Coaching im Mittelstand – Wer ist der Mittelstand?

Medium-Sized companies usually have a specific organizational structure and corporate culture. This has implications for Human Resource Management, which is less systematized in medium-sized companies in comparison to larger organizations. What does ?medium-sized business“ mean and who is meant with that? Which typical values form its culture? What are the specific conditions for coaching in medium-sized businesses? Does a coach need special qualifications for this sector? This paper attempts to answer these questions and stays close to the everyday business of medium-sized companies. Concrete Examples will explain specific topics and coaching solutions for medium-sized businesses.     

Quality control practices in Saudi Arabia: Survey result

Quality improvement is essential in gaining a competitive edge in today's market. This paper is an assessment of quality awareness in the manufacturing sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A survey is conducted in the Eastern Province, a centre of the petrochemical industry and other types of industries in the Kingdom. The survey includes 87 companies. The use of statistical process control tools and the adoption of modern quality control concepts, such as quality circles and total quality management, are investigated. Results show an encouraging trend of adopting modern quality control technology specially among large companies. This technology is transferred mainly through joint ventures with foreign companies.     

复杂快变环境下的整体性应变工具:和谐主题

和谐主题是和谐管理理论中用于应对现代组织管理复杂性、整体性及快速应变需求的核心概念之一。围绕复杂快变环境下组织如何进行整体性快速应变这一管理难题,对现有和谐主题相关研究进行了拓展。具体而言,首先对和谐主题的本质属性进行了深入分析,得出和谐主题在本质上体现为组织领导者对不确定情境的"意义"主张的研究结论。在此基础上,通过与其他组织要素的比较,系统阐释了和谐主题的功能特征,提出和谐主题是复杂快变环境下组织进行整体性快速应变的一种有效工具。最后,以知识理论为基础对和谐主题的辨识与表征过程进行了考察,从而从知识学视角揭示了这2个过程的内在机理。一方面从理论上丰富了战略管理领域的相关研究,另一方面也为新经济环境下的组织管理实践提供了参考与借鉴。     

Logistics systems engineering— solving the distribution planning problem

A growing familiarity by corporate planners and policy markers with the concept of integrated logistics management is becoming apparent on both sides of the Atlantic. With this conceptual familiarity however come the practical problems of implementation and many companies, whilst welcoming the benefits that this new approach can bring, are hesitant to introduce the radical changes to existing company structures that the concept demands. The focus of concern in this paper is with just how this concept may successfully be implemented within the modern corporation and what the systems engineering problems are likely to be.     

Chemicals,companies, and countries: The concept of diffusion in management research

In the field of organizational behavior, the term “diffusion” has come to be implicitly paired with the concept of innovation and a peculiar set of conceptual choices. We explore how this came about, and examine the evolution of the concept “diffusion” from its inception in the English language through its use in the natural and social sciences to its current meaning in organizational research. A sensemaking perspective on researchers’ cognition helps us explain the changing meaning of the concept, and alerts researchers to the subtle but far-reaching effects of revisions in a field's conceptual language. Even though the field of organizational studies ostensibly treats diffusion as a neutral phenomenon, it implicitly narrates diffusion as a mechanical and positive process that should be welcomed and encouraged. The implications of this reframing become even more important with the increasing focus on innovation in recent diffusion studies. The diffusion of new products among consumers and the diffusion of market institutions around the world are things of a rather different nature and consequence, but treating them as implicitly equivalent “innovations” that “diffuse” naturalizes and hence legitimates them. We conclude by noting implications of our findings for exploring the evolution of meaning for other concepts, and their utilization in research on organizations.     

传统管理学批判

构成一个组织的基本要素应该是管理学的重要内容,但许多教科书并没有这样来说明。因此,管理学应该从组织的要素和对组织的分类开始。现有的管理学大多是针对已经存在的组织而言的。管理学不应仅仅涉及对现存组织的管理,还要考虑组织的产生、消亡及其法人性。现代企业管理的实践对管理科学最大的功绩之一在于提出了“治理”的概念。治理是“依法管理”的表现形式,是管理的前提和广义的管理。在最早的管理学中并没有把激励当成管理的一项职能。激励是经济的办法而不是管理的办法。激励是用经济手段来管理,管理在激励中消失自我并得以升华。管理的目的是为了经营,不可以离开经营来谈管理或把经营排斥在管理之外。广义的管理包含经营,广义的经营包含管理,没有经营就没有管理。     

Firm-level correlates of emergent green supply chain management practices in the Chinese context

Greening the supply chain is increasingly a concern for many business enterprises and a challenge for logistics management in the 21st century. Of particular concern is how to arouse organizational environmental awareness and put environmental activities into practice in the logistics activities of their supply chains. This paper investigates the correlation of two major factors, organizational learning and management support, with the extent of adoption of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices in Chinese manufacturing firms, where their inbound and outbound logistics activities are potential polluters to the environment. Organizational and operational learning was derived from the firm's experience with programs such as total quality management and environmental management systems. Management support included support for GSCM ideas and practices from top and middle-level management and cooperation across organizational functions. We find significant positive relationships between organizational learning mechanisms, organizational support and the adoption of GSCM practices, after controlling for a number of other influences including regulations, marketing, supplier, cost pressures, industry levels of the relevant practice and organizational size. Implications of our findings on logistics management are discussed.     

Internalities and Their Applicability for Organizational Practices

The economic concept of externalities was introduced to the field of behavior analysis (BA) by Biglan (2009). Since then, practitioners of BA have been able to apply this economic concept to behavior analytic theory, and create strategies to improve organizational practices. A similar economic concept to the externality is the internality, a cost imposed on an individual that is not taken into account when the person consumes the good or service. This paper will introduce the concept of internalities and discuss how it can be integrated into existing behavior analytic literature. Practices that produce “organizational internalities” will be analyzed using meta and macrocontingencies, with a discussion on how positive internalities can be promoted by an organization’s leadership. It will conclude with a discussion on how strategies regarding Organizational Behavior Management and Behavioral Systems Analysis can use the concept of organizational internalities to mitigate the negative outcomes of internalities, while simultaneously promoting positive outcomes of internalities.     

Determinants of intranet diffusion and infusion

Commercial interest in Internet technology has grown tremendously in the last decade. Until now, little research has been devoted to examining the internal deployment of Internet technology. The present study focuses on the implementation process of intranets by examining factors associated with its diffusion and infusion in organizations. Findings suggest that earliness of adoption, top management support, and organizational size are positively associated with intranet diffusion. Intranet infusion is positively associated with earliness of adoption, top management support, and IT infrastructure flexibility, and these effects are mediated by intranet diffusion. Implications for management and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

Strategic planning in small and medium-sized companies

In analysing the characteristics of strategic planning applications in different types and sizes of companies, confusion often arises not because of the application but because of the definitions utilized. This paper analyses the use of strategic planning concepts in small and medium-sized companies in Holland. As the author points out, in this context the definition of small and medium-sized is determined by five strategically relevant criteria which are distinctive. The author points out, however, that whilst these criteria are distinctive of the category of small and medium-sized companies surveyed, they do not all have to occur at the same time; the higher the number that do occur, the more typical the company. Whilst this paper does not, as the author admits, represent the result of a systematic survey, the authors wide experience as a consultant is in itself a valuable background to his analysis. Indeed, the findings stated in this paper represent an analysis of the strategic planning practises of some 75–100 companies. Therefore, in view of the detailed criteria utilized and the number of companies analysed the results represent an important addition to our knowledge of the application of strategic planning.     

Social capital or strong culture?

Organization scientists have recently introduced the concept of social capital to explain how the fabric of social connections among organization members leads to superior organizational performance. In this paper, I argue that the typical formulations of social capital sound remarkably similar to familiar conceptions of organizational culture, especially those features that indicate tightly coupled and deeply embedded social relations. I identify the common strands in the concepts of social capital and organizational culture. I propose that, without further efforts of conceptual clarification and empirical verification, the wholesale adoption by human resource development practitioners of the most popular features of the social capital concept is risky and likely to lead to disillusionment.     

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。     

制度环境视野下的中国战略管理研究途径

目前,战略管理研究的一种误区在于,认为战略管理理论的重心是对组织能力来源的探讨。有鉴于此,通过导入新制度主义的制度环境、合法性和组织同构化的理论,并就其理论性质及其对组织和管理学研究的理论贡献,以及战略管理的理论局限展开了讨论。最后,在讨论转型期的制度环境及其组织同构化特性的基础上,提出了2个当前中国战略管理研究的重点。     

Swiftness and Intensity of Administrative Innovation Adoption: An Empirical Study of TQM in Information Systems

Considerable attention has been directed toward developing a more complete understanding of innovation adoption by Information Systems (IS) departments. Much of this research has focused on the adoption of technological innovations, and limited research has focused on the adoption of administrative innovations. This paper focuses on an administrative innovation that is increasingly becoming popular among IS departments, namely Total Quality Management (TQM) in systems development. A synthesis of the IS innovation and TQM literatures was conducted to identify environmental, organizational, and task‐related factors that should relate to both the swiftness and the intensity of TQM adoption. The relationships between the identified variables and TQM adoption were examined using data collected from 123 IS departments in Fortune 1000 firms and large government agencies in the U.S. The results indicate that TQM adoption in systems development is influenced by the host organization's quality orientation and factors internal to the IS department including IS management support for quality, the presence of a separate quality assurance function, and the structural complexity of the IS department. Implications of this study for theory, future research, and practice are discussed.     

Can former Soviet Union top managers of large industries become successful leaders of privatized corporations?

Management training as a facilitative process in organizational change is a complicated undertaking even in the most innovative companies in the West. The Russian context adds problems of cultural and management unfamiliarity with the socio-business and the political environment within which Western management trainers operate. In the early 1990s 180 Russian senior managers from four large state corporations participated in a training-needs analysis, which was to estimate the level of knowledge of how market economy concepts work in the West. They were asked to 1) state their organization's training objectives, 2) indicate their understanding of the process, and 3) indicate the level of their personal ownership in carrying out the training objectives. The results showed that Russian top industrial management had no experience of top decisionmaking processes, and individually they felt disorientated by the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Their historical understanding of their professional roles and distrust of the present changes left them demotivated and without any constructive personal aspirations. By 1998, after a period of focusing solely on financial auditing training, large Russian companies began to be interested in management training and development programmes. These findings have some basic cultural implications for Western trainers working with Russian management.     

An Examination of the Relationship Between Absorptive Capacity and Organizational Learning,and a Proposed Integration

Since its inception, the concept of absorptive capacity has been closely linked with notions of organizational learning. Yet the precise nature of the relationship between these two concepts has never been established. This relationship is examined in a variety of ways, and it is suggested that the literature on these two concepts shares a conceptual affinity which needs to be delineated. It is suggested that absorptive capacity (a dynamic capability) is a concrete example of organizational learning that concerns an organization's relationship with new external knowledge. Using the 4I Model for organizational learning ( Crossan, M.M., Lane, H.W. and White, R.E. (1999 ). An organizational learning framework: from intuition to institution. Academy of Management Review, 24, 522–537) and Zahra and George's conceptualization of absorptive capacity ( Zahra, S.A. and George, G. (2002 ). Absorptive capacity: a review, reconceptualization, and extension. Academy of Management Review, 27, 185–203), this paper proposes an integration of the two concepts.     

The role of absorptive capacity and innovation strategy in the design of industry 4.0 business Models - A comparison between SMEs and large enterprises

Technological innovations often lead to redesigns in the business models of established companies, requiring them to incorporate new external knowledge into internal activities. Against this background, this study integrates the concepts of business model design, absorptive capacity, and innovation strategy into a novel research model, which analyzes the redesign of established business models in response to the emergence of Industry 4.0. Industry 4.0, also known as the Industrial Internet of Things, constitutes a contemporary research context that is highly relevant for corporate practice but scarcely regarded in management literature until now. The article contains an analysis of data from 221 German industrial enterprises, conducted through structural equation modeling, with separate data for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises. First, the results indicate that the acquisition, assimilation, transformation, and exploitation of knowledge from the environment enable companies to engage in both exploratory and exploitative innovation strategies. Furthermore, the paper includes an evaluation of the role of exploratory and exploitative innovation strategies that reflects in efficiency-centered and novelty-centered business model designs. The distinct characteristics differentiating SMEs from large enterprises are also explained. The implications of absorptive capacity on innovation strategies, which influence the redesign of extant business models, are discussed from a research and managerial perspective.     

A managerial and personal control model: predictions of work alienation and organizational commitment in Hungary

This article examines the influence of managerial and personal control upon work-related alienation and organizational commitment in the Eastern-European nation of Hungary. The research identifies the extent to which Western management theory and practices are relevant to transitional economic nations such as Hungary. We chose leadership and job characteristics as managerial control mechanisms and locus of control as a personal mechanism of control. These categories of control variables have well-established associations to attitudes and behaviors in the Western management literature, but limited evidence has been generated in Hungary. A survey among 395 Hungarian workers in five companies found that leadership, job characteristics, and individual locus of control explained work-related alienation but did not explain organizational commitment. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Value-based management as a tailor-made management practice? A literature review

Value-based management is largely discussed as fundamental tool to manage organizations successfully. However, it is often criticized for its alleged incentive to maximize short-term profits. Thus, it is the aim of this study to shed more light on the role of value-based management for organizational success and discuss which firms seemingly benefit from the adoption of value-based management systems. Since adoption rates vary among firms, the implementation and its effect on organizational performance may be a matter of systematic circumstances. In particular, the extent of agency conflicts and arrangements to alleviate those conflicts designate where value-based management potentially serves as an effective monitoring instrument. Additionally, a more reactive strategic orientation and low growth opportunities imply a need for more efficient capital management as one lever to increase organizational performance. These conditions are accompanied by managerial characteristics and industry pressure that determine the use of value-based management systems, and do not undermine its incentive for efficient capital management. Hence, value-based management seems to be tailor-made for these specific circumstances.     

Management revolution in the age of the new economy

In the age of the new economy a management has evolved, including management ideology, learning organization, team work, incentive of all the staff, cooperative competition, and strategic alliances. The concept of this new management did not appear all of a sudden. It evolved from the traditional, profound thought of management culture and the traditional Chinese management culture in particular. The principles of the new economy are in accord with ancient Eastern philosophy. Management culture in the East and that in the West have been gradually integrated with one another. The Eastern management culture has undergone a period of spreading to the West and returning to the East. Management scholars throughout the world have noted and paid attention to the traditional Chinese management culture, whose quintessence is human orientation, moral priority, and behavioral cultivation by self-discipline (or ren wei wei ren). It is not only a new way of thinking about modern management behavior but also a manifestation of the successful adoption of the philosophical thoughts of ancient China into the age of networks.