Managerial Self-efficacy and Managerial Performance

Some of the main features of Bandura's self-efficacy concept are presented. The importance of the concept to the work organization and to individual performance is discussed. A field study is described. The first part of the study involved the development of parallel versions of a scale to assess managerial self-efficacy. Data concerning the psychometric properties of the parallel version of the scale show that they are reliable and independent of social desirability. The second part of the study provided evidence of the relationships between scores on the managerial self-efficacy scale and supervisors’ ratings of managers’ performance. The results indicate that managerial self-efficacy correlates with work performance ratings.     

‘Bureaucracy‐lite’ and Continuities in Managerial Work

This paper questions three frequently asserted, interrelated claims about developments in management: that centralized, regulated bureaucratic organizations characterized by hierarchy and rules are inevitably giving way to decentralized and empowered post‐bureaucratic organizations characterized by internal networks and an internal market; that, as a consequence, the traditional managerial role of command and control is being superseded by one of facilitation and coordination; and that, in turn, managerial work as routine administration of work processes is being supplanted by the ‘new managerial work’ of non‐routine leadership and entrepreneurship. It is argued that these claims often rest on caricatures of bureaucracy and network organization and are neither new nor well supported by evidence. Against these claims, the paper adduces case‐study evidence which shows that, despite claims about ‘decentralization’ and ‘empowerment’, organizational change may entail not a radical shift to network organization, but more limited change to a different form of bureaucracy in which hierarchy and rules have been retained but in an attenuated and sharper form –‘bureaucracy‐lite’. Consequently, managerial roles continue to be defined in terms of individual responsibility and vertical accountability for an organizational sub‐unit, and managerial work continues to be preoccupied with monitoring and maintaining work processes, routine direction and control of staff and processing information in order to deal with the ambiguities inherent in the dimensions of managerial ‘responsibility’.     

Managerial Effectiveness

No abstract available for this article.     

‘Investment’ in Union Membership: A Managerial Approach

This paper concerns wage formation in a unionized economy when union membership is endogenous and determined by employment. A union is run by a leadership which has as an objective to strengthen the union’s position in the labour market. This is achieved by building up membership. Among the results, it is found that since membership is determined by employment, the inclusion of the leadership’s preferences into a union’s objective function produces lower real wages than a static version would predict. It is also shown that an increase in the union’s rate of time preference increases the natural rate of unemployment, while an increase in the speed at which workers enter/leave a union has an opposite effect.     

生产有效性与管理有效性

本文提出了管理有效性的概念及测算方法.建立了一种可以消除客观条件优劣,真正反映测评单位由于主观努力而产生效益提高的测评方法.     

Managerial Hubris,Trade Associations and Regulatory Knowledge in Micro‐Firms

To avoid breaking the law for regulatory non‐compliance, it is essential that micro‐firm owner‐managers are aware of deficiencies in their knowledge, so that they can seek improvement and avoid over‐confidence (i.e. hubris) in their knowledge levels. Using newly collected survey data from micro‐firms in the English accommodation sector and multivariate techniques, the authors explore the possibility of hubris by making a novel distinction between the Perceived‐Knowledge and Actual‐Knowledge of regulation held by micro‐firm owner‐managers. Both Perceived‐Knowledge (from self‐assessment) and Actual‐Knowledge (from a simple test) over four core areas of regulation are found to be different, generally poor and suggestive of hubris. The relationship between these knowledge levels is further explored by considering the role of trade association membership (since they support members) and attitude (since it effects learning). Attitude is found to be positively associated with both forms of knowledge, while trade association memberships are also found to be associated with enhanced Perceived‐Knowledge, but not Actual‐Knowledge. In light of the results, the authors suggest several priority areas for improving Actual‐Knowledge and self‐assessment skills, and areas for future research.     

Forest policy— formulation and implementation

This paper is concerned with the development of plans and policy with the U.K. State Forestry industry. The author outlines the structure within which plans and policies are developed. He emphasises the need for governments and foresters to be more aware of each others needs and potentials in planning. He highlights the problems of valuation in forestry (social as opposed to the private costs and benefits). Finally he suggests the components of an effective planning system in the forestry environment.     

Plans—Their preparation and implementation

This article outlines the methodology developed in the adoption of long range planning at Reed International. Whilst the author rightly draws attention to the fact that the methodology described may not be applicable, or preferable, for all businesses it can give valuable lessons. Particularly, since Reed International is a highly diversified multi-national group of companies whose activities range from pulp and paper to publishing and building products, the difficulties of ensuring that plans are logically coherent, informative and examine the relative range of alternatives, is a complex and difficult task. Therefore, the paper provides a highly relevant and detailed insight into the planning methodology adopted by a company whose activities are wide ranging both in terms of product mix and geographical location. The author stresses the importance of planning as a process which includes the necessary structural underpinning but which concentrates essentially on the integration of concepts and ideas which may help the future performance of the company. Finally, the author also examines the important but often forgotten element of planning, the elements of control necessary to ensure effective implementation.     

Managerial Ownership Structure and IPO Survivability

Based on agency theory [Jensen and Meckling: 1976, Journal of Financial Economics 3: 305–360] how managerial stock ownership affects the survival of initial public offerings (IPOs) is explored in this paper. A sample of 560 IPOs listed in Taiwan is examined using the accelerated failure time model, a survival analysis technique. Insiders, the broad definition of management, are further classified into top officers and outside directors to conduct a detailed study. It is observed that the survival time of IPOs first decreases and then increases with the percentage of total insider ownership at the time of offering, forming a U-shaped relationship. Additionally, the survival time is positively affected by the officer-to-insider holding ratio. The results suggest that equity stake owned by management, particularly by top officers, of an IPO firm should be encouraged in order to reduce agency cost, and thus enhance firm survivability in the aftermarket.     

Participative Budgeting and Managerial Performance*

Recent analytical and empirical research in budgeting has focused on conditions under which participation may or may not prove beneficial to the firm. The present study seeks to examine (in a budget setting) the impact on firm returns of managerial participation, private state information, and relative skill. Experimental results indicate a significant improvement in firm and managerial welfare across favorable and unfavorable private state information with budgetary participation. A significant interaction between the type of state information and participation is reported for managers but not firm returns. Finally, relative skill signals are shown to lead to improved managerial performance.     

Outsourcing Decisions and Managerial Incentives*

An agency model is presented in which outsourcing strictly dominates in-house production. We argue that firms outsource in order to improve managerial incentives. Conditions are established under which the firm is strictly better off with outsourcing. The benefit of outsourcing, however, is constrained by the trade-off between the incremental coordination costs of outsourcing and the improved incentive structure. The optimal contract is also shown to be a function of whether or not the firm is publicly held. For a publicly held firm, the contract is constant. For a privately held supplier, the contract is likely to be of a cost-sharing type. These findings offer preliminary incentive explanations for commonly observed outsourcing practices.     

基于产品创新的管理集成及其实施结构体系研究

本文简单地概括了国内外产品创新中管理集成的研究现状,分析了产品创新中管理集成的内涵,揭示了管理集成与信息集成、过程集成和企业集成等相关概念之间的区别和联系,提出了基于产品创新的管理集成实施的结构体系,指出这个结构体系是由核心层、使能层和技术支撑层构成的,并对其内容进行了详细的阐述。     

Project Scheduling—Theory and Practice

The project scheduling problem involves the scheduling of project activities subject to precedence and/or resource constraints. Of obvious practical importance, it has been the subject of intensive research since the late fifties. A wide variety of commercialized project management software packages have been put to practical use. Despite all these efforts, numerous reports reveal that many projects escalate in time and budget and that many project scheduling procedures have not yet found their way to practical use. The objective of this paper is to confront project scheduling theory with project scheduling practice. We provide a generic hierarchical project planning and control framework that serves to position the various project planning procedures and discuss important research opportunities, the exploration of which may help to close the theory‐practice gap.     

AN APPROACH TO COST—VOLUME—PROFIT ANALYSIS UNDER UNCERTAINTY*

Cost-Volume-Profit analysis is a tool of cost accountants aiding in the choice of an optimal course of action in the solution of a managerial problem. C-V-P is a limited analysis since all the needs of management in determining the optimal strategy are not fulfilled. Factors pertinent to the choice of the optimal strategy under uncertainty are variables, although traditional C-V-P treats these factors as constants. Hence, an approach to C-V-P where pertinent factors necessary for decision making are considered as variables is more desirable than traditional C-V-P. By introducing uncertainty, it is also beneficial to broaden C-V-P to fulfill the following desire of management. Should management choose a course of action based only on its own estimates of the decision parameters or is it advisable to postpone a terminal decision until additional research into the decision parameters is accomplished? Broadened C-V-P solves this problem with the aid of Bayesian Decision Theory for the choice of the optimal course of action in the face of uncertainty.     

Strategic planning—A contingency approach—Part 2. The plan

This is the second article on the subject of the adaptive approach to business strategy formation exercise and illustrates the approach with a case study. Part 1 appeared in the August 1983 issue of the Journal.     

Children and Gender — Wage Differentials

ABSTRACT: In this paper we present a test of wage discrimination between women and men in Italy, controlling for individual productive characteristics. We emphasise the importance, in empirical tests of wage discrimination, of explicitly modelling the reproductive role of women within the family. We show that ignoring the impact on women wages of the presence of children can seriously bias the results in favour of the hypothesis of wage discrimination. Our results illustrate that a considerable wages gap exists, but that only part of the observed differential can be attributed to pure discrimination; the remainder is explained either by heterogeneous productivity of men and women or by the effect of having children on female human capital formation.