Outcomes and Benefits of a Managerial Global Mind‐set: An Exploratory Study with Senior Executives in North America and India

Globalization and its associated challenges are compelling managers in multinational corporations to develop appropriate skill sets. An emerging body of research in international management has suggested that meeting this challenge requires the cultivation and development of a managerial global mind‐set. There has been limited empirical work on the outcomes and benefits of a managerial global mind‐set and consequently this article attempts to fill that gap. Based on semistructured interviews with a total of 56 senior executives of multinational corporations in North America (United States and Canada) and India, this study identifies five outcomes of a global mind‐set with benefits for managers and their organizations. The findings have theoretical implications, which are discussed along with their practical applications for multinational corporations, their senior executives, and human resource professionals, with respect to identifying management development programs that assist in the cultivation and nurturing of a global mind‐set. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Best value supply chains: A key competitive weapon for the 21st century

All executives would like their organizations to perform better, and most seek ways to make that happen. This paper focuses on how supply chains — the series of activities through which products and services are created and then distributed to customers — can enhance firm performance. For the last couple of decades, most firms have emphasized maximizing speed or minimizing costs within their supply chains. In the current business landscape, however, a broader approach is needed. We describe the main advantages of developing best value supply chains as a tool for enhancing performance. These chains differ from traditional chains in important ways. Best value supply chains are used by organizations as a central element of strategy, not simply as a means to move materials. Rather than focusing primarily on speed or cost, best value supply chains are designed to deliver superior total value to the customer in terms of speed, cost, quality, and flexibility. Our contention is that organizations that develop best value supply chains will enhance their performance. We support this contention with examples from leading firms that reflect a best value approach.     

Corporate Social Performance as a Business Strategy

Having the ambition to contribute to the practical value of the theory on corporate social performance (CSP), this paper approaches the question whether CSP can contribute to the competitive advantage of firms. We adopted an explorative case-study methodology to explore the variety of positive and negative effects of CSP on the competitiveness of organizations. As this study aimed at identifying as great variety of these effects as possible, we selected a diversified group of respondents. Data was thus collected through embedded units of analysis in a petrochemical company, and triangulated with the opinions of experts on CSP. Overall, we found various positive and negative effects of CSP on the competitiveness of organizations. CSP is therefore not an innocent adventure for executives, but rather a strategy for achieving corporate objectives. If not carefully implemented, the CSP strategy may harm the competitive advantage of the firm, as our results have suggested.Paper presentated at the EBEN annual conference 2004, Enschede, The Netherlands June 24–26     

The Five Stages of Executive Coaching: Better Process Makes Better Practice

There remains a paucity of research investigating the efficacy of executive coaching. Ambiguity surrounds its definition, its methodology and outcomes. Despite this, the executive coaching remains a viable business proposition. Practitioners bring services to the business community offering services that transcend traditional performance management consultations establishing independent “performance-driven” relationships with executives. This paper examines the process of coaching suggesting that a better understanding of process will enhance practice efficacy and accelerates empirical investigations. In addition, ethical, confidential and legal issues require attention when planning to utilize an executive coach. All this implicates the need to better understand coaching – and how it typically operates. Case studies are provided in the examination of coaching consultations in Fortune 100 settings.     

Market pioneers, late movers, and the resource-based view (RBV): A conceptual model

Lieberman and Montgomery note that “…we see benefits from linking empirical findings on first-mover advantages with the complementary stream of research on the resource-based view of the firm” (1998, p. 1111); they suggest that such a link will help explain differences in firm performance. Therefore, this study develops a conceptual framework linking FMAs with the resource-based view of the firm (RBV); in doing so, this framework explains the links between entry timing, resource management, and firm performance. Specifically, this study examines FMAs in light of a four-step resource management process [Morgan RM. Relationship marketing and marketing strategy: the evolution of relationship strategy within the organization. In: Sheth JN, Parvatiyar A, editors. Handbook of Relationship Marketing. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, 2000. p. 481–504.; Morgan RM, Hunt S. Relationship-based competitive advantage: the role of relationship marketing in marketing strategy. J Bus Res 1999; 46 (November): 281–90.] consisting of: 1) efficient acquisition (EA), 2) bundling/combining (BC), 3) positioning (POS), and 4) maintenance/protection (MP). The link between FMAs and the resource management process helps explain why so few first movers retain their advantages.     

Modelling the Link Between Management Practices and Financial Performance. Evidence from Small Construction Companies

This paper develops a structural model to investigate the direct and indirect effects of owner–manager and company characteristics and selected management practices on the financial performance of a sample of 218 small Belgian construction companies. The results show that the owner–manager and company characteristics (experience, education, financial knowledge, knowledge of cost accounting, company size and age) have no direct significant impact on financial performance. However, several significant paths have been found between the owner–manager and company characteristics and management practices. As far as the direct effects of the management practices are concerned we observe several significant paths from the management practices to financial performance. Our findings indicate that a model approach by including owner–manager and company characteristics and management practices in an intertwined way is necessary when exploring their effects on small business financial performance.     

Top management teams and corporate success in an emerging industry

This longitudinal study investigates changes in top management teams of a cohort of firms established in an emerging, high growth industry-the minicomputer industry. Given the turbulent conditions that organizations in this industry must contend with, top management teams do not remain stagnant. Most firms in the industry require a new set of executives to bring forth the organizational changes necessary to cope with major shifts in the environment.Little consensus exists in the literature on the impact of new executives on organizational performance. Studies have found that executive succession may be either positively, negatively, or unrelated to subsequent organizational effectiveness. The authors argue that a weakness of the existing research stream is a failure by scholars to adequately consider either the characteristics and skills of newly appointed executives or the patterns of change in management characteristics over time. The authors propose that organizational performance implications of executive succession events can be clarified by examining who the newly recruited executives are.When executive replacements are made, new successors often have characteristics which widely deviate from those of their predecessors. Such deviations in top management characterisics are shown to be pronounced where top management changes are made in response to crisis. In crises, successors are apparently recruited in an attempt to compensate for the shortcomings of their predecessors. However, while both high and low performing organizations make executive replacements as they evolve, the types of top management revisions they make differ. This study provides evidence that the types of senior management team changes made and the characterisics of newly recruited top management are related to organizational performance. High performing firms recruit new top management with new skills that are appropriate to the evolving environment. Lower performing firms somehow replace executives in response to crises, but seem to make the wrong executive recruitment decisions, apparently because the successors in the lower performing organizations do not match the changing competitive conditions in the industry. Low performing firms appear to recruit executives that entirely lack the types of top executive expertise are necessary for new environmental conditions.Although the majority of minicomputer firms required sizable changes in their executive teams over time, a small but significant subgroup of exceptional firms were identified that defy conventional wisdom. These extraordinary organizations were led by visionary CEOs—capable of maintaining management team stability as they successfully repositioned their firms' strategies to cope with continual environmental change. Among the conventional theories that these exceptional managers defy are: 1. Firms in high growth industries can be highly successful even if they retain their CEO/ Founders well beyond the embryonic stage. 2. Firms in high growth industries can retain a significant proportion of management ownership and still grow exponentially without financial crises. 3. Firms in high growth industries can maintain a high level of insider recruitment and still not become inbred.There appear to be two entirely distinct patterns of CEO/executive team success:Pattern 1 involves firms with no CEO change. This visionary CEO tends to be a founder who appears to be able to systematically recruit a limited number of external recruits in the top management team, selecting recruits who fit a changing environment yet also making maximum use of the existing team's longstanding experience and relationships. To maintain the necessary external perspective and avoid an inbred mindset, these firms a) tend not to allow the CEO to also be chairman, b) encourage a modest level of external ownership.Pattern 2 involves firms in which there is extensive turnover in both CEO and senior management teams, once again bringing in the kind of skills needed to match the changing environment. The CEO tends also to be chairman, and the external perspective is provided by having many external recruits plus low level of management ownership.     

Does performance appraisal work?: Common set of goals needed

The need for better managers in the rapidly shrinking world o f multinational business justifies the executive performance appraisal effort. The very best European companies, the author believes, are doing a better job than the average U.S. company. When we appraise the manager's performance, we are really discussing the management of the enterprise. Companies making a conscious effort in this area have benefited greatly; when targets are set for individual executives, it does not take top management long to recognize the need for company objectives. When these are set, the executive team has a common set of goals that sharpen the focus of each individual's efforts. As a result, the competitive effectiveness of the group action is multiplied.     

The computer and the personnel department: Keys to modernizing human resource systems

Computerization of the personnel system is not enough. The consigning of personnel's record-keeping function must be achieved via an overall plan-a plan which allows personnel to be of service to employees and to management. A personnel function so designed and so executed realizes its most effective intention: it is a human resource system. Attaining effective human resource systems entails more than computer technology. In a study of eighty-seven organizations, of both the private and public sectors, the authors found a number of key variables that influence the computerization of human resource systems. They discuss these variables and present a paradigm of their relationships.     

A Review of The Empirical Ethical Decision-Making Literature: 1996–2003

This review summarizes and critiques the empirical ethical decision-making literature from 1996–2003. One hundred and seventy-four articles were published in top business journals during this period. Tables are included that summarize the findings by dependent variable – awareness, judgment, intent, and behavior. We compare this review with past reviews in order to draw conclusions regarding trends in the ethical decision-making literature and to surface directions for future research.Michael J. O’Fallon is a graduate student in the Department of Management and Operations at Washington State University. His primary research interest is individual ethical decision-making and behavior in organizations. Recently, he has explored issues in organizational behavior, human resource management, and consumer behavior toward genetically modified foods.Kenneth D. Butterfield is an associate professor of management at Washington State University. He received his Ph.D. in Business Administration from The Pennsylvania State University. His research has been published in a variety of academic journals, including Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Business and Society, Business Ethics Quarterly, Human Relations, Journal of Higher Education, Journal of Managerial Issues, and Research in Higher Education. His current research interests involve organizational behavior issues such as managing ethical decision-making and behavior in organizations, examining why people fail to recognize moral issues, understanding academic dishonesty and promoting academic integrity, and examining organizational punishment from the manager’s perspective.     

Information Sources for New Ventures in the Turkish Clothing Export Industry

Recently "born global" firms have received considerable attention in the entrepreneurship and international business literature. Managers leading these new ventures typically face substantial resource constraints when seeking information critical to internationalization. This paper examines how the owner/operators of new ventures in the Turkish clothing export industry utilize their informal and formal social networks to acquire the information they need to export successfully. Field research and a survey of 250 Turkish clothing firm owners was conducted in Istanbul, Turkey to explore this issue. Findings indicate that informal social ties – particularly friends and family connections – are key sources of information for new-venture firm owners in this industry. Two formal organizations provide export information to entrepreneurs in the Turkish clothing industry, but only one was found to be easily accessible to new-venture firm owners: the Istanbul Textile and Clothing Exporters' Union (ITKIB). OLS regression results reveal that new venture firm owners' perceptions of ITKIB's importance can be explained by their perceived importance of various kinds of export-oriented information offered by this organization. In particular, perceived importance of export-law, market-research, and export-process information drive their perceptions of the importance of their ITKIB membership.     

The Link Between Human Resource Management and Company Performance

ABSTRACT

There seems to be a widespread agreement that human resources are the main source of competitive advantage in modern companies. Consequently, the traditional personnel function is being transformed into the human resource management (HRM), which, in turn, is becoming a part of strategic management with the goal of integrating HRM activities to fit business needs. In this paper, we analyze the transformation of personnel function in Slovene companies, which had to change their behavior due to the transition from socialist to market economy and increased competitive pressures. Our analysis leads to the conclusion that Slovene companies use many different personnel models. Transformation of traditional personnel function into HRM occurred mostly in those companies, which place greater emphasis on people-related goals when formulating business strategy. However, the positive effects of this transformation on company performance still have to be confirmed.     

A preliminary investigation of the relationship between selected organizational characteristics and external whistleblowing by employees

Whistleblowing by employees to regulatory agencies and other parties external to the organization can have serious consequences both for the whistleblower and the company involved. Research has largely focused on individual and group variables that affect individuals' decision to blow the whistle on perceived wrongdoing.This study examined the relationship between selected organizational characteristics and the perceived level of external whistleblowing by employees in 240 organizations. Data collected in a nationwide survey of human resource executives were analyzed using analysis of variance.Results indicated that executives of larger organizations perceived a higher level of employee-voiced concerns to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, as well as a higher overall level of external whistleblowing. Executives of organizations with union employees perceived a higher level of employee-voiced concerns to the EEOC, the media, and a higher overall level of external whistleblowing. Executives of organizations in the manufacturing industry group perceived a higher level of employee-voiced concerns to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.The implications of these findings are discussed, and limitations of the research are addressed. The paper concludes with several suggestions for continued research.Tim Barnett is an Assistant Professor of Management at Louisiana Tech University. His current research interests include ethical issues in human resources management and ethical decision making. His work has appeared in various journals, including theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Business Communication, and theJournal of Business Ethics.     

The Many Paths to Covenantal Leadership: Traditional Resources for Contemporary Business

Many corporate managers are increasingly looking to the covenant model for inspiration, guidance, and most of all, practical business wisdom. While some managers seemingly exploit the religiously inspired language of covenant for purely self-interested reasons, other managers and executives like Tom Chappell of Tom's of Maine, Max De Pree of Herman Miller, Aaron Feurstein of Malden Mills, and C. William Pollard of ServiceMaster, express an authentic attachment to the idea. While these executives have been the most articulate and the most extreme spokesmen for the application of the covenant model for business, other companies have attempted to benefit from the concept, albeit in less explicitly religious terms.Our research suggests that the most fundamental answer to the question of what makes a "business covenant" work is – covenantal leadership. Simply put, but easily forgotten, the one thesis which emerges over and over again in our research is that covenantal organizations require covenantal leadership.Covenantal leadership is not a single characteristicor virtue, rather there are many paths to covenantal leadership. This article introduces some of these andexamines their applications to contemporary business.     

LOGISTICS MANAGERS' LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS AND FIRM PERFORMANCE

Dynamic changes in the business environment are significantly impacting supply chain logistics, resulting in unprecedented personnel demands. Organizational theorists suggest that personnel management is associated with better performance. However, relatively little is known about effective human resource practices within the logistics industry. The learning organization concept offers logistics organizations a theoretical rationale for promoting learning environments to better leverage employees' knowledge, skills, and abilities and improve performance. This research examines logistics managers' perceptions of individual level learning behavior within their organizations and its relationship to firm performance.     

Strategic Human Resource Management as Ethical Stewardship

The research about strategic human resource management (SHRM) has suggested that human resource professionals (HRPs) have the opportunity to play a greater role in contributing to organizational success if they are effective in developing systems and policies aligned with the organization??s values, goals, and mission. We suggest that HRPs need to raise the standard of their performance and that the competitive demands of the modern economic environment create implicit ethical duties that HRPs owe to their organizations. We define ethical stewardship as a model of governance that honors obligations due to the many stakeholders and that maximizes long-term organizational wealth creation. We propose that if HRPs adopt an ethical stewardship framework and the qualities of transformative leaders, they will be more aware of their ethical duties to their organizations and more effective in helping their organizations to create increased wealth, achieve desired organizational outcomes, and establish work environments that are more satisfying to employees.     

The Expatriate Glass Ceiling: The Second Layer of Glass

The corporate glass ceiling continues to be a challenge for many organizations. However, women executives may be facing a second pane of obstruction – an expatriate glass ceiling – that prevents them from receiving the foreign management assignments and experience that is becoming increasing critical for promotion to upper management. The responsibility to break the expatriate glass ceiling lies with both female managers and the multinational corporations that utilize expatriates. In this paper, we propose pre-assignment, on-assignment, and post-assignment strategies for breaking the expatriate glass ceiling.     

Executive Perceptions of Superior and Subordinate Information Control: Practice versus Ethics

This study examines executive perceptions of business information control. Specifically, the study explores (a) whether executives perceive certain types of information control being practiced within their businesses; and, (b) whether the executives regard such practices as ethical. In essence, the study suggests that both superiors and subordinates selectively practice information control. Even more importantly, however, executives see such practices as ethically acceptable on the part of superiors but as ethically questionable on the part of subordinates. A closer look at the responding executives' profile characteristics – age, gender, education and salary – reveals the complexity of these perceptions. Most importantly, gender and age emerge as two prime factors influencing executive perceptions regarding both the practice and the ethics of information control. Suggestions for future research are included at the end of the article.     

We need to talk about strategy: How to conduct effective strategic dialogue

As researchers and consultants, we have spent the last few years helping a dozen major public and private organizations understand what went wrong with their strategic planning. We discovered that executives have a hard time with strategy because they are at a loss when the time comes to engage in strategic dialogue. Either their teams debate the organization’s values and goals when such issues should be settled, or they waste time on the details of specific projects that have yet to receive the green light. But whether the conversation is too broad or too narrow, strategy stays out of view. Drawing on recent developments in strategy-as-practice and decision-making literature, we propose a model that executives can follow to take control of strategy meetings and keep their teams on track. We ask them to focus on the right decision purpose, adjust the meeting’s communication style, and cast the right leader for the job. When these three simple rules are followed, the pillars of successful dialogue are aligned, and executives can finally talk about what matters most to them: strategy.     

Transforming Human Resource Management Systems to Cope with Diversity

The purpose of this study is to examine how workgroup diversity can be managed through specific strategic human resource management systems. Our review shows that ‘affirmative action’ and traditional ‘diversity management’ approaches have failed to simultaneously achieve business and social justice outcomes of diversity. As previous literature has shown, the benefits of diversity cannot be achieved with isolated interventions. To the contrary, a complete organizational culture change is required, in order to promote appreciation of individual differences. The paper contributes to this discussion by exploring the implications of this change for human resource management, and explaining how the systems of practices should be changed when they are directed to diverse groups. The model designed to test this notion includes: (1) demographic and human capital diversity as independent variables, (2) group performance (measured as innovation outcomes) as the dependent variable and, (3) the orientation of the strategic human resource management system as a potential moderator of this relationship. The main conclusion of the empirical analysis developed is that different patterns of human resource management practices can be used, depending on the type of diversity that the organization faces, and the specific effects that it wishes to manage. Concretely, three alternative management systems are identified in this paper, with different moderating effects. This result has interesting implications for human resource management professionals, explained in the last section. The limitations of this study are also discussed, as well as some issues that future research in this field should address.