Developing management capability within a horizontal supply chain in performance measurement deployment and evolution: a Dynamic Capabilities and Goal Theory perspective

Abstract

Complex collaboration in rapidly changing business environments create challenges for management capability in Utility Horizontal Supply Chains (UHSCs) involving the deploying and evolving of performance measures. The aim of the study is twofold. First, there is a need to explore how management capability can be developed and used to deploy and evolve Performance Measurement (PM), both across a UHSC and within its constituent organisations, drawing upon a theoretical nexus of Dynamic Capability (DC) theory and complementary Goal Theory. Second, to make a contribution to knowledge by empirically building theory using these constructs to show the management motivations and behaviours within PM-based DCs. The methodology uses an interpretive theory building, multiple case-based approach (n = 3) as part of a USHC. The data collection methods include, interviews (n = 54), focus groups (n = 10), document analysis and participant observation (reflective learning logs) over a five-year period giving longitudinal data. The empirical findings lead to the development of a conceptual framework showing that management capabilities in driving PM deployment and evolution can be represented as multilevel renewal and incremental Dynamic Capabilities, which can be further understood in terms of motivation and behaviour by Goal-Theoretic constructs. In addition, three interrelated cross-cutting themes of management capabilities in consensus building, goal setting and resource change were identified. These management capabilities require carefully planned development and nurturing within the UHSC.     

Knowledge management in consultancy-involved process improvement projects: cases from Chinese SMEs

Abstract

Knowledge management (KM) is considered as an effective strategy to improve organizational performance. In its application to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), resource constraints mean that exploitation of knowledge from external sources is often needed. This study explores practical KM issues encountered by Chinese SMEs when working with management consultants to introduce new business improvement practices. A comparative case study is conducted focusing on two consultancy-involved process improvement projects in Chinese manufacturing SMEs. The case results suggest a clear KM strategy is needed at the outset of the project and SME managers and employees need to play a proactive role in the learning and adoption of new knowledge. The research is novel in that it is the first study to explore knowledge management and the notion of liminality within the context of consultancy-involved Chinese SME improvement projects. The paper culminates with two research propositions that require further empirical study.     

Effect of best management practices on the performance and productivity of small firms

Abstract

Recent research on productivity finds that best management practices are a crucial but neglected element in explaining firm productivity. This stream of research also focuses on why a large number of firms may not implement best management practices despite their apparent benefits. In this paper, we examine the adoption of best management practices in small leveraged buyout (LBO) firms. Our choice of small LBO is motivated by the fact that these firms undergo extensive restructuring and, therefore, there is an opportunity to study the adoption process of best management practices. The findings show that buyout companies introduce best management practices (operations, monitoring, targets and incentive-related practices) at different stages of their development, and more importantly, these practices evolve in response to changes in various firm-level characteristics. For example, companies emphasizing cost leadership tend to follow targets and monitoring related practices while firms following a differentiation strategy are more likely to implement incentives and operations related management practices. Buyout sponsors’ board representatives and new CEO also play a critical role in the adoption of these best management practices which are linked to superior firm performance, measured as growth in revenues, productivity and return on assets.     

Assessing Barriers to Effective Caseload Management by Practicing Behavior Analysts

ABSTRACT

In the past ten years, insurance funding has become a primary source of payment for applied behavior analytic services for individuals with autism spectrum disorders. The increased accessibility of funding has come with constraints which can make caseload management complex and difficult for clinicians. The Caseload Management Support System (CMSS) was developed to assess the barriers that might contribute to difficulties in managing a reasonable caseload. The CMSS samples areas such as time management, geographic distribution of caseload, and match of clinical skills to client needs. The CMSS was conducted as an interview with the supervisors of 12 clinicians who were consistently struggling to manage their duties and with the supervisors of 12 high performing clinicians who met the criteria for performance-based pay based on excellent caseload management. The profiles and total scores of the groups differed significantly with the greatest differences observed in the areas of time management, information and understanding of funder constraints, and understanding of consequences. A multiple regression analysis indicated that 89% of a clinician’s performance can be explained by the total area average score on the CMSS. The Information and Understanding and Consequences areas are most strongly correlated with clinician performance, explaining 86% of the variance between high and low performers.     

An integrated framework of mimetic pressures,quality and environmental management,and firm performances

Abstract

Manufacturers have extensively recognised the strategic importance of quality and environmental management. However, there is little guidance on how they adopt and exercise both management practices in a way that enhances firms’ performance outcomes. To fill the research gap, this paper empirically investigates the relationships among mimetic pressures, a firm’s quality management practices (QMPs), environmental management system (EMS), and environmental and financial performances. By using a data set collected from 212?U.S. manufacturing firms, this study examines the proposed hypotheses. Our major findings are: first, mimetic pressures are a driving factor for EMS but do not motivate the adoption of QMPs; second, QMPs are an important enabler not only for enhancing firms’ financial performance but also for promoting EMS and environmental performance; and finally, EMS does not influence firms’ financial performance directly, but indirectly does so through enhancing environmental performance. This study contributes to the literature of quality and environmental management and provides practical implications by addressing motivating factors of both QMPs and EMS, and identifying factors for successful environmental management practices.     

Integrating sustainable supply chain practices with operational performance: an exploratory study of Chinese SMEs

Abstract

With growing regulatory and market pressure to implement green practices, SMEs are facing enormous challenges to simultaneously improve operational and green performances of their supply chains. The paper aims to understand the green practices adopted by Chinese SMEs in the packaging sector in order to assess the impact of these practices in improving the operational performance. Case study-based research methodology is adopted and semi-structured interviews are conducted to collect data from seven SMEs in this study. Both in-case and cross-case analyses are performed to understand the green practices being adopted with the focus on improving the operational performance. The findings of this study indicate that although most SMEs understand the importance of green practices, they have limited knowledge to integrate these practices to improve operational performance. Integration and alignment of green activities with the operational improvement measures are identified as critical factors to develop an efficient green supply chain.     

Integrating risk and performance management in quality management systems for the development of complex bespoke systems (CBSs)

Abstract

Risk and performance management are at the core of complex bespoke systems (CBSs). CBSs are developed to customer–specified requirements in terms of structure, functionality and conformance. This article examines how risk and performance management are integrated as essential systems in the successful development of projects across multi-organizational functions in complex bespoke system (CBS) organizations. The article argues for the development of a quality management system that consists of two sub-processes: quality control and quality development. Using three case studies from engineering companies, we provide evidence and insights of the way change control, quality development and quality performance are developed in innovating business solutions.     

Green supply management and performance: a resource-based view

Abstract

This study develops and empirically tests, from the resource-based perspective, a conceptual framework linking green supply management and performance. The proposed model is tested using data from a sample of 126 automotive manufactures in China. The results suggest that both green purchasing personnel and green supplier selection have a significant positive effect on green supplier collaboration, and that building green collaboration with suppliers is significantly and positively related to both environmental and operational performance. Accordingly, knowledge and skill development of the purchasing function can be recognised as an important resource in building green supply capabilities and performance.     

Modelling the impact of performance management practices on firm performance: interaction with human resource management practices

The paper draws on resource orchestration theory to investigate whether and how performance management (PM) practices interact with human resource management (HRM) practices in organisations as well as how this interaction affects firm performance. The proposed theoretical model was tested through a survey of 192 UK firms using Partial Least Squares approach for structural equations modelling. The findings show that the effect of PM practices on firm performance is better explained when the interaction between these practices and other organisational practices is considered. In particular, we examine the extent to which the interaction between PM practices and commitment-based HRM practices affects performance. We find that when HRM practices and PM practices are misaligned, their effect on performance can be negative. This is the first paper in the PM literature that establishes the relationship between PM and HRM practices in organisations and demonstrates the effect of this relationship on firm performance.     

守安身立命之地,走继往开来之路——简评《管理学报》近期的系列争鸣文章

《管理学报》近期的系列争鸣文章,提出了管理学发展的方向问题。西方管理学在学术研究和企业实践上存在双轨制,中国则演化为学术、咨询、实业的"三岔口"。如何使"三岔口"变为"铁三角",影响着管理学在中国的发展方向。圣吉作为非学术的咨询家,对其进行剖析可以更清楚地分析咨询和学术的关系。管理学的安身立命之地,在于学术本位,而学术本位的活力来源于面向实践和哲学思考。学术讨论和争鸣有利于推动学术共同体的形成和健全:管理学界应以中外学术争鸣为范例,继往开来,奠定管理学在中国发展的良好根基;《管理学报》这一平台应在其中发挥重要作用。     

Quality management and performance: a comparison between the UK and Turkey

Purpose: The aim of this article is to detail the correlation between quality management, specifically its tools and critical success factors, and performance in terms of primary operational and secondary organisational performances.

Design/methodology/approach: Survey data from the UK and Turkey were analysed using exploratory factor analyses, structural equation modelling and regression analysis.

Findings: The results show that quality management has a significant and positive impact on both primary and secondary performances; that Turkish and UK attitudes to quality management are similar; and that quality management is widely practised in manufacturing and service industries but has more statistical emphasis in the manufacturing sector. The main challenge for making quality management practice more effective lies in an appropriate balanced use of the different sorts of the tools and critical success factors.

Originality/value: This study takes a novel approach by: (i) exploring the relationship between primary operational and secondary organisational performances, (ii) using service and manufacturing data and (iii) making a cross-country comparison between the UK (a developed economy) and Turkey (a developing economy).

Limitations: Detailed contrast provided between only two countries.     

Managing learning and developing management

Dr Alan Mumford is best known in the UK for his pioneering work on managerial learning and board-level development in the corporate sector. After his early career in the construction industry, he worked as an internal management development adviser to a number of UK companies before leaving fifteen years ago to join International Management Centres Europe as a professor. Alan continues to advise as an independent consultant and to devote time to writing. A prolific author, his classic text Management Development: Strategies for Action recently appeared in its fourth edition published by the Institute of Personnel and Development, and his reflections on board-level and senior executive development in Learning at the Top (McGraw-Hill, 1995). Of greatest renown is his collaboration with Dr Peter Honey on developing the Learning Styles Questionnaire and the Manual of Learning Styles (Honey, 3rd edn, 1992) which have become the most frequently used diagnostic and development tools on UK corporate management development programnles. Jean Woodall interviewed Alan at his home in London.

Jean Woodall is Professor of Human Resource Development at Kingston University.     

Applying a longitudinal interpretive multi-case research method to study the employee impact of operations management systems in a micro firm setting

Abstract

While many operations management journals are now publishing interpretive studies, there is still a need for more material on how to carry out such work under the interpretive gestalt. By offering a research account of a longitudinal interpretive multi-case study, this paper seeks to contribute to the literary gap in ‘how to do it [interpretive research]’. The purpose of this paper is to document a longitudinal operations management study in three micro-firms, where the catalyst for this study is the implementation of an electronic operations management system in each case. The paper chronicles the authors’ experience in a four-year multi-case study, and as such provides insight into design, development and execution of longitudinal interpretive operations management research, and the building of a theoretical model. While blueprints are not the purpose of such reflections, they can provide insight and advice to researchers, which is the underlying goal of this paper.     

Notes from an Introspective Behaviorist

Abstract

Based on the three-contingency model of performance management, I make the following argument: (1) Often, we fail to behave as we should because the natural contingencies supporting appropriate behavior are ineffective; the natural contingencies involve outcomes for each individual response that are either too small, though of cumulative significance, or outcomes that are too improbable. The delay of the outcome is essentially irrelevant. The psychodynamic model of the cognitive motivational theorists provides a poor explanation for why we fail to behave as we should. (2) The performance-management contingencies in organizational behavior management (OBM) must usually involve deadline-induced aversive control, even when they are based on powerful reinforcers. Furthermore, such performance management succeeds only to the extent that the person's behavioral history, “Jewish mother,” has inculcated an appropriate value system. Wiegand and Geller's critique of the necessity of the use of aversive control fails to take into account the necessity of deadlines and the difference between instrumental and hedonic reinforcers; furthermore, it greatly over values the power of intrinsic reinforcement contingencies in OBM.     

Development of an integrated information management model: A case of textile industry

For past two decades many organisations have tried to implement integrated information management systems for better production management based on co-ordination of information and therefore activities of different departments. Although Enterprise Resource Planning systems have been in the market for the past decade, many industries find it difficult to implement such systems due to the amount of work involved in streamlining the documentation, customisation and of high costs reported in implementation. An attempt is made through this paper to propose an integrated model, which can be easily understood by production personnel, with specific emphasis on the textile sector.     

Quality management in outsourced global fashion supply chains: an exploratory case study

Abstract

Outsourcing production is common in the fashion industry but can lead to quality defects. This paper thus sheds light on how quality is managed in outsourced fashion supply chains. We propose a new trilogy for managing quality control in outsourced fashion supply chains: (1) manufacturer quality assessment, (2) quality management in production and (3) quality inspection and assurance. We implement an exploratory case study methodology. Through a qualitative case study of a leading global Japanese fashion retailer that outsources production mainly to China, we contribute to quality management studies by developing a new quality control trilogy for outsourced supply chains. Our findings can provide fashion retailers with guidance on controlling product quality in outsourced supply chains and developing strategies for improving supply chain performance. We also demonstrate the importance of contract and relationship management, supply chain integration and quality visibility in enhancing product and process quality in outsourced fashion supply chains.     

Supply chain relationship quality and its impact on firm performance

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of supply chain relationship quality (SCRQ) on firm performance (FP) through the mediators of supply chain management processes (SCMP) and supply chain performance (SCP). In the literature, these linkages have been examined separately; in contrast, this study takes a holistic perspective on the antecedents of FP. The model was tested using survey data from manufacturing companies. Variance-based structural equation modelling revealed that both SCMP and SCP lead to FP, unlike SCRQ. On the other hand, SCRQ affects SCMP. Drawing on the resource-based view, consistency in SCRQ can lead to not only efficient and effective supply chain management but also improvements in FP and SCP. This research has practical implications, providing supply chain decision makers with insights on enhancing FP. Supply chain decision makers will be able to benefit from the findings of our study by improving supply chain relationships with supply chain members and ensuring FP. This research also highlights how effective management of SCRQ, SCMP and SCP can provide better FP and a competitive advantage.     

Performance and risk management

Abstract

Performance and risk management are seen by some as two ends of the same spectrum. Performance measurement and management is about steering an enterprise towards a profitable and viable future, whilst risk management is about avoiding the pitfalls that can overwhelm and ultimately put an enterprise out of business. But should the functions and processes of performance measurement and management be integrated with those of risk management? What are the consequences of this integration? How should this be done in practice? In this editorial we briefly chart the debate between those who propose it is important to keep the functions separate and those who advocate integration before presenting the empirical research that informs this conversation.     

Can Environmental Insurance Succeed Where Other Strategies Fail? The Case of Underground Storage Tanks

Private risk reduction will be socially efficient only when firms are liable for all the damage that they cause. We find that environmental insurance can achieve social efficiency even when two traditional policy instruments—ex post fines and risk management mandates with ex ante fines—do not. Inefficiency occurs with ex post fines, when small firms declare bankruptcy and escape their liabilities, limiting the incentives from this policy tool. Firms ignore mandates to implement efficient risk management because regulatory agencies do not have sufficient resources to monitor every firm. The evolution of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's and states’ underground storage tank programs suggests that mandating environmental insurance can address inefficiency due to small firms declaring bankruptcy. Comparing insurance mandates to risk management mandates, the burden on a regulator is lower if all it has to do is to confirm that the firm has insurance rather than that the firm has actually, and effectively, implemented required management practices. For underground storage tanks, we show that insurance lowered toxic releases.     

An Evaluation of the Consultant Workshop Model in a Human Service Setting

The purpose of the present study was to document and evaluate an application of the consultant-workshop model commonly employed by Organizational Behavior Management consultants. The consultation took place in a nonprofit human service setting that delivers behavioral services to children diagnosed with autism and their families. Workshop attendees were 13 senior therapists each of whom oversaw six to eight instructor therapists who provided behavioral services to clients. The training took place three years prior to this evaluation across five months and four workshop sessions. Participants learned to pinpoint, measure, diagnose, and intervene and then they presented their project at the last workshop and these projects were documented. When possible, follow-up information was gathered to determine the extent to which this approach facilitated maintenance of the projects and generalization to other opportunities for performance improvement. Results indicated that projects were, in general, very effective. At follow-up, some components of the projects remained in place and limited evidence indicated that the performance improvements maintained or generalized. Based on the findings, recommendations for improving the workshop model are provided.