Leading beyond the bottom line

Do physician executives approach managing and leading health care organizations like a CEO of a Fortune 100 company? Or does their training as physicians first give them a unique perspective, leading them to view organizational issues differently? The authors suggest that to be a physician executive is to be the practitioner, teacher, coach, and mentor for a new philosophy of leadership and management called Leading Beyond the Bottom Line. While the financial health of an organization is critical to its survival and its ability to fulfill its purpose, the trap is to focus on maximizing the bottom line. This new philosophy leads an organization to attend in equal measure to the (1) welfare of its patients, (2) its financial health, (3) the well-being of its employees, and (4) the building of its community. "The Optimal Organization" is one in which these four objectives are seen not only as related, but interconnected, and the goal is to maximize all of them. The legitimate role of the physician executive is to manage in search of Pareto Optimum, or the maximum benefit for all four organizational objectives. Clearly, this is a tougher job than maximizing profits or just optimizing profits and patient care.     

Leading beyond the bottom line, Part 4. The questions it has raised

The Leading Beyond the Bottom Line article series has received an overwhelming response from ACPE members, mostly in enthusiastic support of this new leadership concept. Some of the important questions raised by members are presented with answers from the authors. This article also explores the moral challenge of leadership and why health care is more than a business. In recent years, there's been confusion about the role of the health care enterprise, its leadership and its management. We have lost our way about the "moral" thing, the "right" thing, because we have no philosophy to guide us. To manage or lead in this "business" of health care, a philosophy is required that recognizes the multiple elements to which the leader has responsibility and obligations: the customers, community, employees, and, certainly, the financial assets.     

Prioritization of sustainable supply chain practices with triple bottom line and organizational theories: industry and academic perspectives

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices on triple bottom line (TBL) measures from the perspective of organizational theories. This study identified five SSCM practices using a comprehensive literature review and feedback from industry experts. These five practices were prioritized using a fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP). The results from FAHP analysis were further confirmed by conducting semi-structured interviews in five electronics parts/components manufacturing organizations. This study also prioritized theoretical drivers of SSCM adoption based on the consideration of three organizational theory perspectives – Institutional Theory; Resource-Based View, and; Social Network Theory. The results indicate that the economic dimension was the most important measure for implementing SSCM while sustainable design was the most important SSCM practice for achieving the TBL. The study also found that Institutional Theory is the most important theoretical driver for implementing SSCM. The research findings provide insight for management to allocate necessary resources and to develop effective strategic directions for the implementation of SSCM practices.     

Leading organizational learning: Reflections on theory and research

This essay conveys some of the author's ideas about the influence of leaders on organizational learning. Limitations of some well known leadership theories for explaining this influence are described, and ideas for developing more comprehensive and accurate theories are suggested. Examples of specific ways leaders can influence organizational learning are provided. The methods used for most of the research on the subject are evaluated, and some alternative methods are suggested.     

Moving beyond the employee: The role of the organizational context in leader workplace aggression

Management and psychology scholars are increasingly seeking to examine how organizational characteristics that contextualize leadership shape the occurrence, impact, and prevention of leader workplace aggression. However, a comprehensive review of this literature has not yet been conducted, so a systematic understanding is lacking regarding questions including: (1) when, why and how is such aggression more likely to occur; (2) how do contextual factors enable or constrain effects of these leader behaviors on employees; and (3) how can organizations proactively manage their internal dynamics to prevent or reduce such incidences? Drawing on Porter and McLaughlin's (2006) components of organizational context, I review existing leader aggression research that intersects with seven categories: (1) culture/climate; (2) goals/purposes; (3) people/composition; (4) processes; (5) state/condition; (6) structure; and (7) time. I then offer theoretical propositions for future work, which are grounded in the roles and responsibilities inherent to the nature of leadership and coupled with the changing nature of organizational life. As a result, I set the research agenda for the next decade of organizational context × leader workplace aggression studies.     

Complex technological capabilities in emerging economy firms: The role of organizational relationships

Formal organizational relationships are important sources for capability building in emerging economy firms eager to move up the value chain. We examine how access to valuable knowledge available to firms via organizational relationships creates learning opportunities necessary for the development of complex technological capabilities. Using a sample of 852 observations of emerging economy firms from the Indian software industry between 1992 and 2000, we find that developing strong domestic intra-organizational relationships, through affiliation with a moderately diversified business group or operating in a related industry, promote more complex technological capabilities. In the case of foreign inter-organizational relationships, we find that greater foreign client contact enhances the complexity of firm technological capabilities. However, accessing knowledge from domestic inter-organizational relationships appears to hinder the development of firm complex technological capabilities. An interesting result from our research was that having greater access to knowledge from foreign intra-organizational relationships, embedded within foreign subsidiaries, did not lead to the development of complex firm technological capabilities. The results of our study highlight that for emerging economy firms wanting to improve their complex technological capabilities, there may be diminishing benefits to learning from and acquiring knowledge available within specific types of formal organizational relationships.     

Environmental improvement initiatives in the coal mining industry: maximisation of the triple bottom line

Abstract

Mining is an economically important industry, which faces several environmental and social challenges. Other than operational improvement activities, mining companies are increasingly paying attention to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and maximise social welfare to satisfy multiple stakeholders and the rise of corporate social responsible initiatives. Based on a case study analysis of coal mining companies we develop a triple bottom line (TBL) initiatives framework that provides a starting point for mining companies to develop a strategic approach to environmental improvement initiatives that can positively impact all elements of the TBL. We highlight four types of process and offset-based initiatives that are available to mining companies to reduce their GHGs, each having differential effects on elements of the TBL. Our findings suggest the importance of company-wide strategies of looking at initiatives through all rather than individual elements of the TBL. Such a strategy would provide an appropriate estimate of the costs and benefits of the initiatives and results in a balanced approach that takes care of operational improvement, reduces GHGs and improves the social welfare of people engaged in mining operations and wider society.     

Selected debate from the arena of knowledge management: new endorsements for established organizational practices

Management theorists and practitioners have been allured recently to the contemporary field of knowledge management. This is a burgeoning subject that has enticed the involvement of specialists from established domains that are broad based in themselves: strategy, organizational behaviour, operations and information technology. In arguing the importance of knowledge in the strategic purpose of the organization, authorities essentially endorse practices that have been supported in the past: practices that appreciate the social context of knowledge. This paper reviews the debates in strategic theory that support the contemporary 'knowledge-based' view of the organization, and describes how established practices relating to knowledge transfer and creation have been recently revitalized.     

Physician career management: organizational strategies for the 21st century.

Burnout is a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by long-term involvement in situations that are emotionally demanding. It is not stress, per se, that causes burnout, as many thrive in stressful, demanding careers. Rather, burnout results when stress continuously outweighs the sense of effectiveness, accomplishment, and reward. And, this fate is sealed when one feels helpless to effect significant change in the conditions that fuel the stress. Establishing an organizational environment that reduces the risk of physician burnout requires a new commitment of resources, one that can be challenging to justify to decision-makers with a strictly short-term, bottom line orientation. The key issues to consider in shaping a physician career management program include: (1) entry of new physician employees into the organization; (2) productivity measures; (3) responsiveness to safety concerns; (4) administrative and policy issues; and (5) variety and growth opportunities.     

A stakeholder perspective on process improvement behaviours: delivering the triple bottom line in SMEs

Abstract

The primary focus of operations management is to add value through operational processes. Considerable attention has been given to using process improvement (PI) techniques to reduce costs and time, in order to develop a competitive advantage for the wider organization. However, this narrow definition of value at times overlooks the triple bottom line (TBL) which can result in a number of unintended consequences, specifically issues related to environmental and social measures of performance. To address this, a stakeholder theory lens will be used to analyze PI activities within the context of small and medium-sized enterprises. The TBL will be used to complement the stakeholder perspective, to interpret the benefits that are realized from PI activities. This article highlights both the direct benefits from PI as well as more indirect benefits realized by involving a selection of salient stakeholders in PI. It will show how a developed view of PI can provide an important mechanism for delivering improvements to a firm’s TBL. The work concludes by highlighting the contributions made to both PI practice and stakeholder theory, while acknowledging the need for more research on PI, both from a stakeholder perspective and how it impacts a firm’s TBL.     

Managing knowledge in supply chains: a catalyst to triple bottom line sustainability

Abstract

Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) and knowledge management’s (KM) positive role in improving supply chain development and performance have both attracted attention in recent years, the former arguably stimulated by the triple bottom line (TBL). Despite the positive development, there is a paucity of theoretical and empirical studies identifying the broad capabilities that affect a firm’s ability to simultaneously pursue economic, environmental and social success. We use the natural-resource-based (NRBV) and knowledge-based (KBV) views to develop a series of propositions linking KM capability to strategic and operational supply chain sustainability and competiveness and test their veracity with practicing managers (n?=?275). We offer a systematic analysis of KM’s role in the development of SSCM. The findings confirm the credibility of the theoretical propositions and identify how different KM processes specifically facilitate strategic or operational development of SSCs. We provide researchers with a framework to guide future research at the KM/TBL nexus.     

A model for a new society: Values,ethics, and the global economy

Increasing interdependencies and vulnerabilities in the global economy appear to require a re-examination of our neoclassical economic individualism. The philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead provides a fundamentally new framework for a view of reality based on organic and social models rather than on mechanistic and individualistic ones. This article summarizes Whitehead's central concepts and explores the ethical implications of his social conception of reality for economic behavior. It also draws ecological implications from his thought and makes suggestions for management behavior. This article concludes that a new way of thinking is required to function ethically in a socially interdependent universe.     

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.     

The knowledge-based economy: intellectual origins and new economic perspectives

This paper discusses the intellectual origins of the knowledge-based economy or KBE, and recent economic theories used to provide an intellectual foundation for the KBE. The KBE is the dominant post-industrial economic development paradigm that emerged in the 1980s, with an emphasis on the role of knowledge creation and distribution as the primary driver in the process of economic growth, the distribution of income, the growing importance of knowledge-based networks among firms, and the interface between government business and citizens in the advanced economies. Recent empirical evidence on rates of return, geographic spillovers, and the internationalization of knowledge flows are discussed in relation to the theoretical foundations of the KBE.     

领导干部应努力提高领导科学发展的能力

胡锦涛同志在安徽考察工作时指出,当前,党的建设的一项重要任务,就是要按照党的十七大的要求,大力提高各级领导班子和领导干部领导科学发展的能力,保证党的十七大提出的各项任务的完成.在全国干部教育培训工作会议上,习近平同志也强调,干部教育培训工作要以坚定理想信念、增强执政本领、提高领导科学发展能力为重点.     

执著:领导干部成长的支撑

人的一生充满着希望与失望,充满着成功与失败,充满着奋斗与挫折.领导干部的成长充满着更多的诱惑与选择,更多的机遇与艰辛.那么,什么是支撑领导干部成长的关键呢?是执著.