Managing the growth of electronic office information systems

Organizations, and particularly their information services departments, are facing more difficult problems as society inexorably moves into the information age. The ability of organizations to survive in the future may very well depend upon their capacity to satisfactorily cope with the pace of technological change. With the rate at which technologies such as word processors, electronic mail, personal computing, facsimile devices, private automatic branch exchanges (PABXs), voice recognition systems, intelligent copiers, to name but a few, are being introduced in organizations, well thought out information management strategies are needed. The purpose of this paper is to propose a stage theory of growth which could help organizations develop appropriate information management strategies dealing with electronic office information systems; and additionally, to underline the key role that electronic information systems may play as organizations face the problems of moving into the information age.     

Moving HRD from the periphery to the centre for transformation of an Indian public sector bank: Keynote address, 4th Asian conference of the academy of HRD

The transformation of Bank of Baroda, one of the largest commercial banks in the public sector in India, into a highly customer centric, technology driven and an innovative entity in retail and SME (small and medium enterprises) segments represents one of India's most remarkable success stories and one of the quickest turnarounds ever in public sector banking.

Known as an important player in commercial banking with international operations for several decades, the bank was gradually declining in recent years. In an environment of competition within the public sector as also due to entry of private banks with latest technology and young staff, the bank plunged into an unprecedented spiral of failing to innovate and adopt new technology.

Drastic action was required to regain its leadership position in the public sector space. Over the next one and a half years, the bank was back in reckoning and was firing on all cylinders. It retained its core business on track with a bang, restored its image as the most vibrant player among public sector banks (PSBs) through wide-ranging initiatives such as a logo change, hiring a cricketing icon as brand ambassador, heightened credit growth, improving the work culture, initiating many customer-centric initiatives and restoring the customer base, derisking the treasury portfolio, and winning several accolades and awards.

Today, Bank of Baroda has embarked upon more wide-ranging changes and a new vision to change the bank from a ‘vanilla banking’ entity to a ‘multi-specialist bank’. The author, who joined the bank as a HR specialist and eventually rose to become CEO of the bank, extensively used his HRD knowledge and academic background to initiate changes to harness energy in the bank's 40,000 staff to drive organization change.

Achieving a successful outcome seems to be far more difficult for a public sector bank with a legacy culture, high degree of unionization, poor compensation and aging staff. In spite of these constraining factors, the paper argues that it is through mobilizing the passion of people that leadership can transform organizations and put them on high growth trajectory.     

The effectiveness and specificity of change management in a public organization: Transformational leadership and a bureaucratic organizational structure

There is an extensive private sector literature on organizational change management. However, recent studies have suggested that the specific context of public organizations may have consequences for the management organizational change. This study examines to what extent different change approaches and transformational leadership of direct supervisors contribute to the effective implementation of organizational change in public organizations, and to what extent the bureaucratic structure of public organizations makes the implementation of organizational change s3pecific. The implementation of an organizational change in a Dutch public organization is studied using quantitative methods and techniques. The results indicate that bureaucratic organizations may effectively implement organizational change with both planned and emergent change approaches. The contribution of transformational leadership depends on the type of change approach and organizational structure. Transformational leadership behavior of direct supervisors contributes little to planned processes of change, but is crucial in emergent processes of change in a non-bureaucratic context. Although the literature on change management mostly emphasizes the leadership of senior managers, the leadership role of direct supervisors should not be overlooked during organizational change in public organizations.     

Resistance to Change and the Language of Public Organizations: A Look at “Clashing Grammars” in Large-Scale Information Technology Projects

The management environment of large-scale agency information technology (IT) projects is used as a framework for examining the notion of clashing grammars as a form of resistance to change within public organizations. Such projects, rooted in new management disciplines from the private sector, are being initiated in broad mimetic fashion by agencies seeking improved performance. The common problems with these projects may be manifestations of resistance to the very management tools developed for their implementation. This resistance may occur inadvertently when new grammars characteristic to modern IT projects clash with more traditional grammars embedded in the culture of public organizations.     

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PRODUCTION INNOVATION*

In a study of the implementation of production innovation using a social learning theory focus, four organizations were monitored with a real-time study design. The following propositions were strongly supported: (1) During the initial implementation period (3–4 months), the stress felt by personnel in new user organizations was significantly higher (p < .01) than for organizations previously experienced with technology; (2) Firms experienced with the new technology obtain early success when compared with inexperienced firms (p < .01). Moderate support was found for the proposition that new users rely heavily on original equipment manufacturers for demonstration to acquire new skills, but gradually models within the user organization emerge as the dominant influence. The proposition that new users have significantly higher imitation scores than users experienced with the technology was only weakly supported. No substantive or significant changes in the attitudes of users toward the innovation were found during the first three to four months of the implementation period. These and other results suggest that longitudinal studies of this type ought to be carried out over periods in excess of 2 1/2 years. Implications for the management of change are presented.     

From Knowledge Engineering to Knowledge Management

Knowledge management is seen by many to be a prerequisite for the successful organization, and one that relies heavily, though not exclusively, on a sound technological infrastructure. A major drawback, though, with current technology (e.g. Lotus Notes and www) is its focus on information management and communication rather than on knowledge itself. What knowledge management needs is tools and techniques that are more oriented towards knowledge – its creation, mapping, transfer and use. We show how many of the methods and tools used in the branch of artificial intelligence known as knowledge engineering can be adapted to provide such a knowledge-oriented technology, and lead to significant benefits for organizations. A number of case studies are presented which illustrate our points, including decision-making at Andersen Consulting and best practice at Rolls-Royce. A more elaborated use is shown in the context of business process re-engineering, where a new software tool kit called SPEDE is being applied and validated within the aerospace and automotive industries.     

顾客采用网络银行的影响因素研究

网络银行已经成为银行业保留老顾客和获取新顾客的一种新兴的服务渠道,而有关顾客采用网络银行影响因素的研究也越来越激发兴趣,引起关注。感知风险和信任是网络银行顾客最为担心的因素,但这似乎并没有引起学者们的足够重视。大多数研究都将顾客方面的建构作为认知建构的前置因素,而将银行方面的建构作为认知建构的前置因素的研究还几乎无人问津。本研究的重要意义在于:在具体的网络银行环境下,以科技接受模型为基础,在认知建构中增加感知风险和信任等变量,同时将顾客方面的自我效能和银行方面的便利条件两个建构分别作为认知构建的前置因素,从而对网络银行的采用意图进行理论探讨和实证检验。     

Strategies for planning

In recent years there has been a good deal of discussion amongst planning specialists and academics about the gap which exists between the theory of planning as set out in journals and textbooks, and the practice of planning in private and public organizations. Planners are continually complaining about the resistance to planning by top management and operating managers in divisions and departments.In this article the author aims to produce a reconciliation between theory and practice and to discuss what alternative strategies are open to planners in devising planning systems for their organizations.He suggests that the problem has its origin in the fact that corporate planning theory was first developed by management scientists as a total systems approach. Corporate planners have failed to sell an integrated planning system either as programme budgeting or as corporate planning. Research suggests that a management team can only adopt and implement a comprehensive planning system in very special circumstances, e.g. when the organization's survival is threatened, a new management team has been appointed and the staff of the organization are ready to accept radical change.In normal circumstances the planner is wrong to advocate a ‘root and branch’ solution. He must diagnose the planning needs of the organization and his objective must be not merely to establish a particular planning procedure but rather to discover how he can best improve the quality of management decisions.Recent studies on strategy formation indicate that the introduction of a formal planning procedure is only a partial answer to the problem of improving the quality of management decisions.The paper reviews various approaches to planning and considers how they relate to organizations with different strategic problems, with differing organization structures and various management styles.     

The Impact of Environmental Change on the Characteristics of Top management Teams*

The study reported in this paper examined the impact of environmental change on the background characteristics of top management teams. The banking sector in Turkey provided the setting for the study. Starting with a package of economic policy decisions put into effect in January 1980, the banking sector experienced a shift from a highly stable and regulated industry into one characterized by change, and at times, a highly turbulent setting. Twenty of the 28 banks that existed throughout the 1975–1986 period constituted the sample for the study. The study focussed on entire management teams, and data were collected on all incumbents (380 in total) of general manager or assistant general manager positions in these banks in the 1975–1986 period. Three biographical background variables, operationalized at the top-management team level, were included in the analyses: age, length of time of inside service and formal education. The results provided support for the expectation that changes in environmental context affect organizational choices about characteristics of top management teams. The effects of environmental change, however, did not appear to be uniform across all variables included in the study. Size effects were also found for the average age of management teams, showing that changes in the predicted direction were more common among smaller organizations. Changes in large banks appeared to lag behind the more immediate response of smaller banks.     

网络组织的知识管理研究述评

网络组织作为应对全球化、消费者偏好改变、技术进步与产品更新速度加快等问题而产生界于市场与企业之间的中介组织得到了理论界与实践界的关注,随研究的深入众多研究者对网络组织的知识管理这一领域投入了前所未有的关注.本文对现有的研究成果进行了梳理,从"能力"、"动机"及"机会"的角度分析了这一领域的研究思路,探讨了有待深入研究的问题.     

Sound branch cash management for less: A low-cost forecasting algorithm under uncertain demand

This paper deals with cash management for bank branches, under the assumption that branches have a role to play in the improvement of global bank institution performance. In the current scenario of unprecedented pressure amongst banks to keep costs under control, our contribution is the design of a sound and low-cost algorithm to optimize branch cash holdings using software implementation in SageMath. It is accompanied by data processing based on 60,000 real banking records. This is the first academic paper to run such an extensive database at branch level.We find that our algorithm by and large performs well when forecasting the cash amounts that the branch might require from the central hub to satisfy all branch necessities, avoiding the generation of either surplus or shortage of cash. It is also extremely easy to implement in daily branching practice, leading to an overall reduction in operating costs. In addition, our algorithm may be easily adjusted as required and be tailor-made to the special requirements of each banking institution.     

Branch banking in the year 2000

The topic of branch banking in the United States in the year 2000 is obviously one that has been in the minds of California bankers for some time because California is the largest state in the United States to permit virtually unlimited statewide branch banking. It is a topic that must also be in the minds of a large number of European and Asian bankers as well because several non-U.S. banking systems have already established large branch networks in the United States. It is a difficult topic because no one knows precisely what will be the status of branch banking in the year 1990, let alone the year 2000. This article makes some predictions.     

Managing Strategic Change; The Role of Symbolic Action

As our understanding of processes of strategic management develop, it is clear that the problems of managing major shifts in strategy, which organizations face on occasions, are of a different order to the typically incremental strategy development they follow. It is also recognized that these problems are closely linked to cognitive and cultural dimensions of organizations. Research on the management processes associated with more fundamental strategic change is still sparse, but suggests that it requires substantial cognitive shifts in which intervention, often by new corporate leaders, and political and symbolic, as well as more substantial action, is likely. This paper draws together the author's and other research in related fields, to formalize explanatory models, which link organizational inertia of strategy, more fundamental strategic change, and in particular the symbolic management activities of corporate leaders as strategic change agents.     

The Internet and the Deconstruction of the Integrated Banking Model

The rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICTs), with the Internet being one of the most significant, is shaking the foundation of the banking industry. Simply deploying the Internet as a more efficient distribution channel will not bring sustainable strategic advantages. To compete effectively, banks may need to embrace a new set of strategic priorities, based on the 'unbundling' of banking services and processes, and the 'deconstruction' of the integrated banking model. Such a radical transformation threatens the profitability and survival of some existing incumbent banks, and at the same time, it brings a cohort of new opportunities and powerful new players to the market. This paper reviews existing studies on the use of the Internet in banking, and highlights two prevailing models and the strategic thinking behind them. Based upon recent empirical evidence gathered from in-depth case studies and other information sources in the UK, the paper discusses a number of emerging tendencies and explores possibilities to reconcile the discrepancies between the two prevailing models. The paper calls for a radical departure from existing strategies in the banking industry based on the concept of process integration and service bundling. A new framework is outlined for banks and other financial organizations in developing and evaluating their strategies. The latest evidence suggests that at least eight models of Internet banking, somewhere on the spectrum between the two prevailing models highlighted by previous studies, have emerged in the UK. These models are illustrated briefly in the paper. This is still a rapidly evolving area, and new research is clearly needed to understand the key dynamics of the banking industry in the networked economy. Finally, some themes for further research are highlighted.     

How do Greek banking institutions react after significant events?—A DEA approach

The efficiency of Greek commercial banks is considered through the period 1995–2003 using the data envelopment analysis technique. Two approaches are used to measure efficiency: one using financial ratios as outputs only and the other viewing banks as credit generation and transaction institutions. The empirical results are used to examine the reaction of banking institutions after significant events such as M&As, privatizations and the crisis of the Athens Stock Exchange in 1999. In most cases performance deteriorates for the next 1 to 2 years, while increases thereafter, forming specific patterns of efficiency. In the last part we introduce an index to measure the management's efficiency through a process of change. The results suggest that the Greek banking sector operated efficiently on average during the destabilization periods. The contribution of the article is that it comprises the first study which examines empirically the performance behavior of banking institutions within the scope of change management theory.     

关于产权、市场与我国银行业市场绩效关系的分析

通过实证分析1996-2002年间银行生产效率和市场结构变化对我国商业银行业市场绩效的效应,发现资产份额和资本份额的变化都对我国银行业市场绩效有正的效应;尽管国有银行生产效率提高对我国银行业市场绩效有正的效应,但国有银行生产效率提高的主要原因是政府的救助。基于实证分析,本文关于产权、市场与银行业绩效关系的讨论表明:银行业市场结构的渐进式变化诱致国有银行的产权改革且约束股权分散程度,国有银行的产权改革又促进银行业市场竞争,交互关系不断深化两种结构的调整,将使银行业的市场绩效得到提高。     

The role of dualities in arbitrating continuity and change in forms of organizing

A substantial body of literature on new forms of organizing has forecast the end of bureaucracy. More recent empirical studies, however, indicate that high‐performing organizations are adopting dual forms of organizing in which the controllability advantages associated with traditional forms work to complement and support the responsiveness attributes of new forms of organizing. The paradox is that, if organizations discard the key planning, co‐ordinating and direction‐setting mechanisms of traditional forms of organizing, they also remove the stabilizing dimensions of organizational form that are essential in periods of uncertainty and change. The challenge for organizations lies in learning how to manage the tensions or dualities between traditional and new forms of organizing, a process demanding the arbitration of continuity and change. This paper explores the concept of dualities and its salience in the management of organizing forms. First, the nature of dualities is explained; secondly, a set of characteristics is developed to describe the behaviour of dualities; and thirdly, suggestions are presented for arbitrating the tensions that exist in organizing form dualities. These three contributions are relevant because they signal the route to the effective creation and management of organizing form dualities, the benefit of which is the constructive combination of dynamic capabilities (underpinning innovation and responsiveness, the hallmarks of new forms of organizing) and operational capabilities (underpinning stability and efficiency, the hallmarks of traditional forms of organizing).     

Models of Change Agency: a Fourfold Classification

Change agents often play significant roles in initiating, managing or implementing change in organizations. Yet these roles are invariably exaggerated or misrepresented by one-dimensional models that ignore the full complexity and scope of change agent roles. Following a review and theoretical clarification of some of the literature and empirical research on change agency, a new fourfold classification of change agents is proposed, covering leadership, management, consultancy , and team models . The four models reaffirm the significance of the multifaceted and complex roles change agents perform in organizational change, while underlining the importance of conceiving change interventions within organizations as processes that need to be coordinated and effectively managed.     

Density-dependent strategic action: Outcomes of structural market commitment in the global integrated circuit industry

This study develops theory regarding organizational survival and technology management in global, technology-intensive industries. Findings indicate that ecological effects on survival localize to the level of separate international markets as an industry becomes global. How firms structurally participate in these markets moderate these ecological forces. Strategic choices about technology management, such as centralized versus decentralized manufacturing and R&D operations, help firms “crack” densely packed markets. The developed theory is tested with firm-level data on the structure and international presence of all organizations in the worldwide population of integrated circuit manufacturers, from 1961 to 1994.     

Workplace learning strategies,barriers, facilitators and outcomes: a qualitative study among human resource management practitioners

Recently the role of human resource management (HRM) practitioners has become more professionalized and more strategic. Consequently, HRM practitioners have had to develop new competencies in areas such as change management, influence and technology. Workplace learning, which is important for professional development, is examined for 13 HRM practitioners in government, healthcare, post-secondary education and business organizations in the Halifax Regional Municipality area. Of particular interest were learning strategies, barriers to and facilitators of learning and outcomes of learning. To obtain rich data, practitioners were interviewed face to face using an interview guide. Results indicated that these practitioners are mostly similar to other professional groups in terms of workplace learning, with a few key differences. The similarities and differences are presented, and implications of these findings for HRM practitioners and future directions for research are discussed.