A layered model of organizations: Communication processes and performance

Modeling organizations is most useful for predicting the outcome of decisions and courses of action. However, the tendency has been to view an organization too narrowly, thus overlooking critical variables. For example, financial models are based on abstract indicators and do not adequately describe human factors. This article offers a five‐layer, multidisciplinary model, where each layer defines units of analysis and subsystem boundaries. The layers (behavior‐motion, activity, process‐procedure, function, mission) define arenas of practical action, ranging from individuals’ moment‐by‐moment behaviors, such as making telephone calls, to broad policy decisions and functional structure of organizations.     

Effective leadership in unexpected places: A sociohistorical analysis of the Red Tops dance orchestra

The Red Tops, an African-American dance orchestra that performed in southern states during the period spanning two decades before and after the U.S. civil rights movement, might seem a rather unexpected source for the study of effective leadership. Nonetheless, Walter Osborne's management of the group provides an exceedingly appropriate case for just that. In this article, we examine the phenomenon of team leadership using a sociohistorical paradigm to identify and describe effective team leadership, draw lessons for organizational leaders, and demonstrate the power of sociohistorical analysis. In our endeavor, we used the framework proposed by Morgeson, Lindoerfer, and Loring to explain how the team needs of the Red Tops were met by the team leadership of Osborne, the band's elected manager. The main lesson for business team leaders is to ensure that every member feels free to express his or her own identity, while still preserving the shared identity of the team. The team's ability to function and remain intact over a long period of time is enhanced by the ability of the team leader to meet team needs—in terms of trust, fairness, and equality—such that each member may experience what it means to be a true part of the group.     

Building innovative teams: Leadership strategies across the various stages of team development

Globalization, advances in technology, and shifting consumer preferences affect almost everyone. Because of pressures from the external environment, organizations face rapid and constant change. The nature of work has become complicated; it is difficult for individuals to achieve much on their own. Consequently, organizations rely heavily on expert, innovative work teams. These highly evolved teams do not develop overnight; rather, they evolve and develop in stages, and the team’s leadership must change over time. In this article, I present the building blocks of team innovation, outline the internal processes that lie at the core of innovative performance, and provide critical leadership strategies for each stage of team development. I conclude with implications for developing leaders with the capabilities to nurture and build innovative teams.     

Creating and sustaining trust in virtual teams

Conventional wisdom assumes that trust develops from a history of interpersonal interactions and communication, through which people come to ‘know and trust’ one another. In virtual teams, however, establishing trust can be complicated: members may have no past on which to build, no future to reference, and may never even actually meet face-to-face. Swift but fragile trust can develop early in a team's life cycle. Yet, if swift trust doesn't develop or even dissipates, members need to find ways of building trust in each other. To this end, an understanding of how trust impacts a virtual team's development will help managers and team leaders to facilitate and improve team success. Herein, we describe the three components of trust (ability, integrity, and benevolence) and identify which of these are critical to each life cycle stage (establishing the team, inception, organizing, transition, and accomplishing the task) of the virtual team. Proposed action steps for each stage show managers and team leaders how to help members develop trust and sustain it through the project's successful completion.     

Legitimacy of team rewards: Analyzing legitimacy as a condition for the effectiveness of team incentive designs

This article illustrates how the legitimacy of pay and evaluation processes in teams affect the effectiveness of team-based incentive designs in organizational work teams. We present a theoretical model of the development of legitimacy in team-based incentive designs and propose that the development of legitimacy for both pay dispersion in teams (i.e., difference in allocations of incentives among team members) and for the use of interdependent evaluations of performance promote team effectiveness. Our model introduces a new perspective to theorize about the conditions under which team rewards are an effective incentive design.     

经济成本与公共组织设计:公共部门改革的效率逻辑

公共组织的设计和改革像私人组织一样,也要面临成本效率的约束.本文首先指出公共组织的成本效率来源于X-效率和非X-效率,并且两种效率之间存在着替代关系.然后,本文为公共组织成本效率的度量提拱了一个分析框架,并以中国地方政府为样本做了实证分析.最后,在理论分析和实证分析的基础上,本文为公共组织的设计和改革提出了一些原则,以期实现最优公共组织规模,减少社会福利损失.     

Does servant leadership foster creativity and innovation? A multi-level mediation study of identification and prototypicality

The purpose of this multi-level study is to examine how servant leadership affects both employee creativity and team innovation. Drawing from social identity, in particular, relational identification theory, we found on the basis of a two-nation Asian sample of 154 teams that servant leadership promotes individual relational identification and collective prototypicality with the leader which, in turn, fosters employee creativity and team innovation. In addition, our study suggests that the mediated effect of leader identification is strongest when team climate for innovation is high.     

我国企业实行并行工程存在的问题及对策

并行工程具有缩短产品开发周期、降低成本、提高质量等许多优点,在一些工业发达国家的企业  中已被广泛采用。它和跨职能团队相结合,已成为一种最有效的新产品开发模式。但我国只有较少的企  业对并行工程进行了尝试,而且效果也不甚理想。对我国企业在实施并行工程时存在的问题进行了分析,  并提出了相应的解决对策。     

How should we divide the pie? Equity distribution and its impact on entrepreneurial teams

Drawing on a multiple case study approach and data on eight entrepreneurial teams observed over six months this article develops a dynamic model of the consequences of equity distribution among team members. Perceived justice of equity distribution emerged as a key variable influencing entrepreneurial team interactions and important entrepreneurial outcomes. High perceived justice triggered positive team interaction spirals, whereas low perceived justice triggered negative interaction spirals. Teams exposed to external threats drifted from a positive spiral to a negative spiral despite high perceived justice. We discuss the implications of our study for research on entrepreneurial imprints, justice, and exit.     

组织理论与组织创新研究

本文回顾了近年来组织理论对组织创新研究的主要流派及其存在的问题,并对组织理论与组织创新的研究进行了较为系统的综述,在此基础上讨论了对组织创新研究的改进。     

餐饮企业团购价格的合理确定

企业组织团购活动的目标主要有提升企业知名度、新产品的上市推广、薄利多销以及增加利润,实现不同的团购目标所采取的定价方法也是不一样的。对于以打开市场为组织团购目标的企业,可以采取亏损定价法;以上市推广位目的的企业采用捆绑定价法;以薄利多销为目的的企业可以采取捆绑定价法;以增加利润为目的的企业可以采取区分需求法。     

虚拟团队集成化协作平台的设计

计算机技术的发展以及电子商务的兴起,对传统企业的团队协作方式产生了巨大影响。虚拟团队成为常用的协作方式。要对虚拟团队集成化协作平台的设计进行研究,从而提高工作效率,充分实现信息资源共事。     

Contextualising Media Choice Using Genre Analysis

Value creation is increasingly organized in virtualized settings requiring effective computer-mediated communication. While media choice has been a topic of interest in Information Systems for some time, corresponding media choice theories exhibit a range of shortcomings with regard to applicability in context. Since the theories try to generalize across social contexts, their key constructs are rather abstract and underspecified with regard to application. Against this backdrop we present an approach for contextualizing media choice using genre analysis. Genre analysis aims at identifying communication patterns (genres) in social communities (e. g. teams) as a structured overview of existing team communication. By juxtaposing requirements of the identified genres and media characteristics, we are able to propose a new set of media for improving team communication. We illustrate the application of our approach with a case example.