Managerial and leadership effectiveness as perceived by managers and non-managerial employees in Mexico

Using the critical incident (CI) technique, concrete examples of effective and ineffective managerial behaviour (CIs) were collected from managers and non-managerial employees within private and public sector organizations situated in the north and southeast regions of Mexico. The CIs were content analysed using open, axial and selective coding to identify a smaller number of thematic categories. A total of 38 ‘manager’ and 35 ‘non-managerial employee’ behavioural categories were identified respectively, of which 82.19% (n = 60) were found to be either convergent or polar opposite in meaning. The findings suggest that what behaviourally differentiates effective managers from ineffective managers is perceived, described and defined by Mexican managers and non-managerial employees in much the same way. The study provides new insights on the issue of perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness in Mexico and is a rare example of indigenous managerial behaviour research in a non-Anglo country.     

Deducing a taxonomy of perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness: a comparative study of effective and ineffective managerial behaviour across three EU countries

This qualitative multiple case derived etic study focuses on perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness. It explores what employees in various organizations, organizational sectors and culturally diverse nations perceive as effective and ineffective managerial behaviour. Empirical findings from six emic replication studies carried out previously within three European Union countries were subjected to cross-case, cross-sector, and cross-nation comparative analysis. High degrees of sameness and similarity were found. Further analysis led to the emergence of a behavioural taxonomy comprised of 10 positive (effective) and 9 negative (ineffective) behavioural criteria. We find that managers and non-managerial staff in British and Romanian public-sector hospitals, and in British and German private-sector companies, perceive effective and ineffective managerial behaviour in much the same way. Our findings challenge past literature which argues that managers need to adopt different managerial behaviours to be effective in different organizational sectors and countries.     

Perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness in a non-profit organization: an exploratory and cross-sector comparative study

This paper presents the results of an ‘HRD professional partnership’ study of perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness carried out within a UK third sector (non-profit) organization. Using the critical incident technique, concrete examples [critical incidents (CIs) ] of observed effective and least effective/ineffective managerial behaviour were collected from a purposive sample of senior and middle-level managers of the collaborating registered charity. The CIs were content analysed to identify themes and analytical categories. Behavioural statements were then devised to reflect the constituent CIs of each category. The paper also reports the results of a subsequent cross-sector comparative analysis that explored the similarities and differences between the identified behavioural statements and the results of equivalent studies in the UK public and private sector organizations. The findings challenge the widely held image that managers need to adopt different managerial behaviours to be effective in non-profit organizations because of inherent differences between the sectors. How the resultshave been used by the collaborating organization is outlined. Finally, thelimitations, implications for practice and research recommendations are discussed.     

Cooperation despite contingency: what accounts for cooperative behaviour of contingent managerial workers?

Previous empirical results have revealed two particular mechanisms influencing cooperative or extra-role behaviour of contingent employees. These are the mechanism of instrumentality, mainly driven by contingent employees’ desire for a permanent position, and the mechanism of social exchange, based on the ‘norm of reciprocity’ (Gouldner in Am Sociol Rev 25:161–178, 1960) between employer and employee. For the most part the cooperative behaviour studied among contingent workers has been restricted to non-managerial positions. But is it also possible to transfer these mechanisms to contingent employees in managerial positions? A quantitative study of contingent (self-employed) workers in managerial positions (also called ‘interim managers’) was carried out among 133 German interim managers. The results of regression analysis reveal that social exchange as well as instrumentality mechanism can facilitate cooperative behaviour of contingent employees in managerial positions. However, the aspects of social exchange, especially task autonomy, seem to be more relevant to the cooperative behaviour of these individuals.     

Behavioural criteria of managerial and leadership effectiveness within Egyptian and British public sector hospitals: an empirical case study and multi-case/cross-nation comparative analysis

This paper reports the results of a study of managerial and leadership effectiveness carried out within an Egyptian public sector hospital in which concrete examples of ‘effective’ and ‘least effective/ineffective’ manager and managerial leader behaviour, as observed by superiors, peers and subordinates, were collected using the critical incident technique. These critical incidents were then content analyzed to identify a smaller number of discrete behavioural statements and criteria of effectiveness. The paper also reports the results of a subsequent comparative analysis of these Egyptian findings against equivalent behavioural criteria that emerged from studies in two different British NHS Trust hospitals. This latter multi-case/cross-nation study revealed high degrees of overlap, commonality, and relative generalization across all three organizations. The results lend strong empirical support to those who believe in ‘generic’ and ‘universalistic’ explanations of the nature of managerial and leadership effectiveness.     

Signs of struggle (SOS): The development and validation of a behavioural mental health checklist for the workplace

ABSTRACT

For managers to successfully support employee access to mental health resources, they must first be able to recognise if and when an employee may need help. To manage employees effectively, managers must be able to recognise changes in employees’ work behaviour that may indicate when an employee is struggling at work. In study 1, we develop and establish the structure of the 20-item Signs of Struggle (SOS) checklist as comprising five factors that describe the warning signs of health impairment at work (i.e. distress, withdrawal, reduced attendance, degradations in performance, extreme behaviours). In study 2, we show that manager-rated signs of struggle correlated substantially (r?=?.72) with participant-reported strain. The SOS tool provides managers a way to recognise when employees may be struggling and could benefit from workplace resources. We recommend that for maximal benefit, managers also receive training on how to use the SOS, and also on how to approach and assist employees who are displaying warning signs.     

管理者可信行为对员工激励作用的实验研究

管理者可信行为作为管理者的一种意志行为,能够建立和增强员工对管理者的信任,激励员工提高其努力水平,进而提高个人绩效和组织绩效.运用实验经济学方法,通过设计事前激励契约和惩罚契约两种薪酬契约分别反映管理者实施可信行为和实施不可信行为的实验环境,研究检验管理者可信行为对具有不同互惠倾向的员工的激励作用和效率.实验结果表明,管理者实施可信行为能得到比不实施可信行为更高的员工努力水平和收益.在管理者实施可信行为的情况下,具有较高正互惠倾向的员工将付出比具有较低正互惠倾向的员工更高的努力水平;在管理者实施不可信行为的情况下,具有较高负互惠倾向的员工将付出比具有较低负互惠倾向的员工更低的努力水平.     

A cross-cultural investigation of the shared values relationship

Data from managers in Australia (N=505) and Hong Kong (N=653) support the findings of studies using American managers and their companies that shared values, or person-organization values fit, is strongly related to positive work attitudes. This relationship is unaffected by culture, as two-way analysis of variance reveals no interaction effect between shared values and country. Managerial implications are discussed.     

Traditional Managerial Activities and Interscholastic Athletic Directors: Examining the Differences,Similarities, and Connections between Engagement,Gender, and Success of High School Sports Administrators

The business realities of operating an interscholastic athletic program suggest that there is a rise in the behavioral similarities among traditional business managers and sport managers. This study explored how interscholastic athletic directors allocated their time when engaged in managerial activities; determined if gender influenced behavior; and to what extent the level of engagement in those activities influenced success. The findings indicated most of their time was spent on traditional management activities and the least time engaged in networking. Gender differences did not exist, however, the time spent on traditional management activities was positively correlated to success.     

Licensed house manager skills/competences and the management development process in Bass Taverns

The aim of this paper is to explore the nature of critical licensed house management skills within Bass Taverns. In particular, it focuses on the extent to which these are viewed as being concerned with 'soft' (behavioural) or 'hard' (technical) aspects of management. The focus of the research is on the 'shared understanding' of the importance of licensed house managerial skills. It is concerned with the identification of coherence and tensions in the criticality of certain managerial skills as perceived by the company's senior and licensed house managers. It presents the findings of surveys conducted at both senior and licensed house manager levels within the company to establish the extent to which interhierarchical consistency exists in the areas of critical skills/competences and whether these are seen as being specific to the organization or considered as generic. The research reports a general harmony regarding the nature of the skills required by licensed house managers and evidence of a focus on people-oriented skills, which are seen as being particularly important for achieving business success. Licensed house managers rated the critical skills as 'generic' rather than 'specific' to the taverns context, drawing attention to the need for the organization to address the manner in which these skills are developed.     

Strategy implementation: A review and an introductory framework

Effective strategy implementation is a critical component of organizational success and a potential source of competitive advantage. However, despite many calls for increased attention, research on the subject remains a disparate constellation of recommendations, case studies, and empirical work that provides insight but lacks a cohesive framework. As a result, strategy research most often treats implementation as a black box and overlooks sources of performance heterogeneity derived from differences in strategy implementation effectiveness. To improve our understanding of the strategy implementation process, and to promote its inclusion in strategy research, the authors systematically review and synthesize findings in the extant strategy implementation literature to abductively derive an integrative framework comprised of three components: (1) actions through which managers influence the implementation process, (2) conditions necessary for strategy implementation effectiveness, and (3) the underlying dynamic managerial capabilities to create the best possible combination of conditions by enacting the most appropriate managerial actions. By explaining the relationships among these three components, we provide an introductory foundational framework on which to build future knowledge about this important field of inquiry.     

On the folly of principal's power: Managerial psychology as a cause of bad incentives

Faulty and dysfunctional incentive systems have long interested, and frustrated, managers and organizational scholars alike. In this analysis, we pick up where Kerr (1975) left off and advance an explanation for why bad incentive systems are so prevalent in organizations. We propose that one contributing factor lies in the psychology of people who occupy managerial roles. Although designing effective incentive systems is a challenge wrought with perils for anyone, we believe the psychological consequences and correlates of higher rank within organizations make the challenge more severe for managers. Patterns of promotion and hiring typically yield managers that are more competent than their employees, and ascending to management positions increases individuals’ workload and power. In turn, these factors make managers more egocentrically anchored and cognitively abstract, while also reducing their available cognitive capacity for any given task, all of which we argue limits their ability to design effective incentives for employees. Thus, ironically, those with the power to design incentives may be those least able to effectively do so. We discuss four specific types of bad incentive systems that can arise from these psychological tendencies in managers: those that over-emphasize compensation, generate weak motivation, offer perverse motivation, or are misaligned with organizational culture.

“There is no doubt that in our society the superior/subordinate relationship—the hierarchy itself—is crucial in terms of motivation.” (Lawler, 1973, p. 7)

     

Managing flexible work arrangements: Teleworking and output controls

Flexible work arrangements present managers with challenges regarding how to manage employees using these arrangements. To date, little research has investigated how managers address these challenges. We investigate the relationship between the use of a specific implementation of flexible work (teleworking) and control system design, specifically the emphasis on output controls. Teleworking reduces the feasibility of monitoring employee behaviour as a control mechanism. Control theory suggests that this might be compensated by placing more emphasis on output controls. We conduct a survey (N?=?897) among employees of a financial services institution, of whom 69% is allowed to telework. We find that among teleworking employees, the share of teleworking hours is positively related to the emphasis on output controls. However, employees who are allowed to telework report less emphasis on output controls by their manager relative to those not allowed to telework. We pose various directions for future research, which may help in explaining these findings.     

Corporate Ideology – Meanings and Contradictions for Middle Managers

This paper describes an investigation into corporate ideology and control and the responses of the ‘middle managers’ in a large engineering corporation. The paper explores the creation of meaning and values in the organization through a large‐scale ‘corporate values’ programme aimed at 1500 middle managers, and asks to what extent the priorities of these managers match those of the organization, and whether the creation of meaning through an ideological values programme carries risks that have not been considered by the organization adopting this approach. The findings suggest six individual response types amongst the delegates on the programme: ‘evangelists’, ‘actors’, ‘sceptics’, ‘open cynics’, ‘critical thinkers’ and ‘untouched professionals’. The influences upon these responses are considered, and a number of key factors identified as important in affecting perceptions of and response to the programme. The paper concludes that today more than ever, corporate ideologies are becoming an increasingly dominant influence on our organizations, causing mixed and confused responses amongst the middle managers who are required to disseminate these messages.     

The dependence upon context of project critical success factors: test of the contingency hypothesis and effects of technological uncertainty and collectivism culture

Abstract

Although the relationship between critical success factors (CSFs) and project performance is established, evidence regarding the dependence on the context of CSFs is patchy. To advance this field, we conduct two complementary studies. Study 1 examines contingency theory regarding managerial CSFs using survey responses (N?=?211) of project management professionals from the United Kingdom. Using survey data from projects (N?=?336) in the United Kingdom, Study 2 examines the contextual dependence of managerial CSFs in a moderated-moderation, theoretical framework whereby project technological uncertainty moderates the relationship between managerial CSFs and project execution and efficiency, and in-group collectivism culture of the executing organisation moderates the effect of technological uncertainty. Results confirm that external and internal contexts influence managerial CSFs. Managerial CSFs have a greater than expected influence on project execution and efficiency. The positive effect of managerial CSFs is weaker when technological uncertainty is high. When technological uncertainty is high, the effect of managerial CSFs strengthens as levels of in-group collectivism culture increase. However, when technological uncertainty is low, the effect of managerial CSFs weakens as levels of in-group collectivism culture increase. We discuss the managerial and theoretical implications.     

An examination of associations among manager-boss gender,self-awareness,and managerial derailment

Using the data of managers in the United States (N = 42,792), United Kingdom (N = 3,797), and China (N = 1,893), we examined the associations among manager-boss gender combinations, self-awareness and the managerial derailment potential. First, the study demonstrated an association between manager-boss gender combinations and managerial self-awareness, even though the specific gender joint effects were not consistent among the three countries. Second, both self-awareness and manager-boss gender combinations contributed to explaining additional variance of managerial derailment potential. Consistently across three countries, overestimators were more likely to derail than the managers who were in touch with their bosses. In terms of gender effects, compared to male managers, female managers with male bosses were more likely to derail. These results imply that, to achieve high levels of self-awareness and provide accurate prediction of managerial derailment potential, organizational scholars and practitioners must consider both the gender of both managers and their bosses.     

Disentangling the effects of organizational controls on innovation

The strategy and innovation literatures argue that organizational competitiveness is contingent upon firms simultaneously pursuing both process and product innovations. A firm’s control system plays a fundamental role in this regard by managing, motivating, and coordinating employees’ behaviors for the development of its innovative capabilities. Research suggests that in order to develop successful innovation, management must use controls that align employees’ interests with those of the organization while simultaneously allowing employee autonomy to encourage creativity. These disparate functions lead to the control–autonomy dilemma. We argue that managers can address this dilemma by recognizing that the effect of controls on innovation outcomes depends, in part, on the controls’ enabling features and the type of commitment they inspire. Our findings show that employee development, which is the focus of input controls, has a direct effect on process innovation-related behaviors while specified goals, the emphasis of output controls, have a direct effect on product innovation-related behaviors. It is only through employees’ perceptions of managerial support that input controls increase product innovation-related behaviors and output controls increase process innovation-related behaviors.     

Perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness within a Moroccan Higher Education Institution

The purpose of this research was to determine what behaviourally distinguishes effective and ineffective managers within a Moroccan Higher Education Institution (HEI). The critical incident technique (CIT) was the methodology deployed to collect data from participants in terms of how they perceive managers as either effective or ineffective. The collected data (CIs) were subjected to content and thematic analysis that resulted in derived positive and negative behavioural statements (BSs). A total of 42 participants/informants were interviewed and revealed a total of 418 CIs, of which 189 were positive CIs and 229 were negative. The analysis revealed a total of 49 BSs, of which 19 were positive and 30 were negative behavioural indicators. The findings of this investigation bring empirical evidence to understand what and how managers are perceived as effective or ineffective in the Moroccan academic context and, therefore, adds to the literature. The information obtained can also provide rich information/knowledge that can be used as a basis to address the behavioural developmental needs of managers in HEIs. This research adds value by following by following two previous replication studies in a French and a Hungarian HEI; moreover, this study is the first to be conducted in the Moroccan/North African region.     

Can job insecurity be managed? Evaluating an organizational-level intervention addressing the negative effects of restructuring

Although downsizing and reorganisation are recognised as serious threats to the psychological well-being of employees, intervention strategies for addressing these events are limited. This study evaluated the effects of a participatory organisational-level intervention in which employees and managers chose to address the psychosocial consequences, specifically job insecurity, of restructuring. The intervention was conducted among postal service letter carriers in Denmark and was evaluated based on quantitative and qualitative data. Using interviews (N?=?24) and observations, the programme theory of the intervention and to what extent the intervention had been implemented were assessed. Using survey data (N?=?238), repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted to test for differences in the development of job insecurity between the intervention group and a comparison group. The results indicate that the intervention group had a significantly smaller increase in one dimension of job insecurity as compared to the comparison group. Therefore, we conclude that employees’ experiencing of job insecurity, which typically follows in the wake of restructuring, can be addressed by planned efforts at the workplace level.     

Some Implications for Management Development of Research into Managers' Moral Dilemmas

In this paper, we present two cases of moral dilemmas as told by the managers who had faced them. We analyse the cases, drawing on frameworks developed by Toffler (1986), Kohlberg (1981) and Maclagan (1990). We also comment on the broader findings of the research from which the cases were taken. These analyses and findings and those of other researchers (e.g. Waters et al., 1986) suggest a number of requisite ‘moral attributes’ for managers and have, we argue, significant implications for the curriculum for ethical education and development for managers and intending managers. One is that case material needs to reflect more strongly the actual experiences of practising managers; another is that there is scope for wider use of experiential methods on management ethics courses. We conclude with a call for a multifaceted approach to ethical education as a lifespan process entailing the development of personal and interpersonal skills and qualities, and self-knowledge as well as cognitive skills. While we acknowledge that ethical education needs to take account of learners' differing levels of prior experience, stages of moral development and levels of learning maturity, our over-riding concern is that learners are prepared for and helped to live through the very ‘real’ dilemmas that they are likely to experience in managerial work.