Evaluating qualitative management research: Towards a contingent criteriology

The term qualitative management research embraces an array of non‐statistical research practices. Here it is argued that this diversity is an outcome of competing philosophical assumptions which produce distinctive research perspectives and legitimate the appropriation of different sets of evaluation criteria. Some confusion can arise when evaluation criteria constituted by particular philosophical conventions are universally applied to this heterogeneous management field. In order to avoid such misappropriation, this paper presents a first step towards a contingent criteriology located in a metatheoretical analysis of three modes of qualitative management research which are compared with the positivist mainstream to elaborate different forms of evaluation. It is argued that once armed with criteria that vary accordingly, evaluation can reflexively focus upon the extent to which any management research consistently embraces the particular methodological principles that are sanctioned by its a priori philosophical commitments.     

准备好做领袖了吗？

领导者必须做好思想上的准备以面对未知的挑战是什么让杰出的企业领袖不同于那些平庸之辈呢?最出色的领军人物能预见未来的变化,发现变化所带来的机遇,能让自己的组织从变化中受益。总的来说,他们有备而来。现在,做好充分的准备比以往愈加重要了,这是Bill Welter和Jean Egmon所坚     

何时推进，何时退后

如何从不太重要的信息中找出重要的信息呢?在同老板的交往中通过了解他想从你那里了解什么,从而提前进行区分要达到企业所希望的结果,你需要依赖员工分享重要信息．提出他们在同客户、合作伙伴甚至是竞争对手的交往中形成的创意。但鼓励员工分享他们的深刻见解的同时．你也希望他们有自己的判断力。你不需要了解资料的所有细节。     

你是否发掘了知识工作者的最大价值？

管理知识工作者的人必须以新的方式履行职能巴布逊学院(Babson College)信息技术与管理学总统奖教授托马斯·达文波特(Thomas Davenport)称:如今,知识工作者占据了经济发达国家25％到50％的劳动力。知识工作者为你发明新产品和新服务、设计营销计划,并制定战略。     

杜绝预算诡计

在繁荣时期,企业领导不会太在意预算诡计又到了做预算的时候,几名经理企图故伎重演。营销主管抛出一份“谦虚”的计划,以便自己超额完成目标,赚到奖金。事业部经理掩盖本部门的弊病,以便为计划争取资金。产品开发总监坚持说,如果不给他的设想投资,公司将注定完蛋。马拉康顾问公司(Marakon Associates)驻纽约合伙人理查德·斯     

Let's Call it Quits: Break‐Even Effects in the Decision to Stop Taking Risks

“Chasing” behavior, whereby individuals, driven by a desire to break even, continue a risky activity (RA) despite incurring large losses, is a commonly observed phenomenon. We examine whether the desire to break even plays a wider role in decisions to stop engaging in financially motivated RA in a naturalistic setting. We test hypotheses, motivated by this research question, using a large data set: 707,152 transactions of 5,379 individual financial market spread traders between September 2004 and April 2013. The results indicate strong effects of changes in wealth around the break‐even point on the decision to cease an RA. An important mediating factor was the individual's historical long‐term performance. Those with a more profitable trading history were less affected by a fall in cash balance below the break‐even point compared to those who had been less profitable. We observe that break‐even points play an important role in the decision of nonpathological risk takers to stop RAs. It is possible, therefore, that these nonpathological cognitive processes, when occurring in extrema, may result in pathological gambling behavior such as “chasing.” Our data set focuses on RAs in financial markets and, consequently, we discuss the implications for institutions and regulators in the effective management of risk taking in markets. We also suggest that there may be a need to consider carefully the nature and role of “break‐even points” associated with a broader range of nonfinancially‐focused risk‐taking activities, such as smoking and substance abuse.     

Quality Risk Ratings in Global Supply Chains

Extended enterprises face many challenges in managing the product quality of their suppliers. Consequently characterizing the quality risk posed by value‐chain partners has become increasingly important. There have been several recent efforts to develop frameworks for rating the quality risk posed by suppliers. We develop an analytical model to examine the impact of such quality ratings on suppliers, manufacturers, and social welfare. While it might seem that quality ratings would benefit high‐quality suppliers and hurt low‐quality suppliers, we show that this is not always the case. We find that such quality ratings can hurt both types of suppliers or benefit both, depending on the market conditions. We also find that quality ratings do not always benefit the most demanding manufacturers who desire high‐quality suppliers. Finally, we find that social welfare is not always improved by risk ratings. These results suggest that public policy initiatives addressing risk ratings must be carefully considered.     

In Search of ‘Managerial Work’: Past,Present and Future of an Analytical Category

Based on a comprehensive review of literature, the paper examines how ‘managerial work’ as a fluid analytical category has been approached methodologically, theoretically and empirically for more than 60 years. In particular, it highlights the existence of competing scholarly understandings regarding its nature, performance, meaning and politics. The authors suggest that subsequent empirical investigations have too often worked, methodologically and theoretically, to slot in, and thus effectively reduce, the term to a particular pre‐existing box, rather than exploring open‐endedly the what and how, but also the why of ‘managerial work’ as a distinct mode of situated ordering. Having represented the concept's past and present by identifying four distinct research approaches reflected in representative publications, the authors suggest that more attention should be devoted to a mode of analytical departure that promises to address directly the suggested shortcomings in the literature. Specifically, it is argued that much could be gained if contemporary notions of practice were brought into the study of managerial work. To this end, the authors outline the contours of a practice‐based approach as a sensitizing framework for understanding managerial work by highlighting the situated, relational, sociomaterial, meaning‐making and consequence‐oriented analytical foci the approach suggests, and suggesting a number of conjoint research questions, as well as acknowledging subsequent limitations.     

Validation of a Multi‐Dimensional Measure of Strategy Development Processes

In this paper, we present evidence on the measurement properties of an instrument that assesses six dimensions of organizational strategy development. These dimensions are labelled planning, incrementalism, cultural, political, command and enforced choice. Using data from 5332 managers, results indicate the instrument has acceptable reliability and validity. Exploratory factor analysis confirms its underlying structure. Generally, the sub‐scales have acceptable internal reliability and inter‐rater reliability at the organizational level (n = 770 organizations). Further, using data aggregated at the organizational level, the sub‐scales are judged to have acceptable validity from the pattern of correlations amongst the six dimensions and with other variables.