The role of cognitive load in effective strategic issue management

Firms have different ways of addressing issues emerging from outside their regular calendar-driven strategy processes. These practices tend to be unstructured, organization specific, and highly dependent on the characteristics of the strategic issues themselves. Building on three dimensions of cognitive load—intrinsic, germane, and extraneous cognitive load—we extend existing research on strategic issue management by showing how different team-level choices in strategic issue processing and organizational congestion interact in their effects on a firm's strategic issue management performance. Based on an in-depth analysis of all 92 strategic issue decisions in a large multinational firm during a three-year period, we find that organizational disturbances influence strategic issue initiation by top management, which in turn influences the quality of strategic issue management practices and subsequent performance outcomes. We conclude by providing recommendations for managers on how they can decrease the sensitivity of their companies' strategic issue systems to external disturbances.     

Leadership, affect and emotions: A state of the science review

This paper presents a selective, qualitative review of affect, emotions, and emotional competencies in leadership theory and research published in ten management and organizational psychology journals, book chapters and special issues of journals from 1990 to 2010. Three distinct themes emerged from this review: (1) leader affect, follower affect and outcomes, (2) discrete emotions and leadership, and (3) emotional competencies and leadership. Within each of these themes, we examine theory (construct definition and theoretical foundation) and methods (design, measurement and context) and summarize key findings. Our findings indicate that the study of affect and emotions in leadership fares well with regard to construct definitions across the first two themes, but not in the last theme above. Design and measurement issues across all three themes are a little less advanced. One serious gap is in a lack of focus on levels-of-analysis theoretically and methodologically. Our review concludes with recommendations for future theoretical and empirical work in this area.     

Toward an Understanding of the Influence of Cultural Background and Domain Experience on the Effects of Risk‐Pricing Formats on Risk Perception

Risk‐information framing can be a powerful tool for aiding the communication of risk and improving decision making. However, little work has investigated the extent that these framing effects depend on the characteristics of the perceiver. In our study, we examine whether the effects of different risk‐pricing formats on risky choices are the same for all individuals, no matter their domain experience or cultural background, or whether there are interactions between these factors. Survey 1 revealed that three risk‐pricing formats of the same choice problem resulted in the same individuals making different risky choices (preference reversal), suggesting that risk perception was distorted by the risk‐pricing format manipulation. In Survey 2, the effects of the risk‐pricing formats were shown to differ by the participants’ cultural background (Asian vs. European) and the extent of their domain experience. The fact that there were no differences between the cultural or domain experience groups in their overall tendency to select riskier (cf. safer) choices indicates that risk behavior differences between groups are often closely linked to perceptual, rather than simply attitudinal, cognitive processes. The results demonstrate the complex, interactive cognitive processes that are used to encode risk information, involving the framing of the information and the cultural background and previous experiences of the individual. We conclude that it is important to consider the characteristics of the individual (e.g., culture, domain experience, etc.) when manipulating risk‐information framing with the aim of improving risk communication.     

Uncertainty,pluralism, and the knowledge-based theory of the firm: From J.-C. Spender’s contribution to a socio-cognitive approach

J.-C. Spender’s award-winning, knowledge-based theory of the firm is based on four premises: (1) The firm can be sufficiently understood as a system of knowledge, (2) explicit and implicit knowing can be clearly dissociated, (3) organizations are conceived as cognizing entities, and (4) intuition shaped by shared cultural practices is a superior source of managerial knowledge. This line of reasoning represents a social constructionist view of the enactment, transfer, and storage of knowledge according to which managerial knowledge is largely tacitly shaped by industry recipes and the firm’s socio-cultural conventions and other social processes. Although comprehensive in scope, we argue that a knowledge-based theory of the firm needs to integrate a cognitivist approach that includes the synergetic production of tacit and explicit knowledge, the role of reflective thinking in resolving strategic uncertainties, and the interaction between the individual and the social. This socio-cognitive theory of the firm posits that sustained competitive advantage of a firm is founded on the ability to align knowledge internally within the firm as well as externally with its stakeholders through the individual sense-making of feedback from other individuals.     

战略控股过程:目标企业所有权结构的影响研究

一个企业在另一个企业实现具有控制地位的持股(Holding)具有重要的战略意义。本文采用过程的观点把这种战略控股(Strategic Holding)实现过程分为急进型(Outright)实现控股和渐进型(Incremental)或者顺序型(Sequential)实现控股两种过程类型。本文集中探讨目标企业所有权结构对战略控股实现途径选择的影响。基于中国上市公司数据,我们对129例战略控股过程进行了回归分析。结果显示,目标企业所有权越集中,战略控股的实现过程越倾向于渐进型;政府在推动企业重组进程中起着关键作用;目标企业中员工股份比例较低,对战略控股过程似无影响;作为目标企业持股者,机构持股人的作用无明显倾向。另外,结果显示民营企业作为买方倾向于采取走渐进型的方式来实现对上市公司的战略控股。     

渠道中不同机会主义的管理:合同的双维度与关系规范的作用研究

本文将机会主义区分为积极的和消极的,将合同细分成包容性和约束力两维度,研究合同的双维度与关系规范在治理不同渠道机会主义时各自及其交互的作用。实证研究表明:①合同的包容性会同时增加渠道成员积极和消极机会主义;合同的约束力会减少渠道成员的积极机会主义;②关系规范可降低积极和消极机会主义;③关系规范可强化合同的约束力在降低积极机会主义、弱化合同的包容性在增加消极机会主义方面的作用,但在弱化合同的包容性增加积极机会主义方面并无显著效果。本文对于机会主义表现形式、治理机制设计及效力的实证研究有突出的理论启示,也为企业诊断具体的渠道机会主义、设计适宜的治理机制提供了指导性建议。     

跨国公司在华子公司战略角色演变--以业务范围和竞争能力为框架

本文以世界500强在华子公司为调查对象,对跨国公司在华子公司战略角色及其演变进行了研究.发现依据业务范围及竞争能力变量,跨国公司在华子公司可以分为单一活动组织、微型复制组织、高度专业化组织和战略中枢四种类型,并存在稳定型、成长型、退化型和波动型四种演变路径.而且,样本中近八成的跨国公司在华子公司沿稳定或成长型路径演变.     

Participation in Strategic Decision Making: The Role of Organizational Predisposition and Issue Interpretation*

Each time managers are faced with a strategic decision they decide how to decide. Specifically, they make choices about who has necessary information and, therefore, who needs to participate in the decision. Such responses to strategic issues are believed to be affected by the way in which decision makers interpret issues. However, organizations develop habitual responses to issues and may be predisposed because of their attention to rules and routines, or because of past performance, to respond to strategic issues in certain ways regardless of how issues are interpreted. We examined the direct and indirect effects of predisposition (rule orientation and past financial performance) and interpretation of strategic issues on the participation of internal stakeholder groups in strategic decision making. Executives in 52 organizations indicated that rule orientation and performance are directly linked to participation in strategic decision making, and that interpretation and rule orientation are directly linked to each other. Implications for managers include the notion that any effort to improve decision-making effectiveness by shaping how organizational members frame and interpret issues will be constrained by the organization's existing routines as well as its past performance.     

Measuring strategic decision making efficiency in different country contexts: A comparison of British and Turkish firms

This paper compares the relative efficiency of the strategic decision making (SDM) processes of British and Turkish firms. The technique of data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to measure the relative efficiency of these firms. The evidence obtained by the DEA analysis reveals that the Turkish firms tend to be superior to the British firms in terms of their SDM efficiency. There is a significant difference in scale returns with respect to the country of origin of the firms. The analysis of the improvement potential of inputs indicates that Turkish firms place more emphasis on managing environmental turbulence to enhance their SDM efficiency, while British firms tend to overly focus on the design of an appropriate organizational structure. However, no significant difference was noted between the two groups of firms with regard to the level of resources and effort exerted on formal strategic planning practices. The analysis of output deficits reveals that there is a significant difference between British and Turkish firms in the sources of inefficiency.     

Competitive Goals and Plant Investment in Environment and Safety Practices: Moderating Effect of National Culture

Operations managers clearly play a critical role in targeting plant‐level investments toward environment and safety practices. In principle, a “rational” response would be to align this investment with senior management's competitive goals for operational performance. However, operations managers also are influenced by contingent factors, such as their national culture, thus creating potential tension that might bias investment away from a simple rational response. Using data from 1,453 plants in 24 countries, we test the moderating influence of seven of the national cultural characteristics on investment at the plant level in environment and safety practices. Four of the seven national cultural characteristics from GLOBE (i.e., uncertainty avoidance, in‐group collectivism, future orientation and performance orientation) shifted investment away from an expected “rational” response. Positive bias was evident when the national culture favored consistency and formalized procedures and rewarded performance improvement. In contrast, managers exhibited negative bias when familial groups and local coalitions were powerful, or future outcomes—rather than current actions—were more important. Overall, this study highlights the critical importance of moving beyond a naïve expectation that plant‐level investment will naturally align with corporate competitive goals for environment and safety. Instead, the national culture where the plant is located will influence these investments, and must be taken into account by senior management.     

Pre-recovery emotions and satisfaction: A moderated mediation model of service recovery and reputation in the banking sector

This study examines the mediating role of service recovery judgments between pre-recovery emotions and post-recovery satisfaction, and investigates the role of firm reputation in this mediation context. Using a moderated mediation framework, the authors test the model with data from 366 customers who experienced a banking service failure and complained to a third party. The results show that distributive, procedural, and interactional justice dimensions mediate the relationship between pre-recovery emotions and satisfaction. Firm reputation moderates the relationship between emotions and satisfaction via distributive and interactional justice, but not via procedural justice. This study provides evidence for the notion that pre-recovery emotion is an antecedent of service recovery process and firm reputation plays an essential role in this process.     

核心能力:组织文化和组织学习作用

本文研究组织文化、组织学习、核心能力和组织绩效之间的相互影响关系,并以华南地区的139家企业为对象进行实证研究。本文的理论贡献在于证实了:(1)组织文化通过影响组织学习进而影响核心能力;(2)组织学习影响核心能力进而影响组织绩效;(3)核心能力对组织绩效有直接的正向影响;(4)组织文化对组织绩效没有显著的直接影响,但通过组织学习和核心能力的构建间接影响组织绩效;(5)组织学习对组织绩效没有显著的直接影响,但通过核心能力的构建间接影响组织绩效。本文的研究结果对于深刻理解核心能力的形成及正确认识组织文化和学习在组织管理中的作用有重要的借鉴价值。     

Learning,signaling, and convincing: The role of experimentation in the business modeling process

This study examines experimentation in the business modeling process, unpacking three different roles of experimentation: learning, signaling, and convincing. Learning is an inherent role of experimentation, as managers typically experiment to engage with the environment and to obtain knowledge. This study uncovers another set of roles, which have a symbolic nature. These roles show that experimentation is not just a learning process, but also a strategic legitimation process, aimed at enacting the environment. Experimentation serves the purpose of signaling to potential customers and other stakeholders, and of convincing them to embrace the business model. Furthermore, this study shows that experimentation takes two forms—purposeful interactions and experimental projects—and that these forms can support the different roles of experimentation.     

Incorporating Ethnographic Methods in Multidisciplinary Approaches to Risk Assessment and Communication: Cultural and Religious Uses of Mercury in Latino and Caribbean Communities

The potential risk from cultural and religious practices involving mercury in Latino and Caribbean communities raises central methodological and ethical questions for risk assessment and risk communication. Here, specific cultural practices unfamiliar to most risk professionals carry significant inherent risks in the eyes of those professionals but not necessarily in the eyes of practitioners. Practitioners' past experience and history as targets of religious suppression and anti-immigrant sentiment create a reluctance to engage with researchers or public health officials in risk assessment or preventive risk communication efforts. The potential for the risk--in this case mercury contamination in dwellings--to extend beyond the practicing community to future occupants adds to public health concern. Understanding the risks of these practices requires both an understanding of the cultural and political context, beliefs, and behaviors of mercury users and an understanding of the fate and transport of mercury in typical use scenarios. In this study, we employed ethnographic methods (interviews and participant observation) to understand beliefs and behavior about mercury use as well as quantitative modeling and measurement to estimate and assess potential exposures. This represents a new methodology tailored to situations in which traditional activities or observances that are integral components of cultural identity pose risks in and of themselves. Our findings indicate that there are different types of mercury use stemming from different cultural and religious traditions that result in different levels of exposure. Many of the mercury uses that can result in the highest exposures to mercury vapors have previously been attributed to the religious tradition of Santeria, but appear instead to have their roots outside of the religion.     

Perceived risk,emotions, and stress in response to COVID-19: The interplay of media use and partisanship

Relationships between risk perceptions, emotions, and stress are well-documented, as are interconnections between stress, emotion, and media use. During the early COVID-19 pandemic, the public responded psychologically to the threat posed by the pandemic, and frequently utilized media for information and entertainment. However, we lack a comprehensive picture of how perceived risk, emotion, stress, and media affected each other longitudinally during this time. Further, although response to the pandemic was highly politicized, research has yet to address how partisan affiliation moderated relationships between risk, emotion, stress, and media use over time. This three-wave (N = 1021) panel study assessed the interplay of risk, emotion, stress, and media use for Americans with different political affiliations between March and May of 2020. Findings indicate that perceived risk, emotion, and stress at Time 1 predicted media use at Time 2, with predictors varying by type of media. Use of entertainment media and social/mobile media predicted later stress (Time 3), but news consumption did not. Later risk perceptions (Time 3) were not influenced by media use at Time 2. The predictors and consequences of different types of media use were notably different for Republicans and Democrats. In particular, risk perceptions predicted greater news use among Democrats but greater entertainment media use among Republicans. Moreover, social/mobile media use resulted in perceiving the risks of COVID-19 as less serious for Republicans while increasing stress over time for Democrats.     

"入世"与我国企业战略内核的进阶--核心竞争能力的视角

本文以我国加入WTO作为企业发展的环境变化背景,通过解析和应用企业核心竞争能力的思想内涵,探索我国企业发展战略内核的演化过程.文章首先分析指出,企业核心竞争能力的思想为企业揭示出企业在市场中的竞争优势并不是简单的产品市场竞争优势,而是包括制度、组织形式以及技术等层次在内的多种竞争优势的整合.根据回顾文献,并结合20多年的中国经济改革,文章将我国企业在宏观经济改革背景中的发展路径,折射到核心竞争能力的思想框架中,进行记录和分析,归纳整理出企业的发展路径是在政府主导型的制度变迁作用下,逐渐打破封闭体系,走向开放体系的过程;战略内核经历了从简单的重视规模到突出机制,再到加强灵活性,面对"入世"的制度现实,正日益注重发展和规范的互动效应演进过程.