Information Systems Adaptation and the Successful Implementation of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies*

Few plants have initial success with advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs), and adaptations are commonly required after installing new technologies. We especially know little about the outcomes of adaptations that manufacturers regularly employ in the context of AMTs. Sociotechnical theory and the technology literature suggest that AMTs commonly require four types of adaptations including those to process technologies, human resources, operational structures, and information systems. This study investigates which of these four adaptations and their interactions lead to improved operational performance. Data were collected on 104 plants that implemented a single type of manufacturing AMT. Findings indicate that information systems (IS) adaptation during the course of AMT implementation was the most important action. Surprisingly, human resource and process technology adaptations were linked to lower performance, and no interactions had any clear effects. The results also show that practitioners underestimated the relevance of IS adaptations during contemporary or “second-generation” AMT implementation projects and overemphasized the need for shop floor changes.     

Organizational Computing as a Facilitator of Operational and Managerial Decision Making: An Exploratory Study of Managers' Perceptions*

Much of the current knowledge pertaining to information technology (IT) and decision making is based on decades old technologies that revolved around a central computing function and application-specific systems. The purpose of this research is to examine the IT decision-making relationship within the emerging organizational computing (OC) environment permeated by spontaneous utilization of both application-and nonapplication-specific computing and communication technologies. Specifically, this study seeks to explore managers' perceptions of the emerging OC environment as a facilitator of their decision-making activities. To achieve a higher level of clarity than previous works, a two-dimensional research framework is developed with the IT dimension consisting of computing and communication, and the decision-making dimension differentiated between operational and managerial decisions. A survey instrument was constructed that measured the computing and communication dimensions of information technology use and their perceived effects upon operational and managerial decisions. The major findings of the study confirmed that managers recognize the value of general, nonapplication-specific information technologies in decision making, and that this recognition is highly associated with how intensively these information technologies are used. Additionally, it was found that the two dimensions of IT differ in their relationships to decision making, and that IT usage relates to managerial decisions differently than operational decisions. These study findings have significant implication for practice and research, especially in the context of information resource management in which the primary purpose of the IS function is the delivery of general information service to users rather than the development of specific IS applications.     

What innovation managers really do: a multiple-case investigation into the informal role profiles of innovation managers

Over the last fifteen years companies tended to formalise their innovation management activities and to establish formal jobs like the innovation officer, the network manager or the innovation manager. Knowledge of the informal role profiles of these formal roles is still rare. HR and R&D Managers do not know which informal role profile might suit them best, thus having difficulties to assign the best candidates for jobs in innovation management. Researchers cannot help to resolve the problem. Our research answers the question what innovation managers really do, by analysing their tasks, skills and traits, theoretically based on informal role theories. Furthermore, we will analyse how these characteristics change with company size. To provide answers to our research questions we choose a multiple-case study approach. We found, among others, that innovation managers fulfil the role of the relationship and process promotor or a combination of both with the champion, but we also found, that the innovation manager’s roles profile becomes fuzzier with shrinking company size. Our results have practical implications for top management and also HR and R&D managers, enabling them to better select and steer employees in innovation management. Researchers will be able to build on our results because we offer a comprehensive understanding of the informal role profiles of innovation managers based on informal role theories.     

Patterns of Advanced Manufacturing Technology Utilization and Manufacturing Capabilities

The objectives of this research are first to empirically replicate Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) utilization taxonomies identified in foregoing research, second to investigate the relationship between patterns of AMT utilization and manufacturing capabilities attainment, and third to explore differences in context, and performance across AMT groups. Theories of performance frontiers and capability progression provide the basis for our hypotheses. Data were collected from 224 U.S. manufacturing plants in industries considered to have potential utilizations of AMTs. A cluster analysis of the data yields a solution that closely resembles a previous AMT utilization taxonomy, including four groups labeled, respectively, as Traditionalists, Generalists, High Investors, and Designers. Significant manufacturing capability differences across these four groups indicate that plants that utilize a broader scope of AMTs enjoy a greater breadth of manufacturing capabilities. The implied capability attainment pattern is consistent with cumulative capability theory. However, the results suggest that cost capability is not included in the capability mix when broad‐based AMT utilization is the enabler of capability gains. A post hoc exploration of the AMT groups indicates significant differences in performance across the groups. Collectively, the results extend prior research by providing added insights into the possible rationale and impact of AMT utilization patterns.     

项目经理激励报酬机制与企业监督博弈分析

项目经理的投机行为可以通过监督或激励来缓解。本文建立了有关项目管理中的国有企业监督与项目经理行为之间的模型,并运用此模型分析了项目经理的激励机制、项目经理的行为和企业监督之间的关系,并为如何有效地避免项目经理的投机行为,改进当前激励报酬形式提供了一种分析工具。     

Top management support for management science

Two aspects of the relation between top managers and in-house management science units are considered in this paper. First, the impact of top management sponsorship and support on the progress and success of management science (MS) activities is considered. Secondly, the impact that an MS activity has had on the thinking and activities of top managers is discussed. The question of the role of the “professional” in an organization and the implications for client-professional perceptions of trust as these are influenced by the top manager are explored. Top management awareness and utilization of the management sciences are also reviewed.     

Personality traits and career satisfaction of human resource professionals

Occupational choice frameworks suggest that personality factors influence person-job fit. This paper focuses on personality factors and career satisfactions of human resources (HR) managers. ‘Big Five’ and narrow personality traits as well as managerial style variables were drawn from an archive of 1846 HR managers and 1375 non-managers. Results indicated that HR managers differed from 51,297 individuals in other occupations and from non-managerial HR specialists on many of the study variables, most of which were also related to career satisfaction. Implications for differentiation selection and development of HR managers were discussed.     

高管从军经历影响公司治理吗?--来自中国上市公司的经验证据

从军经历影响高管行为选择和管理风格,对于公司治理具有重要的价值。采用2004-2014年上市公司数据样本,以盈余管理程度以及审计意见类型作为反映公司治理的代理变量,本文实证分析了高管从军经历对公司治理的影响。研究发现,有过从军经历的高管所在民营上市公司被出具非标审计意见的可能性以及实施盈余管理的程度相对更低,国有企业则不显著;制度环境影响高管从军经历的治理效应,表现为所在地区政府干预越弱时,高管从军经历对于完善民营企业公司治理的作用越大;高管从军经历与MBA教育在影响民营企业公司治理方面具有替代效应,且从军经历具有更为重要的稳定影响;管制行业民营企业高管从军经历的治理效应更为显著。本文的研究对理解我国企业高管从军经历对于公司治理的重要性以及拓展高管异质性影响公司决策的相关研究具有重要的价值。     

“Seeing to be seen”: The manager’s political economy of visibility in new ways of working

Recent changes in the world of work have modified the conditions of the exercise of management in ways that challenge managers’ traditional authority and identity, both symbolically and physically. In this context, we analyse the “visibilizing process” of managers, through which they attempt to make themselves more visible, in ways that reaffirm their authority and restore their identity as managers. To that end, we develop a Foucauldian framework on power and visibility, which sheds light on the “political economy of visibility” of the manager. We apply this framework to a case study that encouraged a re-spatialization of remote work in coworking spaces. The findings show how the manager in our case study staged his own visibility, by enhancing managerial control, to manage his invisibility and shape his intertwined identities. Through the visibilizing process, the manager legitimated his role, materialized his function, and restored his authority.     

A Trojan Horse? The implications of managerial coaching for leadership theory

This article examines the behaviours associated with managerial coaching and assesses the implications for leadership theory. Survey data from 521 line managers are analysed to: (i) identify the behaviours associated with managerial coaching, (ii) examine factors that affect the propensity of managers to undertake coaching and (iii) discuss the implications of the manager as coach role for leadership theory and practice. First, the analysis indicates that workplace coaching is distinct from specialized coaching practices. Second, demographic characteristics of individual managers, such as their age, experience or level of management qualification are unlikely to affect their propensity to undertake managerial coaching. However, leader-team member relationships (leader-member exchange) and occupational self-efficacy (OSE) are predictive of managerial coaching behaviours. Third, managerial coaching challenges traditional leader-centric models of leadership and requires an acknowledgement of reciprocity, collaborative ‘meaning-making’ and a diminished ‘distance’ between leaders and team members.     

Cognitive Mapping Tools: Review and Risk Management Needs

Risk managers are increasingly interested in incorporating stakeholder beliefs and other human factors into the planning process. Effective risk assessment and management requires understanding perceptions and beliefs of involved stakeholders, and how these beliefs give rise to actions that influence risk management decisions. Formal analyses of risk manager and stakeholder cognitions represent an important first step. Techniques for diagramming stakeholder mental models provide one tool for risk managers to better understand stakeholder beliefs and perceptions concerning risk, and to leverage this new understanding in developing risk management strategies. This article reviews three methodologies for assessing and diagramming stakeholder mental models—decision‐analysis‐based mental modeling, concept mapping, and semantic web analysis—and assesses them with regard to their ability to address risk manager needs.     

Managerial sensemaking of interaction within business relationships: A cultural perspective

In this study, we take the perspective of the individual manager in order to understand the role of culture in managerial sensemaking on interaction within business relationships. Extant literature has found business-to-business relationships and interaction between managers to be an essential part of conducting business. However, it has mostly ignored the role of culture in the process. This has not accounted for the possibility that managers with different cultural backgrounds may differently make sense about business interactions.     

经营者股权、非流通股权和公司绩效——对中国上市公司的实证分析

许多学者证明内部人股权和公司绩效之间存在非线性关系,并且把内部人股权看作经营者股权。本文结合中国上市公司的特点,认为应该从广义上理解内部人股权的概念,把非流通股都看作内部股。通过对深市上市公司的分析,本文发现经营者股权和公司绩效之间没有显著的关系。国家股和法人股等与公司绩效显著正相关。一定比例的非流通股可以促进公司绩效,而非流通股比例过大,则会使公司绩效降低。企业应该逐渐降低非流通国家股和法人股的比例,提高经营者股权,以发挥经营者的积极性和管理能力。     

Real-time schedule adjustment decisions: a case study

Service capacity management has been extensively studied and successfully applied in many industries, with an emphasis on tour/shift scheduling and assignment decisions. However, few studies have addressed real-time work schedule adjustment decisions made necessary by demand uncertainty and/or labor supply disruption. This case study deals with the real-time work schedule adjustment decision and investigates the association of managerial experience, workforce mix (full- and part-time staff), and information accuracy with managers’ adjustment decisions. We designed an experiment that involved practicing service managers from a McDonald's franchise who provided their adjustment decisions for a given set of test scenarios. Their decisions were analyzed and evaluated via a controlled experiment. Using profitability as the primary performance measure, the study identifies the following outcomes: First, senior managers of a store with a higher proportion of part-time staff made more adjustments and attained slightly higher profitability than junior managers, when all employees accepted adjusted schedules. Second, managers of a store with a higher proportion of part-time staff were able to make slightly higher profits, particularly when capacity shortages occurred. And third, to achieve the majority of the benefits from schedule adjustments, it is sufficient to search for information that correctly identifies the direction of demand changes, rather than identifying the exact magnitude of the changes.     

Studying the Accuracy of Managers' Perceptions: A Research Odyssey

Much organizational activity and academic research relies on the accuracy of managers' perceptions. However, few studies have assessed the accuracy of managerial perceptions, and these studies indicate that managers' perceptions are often very inaccurate. This article discusses an odyssey into the study of managerial perceptions spanning two decades and two empirical studies. It depicts the evolution of research questions, samples, study designs, problems with such research and inferences drawn. It also identifies some errors that tend to be especially large and suggests some corrective actions. These corrective actions include using education and training to inform managers about organizational and environmental properties, exploiting improved technology, helping organizations to identify and correct misperceptions and designing robust organizations that can tolerate misperceptions.     

Innovation Strategy,Human Resource Policy,and Firms' Revenue Growth: The Roles of Environmental Uncertainty and Innovation Performance*

This study investigates the interactions of innovation strategy execution and innovation‐focused human resource (HR) policy adoption on innovation performance and revenue growth. In addition, we investigate the moderating role of environmental uncertainty on the effects of innovation strategy execution and innovation‐focused HR policy on innovation performance. Results show that the interaction of innovation strategy execution and innovation‐focused HR policy is positively related to innovation performance. Results also show that environmental uncertainty positively moderates the innovation strategy execution–innovation performance relationship. Finally, innovation performance mediates the interaction of innovation strategy execution and environmental uncertainty on firms’ revenue growth. Implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.     

Improving supply chain responsiveness through Advanced Manufacturing Technology: the mediating role of internal and external integration

Abstract

Responsiveness is one of the key performance factors that firms need to face up to the challenges posed by today’s markets. Many manufacturing firms are investing in advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) with a view to improving competitiveness. However, empirical evidence shows that investments in AMT alone do not lead to improvements in performance. In this study, a model that links AMT implementation and responsiveness through internal integration and external integration is proposed. A sample of 441 Spanish industrial companies was used to test the model through structural equation modelling. The findings highlight that internal integration needs to be supplemented with external integration in order to ensure that the implementation of AMT will result in improved responsiveness. Supply chain managers should focus on integration within the supply chain – firstly internal and later external – to obtain returns on investments in AMT in the form of improved flexibility and more reliable and faster deliveries.     

Determinants of RFID adoption intention by SMEs: an empirical investigation

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology has been considered as one of the 10 technologies that will transform firm across industries. However, the adoption and use of the technology has been slower than predicted, mainly because of technological, organisation and environment factors related to RFID. This study develops a conceptual model that explores the role that technological, organisational, environmental and managerial characteristics of small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) play in their intention to adopt RFID technology. To test the model, a web-based survey was administered to 453 SME managers from the USA, the UK, Australia and India. Logistic hierarchical regression is used to test the proposed model. Implications for RFID technology research, theory and practice are discussed.     

经理人股票期权无效性的动态非合作博弈分析

大量学者从不同角度对经理人股票期权的有效性提出了质疑.本文基于现有理论和经验研究成果,分析股票期权收益的重要因素--继任经理人员的努力类型,对股票期权激励效果的影响,构建了经理人员股票期权激励合约的新框架,并建立经理人员之间的非合作动态博弈模型,有效解释了股票期权激励无效的内在原因.     

Personal values and managerial decision-making: Evidence from a developing economy

This study attempts to investigate to what extent the personal values of managers from a developing economy affect their managerial decisions. Previous studies have suggested the relationship between values and managerial behavior. The purpose of the study was to examine this relationship in the context of a developing, less industrialized economy, identify peculiar issues given the context of the study, and discuss the managerial implications of the findings. The subjects studied were Nigerian managers, using the value survey designed by England. Results showed that values do affect behavior, but more significantly, that the cultural values of the managers play a significant role in their managerial decisions.