Leadership for organizational adaptability: A theoretical synthesis and integrative framework

One of the biggest challenges facing leaders today is the need to position and enable organizations and people for adaptability in the face of increasingly dynamic and demanding environments. Despite this we know surprisingly little about this topic. In this paper we provide a theoretical synthesis and integrative review of research from strategy, organization theory, innovation, networks, and complexity to provide a framework of leadership for organizational adaptability. Our review shows that leadership for organizational adaptability is different from traditional leadership or leading change. It involves enabling the adaptive process by creating space for ideas advanced by entrepreneurial leaders to engage in tension with the operational system and generate innovations that scale into the system to meet the adaptive needs of the organization and its environment. Leadership for organizational adaptability calls for scholars and practitioners to recognize organizational adaptability as an important organizational outcome, and enabling leadership (i.e., enabling the adaptive process through adaptive space) as a critical form of leadership for adaptive organizations.     

The Relationship Between Information System Planning Sophistication and Information System Success: An Empirical Assessment*

Literature on information systems (IS) planning implicitly assumes that a sophisticated IS planning process leads to greater IS success. This paper questions the exclusive reliance on this traditional belief. Instead, because IS planning requires significant organizational resources, prior IS success is essential to convince top management of the importance of IS planning sophistication. Therefore, IS success may influence IS planning sophistication. Several theoretical arguments are advanced in support of this explanation. Data from a survey of 236 academic institutions are used to empirically assess the two alternative directions of the relationship between IS planning sophistication and IS success. Four structural models including the alternative causal directions are evaluated. Two of these models are supported. Together, they imply that for a high level of IS planning sophistication, either the previous ISs should have been successful or the organization should possess advanced information technology capabilities. Thus, empirical results suggest that the explanation presented here (i.e., IS success facilitates IS planning sophistication) provides an equally good alternative to the more traditional explanation (i.e., IS planning sophistication facilitates IS success).     

Traversing the storm: An interdisciplinary review of crisis leadership

An organizational crisis is a low-probability, high-impact event that threatens the survival of organizations and individuals, often with little warning. In response, people seek clarity, reassurance, and hope from organizational leaders. Yet, crises also vary in nature and impact (e.g., a product failure versus the COVID-19 pandemic), which presents diverse challenges to leaders and differing stakeholder perceptions. Based on a critical analysis of 69 empirical articles, we provide a comprehensive, systematic, interdisciplinary review of the crisis leadership literature. Our review utilizes the Coombs and Holladay (1996) crisis typology, where crises are categorized according to mutually exclusive attributional dimensions (i.e., internal–external and intentional–unintentional). We conduct a thematic analysis of crisis leadership within and across these four crisis categories and find that each is associated with a different leadership theme. We also examine the methodological quality and rigor of the qualitative and quantitative articles in our review. Based on our findings, we also offer suggestions to guide future crisis leadership research, and provide guidance for organizational leaders in how to respond to various crises.     

组织惯例概念界定及其结构模型：基于扎根理论的研究

近年来，得益于组织惯例的再定义和惯例二维观的提出，组织惯例在组织任务完成以及组织创新和发展中的根本性作用已经得到广泛的认同，相关研究随之呈现繁荣景象。但组织惯例所代表的集体行为模式由哪些方面构成或组织惯例的具体内容是什么，尚未得以揭示，使整个研究领域呈现出根基不稳的状态。 在梳理有关组织惯例的基本概念及其二维构成理论的基础上，选择天地华宇定日达惯例、宏康针织订单完成惯例和上海移动投诉处理惯例作为研究对象，通过访谈、观察和文档资料等方式获取相关数据，采用扎根理论方法，按照开放性编码、主轴编码和选择性编码的路径，对组织惯例的概念进行有效界定，析出各维度之间的相互关系，并构建组织惯例结构模型。 研究具体化组织惯例概念的构成，得出组织惯例由显性规范、共享基模、共倾行动、专业能力和执行异动5个维度构成；构建组织惯例概念模型，验证组织惯例由启示面和执行面构成以及两者之间的互动关系，即代表执行面的执行异动和代表启示面的其他4个维度之间存在互动关系；代表组织惯例基本原则和思想的启示面除了已有研究提出的集体层面的共享基模和共倾行动，还包括组织层面的显性规范以及个体层面的专业能力，且4个维度之间相互依存。 研究旨在具体化组织惯例的概念，深化组织惯例二维观理论，为该领域的深入研究创建基础，改变该领域当前对组织惯例概念的理解仅停留在单一、抽象层面的局面，并指导组织实践者深入理解组织惯例的内涵和意义。受扎根理论编码过程主观性的限制，有必要对调研资料进行反复比较和编码对比，进一步完善和检验所构建的概念模型。     

Becoming the best: by beating or ignoring the best? Toward an expanded view of the role of managerial selection in complex and turbulent environments

This paper explores how the rules that guide search affect organizational adaptation in complex and turbulent environments. Our consideration of such rules extends beyond search scope—i.e., exploitation of current technologies vs. exploration of new technologies—to include focus on competition. We consider two types of competitive focus—i.e., external, where the choice of focal technology to be improved is influenced by information about other organizations and internal, where it is not influenced by others. We refer to this expanded set of rules as managerial selection and vary it to explore how it affects organizational adaptation. Employing an agent based simulation model, built on the framework of NKC fitness landscapes, we consider multiple types of interdependencies within and between technologies and across competitors. We show that in the presence of these multiple interdependencies, the ability of organizations to adapt is conditioned as much or more by the focus of search than by its scope. In particular, we observe that in simple and stable environments, organizational adaptation is enhanced by an external focus but in complex and turbulent environments, such external focus is counterproductive.     

Revamping research on unrelated diversification strategy: perspectives,opportunities and challenges for future inquiry

With the aim of achieving an advanced understanding of current research on unrelated diversification and providing fruitful groundwork to foster active interchange between disciplinary traditions, this paper detects articles from two relevant research streams; i.e., strategic management and financial economics. We first provide a brief overview of management thinking on unrelated diversification strategy. Then, we present a conceptual map that offers a comprehensive appreciation of unrelated diversification strategy antecedents (i.e., environmental and institutional, organizational value-enhancing, and managerial drivers), implementation process (i.e., managerial complexity, misallocation of resources, and structural inertia), and consequences (i.e., diversification premiums and discounts). Finally, we unpack the major gaps in our current knowledge that may help refocus the research agenda on unrelated diversification strategy and revamp the apparent waning proclivity of this issue.     

A classification of resources for employee-based value creation and a future research agenda

This conceptual paper aspires to provide a theoretically sound understanding of the value creation process of a specific value network (i.e., firm–employee context). Drawing on service-logic and resource-based frameworks, a classification of four diverse resource types in an organizational context is introduced (i.e., core, augmented, add-on, peripheral resources), based on their exchangeability and their contribution to employees’ value creation and co-creation. This classification enables a better understanding of the nature and the unique features of different firm–employee exchanges in an organizational context, and delineates each type’s distinctive role in employee-based value creation activities. Four propositions derive from this classification; this suggests that not all resource types can be exchanged and that the relative contribution of various firm–employee exchanges to value creation is asymmetrical. A future research agenda is also presented, discussing the potential implications of this classification for contemporary organizations.     

4 The Physical Environment in Organizations

Abstract

We review empirical research on the physical environment in professional, organizational work settings (i.e., offices, meeting rooms, and design work spaces) from the past several decades. This research reveals no common elements of the physical environment (e.g., enclosures and barriers in work spaces, adjustable work arrangements, personalized work spaces, and ambient surroundings) that are consistently and exclusively associated with desired outcomes in these work settings. Instead, these elements are routinely associated with both desired and undesired outcomes. Based on these findings, we suggest that understanding the role of physical environments in organizations requires an understanding of common trade-offs in organizational life. Further, we suggest that the prevalence of such trade-offs is grounded in tensions that are inherent to the functions that physical environments serve (i.e., aesthetic, instrumental, and symbolic functions). We provide an outline of these tensions and trade-offs in relation to common elements of the physical environment, and suggest that researchers consider these tensions and trade-offs in their future research.     

Leader–member exchange and organizational dehumanization: The role of supervisor’s organizational embodiment

This research examined the negative relationship between leader–member exchange (LMX) and organizational dehumanization (i.e., employees’ perceptions that their organization treats them like tools), and specifically the consequences of this LMX–dehumanization relationship on employees’ emotional exhaustion, affective commitment, and voice behaviors. Further, given that supervisors act as representatives of the organization, we argued that these relationships would be stronger for employees identifying their supervisor with the organization (i.e., high supervisor’s organizational embodiment). Across two samples, results showed that high-quality LMX was negatively associated with organizational dehumanization. Further, organizational dehumanization was found to mediate the relationships between LMX and outcomes (i.e., emotional exhaustion, affective commitment, and voice behaviors). Finally, the mediation model was moderated by supervisor’s organizational embodiment. More specifically, the negative effects of LMX on organizational dehumanization and its subsequent outcomes were stronger when leaders were perceived as sharing many characteristics with their organization. This research expands the recent and scarce knowledge on the determinants, boundary conditions and outcomes of organizational dehumanization. Our findings suggest that interpersonal relationships at work and, in particular, very common supervisor-related perceptions should be considered when examining organizational dehumanization.     

"Conflict management" and "conflict resolution" are not synonymous terms

Robbins sees functional conflict as an absolute necessity within organizations and explicitly encourages it. He explains: "Survival can result only when an organization is able to adapt to constant changes in the environment. Adaption is possible only through change, and change is stimulated by conflict." Robbins cites evidence indicating that conflict can be related to increased productivity and that critical thinking encourages well-developed decisions. He admits, however, that not all conflicts are good for the organization. Their functional or dysfunctional nature is determined by the impact of the conflict on the objectives of the organization. The author identifies several factors underlying the need for conflict stimulation: (1) managers who are surrounded by "yes men"; (2) subordinates who are afraid to admit ignorance or uncertainty; (3) decision-makers' excessive concern about hurting the feelings of others; or (4) an environment where new ideas are slow in coming forth. He suggests techniques for stimulating conflict; manipulating the communication channels (i.e., repression of information); changing the organizational structure (i.e., changes in size or position); and altering personal behavior factors (i.e., role incongruence). Robbins stresses that the actual method to be used in either resolving or stimulating conflict must be appropriate to the situation.     

Organizational Discourse: Domains,Debates, and Directions

Interest in the analysis of organizational discourse has expanded rapidly over the last two decades. In this article, we reflect critically on organizational discourse analysis as an approach to the study of organizations and management, highlighting both its strengths and areas of challenge. We begin with an explanation of the nature of organizational discourse analysis and outline some of the more significant contributions made to date. We then discuss existing classifications of approaches to the study of organizational discourse and suggest that they fall into two main categories: classifications by level of analysis and classifications by type of method. We argue that both of these approaches are inherently problematic and present an alternative way to understand the varieties of approaches to the analysis of organizational discourse based on within domain and across domain characterizations. We conclude with a discussion of the challenges that remain in the development of organizational discourse as an area of study and point to some of the opportunities for important and unique contributions to our understanding of organizations and management that this family of methods brings.     

Reorganization of Firms and Job Stability: A Theoretical Approach

Abstract. This paper seeks to provide a theoretical explanation to the contradictory results found by the empirical literature concerning the effects of recent workplace organizational changes on job stability. We develop an endogenous job destruction model à la Mortensen‐Pissarides (1994) where a modernizing firm may offer to the worker a tayloristic job (traditional organization) or a holistic job (modern organization). We then study the evolution of job stability during the transition from a tayloristic to a holistic organization. Our results point towards the importance of the restructuring costs supported by firms during the modernizing trajectory as the main factor responsible for the variations in job stability.     

基于讨价还价的私募基金机制比较研究

作为私募基金的主要形式，有限合伙制具有比公司制更高的激励作用，原因可能是两者在契约设计上的不同。本文引入讨价还价模型对公司制与有限合伙制进行分析，求解了两种机制下的均衡契约。研究发现，股东(或有限合伙人)和经理(或普通合伙人)之间的博弈等价于包含外部选择的讨价还价博弈，当经理保留收益不断提高，有限合伙制将逐步取代公司制。进一步地，有限合伙制将给出更高的分成比例，进而实现更高的激励，更有效地利用人力资本。     

Good Night,and Good Luck: Perspectives on Luck in Management Scholarship

It is not insignificant that seminal contributions to management scholarship have highlighted luck as an alternative explanation for performance differences between individuals and organizations. Yet it has rarely taken center-stage in scholarship. The principal purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of the application of luck in the management literature and in such foundation disciplines as economics, sociology, and psychology. Our analysis finds five common perspectives on luck: (a) luck as Attribution; (b) luck as Randomness; (c) luck as Counterfactual; (d) luck as Undeserved; and (e) luck as Serendipity. We outline various ways in which research on luck may be advanced along each of these perspectives, and develop an underexplored, sixth, perspective on (f) luck as Leveler to provide a possible solution to such issues as social inequality and (unwarranted) executive compensation.     

The Differential Effects of Transformational Leadership on Multiple Identifications at Work: A Meta‐analytic Model

Employees’ identifications are a valuable asset for modern organizations, and identification research has stressed the necessity to distinguish identifications according to their focus (i.e. organizational, team, or leader identification). Interestingly, transformational leadership (TFL) has been proposed to unfold its effects by transforming followers’ identifications and could thus be a powerful way to actively manage identification. However, it remains unclear whether TFL affects identifications with different foci similarly or whether it predominantly influences a specific focus. To resolve this puzzle, the authors conducted a meta‐analysis (k = 73; N = 20,543) and found that TFL (and each TFL sub‐dimension) is more strongly associated with leader identification than with organizational identification or team identification. By presenting a comprehensive model of TFL's effects on identifications, we show that leader identification mediates the relationships between TFL and collective identifications (i.e. organizational identification or team identification), illustrating that relational identification plays a crucial role in subsequently shaping collective identifications. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Transformational Leadership Education and Agency Perspectives in Business School Pedagogy: A Marriage of Inconvenience?

We critique transformational leadership education in university business schools based on a literature review, a study of the websites of 21 leading business schools, and an analysis of two presentations to business school students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University by the former CEO of General Electric, Jack Welch. Our critique draws attention to the unresolved tension between two motivating ideas that underpin much teaching in business schools: collective interest ideas that permeate transformational leadership education; and self-interest ideas derived from agency theory. Transformational leadership tends to be depicted as a process by which leaders exert a 'top-down' influence over the activities of others, while simultaneously asserting that their organizations have a common purpose and pursue a collective interest. We highlight the risk that business schools are producing graduates who will attempt to appeal to common needs (guided by precepts of transformational leadership) but who will simultaneously enact contradictory performance management systems (guided by agency theory). We encourage business school educators in leadership to adopt approaches which are more critical, relational and reflexive. We suggest some general directions for an alternative leadership prospectus, based on followership, the promotion of critical upward communication within organizations, and the recognition of leadership as a contested, discursive and co-constructed phenomenon.     

International Evidence on the Determinants of Organizational Ethical Vulnerability

This paper proposes a model to explain what makes organizations ethically vulnerable. Drawing upon legitimacy, institutional, agency and individual moral reasoning theories we consider three sets of explanatory factors and examine their association with organizational ethical vulnerability. The three sets comprise external institutional context, internal corporate governance mechanisms and organizational ethical infrastructure. We combine these three sets of factors and develop an analytical framework for classifying ethical issues and propose a new model of organizational ethical vulnerability. We test our model on a sample of 253 firms that were involved in ethical misconduct and compare them with a matched sample of the same number of firms from 28 different countries. The results suggest that weak regulatory environment and internal corporate governance, combined with profitability warnings or losses in the preceding year, increase organizational ethical vulnerability. We find counterintuitive evidence suggesting that firms’ involvement in bribery and corruption prevention training programmes is positively associated with the likelihood of ethical vulnerability. By synthesizing insights about individual and corporate behaviour from multiple theories, this study extends existing analytical literature on business ethics. Our findings have implications for firms’ external regulatory settings, corporate governance mechanisms and organizational ethical infrastructure.     

How are Methodologies and Tools Framing Managers' Strategizing Practice in Competitive Strategy Development?

Criticisms have been levelled at the use of traditional strategic tools such as SWOT, PEST and BCG in contemporary business environments. In light of these criticisms, the objective of this research is to understand how senior executives engage with methodologies and tools as they develop competitive strategy. Within a broader strategy‐as‐practice approach, we use an activity theory framework to capture strategizing insights of senior executives in the UK responsible for competitive strategy. Our sample includes executives leading manufacturing organizations embedded in networks and CEOs reported in the financial press as adopting innovative business models. Our data suggest there is no one preferred practice approach by these highly regarded executives. Rather, methods and tools are adapted as they are contextualized in alternative practices. Three dominant strategizing practice models emerged from the data reflecting alternative applications of methodologies and tools. The first model captures routinized behaviour adopted by those who view their future as predictable, and an extension of the current environment. The second model posits reflective interaction between the strategist, organizational processes, culture, relationships and practice, and the final model shows an imposed engagement with strategizing methodologies and tools that bypass the organization's collective structures. These practice models suggest strategy leaders' activities depend upon their interpretation of the operating environment.     

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.     

From ideas of power to the powering of ideas in organizations: Reflections from Follett and Foucault

Research on organizational creativity tends to emphasize fairly static notions of coercive power as positional authority and control over scarce resources. The field remains largely silent about power as a positive and generative phenomenon that can produce creativity. We seek to break that silence by amplifying and integrating the work of Mary Parker Follett and Michel Foucault in concert with recent practice-based approaches to creativity. Power in organizational creativity, we suggest, should first of all be explored as processes of connection, abundance and collective agency. We show that whereas established ideas of positional power over is related to assumptions of linearity and singularity of creativity, ideas of power with and power to are associated with a more dynamic, relational and process-based perspective. The latter set of views implies more attention be paid to processes of interactional framing through which people jointly attend to situations, reach new integrations and produce new social realities.