Leveraging a team-centric approach to diagnosing multiteam system functioning: The role of intrateam state profiles

The increased reliance on team-based structures within 21st century organizations has sparked a stream of research investigating the drivers of collaboration within and across multiteam systems (MTS), comprised of distinct, interdependent component teams. To date, MTS research tends to rely on the simplified—and potentially inaccurate—assumption that component teams within a MTS are homogenous with regard to their emergent intrateam properties (e.g., team attitudes, behaviors, cognitions). We suggest that team-centric approaches may better characterize the ways in which emergent intrateam properties might vary across different MTS component teams—operationalized with what we term ‘intrateam state profiles.’ Leveraging cancer care MTSs as an illustrative example, we detail the need for team-centric approaches as complementary to traditional, variable-centric approaches to studying collective phenomena. Specifically, we explore intrateam state profiles as a mechanism for understanding complex interactions of emergent properties within teams that may profoundly affect system functioning and associated HRM practices.     

A multilevel leadership process framework of performance management

Performance management is a critical human resource management practice intended to facilitate performance and development in organizations. Unfortunately, recent discourse among researchers and practitioners suggest that current performance management practices in organizations are less than satisfactory and not effective. A popular recommendation to improve the performance management process is to focus less on the formal procedures and more on the manager-employee interactions embedded in the process. However, current models of performance management do not reflect this focus on social processes. We present a multilevel leadership process framework of performance management that highlights the pivotal role of managers. Within this framework managers carry out this process through their influence on employees, teams, and the organization. Recommendations for future directions are also provided.     

ON ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN: FROM A LINEAR PROGRAMMING POINT OF VIEW

This paper analyses the impact of different organizational structures on the coordination problem of the multilevel organization. The two basic structures analysed is the U-form and the M-form within the framework of a price-directive coordination mechanism. Issues such as vertical and horizontal decomposition, the length of the planning period, the level of aggregation, etc., are discussed. The basis for the analysis is results from decomposing of linear programming models. ¹ 1 This research was supported by a grant from Staten Samfundsvidenskabelige Forskningsråd, Denmark, and the paper has benefited from discussions with Art Kuhn and Rich Burton.
     

Changing Trends in Regional Economic Development Policy Governance: The Case of Northern Ontario,Canada

This article analyses the changing trends in regional economic development policy delivery in multilevel governance systems. Although the imperatives of coordination of public policy interventions across multiple levels has generally been recognized, not enough attention has been given to how different political systems actually adapt their institutional and policy designs to effectively operate in the emergent complexity of multilevel governance systems. The article focuses on regional economic development policy governance in the province of Ontario, Canada over the past three decades, drawing insights from new regionalism, organization theory and governance literature to examine the prospects and challenges of policy delivery in politically complex multilevel systems. The case study illustrates how regional economic development policy is increasingly dictated by complex environmental and institutional forces of multilevel governance that are shaped by the particular character of a political system.     

Antecedents to ambidexterity competency in high technology organizations

High tech organizations confront dual demands of exploring new products/processes and exploiting existing products/processes. Research shows that ambidextrous organizations can better manage these dual demands, but our understanding of the antecedents that lead to ambidexterity is still emerging. In addition, previous research has taken a piecemeal approach to understand ambidexterity and does not fully consider its multilevel nature. This research takes a multilevel perspective and argues that a competency in ambidexterity involves three capabilities at different organizational levels: decision risk (strategic level), structural differentiation (project level), and contextual alignment (meso level). After correcting for endogeneity we empirically examine the relationship between these antecedents and ambidexterity competency by collecting multi-level data from 34 high tech business units and 110 exploration and exploitation R&D projects. The results indicate that decision risk and contextual alignment affect ambidexterity competency for high tech organizations. Structural differentiation does not affect ambidexterity competency but has mixed effects on R&D project performance.     

Preserving the link between R&D and manufacturing: Exploring challenges related to vertical integration and product/process newness

Adopting a contingency framework, this paper explores consequences of manufacturing outsourcing and product/process newness for R&D–manufacturing coordination. Based on case-study findings, the following coordination challenges are outlined: accessing manufacturing competence and understanding suppliers’ processes (outsourcing of manufacturing and high newness); receiving feedback from suppliers and motivating suppliers (outsourcing and low-medium newness); exploiting manufacturing competence and establishing close working relations (internalization of manufacturing and high newness); early involvement of manufacturing and suppliers, and reducing variability in supplier performance (internalization and low-medium newness). The paper further elaborates on how the role of purchasing may change in order to address these challenges.     

A typology of international human resource management strategies and processes

This paper develops a framework of international human resource management (IHRM) that moves beyond strategy and structure to focus on processes. The results of six case studies of large German multinational corporations in three countries show different configurations of IHRM strategies and policies. International knowledge flows and coordination varied in intensity, content, direction and mechanisms used. With ‘cognofederate’ IHRM one type was identified that has been hitherto neglected.     

Managing business processes across supply networks: the role of coordination mechanisms

The theory of network coordination provides a theoretical basis to explain how companies can overcome organizational boundaries and constraints to jointly manage business processes across supply networks. In particular, this paper focuses on Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR), a collaboration process whereby supply chain trading partners activate inter-firm coordination mechanisms to jointly plan key supply chain activities, from production and delivery of raw materials to production and delivery of final products to end customers.By discussing three case studies of CPFR implementation in supply networks of different industries–i.e. pharmaceutical, automotive and mechanical–the paper provides a theoretical framework that contributes to explaining the relations between inter-firm coordination mechanisms and the characteristics of interdependence among the actors involved in CPFR implementation.     

Believing Is Seeing: Joint Ventures and Organization Learning*

This paper develops a conceptual framework for the study of organization learning and applies it to learning in joint ventures (JVs). the framework presents a multilevel view of the phenomenon, suggesting that learning in organizations occurs at the individual, group and organization levels. the framework integrates behavioural and cognitive perspectives of organization learning and delineates both learning processes and outcomes. Four key elements of organization learning are addressed: the nature of managerial learning experiences, the sharing and integration of managerial learning within an organization, the insti-tutionalization of learning, and the relationship between organization learning and performance. In applying the framework to a study of learning and JVs, we observed firms with explicit learning objectives unable to put into place the appropriate mechanisms and systems to transfer knowledge from the JV to the parent. While individual managers in the JVs were often enthusiastic and positive about their learning experiences, integration of the learning experience at the parent firm level was problematic, limiting the institutionalized learning. the fundamental position in this paper is that a rigid set of managerial beliefs associated with an unwillingness to cast off or unlearn past practices can severely limit the effectiveness of organization learning.     

Approaching evaluation from a multilevel perspective: A comprehensive analysis of the indicators of training effectiveness

We propose a multilevel framework that addresses the criteria that can be used to assess training effectiveness at the within-person, between-person, and macro levels of analysis. Specifically, we propose four evaluation taxa—training utilization, affect, performance, and financial impact—as well as the specific evaluation metrics that can be captured to examine the facets of each taxon. Our multilevel framework also clarifies the appropriate level of analysis for assessing each criterion variable and articulates when it appropriate to aggregate responses from a lower level of analysis to assess training effectiveness at a higher level of analysis. Finally, we illustrate how training evaluation criteria are interrelated because understanding constructs' nomological network is essential for gauging the depth of knowledge that can be inferred by any evaluation effort.     

Organizational Goals,Outcomes, and the Assessment of Performance: Reconceptualizing Success in Management Studies

We revisit the study of organizational goals, outcomes, and assessment of performance that together define the process leading to ‘success’. We begin by conducting a systematic review of existing research which allows us to develop an integrative framework discussing this large body of work. We then describe contemporary research examples in light of our proposed framework. We close by proposing four new areas to continue to advance the field: reconceptualizing performance (and success) as achievement of goals; diversity of goal systems in research designs, and their relationship with the purpose of an organization; multilevel and temporal dynamics; and governance of goal setting. Overall, our efforts inform future research on organizational success in the context of our new societal challenges and accomplish the intriguing task of re-defining success in management studies.     

Decision-Making Patterns in Multilevel Governance: The contribution of informal and procedural interactions to significant multilevel decisions

To come to decisions in a multilevel setting, informal as well as procedural interactions are of importance. In this paper, we explored in a case study the decision-making patterns between informal interactions and procedural interactions, and the significance of the decisions resulting from different patterns.

We discovered five patterns of multilevel decision-making: top-down processes, bottom-up processes, collaborative decision-making, synchronization by procedures, and synchronization by interactions. We conclude that these patterns do have different results. Top-down and bottom-up processes often result in mutually extinguishing decisions, whereas the other patterns can result into decisions that matter, depending on the relationships between levels.     

CEO Succession Origin and Firm Performance: A Multilevel Study

There has been much controversy concerning the relationship between outside CEO succession origin and firm performance. Some scholars take the organizational‐adaptation view to highlight the benefits of outside succession; yet others adopt the organizational‐disruption view to pose the selection of an outsider CEO as a disruptive and disadvantageous event for organizations. In this study, we develop an integrated multilevel framework that reconciles these opposing perspectives and examines the conditions under which the benefits of outside CEO succession outweigh the costs. Data from 109 CEO succession events in large international firms show that the performance advantages of outside succession materialize when the new CEO: (a) socio‐demographically resembles incumbent executives, (b) possesses a variety of experience, and (c) is hired by a well‐performing firm operating in a munificent industry. Overall, our research demonstrates that the performance implications of new CEO origin should not be considered in isolation, but in interaction with multilevel characteristics.     

A goal programming model for the siting of multilevel EMS systems.

Facility siting models known as location covering techniques have proven to be useful particularly for emergency medical services (EMS) planning, given the importance of ambulances responding to demand within some maximum time constraint. These models represent a set of methods which focus the health planner's attention on the access of people to health care, since they attempt to “cover” people in need of service within some specified time standard.This research develops a technique for the locational planning of sophisticated EMS systems, characterized by multiple levels of emergency health services. Specifically, a two-tiered system with “basic life support” and “advanced life support” capabilities is modeled as a goal program.By applying location covering techniques within a goal programming framework, this study develops a method for the siting of multilevel EMS systems so that (1) each service level maximizes coverage of its own demand population, and (2) “back-up” coordination between levels is assured. The usefulness of this goal program as a health planning tool is evidenced in the model's explicit articulation of EMS policy objectives and its ability to link system levels in terms of “goal-directed behavior”. The working of this multilevel covering model is demonstrated by reference to EMS planning scenarios and related numerical examples.     

Coordination Networks Within and Across Organizations: A Multi‐level Framework*

ABSTRACT There are important organizational phenomena that cannot be fruitfully examined without crossing levels of analysis, as others have shown. We argue that coordination of patient care in the current institutional environment is one such phenomenon. As organizations vertically disintegrate and outsource services that were once produced internally, coordination with external organizations becomes increasingly important for achieving desired performance outcomes. We describe the efforts of one hospital to extend the intra‐organizational coordination of patient care to encompass coordination with its external partners. The organization design and network perspectives are both conducive to spanning multiple levels of analysis. We show that the two perspectives together serve as a useful vehicle for developing a framework that links intra‐ and inter‐organizational coordination.     

基于系统动力学的MTS、MTO供应链性能仿真分析

考察由制造商和零售商构成的二级供应链上,按库存生产(Make-to-stock,MTS)和按订单生产(Make-to-order,MTO)两种模式的供应链系统性能。通过系统动力学建立MTS和MTO供应链的系统仿真模型,从仿真结果中发现,虽然采用MTS供应链模式的零售商相对MTO供应链模式零售商保持较低的成品库存,但整个供应链系统上,MTO供应链库存要低于MTS的供应链库存。MTO供应链对客户需求变动的响应性更强,但设备利用率要低于MTS的设备利用率。     

A relational framework for international transfer of diversity management practices

The aim of this paper is to propose that a relational framework, which is underpinned by a contextual and multilevel conceptualisation of diversity management, can help international transfer of diversity management policies and practices. We argue that the mainstream single-level conceptualisations of diversity management within the territory of legal or organisational policy fail to capture the relational interplay of structural- and agentic-level concerns of equality. Consequently, individual choices, organisational processes, and structural conditions – all of which collectively account for unrelenting power disparity and disadvantage within social and employment contexts – remain generally under explored. The paper proposes a relational framework that bridges the divide between macro-national, meso-organisational and micro-individual levels of analyses to arrive at a more comprehensive, realistic and context-specific framing of diversity management, which can overcome the difficulties of international transfer.     

Advancing multilevel thinking in human resource management research: Applications and guidelines

Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) researchers have recently turned their attention to using various levels of analysis in examining the relationship between HRM and performance. Despite several calls for research that integrates multiple levels of analysis, HRM research has yet to apply a multilevel approach to its full advantage. In our view, the paucity of multilevel research is rooted in the lack of what we label multilevel thinking: the application of multilevel principles. In this conceptual paper, we develop 9 guidelines based on tailored multilevel HRM principles that offer a course of action for scholars who are interested in conducting multilevel HRM research. Following Kozlowski and Klein (2000), we build these principles around the what, how, where, when, and why questions in multilevel HRM research. Based on an analysis of 88 empirical multilevel HRM studies, we identify the approaches commonly applied when using multilevel principles, explain the weaknesses in current multilevel HRM studies, and offer what we consider good examples of a rigorous approach.     

Coordination Through Contracting: Experience with the Estonian: out-of-hospital emergency medicine

Abstract

The article examines the effects of market-type contracting on the capacity of the government to integrate public service stakeholders and to assure coherence in service provision. The study focuses on the case of the Estonian out-of-hospital emergency medical care and analyses it through an analytical framework, concentrating on basic coordination mechanisms, coordination resources and their application in a specific policy field. It is found that effective market-based coordination presumes long-term learning and the use of various coordination resources that go beyond simple bargaining. In addition, contracting for service delivery has a significant influence on the capacity of the government to coordinate both policy-making and the interlinkages of different policies.     

Multilevel theory and the underspecification of multilevel models

This article emphasises the importance of the adequate specification of models of multilevel analysis in accordance with multilevel theories. Until recent times, multilevel theories tried only to explain the direct effect of group characteristics on an individual's characteristic. It seems to be more suited to adopt a more general theoretical approach, in which it is assumed that group characteristics affects individual processes. There a treshold effect and a process effect have to be distinguished. The propositions result in a model specification within the random coefficient model of multilevel analysis. The theory and model recommended are illustrated by means of data of Dar and Resh's (1986) study into social learning environment.