metaphor. Through an in-depth literature review specifying its form, principle and goal, coupled to an investigation of Bentham's original writings, we identify two readings of the panopticon. First, we disentangle the uses of this concept in MOS literature and highlight a rather uniform and negative interpretation of the panopticon as a mechanism of social control and surveillance (first reading). Beyond this dominant interpretation, we contend that the panopticon is a richer concept than MOS literature acknowledges. Going back to Bentham's initial project, entailing not only one but plural types of panopticons, we propose a more comprehensive conceptualization of the panopticon (second reading) as: (1) a rewarding functional dispositive based on freedom and autonomy (form); (2) relying on information sharing, transparency and visibility (principle); and (3) striving for harmony and efficiency as ultimate ends (goal). In doing so, we generate a new way of seeing the panopticon in MOS research. We also reveal an inherent tension between both readings, interpreted as dystopia and utopia, and show that their combination allows grasping the ambivalence of panopticism in practice in ways that can inform further research on liberal management. As a practice of freedom, panopticism in practice might indeed turn into an instrument furthering control. To conclude, we highlight some analytical paths to help MOS scholars disentangle such ambivalence.     

Lead Time and Price Quotation Mode Selection: Uniform or Differentiated?

Firms in service and make‐to‐order manufacturing industries often quote lead times and prices to customers. We define uniform quotation mode (UQM) as the strategy where a firm offers a single lead time and price quotation, and differentiated quotation mode (DQM) is where a firm offers a menu of lead times and prices for customers to choose from. Both modes are followed in practice. Firms should determine which is more profitable. We classify customers into two groups: lead time sensitive (LS) and price sensitive (PS). LS customers value lead time reduction more than PS customers. We develop mathematical models of both quotation modes and analyze them to determine the most profitable mode under specified situations as well as the best lead time and price quotations within each mode. We find that DQM is dominated by UQM whenever PS customers have positive utilities from UQM or LS customers have positive utilities from DQM. Otherwise, which quotation mode is better depends on multiple factors, such as customer characteristics (including lead time reduction valuation and product valuation of a customer, and the proportion of LS customers) and production characteristics (including the desired service level and service or production cost).     

Palliative care programs: what, why, and how?

Establishing a palliative care service can improve patient care and ease family concerns for patients who are hopelessly ill. For the hospital, such services can improve utilization outcomes. Take a closer look at a palliative care service operating for nearly five years at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.     

Health and well-being of older workers: comparing their associations with effort–reward imbalance and Pressure,Disorganisation and Regulatory Failure

Work organisation has well-established associations with health. This study compares the associations of Pressure, Disorganisation and Regulatory Failure (PDR) and effort–reward imbalance (ERI) with health and well-being among older workers. Participants were 714 Australian workers aged 45–65 (56.3% female), with a mean age of 54.6 years (SD = 5.0) and a mean of 34.7 working hours per week (SD = 13.9). Hierarchical regression analyses tested the strengths of the associations of both ERI and PDR with work–life conflict and mental health. Independent variables were entered in blocks: demographic characteristics (age and gender), working hours and then ERI or PDR (measured using the four subscales: financial pressure, reward pressure, disorganisation and regulatory failure). Compared to ERI, the PDR subscales collectively accounted for slightly less variance in work–life conflict and slightly more variance in mental health. The PDR subscales also accounted for extra variance in both dependent variables when ERI was included in the model. These findings indicate that PDR is a promising construct that includes elements of work organisation not addressed by ERI.     

Convergence and Divergence Dynamics in British and French Business Schools: How Will the Pressure for Accreditation Influence these Dynamics?

This paper focuses on convergence and divergence dynamics among leading British and French business schools and explores how the pressure for accreditation influences these dynamics. We illustrate that despite historical differences in approaches to management education in Britain and France, these approaches have converged partly based on the influence of the American model of management education but more recently through the pursuit of accreditation, in particular from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business and the European Quality Improvement Standard. We explore these dynamics through the application of the resource‐based view of the firm and institutional theory and suggest that, whilst achieving accreditation is a necessary precursor for international competition, it is no longer a form of competitive advantage. The pursuit of accreditation has fostered a form of competitive mimicry reducing national distinctiveness. The resource‐based view of the firm suggests that the top schools need a more heterogeneous approach that is not easily replicable if they are to outperform the competitors. Consequently, the convergence of management education in Britain and France will become a new impetus for divergence. We assert that future growth and competitive advantage might be better achieved through the reassertion of national, regional and local cultural characteristics.     

Differences in Expert and Lay Judgments of Risk: Myth or Reality?

This article evaluates the nine empirical studies that have been conducted on expert versus lay judgments of risk. Contrary to received wisdom, this study finds that there is little empirical evidence for the propositions (1) that experts judge risk differently from members of the public or (2) that experts are more veridical in their risk assessments. Methodological weaknesses in the early research are documented, and it is shown that the results of more recent studies are confounded by social and demographic factors that have been found to correlate with judgments of risk. Using a task-analysis taxonomy, a template is provided for the documentation of future studies of expert-lay differences/similarities that will facilitate analytic comparison.     

Revisiting management innovation and change programmes: strategic vision or tunnel vision?

The information systems (IS) and management literature, broadly conceived, is replete with management innovation and change programmes. All are designed to enhance business performance and competitive advantage. This paper examines five approaches which have been developed in the post-war period to improve business performance. They are Total Quality Management (TQM), Just-In-Time production management (JIT), Activity Based Costing (ABC), Business Process Re-engineering (BPR), and Process Innovation. By comparing and contrasting these approaches, it is found that considerable overlap exists in their scope, style, content, aims and objectives. In view of this, the paper argues that instead of re-inventing the wheel every few years with a new management innovation and change panacea or fad, a broader, inter-disciplinary perspective should be adopted which seeks to understand the wider ideological, historical and empirical perspective which underpins these ideas. This is instead of the tunnel vision approach which seeks only to place these ideas in a narrow organisational or managerial context.     

Friend or Foe? CEO gender,political ideology,and gender-pay disparities in executive compensation

Do female CEOs reduce gender-pay disparities in top management teams (TMTs)? Some scholars draw on social identity theory to argue that, as individuals tend to identify with and support their in-groups, appointing a female corporate leader (i.e., CEO) will mitigate the gender-pay gap among executives. Yet, others draw on the queen-bee syndrome to postulate that some female CEOs may rather strengthen gender-pay disparities in upper echelons – by favoring out-groups (male) more than their in-groups (female). We bring together these opposing theoretical arguments to develop a ‘beyond CEO gender’ perspective, arguing that the effects of CEO gender on TMT gender-pay disparities should be considered in conjunction with the corporate leaders' values – as reflected by their political ideology. Our research demonstrates that conservative-female CEOs compensate female (versus male) executives lower compared to all other CEO gender-ideology categories (i.e., female-liberal CEOs, male-liberal CEOs, and male-conservative CEOs). Overall, our work contributes to theory on the CEO-TMT interface by highlighting the role of the CEO as the ‘architect’ of executive remuneration.