Reconsidering the exploration of power distance: an active case study approach

In this paper, we present what we call an “active case study” and we theorize specifically on the relevance hereof for an exploration of power distance (as conceptualized by Hofstede (Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values, Sage, Beverley Hills, CA, 1980)). As Hofstede conceives it, the notion of “power distance” enables an understanding of the predominant ideas about inequality prevalent in a (national) culture, which in turn infuse work relationships. An active case study approach—as we elucidate in the paper—implies an acknowledgement on the part of those organizing the research of the manner in which their intervention might affect the way “respondents” experience their work relationships. We suggest that our proposed active case study approach offers novel possibilities for exploring power distance and should be added to the repertoire of approaches used to examine this in organizational life. We develop our argument in this regard by offering a detailed account of the application of this approach to a Taiwanese organization (the Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau in Taiwan).     

Management must role for physicians

It is not the same subject that was projected in the '70s when quality assurance leaped on the health care scene. As complex as quality assurance is, contemporary discussions of quality are much more multifaceted. At the core of health care quality, however, is clinical practice. The consensus among speakers at the College's National Conference of Physician Executives in May in San Antonio, Tex., is that medical quality will not be managed in the interests of patients, buyers, and providers in the absence of significant involvement by physician executives.     

Building an organizational capability for radical innovation: The direct managerial role

Our research examines practices for managing project leaders as a component of an organization's capability for radical innovation. Our qualitative analysis of 246 interviews in twelve industry-leading corporations suggests that managers use performance-based assessment to select project leaders with demonstrated experience and skills for innovation, as well as passion that extends beyond a single project toward an awareness of its broader contribution to the organization's growth objectives. The managerial role includes concurrent hands-off/hands-on involvement, which balances autonomy and accountability with guidance. Additionally, downside/upside management involves removing the negative consequences associated with failure while providing recognition for the project leader's efforts.     

The value relevance of accounting:: The rest of the story

When a story appears in the media reporting ‘restatements, frauds, and investigations,' how do reported dollar effects relate to value? Declines to about half the pre-event levels are observed, even when the overall market has been increasing significantly. The declines in price (cum dividend) are significantly associated with the amount of the event's effect, as reported in the media, when concurrently controlling for earnings, industry, market, and scalar (book value) effects. The Value Line evaluations of these companies' safety, financial strength, price stability, and technical ranking all deteriorate significantly post-event. Managers evaluating their accounting and controls should consider such consequences.     

Designing an intervention strategy for public-interest goods: The California electric vehicle market case

We study the intervention problem for public-interest goods. Public-interest goods are known as goods with positive externalities, allowing the consumer as well as others who do not pay for them benefit from the consumption. Health related goods, such as vaccines, or products with less carbon emissions are well known examples. We consider a supply chain for such a product. Generally, wider adoption or usage of such goods is ensured by the intervention of a central authority in their supply chain. We explore the problem for a setting composed of a retailer and a central authority. The main goal of the central authority is to design and fund an intervention scheme so that decisions of the channel are in line with the good of society, specified as a social welfare function. We propose two intervention tools applied simultaneously: (1) investing in demand-increasing strategies, which affects the level of the stochastic demand in the market; and (2) rebates that affect revenue per unit received by the retailer. We introduce a model that determines a utility maximizing intervention scheme and further investigate the model. We also present two decentralized approaches as benchmarks. Finally, we conduct a case study for California׳s electric vehicle market and validate our findings by a detailed analysis of the results, including comparisons with the current practice.     

A strategy for incorporting ISO 9000 into an internationally oriented accounting practice

Management consulting organizations generally can plan to improve their earnings by two strategies. First, they can offer their services in a more efficient manner by using a minimum amount of resources. This is normally accomplished by employing common tools such as reengineering of the processes, continuous improvement, and target costing. Second, they can attempt to raise their market share or offer new types of services required by clients. For accounting firms, this means expanding their service horizons from traditional audit, tax, and systems consulting to more contemporary areas such as ISO 9000 and total quality management (TQM). The authors outline an approach for firms to successfully undertake the inclusion of quality audit services in their practices.     

The role of new product development briefs in implementing sustainability: A case study

Organizations face challenges with regards to the incorporation of sustainability in the early stages of their new product development processes (NPD). This paper explores these challenges in order to understand the barriers for incorporating well-defined sustainability targets in NPD briefs. The study is based on a content analysis of 202 new product development briefs within the FMCG industry, in particular Unilever. The paper concludes that the incorporation of sustainability in the new product development briefs does not guarantee results. Furthermore, there are several organizational issues which could function either as success or failure factors for the entire process.     

Fiduciary obligation and the importance of an environmental accounting standard

Financial measurement is currently the key to the analysis of corporate performance. To date, analysts have not considered the environmental impact of corporate behavior—much less a wider view of social and economic impacts. Environmental sustainability reports, though still an emerging reporting tool, can begin to address the obligations of fiduciaries to look beyond short-term financial reports to a more complete understanding of a firm's long-term impact on worlwide issues of environmental, social and economic well-being. Environmental reports can frame the strategic planning of a company within the context of its natural supply chains, the approval of its customers, and the world in which workers play and live. Successes and failures are measured and reported to allow managers to adjust plans as necessary. The competitive instinct of corporate managers can be tapped through comparative reports to catalyze invention or imaginative programs that save environmental and corporate resources. Joan Bavaria discusses corporate transparency in terms of environmental reports, through the Global Reporting Initiative that is being organized by CERES (The Coalition of Environmentally Responsible Economies). One potential result of a common reporting format would be that investors, operating in a climate of expanded concepts of fiducial responsibility, could make choices consistent with the goals of sustainable enterprise.     

The role of HRD in bridging the research-practice gap: the case of learning and development

ABSTRACT

An enduring challenge for HRD is ensuring academic research achieves impact on professional practice. We have located this research within debates about the research-practice gap. To investigate this challenge, we analyse case studies of academic impact from all disciplines submitted to the United Kingdom’s 2014 research assessment exercise (REF 2014). We found that Learning and Development was a primary focus of significant number of impact case studies submitted across all disciplines compared to other areas of HR and HRD. We also found that Learning and Development was a key path to Impact. These findings reveal that Learning and Development in a work context plays a pivotal role in helping researchers irrespective of discipline achieve impact. Our findings therefore speak to the research-practice gap across academia. We conclude by considering the potential role for HRD in generating impact.     

Using Shainin DOE for Six Sigma: an Indian case study

Shainin design of experiments (DOE) offers a powerful and effective experimental design approach for solving the chronic quality problems that plague manufacturers worldwide. However, the academic literature still contains a few empirical studies on the use of non-statistical Shainin DOE tools to simplify the quality improvement initiatives. In order to overcome this deficiency, this case describes framework for incorporating Shainin experimental design within Six Sigma define–measure–analyse–improve–control and tests its effectiveness in an Indian automotive gear manufacturing unit. Shainin tools such as Paired Comparison, Product/Process search, Concentration chart, B vs. C analysis, Pre-control chart were employed to analyse, improve and control the gear manufacturing process. The study provides stimulus for the wider application of Shainin experimental design approach for industrial experimentation.     

Non-monetary accounting: A necessary development for better managerial decisions

This study analyses critically the latest existence of non-monetary accounting: its uses today, its advantages and disadvantages, and the inevitable trends of a move away from total reliance on monetary accounting, especially now with the development of integrated information systems in modern enterprises.     

Leveraging psychological contracts as an HR strategy: The case of software developers

This article studies the management of software developers through the lens of the psychological contract and from the perspectives of employees and employers. Data were gathered through interviews with software developers and their human resources (HR) and/or direct managers in French high-tech companies. Our findings show the crucial role of HR and direct managers who shape a balanced professional psychological contract with developers as a specific HR strategy in order to respond to their job specificities and values. Specific HR practices (nature of the processes, involvement of developers in these processes, credibility of HR/direct managers and career development opportunities) and the working environment contribute to the development of trust and fairness, which form part of the content of the balanced contract.     

Approaching management and organization paradoxes paradoxically: The case for the tetralemma as an expansive encasement strategy

The field of paradox studies keeps struggling to put the notion of paradox into the very centre of organizational life and managerial decision-making, with mixed success. We argue that this research ambition can be realized much more effectively by anchoring the field in three interrelated conceptual approaches which build on paradox as the paradigmatic point of departure. These approaches include Spencer Brown’s form calculus, Niklas Luhmann’s systems and organization theory, and the traditional Indian logical construct of tetralemma. In the proposed argument, paradox constitutes the very identity of organizations as (re-entries of) distinctions drawn in the environment; it is actualized in every act of organizational decision communication, as well as in the process of the continual vanishing and renewal of such acts. In this conception of organizational life, the key challenge is to debunk false distinctions by using tetralemmatization strategies that entail a radical questioning of the problematic observational perspectives.     

和谐管理理论视角下的战略形成过程:和谐主题的核心作用

战略的内涵与形成过程历来是众多学者争相探讨的一个问题,但时至今日学者们对该问题的理解与回答仍是一片混乱.首先对战略形成领域各流派进行了系统的回顾,然后基于和谐管理理论视角对现有战略形成流派进行了重新梳理并将其划分为"主谐派"、"主和派"及"和谐交替派"等三类.在此基础上,结合现代组织环境的复杂多变特性,分析了现有战略形成流派思想在解决现代组织管理问题时的局限性,并基于和谐管理理论构建了描述复杂多变环境下战略形成过程的一种新的模型.从宏观、微观及整体等三个层面详尽阐释了上述新模型的基本含义,并探讨了和谐主题对于支撑这一模型的核心作用,最后用一个案例对和谐管理理论视角下的战略形成模型的主要特征及其现实应用进行了讨论.文章致力于在一定程度上为混乱的战略形成领域带来秩序并为复杂多变环境下的战略管理研究提供新的思路.     

Sourcing strategy of Belgian SMEs: empirical evidence for the accounting services

The primary objective of this paper is to examine the sourcing strategy for one business function (accounting services), by looking at the degree of outsourcing for each task of this function. Three research questions are addressed: (1) What sourcing strategy do SMEs use for accounting services? (2) What are the reasons? (3) Is there a link between sourcing strategy and company characteristics? The research design consisted of a postal survey sent out to 1200 managers of SMEs in Belgium. The main results showed that 53% use selective outsourcing, i.e. combining both an inhouse accountant with an accounting service provider. The results also showed that 35% use total insourcing and 12% prefer total outsourcing. Surprisingly, cost reduction is not the main reason for outsourcing. External expertise is the main reason for selectively outsourcing. SMEs select a total insourcing strategy because they want the accounting information at hand. Finally, larger SMEs decide for a total insourcing strategy and prefer to keep the accounting services internal. The conclusions show that future research should focus on the degree of outsourcing. The practical implication of this study is that accounting service providers should highlight their expertise and overcome the disadvantage of remote data analysis to attract more SME-customers.