Managerial value orientations: A typology and assessment

This paper presents a comprehensive assessment of managers' values by extending Milton Rokeach's theory of values. Through an assessment of previous value studies, a typology of managerial value orientations is developed. This classification will assist future value researchers in developing a priori testable hypotheses regarding managerial value preferences and in measuring managers' values within the context of a value orientation. Modifications to the Rokeach Value Survey are used to enhance the analysis and application of the study of values to organizational settings. Behavioral implications of these findings are explored in the context of managerial decision making in a business organization.     

Career transition in the Chinese context: a case study

This study explores career transition in the transitioning Chinese context. Given the transitioning nature in the overall Chinese society and the affected individuals involved in equally massive career transitions, this study investigates the career transition phenomenon through the lens of an MBA case in China. We examine career transition types and associated constraints and challenges. Two distinctive types of career transitions emerged as context specific career transitions that have not been documented in the literature. As the study only presented the tip of the iceberg of the large-scale career transition taking place in China, we further discuss the implications and future research directions on the career transition phenomenon.     

Managerial trust and work values within the context of international joint ventures in China

The paper reports on a study of International Joint Ventures (IJVs) in China and provides empirical evidence on how Chinese managers in IJVs, compared with their State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) counterparts, are responding to their new work environments. Changing work practices, in particular human resource management (HRM), are altering the trust dynamics between managers and their subordinates. Changed trust relations pose problems for many Chinese managers originally from SOEs but now working in IJVs. The study examines how Chinese mangers' perceptions of trust in subordinates are being influenced by the work values in IJVs. Key findings of our study suggest that for these managers, trust in subordinates is related to certain beliefs surrounding work values of centralization, formalization and group orientation.     

The value of board monitoring in promoting R&D: a test of agency-theory in the US context

Prior agency-theory research has presented conflicting findings regarding the importance of board monitoring in motivating R&D. We reinvestigate this literature by examining the value monitoring exerts in abating both the agency costs of underinvestment and overinvestment in R&D. We argue that monitoring that relies on board independence has both benefits and costs associated with promoting R&D. While we assert that intense monitoring by the board heightens underinvestment in the US context, it can also provide discipline over a firms free cash flows. We test our theory using a longitudinal panel data set consisting of a cross-section of S&P 1500 US-firms between 1997 and 2007. On average our study finds inside directors increase overinvestment in R&D, but facilitate better resource allocation when a firm has rich growth opportunities. Also, while too much emphasis on outside directors heightens underinvestment in R&D, a more independent board encourages better resource allocation when firms have high free cash flows that need to be paid back to owners. Thus, our results suggest a more inclusive perspective of agency-theory can help managers make better R&D investment decisions.     

Managing international business operations in a changing institutional context: The case of the St. Petersburg hotel industry

This article advances the institutional view of business strategy by analyzing the post-socialist institutional transition in Russia and its implications for business strategies in the St. Petersburg hotel industry. The development of the institutional context is divided into three periods: socialist, early transition and late transition. The strategies of foreign hotel enterprises characteristic of each period are investigated with respect to entry/ownership mode, product, supply and human resource management strategies, and sales and marketing. The study is based on 24 semi-structured interviews with hotel managers, and a variety of local archival sources.The analysis shows how tightly companies are integrated with the formal and informal macro- and industry-level institutional context of Russia. In the case of the hotel industry, the impact of the change in the institutional context from a centrally planned to a market economy centers on the connections of the hotel enterprise with public and private sector actors. Here, empirical analysis shows that first, the degree of integration varied between the three time periods examined, second, many relevant institutional effects are observed at industry level, and third, foreign and local enterprises differ especially during the period of rapid institutional change.     

Selection of automated office systems: a case study

Recent technological advances have made possible the automation of traditional office functions such as document preparation, storage, retrieval, inter-personal communication, etc. With the increased pervasiveness of office systems technology, selection of the appropriate technology components can be a complex and difficult task. There is a need for a methodology to aid in selecting office systems components based on the needs of the particular operating environment. In this paper, we propose to structure the selection problem in a hierarchical fashion, with the top level representing the single overall objective, the intermediate level(s) representing the users' needs, and the lowest level representing the viable candidate set of alternative office systems to be evaluated. A recently developed technique termed analytical hierarchies is employed, and a case study is presented to illustrate how the technique can be used in the selection of office systems components.     

Ethics and human resource management and development in a global context: case study of an Indian multinational

A firm's orientation to ethics is influenced largely by its national and organizational culture. Research shows that a growing number of Indian firms place a distinct emphasis on long-term orientation to business strategy with a social mission, underpinned by firm commitment to core organizational values, employee development and welfare. Through a case study of a large Indian multinational conglomerate, this article provides preliminary evidence of how some emerging economy firms are successfully mixing and matching indigenous business and people management strategies with the Western emphasis on meritocracy and professionalism to compete in the contemporary global economy. It further shows how the human resource development (HRD) discipline can play a pro-active role in embedding ethics and values throughout the organizational and HR architecture. The HRD professionals in the case study firm also face several structural and cultural challenges in discharging their ethics-driven HR mandate, such as management's ethnocentric attitude to global staffing and clash of work cultures.     

Learning and innovation in the context of process-focused management practices: The case of an environmental management system

Adoption of process-focused management practices has been associated with inertia and rigidity in adopting firms. By drawing on the literature on routines and using survey data from 192 ISO 14001 certified facilities in the United States, I find that change catalysis or a deep form of learning which presents the opportunity for innovation can happen in this context. I also examine the internal and external determinants of change catalysis. By doing so I contribute to a better understanding of how process-focused management practices can be a source of innovation within firms.     

The Formation of Top Managers: a Discourse Analysis of Five Managerial Autobiographies

What do top managers see as the root of their success? This paper reports on a discourse analysis of five autobiographies from major industrial figures. Those chosen all had some disruption (war, being a refugee, or immigrant status) between the culture of their childhood and the culture in which they undertook their careers. This makes them more aware than most of their upbringing. Their accounts of their first 20 years are examined, and themes are drawn out for each of them. These themes are tabulated and some of the differences between them are discussed. Common themes are conspicuous by their absence. The paper discusses why this should not surprise us; top management is not one activity in one culture, and an upbringing that might have led one of these managers to success might have been disadvantageous to another. The paper concludes that the common factor between the accounts of the managers is that they all regard their upbringing as having fitted them particularly well for the company, industry and culture in which they were eventually successful.     

管理认知与动态环境下企业竞争优势:万和集团案例研究

本文基于有限理性思想,探讨动态环境下,高层管理者管理认知在企业获取并保持其竞争优势中的作用,建立包括环境变化、管理认知、战略行为、组织能力演化与企业绩效关系的研究框架.利用访谈、内部文本、外部文献等多重数据建立质性研究资料库;在质性资料基础上构建案例企业环境、认知、战略行为与组织能力的因果图;利用因果图,通过案例分析考察万和集团在动态环境下的管理认知、战略行为和组织能力.以此验证所提出的研究命题并得出结论:动态环境下,高层管理者是有限理性的,其管理认知对企业战略行为与组织能力演化有直接和关键性的影响.随后,论文延申探讨了制度因素作用于企业战略决策的途径和动态能力研究中高层管理者的作用.     

Integration of the information systems in the production process: a case study

This paper evaluates the execution of an ERP – enterprise resource planning in a production process. The changes that were made to processes to make them compatible with ERP modules and adaptations that were required by the ERP implementation are presented. The presented study is different from the normal patterns of a vertical implementation, since its application is not direct. In order to use the standard modules of the ERP system, the internal processes were embellished and the data collection steps were integrated into the production process (production orders, inventory, production, daily consumption, daily output). The case study shows that the ERP implementation caused an improvement of the processes in the areas adjacent to production (purchasing, logistics, distribution, supply and sales). In conclusion, this paper presents the main advantages and disadvantages of the ERP system implementation, as well as some considerations and recommendations for the future ERP implementations.     

The value of information concept applied to data systems

Cost-benefit analysis has a considerable literature in which information systems have been patently ignored. This reflects the considerable difficulties of applying the theory to information systems, and the state-of-the art remains relatively as Koopmans described it some 19 years ago (1957). A bar to further development would appear to be the lack of an applicable value-of-information concept. This paper seeks to clarify the issues and provide a robust theoretical and data analysis framework that will cover most situations. The approach here is to separate explicitly the dimensions of cost from those of information benefit, and examine the implications. The Null Information Benefit condition emerges as a special theoretical case, but potentially a most important one in applications. This case together with the Pareto optimum defines a large class of such problems that can be handled by the decision criteria and data analysis techniques tabulated and discussed here. The selection of input data techniques defines the limits of later project justification and may be crucial to the political viability of the projects throughout its life. Finally, the general management vs information systems management relationships are discussed in terms of this situation.     

The impact of ethical leadership within the recruitment context: The roles of organizational reputation,applicant personality,and value congruence

The present research examined the effects of corporate executive officer (CEO) ethical leadership on the job pursuit attitudes and behaviors of prospective job applicants. Furthermore, this paper tested two potential mediatory mechanisms for explaining why CEO ethicality matters to prospective applicants: perceived organizational reputation (Study 1) and perceived value congruence with the CEO or person–CEO fit (Study 2). The results of Study 1 showed that job seekers at a career fair were more likely to apply for a job with an ethical CEO's company, compared to that of a morally-questionable CEO or one whose ethicality was unknown. The results also showed that perceived organizational reputation mediated the relationship between CEO ethicality and job pursuit. These findings were replicated in Study 2. In addition, Study 2 showed that perceived value congruence with the CEO also mediated the link between CEO ethicality and job pursuit, although this effect was conditional on the Honesty–Humility personality of the prospective job applicant. These findings highlight the potential relevance of executive ethical leadership within the recruitment context.     

开源软件的采纳与应用:政府组织环境中的案例实证

开源软件的社会性协作特点在全球软件行业发展和Web 2.0新兴应用扩散中产生了深刻的影响,其采纳对于政府组织服务能力提升所具有的作用也逐渐得到国内外学术界的关注.基于组织层面信息通信技术采纳的TOE框架,提出了一个政府组织环境下的开源软件采纳影响因素模型,并运用案例分析的研究方法,在北京市政府部门中开展了针对性的访谈调研,对模型进行了实证检验和修正,同时使用该模型分析了北京市政府部门开源软件采纳现状及其成因,研究结果较好地显示了该模型的解释能力.在此基础上,提出了关于政府部门开源软件采纳问题的政策建议.