东方管理学视角的企业知识型员工管理

知识经济时代,企业的核心资源是知识型员工。本文认为企业应结合知识型员工的特点,将东方管理学的核心思想———"人为为人"思想有机地运用到管理中,注重从"利他"角度着眼,追求让知识型员工达到关系和谐与身心健康的目标,让企业达到持续提高工作绩效和竞争能力的目标。文中探索的主要实现途径包括:树立知识型员工是第一客户的理念;建立服从知识与服从权威同样重要的舆论氛围;管理者要以身作则,率先垂范;充分授权,注重沟通,提高知识型员工的参与感;识别需求,有效激励,探索按知分配;开展以提升创新能力为核心的培训开发;关爱知识型员工的身心健康;从有利于知识型员工发挥价值的角度,优化改造组织结构。     

Complementary or conflictual? Formal participation,informal participation,and organizational performance

Most studies of worker participation examine either formal participatory structures or informal participation. Yet, increasingly, works councils and other formal participatory bodies are operating in parallel with collective bargaining or are filling the void left by its decline. Moreover, these bodies are sprouting in workplaces in which workers have long held a modicum of influence, authority, and production‐ or service‐related information. This study leverages a case from the health care sector to examine the interaction between formal and informal worker participation. Seeking to determine whether or not these two forces—each independently shown to benefit production or service delivery—complement or undermine one another, we find evidence for the latter. In the case of the 27 primary care departments that we study, formal structures appeared to help less‐participatory departments improve their performance. However, these same structures also appeared to impede those departments with previously high levels of informal participation. While we remain cautious with respect to generalizability, the case serves as a warning to those seeking to institute participation in an environment in which some workers have long felt they had the requisite authority, influence, and information necessary to perform their jobs effectively.     

Work intensification and employee involvement in lean production: new light on a classic dilemma

Abstract

This paper contributes to the literature on lean production by exploring whether and how the involvement of employees in continuous improvement and their work outcomes are jeopardized by the intensification in the work pace that stems from the elimination of non-value added activities. The research setting is the application of a lean production system, World Class Manufacturing, to 24 Italian plants of a global carmaker. The research has found that work intensification limits employee involvement in continuous improvement, and plays a crucial role in enabling employees to experience higher personal efficacy, better work performance and higher employee satisfaction. However, worker intensification does not have a direct negative impact on employees’ satisfaction about their working condition. A supportive team environment and a mature implementation of lean production at a plant level mitigate the tension between employee involvement and intensification of the work pace. Two main implications of these findings have emerged. Ambivalence in lean production is a temporary response of the workforce that can gradually diminish when the plant reaches a systemic level of application of lean organization principles. In order to diminish the coercive function of lean production, managers should apply tools and practices that require more employee involvement and a supportive team environment.     

On Work and Authority: Issues in Job Enlargement, Job Enrichment, Worker Participation and Shared Authority

Abstract . Continued debate over the nature of work is adding to an existing vast literature in labor economics, business and personnel administration, industrial sociology and social psychology. Both theory and experience indicate that the authoritarian workplace results in social costs through reduced labor productivity and increased worker dissatisfaction. But progress toward shared authority and worker participation in the administration of the production process promises to be slow. Management generally preserves a legitimized authority, defending it with the misplaced rationale of elitism, i.e., the presumed functional superiority of managers. Unions will not press for shared authority, for to do so would undermine their basic and formal function of organizational restraint of managerial authority. Thus, while management and union logically protect their traditional roles, the worker and society are denied the potential benefits of basic changes in work and authority.     

Really changing the course: the limitations of environmental management systems for innovation

The paper broadens the scope of environmental management system (EMS) research by describing how EMSs can contribute to inertia in present production systems. In conjunction with other factors this inertia can inhibit dramatic shifts toward more sustainable technologies and systems. Our approach builds upon technological lock‐in theory, which focuses on market coordination and technological interdependencies as generators of inertia in technological systems. Building on this framework, we call attention to previously under appreciated non‐market social forces and institutional structures that can further reinforce lock‐in. We argue that the co‐evolutionary mechanisms that generate increasing returns for physical technologies may also be applied to social technologies, such as management systems. The paper describes the emergence of ‘EMS lock‐in’ as a path dependent evolution occurring within the context of the larger quality management paradigm. While EMS may initially produce improvements in environmental performance, EMS may also constrain organizational focus to the exploitation of present production systems, rather than exploring for superior innovations that are discontinuous. The paper questions the enthusiastic private and public sector support for EMS implementation and instead recommends an ambidextrous management approach that integrates foresight and broader stakeholder collaboration. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Bayes estimates of distance‐to‐market: transactions costs,cooperatives and milk‐market development in the Ethiopian highlands

Rationalizing non‐participation as a resource deficiency in the household, this paper identifies strategies for milk‐market development in the Ethiopian highlands. The additional amounts of covariates required for positive marketable surplus—‘distances‐to market’—are computed from a model in which production and sales are correlated; sales are left‐censored at some unobserved threshold; production efficiencies are heterogeneous; and the data are in the form of a panel. Incorporating these features into the modeling exercise is important because they are fundamental to the data‐generating environment. There are four reasons. First, because production and sales decisions are enacted within the same household, both decisions are affected by the same exogenous shocks, and production and sales are therefore likely to be correlated. Second, because selling involves time and time is arguably the most important resource available to a subsistence household, the minimum sales amount is not zero but, rather, some unobserved threshold that lies beyond zero. Third, the potential existence of heterogeneous abilities in management, ones that lie latent from the econometrician's perspective, suggest that production efficiencies should be permitted to vary across households. Fourth, we observe a single set of households during multiple visits in a single production year. The results convey clearly that institutional and production innovations alone are insufficient to encourage participation. Market‐precipitating innovation requires complementary inputs, especially improvements in human capital and reductions in risk. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lean principles, learning, and knowledge work: Evidence from a software services provider

In this paper, we examine the applicability of lean production to knowledge work by investigating the implementation of a lean production system at an Indian software services firm. We first discuss specific aspects of knowledge work—task uncertainty, process invisibility, and architectural ambiguity—that call into question the relevance of lean production in this setting. Then, combining a detailed case study and empirical analysis, we find that lean software projects perform better than non-lean software projects at the company for most performance outcomes. We document the influence of the lean initiative on internal processes and examine how the techniques affect learning by improving both problem identification and problem resolution. Finally, we extend the lean production framework by highlighting the need to (1) identify problems early in the process and (2) keep problems and solutions together in time, space, and person.     

End‐of‐pipe or cleaner production? An empirical comparison of environmental innovation decisions across OECD countries

While both fundamental types of abatement measure mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of production, cleaner production technologies are frequently more advantageous than end‐of‐pipe technologies for environmental and economic reasons. This paper analyzes a variety of factors that might enhance firms' propensity to implement cleaner production technologies instead of end‐of‐pipe technologies. On the basis of a unique facility‐level data set derived from a recent OECD survey, we find a clear dominance of cleaner production in seven OECD countries: 76.8% of the facilities report that they invest predominantly in cleaner production technologies, above all in new production processes, but not so much in new products. Based on a discrete choice model, our estimation results indicate that regulatory measures and the stringency of environmental policies are more important for end‐of‐pipe technologies, while cost savings, general management systems and specific environmental management tools tend to favor clean production. We conclude that improvements towards cleaner production may be reached by the continuous development and wider diffusion of these management tools. Improvements may also be stimulated by widening the cost gap between the two types of technology, for instance by additionally charging for waste and energy use. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

What do we know about business strategy and environmental research? Insights from Business Strategy and the Environment

Business Strategy and the Environment (BSE) is a premier journal dedicated to interdisciplinary research that advances business practice leading to improvements in environmental performance. Using big data analytics, this review examines the intellectual structure and the drivers of research impact of BSE in the scholarly domain. The bibliometric results suggest three major findings. First, the top three countries contributing to BSE are the United Kingdom, the United States, and China. Second, BSE's research manifests through five thematic clusters, namely, business strategy and sustainability; corporate governance and sustainability reporting; green marketing and pro-environmental behavior; innovation and environmental policy; and environmental management systems. Finally, BSE's research impact in terms of citations is significantly influenced by author affiliation (United States); article age (older), appearance (lead article and special issue), length (longer), and method (mix methods); title length (shorter title); and number of keywords (more keywords) and references (more references). Implications for BSE's readers and future contributors are discussed.     

For green or not for green? The effect of cooperation goals and type on environmental performance

Although many scholars have demonstrated that companies engaged in collaborations achieve better environmental performance than other companies, existing studies have not analyzed in depth whether this effect changes considering the characteristics of cooperation. Our paper aims to explore whether collaboration with other companies always has a positive effect on environmental performance or whether it depends on cooperation goals, collaboration type, or company size. Empirical analysis based on a sample of 773 European companies demonstrated that an external source of knowledge is an important way to foster firms' environmental proactivity, especially when environmental goals are shared at the basis of collaboration. Second, we verified that companies involved in JVs with environmental goals achieve greater environmental performance than companies that use M&As to acquire external knowledge. Finally, we demonstrated that it is more important for small companies to be involved in environmental collaboration than larger ones.     

Organizational response to environmental regulation: punctuated change or autogenesis?

Theory predicts that when faced with threatening new conditions, managers often attempt to preserve the status quo by creating a buffer between the organization and the outside world. This paper presents evidence that in response to new water pollution regulation, managers indeed created buffers of technology and personnel, but in some organizations this very equipment and personnel initiated a process of incremental change that led to better environmental protection, more efficient production, and in a few cases, entirely new product and production strategies. For public policy, this research suggests that environmental regulators should allow companies time and flexibility to learn and experiment. For organizational theory, this research suggests a link between punctuated‐equilibrium models of organizational dynamics ( Tushman and Romanelli, 1985 ) and theories of self‐organizing systems ( Drazin and Sandelands, 1992 ). That is, management may respond to external changes by attempting to preserve the status quo, but in so doing influence internal deep structures that then cause organizations to gradually evolve to different behaviours and shapes. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment     

The effect of environmental complexity and environmental dynamism on lean practices

Increasingly manufacturers implement lean practices to improve operational performance. In addition, manufacturers operate in ever more complex and volatile environments. This research investigates the effects of environmental complexity and dynamism on lean operations and lean purchasing practices. It empirically examines these relationships using archival and survey data from 126 manufacturers. The results show that environmental complexity positively moderates the effects of lean operations and lean purchasing on performance. However, environmental dynamism reduces the benefits of lean operations on performance, but enhances the benefits of lean purchasing on performance. Robustness tests further confirm the contingent effects of complexity and dynamism on lean operations and lean purchasing. This research offers a more nuanced understanding of the effect of external environmental context on lean practices, and suggests that practitioners should carefully consider the external environment when implementing different types of lean practices.     

Knowledge transfer across permeable boundaries: An empirical study of clients’ decisions to involve management consultants

We investigate the relationship between the knowledge requirements of projects and clients’ decisions whether to procure services from external management consultants for the execution of these projects. Using data from interviews with client decision-makers regarding the execution of 86 projects, we find that knowledge requirements are strongly associated with the decision whether or not to involve external consultants. The results highlight the closeness of the relationships between clients and consultants, supporting Kitay and Wright's [Kitay, J., & Wright, C. (2004). Take the money and run? Organisational boundaries and consultants’ roles, The Service Industries Journal, 24(3) 1–18] view of the permeability of the boundaries between many client organizations and their consultants. The findings also confirm our expectation that clients use the services of external management consultants in order to procure functional or industry-specific knowledge which consultants can pool and apply efficiently across many projects.     

Effects of HRM practices,lean production practices and lean duration on performance

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate the structural relationships between HRM practices, lean production practices, operational performance and firm performance of manufacturing firms that have implemented lean production. The data were collected from the firms operating in Sri Lanka, which fulfilled the selection criteria set for the study. Statistical techniques were used to test the hypothesized relationships. It was found that lean production practices and operational performance mediate the relationship between HRM practices and firm performance; lean duration moderates the relationship between HRM practices and lean production practices in such a way that the longer the duration, the greater would be the adoption of lean production practices. The essential contribution of the findings lie in presenting empirical data valuable for the advancement of research in HRM as well as for making decisions on people management when implementing advanced manufacturing technologies.     

德美两国企业参与管理的对比研究

参与式管理是当代资本主义企业的重要管理方式之一,其兴起的原因包括三个方面:一是企业生产组织形式由福特制到大规模定制的转换;二是知识工人地位的提高;三是劳动力管理思想的转变。参与式管理提高了工人的满意度和生产效率,缓和了劳资之间的矛盾。德国的参与式管理建立在国家立法基础上,而美国则以非正式制度和个人主义为特征。     

Company and union commitment: evidence from an adversarial industrial relations climate at a Korean auto plant

This study examines the feasibility and antecedents of worker commitment to company and union at an automobile plant in Korea. It utilized a sample of 331 workers at the plant who were implementing new management techniques, e.g. human resources management, total quality management and lean production. The plant had a long history of adversarial industrial relations, and its workforce was organized by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, a union organization known for its militancy. The study found little evidence of workers' dual commitment to the company and the trade union, but instead discovered a competing commitment between company and trade union. Furthermore, company and union commitment were predicated on different factors, with workers' positive perceptions of the industrial relations climate positively affecting commitment to their company and negatively affecting commitment to their union. The findings were more consistent with those at other workplaces with an adversarial industrial relations climate rather than those with a co-operative one.     

EXPERIENCES WITH IMPLEMENTING INTEGRATED CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN DUTCH INDUSTRY

Integrated chain management (also called ‘life cycle management’) has become a central concept in environmental policy in the Netherlands. Integrated chain management requires two essential changes in the existing pattern of production and consumption. It calls for a reduction in the use of fossil energy sources (natural gas, oil and coal) and a switch to the utilization of sustainable energy sources based on solar and wind energy. Integrated chain management further involves preventing the diffuse spread of pollution, finding substitutes for environmentally hazardous substances and retaining substances in the substance cycle for as long as possible. The insights gained in the Netherlands into how the concept of integrated chain management can be translated into day to day corporate practice are summarized. It is argued, firstly, that industry needs to conduct integrated chain analyses to identify possible options for environmental improvements extending to the whole production chain; secondly, that the results of such chain analyses will only be implemented if the concept of integrated chain management is incorporated by companies in their strategic planning; and, finally, that the implementation of environmental improvements will often require forms of strategic co-operation with external parties. It is concluded that most efforts have focused on elaborating a methodology for integrated chain analysis. The actual implementation of the specific improvement options — integrated chain management — still occurs to only a limited extent in Dutch industry.     

Cleaner production: organizational learning or business as usual? An example from the domestic appliance industry

It is frequently argued that approaches to minimizing the environmental, health and safety impact of industry (i.e. cleaner production) require that firms engage in a process of participative learning involving all levels of the organizational hierarchy. This paper examines the key concept of organizational learning, particularly in terms of the associated concepts of ‘participation’ and ‘empowerment’, drawing on a study of a large, environmentally pro‐active firm and recent critical literature on the experience of work. It is suggested that, although contemporary management philosophy pays lip service to increased workforce participation and empowerment, there are formidable structural and cultural barriers to such change. Initiatives within firms to stimulate learning and continuous improvement around cleaner production can be understood in terms of firstly the relative power of individuals and groups within organizations to define and activate learning agendas and secondly the emphasis given to low cost, low skill and low trust as a route to competitiveness, particularly in a UK business context. Finally, attention is drawn to the weakness of external mechanisms for supporting genuine participation and empowerment within enterprises around health, safety and environmental issues. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment     

装配生产线平衡的改善

本文将精益生产有关理论运用在企业生产管理中,通过实例阐述了装配生产线平衡改善的基本原则和方法,并对装配生产线的平衡进行了分析和改善.     

Firms’ Response to Climate Change: The Interplay of Business Uncertainty and Organizational Capabilities

With climate change emerging as one of the most important issues increasing uncertainty in the business circle, firms have shown different reactions. Why do firms differ in adopting and implementing carbon management practices (CMPs) in response to the global warming issue? This paper attempts to explore this question with particular attention to two factors: external business uncertainty and internal organizational capabilities. This study investigated whether business uncertainty, organizational learning and lean production capabilities influenced the adoption and implementation of CMPs as well as examining how organizational capabilities moderate the relationships between business uncertainty and the level of CMPs. The results of a cross‐sectional survey and hierarchical regression analyses indicate that perceived business uncertainty decreases the adoption of CMPs, organizational learning and lean production capabilities strongly facilitate the adoption and implementation of CMPs, and lean production capability positively moderates the impacts of business uncertainty on the adoption of CMPs. This study provides guidance for managers and academics considering how to identify, design and manage the dimensions of a firm's practices in response to the global warming issue within the organization as well as with other organizations. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment