Teamworking and change: managing the contradictions

This article examines managers' experiences of introducing a team‐based work system in a manufacturing firm, and their efforts to manage this. Drawing on a social constructionist view, findings are presented that point to the plurality of ‘world views’ held among managers responsible for the delivery of change and to the socially contested nature of teamworking. Implications of these findings are pursued, including the need for change agents and human resource development (HRD) specialists to build sufficient time for review and reflection into change programmes. This is central to developing more skilled approaches to balancing inherent tensions in the employment relationship and processes of change, and in creating opportunities for more fluid and open dialogue among different groups and individuals within management in order to enhance processes of learning and understanding.     

Teamworking structures and worker perceptions: a cross-national study in pharmaceuticals

Teamworking has been implemented in many organizations in different countries over the last few years, and it has taken a range of forms in practice. In this paper, we draw upon findings from a comparative analysis of teamworking structures and team member perceptions at a British and a German subsidiary of a multinational pharmaceutical company. Interviews were conducted with approximately fifty managers, supervisors and process operators, and 120 questionnaires were analysed. We conclude that, despite major differences, both at national level and in the structure of teamworking, team member perceptions are surprisingly similar at the two sites. This finding challenges the under-researched yet commonly assumed link between structures and perceptions, while calling for more emphasis on the examination of sectoral effects and intra-organizational strategies.     

The performativity of a management accounting and control system: Exploring the dynamic relational consequences of a design

This paper contributes to the knowledge of the performativity of accounting by exploring the unexpected consequences of a management accounting and control system (MAC) as designed in a large public organization. In an organization in the Dutch sector of Nursing Homes, Homes for the Elderly and Homecare MAC turns from a system into an actor-network. Rather than being a stable answer machine in the context of decision making or a ready-made tool for performance management by which distant (top) managers and controllers aim to measure and manage performance from time-space distances, MAC is grounded in relations and performatively develops. As such, it becomes multiple.The study shows how the performativity of MAC goes beyond its functionality. Though originating from MAC’s functional design, MAC’s performativity is not simply about the degree to which it realizes the intentions of its designers, but is about its dynamic relational consequences. Controllers should mediate in the dynamics of MAC so that processes of learning are enhanced and the quality and efficiency of the care practices develop.     

Teamworking and Lean revisited: a reply to Carter et al.

This paper is a reply to Carter et al.’s response to an earlier paper of ours in this journal on the subject of teamworking under Lean in the UK public services . Our reply covers the following issues which Carter et al. have raised: the literature we used to structure our findings; the way in which we used concepts such as autonomy and teamworking; our research methods and approach; how Carter et al.’s newly available data on teamworking might be interpreted; and how data drawn from an official employee attitude survey might best be understood. On the basis of this, we conclude that Carter et al.’s paper fails to meet its objectives. On some things, the authors are simply wrong; on others, they grossly misrepresent our position; on still others, their interpretations are, at best, highly questionable.     

A new emergency management dynamic value assessment model based on social media data: a multiphase decision-making perspective

ABSTRACT

User-Generated Content (UGC) is becoming a powerful data source to support emergency management. Managers usually face two difficulties in practical emergency management. First, the requirement topics for emergency management are changing over time. Second, the value of the same microblog is changing over different emergency phases. The contributions of this study lie in the following aspects. First, this paper develops a multiphase dynamic assessment model. Second, an idea for the dynamic evaluation of UGC is proposed. Third, this paper presents an effective quantification method to assess the dynamic value of social media data.     

经济风险管理的内部控制新机制构建

全面风险管理是一种全新的管理理念，在我国金融业发展的现状下，我们必须尽快转换长期以来固化的观念和思维定式，努力构建体现全面风险管理的内部控制新机制，赋予内部控制新内容。     

Environmentally driven mode of business development: a management control perspective

A prerequisite for successful business development is that the control system is designed and used in such a way that strategically important areas can be planned and followed up. Thus, it must be possible to relate results on the quality front, for example, to the company's strategy, which is why quality systems are often integrated with the overall system of control. Environmental management systems, on the other hand, often tend to lead a life of their own, quite disconnected from the overall control system with its routines for strategic planning and follow-up. This can perhaps explain why environmental work has not become a natural part of corporate business development, despite the market for environmentally friendly products. In this article, we therefore focus particularly on control systems and their role in the promotion of an environmentally driven mode of business development. It appears that the integration of environmental management systems with other control systems has been found to be important. The tentative model presented here indicates the conditions under which such integration is possible. It also shows how a company's approach to environmentally driven business development can fall into various phases. The model includes three dimensions: (1) strategy, (2) control systems, and (3) attitude to environmental work. A number of hypotheses are formulated regarding the importance of these dimensions for the successful promotion of an environmentally driven mode of business development in large companies. The article concludes with some suggestions as to how the model can be used in further research.     

Human resource management control system and firm performance: a contingency model of corporate control

This study explores how corporate controls used by the parent company of a conglomerate affect subsidiaries' human resource management (HRM) control–performance relationship. Empirical results from 93 firms reveal that the appropriate use of HRM control systems was a contributing factor to firm performance. When a subsidiary's approach to HRM was based on behavior control, performance was lower when the parent company emphasized financial control. When a subsidiary's approach to HRM was based on output control, performance was higher when the parent company emphasized either strategic or financial control. When a subsidiary's approach to HRM was based on input control, performance was higher when the parent company emphasized strategic control.     

新形势下对变电运行管理中危险点与控制的探讨

当前,变电运行是我国重要的工程项目,在运行过程中因为各种因素的影响,存在很多的危险点,需要对变电运行强化管理,减少危险点。文章首先分析了运行管理过程中的各个危险点,然后,提出控制措施,避免安全事故,保证变电站运行的安全性和稳定性。     

Implementing a new inventory management system

Determining the type of inventory management system to use in a hospital depends as much on one's technical abilities as its does with the culture of the institution and the vendor's capabilities.     

Wage bargaining as an optimal control problem: a dynamic version of the efficient bargaining model

Decisions in Economics and Finance - In this paper, I develop a dynamic version of the efficient bargaining model grounded on optimal control in which a firm and a union bargain over the wage in a...     

Using decision modeling to examine management consensus: A study of a maintenance management control system

Using a decision modeling approach, this research examined differences across levels of management in a large construction company concerning the criteria for a maintenance management control system. The six criteria were cost efficiency, productivity improvement, materials management, unification of work control, planning and scheduling, and information and retrieval. A decision-making exercise was constructed that asked the respondent to make recommendations concerning the approval or disapproval of 32 hypothetical maintenance management systems. Among the 60 managers who completed the exercise, there was evidence of significant differences across levels of management concerning the criteria for a maintenance management control system. Additionally, distortions were observed between what the managers said was important and what their decisions indicated. These data demonstrate that the decision modeling approach presented can be effectively used to examine the degree of consensus within an organization.     

Integrating hotel environmental strategies with management control: a structuration approach

This study addresses the development of environmental strategies and associated management control in the international hotel industry, a sector of major economic and environmental impact hitherto largely neglected in the environmental management and accountability literature. The low key level of commitment to environmental management currently exhibited by the industry is considered in the context of dominant systems of hotel management performance evaluation and control, as well as the industry's current strategic management and budgetary practices. Informed by Giddens' structuration theory, the study offers a new theoretical framework, environmentally efficient resourcing, as a structured approach to the development of hotel environmental strategy and its management. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Teamworking and performance: the extent and intensity of teamworking in the 1998 UK Workplace Employee Relations Survey (WERS98)

This article uses the 1998 UK Workplace Employee Relations Survey to address two main issues: whether a relationship between teamworking and performance can be said to exist; and, if it can, how that relationship might be explained. For the first of these we construct a variable that measures the extent of teamworking within an establishment. This is found to be positively and significantly related to productivity and financial performance. To address our second main issue we examine the idea that the key factor in performance is the degree of teams' decision-making autonomy. We look at this by constructing a measure of teamworking intensity. This is found to be positively and significantly associated with productivity and quality levels. Taken alongside other studies, these results are used to suggest that, in looking at the teamworking-performance relationship, the focus of attention should be on the structural properties of teams rather than the individual team members' experiences of work.     

Sport-based entrepreneurship: towards a new theory of entrepreneurship and sport management

The entrepreneurship and sport management disciplines have grown significantly in the past decade. Sport is an entrepreneurial process as innovation and change are key elements of sport. The aim of this paper is to develop a theory of entrepreneurship in sports management by investigating the relationship between entrepreneurship and sport. The rapidly growing and developing sport marketing discipline provides a basis in which to understand how entrepreneurship occurs through innovation, proactiveness and risk taking activities. This paper discusses the connection between the entrepreneurship and sports management fields and argues that there needs to be more integration with the two fields of study and traditional entrepreneurship theory. A theory of sport-based entrepreneurship is developed and different types of entrepreneurship that occur in sports management are examined. Suggestions for future research and implications for practitioners are discussed.     

加强高新技术企业R＆D的财务管理

在知识经济时代,R&D资金的管理成为高新技术企业财务管理的核心,如何加强高新技术企业R&D的财务管理成为大众关注的焦点。文章从4个方面对如何加强高新技术企业R&D的财务管理进行了论述。