Family Status and Work Attitudes: An Investigation in a Professional Services Firm

To help employees better balance work and family responsibilities, organizations are increasingly offering a variety of work–family programmes. However, anecdotal reports suggest that employees without spouses or children perceive that they receive fewer organizational benefits and bear greater burdens than their married or parent counterparts. By providing a more ‘family‐friendly’ work environment, organizations may foster perceptions of inequity in people without families (single adults without dependent children, SAWDCs), possibly resulting in lower job satisfaction and other work‐related outcomes. Using a sample of 454 employees of a professional services firm, we examined attitudinal differences between individuals with and without families. Findings suggest that SAWDCs and non‐SAWDCS differed in terms of age, organizational level, use of flexible work arrangements and firm tenure. However, we found no differences in hours worked, job involvement, job satisfaction or organizational commitment. Interestingly, SAWDCs had more favourable perceptions of the organization's work–family culture than non‐SAWDCs, suggesting that those who do not utilize family‐friendly benefits view them more favourably than those who actually need or use the benefits. In addition to identifying directions for future research, we offer suggestions for organizations, including taking a more universal approach to benefits to the advantage of all employees.     

Digitalization and Promotion: An Empirical Study in a Large Law Firm

In law firms, the number of hours that associates work reportedly plays a preponderant role in promotion decisions. We build on previous research in this area by distinguishing the effect of ‘development hours’ from ‘billable hours’ on promotions and by assessing the extent to which billable hours are still important criteria today, in digitalized environments where efficiency is, presumably, likely to matter more than working long hours. We also examine whether certain types of behaviours, like associates' interactions with technology, may be associated directly or indirectly with a higher likelihood of promotion. We studied these questions in the context of a large corporate law firm in continental Europe, focusing on the promotion of 93 lawyers between 2005 and 2010. We found that both billable and development hours are still significant positive predictors of promotions and that associates' ability to use the case firm's computer‐mediated knowledge management system productively is indirectly rewarded by promotion. This research reasserts the fundamental role of billable hours as one of the primary means for evaluating lawyers' work and suggests that using knowledge management systems gives associates an edge in the race for promotion, particularly in law firms moving along the ‘evolutionary path’ of legal service, from bespoke to commoditized work (Susskind, R. (2010). The End of Lawyers? Rethinking the Nature of Legal Services. Oxford: Oxford University Press).     

过度自信对公司管理者职务晋升的影响机理研究

公司管理者职务晋升受到多种因素的影响,是各种因素共同作用的合力结果,探讨和研究各种影响因素对公司管理者职务晋升的作用机理已经成为学术界和企业管理实务界关注的热点问题.论文在现有研究成果的基础上,在若干合理假设条件下,通过借鉴和改进Gervais和Daniel等人提出的过度自信表示方法,建立恰当的数学模型探索性地研究了过度自信心理偏好对管理者职务晋升的影响机理.研究结果表明,在实际能力水平相同且不为人所知的条件下,过度自信管理者比理性管理者更有可能获得职务晋升机会,而且过度自信管理者获得的职务晋升机会与过度自信管理者的过度自信程度和参与职务晋升竞争的理性管理者人数正相关.     

Speed in the Internationalization Process of the Firm

While firm internationalization processes have been understood as being dynamic, the dimension of speed has rarely been the main focus of research efforts, which, until a decade ago, focused principally on explaining sequences of entry modes and choices of markets. The emergence of the study of international entrepreneurship has enhanced the role of speed, although this has usually been measured in terms of the time lag between a firm's foundation and its initial international action, with little attempt at defining and explaining the speed of the process once it is under way. This study reviews the concept of speed from an internationalization perspective, describes the multidimensional nature of the concept and sets out the different aspects that link timescales with the types of changes – continuous and discontinuous – that take place during internationalizing processes. The paper concludes with a research agenda as a guide for future work on considering the role of speed in the internationalization process.     

Putting Process (Back) In: Research on the Internationalization Process of the Firm

This paper provides a critique of existing research on the internationalization process of the firm and proposes an agenda for future inquiry. In recent years, process approaches have received increasing attention in management research, leading to a more refined understanding of the distinction between process and variance paradigms. We apply a process lens to a well‐established sub‐field of international business, namely the internationalization process of the firm. We review how this research tradition has evolved over four decades. The review commences with a reassessment of the seminal ‘stage models’ that date back to the 1970s. It then proceeds to classify subsequent research on the basis of whether it includes process data and/or process theorizing. It is found that the majority of studies in this review do not combine process data with process theorizing. We show how, even in studies that contain some process elements, a process approach is not always sustained throughout the paper. On the basis of this review, six research themes are proposed, which would form the basis for a process agenda for future research.     

Conflicting Subcultures in Mergers and Acquisitions: a Longitudinal Study of Integrating a Radical Internet Firm into a Bureaucratic Telecoms Firm

Media and telecommunications companies face the problem of how to integrate diametrically opposite radical internet firms after acquisition. Extant mergers and acquisitions (M&A) studies report that differences in the organizational culture are important in the cultural integration process. Frequently, M&A research assumes organizational cultures to be homogeneous and unified, but a large body of organizational literature suggests that organizations should be understood as heterogeneous living worlds in which employees construct their own subcultures. The paper focuses on the question of how such subcultures affect the long‐term cultural integration of merged firms. A 12‐year longitudinal field study in the Netherlands examined the integration of iPioneer into Telcom. The findings of the study show how three subcultures in iPioneer influenced the cultural integration process. The paper makes a contribution to the academic debate on cultural integration in domestic M&A by acknowledging that the numerous coexisting subcultures influence cultural integration in the complex process of post‐acquisition integration.     

从家族企业到企业家族:基于分家的多案例研究

分家经常会导致家族企业被分拆或败落,这使得人们对其存在一定成见,认为分家对于家族企业发展总是负面的。对我国几个具有典型意义的家族企业分家案例的分析表明,家族企业"分家"并不必然导致企业衰亡,尤其在战略创业导向之下,可能通过分家相互构建起战略性的产业联系和竞争合作关系,从而使得家族企业演变成企业家族。从裂变创业视角,更有助于揭示分家对家族企业创业和持续成长的正面价值。     

Differential Overeducation in East and West Germany: Extending Frank's Theory on Economic Returns Changes the Picture of Disadvantaged Women

We test the theory of differential overeducation which predicts that women and particularly partnered women are more affected by overeducation than men. Our OLS and FE estimations based on German SOEP data confirm that women indeed exhibit more years of excess education in both regions. Women's higher educational mismatch accounts for 5 pp of the West German pay gap. However, women suffer lower wage penalties from overeducation than men in both regions and, for partnered people, higher female wage penalties vanish in the FE estimations. Hence, women are more rationed than men concerning overeducation magnitude, confirming Frank's theory, but rather less disadvantaged with respect to economic returns.     

Managing Socially-Responsible Buying:: How to Integrate Non-economic Criteria into the Purchasing Process

Companies are increasingly scrutinized by various audiences and are made accountable not only for their internal practices, but also for their suppliers’ behavior. Many purchasing managers and executives are not accustomed to seeing the purchasing function receive so much attention from different parties. As a result, a number of them do not know how to embrace the trend toward socially responsible buying (SRB). The present paper offers a helping hand by (1) shedding some light on the nature of SRB and (2) explaining how companies can incorporate social responsibility criteria into their purchasing decisions.     

Adding dynamics to a static theory: How leader traits evolve and how they are expressed

Leader's traits evolve over time and are expressed differently under different situations. To capture both the evolution and expression of leader traits, we propose a dynamic model. We argue that the evolution of traits consists of changes in intensity and nature. Based on data on five publicly acknowledged Chinese leaders collected from various sources, we identified three patterns (homological, converse, and composite) by which leader traits evolve. We also discovered that leader's traits can be intrinsic or extrinsic. The intrinsic traits change in intensity; whereas the extrinsic traits are replaced by other traits over time. Factors influencing these changes include both internal (e.g., leaders' own learning and introspection) and external (e.g., major social events and subtle cultural influences). The results of our study show that the traits leaders demonstrated under specific situations are composite in nature, which also supports the notion that traits evolve. Based on our finding, we generated a few propositions for future empirical studies.     

层级、态度和心理契约--基于一个中国企业的实证研究

日趋动态的环境需要企业在制定人力资源政策时更多地运用心理契约.心理契约有交易型心理契约和关系型心理契约之分.本文通过问卷调查和回归分析,研究不同类型的心理契约对企业中不同层级个体的态度如何产生影响的问题.本文发现,对于企业中高层级个体的态度改善,关系型心理契约能够起到更大的作用;而对于企业中低层级个体的态度改善,交易型心理契约能够起到更大的作用.本文还对本研究的应用前景和局限性进行了讨论.     

新产品开发过程中的外部参与对企业绩效的影响

基于资源依赖理论、社会资本理论、创新搜索理论和信息处理理论,探讨新产品开发过程中的供应商参与和客户参与对企业绩效不同维度(运作绩效和财务绩效)的影响作用以及IT能力的调节效应.利用176家中国制造企业的调研数据,采用多元线性回归和调节效应的检验方法对研究假设进行实证检验.研究结果表明,供应商参与对企业财务绩效有显著的正向影响,对企业运作绩效的影响不显著;客户参与对企业运作绩效和财务绩效的提升都有显著的推动作用;IT能力正向调节供应商参与与企业财务绩效之间的关系.     

人力资本社会网络与企业创新——基于在线简历数据的实证研究

社会网络理论的兴起和发展为企业创新研究领域提供了全新的视角。以往研究虽然考察了企业通过合作、联盟协议等方式形成的企业社会网络对创新的影响,但是这些方式相比于人员流动而言,并非是获取其他企业的知识和信息资源的最直接方式。本文基于领英(中国)职业社交网站的人才简历数据,从社会网络视角构建了一个新颖的由人员流动而形成的企业人力资本社会网络,并实证研究了我国上市企业人力资本社会网络位置对其创新绩效的影响。同时,本文依据流动人才的类型进一步将人力资本社会网络细分为技术型人力资本社会网络和管理型人力资本社会网络。结果表明,上市企业人力资本社会网络的中心度和结构洞与企业创新绩效呈显著正相关关系。文章最后讨论了本研究的理论贡献与实践启示。     

摆脱"布里丹选择"的困境

领导者要学会务实,必要的时候要降低目标,赢得时间,当选择了51%的价值,就要毫不犹豫地放弃49%的机会成本,全力把51%变成100%。     

企业理论新探:企业自组织理论

当今建立在经典科学理论基础上企业理论派别林立,但都没有对企业做出圆满的解释。作为研究自组织系统从无序到有序的规律的复杂性科学,为破解企业“黑箱”提供了有力的武器。本文用自组织理论初步探讨了所有企业理论不能避免的五个核心企业问题,并通过述评提供了一个理解企业派别的宏观框架,认为企业自组织理论在未来的企业理论之林中居重要地位,目的是为建立一种新的企业理论“添砖加瓦”。     

从面向合作伙伴到面向消费者的供应链转型——电商企业供应链双案例研究

现有供应链理论尽管讨论了企业间协同和消费者对供应链协同的影响,然而,在电商情境下,对以合作伙伴协同为主的供应链如何转型为面向消费者的供应链,及面向消费者与面向合作伙伴供应链的差异缺乏深入探讨。本文在战略更新理论和动态能力理论基础上,通过两家电商企业及其供应商从传统供应链转型为电商供应链的案例研究发现:(1)电商供应链转型存在重构式和渐进式两种战略更新模式,重构式转型主要通过资源获取形成能力重构,再通过能力重构实现供应链战略更新;渐进式转型主要通过资源整合实现能力拓展,再通过能力拓展实现供应链战略更新;(2)面向消费者与面向合作伙伴供应链协同的差异主要体现在核心价值、成本结构、协同主体和IT应用4个方面。这一研究将战略更新理论从单一企业视角扩展到供应链视角,提出了从面向合作伙伴到面向消费者的供应链战略转型理论框架,拓展了供应链转型的理论内涵,对中国企业在互联网进程中实现供应链转型具有理论指导和实践启示意义。     

Barriers to Swift,Even Flow in the Internal Supply Chain of Perioperative Surgical Services Department: A Case Study*

This research analyzes the internal service supply chain of a perioperative surgical services department of a nonacademic community hospital using the theory of swift and even flow as a theoretical lens. Performance data were gathered using an in‐depth case study and it was determined that the swift and even flow constructs did affect flow speed and variance, but did not account for all the effects observed. To understand the need for departments to coordinate their efforts with each other and how this affected flow, further analysis was conducted using insights from Pagell's (2004) theory of internal integration and Gittell's (2002) research about coordinating mechanisms. The findings suggest the need to incorporate a variable measuring supply chain coordination into the theory of swift and even flow.     

怎样把中心组学习引向深入

党组(党委)中心组是在党组(党委)内部建立的理论学习组织,是处级以上领导班子和领导干部在职理论学习,加强思想政治建设,提高理论政策水平、领导水平和执政能力的有效途径,是发挥领导班子和领导干部示范带头作用,推动机关和基层广大党员、干部政治理论学习,推动学习型党组织、学习型机关、学习型社会深入发展的有效形式。如何有效地运用中心组这一形式,组织领导班子和领导干部学习理论,并把理论学习的实践活动不断引向深入,是新世纪新阶段提高党的执政能力建设的一个极其重要的课题。一、现状分析近几年来,我们湖南省直机关党组(党委)中心组…