Perspective on succession planning in multiple MNCs: interview with Aparna Sharma

?Organizations are often confronted with the challenges of developing a continuous flow of functional leaders who can operate effectively in different cultural contexts. To maintain a sustainable leadership structure across different functional units, organizations need to put in place an efficient succession plan to meet any unexpected leadership void. The existing scholar practitioner literature offers limited information regarding evidence-based practices adopted by organizations for creating an effective succession planning strategy. The interview presented here is an attempt to highlight different approaches and strategies of effective succession management for ensuring leadership continuity and harnessing talent from within the organizations.     

QUALITY MANAGEMENT: UNIVERSAL OR CONTEXT DEPENDENT?

Quality management has often been advocated as being universally applicable to organizations. This is in contrast with the manufacturing strategy contingency approach of Operations Management that advocates internal and external consistency between manufacturing strategy choices. This article empirically investigates whether quality management practices are contingent on a plant's manufacturing strategy context, by examining the use of process quality management practices—a critical and distinctive subset of the whole set of quality management practices—across plants representative of different manufacturing strategy contexts. The study strongly suggests that process quality management practices are contingent on a plant's manufacturing strategy, and identifies mechanisms by which this takes place.     

Beyond Planning:: Strategies for Successfully Implementing Strategic Decisions

This article brings strategy back to managers and their organizations. It argues and demonstrates empirically that what managers do, and the kind of organization they lead, matter in terms of achieving stated objectives. Managerial action involves a set of activities from assessing the problem to prioritising action, and takes place within an organizational context which has two important elements for decision-making. First, organizations have an accumulated stock of experience, and the more managers can access and utilise this experience base the better. Secondly, the culture and structure of an organization may exhibit more or less readiness for the changes that decisions bring about, and contexts less ready for change pose problems for managers in the implementation of decisions.This long-term study of 55 decisions in UK firms shows that careful managerial planning does not of itself guarantee successful outcomes: the organizational context is crucial in framing actions and influencing achievement, and decisions may send a firm on a trajectory beyond the point at which it can plan with confidence. Where experience and readiness are strong, decisions achieve stated objectives—where both are lacking, decisions tend to fail. But, as examination of two illustrative cases indicates, strength in either domain may be enough: sound experience may win out in comparatively unreceptive situations, and decisions may still succeed where experience is lacking but the organization is ready for change. The article closes with some implications for managers.     

On the trail of line managers as talent spotters

The deliberate identification of talent is a critical process in most organizations. Performance ratings and senior management recommendations are its main sources, revealing the importance of line managers in the process. Nevertheless, some managers do have a talent for talent spotting and little is known about their behaviours as effective talent spotters. We explore, through social cognition, as part of the social psychology framework, the practices required to execute the talent identification process (TIP). An exploratory and qualitative method was adopted for this study; 21 line managers of an Argentine holding describe their experiences as talent spotters through semi-structured interviews. Findings show that the identification process is a complex and iterative one, in which several behaviours come into play, interrelated among each other. This interaction involves talent identification and talent development behaviours, deployed in a synergetic way. The relationship building behaviours set the foundations for the identification process to bear fruit. Distinct skills are necessary at different stages of the identification process for line managers to fulfil the talent spotter role. Finally, a model of the TIP is proposed.     

Co-workership in practice: a study of two Swedish organizations

Within Scandinavian working-life discourse, the notion of co-workership has become increasingly prominent. This article explores how the idea of co-workership has been implemented within two organizations and how it has been affected by various factors related to the implementation strategies that were used. Empirical data were collected from one County Council and one for-profit State-Owned Company through interviews with the managers of the co-workership programmes along with general managers and employees at an intensive care unit within the County Council and an Information Technology (IT) unit within the State-Owned Company. The findings indicate that compared to the top-down strategy used by the State-Owned Company, the implementation strategy adopted by the County Council, which was characterized by a high level of participation, local adjustment and integration of the idea of co-workership into daily work routines, resulted in a higher degree of implementation and development of co-workership practices. Finally, the implications of co-workership development work within organizations are discussed.     

IT strategy: Formal rational orthodoxy or contingent adhocracy?

This paper examines empirical evidence of support by managers for formal rational as opposed to ad hoc approaches to IT strategy. The evidence was gathered by a large scale survey of IT managers in the UK private and public sectors. A heuristic conceptual model was used to place organizations on a continuum for several aspects of IT strategy. The authors found that most organizations appeared to subscribe to formal rationalism, but only in some aspects of strategy     

30+ years of research and practice of outsourcing – Exploring the past and anticipating the future

Outsourcing is a phenomenon that as a practice originated in the 1950s, but it was not until the 1980s when the strategy became widely adopted in organizations. Since then, the strategy has evolved from a strictly cost focused approach towards more cooperative nature, in which cost is only one, often secondary, decision-making criterion. In the development of the strategy, three broad and somewhat overlapping, yet distinct phases can be identified: the era of the Big Bang, the era of the Bandwagon, and the era of Barrierless Organizations. This paper illustrates that the evolution of the practice has caused several contradictions among researchers, as well as led to the situation where the theoretical background of the phenomenon has recently become much richer. Through examining existing research, this paper intends to identify the development of outsourcing strategy from a practical as well as a theoretical perspective from its birth up to today. In addition, through providing insights from managers in the information technology industry, this paper aims at providing a glimpse from the future – that is – what may be the future directions and research issues in this complex phenomenon?     

Classifying Revenue Management: A Taxonomy to Assess Business Practice*

As revenue management (RM) techniques evolve there is a need to take stock of how organizations practice RM and the interactions among techniques. This would help practitioners and researchers better understand how RM practice is influenced by the business setting, including those not traditionally associated with advanced RM techniques. Also, it would facilitate investigations of which practices lead to better outcomes in different contexts. Research to date has focused on individual techniques within individual business settings, with limited attention to the range of environments in which RM practice occurs. This suggests a need for a common framework to classify and assess differences in practice. In this article, we present a taxonomy which comprises (i) seven indicators of practice and (ii) a decision tree to measure RM across diverse businesses. We test the classification system in a survey of 232 businesses. Results show the taxonomy provides a comprehensive view of RM practice, with meaningful discrimination across settings. Findings also offer insight into how practices vary across different settings. Our taxonomy contributes to future research by facilitating systematic comparisons of RM practices, the settings in which it is adopted, and its impact on performance.     

Constructing managerial manoeuvring space in contradictory contexts

This paper discusses manoeuvring space and demonstrates how autonomy, power and discretion need to be understood as constructed and integrated behaviours where managers manoeuvre between dilemmas in their own management practices. Twenty-seven Norwegian police managers were shadowed and interviewed. We found that constructions of manoeuvring space presupposed that managers balanced dilemmas. We identified three different strategies through which managers constructed manoeuvring space by navigating between dilemmas and actively constructing demands and constraints. These strategies were (1) decoupling, (2) sensegiving and (3) strategic positioning. Our findings add to the managerial discretion literature, arguing that constructions of manoeuvring space are central to managers’ development and to how they create opportunities and possibilities to make choices that balance conflicting dilemmas in contradictory contexts.     

Wanted--seasoned veterans. Diamonds in the rough need not apply

Health care organizations looking for physician executives prefer seasoned veterans--doctors who have already done the job. They want job-specific experience. Most organizations do not provide training grounds and orderly career ladders for aspiring physician executives. The Permanente Medical Groups, Family Health Plans, and some very large group practices are exceptions, but, for the most part, rising medical directors in these organizations stay with them. Most hospitals are not large enough to have associate or assistant medical directors or an environment that could provide a training ground for rising physician executives. On the other hand, hospitals, larger group practices, health insurance companies, and managed care organizations provide ample opportunities for nonphysician managers to train, gain experience, and climb the ladders. How can the novice physician executive break into the world of management and begin establishing management credentials? The author provides some key steps that can lead to success.     

Aspects of manufacturing strategy

Abstract

It is becoming increasingly important for manufacturing organizations to articulate clear and coherent manufacturing strategies that support their long term business objectives. In particular, manufacturing strategy should take conscious account of the competitive posture adopted by the organization in each of the product/market segments in which it has decided to participate. This paper discusses the various ways in which a systemic manufacturing strategy can contribute to an organization's competitiveness, and the processes by which such a strategy can be developed. Some important and often neglected issues concerning the development of the individual components of a manufacturing strategy are examined and the problems and issues of strategy implementation are discussed.     

Strategy restoration

Discussions of strategic change generally assume that managers strive to break free from the constraints of their organization's past so that they can forge ahead into the future. However, some organizations instead opt to reinterpret and reenact abandoned strategies drawn from their own history. Such actions are largely unaccounted for in the literature on strategic change. Accordingly, we propose here a conceptualization of a distinct type of strategic change that we call “strategy restoration.” We first outline how strategy restoration fills a gap in current understandings of strategic change. We then elaborate conditions that motivate and enable organizations to pursue strategy restoration rather than other types of strategic change. Two components of the framework—organizational traditionality and memory—characterize the organization itself, and two—nostalgia and perceptions of the organization's authenticity—characterize the market in which the organization operates. The proposed conceptualization of strategy restoration and discussion of its underlying mechanisms carry implications for researchers and managers.     

The Management of Workplace Conflict: Contrasting Pathways in the HRM Literature

This paper reviews the human resource management literature on the management of workplace conflict. It suggests that workplace conflict is commonly viewed in the literature as a symptom of management failure: the notion that conflict may be intrinsic to the nature of work because employees and managers have hard‐to‐reconcile competing interests is given short‐shrift. At the same time, the paper identifies important differences in the literature, which the authors call ‘pathways’, about the best methods to manage problems at the workplace. It is argued that four contrasting pathways can be detected in the literature with regard to how organizations approach workplace conflict management practices. Each pathway is examined fully and their respective strengths and weaknesses are assessed.     

Stuck in the Middle with You?

This paper examines similarities between the worlds of managers and critical management researchers. It attempts to illustrate the practices of division in which both sets of actors are engaged. Through a comparison of the contexts of managerial and critical managerial action, coupled with the use of Burke's (1969) notion of the scapegoat, the paper suggests that battles between academic disciplines and across the academy/practice divide may be more productively recognized as essential resources for identity work and self care. The paper concludes with a brief consideration of the value of the approach suggested.     

Strategic Integration and Devolvement of Human Resource Management in the UK Manufacturing Sector

This paper analyses the practices of ‘integration’ of HRM into the corporate strategy and ‘devolvement’ of responsibility for HRM to line managers in six British manufacturing industries. The findings are based on a questionnaire survey, in‐depth interviews and cognitive mapping methodologies. The results show that over 50% of the firms under study practise a high level of strategic integration. On the other hand, over 61% of the sample firms practise a low level of devolvement practices. Interestingly, both the practices of integration of HRM into the corporate strategy and devolvement of HRM to line managers are more determined by a number of organizational policies than traditional contingent variables. The adoption of the mixed methodology has been useful. The findings contribute to strategic HRM literature, and also have some key messages for policy‐makers in the field. The cognitive maps developed in the paper could be used to give feedback and training to managers.     

An empirical evaluation of the management resourcing strategy of a Western multinational within a post-socialist Polish subsidiary

The continued globalization process and internationalization of business is increasingly raising issues concerning human resource strategy and practice in those organizations operating across international boundaries. This paper presents an empirical evaluation of the management resourcing strategy of a Western multinational corporation (MNC) within a post-socialist Polish subsidiary. Findings suggest a high level of pragmatism in relation to management staffing decisions. Whilst normative resourcing models emphasize the importance of environment, organization and job analysis in selecting and preparing managers for expatriate appointments, these processes are contingency constrained. Difficulties of adaptation and integration of the Polish subsidiary serve to increase reliance on expatriate managers.     

Testing Turbulence: Exploring the Determinants of Managerial Networking

A scholarly consensus holds that turbulent environments have damaging effects on public service performance. Turbulence, both internal and external organizations, has been demonstrated to negatively impact chances for organizations to meet goals and sometimes to survive. Less scholarly attention, however, is paid to how turbulence affects managerial strategy. This paper seeks to address how managerial strategy changes toward external environments and investigates what alternations managers make to combat turbulence. This question is theoretically and practically appropriate to comprehensively understand the effects of environmental turbulence for public organizations.     

Quality management remains top medical manager responsibility

Earlier this year, the Physician Executive Management Center conducted a survey of physician executives in management positions in hospitals, group practices, managed care organizations, and industry. Information was obtained for physician executives in both full-time and part-time roles. In addition to gathering compensation information, the survey sought to define the scope and intensity of the responsibilities of physician CEOs and senior medical managers (medical directors or the equivalent) in these organizations. In this article, the authors summarize the findings on responsibilities for senior medical managers in hospitals, group practices, and managed care organizations.