The role of talent-perception incongruence in effective talent management

This study examines the effect of talent management (TM) practices, differentiation strategies, and incongruent talent perceptions in terms of psychological-contract fulfillment. The outcomes of the quantitative analysis of 2660 respondents within 21 organizations show the importance of actively attending to talent-perception incongruence. Incongruence occurs in situations where the organization's executives perceive an individual as ‘talent’, but the individual is unaware of this, and also the other way around: the situation in which the organization's executives do not consider an individual as ‘talent’ while the individual believes that they do. Although the increased use of TM practices is related to higher psychological-contract fulfillment, this relationship is negatively affected by incongruent talent perceptions. Our results show the importance of clearly defining talent and communicating this clearly to all employees. This is particularly important when the talent strategy is perceived as exclusive rather than inclusive.     

Talent Management and HRM in Multinational companies in Beijing: Definitions,differences and drivers

Talent Management (TM) has attracted increasing attention from academics and practitioners in recent years, but there are many gaps and omissions left for further theoretical and empirical development. One line of debate has been whether TM is merely a re-packaging of what already exists, not being distinct from traditional HRM practices or disciplines. The paper has three main components: (i) a review of how ‘Talent’ and TM has been conceptualised in the literature and the outline of a framework we have derived therefrom which identifies four main perspectives on TM: exclusive-people; exclusive-position; inclusive-people; social capital; (ii) the presentation and analysis of our research findings relating to TM perspectives and practices in seven multinational corporations (MNCs) in Beijing; (iii) a concluding discussion which compares and contrasts our findings with the extant literature and our framework. Six of the companies had adopted ‘exclusive’ perspectives, seeing TM as ‘integrated, selective’ HRM. For some, this involved an ‘exclusive-people’ focus on certain groups of ‘high-performing’ or ‘high-potential’ people, whilst for others it meant an ‘exclusive-position’ focus on certain ‘key’ positions in the organization. Just one organization had adopted an ‘inclusive-people’ approach. Two of the companies emphasized ‘organizationally focussed competence development’, concentrating upon smooth talent flows and development, and moving towards a ‘social capital’ perspective which took cognizance of networks, contexts and relationships as well as human capital. The implications of our findings for research and practice are outlined.     

Developing the local competence of expatriate managers for emerging markets: A knowledge-based approach

This paper proposes a theoretical framework for developing expatriate managers’ local competence in emerging markets from a knowledge-based perspective. We argue that local knowledge in emerging markets differs significantly from corporate knowledge transferred to those markets, and that its very nature determines its critical importance to expatriate managers’ business performance. We explore the processes and mechanisms through which local knowledge can be acquired and integrated into expatriate managers’ knowledge base supporting local talent development and their effective strategic decision-making. We suggest that conventional local competence development strategies may not be effective methods for developing global managers for emerging markets.     

Measuring Nonprofit Incubator Performance: Toward an Adapted Balanced Scorecard Approach

The number of business incubators in the world has risen dramatically, with many regions promoting nonprofit incubators. Yet declines in public funding have brought to the fore a key question about how well they perform. Both policymakers and incubator managers therefore stand to benefit from reliable tools to monitor performance. In this paper, we present a scale to measure incubator performance based on the research literature on incubator performance and management control. We used the balanced scorecard as a basis for thought about how best to develop a model of nonprofit incubator performance. Data collected from 121 incubator managers show that performance can be assessed along four constructs: local development performance, incubatee satisfaction, incubation processes, and learning. This tool comprises a broad range of performance indicators and, perhaps more importantly, may help incubator managers to better run their organizations and regional policymakers to better evaluate their entrepreneurship policies.     

从公平理论看人才流动

人才流动是人才个体或组织通过对利益和价值的追求以达到满意的过程,人才流动的实现取决于人才个体决策结果和组织决策结果的组合。依据公平理论原理,构建了人才流动模型,指出合理人才流动决策,既有利于规范我国人才市场,又有利于对其实施有效管理。     

When Sales Managers and Salespeople Disagree in the Appreciation for Their Firm: The Phenomenon of Organizational Identification Tension

Marketing literature emphasizes the importance of organizational identification in the sales force. However, empirical research has so far focused on the separate analysis of the consequences of either sales managers’ or salespersons’ organizational identification, largely ignoring their interactive effects. This study seeks to address this research void by exploring the phenomena of organizational identification agreement and organizational identification tension in the sales manager–salesperson dyad. In contrast to organizational identification agreement, organizational identification tension occurs in a sales manager–salesperson dyad if the sales manager and the salesperson differ in the strength of their organizational identification. Analysis of a triadic data set using hierarchical linear modeling supports the authors’ hypotheses that increasing the level of organizational identification agreement is beneficial but increasing organizational identification tension can have severe negative consequences for the satisfaction of a salesperson's customers and the salesperson's performance. The study additionally explores how sales managers’ leadership styles (charismatic vs. transactional), combined with the appropriate control system (behavioral vs. outcome control), can be effective in avoiding organizational identification tension.     

Brand Identification by Product Design: The Impact of Evaluation Mode and Familiarity

Distinctive product design is a cornerstone of sustainable branding. Ideally, consumers will be able to identify brands by product design without seeing any logos. Once companies have established strong associations between product designs and brands in consumers’ minds, they seek protection against imitation as well as consistency in product lines. This research discusses methods for measuring consumers’ abilities to identify brands by product design. Study 1 shows that brand identification depends on the evaluation mode that the identification task evokes. Compared to a task that presents products side by side (comparative mode), participants are more likely to confuse copycats with an original design when they see only one product (noncomparative mode). Study 2 replicates findings of Study 1, demonstrating some robustness of effects across three countries (United States, Spain, Germany) and across three different product categories (beer, smartphones, cars). Study 2 further investigates how familiarity with the product influences brand identification. Although consumers with high (compared to low) familiarity are more likely to accurately identify an original product in a noncomparative evaluation mode, they are also more likely to confuse a copycat with the original product in this mode. Overall, this research extends knowledge about brand identification by product design and provides information brand managers may need for legal decisions in trademark or design patent cases. This research also provides information for brand managers making decisions regarding new product development, for example, product line extensions.     

China Speaks Out: How and Why Chinese Employees Use Their Voice toward German Managers

Existing management literature on voice has primarily focused on examining who uses their voice and when it is used, ignoring why employees speak out and how they do so. We examine the conditions under which Chinese employees use their voice toward their German managers at German companies in Mainland China. The findings from our empirical study emphasize the importance of Chinese employees' personal identification with their German managers as a precondition for voice behaviors. Our results suggest that Chinese employees utilize indirect voice behavior in addition to direct voice behavior when interacting with their German managers. This indirect guanxi‐voice behavior has neither been recognized nor investigated in the literature. The theoretical and managerial implications of the results are discussed. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Managers’ Citizenship Behaviors for the Environment: A Developmental Perspective

The objective of this longitudinal study is to analyze the intrinsic drivers and values underlying managers’ organizational citizenship behaviors for the environment (OCBEs) from a developmental psychology perspective based on measuring the stages of consciousness that shape the meaning-making systems of individuals. At time 1, the stages of consciousness of 138 managers were qualitatively assessed using the Leader Development Profile test. At time 2, a quantitative survey measured the environmental beliefs and OCBEs of these managers. The links between stages of consciousness, environmental beliefs, and OCBEs were analyzed using hierarchical regressions. The main findings show that managers’ stages of consciousness positively influence two types of OCBEs, namely eco-initiatives and eco-helping, while environmental beliefs influence eco-helping and eco-civic engagement but do not appear to be connected with the stage of consciousness development. This paper first contributes to the literature on corporate greening by shedding more light on the aspects of behavioral and developmental psychology that underlie environmental leadership. Second, it bridges the gap between theories that have developed separately by showing the interconnectedness between the managers’ stage of consciousness and the more concrete environmental behaviors in the workplace that could have emulative effects throughout the organization.     

Competitive by design

This paper is concerned with the role of design in the competitiveness of manufacturing companies and reports on design management in commercially successful firms. The findings are based on a survey of design policies and practices in over one hundred British and foreign companies from several industries, ranging from furniture to electronics. The paper shows that while in theory design plays a key role in competition, influencing both “price” and “non‐price” factors, in practice many managers do not give design high priority in company strategy and product development. The commercially most successful firms were those that not only invested resources in design and managed it effectively, but had other strengths, for example in marketing and manufacturing.     

The Effects of Professional Managers’ Credit on Their Work Performance: Firm Owners’ Trust and Credit Identification Mechanisms

Finding successors for private enterprises has become an urgent problem in recent years, partially because those firms’ owners lack trust in professional managers. Previous research on agents focuses on preventing opportunistic behavior and neglects the value of their entrepreneurship. In our research, professional managers’ credit is divided into three dimensions: personal credit, professional credit and operational credit. Using a sample of 379 firm owners from 27 provinces in China, we find that credit and its detailed dimensions are positively related to private owners’ trust in professional managers. We also found that a rigorous and effective credit identification mechanism positively moderate the above relationships. Furthermore, trust affects professional managers’ work performance in a positive way. Accordingly, we advise that (1) professional managers’ credit assessment system should be established and improved; (2) professional managers and enterprise owners should attach importance to enhancing professionalism and promoting rigorous credit identification mechanisms; (3) the closed-loop of the credit-trust psychologically interactive mechanism based on credit mechanisms and credit identification mechanisms should be put to use.     

The effects of managerial attitudes to design on company performance

Central to current thinking on what makes companies competitive is the notion that “it's not what you do, it's the way that you do it”. The way a task is carried out in a company is itself very much related to the attitudes and opinions of the company's managers. This article focuses on top managers’ attitudes to product design and shows which ones are related to superior competitive performance. An examination of the attitudes shows that there are seven basic managerial orientations to design. The most successful orientation is called the “balanced orientation” and consists of attitudes that underpin a commitment to leading the field technically and making developments market‐relevant.     

Developing effective social media messages: Insights from an exploratory study of industry experts

As consumers are increasingly utilizing the social network and media platforms for prepurchase information, managers are confronted with producing effective social media messages that can favorably influence buyers’ attitudes and behavioral intentions towards brands. A qualitative, in‐depth, elite interview investigation with social media marketing experts was undertaken to develop awareness of the factors influencing the effectiveness of social media marketing. Adopting a thematic analysis approach, this study establishes the three overriding themes of interactivity, credibility, and infotainment as being valuable in determining how social media marketing can enhance brand performance. Attitude theory and the hierarchy‐of‐effects model is utilized to support understanding and explain the decision making of social media users in this context. Overall, this study provides managers with a thorough explanation of the effects of the identified core themes on social media attitudes and intentions. Implications for social media marketing theory and practice are presented based upon the depth and breadth of knowledge attained from the analysis of the expert interview data.     

Trend and business cycles with external markets: Non‐capacity generating semi‐autonomous expenditures and effective demand

The Global Financial Crisis has underlined the importance of developments in the household sector to explaining macro patterns. Some recent papers have discussed the role of non‐capacity generating semi‐autonomous expenditures in growth theory. This literature ties together several aspects of heterodox thought: growth and distribution; the Sraffian supermultiplier; Duesenberry's relative income hypothesis; the endogenous money approach and Kalecki–Luxemburg external markets. The basic message is that non‐wage sources of effective demand, based on mortgage and consumer credit, can play a key role in inducing capacity investment and driving long‐run output growth. This article gives a broad overview of the role of financed‐induced semi‐autonomous expenditures in growth, cycles and crises, and thus criticizes some of the previous approaches that claim to mimic actual cycles while abstracting from these crucial determinants of economic activity.     

企业人才资源的流动与流失问题解析

人才资源成为当前企业最重要的资本,企业要想在经济全球化的市场竞争中谋生存、求发展,就必须依靠人才资源。人才资源的流动可以带来技术、资金、信息、管理的流动,而人才资源的流失会给企业带来巨大的危害。因此,必须重视人才资源的流动和流失问题。     

Is disclosure the right way to comply with stakeholders? The Shell case

This paper is part of an ongoing research project and builds upon a previous one in which we explain the failure of the Agency Theory through the Shell case. In that, we analysed the behaviour of Shell managers, who reclassified oil reserves, playing with the share price because they owned share options. This previous paper established an important literature framework that is continued and organized to go deeper into our analysis in this paper. The goal here is to show that the way that is supposed to be the right tool to inform stakeholders – disclosure – is not enough, and even in the Shell case, no one would have noticed the problems with the oil reserves through the mere analysis of the company disclosure during the ‘strange period’ (1998–2003). The methodology used in this paper is lexical analysis, which seems to be an innovative and effective approach to the analysis of Corporate Social Disclosure, given the un‐codified nature of the latter. The conclusions obtained highlight the problem of lack of transparency in the contents of corporate social disclosure: some firms avoid communicating crucial contents, some others twist the results in order to camouflage advantages to shareholders or managers. If it is like this for disclosing firms, what is happening in the case of non‐disclosing firms?     

Strategies for building effective virtual teams: Trust is key

The impressive growth in web-mediated organizational relationships has created an escalating interest in how to manage virtual teams successfully. As organizations increasingly expect their managers to lead employees in these online groupings, it becomes imperative to identify and train them in the skills to do this effectively. The purpose of this article is to organize and present strategies that organizations have found successful in helping their managers lead virtual teams. While all successful managers must ensure that they have provided the basic organizational support for their employees, especially effective leaders also ensure they build trustworthy relationships. Thus, we emphasize how each strategy contributes to building and sustaining a climate of trust in virtual teams.     

Training corporate managers to adopt a more autonomy‐supportive motivating style toward employees: an intervention study

Management style is treated in a variety of ways across the training and development literature. Yet few studies have tested the training‐based malleability of management style in a for‐profit, authentic work context. The present research tested whether or not training intervention would help managers adopt a more autonomy‐supportive motivating style toward employees and whether or not the employees of these managers would, in turn, show greater autonomous motivation and workplace engagement. Using an intervention‐based experimental design, 25 managers from a Fortune 500 company received training consistent with self‐determination theory on how to support the autonomy of the 169 employees they supervised. Five weeks after the managers in the experimental group participated in the training, they displayed a significantly more autonomy‐supportive managerial style than did nontrained managers in a control group. Further, the employees they supervised showed, 5 weeks later, significantly more autonomous motivation and greater workplace engagement than did employees supervised by control‐group managers. We discuss the malleability of managers' motivating styles, the benefits to employees when managers become more autonomy supportive, and recommendations for future training interventions and research.     

The barriers to effective global talent management: The example of corporate élites in MNEs

This paper focuses on talent management failure by multinational enterprises (MNEs). It examines barriers to corporate advancement of talents located in subsidiaries and more specifically on promotion of talent already employed by the MNE to be part of the upper echelon management team at its centre. Drawing on agency and bounded rationality theories, we discuss the underlying causes of talent management failure in MNEs. At the subsidiary level, we draw on agency theory to delineate self-serving mechanisms displayed by subsidiary managers that might hinder effective talent management systems throughout the MNE. At the headquarter level, we use bounded rationality to explain how decision-making processes, and information top management teams use to make decisions about talent management results in overlooking talents at subsidiary level.     

How identification facilitates effective learning: the evaluation of generic versus localized professionalization training

Worldwide, organizations are keen to ensure that they achieve a performance return from the large investment they make in employee training. This study examines the way in which workgroup identification facilitates trainees’ motivation to transfer learning into workplace performance. A 2 × 2 longitudinal study evaluated the effects of a new generic professionalization training program (NGP) – which tapped into distal work identities, and a standard local professionalization program (SLP) – which spoke more to localized work identities, on participant's motivation to transfer their learning to the workplace. The study found that, compared to participants on the SLP (n = 31), participants on the NGP (n = 35) indicated a reduction in 4 measures (perceived utility of training; workplace participation; relatedness and workplace identification). The authors draw on the social identity approach to illustrate how a reduction in these variables is indicative of a reduction in motivation to transfer learning to the workplace. In short, training which does not speak to meaningful localized identities results in reduced motivation to transfer compared to training that does speak to those identities. More broadly, the study demonstrates the capacity of the social identity approach to meet the increasing demands of training researchers for a comprehensive, multi‐dimensional, theoretical framework through which to understand the interplay of trainee and contextual factors that contribute to effective learning and performance in the workplace.