The new class of chief executive officer

This article summarizes the results of research into the ways in which environmental forces are changing the management task of chief executive officers of large corporations. The article comments on the changing business environment; on the time spent by managers on environmental forces; changes in the basic strategies of managers concerned with major social and political environmental forces; the characteristics which chief executive officers believe their successors must have to be effective managers; major ways in which the impact of environment on the CEO is changing the infra-structure and decision-making process; and, finally, a brief look at the future.     

Environmental scanning—Does it help the chief executive?

Firms must correctly identify and analyze the nature of their strategic environments, their strategic oppurtunities and problems, and, formulate the precise strategy sets for corporate strategy for accomplishing the chosen organizational objectives and goals. This articles reports on a survey. Chief executives of industrial corporations provided their insights and experience (see Appendix I) and the findings are analyzed for the implications for other practising chief executives. The nature of environment which is strategic to a particular firm has considerable influence upon the firm's choice of strategies. The correct understanding of this influence is critical to the firm's organizational effectiveness. Only after a correct understanding can the chief executive formulate the precise mix of strategies and meld them in the strategy sets of the corporate strategy.The major findings indicate that the levels of difficulty experienced in accomplishing firm's objectives and goals depend upon the perceived nature of complexity, unpredictability and dynamism of the firm's strategic environments. The levels of clarity on strategic issues also depend upon these same attributes of environments. The formulation of strategy sets of corporate strategy are indicative of the ways by which the chief executive and his management team expect the firm to achieve its major objectives and goals by monitoring the strategy sets to keep in tune with the changing realities of the firm's strategic environments. General management, marketing and finance, were the vital group strategies, followed by production and research and development. External relations, personnel and procurement were the least important strategies. Firms operating in simple and stable environments experienced the least difficulty in achieving corporate goals, while firms in dynamic and complex environments experienced the greatest difficulty.     

The chief executive and his information system

The authors examine the attitudes of British chief executives towards their information systems using recent survey evidence. They discuss the chief executive's individual computation needs and the extent to which he satisfies these personally, his attitudes towards computer-based information and corporate models, and his general informational and analytical requirements. Of particular interest, is the relative contribution as judged by chief executives of intuitive judgement, computer-based analysis and manual analysis respectively to strategic decision-taking; comparative valuations of formal and informal information systems are also ascertained. On the evidence provided by the chief executives, future prospects for computer systems and modelling techniques at strategic level are generally sound although it is difficult to see them achieving the dominance at top managerial level once envisaged by the more optimistic and imaginative management scientists and cyberneticians.     

Building the Complementary Board. The Work of the Plc Chairman

This article addresses the critical issue of board effectiveness, and in particular the conditions under which chairmen as well as other non-executives can make an effective and positive contribution to the strategic direction and control of companies. It is informed by qualitative interview-based research with chairmen, chief executives and non-executive directors in major UK companies which focused on the now typically separate role and work of the company chairman. The article argues that in the governance debate too much attention has been given to issues of board structure and composition to the neglect of issues related to the knowledge and motives of individual non-executives, and how their energies are combined in processes of board accountability. Drawing upon directors’ experiences, the article examines the bases that underpin and the positive potential of what are termed ‘complementary’ board relationships, through which a chairman can contribute directly to the performance of the chief executive, as well as create the conditions for other non-executives to contribute to the performance of the executive team. The article also explores the negative dynamics of what are termed ‘complimentary’ relationships between executives and non-executive directors and how these sometimes inadvertently come to weaken board accountability and create the conditions for an external crisis of confidence.     

Where planning fails—An executive survey

In a study of chief executive officers, chief planning officers and division managers in 15 American and Canadian companies, it was discovered that executives were not very satisfied with the performance of their planning staffs. This was shown to be due to the staff's emphasis on the administration of the planning process at the expense of providing substantive input in corporate and divisional planning.     

The human side of merger planning

This article argues that chief executive officers and staff planners must more explicitly integrate ‘change planning’ with the other dimensions of merger planning (e.g. financial, marketing) if implementation is to be successful. Based on recent research, guidelines for gaining acceptance of merger are presented and discussed. The need to distinguish between gaining initial acceptance, on the one hand, and continuing acceptance on the other is stressed, and the guidelines carry forward that distinction. Such guidelines should be integrated into the overall strategic plan developed for merger.     

Environmental Factors,Managerial Processes,and Information Technology Investment Strategies

Although significant research attention has been directed at understanding the value of information technology (IT) investments for firms, very little attention has been paid to understand the IT investment behavior of firms. This article seeks to fill this void. We introduce the concept of IT investment strategy, defined by dimensions of intensity and proactiveness, to characterize the IT investment behavior of firms. Synthesizing the environmental deterministic and strategic choice perspectives of a firm's strategic decision making, we examine the effects of environmental factors, managerial processes, and the interplay between them on IT investment strategy. Specifically, we examine the impact of environmental factors such as industry clockspeed and information intensity on IT investment strategy. We also incorporate the strategic choice perspective to argue that managerial processes such as frequent chief executive officer—chief information officer communications and collective information systems planning play a critical role in shaping the firm's IT investment strategy. The empirical results show that the environmental variables are related to IT investment strategy. Besides, managerial processes serve as a means to understand the environment and thus moderate the relationships between the environmental variables and the various facets of IT investment strategy. The conceptualization of IT investment strategy and the focus on both environmental determinism and strategic choice should enrich our understanding of firms’ IT investing behavior.     

The forms and use of intuition in top management teams

Nascent research suggests that benefits of intuition use accrue not only to individuals but also to teams. These benefits may be especially important for top management teams (TMTs), who formulate strategic decisions for their firms. However, work on intuition use in strategic decision making (SDM) remains focused on the intuitions of chief executive officers (CEOs). Furthermore, the emerging literature on team intuition is very fragmented, leaving an unclear picture of how teams may develop and use intuition in their decision-making activities. To address these problems, we integrate team intuition and TMT research to propose four forms of TMT intuition, which differ based on the locus and integration of intuition. We describe the forms of TMT intuition, clarify the mechanisms that shape them, and discuss their relevance for TMTs' decision-making activities. Overall, we advocate for strategy research that focuses on the notion of “team” in team intuition.     

Lust an der Macht – Frauen in Organisationen

Storyline and analysis of the film “The Devil Wears Prada” provide vivid scenes to derive reflections on organisational culture in globalised companies and women in chief positions. Women come into conflict with leading the company successfully, the dependence on efficient – female – staff and the image as a woman. The article illustrates, how influences of the company’s products fashion und fashion market have a normative effect, especially on female staff members. Theories of organisational culture, careers of women and findings of gender research are shown in connection with complex strategies of women in their determination to succeed, to self-realization and the pressure to adapt oneself. This involves reflected perspectives to leave clichés of gender and to reinforce organisational and personal potentials.     

Approaches to Stimulating Change in Mature Insurance Companies

The findings reported in this paper address problems confronting chief executives and functional specialists involved in turnaround situations. A comparison is undertaken of companies in which innovation was successfully started – called 'pacesetters'– with companies which were less successful. Starting innovation was an important precursor for profitability in all the companies studied. Without change there would be no tomorrow. In pacesetter companies, chief executives used an unconventional approach to shock staff into action. They ruthlessly opened minds to market threats and opportunities. After administering shock treatment, they carefully returned responsibility to first line managers through a deliberate 'managerial shift'. They insisted that the new style of managing they introduced be market-focused. In contrast, chief executives of companies which were less successful at starting innovation encouraged debate on alternative strategies as a prelude to any action. This apparently more logical approach led to frequent disagreements which sapped employee motivation. It lacked the urgency of an approach firmly grounded in the realities of the market place.     

高管权力与公司治理效率——基于国有上市公司高管变更的视角

本文基于国有企业的高管变更视角分析了高管权力对公司治理效率的影响.以2004 -2008年的国有上市公司为研究样本,实证发现:(1)总体上高管变更与公司业绩呈负相关,而高管权力的增强会降低其因业绩低劣而被强制性更换的可能性,表明国企高管的权力在高管变更决策中发挥了显著的职位堑壕效应;(2)发生了高管变更的公司其未来业绩有明显的提高,但这一促进效应仅在权力较小的高管被变更后出现,而权力较大的高管被变更后公司业绩并没有得到改进;(3)进一步的研究显示,政府控制层级的提升和制度环境的改善能够抑制国企高管的权力寻租行为.本文的研究结果有助于我们理解国有企业高管权力的经济后果,并为当前有关国企公司治理和高管选聘体制改革的政策导向提供了经验启示.     

Tackling the human problems in planning

This article presents findings from the first phase of a research program on the management of long-range planning systems. The initial focus is on behavioral problems encountered by those using planning systems and solutions for dealing with them. Both the problems and solutions were identified by chief planning officers during a university sponsored workshop. Some observations are offered about the way in which managerial thought processes affect the potential for resolving complex behavioral problems in organizations.     

Corporate planning and the chief executive

This study has analyzed how 295 chief executive officers formulated their overall corporate strategy. The analyses reveal the insights of the practising chief executive officers about the strategic mixes of functions (marketing, finance, production, etc.) and the strategic configurations of functions which they perceived strategic for the accomplishment of their particular firm's major objectives and goals. The web of interrelationship among primary and supportive functions (i.e. configuration of functions) provides a different approach to the study of overall corporate strategy.     

Effect of economic planning on business decisions

The fact that the United States has not faced an economic perplexity of current dimensions since the depression days hardly needs any emphasis. The current economic slowdown is significant because no recovery measures which may be applied to cure the economy are in sight. Since the Great Depression, especially after World War II, Keynes' economic theories have successfully been applied in the U.S., as also in other countries of the Free World, to put the economy back on path to recovery. Unfortunately, Keynesian measures do not seem to cope with the current economic woes. Apparently, new ways need to be sought and employed to get the economy back on track. Among many new ideas that have been advanced to restore economic growth, one is national economic planning by which the Government would play an active role in setting goals for the economy and devising means to reach them.The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a study that the author undertook to probe the opinions of chief executive officers of the largest U.S. corporations on the whole idea of national economic planning in the United States. This study is based on interviews with 23 chief executives officers (CEOs) in different industries. Table 1 shows the background of these CEOs. Specifically, the author refers to such questions as: What positive and negative attitudes do the chief executive officers maintain toward national economic planning; what difficulties do they think will have to be surmounted to accomplish national economic planning in the U.S.; what influence may national economic planning have on various business decisions; and how may national economic planning affect corporate strategy?     

CEO burnout,managerial discretion,and firm performance: The role of CEO locus of control,structural power,and organizational factors

Despite the possibility of burnout resulting from dynamics in firms' upper echelons, little if any work has focused on chief executive officer's (CEO's) burnout and firm performance. Drawing on managerial discretion theory, this article analyzes the influence of CEO burnout on firm performance and the moderating roles of the individual (CEO locus of control), structural power (CEO duality and CEO tenure), and organizational characteristics (size, age, and resource availability) related to managerial discretion. Using a sample of 156 CEOs in Swedish firms, we find a negative association between CEOs who report higher burnout and firm performance. Our results confirm that CEO duality and resource availability ameliorate and firm size exacerbates the negative association between CEO burnout and firm performance. Contrary to our expectations, CEO locus of control, CEO tenure, and firm age do not influence this relationship. We discuss the implications of our research for upper echelons theory and strategic leadership theory.     

Artifactual Uncertainty in Risk Analysis

The field of comparative risk analysis of electrical energy alternatives has traditionally been plagued by highly uncertain estimates of risk rates, and consequently by conflicting judgements of relative risk. To the extent that this uncertainty arises from traditional sources–imperfect observations or actual variance in the data–it can be brought within a Bayesian statistical framework which allows policy conclusions to be formulted and tested at different levels of confidence. It is shown that there are important methodological or "artifactual" sources of uncertainty, however, that cannot be treated by statistical means; these require conceptual advances for their resolution. By identifying these sources of uncertainty in simple thought experiments and examples, it is shown in what ways the concept of attributable risk, which is the policy-maker's chief concern, must be sharpened and refined to have unambiguous meaning. The conventional "multilinear" formula for calculating risk indices is challenged as a measure of attributable risk, and directions for further research to improve the methodological foundations of comparative risk analysis are identified.     

Chief of staff and medical director: conflict or cooperation?

Inevitably as the role of the medical director expands, it will directly affect power structures already existing in the hospital hierarchy, including department chiefs, other administrators, and the chief of staff. This article will attempt to define the roles of the medical director and the chief of staff, explore possible conflicts, and provide suggestions to help avoid confrontation. Finally, an attempt will be made to look into the future direction of the medical director's position.     

Performance improvement in aircraft maintenance

This study examined the use of utility theory to improve the performance of an aircraft maintenance organization. A utility model was developed and used as an aid in decision making by one large maintenance organization. The results indicated that utility analyses may provide a viable approach to improving effectiveness in organizations having a large number of competing factors. The chief of maintenance provided the output results and the attribute measures. Three team leaders were also interviewed and their views confirmed the views of the chief.     

Zeroing in on leadership effectiveness: The methodological challenges of benchmarking leadership practices

Business success in the 21st century will be based on the widespread mastery of leadership roles, rather than on the directives of a professional or leadership elite. The first step for systematically enacting a leadership development agenda for our nation is to identify the factors, values or qualities most important to leadership effectiveness. Next, we must improve our understanding of how these guiding ideas and insights translate into what successful leaders do. As we perfect this understanding, we will need to operationally define the best practices of successful leaders. These best practices must then become benchmarks for intensive leadership development efforts.This article considers nine methodological challenges of the first agenda item-identification of the factors, values or qualities most important to leadership effectiveness. To illustrate these challenges, the authors use their own business leadership research as a case study. This research surveys 127 chairmen, chief executive officers, and presidents-a cross section of successful U.S.A. business leaders, including men and women from all parts of the nation who have diverse industry, racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds. The authors identify where methodological improvements are needed to cope with the challenges of leadership research. They suggest important directions for methodological development and propose three minimum standards for future leadership research.