The Translational Role of Hybrid Nurse Middle Managers in Implementing Clinical Guidelines: Effect of,and upon,Professional and Managerial Hierarchies

Our study uses qualitative and interpretative design to analyse what hybrid nurse middle managers do in their managerial practice, what affects this, and to what effect, focusing upon implementing policy‐driven guidelines on the clinical frontline. Examining two comparative hospital cases and drawing upon Scandinavian institutionalism, we conceive their role as one of ‘translation’. On the one hand, they exhibit strategic agency. On the other hand, their managerial role not only influences, but is influenced by, professional and managerial hierarchies. In both hospitals, in the short term we see how hybrid nurse middle managers are able to mediate professional and managerial hierarchies and implement clinical guidelines through translational work. However, in one case, they less effectively accommodate policy‐driven, managerial pressure towards compliance with government regulations and financial parsimony. In this case, the outcome of their translational work is not sustained in the longer term, as professional and managerial hierarchies reassert themselves. Drawing upon the example of their managerial role in healthcare, we highlight that hybrid middle managers enact a strategic translational role and outline situational constraints that impact this more strategic role.     

Personal Value Patterns of Managers in Latvia: Value Diversity Within Subcultures Facing Change

This study examined the personal value systems of 200 Russophone and 44 ethnic Latvian managers in Latvia using the Personal Values Questionnaire. Value patterns of Russophone and Latvian managers were generally congruent. However, subcultural diversity within the Russophone sample, based upon both geographic location and primary value orientation, produced a complex set of similarities and differences. Russophones in Riga and Russophones inthe provincial city of Daugavpils differed from one another nearly as much as either subgroup differed from Latvian managers. Contextual factors — the long reach of decades of Soviet administrative culture, as well as current political and economic realities — are discussed as possible constraints on value expression. Prospects for cooperation and conflict between Russophones and Latvian managers, grounded in shared and divergent values, are likely to be mediated by perceptions about these contextual realities for sometime to come. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Learning Square: Four Domains that Impact on Strategy

In the search for strategic competitive advantage, the importance of learning and knowledge is increasingly recognized. In this paper, we identify four domains synthesized from the literature – multi-dimensional goals, using tacit knowledge, continual learning, and shared vision – that impact upon and provide a framework for developing strategy. Three themes are drawn from learning organization literature linking to a fourth from strategy literature. These domains are brought together in a holistic model proposed for use by managers in evaluating and developing strategy –'The Learning Square'.     

How French managers deal with radical change

Top management are increasingly concerned with the flexibility of their companies and with the problem of implementing strategy. This article presents a model of strategic change derived from the managers' experience and perceptions in some companies which achieved radical transformation. Indepth studies were carried out in four diverse companies. The experience of top managers revealed that the management of strategic change required an integrated approach to six interrelated areas—formulating a strategic project, managing the development of resources and skills, negotiating with the environment increasing internal communication of strategy, dealing with power, influencing the norms of behaviour and developing a team of transformation-minded managers.     

Does customer or competitor performance drive operations prioritisation?

The purpose of this research is to identify the impact on operations managers of their perceptions of customer requirements and competitor performance on their determination of operations priorities. Data were obtained from a multiple respondent survey. Analysis involved an ordered choice model. The process of strategic prioritisation differs according to the specific performance dimension. Quality-based objectives are focused on the voice of the customer; cost-based objectives are influenced by a balance of importance to customer and performance against competitor. Other criteria (flexibility, dependability, speed) objectives are more influenced by perceptions of competitive benchmarking. This large sample survey of operations managers’ perceptions offers a valuable insight into their motivation for focusing on different operations criteria.     

Safety climate and safety outcomes: A meta-analytic comparison of universal vs. industry-specific safety climate predictive validity

Previous research has demonstrated that safety climate is a robust predictor of safety-related outcomes. However, there is little consensus about the optimal strategy to measure safety climate. One of the main issues has been whether safety climate measures should be universal or industry-specific. As such, this study was designed to examine the criterion-related validity of universal and industry-specific safety climate measures by conducting a meta-analytic comparison of their relationships with a variety of safety-related outcomes (i.e. safety behaviour, risk perceptions, accidents and injuries, and other adverse events). With 120 independent samples (N?=?81,213), we found that the industry-specific safety climate measures displayed better predictive power when predicting safety behaviour and risk perceptions than the universal safety climate measures. On the other hand, the universal safety climate measures displayed better predictive power when predicting other adverse events (but not accidents and injuries) than the industry-specific safety climate measures. We discuss these findings in light of the intended use of organisational safety climate surveys.     

Managers' Perceptual Errors Revisited: the Role of Knowledge Calibration

Insights from the stream of research on knowledge calibration, which refers to the correspondence between accuracy and confidence in knowledge, enable a better understanding of consequences of inaccurate perceptions of managers. This paper examines the consequences of inaccurate managerial knowledge through the lens of knowledge calibration. Specifically, the paper examines the antecedent role of miscalibration of knowledge in strategy formation. It is postulated that miscalibrated managers who overestimate external factors and display a high level of confidence in their estimates are likely to enact strategies that are relatively more evolutionary and incremental in nature, whereas miscalibrated managers who overestimate internal factors and display a high level of confidence in their estimates are likely to enact strategies that are relatively more discontinuous and disruptive in nature. Perspectives from social cognitive theory provide support for the underlying processes. The paper, in part, explains the paradox of the prevalence of inaccurate managerial perceptions and efficacious performance. It also advances the literature on strategy formation through the application of the construct of knowledge calibration.     

相对业绩报酬契约及其对基金经理投资决策的影响

在界定了信息结构和基金经理投资策略的基础上,建立了一个规划模型,证明了用该模型求解的最优相对业绩契约下,符合基金投资人意愿的战略组合必然构成基金经理子博弈中的一个纳什均衡.算例表明,若基金经理之间不存在合谋,这个纳什均衡通常也构成占优战略均衡.     

Behavioural determinants of perceived managerial and leadership effectiveness in Argentina

The purpose of this empirical study was to explore the perceptions of Argentinean managers and non-managerial employees about managerial and leadership effectiveness, and the extent to which the findings are generalized to other countries. The central research question addressed was as follows: How do people employed in Argentinean companies behaviourally distinguish effective managers from ineffective managers, and to what extent are the findings culture-specific or context-general? A total of 42 employees from private and public sector organizations in Cordoba, Argentina, were interviewed using critical incident technique. The interviews generated 302 critical incidents of which 155 were examples of positive (effective) managerial behaviour, and 147 of negative (ineffective) managerial behaviour. The findings suggest that Argentineans perceive as effective those managers who are supportive, considerate, motivating, caring, good decision makers, approachable, participative, fair-minded, communicative, actively involved, and who act as role models. This challenges the widely held belief that Argentineans prefer authoritarian managers over democratic ones.     

Cognitive Mapping Tools: Review and Risk Management Needs

Risk managers are increasingly interested in incorporating stakeholder beliefs and other human factors into the planning process. Effective risk assessment and management requires understanding perceptions and beliefs of involved stakeholders, and how these beliefs give rise to actions that influence risk management decisions. Formal analyses of risk manager and stakeholder cognitions represent an important first step. Techniques for diagramming stakeholder mental models provide one tool for risk managers to better understand stakeholder beliefs and perceptions concerning risk, and to leverage this new understanding in developing risk management strategies. This article reviews three methodologies for assessing and diagramming stakeholder mental models—decision‐analysis‐based mental modeling, concept mapping, and semantic web analysis—and assesses them with regard to their ability to address risk manager needs.     

Strategy restoration

Discussions of strategic change generally assume that managers strive to break free from the constraints of their organization's past so that they can forge ahead into the future. However, some organizations instead opt to reinterpret and reenact abandoned strategies drawn from their own history. Such actions are largely unaccounted for in the literature on strategic change. Accordingly, we propose here a conceptualization of a distinct type of strategic change that we call “strategy restoration.” We first outline how strategy restoration fills a gap in current understandings of strategic change. We then elaborate conditions that motivate and enable organizations to pursue strategy restoration rather than other types of strategic change. Two components of the framework—organizational traditionality and memory—characterize the organization itself, and two—nostalgia and perceptions of the organization's authenticity—characterize the market in which the organization operates. The proposed conceptualization of strategy restoration and discussion of its underlying mechanisms carry implications for researchers and managers.     

Strategic Integration and Devolvement of Human Resource Management in the UK Manufacturing Sector

This paper analyses the practices of ‘integration’ of HRM into the corporate strategy and ‘devolvement’ of responsibility for HRM to line managers in six British manufacturing industries. The findings are based on a questionnaire survey, in‐depth interviews and cognitive mapping methodologies. The results show that over 50% of the firms under study practise a high level of strategic integration. On the other hand, over 61% of the sample firms practise a low level of devolvement practices. Interestingly, both the practices of integration of HRM into the corporate strategy and devolvement of HRM to line managers are more determined by a number of organizational policies than traditional contingent variables. The adoption of the mixed methodology has been useful. The findings contribute to strategic HRM literature, and also have some key messages for policy‐makers in the field. The cognitive maps developed in the paper could be used to give feedback and training to managers.     

A follower-centric approach to the vision integration process

Leaders increasingly understand the importance of involving followers in the vision implementation process. Viewing vision as a guiding framework that may or may not be adopted by followers throughout the organization, we test a model of the leader–follower communication processes involved in linking vision with follower work behaviors and decisions. Using a cross-sectional research design, we examine the basic relationships in a hypothesized model of the vision integration process. Employees from a health maintenance organization (HMO) (N = 340) completed surveys concerning leader–follower communication, perceptions of the company's vision, and its integration into their work behaviors. Not surprisingly, leader–follower communication regarding vision is crucial. More importantly, how the vision is understood and integrated by followers into work behaviors and decisions significantly predicts commitment, job satisfaction, and supervisory ratings of performance. Based on these findings, a more follower-centered conceptualization of vision is offered.     

Public Knowledge of and Involvement with Metropolitan and Local Strategic Planning in Australia

Despite academic and practitioner debate surrounding public involvement in planning, little is actually known about the extent to which the public is aware of the planning process. The focus of this paper is the examination of the underlying, latent public knowledge of the planning system in Australia. This latent knowledge (or more accurately, the absence of this knowledge) emerges as a barrier to public involvement. This paper examines public perceptions of the importance of metropolitan and local strategic plans, knowledge of these plans, the main sources of this knowledge, and the extent to which the public is likely to become involved with strategic planning process. The paper concludes that despite large segments of the population viewing strategic planning as important, only a small proportion is actually aware of the plans themselves, while an even smaller proportion is likely to become involved in the planning process.     

Developing a manufacturing vision

The concept of a manufacturing vision is introduced as a company specific, commonly shared, holistic picture of the way in which future manufacturing in the company will function. First is presented what a manufacturing vision is, and then is presented a five-step framework in which such a manufacturing vision may be developed. A manufacturing vision is regarded as a bridge between the mission, goals, and strategies of an industrial enterprise and the detailed design of a manufacturing system. Such a bridge may ensure that manufacturing is able to make a relevant strategic contribution to developing and sustaining the competitiveness of the company and may serve as a guide for innovation and integration of the various elements of a manufacturing system. The paper rests on action research projects in more than ten industrial companies, and the experiences gained are discussed in a section on issues related to the development process including experimentation without fear of losing face, participation and involvement of managers and employees, and finally the outset for a manufacturing vision. To give an example of a manufacturing vision the paper also very briefly introduces a case of a medium-sized supplier of welded parts and equipment for a number of different industries.     

‘Let's share!’ The mediating role of employees' self-determination in the relationship between transformational and shared leadership and perceived knowledge sharing among peers

Building on social-exchange and self-determination theory, this study aimed to contribute to the scholarly literature on leadership and knowledge sharing by simultaneously testing how shared and transformational leadership and their interrelatedness may foster employees' perceptions of knowledge sharing behaviour among peers. Additionally, we investigated the mediating role of employees' basic psychological needs satisfaction (in terms of autonomy, competence and relatedness, respectively) as an additional explanatory mechanism to reveal how shared and transformational leadership may foster individuals' perceptions of knowledge sharing behaviour among peers. We employed PLS structural equation modelling to analyse survey data obtained from professionals in an R&D unit of a knowledge-intensive firm. We found shared leadership to be the most important factor enhancing employees' perceptions of knowledge sharing among peers, both directly and indirectly through employees' satisfaction of the need for autonomy. Transformational leadership was found to foster employees' knowledge sharing ultimately, through shared leadership and the need for autonomy satisfaction. We concluded that shared forms of leadership supplemented with transformational leadership on the part of formal leaders are important in contemporary work environments as they can foster employees' perceptions of knowledge sharing among peers and contribute towards employees' self-determination, which ultimately enhances perceptions of knowledge sharing among peers.     

Constructing Interlocking Rationales in Top‐driven Strategic Renewal

Under top‐driven change, active involvement of middle managers in strategy‐making requires top and middle to find common ground. The paper offers inductive theoretical development of top managers’ role as enablers for the strategic contribution of the middle levels. Central to this role is the symbolic reorganization where the middle managers’ position is set. Next, middle managers’ operational efficiency allows their performance to be shown and increases their reputation. In consequence, the middle level can actively shape the role suggested by top management, which increases their power base. Finally, when these previous interactions escalate into a two‐way process where the middle and top management contribute to each other's efforts, interlocking rationales are achieved.     

战略和愿景提升中小企业创新能力机制研究

本文首先根据企业调研和问卷分析的结果,对阻碍中小企业创新能力提升的内在原因进行了分析,发现创新过程中的战略不协调是阻碍中小企业创新的重要内因.接着,本文对创新能力内涵和影响创新能力的战略因素方面进行了文献综述.然后采用文献研究和案例研究结合的方法,对前人的理论进行了分析总结,将昆药、海尔等案例进行了分析,提出通过战略和愿景提升中小企业创新能力的三条机制:一,清晰的在组织层面上共享的愿景通过指引创新资源配置方向来实现创新能力的提升;二,战略和组织结构的协调通过影响创新资源的配置和组织学习的方式来影响核,心能力的构建;三,战略和文化的协调通过影响组织学习的方式来影响核心能力的形成和积累.最后,本文针对中小企业创新中普遍存在的问题,提出了一些建议.     

Strategies for Knowledge Creation in Firms *

We extend the knowledge‐based view by providing an explanation of how firms develop the capability to create knowledge. We take the view that firms are distributed knowledge systems composed of individuals who embody knowledge, and theoretically identify and empirically test the existence and effectiveness of two strategies – organization and project team – that promote their interactions to develop this capability. On the one hand, building on what we call the organization‐level innovation literature, we identify the organization strategy, which suggests investment in organization‐level integrative management practices to facilitate interactions to create knowledge among individuals situated in different parts of the system, independently of when a knowledge‐creation task is established and individuals are organized to create knowledge. On the other hand, building on what we call the team‐level innovation literature, we identify the project team strategy, which suggests investment in project team‐level integrative management practices to facilitate interactions to create knowledge among individuals once a knowledge‐creation task is defined and individuals are placed into teams to create knowledge. The two strategies are substitute approaches for the development of the capability, although the organization strategy appears to better predict outcomes of the capability. However, this approach might be more costly, so not all managers will choose to follow it.     

复杂不确定环境下活动可拆分的项目资源鲁棒性调度优化

复杂不确定环境下,制定一个具有较强抗干扰能力的基准进度计划非常必要。本文研究了活动工期不确定环境下考虑活动可拆分的项目资源鲁棒性调度优化问题,旨在考虑活动可拆分,探究在活动优先关系约束、项目截止日期约束、活动拆分约束、资源流约束等条件下如何进行活动拆分决策并合理地安排各个项目活动/活动分段间的资源调配方案和时间缓冲添加策略,以制定鲁棒性最大化的基准进度计划。本文创新点如下：1)在项目资源鲁棒性调度优化问题中考虑活动可拆分,定义了资源流网络下活动自由时差的计算方法,提出了一种新的活动可拆分情形下进度计划鲁棒性的衡量方式,进而构建得到了考虑活动可拆分的项目资源鲁棒性调度优化模型;2)分析证明了问题模型的强NP-hard属性以及非线性属性,并在此基础上开发了一种内嵌资源调度安排的遗传算法进行问题求解;3)选取一个典型的实际案例对研究问题进行说明,直观展示了活动拆分执行对进度计划鲁棒性提升的重要价值,揭示了鲁棒性调度计划中资源调度方案的重要性,得到了活动拆分执行会增加项目内部资源转移次数的结论。