Management innovation: a dynamic analysis of the implementation phase over time

Abstract

We develop management innovation theory, providing insights into the role of time in the implementation phase. The management innovation literature has sought to empirically identify factors that facilitate or hinder management innovation implementation from a static perspective. To address the evolution of these factors’ resistance, a temporal perspective is appropriate, but an analysis of these factors’ evolution over time is lacking. We identify the inhibiting factors that influence the management innovation implementation phase over time and address ways in which they evolve.We conduct a comparative longitudinal and dynamic analysis based on two intermediate-sized enterprises and address the obstacles that emerge during the implementation phase of a specific management innovation: lean manufacturing. Our results highlight different categories of inhibiting factors: some inhibiting factors appear at the beginning of the implementation phase with high intensity and then fade over time; conversely, other inhibiting factors appear later and then increase in intensity.     

Work-related episodic memories can increase or decrease motivation and psychological health at work

ABSTRACT

Research on the psychological mechanisms underlying employee motivation and psychological health at work has been limited to general and chronic workplace factors, such as job strenuousness or management style. In two studies, we examine how unique and time-specific work life events encoded as episodic memories can influence employee motivation and psychological health at work as a function of how these events are recalled having been experienced in terms of need satisfaction. In Study 1, participants described a self-defining work-related memory and rated it for need satisfaction. They also completed scales of need satisfaction at work, self-determined motivation, and positive and negative indicators of psychological health (i.e. work satisfaction and burnout). In Study 2, participants completed the same tasks and scales, but they did it again two years later. Results revealed that need satisfaction in self-defining work-related memories was associated with self-determined motivation and indicators of psychological health at work, over and above demographics (age, sex, weekly hours worked, education) and general perceptions of need satisfaction at work. Moreover, it predicted increases in self-determined motivation and in work satisfaction and decreases in burnout over two years. The present findings underscore the importance of considering unique work life events encoded in memory.     

Disruptions in tightly coupled supply chain networks: the case of the US offshore oil industry

Managers have paid increasing attention to the exposure of their supply chains to disruptions and seek ways to mitigate supply chain vulnerability. The interconnectedness of tightly coupled supply chain networks makes this a challenging task, because interconnectedness and tight coupling of nodes in the network lead to an amplification of the actual risk exposure. This phenomenon can be attributed to the propagation of losses through the network, which exhibits certain dynamics. In order to investigate this mechanism, we studied the complex supply chain network of the oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico. Our results provide an estimate of the economic impact of eventual random and hurricane-related disruptions and can be used as a decision support tool for risk management of supply disruptions in interconnected supply chain networks.     

The informed society: an analysis of the public's information-seeking behavior regarding coastal flood risks

Recent flood risk management puts an increasing emphasis on the public's risk perception and its preferences. It is now widely recognized that a better knowledge of the public's awareness and concern about risks is of vital importance to outline effective risk communication strategies. Models such as Risk Information Seeking and Processing address this evolution by considering the public's needs and its information-seeking behavior with regard to risk information. This study builds upon earlier information-seeking models and focuses on the empirical relationships between information-seeking behavior and the constructs of risk perception, perceived hazard knowledge, response efficacy, and information need in the context of coastal flood risks. Specific focus is given to the mediating role of information need in the model and to the differences in information-seeking behavior between permanent and temporary residents. By means of a structured on-line questionnaire, a cross-sectional survey was carried out in the city of Ostend, one of the most vulnerable places to coastal flooding on the Belgian coast. Three hundred thirteen respondents participated in the survey. Path analysis reveals that information need does not act as a mediator in contrast to risk perception and perceived knowledge. In addition, it is shown that risk perception and perceived hazard knowledge are higher for permanent than temporary residents, leading to increased information-seeking behavior among the former group. Implications for risk communication are discussed.     

VERTICAL INTEGRATION AND TECHNOLOGY: THEORY AND EVIDENCE

We study the determinants of vertical integration. We first derive a number of predictions regarding the relationship between technology intensity and vertical integration from a simple incomplete contracts model. Then, we investigate these predictions using plant‐level data for the UK manufacturing sector. Most importantly, and consistent with the theoretical predictions, we find that the technology intensity of downstream (producer) industries is positively correlated with the likelihood of integration whereas the intensity of upstream (supplier) industries is negatively correlated with it. Also consistent with theory, both correlations are stronger when the supplying industry accounts for a large fraction of the producer's costs. These results are generally robust and hold with alternative measures of technology intensity, with alternative estimation strategies, and with or without controlling for a number of firm‐ and industry‐level characteristics. (JEL: L22, L23, L24, L60)     

Entreprises et gouvernance en France : perspectives historiques et évolutions récentes

Does France have a society that is blocked by nature and essence? A historical perspective yields a completely different view of the country's social and economic landscape. In particular, attention is drawn to the deep transformations of French firms and of their governance. The history of this change partly fits into a broader trend that, reaching well beyond borders, can be easily summed up through a single word — “globalization”. Changes in French firms and in their “logics of governance” can partly be seen as a reaction to powerful outside pressures that are pushing the economies of France and many other countries in a particular direction. Still, as we probe further, we realize that these changes are, in fact, adaptations, translations and hybridizations that involve ongoing negotiations with already existing institutional frames and logics. The advance of globalization and neoliberalism is quite real; but it interplays with and is embedded in local settings and logics that limit its scope and impact. — Special issue: New patterns of institutions.     

The news of the death of welfare economics is greatly exaggerated

The paper reexamines the controversy about Bergson–Samuelson social welfare functions (BSFs) that took place between welfare economists and social choice theorists as a consequence of Arrow’s (1951) impossibility theorem. The 1970’s witnessed a new version of the theorem that was meant to establish that BSFs “make interpersonal comparisons of utility or are dictatorial.” Against this, Samuelson reasserted the existence of well-behaved “ordinalist” BSFs and generally denied the relevance of Arrovian impossibilities to welfare economics. The paper formalizes and reassesses each camp’s arguments. While being also critical of Samuelson’s, it eventually endorses his conclusion that welfare economics was left untouched by the controversy. It draws some connections of BSFs with contemporary normative economics.     

Mortalité par âge et cause de décès en Suisse: Une analyse des disparités cantonales durant la période 1978/83 à 1988/93

Au cours des années 1980, la Suisse a vu son espérance de vie à la naissance augmenter dans tous les cantons, mais à des rythmes très différents. Ces caractéristiques cantonales du niveau et de l'évolution de la mortalité sont décrites par des méthodes de décomposition développées par Pollard et Arriaga. Les rythmes d'évolution des cantons sont comparés et les spécificités observées sont expliquées par une répartition des différences entre les tables de mortalité, selon l'âge et la cause de décès qui contribuent à ces différences. Les résultats montrent notamment le rôle prépondérant des âges actifs et avancés sur l'évolution récente de la mortalité, et l'importance du SIDA et des morts violentes sur les disparités cantonales. L'analyse se conclut par une discussion des principaux résultats obtenus. During the 1980s, expectation of life at birth increased in all the Swiss cantons, but at very different tempi. The characteristics of the level and trends of mortality in the cantons are described here by the decomposition methods developed by Pollard and Arriaga. The pace of the development of mortality in the cantons is compared, and the particular characteristics observed are accounted for by life table analysis according to age and cause of death. The results show in particular the dominant role played at economically active ages and beyond in recent mortality trends, and the importance of AIDS and of violent deaths in accounting for differences between cantons. The analysis is concluded by a discussion of the main results obtained.     

Le travail invisible à l'université : le cas des antennes universitaires

A growing set of tasks essential for universities is performed outside merit systems. It thus represents a sort of invisible work. In these “antennas”, this work is shared in three ways, which refer to three levels of autonomy of these off-campus programs from their parent institution. The more an antenna is autonomous, the better it organizes its work. Furthermore, research activities are essential if these off-campus programs are to stabilize young academics locally and lead them to take their part in this invisible work.