Learning and Organization in the Knowledge‐Based Information Economy: Initial Findings from a Participatory Action Research Case Study

This paper reports on an ongoing, multiphase, project‐based action learning and research project. In particular, it summarizes some aspects of the learning climate and outcomes for a case‐study company in the software industry. Using a participatory action research approach, the learning company framework developed by Pedler et al. (1997) is used to initiate critical reflection in the company at three levels: managing director, senior management team and technical and professional staff. As such, this is one of the first systematic attempts to apply this framework to the entire organization and to a company in the knowledge‐based learning economy. Two sets of issues are of general concern to the company: internal issues surrounding the company's reward and recognition policies and practices and the provision of accounting and control information in a business‐relevant way to all levels of staff; and external issues concerning the extent to which the company and its members actively learn from other companies and effectively capture, disseminate and use information accessed by staff in boundary‐spanning roles. The paper concludes with some illustrations of changes being introduced by the company as a result of the feedback on and discussion of these issues.     

Feedback-Center zur Identifikation von Nachwuchsführungskräften Ein Instrument zwischen Entwicklung und Auswahl

Feedback-Center for identification of junior managers — an instrument between development and selection As an alternative to the classical Assessment-Center this article introduces the Feedback-Center as an instrument for diagnosis and support. The theoretical explanation of a project that was carried out in the course of an organizational development program in a middle-sized company is discussed. By social feedback, the participants of the Feedback-Center (in the case presented: the complete management of the company) get the chance to gain experience about themselves, to sort these different experiences and to plan and initiate steps to their own development, supported by their superiors as well as by the internal personnel manager and by the external consultants. The article describes the basic concept, the composition of the team of consultants and the practical realization of the Feedback-Center.     

Management development in small firms

This paper is a review of the literature concerning management development in small firms. It looks at the benefits in terms of growing a small firm and whether the lack of management skills contributes to their failure. In addition, this paper looks at some of the barriers to management development, including the attitudes and characteristics of the entrepreneur, and also looks at learning models that may be appropriate for small firms. The paper also looks at the authors’ views on the effectiveness of management development for small firms, the barriers to learning as well as the skills required. Management development programmes are now widely accepted as a means of improving the competitiveness of firms and the economy as a whole. Although management education and training has, in the past, been designed mainly for larger firms, there is a growing awareness of the requirements of small businesses. Government initiatives designed to encourage start‐ups and to boost the growth of small firms have emphasized the importance of management development. This review of the literature shows that, on balance, management development programmes are effective for small firms. The main benefits appear to be survival and growth, reduction in failure and improvement in performance. The skills required include leadership and management, developing management systems and techniques and team building. Other skills include planning, delegation and financial management. The paper concludes that there is a need for further research into the effectiveness of management development programmes, the skills required and the barriers to learning in small firms and, also, whether they have an impact on the survival, growth and profitability of small firms.     

The role of individual and organizational characteristics in feedback seeking behaviour in the initial career stage

The present study investigates whether the frequency by which employees seek informal feedback and the quality of the self-initiated feedback influences perceived career development. Furthermore, we investigated goal orientation and perceived learning culture, as antecedents of feedback seeking behaviour. Data were collected from 116 financial experts from various multinational corporations worldwide. Results show that particularly the quality of self-initiated feedback from supervisors positively affects perceived career development. The quality of self-initiated feedback from supervisors mediates the relation between the perceived learning culture and perceived career development. Furthermore, learning goal orientation directly relates to perceived career development. Last, our results highlight the significance of creating a learning culture in which informal feedback is stimulated. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

跨文化情景下组织试错学习机理研究

试错学习是企业全球化经营时应对文化冲突不可缺少的革新过程,已有研究对企业试错学习过程和机理尚缺乏深入探讨和明确阐释,尤其是针对跨文化情景下的研究较少。以美国医药行业著名跨国企业H公司作为研究对象,运用扎根理论方法,借助定性分析软件NVivo 8.0对访谈和二手所得资料进行分析,探究跨文化情景下组织试错学习的影响因素及机理模型。借助开放性编码、主轴编码和选择性编码分析得出试错学习的7个主要影响因素,包括跨文化学习能力、跨文化制度设计、稳定的跨文化经营、团队领导者素质、跨文化试错学习氛围、母公司的支持和跨文化适应性;选用著名跨国制药企业M公司案例进行理论饱和度检验,得到另一个影响因素即企业研发能力;据此构建试错学习过程模型。 研究结果表明,试错学习是一个循环往复的过程,可分为失败分析、试验开展和措施生效3个阶段;通过进一步分析各阶段的主要影响因素,构建跨文化情景下组织试错学习的机理模型。研究结论旨在为跨文化经营的企业有针对性地提升试错学习效率提供理论支持。     

Harnessing Diversity and Collective Action in the Top Management Team

Diversity has become an important issue at all levels of the company from the boardroom to the back office. It is increasingly apparent that diversity is vital to productivity, with academic research indicating an important link between diverse top management team (TMT) composition and corporate performance. However, the nature of this link remains elusive, as there is little accessible research that can help top teams to evaluate how diversity impacts on their strategic capacity. This paper seeks to fill this gap by developing a conceptual framework, illustrated with case examples, to explain the relationships between TMT diversity and TMT collective action. As collective action is difficult to attain from top teams that are high in diversity, six practical processes are developed from this framework for establishing and exploiting top team strategic capacity. The paper concludes by outlining the theoretical implications of the framework.

It is the range of skills and attributes acquired through a diversity of experiences and backgrounds that combine to create a cohesive and effective board.¹

     

Using strategic planning to drive strategic change

This article describes a case history of strategic planning, learning and change within a major division of Dowty plc. At Dowty CASE, a telecommunications company, the management team used strategic planning as a structured learning process to generate strategic change. There are many lessons which academics and practitioners alike can learn from this case of strategic planning and change in action.     

Mitigating the Impact of Functional Dominance in Cross‐Functional Process Improvement Teams

Manufacturing process improvement teams often draw upon cross‐functional expertise. However, teams dominated by a single or few functions often do not achieve the desired interdisciplinary learning and cooperation, which in turn could negatively affect the performance of that cross‐functional team. Through an empirical analysis of 149 manufacturing process improvement teams in six SIC industrial categories, we show that even after controlling for several factors such as team size, number of functions, gender diversity, ethnicity, number of management levels, and geographic dispersion of team members, psychological safety of work environment fully mediates the relationship between functional dominance and team performance. We also confirm that a team leader possessing high interpersonal justice mitigates the deficiency of dominated teams and improves team performance by fostering a psychologically safe work environment. Our recommendation therefore is that when a dominated team is unavoidable due to the needed skill sets or other organizational considerations, to ensure success it is imperative that the firm chooses a team leader who can promote psychological safety by being just, and who can effectively encourage input from all functional team members and give them objective feedback.     

Understanding the Antecedents of Effective Knowledge Management: The Importance of a Knowledge‐Centered Culture*

Within the context of knowledge management, little research has been conducted that identifies the antecedents of a knowledge‐centered culture—those organizational qualities that encourage knowledge creation and dissemination. In this study, the existing literature on organizational climate, job characteristics, and organizational learning (in the form of cooperative learning theory) are linked with the current thinking and research findings related to knowledge management to develop a theoretical model explaining the relationships among organizational climate, the level of cooperative learning that takes place between knowledge workers, and the resulting level of knowledge created and disseminated as measured by team performance and individual satisfaction levels. The study goes on to empirically test the proposed research model by investigating the climate of organizations, and seeks to understand the linkage between a set of organizational and individual characteristics and knowledge‐related activities found in cooperative learning groups and the resulting work outcomes. The hypothesized research model is tested using LISREL with data collected from 203 information systems (IS) professionals engaged in systems development activities. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications the results have for future research and managerial practice.     

对公司影像的勾画

本文认为,经济学家有必要更加多层次和全方位地勾画企业的图景。为此,从三维角度观察企业管理而形成的影像,构成了本文“理想化的维度”。这些维度分别是公司的利润、社会需求以及社会责任。一家企业类似一幅画,是企业家个人创造力与管理艺术的体现。它拥有自身的形式与结构,而且旨在体现和满足社会需求。在以三维角度对企业前景分析中,利润、社会需求以及企业和企业家社会责任等维度,应是企业管理理念与实践的主要维度。由于管理不同,企业性质和体制的色彩极其丰富。随着企业社会责任的不断增加,企业活动图景的维度也在不断扩展。     

The moderating effects of corporate and national factors on lean projects barriers: a cross‐national study

Abstract

Despite companies’ efforts to develop lean thinking in their industrial context, the implementation of many lean projects has not been consistently successful, often resulting in delay, failure, abandonment or rejection. Whereas some authors emphasised that company characteristics, like the product demand profile, are significant factors in lean projects, other studies analysed the impact of national culture. This paper aims to study the combined effect of various factors related to national culture and company characteristics of lean implementation barriers in order to determine whether the environmental context in which the company operation can affect the outcome of lean project implementation. A survey has been conducted to collect information about companies of various sizes (small–medium–large) in all industry fields. Data from companies, including manufacturing firms, in 23 different countries, were analysed in depth by a combination of Association Rules and Network Analysis. The results show that some national culture dimensions, such as Performance Orientation and Gender Egalitarianism, influence lean management success and help to maintain a lean culture. Maintaining a lean culture is even more critical than developing it. Furthermore, if the implementation of lean practices is an arduous task for large organisations, it becomes even greater for SMEs. Other cultural factors of individuals such as Uncertainty Avoidance, Future Orientation and Institutional Collectivism also help to support a lean culture and overcome human and cultural barriers.     

Quality circle failures in UK manufacturing companies—A study

This paper presents the results of a study of quality circle failures in UK manufacturing companies. A questionnaire survey formed the first part of the investigation, which reveals that the majority of companies which implement quality circles should expect to encounter some form of failure. The first three years of operating a quality circle programme represent the critical period for establishing long-term survival of the programme, whilst in the case of individual circles it is the first 18 months. The results indicate that white collar circles are more difficult to sustain over time than are circles in blue collar areas. The main reasons for circle failure include: rejection of the concept by top management and trade unions; the company restructuring, redundancies and labour turnover; circle leaders lacking time to organise meetings and a lack of co-operation from middle and first-line management. It is pointed out, that despite an average circle failure rate of 20%, there is a high level of satisfaction with quality circles amongst the respondents.     

创业者个体学习、组织学习如何交互影响企业创新行为？——基于整合视角的纵向单案例研究

社会经济的不断发展促使分工愈发精细,对个人与组织间的技术隔离也愈加明显,亟待创业者个体及组织开展跨层次的交互学习以构建组织创新优势。基于此,本文援引学习理论与意义构建视角,从"行动"与"解释"出发,采用纵向单案例研究方法,基于"个体-组织"整合性分析框架,探究了不同创业阶段内跨层次行动主体间的学习互动模型,揭示了其对企业创新的影响路径。研究发现:创业者个体学习与组织学习间的互动,表现为渐变初期个体利用式学习经"自上而下"团队互动主导形成组织单环式行动;而在调整转变期,个体学习与组织学习发生交互影响,包含个体探索式学习经"横向协同式"团队互动主导形成组织双环式行动,以及组织双环式行动转换为单环式之后,经由持续反思与质询,刺激形成创业者个体利用式学习;最后,在发展突变期,个体利用式学习经"制度化统筹式"团队交互合作促成组织单环式行动,同时个体探索式学习经"跨越层次自主式"团队交互激活组织双环式学习。此外,在不同创业阶段,3种互动逻辑与意义构建框架下的创新决定机制呈现出以个体创意激发与扩散、信息整合与匹配以及平衡矛盾与冲突3种不同的影响路径展开的态势。本研究为创业学习理论和创业实践过程贡献了新的启示。     

Do transformational CEOs always make the difference? The role of TMT feedback seeking behavior

In the present paper, we raise the question whether CEO transformational leadership invariably makes a difference for team performance and change effectiveness. Since in general, CEOs are surrounded by a team of highly influential top managers, we argue that the effectiveness of CEO transformational leadership is contingent on the feedback seeking behavior of their top management team (TMT). Data from 38 TMTs and their CEOs demonstrated that transformational leadership was positively related to both TMT performance and effectiveness of organizational change, but only when the TMT engaged in low levels of feedback seeking behavior. As predicted, there was no relationship between CEO transformational leadership and performance and change effectiveness for teams exhibiting high levels of feedback seeking behavior. These findings suggest that for high-feedback seeking TMTs, organizational results can be achieved without a transformational CEO.     

学习型组织的学习能力系统、学习导向人力资源管理系统及其相互关系研究——自然科学基金项目（70272007）回顾和总结

主要回顾了国家自然科学基金项目学习型组织的学习能力系统、学习导向人力资源管理系统及其相互关系研究(70272007)所提出的理论观点和实际应用成果,包括组织学习和学习型组织的概念、模型、组织学习能力测量问卷OLCQ;学习导向人力资源管理系统的概念、维度、测量问卷LOHRMQ;学习导向人力资源管理对组织学习能力的影响;其他与人有关的管理措施对组织学习能力的影响;所提出的组织学习和学习型组织、学习导向人力资源管理的理论在中国企业的应用研究及研究发现。最后,介绍了取得的学术成果和实践成就,指出了未来的发展方向。     

Action Learning - A Paradigm in Emergence: the Problems Facing a Challenge to Traditional Management Education and Development

This paper examines the proposition that action learning is a new paradigm in management education. Action learning is becoming widely accepted methodology for the development of managers and managerial competence. This is in both public and private sector organizations and within the context of certificated and organisationally based programmes. The paper seeks to use Kuhn's work on the nature of paradigms and change as a way of explaining the increase of interest in his approach. Importantly, although this approach promises to answer some of the problems of traditional management education, it is not without its own critics. Kuhn's criteria for a paradigm change are explained with reference to action learning literature and knowledge of practice. From this a framework is developed that compares a traditional approach to management education with an action learning approach on three levels. Our conclusion is that action learning is a new paradigm, but for the maximum benefit to be gained from the approach its application needs to be more carefully considered, particularly in relation to the provision of some wider external frameworks for the manager to use as‘tools for thinking’     

Developing strategic thinking

This paper looks at the problem of getting managers to contribute effectively to strategic planning, and focuses on the role of management development approaches in ensuring that this happens. A number of formal, and less formal, management development techniques are discussed in the light of their relevance for developing strategic awareness. The importance of providing exposure to strategic issues at an early stage in managers' careers is stressed, and also the need to encourage managers to take initiatives in obtaining their own development. Some of the most fruitful techniques involve taking full advantage of the ‘natural learning’ that takes place on the job, and those which provide a close integration between management development and the planning process—such as projects and ‘task forces’. Finally the role of senior managers in helping to create and maintain a climate in which strategic abilities can develop is discussed.     

TMT构成对组织产出影响的国外研究进展及对我国国企改革中高管团队构建的启示

从TMT构成研究的理论基础、TMT构成特征对组织产出的影响、TMT进程特征对组织产出的影响、结合情景因素的TMT构成研究等四个方面对高管团队(Top Management Team,TMT)构成的国外研究进展进行了回顾,指出了目前该领域研究存在的主要不足,以及现有研究成果对于结合中国情境的TMT研究和我国国企改革中高管团队构建实践的借鉴意义.     

Digitally connected services: Improvements through customer-initiated feedback

A growing number of manufacturers advances their offerings by providing digitally connected services (DCS) that require companies to revisit quality improvements based on customer feedback. This paper explores how firms use customer-initiated feedback for quality improvement of DCS. DCS entail a human-to-digital interface that enables ongoing provider-customer interaction. Based on a case study of a manufacturer that offers DCS, we conclude that the scope of improvements extends into the use phase of services, and customer-initiated feedback is both codified and personalized. In particular, systematic use of customer-initiated feedback for improving DCS requires three distinct efforts. First, channeling aims to capture feedback provided by a large number of customers through various entries into the organization. Second, processing refers to utilizing this feedback within the organization for service improvements. Third, knowledge conversion seeks to turn learning from feedback into knowledge that is dealt effectively across various functions such as quality management and customer services. In addition, research should investigate further quality improvement and customer feedback of services that are digitally configured by customers themselves.