Building consensus in strategic decision making: System dynamics as a group support system

System dynamics was originally founded as a method for modeling and simulating the behavior of industrial systems. In recent years it is increasingly employed as a Group Support System for strategic decision-making groups. The model is constructed in direct interaction with a management team, and the procedure is generally referred to as group model-building. The model can be conceptual (qualitative) or a full-blown (quantitative) computer simulation model. In this article, a case is described in which a qualitative system dynamics model was built to support strategic decision making in a Dutch government agency.Since people from different departments held strongly opposite viewpoints on the strategy, the agency had discussed its strategic problem for more than a year, but was obviously not able to reach consensus. The application of group model-building was successful in integrating opposite points of view, as well as in fostering consensus and creating commitment.The purpose of the article is twofold: first, to illustrate the process of group model-building with system dynamics; second, to evaluate why it was successful. Evaluation results reveal the importance of both systemic thinking through model-building and the role of the facilitator in catalyzing the strategic decision-making process.     

Group Decision and Negotiation in Strategy Making

For a large number of organisations effective delivery of strategy depends upon the psychological and emotional commitment of the Top Management Team (TMT) thus involving group negotiation and decision making. Computer based group support promoting open debate and developing commitment is therefore important and illustrated through examples from the presenter's large number of strategic interventions.     

A passage to India: A dual case study of activities,processes and resources in offshore outsourcing of advanced services

Research has shown that offshore outsourcing processes may influence the behavior and strategic choices of firms, but little is known about the determining factors that influence the evolution and outcomes of those processes. Furthermore, longitudinal studies able to generate such insights are lacking. This paper suggests a detailed, activity-based approach to the study of the process of offshore outsourcing of high-value, advanced service activities. While earlier research has considered either firm-internal or firm-external sources of resource building, this study offers a more comprehensive theoretical model that combines resource-based theory and international business network theory. It aims to investigate how determinants of the offshore outsourcing process contribute to the resource stocks of client firms. Based on two longitudinal case studies of offshore outsourcing to India, the study finds that offshore outsourcing operations, in general, make positive contributions to the resource stocks of client firms. Some determinants contribute to the building of resources (partnership commitment decisions, knowledge creation and learning, trust building, the interconnectedness of resources) while others impede resource building (time compression diseconomies, lack of resource mass efficiencies). Notably, the interconnectedness among onshore activities, offshore activities and the underpinning knowledge resources reduces the risk of erosion of client firm resources, although this remains a long-term risk.     

Managing Corporate Sustainability with a Paradoxical Lens: Lessons from Strategic Agility

Corporate sustainability introduces multiple tensions or paradoxes into organisations which defy traditional approaches such as trading-off contrasting options. We examine an alternative approach: to manage corporate sustainability with a paradoxical lens where contradictory elements are managed concurrently. Drawing on paradox theory, we focus on two specific pathways: to the organisation-wide acceptance of paradox and to paradoxical resolution. Introducing the concept of strategic agility, we argue that strategically agile organisations are better placed to navigate these paradox pathways. Strategic agility comprises three organisational meta-capabilities: strategic sensitivity, collective commitment, and resource fluidity. We propose that strategically agile organisations draw on strategic sensitivity and collective commitment to achieve organisation-wide acceptance of paradox, and collective commitment and resource fluidity to achieve paradoxical resolution. For each of these meta-capabilities, we identify three organisational practices and processes specifically related to corporate sustainability that organisations can leverage in pursuit of strategic agility. We offer a conceptual framework depicting the strategic agility meta-capabilities, and associated practices and processes, which organisations draw on to successfully manage corporate sustainability with a paradoxical lens.     

Towards a Structured Design of Electronic Negotiations

Global communication networks and advances in information technology enable the design of information systems facilitating effective formulation and efficient resolution of negotiation problems. Increasingly, these systems guide negotiators in clarifying the relevant issues, provide media for offer formulation and exchange, and help in achieving an agreement. In practice, the task of analysing, modelling, designing and implementing electronic negotiation media demands a systematic, traceable and reproducible approach. An engineering approach to media specification and construction has these characteristics. In this paper, we provide a rationale for the engineering approach that allows pragmatic adoption of economic and social sciences perspectives on negotiated decisions for the purpose of supporting and undertaking electronic negotiations. Similarities and differences of different theories that underlie on-going studies of electronic negotiations are identified. This provides a basis for integration of different theories and approaches for the specific purpose of the design of effective electronic negotiations. Drawing on diverse streams of literature in different fields such as economics, management, computer, and behavioural sciences, we present an example of an integration of three significant streams of theoretical and applied research involving negotiations, traditional auctions and on-line auctions.     

Evaluating a Framework for Multi-Stakeholder Decision Support in Water Resources Management

In this paper we describe a framework for multicriteria modeling and support of multi-stakeholder decision processes. We report on its testing in the development of a new water level management policy for a regulated lake-river system in Finland. In the framework the stakeholders are involved in the decision process from the problem structuring stage to the group consensus seeking stage followed by a stage of seeking public acceptance for the policy. The framework aims at creating an evolutionary learning process. In this paper we also focus on the use of a new interactive method for finding and identifying Pareto-optimal alternatives. Role playing experiments with students are used to test the practical applicability of a negotiation support procedure called the method of improving directions. We also describe the preference programming approach for the aggregation of the stakeholder opinions in the final evaluation of alternatives and consensus seeking.     

On Evaluating the Performance of Problem Structuring Methods: An Attempt at Formulating a Conceptual Model

In the past decade there has been a discussion on the need for and degree of empirical evidence for the effectiveness of problem structuring methods (PSMs). Some authors propose that PSMs are used in unique situations which are difficult to study, both from a methodological and a practical perspective. In another view experimental validation is necessary and, if not obtained, PSMs remain substantially invalidated and thus ‘suspect’ with regard to their claims of effectiveness. Both views agree on one point: the necessity of being clear about the important factors in the context in which a method is used, the method’s aims and its essential elements through which these aims are achieved. A clear formulation of central variables is the core of a theoretical validation, without which empirical testing of effects is impossible. Since the process of PSMs is sometimes referred to as ‘more art than science’, increased clarity on the PSM process also supports the transfer of methods. In this article we consider goals important to most PSMs, such as consensus and commitment. We then focus on outcomes of group model building, and expectations on how context and group modeling process contributes to outcomes. Next we discuss the similarity of these central variables and relations to two sets of theories in social psychology: the theory of planned behavior and dual process theories of persuasion. On the basis of these theories we construct a preliminary conceptual model on group model building effectiveness and address its practical applicability for research on PSM.     

Towards cscw: Metalevel environments for enhanced group and organization effectiveness

The article deals with Computer‐Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) and its valuable contributions to organizing cooperation and joint work among partners in many contexts. In the field of CSCW, complex issues such as coordination and negotiation can be identified as being characteristic, fundamental and important research topics that have to be elaborated on urgently. Better support in coordination and in negotiation, and a stronger use of knowledge about people involved, roles, positions, values, strategies, and activities seem to be important topics. It is the view of this article that such aims can only be achieved if there is a close coupling of CSCW components with a powerful underlying corporate information system. In order to achieve these aims, enterprise information systems and group support are to be combined as a strategic way into the informational future of the enterprise. In this context, a good conceptual model and proper implementation of an Enterprise Data Model (EDM) are a fundamental prerequisite for full group support in an organizational environment. The EDM can be considered as a basic support repository for general planning processes. The article introduces an architectual concept for Computer‐Supported Collaborative Systems (CSCS) consisting of a three‐level system architecture of a basic object level, user and coordination object level, and a specific goal‐oriented object level. The approach in this article is based on experiences from the application field of distributed software development.     

Sustainable market orientation: a competitive strategic tool in an emerging economy context

The purpose of this research is to test the effect of sustainable market orientation (SMO) as a strategic tool on banks’ sustainable balanced firm performance (SBFP) in an emerging economy. The research data was collected via the survey approach through self-administered questionnaires to 445 bank employees. Exploratory Factor Analysis was employed to establish the dimensionality of the research constructs, whereas multiple linear regressions were utilised to test the research hypotheses. Results suggest that SMO is positively and significantly related to sustainable balanced performance of banks. The study confirms the SMO concept promulgated in prior studies. Employees’ opinions on bank Managers incorporating sustainability management variables into market orientation as a strategy are encouraged by scholars to engender SBFP. Strategic approaches of this kind leads to balance performance of organisations and the larger society which is central to all stakeholders. This study may be the initial quantitative investigation into SMO and SBFP in the strategic marketing literature.     

Individual and contextual influences on the affective commitment of retail salespeople

Abstract

Salesperson characteristics as well as managerial approaches have been found to play an important role in the development of positive attitudes by salespersons towards an organisation. This study integrates these two research areas to investigate the personal and contextual antecedents of affective organisational commitment of retail salespeople. Fit theory and the literature on person–situation interaction provide the theoretical bases for explaining how salesperson selling skills, job liking, and empowerment individually and jointly influence affective commitment. A multilevel modelling approach is used to analyse data from 105 sales managers and 419 salespeople. Findings reveal that salespersons' affective commitment is influenced by their selling skills, degree of job liking, tenure, and empowerment. The results also indicate that the impact of selling skills on affective commitment is higher when empowerment is high. Based on the study's findings, implications for managing salespeople as well as limitations and suggestions for future research are offered.     

De-Fusing Organizational Power Using Anonymity and Cognitive Factions in a Participative Strategic Planning Setting

When an organization is facing disruptive change or the need for new capabilities to fit new conditions, the creation of a democratic strategic plan can be useful. However, strategic plans typically only reflect the beliefs and values of their architects; not all stakeholders. To include the beliefs of all stakeholders requires a participative environment. Due to the potential deleterious effects that organizational power may have in a participative setting, anonymity and cognitive factions is proposed to reduce the possible negative effects associated with power in a participative strategic planning setting. Group support systems have been shown to protect relationships and retain the social order in these settings. In this specific case, through the use of a group support system that supports anonymity and cognitive faction identification, we found that the sources of power typically found and used to drive group decisions in an academic setting did not drive the content of the strategic plan.     

Negotiation Support for Multi-Party Resource Allocation: Developing Recommendation for Decreasing Transportation-Related Air Pollution in Budapest

Decisions about how to allocate scarce resources among potential programs are common sources of conflict in both public and private life. This paper describes a case in which negotiation support was provided for a five-member task force trying to reach agreement about how to allocate limited resources among programs designed to improve the air quality in Budapest, Hungary. The intervention consisted of a series of facilitated decision conferences, plus individual interviews. The task force eventually reached agreement about a recommended package of 15 air quality management programs costing 1,500 million Hungarian forints. The research makes four significant contributions. First, it demonstrated that resource allocation models provide a useful framework for understanding and facilitating multi-party negotiation processes. Second, because resource allocation models were elicited individually for each group member before building a single group model, it was possible to analyze the five-dimensional feasible settlement space (i.e., the joint distribution of benefits for each task member for all possible resource allocation packages). Third, several innovative applications of analytical techniques (i.e., Pareto-efficiency analyses, numerical and graphical analyses of feasible settlement spaces and efficient frontiers, and analyses of task force members' investment progressions) served to improve understanding of disagreements within the group and to evaluate the quality of potential resource allocation packages. Fourth, changes in individual preferences and group agreement were assessed over time. Group members appeared to change substantially and their level of agreement to increase markedly over time.     

An I-P/C model of employee-organization relationship: A dual perspective

Most existing studies on employee-organization relationship (EOR) are either from the employee perspective (e.g., the psychological contract approach) or from the employer perspective (e.g., the inducement and contribution approach). Drawing upon prior research, we propose in this paper an inducement-performance/commitment (I-P/C) model based on a dual perspective. Our empirical test on the model reveals that developmental inducements have stronger effects on employees’ contributions than economic inducements, and that the incongruent perception of inducements between employees and managers moderates the relationship between organizational inducements and employee contributions. We also find that employee satisfaction varies in different I-P/C combination categories.     

Big data in an HR context: Exploring organizational change readiness,employee attitudes and behaviors

This research highlights a contextual application for big data within a HR case study setting. This is achieved through the development of a normative conceptual model that seeks to envelop employee behaviors and attitudes in the context of organizational change readiness. This empirical application considers a data sample from a large public sector organization and through applying Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) identifies salary, job promotion, organizational loyalty and organizational identity influences on employee job satisfaction (suggesting and mediating employee readiness for organizational change). However in considering this specific context, the authors highlight how, where and why such a normative approach to employee factors may be limited and thus, proposes through a framework which brings together big data principles, implementation approaches and management commitment requirements can be applied and harnessed more effectively in order to assess employee attitudes and behaviors as part of wider HR predictive analytics (HRPA) approaches. The researchers conclude with a discussion on these research elements and a set of practical, conceptual and management implications of the findings along with recommendations for future research in the area.     

工资集体协商对劳资关系气氛的影响

随着我国民营经济的发展,劳资关系由政府部门的行政调控为主转变成市场调节为主,作为一种劳资力量平衡及平等对话的机制,工资集体协商引起了政府、企业和学术界的广泛关注。基于对武汉市部分民营企业的调查,发现实质性工资集体协商可显著提升员工的组织承诺、工会承诺及双组织承诺,与积极劳资关系气氛中度正相关;而形式化工资集体协商显著降低员工的工会承诺及双组织承诺,与消极劳资关系气氛高度正相关;双组织承诺在工资集体协商与劳资关系气氛之间起部分中介作用。     

Group Structured Reasoning for Coalescing Group Decisions

In this paper we present the notion of structured reasoning through a model, called the Generic/Actual Argument Model (GAAM). The model which has been used as a computational representation for machine modelling of reasoning and for hybrid combinations of human and machine reasoning can be used as a coalescent framework for decision making. Whilst the notion of structuring reasoning is not new, structured reasoning is advanced as a technique where group consensus on reasoning structures at various levels can be used to facilitate the comprehension of complex reasoning particularly where there are multiple perspectives. For an issue, the approach provides a scaffolding structure for cognitive co-operation and a normative reasoning structure against which group participants can identify points of difference and points in common as well as the nature of the differences and similarities. Intra-group transparency characterized by the ability to recognise points in common and understand the nature of differences is important to the process of coalescing group decisions that carry maximum group support.     

Multidisciplinary and Multimethod Research for Addressing Contemporary Supply Chain Challenges

To achieve differential performance in today’s marketplace, supply chain decision makers must manage complex, multifaceted, and nuanced issues. To help decision makers, and advance the supply chain discipline, researchers need to consider how multidisciplinary and/or multimethod research can provide greater insight into today’s and tomorrow’s challenges and opportunities. We explore questions related to the supply chain–finance interface and global supply chain management to exemplify how multidisciplinary and multimethod research can increase the insight and influence of our research contributions.     

Moving the Needle: Making a Contribution When the Easy Questions Have Been Answered

Today’s competitive and research realities are changing. That is, the easy questions have been answered and the easy research has been done. We therefore need to reevaluate our approach to research so that we can help decision makers resolve tomorrow’s challenges. Specifically, to provide nuanced insight, we need to begin to employ multimethod, metaparadigmatic, and longitudinal research more robustly. Of course, given the inherent cost—both time and money—associated with such research, we may need to seek more collaborative research opportunities and reconsider how research contribution is measured. These efforts will help us stay relevant and move the needle forward in an age where decision makers need greater understanding to create value and achieve differential performance.     

Do employees value strategic CSR? A tale of affective organizational commitment and its underlying mechanisms

Virtually all studies that focus on the relationship between CSR perceptions and employees’ organizational commitment have not taken into consideration the fit between social and environmental activities and a firm’s business‐unit strategy. This is essential to inquire because scholars have argued that when companies ingrain CSR activities into their strategy‐making process (i.e., in their vision, mission, and overall business model), this might send a more compelling message that resonates closer to workers’ personal standards, and actually enhance employee‐level outcomes. Nevertheless, there is no certainty “if” and “how” these evaluations could affect employees’ organizational commitment. To address this issue, we use cue consistency theory and social identity theory as overarching frameworks to develop a model where we conceptually link perceptions of strategy‐CSR fit with a particular type of organizational commitment: affective. In addition, we posit and test three mediators to understand the underlying psychological mechanisms of this relationship: perceived external prestige, organizational identification, and work meaningfulness. Through structural equation modeling, and using a heterogeneous final sample of 579 employees, we find compelling evidence to support the fact that strategy‐CSR fit enhances employees’ affective organizational commitment through the proposed mediators. Academic contributions and practical implications are then discussed.