Changing Conceptions of Employee Compensation

Abstract

This paper reviews and discusses many differing forms of incentive compensation systems that are being used in today's organizations. The review traces the roots of bonus compensation from individual piece-work plans through the adoption of organization-wide gainsharing plans to the growing recognition of open-book management. Reasons for the shift in units of analysis from the individual employee to the work team or organization as a whole are discussed. Explanations are also given for why many companies are beginning to concentrate on outcomes rather than process measures as indicators of organizational success. Lastly, suggestions for enhancing the research agenda and bridging the gap between science and practice are provided for the scientists and practitioners of organizational behavior management.     

企业技术创新中知识价值实现影响因素的实证研究

本研究目的在于通过实证研究确定企业技术创新中知识价值实现的关键影响因素。通过文献回顾,本文提出了企业技术创新中知识价值实现的衡量标准,构建了知识价值实现影响因素模型,并提出了10条基本假设。作者对120家企业进行了问卷调查,并运用多元回归方法分析了有效数据,结果发现学习型文化、组织距离、群体激励、知识差距和信任水平是企业技术创新中知识价值实现的关键影响因素,其中学习型文化和组织距离对目标变量影响最为显著,最后,对研究结论做了解释。     

Decisions to Outsource Information Systems Functions: Testing a Strategy-Theoretic Discrepancy Model

In recent years, the decision to outsource information systems (IS) functions has become a viable strategic alternative in managing the increasingly complex IS functions. In this study, the IS outsourcing phenomenon is conceptualized as a strategic decision in the organization. Drawing on resource-based theories, resource dependence theories, and other theories of strategic management, a discrepancy model of this decision is developed. Relationships between a number of strategy-theoretic factors and the IS outsourcing decision are hypothesized. These factors include IS resource performance discrepancies manifested in the form of gaps in information quality, IS support quality, IS cost effectiveness and financial performance, as well as the strategic orientation of the firm. Results of the study indicate that, while cost consideration and the firm's financial performance are not associated with the IS outsourcing decision, difficulties in providing good information outputs and IS support services are associated with the decision. Overall, the findings suggest that the current trend toward outsourcing represents a continuing evolution of the IS function as it attempts to fulfill its traditional mission of providing high quality information resource to the firm. When the performance of the delivered resource begins to slip in the current environment of rising expectation and technological complexity, outsourcing may become a strategic response of necessity. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the results for practicing managers and suggestions for future research.     

论发掘和培养具有国际竞争力的高级管理人才

领导班子的管理水平高低对一个组织的生存和发展至关重要。而领导的核心即最高行政长官的表现与一个企业的命运直接相关。这一点已为众多的管理实践所证明。这也是为什么许多大的跨国公司和国际组织不惜重金从世界各地网罗顶尖管理人才。中国目前最缺乏的应该是具备国际竞争力的高级经理人才和高级专业管理人才。文章分析和论述这些人才产生的条件和特征,吸引和留住这些人才的环境和方法,以及培养这些人才的机制。文章最后对国内有关政策和措施进行一般评价,并提出一些政策性建议。     

战略决策过程中决策、决策团队与程序理性的实证研究

战略决策制定是企业高管团队的主要职责之一。本文基于管理决策、高管团队与组织行为学的相关理论,对企业战略决策过程的影响因素和影响机制进行探讨,深入分析了决策团队对战略决策过程中程序理性行为的影响,提出假设并进行了实证检验。研究发现,战略决策团队的工作经验、进取精神和沟通正向影响程序理性;战略决策的重大程度正向影响程序理性。同时发现,控制变量企业的业务多元化程度负向影响程序理性。     

Assessing the effectiveness of a performance evaluation system in the public health care sector: some novel evidence from the Tuscany region experience

Since 80’s the introduction of New Public Management principles has promoted the use of performance measurement to drive a more efficient, effective and accountable public sector. The adoption of a sophisticated and comprehensive multidimensional performance measurement system, which looks beyond traditional financial measures, based on organization strategies, such as the balanced scorecard, has thus been suggested. This revolution in the public management came together with the devolution processes that involved most European public health systems. Set within this context, in the last decade, each of the twenty Italian regions developed its own management tools. Among others, the Tuscan performance evaluation system (PES) has been valued as a particularly innovative and comprehensive system. This paper reports the novel experience of the Tuscan PES; in particular, it measures PES effectiveness and discusses the critical factors that could have led to the PES success. Five are the critical success factors identified by researchers: the visual reporting system, the linkage between PES and CEO’s reward system, the public disclosure of data, the high level of employees and managers involvement into the entire process and the strong political commitment. All those factors run together to achieve better results; however, the process of development of the system plays a pivotal role. Scholars suggest the use of a constructive approach in order to gain effective changes in human organization. According to this stream of literature, this paper contributes by the novel experience of the Tuscan PES in addressing as a further fruitful application of the constructivist approach in healthcare.     

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.     

European cultures and management styles

After the establishment of the Common Market in Europe, many companies from abroad opted for a single European headquarters and searched for European managers. That leads to the question whether one can really speak of a common European management style. The article at hand examines this issue. To do this, the legal framework and Corporate Governance background of individual European countries are assessed. Furthermore, cultural differences in Europe are considered. Referring to studies of cultural dimensions in European countries, the authors propose five different cultural areas in Europe. This leads to a concluding discussion of management styles in these regions.     

The determinants of top management pay

Agency theory argues that companies need to structure their top management pay so as to attract, retain, motivate, and reward senior executives. It is implicit in this literature that managers should be rewarded for performance and that company size should not be a significant determinant of compensation. Empirical evidence in many countries has concluded, however, that size is a major determinant of management remuneration and the pay-for-performance link is very weak. This study examines the determinants of senior executives’ remuneration and bonus payments in Hong Kong companies using recently available data. We examine both the level of pay and changes in pay. Corporate size is found to be a major explanator of remuneration levels and of changes in the pay of the CEO and executive directors. Accounting profitability is also a significant explanator of compensation. Performance, as measured by stock returns, has little or no statistically significant relationship with pay; in fact, some of the results show negative relationships. Some share ownership characteristics have influences on the levels of remuneration. In particular, share ownership by directors and share ownership by institutional investors moderate the compensation levels. In contrast, corporate governance variables have little association with change in pay. Overall, the results imply agency arguments that advocate pay-for-performance compensation schemes are not major factors in setting top management remuneration in Hong Kong.     

The impact of critical success factors of JIT implementation on organizational performance

Much has been written and publicized about the virtues of JIT philosophies during the past decade. However, relatively limited empirical research has been reported con-cerningJIT implementation on organizational performance. This study presents the results of an empirical study which utilized both concrete financial accounting data and a broad cross-sectional survey as measures of organizational performance to determine the impact of each JIT implementation requirement factor to organizational performance. Communication between production and marketing departments was identified as a critical factor for increased inventory turnover and work-in-process inventory turnover, while employees' participation and the bottom-up management approach were determined as significant factors for improving quality and flexibility. The results of this study imply that in JTT environment personnel management practices, such as bottom-up management encouraging employees participation, and organization management such as a communications linking the production and marketing departments, are more important than JIT practices themselves.     

Methods for Managing Different Perspectives of Project Success

The results of an exploratory study of UK organizations into methods for meeting project key performance indicators (KPIs) are presented. The paper explores: influences on the use of methods to manage project KPIs; the need for and existence of methods; the factors that facilitate the meeting of the KPIs. It is concluded that the use of methods varies depending upon the perceived importance of the project, the type of project, the client-team relationship and whether an organization performance management system exists. With project management capability often decreasing, in part due to a failure to meet psychosocial project KPIs, a need for methods linked to the KPIs was identified. However, the study found relatively low levels of adoption of such methods. Where psychosocial project KPIs were being met the following facilitating factors emerged: top-level policies, organization-wide training, integration with existing management processes, building into project management system. Situations were found where decision-makers did not consider the psychosocial KPIs of programme and project managers. This was seen to contribute to a failure by organizations to manage necessary increases in their project management capability and to be acting as a possible barrier to long-term, sustainable improvements in performance.     

设计有效的经营者持股激励机制——基于中国上市公司的实证研究

本文从企业财务控制系统设计的角度对上市公司经营者持股问题进行了实证研究。通过考察实施经营者持股激励制度的我国A股上市公司2002年到2004年的业绩,本文发现,经营者持股金额与经营者年薪金额的比例是衡量持股激励强度的有效指标,该指标与股票报酬率呈线性正相关关系,与会计利润指标没有正相关关系。在上述公司中,董事长和总经理持股数量多的、高成长性的公司提高(长期)股票报酬率的效果更加明显。同时,本文的实证结果说明:如果持股数量能对经营者(特别是董事长和总经理)的个人利益有充分影响,经营者持股激励制度会以较低的成本达到较好的效果(公司股票报酬率显著较高)。     

Decision Processes for Developing Strategic Applications of Information Systems: A Contingency Approach*

Strategic applications of information systems (IS) are considered by IS researchers to be determined by contextual factors such as environmental uncertainty, and influenced by attributes of the processes preceding them, such as planning and top management support. For better management of the process leading to these applications, it is essential to understand the relationship between process attributes and contextual factors. Utilizing a contingency approach, this article takes a step toward such an understanding. Based on successful strategic IS applications from 81 large companies, it examines the relationship between the context of these applications and the decision-making process leading to them. The results indicate that the external environment is related to whether a rational or political decision-making process is used. The IS function seems to influence the use of the decision process implied by IS researchers, one in which the top management champions the strategic application, while the IS managers contribute by conducting in-depth analysis. However, the organization structure was not related to any decision process attribute. The implications of these findings for future research and practice are also discussed.     

Fitting Management Control Systems to Competitive Advantage

Recent publications suggest that existing management accounting and control systems prevent business unit managers realising their desired competitive advantage. Although the concept of competitive advantage has already been thoroughly discussed in strategy literature, it has not yet been integrated in the management accounting and management control frameworks. Only a limited number of researchers have concentrated on contingency research in this area. Contingency theory simply states that organization structure, process and management control systems are contingent upon various internal and external factors, such as industry, technology, size, culture and strategy (Anthony and Young, 1988; Anthony et al., 1992). This article is an attempt to identify and investigate the management control – strategy relationship. We report the results of our exploratory field research in 18 companies (32 business units). Based on our results, we formulate some hypotheses on the observed characteristics of the management control process in case of low-cost strategy, differentiation strategy in a standard product environment and differentiation strategy for customized products (make to order, engineer to order).     

A Methodology for Constructing Collective Causal Maps*

This article develops a new approach for constructing causal maps called the Collective Causal Mapping Methodology (CCMM). This methodology collects information asynchronously from a group of dispersed and diverse subject‐matter experts via Web technologies. Through three rounds of data collection, analysis, mapping, and interpretation, CCMM constructs a parsimonious collective causal map. The article illustrates the CCMM by constructing a causal map as a teaching tool for the field of operations management. Causal maps are an essential tool for managers who seek to improve complex systems in the areas of quality, strategy, and information systems. These causal maps are known by many names, including Ishikawa (fishbone) diagrams, cause‐and‐effect diagrams, impact wheels, issue trees, strategy maps, and risk‐assessment mapping tools. Causal maps can be used by managers to focus attention on the root causes of a problem, find critical control points, guide risk management and risk mitigation efforts, formulate and communicate strategy, and teach the fundamental causal relationships in a complex system. Only two basic methods for creating causal maps are available to managers today—brainstorming and interviews. However, these methods are limited, particularly when the subject‐matter experts cannot easily meet in the same place at the same time. Managers working with complex systems across large, geographically dispersed organizations can employ the CCMM presented here to efficiently and effectively construct causal maps to facilitate improving their systems.     

Special Research Focus on Supply Chain Linkages: Challenges for Design and Management in the 21st Century*

Supply chain management is a central and important area for academic research due to its impact on firms competing in today's global economy. Managing the flow of materials from supply sources to the ultimate customer represents a major challenge for today's managers. To assist managers, the concept of supply chain management has been adopted by many business leaders as an important way to assist in designing, planning, and controlling the network of facilities and tasks that comprise the many stages of the supply chain. In turn, the flow of academic research in the area has increased to provide a better set of guidelines for effective implementation and execution. This article sets the stage for recently completed research concentrating on supply chain management issues. First, a definition of supply chain management is provided and compared to recent usage in this area and logistics management. Also, a framework is provided that structures this dynamic and complex management task. Second, a review of past research is presented to illustrate the many paths supply chain management has traveled, and important contributions to supply management understanding and decision making. Third, recently completed research articles are introduced that have been selected to be part of this special issue of Decision Sciences. And fourth, future research directions for supply chain management that need to be pursued by interested investigators are discussed.