The discipline of teams

Groups don't become teams because that is what someone calls them. Nor do teamwork values by themselves ensure team performance. So what is a team? How can managers know when the team option makes sense and what they can do to ensure team success? In this article, drawn from their recent book The Wisdom of Teams, McKinsey partners Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith answer these questions and outline the discipline that makes a real team. The essence of a team is shared commitment. Without it, groups perform as individuals; with it, they become a powerful unit of collective performance. The best teams invest a tremendous amount of time shaping a purpose that they can own. The best teams also translate their purpose into specific performance goals. And members of successful teams pitch in and become accountable with and to their teammates. The fundamental distinction between teams and other forms of working groups turns on performance. A working group relies on the individual contributions of its members for group performance. But a team strives for something greater than its members could achieve individually. In short, an effective team is always worth more than the sum of its parts. Katzenbach and Smith identify three basic types of teams: teams that recommend things--task forces or project groups; teams that make or do things--manufacturing, operations, or marketing groups; and teams that run things--groups that oversee some significant functional activity. For managers, the key is knowing where in the organization real teams should be encouraged. Team potential exists anywhere hierarchy or organizational boundaries inhibit good performance.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

The myth of the top management team

Companies all across the economic spectrum are making use of teams. They go by a variety of names and can be found at all levels. In fact, you are likely to find the group at the very top of an organization professing to be a team. But even in the best of companies, a so-called top team seldom functions as a real team. Real teams must follow a well-defined discipline to achieve their performance potential. And performance is the key issue--not the fostering of "team values" such as empowerment, sensitivity, or involvement. In recent years, the focus on performance was lost in many companies. Even today, CEOs and senior executives often see few gains in performance from their attempts to become more teamlike. Nevertheless, a team effort at the top can be essential to capturing the highest performance results possible--when the conditions are right. Good leadership requires differentiating between team and nonteam opportunities, and then acting accordingly. Three litmus tests must be passed for a team at the top to be effective. First, the team must shape collective work-products--these are tangible performance results that the group can achieve working together that surpass what the team members could have achieved working on their own. Second, the leadership role must shift, depending on the task at hand. And third, the team's members must be mutually accountable for the group's results. When these criteria can be met, senior executives should come together to achieve real team performance. When the criteria cannot be met, they should rely on the individual leadership skills that they have honed over the years.     

The Working Behavior of Young People in Rural Cote d'Ivoire

One of the major features of structural adjustment is an attemptto reallocate labor—and hence output—through changesin relative prices. This article assesses how price changesaffect the working patterns of young people in rural Côted'Ivoire. The analysis is based on a model of the labor supplyof rural households and on the construction of composite priceindexes. The data come from the Côte d'Ivoire Living StandardsSurvey for 1985 and 1986. The panel aspect of the data allowsthe work choice made in one year to depend on the individual'schoice in the previous year. Results indicate that the priceof agricultural output generally is a positive incentive onthe decision to participate in the labor force. However, thisresult depends heavily on the employment and education of theindividual in the previous period. Those not already workingare less likely to respond to favorable movements in the pricesof cash crops by entering the work force.     

中国上市公司营运资金管理调查:1997—2006

本文对1997—2006年十年间中国上市公司营运资金管理绩效变化趋势和2006年度中国上市公司营运资金管理绩效状况进行了调查分析,调查结果表明:各个行业在经历过1997—1999年的经济波动后,近十年的营运资金周转期从总体上来看均处于下降的趋势,说明上市公司营运资金管理的绩效在不断提升。同时,营运资金管理绩效水平在行业之间存在较大的差异,且行业之间存在相互作用,因此,改善供应链管理和渠道关系管理是提升营运资金管理绩效的一个重要途径。作为本项调查的一个重要成果,我们按营运资金周转期指标分行业对2006年度中国上市公司营运资金管理绩效进行了排名,发布了"2006年度中国上市公司营运资金管理绩效排行榜"。     

商业银行个人客户经理制考核体系的构建探析

商业银行个人客户经理制起源于20世纪80年代的美国,通过专业人员对客户的专门服务,取得客户的信任、支持和协作,以达到企业价值的最大化。当前,各家商业银行倡导以＂市场为导向、以客户为中心＂的经营理念,也纷纷组建了自己专职的个人客户经理队伍,向有价值的客户提供差别化服务。本文重点介绍了个人客户经理制的核心内容,分析了当前各家商业银行在实施个人客户经理中普遍存在的问题,提出了要通过个人客户经理平衡积分卡来解决个人客户经理的考核,并就考核中应当关注的问题做了简要阐述。     

中国上市公司营运资金管理调查:2009

本调查从营运资金管理绩效的行业分析、企业分析、地区比较分析和外向型行业专题分析等方面对中国上市公司营运资金管理进行了分析,研究发现:金融危机对我国上市公司营运资金管理的负面影响仍然十分显著,经营活动营运资金管理绩效持续降低或总体持续降低的行业数量显著多于持续提高或总体持续提高的行业数量;生产渠道控制是经营活动营运资金管理的重点和难点;我国上市公司营运资金管理水平波动较大、管理风险较高;大多数上市公司采用延长付款期的方式来解决营运资金短缺问题,采购渠道营运资金管理绩效逆势回升的原因不在于存货管理水平的大面积改善,应付账款延期支付是其主要原因。此外还发现,营运资金管理绩效在地区之间不平衡、纺织服装和电子两个外向型程度较高的行业外销比例较大的样本组与外销比例较小的样本组营销渠道营运资金管理绩效差异明显。     

The Labour Market Impact of the Working Families' Tax Credit

In October 1999, the working families' tax credit (WFTC) replaced family credit as the main package of in‐work support for families with children. Among a range of stated aims, the WFTC is intended to‘… improve work incentives, encouraging people without work to move into employment'. In this paper, we consider the impact of WFTC on hours and participation. To simulate labour supply responses, we use a discrete behavioural model of household labour supply with controls for fixed and childcare costs, and unobserved heterogeneity. In simulation, we experiment with a number of scenarios regarding the take‐up of the credit, entry wage level and hourly childcare price. We find participation rates among single mothers to increase by around 2.2 percentage points for the base‐case scenario, while for married women participation rates are modelled to fall. Our simulation results indicate a small increase in overall participation of around 30,000 individuals.     

建设一支职业化的董事队伍

董事会对于公司战略和经营活动所进行的决策,对一家公司的发展起着至关重要的作用。随着现代公司治理结构的完善,董事作为一种社会资源,其紧缺性也开始显现出来。文章客观分析了成为合格董事所需的职业素质,及当前我国职业董事的选聘方式,提出应从建立分层次的职业董事人才库、动态合理使用职业董事人才、培育职业董事的从业热情这三个方面,着力培育和壮大我国职业化的董事队伍。     

中国上市公司营运资金管理调查:2007—2008

本项调查分行业考察了2007—2008年中国上市公司营运资金管理的状况和变化趋势,并用"经营活动营运资金周转期(按要素)"和"经营活动营运资金周转期(按渠道)"指标对上市公司营运资金管理绩效进行了排行。通过对比分析发现:在金融危机背景下,2/3行业的中国上市公司营运资金管理绩效在2008年度显著降低;2/3行业在至少两个渠道上的营运资金管理绩效同时降低;但也有三个行业(农林牧渔行业、金属非金属行业、交通运输及仓储业)的营运资金管理绩效不降反升,且三个渠道营运资金管理绩效同时提升。通过对典型企业的经营管理活动分析发现,渠道管理、供应链管理与营运资金管理相结合成为一种新的趋势,供应链融资、出口信用保险成为金融危机背景下企业改善营运资金管理的业务创新模式。     

The genesis of professional organisation in English accountancy

The organisation of accountants in Liverpool, London, Manchester and Sheffield during the 1870s has not been subject to exhaustive historical investigation. This paper analyses the first organisations of accountants in England in the context of theories of jurisdictional boundaries, occupational conflict, the creation of labour market shelters and social closure. It is shown that the Bankruptcy Act, 1869 disturbed the division of labour between accountants and lawyers and threatened the status of established accountants by encouraging competition from lesser practitioners. The study illustrates that the organisation of accountants in Liverpool was instigated by lawyers anxious to establish a medium for negotiating the boundaries of bankruptcy work with local accountants. In London, Manchester and Sheffield (and partly in Liverpool) organisation concerned the protection of established accountants from interlopers and was actualised by erecting market shelters and the imposition of exclusionary closure. Organisation was a device for the institutionalisation of occupational difference and protecting market advantage. During the 1870s the occupation of accountant was bifurcated into professional practitioners, marked by the badge of organisational membership, and less reputable individuals who were denied it. It is also contended that inter and intra professional conflict are pervasive themes in professional organisation and that individual actors were significant to engineering formation processes.     

Boundary-work in management accounting: The case of hybrid professionalism

This paper investigates boundary-work in management accounting in the context of globalization and hybrid professionalism. The paper demonstrates how permeable symbolic boundaries of the management accounting field can be altered by employing expansion boundary-work. Contrasting boundary-work of IMA officials and IMA members in Russia, we show that IMA officials employ primarily monopolization boundary-work while IMA members employ primarily expansion boundary-work. Our findings illustrate how boundary-work is employed to exhibit organizational and occupational professionalism in the symbolic realm. The paper provides additional insight into the discursive domain of the accounting profession by linking boundary-work to globalization, two forms of professionalism, legitimacy, status and professional identity. This suggests that the professionalization process is influenced by the properties of professional boundaries.     

校企合作的人才培养模式研究

随着社会的不断发展,实现学校、企业和学生三方共赢已成为＂校企合作,工学结合＂办学模式的首要目标。论文通过内蒙古师范大学网络技术学院校企合作的实践证明,＂校企合作,工学结合＂的教育模式是新时期培养高技能人才的有效措施,是发挥学校和企业各自优势,共同培养社会与市场需要的人才的有效途径。论文从教学管理方案、师资队伍建设、专业课程开设等方面入手,以内蒙古师范大学网络技术学院为例,对校企合作的人才培养模式进行探讨。     

The effects of reward structure,media richness and gender on virtual teams

This study explores the dynamics of virtual teams. We hypothesize that the use of a mixed-incentive reward structure will increase team member satisfaction, affect group cohesion and decrease perceived social loafing in a virtual team environment. We also hypothesize that team member satisfaction and team cohesion will increase and perceived social loafing will decrease with the use of a richer technology medium in a virtual team environment. In addition, we hypothesize that in a virtual team environment, team member satisfaction, group cohesion and perceived social loafing will differ between males and females. Using eighty-nine MBA students at a large southeastern university as participant's for our study, we find that perceived social loafing decreases with the use of a mixed-incentive reward structure in a virtual team environment. We also find that perceived social loafing decreases with the use of a richer technology medium in a virtual team environment. Finally, we find that perceived social loafing differs between males and females and that females perceive more social loafing when there is not a mixed-incentive scheme. The results shed light on the role of gender in virtual teams.     

Working Across Professional Boundaries: Primary Health Care and Social Care

Effective joint working between health and local authorities, and between health, social services and housing professionals, has long been recognized as vital to the provision of 'seamless' services for the most vulnerable members of society. Unfortunately, the history of formal joint working over the past 20 years has been largely a poor one. In this article the authors outline the findings from a recent study of working alliances across the primary health care/social care boundary. They examine how obstacles are being overcome and how, in some localities, the essential ingredients of inter-professional and inter-organizational trust are leading to the improved integration of services.     

The Working of the Auditing Practices Committee—Three Case Studies

This is a study of the development of three different auditing guidelines by the Auditing Practices Committee (APC) of the UK and the Irish Republic. The guidelines are those on analytical review, fraud, and general insurance business. The evidence is derived from the APC's archives and includes agendas, minutes, working papers and correspondence of working parties and of the main Committee, in addition to published sources. The evidence is used to assess the validity of the public criticisms that have been made of the APC and the possible effectiveness of the recent reforms of the system.     

中国上市公司营运资金管理调查:2011

本调查分别以2011年2177家上市公司、2010-2011年1864家可比上市公司和2007-2011年1347家可比上市公司作为研究对象,进行了营运资金管理绩效的行业总体分析、行业趋势分析、地区比较分析和专题分析(外向型行业分析、战略性新兴产业分析等),从渠道和要素两个视角对上市公司营运资金管理状况进行了全面调查和透视,得到以下结论:(1)上市公司营运资金整体占用水平持续增高,营运资金管理绩效降低较为普遍;(2)上市公司营运资金要素管理水平较为成熟,但渠道管理意识有待加强;(3)上市公司对商业信用的依赖度较强、短期借款和供应链依赖度较为稳定;(4)高度外向型行业营运资金管理绩效较低或有较大幅度的降低;(5)战略性新兴产业营运资金管理绩效全面下滑。     

中国上市公司营运资金管理调查:2010

本调查分别以2010年1945家上市公司、2009-2010年1586家可比上市公司和2008-2010年1306家可比上市公司作为研究对象,进行了营运资金管理绩效的行业分析、企业分析、地区比较分析和外向型行业专题分析,从渠道和要素两个视角对上市公司营运资金管理状况进行了全面调查和透视,得到以下结论:2010年中国上市公司营运资金平均管理绩效与2009年相比有所提高,但提高幅度不大;上市公司各要素单独管理水平相对成熟,协同管理水平较差;从地区视角来看,我国各地区上市公司的营运资金管理水平的差距仍然较大;对于那些外向型程度较高的行业(如纺织服装和电子信息产业等)来说,金融危机后行业的营运资金管理绩效正在逐步回升。     

Transnational regulation of professional services: Governance dynamics of field level organizational change

This paper examines the role of large accounting firms in the emergence of a transnational regulatory field in professional services. We use neo-institutional theory to illuminate the process by which new fields are created. We observe a shift in the structural boundaries of professional regulation to include new actors, specifically Big Four accounting firms and non-governmental organizations. We also observe a shift in regulatory logics in which historical efforts to separate professional practice from commercial interest are embraced rather than suppressed. New logics also include pressures to adopt new occupational identities. Finally we describe a shift in institutional power structures from coercive structures of domination to inclusive power structures of membership and identity.     

高校辅导员队伍建设的现状审视与路径优化

随着国内外政治形势的变化,社会主义精神文明建设逐步加强,高校人才培养要求不断提高,高校辅导员队伍建设的职业化、专业化发展成为大势所趋,但辅导员队伍建设较快发展的同时也暴露出一些现实问题,审视现状,高校辅导员队伍建设一方面要坚持不移的走职业化建设、专业化培养、专家化使用的道路,这既是现代社会职业发展之需,也是新时期加强与改善大学生思想政治教育之需,更是实现辅导员队伍可持续性发展之需,另一方面应直面现存问题,在解决方案上,争取观念性和制度性的突破,实现辅导员队伍建设的路径优化。     

The division of expert labour in the European audit market: The case of Germany

The implementation of three EU company law directives in Germany in the 1980s triggered a bitter dispute over the audit jurisdiction. This was fought out between an established “elite” occupational group of state-recognised auditors and aspiring related, but less qualified competitors. It ended with a compromise imposed by politicians. Our paper aims to contribute to the understanding of accounting professionalisation in different local and historical contexts by examining how the dynamics between the competing interest groups shaped the outcome in this particular episode. We base our analysis on the framework proposed by Abbott [Abbott A. The system of professions. An essay on the division of expert labour. Chicago/London: University of Chicago Press; 1988], but find that it requires refinement to explain the interactions between all actors, including the state and third parties. These interactions were complicated by simultaneous inter-and intraprofessional conflict, as well as by the peculiar complexity of ambiguous professional and jurisdictional boundaries, both in terms of work performed and professional qualifications held. Our discussion supports prior suggestions that Anglo-American theories may not be sufficient to explain professionalisation projects elsewhere, and considers additional dimensions which may be useful in explaining such projects also in other national and historical settings.