An Analysis of the Production Line versus the Case Manager Approach to Information Intensive Services*

The production line approach has been beneficially used in manufacturing companies to yield consistent-quality standard products at relatively low cost. For this reason, service firms have also employed this approach, which embodies a division of labor, sequential flow processes, and standardization of services. Today's customers, however, are demanding customized services and shorter cycle times—outcomes that the production line approach finds difficult to achieve. An alternative process design proposed for information intensive services is the emerging “case manager” approach, in which all the steps required to deliver a service are performed by a single information technology-enabled individual. This paper uses queuing theory to compare the waiting time performance of the production line and the case manager approaches. This comparison shows that when the number of process steps under the production line approach is relatively large, the relative efficiency of the case manager is sufficiently high, system utilization rate is moderate, and the size of staff downsizing is small, the case manager approach is preferred. Critical issues for the design of enabling information technology are then discussed. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research on the case manager approach.     

INCENTIVES,UNCERTAINTY, AND RISK IN THE NEWSBOY PROBLEM

This study explores the motivational consequences of an incentive device based on standard setting. It is shown that standard setting induces a wealth-seeking manager to undertake decisions that, in the manager's judgment, will improve the position of the owner relative to implementing the standard. Conditions under which it is rational for the owner to allow the manager to choose and implement decisions are discussed. Finally, consideration is given to an alternative incentive mechanism in which the manager's decisions are manipulated through variation of the incentive mechanism.     

Expert system for production manager recruitment

Abstract

Production manager recruitment poses a three-fold problem: finding a broad-knowtedged recruiter; obtaining an objective evaluation of the candidate; and the ever present risk of accepting unqualified candidates and rejecting qualified candidates A prototype expert system (ES) was developed for the purpose of testing the technical potential for computer assisted recruiting. The ES embodied a three-fold strategy: probing the candidate's past; asking questions from a business case study; and from several human-behaviour, video-taped episodes. The candidate's responses are graded, rated for competency (excellent, good, fair, poor), and weighted. A hiring action is recommended based on the composite weight. The prototype effectively demonstrated thit potential for expert system-conducted recruiting.     

An Application of Expectancy Theory to Explain a Manager's Intention to Use a Decision Support System

A continuing gap exists between the capabilities of sophisticated computer-based information systems and the extent to which these systems are used by individuals. Studies which have examined the relationship between system utilization and various user, system, implementation, and organizational variables have provided few consistent findings. A new approach to this topic is suggested by a recent study by Davis, Bagozzi, and Warshaw [11], which indicates that individuals' intentions to use a system determine subsequent use. A large body of psychology-based research also supports this relationship between behavioral intentions and subsequent behavior. This study employs expectancy theory, which has often been used to examine behavioral intentions, to explain managers' intentions to use a decision support system (DSS). The results imply that the variables of the expectancy force model are determinants of a manager's behavioral intentions to use a DSS, and the variables of the expectancy valence model are determinants of the attractiveness of using a DSS to a manager.     

Biografische Perspektiven in der Supervision als Ressource im Umgang mit Diversität

This contribution focuses on the interrelation of biography and diversity in the context of supervisory processes. It is highlighted how the biography of the supervisee can be used as an important resource when dealing with diversity issues. The contribution gives a short overview of the current status of the theoretical discourse in this field. Next, an example case from supervision is used to outline how the reflection of the own biographical context provides new views and perspectives for the supervisee. Theoretical as well as practical impact and perspectives on the supervisory process are outlined.     

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT,USER INVOLVEMENT,AND THE USEFULNESS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS*

This study investigates organizational factors related to user involvement in information system development and perceived system usefulness. Using a sample of 118 usermanagers in 34 companies, the results show that user involvement in design and implementation is related positively to users' perceptions of system usefulness. However, organizational factors were not found to be related significantly to user involvement, as had been originally hypothesized. Rather, organizational factors either had a direct relationship with perceived usefulness or moderated the relationship between involvement and usefulness. Two factors reflecting an MIS department's maturity (size and age) were found to reduce users' perceptions of system usefulness. Also, users at higher levels and those making more structured decisions found their systems more useful, although the user's level was found to moderate perceptions of system usefulness during the design stage. Three other organizational factors (level of MIS manager, MIS department scope, and decentralization of authority) also were found to have moderating effects.     

Sales Force and Competition in Financial Product Markets: The Case of Mexico's Social Security Privatization

This paper examines how sales force impacts competition and equilibrium prices in the context of a privatized pension market. We use detailed administrative data on fund manager choices and worker characteristics at the inception of Mexico's privatized social security system, where fund managers had to set prices (management fees) at the national level, but could select sales force levels by local geographic areas. We develop and estimate a model of fund manager choice where sales force can increase or decrease customer price sensitivity. We find exposure to sales force lowered price sensitivity, leading to inelastic demand and high equilibrium fees. We simulate oft proposed policy solutions: a supply‐side policy with a competitive government player and a demand‐side policy that increases price elasticity. We find that demand‐side policies are necessary to foster competition in social safety net markets with large segments of inelastic consumers.     

Acquisition and Disclosure of Operational Information*

We study a firm's strategy for acquisition and disclosure of operational information by establishing linkages among information quality, managerial self‐interest, and production planning. We develop a multistage model in which a manager of a publicly traded firm first receives private information about the product demand and then uses it to make production and disclosure decisions. We consider two prevalent disclosure models employed in the accounting literature: all‐or‐nothing and cheap‐talk models. In the all‐or‐nothing model, it is assumed that any disclosure must be truthful, but the manager can strategically withhold information. We show that the manager commits to acquire the value‐added operational information if (i) the managerial self‐interest in the interim share price is low or (ii) the managerial self‐interest in the interim share price is high, but the fixed disclosure cost is either sufficiently low or sufficiently high. We demonstrate that the firm is better off if the production level is observable to the financial market because multidimensional signaling reduces costs. In the cheap‐talk model, we assume that the manager's disclosure may not be truthful. We show that the manager's incentive to acquire value‐added operational information increases along with the penalty cost for misleading investors. Therefore, a high penalty cost for misleading investors can encourage the manager to obtain more precise information, which in turn improves the firm's cash flow.     

Equilibrium Joining Strategies and Optimal Control of a Make‐to‐Stock Queue

We consider a make‐to‐stock, finite‐capacity production system with setup cost and delay‐sensitive customers. To balance the setup and inventory related costs, the production manager adopts a two‐critical‐number control policy, where the production starts when the number of waiting customers reaches a certain level and shuts down when a certain quantity of inventory has accumulated. Once the production is set up, the unit production time follows an exponential distribution. Potential customers arrive according to a Poisson process. Customers are strategic, i.e., they make decisions on whether to stay for the product or to leave without purchase based on their utility values, which depend on the production manager's control decisions. We formulate the problem as a Stackelberg game between the production manager and the customers, where the former is the game leader. We first derive the equilibrium customer purchasing strategy and system performance. We then formulate the expected cost rate function for the production system and present a search algorithm for obtaining the optimal values of the two control variables. We further analyze the characteristics of the optimal solution numerically and compare them with the situation where the customers are non‐strategic.     

MANAGERIAL HEDGING AND PORTFOLIO MONITORING

Incentive compensation induces correlation between the portfolio of managers and the cash flow of the firms they manage. This correlation exposes managers to risk and hence gives them an incentive to hedge against the poor performance of their firms. We study the agency problem between shareholders and a manager when the manager can hedge his compensation using financial markets and shareholders can monitor the manager's portfolio in order to keep him from hedging, but monitoring is costly. We find that the optimal incentive compensation and governance provisions have the following properties: (i) the manager's portfolio is monitored only when the firm performs poorly, (ii) the manager's compensation is more sensitive to firm performance when the cost of monitoring is higher or when hedging markets are more developed, and (iii) conditional on the firm's performance, the manager's compensation is lower when his portfolio is monitored, even if no hedging is revealed by monitoring. Moreover, the model suggests that the optimal level of portfolio monitoring is higher for managers of firms whose performance canbehedged more easily, such as larger firms and firms in more developed financial markets. (JEL: G30, D82)     

Economic Evaluation of Scale Dependent Technology Investments

We study the effect of financial risk on the economic evaluation of a project with capacity decisions. Capacity decisions have an important effect on the project̂s value through the up‐front investment, the associated operating cost, and constraints on output. However, increased scale also affects the financial risk of the project through its effect on the operating leverage of the investment. Although it has long been recognized in the finance literature that operating leverage affects project risk, this result has not been incorporated in the operations management literature when evaluating projects. We study the decision problem of a firm that must choose project scale. Future cash flow uncertainty is introduced by uncertain future market prices. The firm's capacity decision affects the firm's potential sales, its expected price for output, and its costs. We study the firm's profit maximizing scale decision using the CAPM model for risk adjustment. Our results include that project risk, as measured by the required rate of return, is related to the inverse of the expected profit per unit sold. We also show that project risk is related to the scale choice. In contrast, in traditional discounted cash flow analysis (DCF), a fixed prescribed rate is used to evaluate the project and choose its scale. When a fixed rate is used with DCF, a manager will ignore the effect of scale on risk and choose suboptimal capacity that reduces project value. S/he will also misestimate project value. Use of DCF for choosing scale is studied for two special cases. It is shown that if the manager is directed to use a prescribed discount rate that induces the optimal scale decision, then the manager will greatly undervalue the project. In contrast, if the discount rate is set to the risk of the optimally‐scaled project, the manager will undersize the project by a small amount, and slightly undervalue the project with the economic impact of the error being small. These results underline the importance of understanding the source of financial risk in projects where risk is endogenous to the project design.     

Alternative Mechanisms Guiding Salespersons’ Ambidextrous Product Selling

Ambidextrous product‐selling strategies, in which companies’ salespeople concurrently pursue the sale of existing and new products, are hard to implement. Previous studies have addressed this issue for relatively simple consumer settings with the manager in close proximity to the salespersons and focusing on different levels of control and autonomy to resolve this issue. However, little is known about how field salespeople can be influenced to pursue such dual goals proactively for more complex business‐to‐business products. In this study, the authors distinguish between salespeople's proactive selling behaviour for new and existing products, and study the impact of two alternative mechanisms: a situational mechanism (i.e. perceived manager product‐selling ambidexterity) and a structural mechanism (i.e. salesperson organizational identification). Using a time‐lagged, multisource data set from a large ambidextrous company, the authors demonstrate that both mechanisms contribute to salespeople's proactive selling of new and existing products, but also act as each other's substitutes. The results suggest two most likely strategies for salespeople to obtain overall sales targets: focusing on existing product selling; or acting ambidextrously. The latter approach offers the benefits of better achieving ambidextrous company sales goals and of greater performance stability, and is thus preferred.     

The Effects of Graphic Feedback,Goal Setting,and Manager Praise on Customer Service Behaviors

Abstract

The current study used a multiple baseline design to investigate the effects of graphic feedback, goal setting, and manager praise on customer service behaviors in a large retail setting. Direct observation of customer greeting, eye contact, and smiling was used to collect data. After baseline data were collected feedback graphs were posted twice each week in the employee break room. A second intervention phase included goal setting and manager praise. Goals were developed based on employees' prior performance and were posted on the graphs. Managers then delivered immediate, verbal praise to employees. Graphic feedback produced slight increases in the customer interaction variables in the front of stores 1 and 2. Another small increase in performance was seen in the back of store 1 and the front and back of store 2 with the implementation of the interventions.     

Packaging for success: a practical approach to complex international projects1

Frequently international power projects are dependent on the availability and sources of financing. Different contracting approaches are used (e.g., turnkey, island, and multipackage) to implement these projects, depending on prevailing circumstances and Owner's goals. This paper addresses selection considerations for the various project approaches, as well as their characteristics. A recommended multipackage approach to international power projects is presented, based on the authors' experience on a recently completed, highly successful international power project. The recommended approach uses an experienced and capable architect engineer/project manager (AE/PM) integrated with the Owner's organization.     

The Development Manager's Advisory System: A Knowledge-Based DSS Tool for Project Assessment*

This research investigates whether the knowledge-based decision support system (KBDSS) paradigm provides the necessary supporting structure and developmental framework for product development evaluation. To address the research questions posed in this study, it is necessary to develop and implement KBDSS's at specific decision points along the product development cycle. This paper describes the design, development, and implementation of a KBDSS to support a product development manager's decision concerning full-scale development of a new product. From the systems design perspective, this paper addresses the integration and innovative use of a variety of techniques for knowledge acquisition, modeling, and processing. The approach utilized obtains the benefits of normative modeling as well as the flexibility and developmental advantages of knowledge-based systems. Since its implementation, the system has been successfully used by a development manager to support his recommendation for an ongoing project. His complete satisfaction with this system served as the impetus for the design and development of a multi-expert system which was implemented at the strategic level.     

Supply chain management: a supplier perspective

A new way of researching into supply chain management is introduced by adopting a supplier perspective. Details are given of mixed integer linear planning and simulation models. The planning model takes into consideration firm and forecast orders (customer's forecast purchasing orders) and the behaviour of the supplier's suppliers and suppliers' subcontractors. The simulation model takes into account the dynamic behaviour of the supply chain and includes the planning production behaviour of a supplying company based on the planning model. The supplier manager can use the simulation model to determine what kind of parameters most affect company performances and then propose new management rules. Quantitative results that prove the benefits of integrating forecast orders for an aeronautic supplier have been provided.     

Consequences of expatriate top manager replacement on foreign subsidiary performance

Integrating expatriate staffing and leadership succession literature, this study investigates the influence of expatriate top manager replacement on foreign subsidiary performance and the moderating effects of subsidiary context. Building on a refined understanding of agency theory and evidence from 2113 firm-year observations, including 260 expatriate successions, this study shows that when expatriates are replaced, regardless by whom (either host-country national or expatriate manager), the performance of the subsidiaries declines, suggesting that the departure of expatriate top managers often see subsidiaries being left in a less than favorable condition. If the subsidiary's prior performance has been unsatisfactory, the newly appointed expatriate might not be able to prevent further deterioration of its performance. Replacing expatriates with host-country national managers can help improve subsidiary performance, but this usually happens in older, more established subsidiaries. These findings framed in a refined agency theory provide us a more in-depth understanding of expatriate staffing failure.     

基金持股的创新偏好与基金业绩研究

作为经济增长的重要推动力,企业创新持续吸引了政府、学者与媒体的关注.尽管研究表明创新会提升企业长期业绩,然而,在基金绩效评估中,针对基金经理对创新企业的偏好及其经济后果的研究依然较少.本文利用我国开放式基金的投资组合数据,考察基金偏好投资于创新型公司是否能提升基金业绩,并进一步基于基金特征与基金经理交易能力,深入探讨前述发现的横截面差异.研究发现:偏好投资于创新型公司的基金在长期能够创造更高的超额收益;基金的行业偏好、团队基金经理以及投资组合集中程度对基金投资于创新型公司存在正面影响.本文的结论对于投资者、基金公司以及监管部门在投资实践中如何评估创新型公司的影响提供了明确的政策借鉴.     

Transformational–transactional leadership and upward influence: The role of Relative Leader–Member Exchanges (RLMX) and Perceived Organizational Support (POS)

By utilizing the resource theory of social exchange (Foa & Foa, 1974), we attempted to cast light on the dynamics of the relationship between transformational–transactional leadership and employees' upward influence tactics. Using data collected in two time points (N = 200, 1 year apart), we found perceptions of transformational leadership (Time 1) to be positively related to the use of soft and rational upward influence tactics (Time 2) whereas transactional leadership (Time 1) was positively related to the use of soft and hard upward influence tactics (Time 2). We also found support for a 3-way interaction between transformational–transactional leadership, relative Leader Member Exchanges (RLMX) and Perceived Organizational Support (POS) on employees' upward influence tactics. Specifically, in resource-constrained conditions (low RLMX and low POS), employees were likely to use soft tactics to influence a manager they perceived as transformational to a greater extent than in resource-munificent conditions. They were also likely to employ higher levels of soft and hard tactics to influence a transactional manager in resource-constrained rather than in resource-munificent conditions.     

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.