‘The times they are a changin’? transformative organizational innovations in financial services in the UK

Much of the management guru-based literature emphasizes the transformational capacity of organizational innovations (OIs). The excellence, quality and reengineering literature purports to abandon hierarchy, bureaucracy and management control; to eradicate conflict and instil an new team and quality-based ethos. Yet much remains unknown about how these OIs are operationalized. Here we question both theoretically and empirically the validity of such transformational claims by reference to our research within financial services. We argue that despite considerable changes, OIs remain both a condition of, and location for, the exercise of organizational power relations. Bureaucratic and hierarchical structures continue to pervade organizations. Work-related pressures and tensions abound concerning issues such as control over the quality versus the quantity of work output, work intensification and job insecurity. All of which impinge upon the performance of OIs, and belie notions of a ‘transformation’ of organizational cultures, structures or strategies.     

Methods in applied social research: special characteristics and quality standards

This article argues that core methodological concepts of fundamental research like validity and reliability are transformed in special quality standards in applied social research. They retain much of their traditional strivings but have to realize them in quite other contexts and with quite different purposes. The conditions of their realisation do not have to become worse in the frequently unstructured field settings, as is usually thought, but can improve as well. The crucial role of the characteristic social and communicative settings for methods employed in this context is stressed. For instance, the dialogue between researchers and research subjects and sponsors obtains a special methodological significance here. Seven quality standards are distilled from the practice of applied social research and elaborated partly according to some concepts first suggested by the German action researchers Moser and Schneider. They are called ‘transparancy’, ‘consistency’, ‘communication and cooperation’, ‘stimulus function’, ‘multi-method’, ‘feed-back and confrontation’ and ‘dynamic method’. The general argument is made specific by a treatment of the consequences of these standards for the employment of interviews and questionaires.     

From disruptions to struggles: Theorizing power in ERP implementation projects

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation projects often fail to achieve their objectives. These often problematic projects are frequently the setting for intense and growing power struggles. Existing studies (e.g., Boonstra, 2006; Shepherd, Clegg, & Stride, 2009) have provided researchers with insights about issues of power in these projects. However, existing research has yet to provide a comprehensive picture of power in these projects or insights on how this picture changes with the passage of time. Clegg's (1989) circuits of power framework provides a useful tool for developing this needed comprehensive picture. We use the circuits of power framework as a tool for categorizing existing literature on power in ERP implementations. More importantly, we draw on this framework to provide a comprehensive view of power in the particular context of these projects. Specifically, we analyze the power relations during the implementation of an ERP in an organization. We do so by identifying how disturbances to the circuits of power – power struggles – arise and intensify during the implementation of the ERP. In this way, our work makes both a theoretical and an empirical contribution to the study of power in ERP implementation projects.     

The estimates of philanthropic behavior and attitude in South Korea: Methodological consideration

Estimates on philanthropic giving are one of the major topics within nonprofit studies globally. South Korea has engaged in measuring philanthropic behaviors and attitudes since the early 2000s, however, little is known about the validity of the measures that are used to collect giving and volunteering data. This study aims to investigate the methodological matters of the empirical philanthropy datasets in South Korea. A total of nine datasets were identified that measure philanthropic behaviors and attitudes in South Korea. Among the nine datasets, six were used to analyze the methodological matters for the purposes of this study. This article discusses the challenges associated with research methods including definitional challenges, instrument design issues, and other research methodological issues on the identified philanthropic giving datasets in South Korea. Results of this study suggest insights for improving measures of charitable giving and volunteering in South Korea. The findings are significant because differences in approaches to measuring donation behavior produce substantial differences in reported estimates.     

REPETITION AND FINANCIAL INCENTIVES IN ECONOMICS EXPERIMENTS

Abstract While experimental methods have been an effective tool for economic research, there have been controversies on the methodological aspects. The reason why we need to care about it is clear: if the method in an experiment is not valid, the results from that experiment cannot be valid too. Among other things, the methodological issues of financial incentives and repetition, which are norms in experimental economics, have been at the centre of many debates. While there are previous reviews that investigate financial incentives and repetition separately, our view is that the effects of these two factors are interdependent rather than independent. Thus, our review here is more specific and more conditional, that is, we are interested in the answer to the question, ‘Do we need to use financial incentives conditional on the use of repetition?’ After we discuss the relationship between financial incentives and repetition, we argue, from a review of 44 experimental studies, that using financial incentives would be more necessary to improve the validity of experimental results if an experimenter needs to use repetition.     

To Screen or Not to Screen? Using the Internet for Selection Decisions

Organizations are increasingly relying on Internet searches and social networking websites to uncover detailed and private information about job applicants. Such Internet screening techniques have the potential to provide additional information beyond that found using traditional screening approaches. However, questions regarding the legality and appropriateness of this practice, as well as issues regarding the standardization, reliability, and validity of the information obtained, need to be addressed. The current work describes these issues associated with Internet screening and provides recommendations to help ensure this practice is used appropriately in organizations. Suggestions for future research on Internet screening are also discussed.     

The Validity of Laboratory Research in Social and Behavioral Science

The validity of artificial situations is often questioned, and particularly so the possibility of transfer of findings to the real world. Such questions, or doubts, may stem from a rigid distinction between real and artificial situations or from too strict a notion of representation. This article will argue that `the real world' does not provide unambiguous criteria for representation and that, moreover, many experiments and simulation games do not have to represent `the real world' in any direct way. Both issues are usually treated under the heading of external validity, which means compliance to conventions that dominated thinking about validity over decades. These conventions need to be reconsidered. Quality standards for research must not be rigid, nor should be applied in a way that ignores the characteristics of a particular research project. Fixed notions about validity may prevent a researcher from adapting validation procedures to the circumstances at hand. The article takes issue with a conception of external validity as surface resemblance between artificial and real situations, advocates an active, non-routine approach to validity questions, and encourages individual researchers to develop a line of reasoning on these questions instead of adhering to standards that may not suit their particular research.     

Are case studies more than sophisticated storytelling?: Methodological problems of qualitative empirical research mainly based on semi-structured interviews

Qualitative empirical research and case studies have, like any other scientific method, their strengths and weaknesses. But how valid are the findings stemming from such research, particularly when they are base on data gained from interviews? This paper primarily deals with the methodological problems throughout the whole research process. Areas of concerns are: (1) before collecting data and during the whole research process, (2) the process of collecting data, (3) internal validity and making sense of data, (4) external validity of the data and findings, (5) relation between the findings and social sciences as well as social practice. The analysis will reveal a mixed picture concerning the scientific value of qualitative case studies. There is some good news. There is more methodological freedom and room for creativity in qualitative research than it seems at first glance. On the other hand there is a need for a greater methodological awareness particularly concerning possible downsides of subjectivity, the generalisation of the findings, conscious and unconscious biases, influences of dominant ideologies and mainstream thinking. Above all, there is a great need for rational critique. There is great need for a more critical attitude towards (basic) assumptions—particularly, to challenge, question and criticise literally everything systematically and permanently and to put the findings sufficiently in relation to the wider historical context, i.e. epochal ideologies and societal structures. Social science research has to contribute much more to the discussion of values, interests, and ideologies that shape current and future social practices.     

Validity — the quest for reality in quantitative and qualitative research

It has been argued that fundamentally different methodological approaches have made for ‘two sociologies’. This view has obscured the fact that the problem of validity has to be tackled independently of any specific methodological premises because of the textuality of sociological data. This does not necessarily imply, however, a single, unified strategy for validity testing. In this paper, some basic theoretical presuppositions underlying the approach to validity testing in quantitative research will be contrasted with the strategies offered by Max Weber's methodological writings on the ideal type. It is argued that the use of ideal typical constructs in qualitative research (exemplified by patient's illness careers) allows systematic validity testing despite the important differences in the conceptualization of social reality which is used in quantitative research, thus serving the purpose of any empirical sociological research, that is, to gain valid insight into societies' concrete reality.     

Power, Mastery And Organizational Learning

The topic of power has not featured strongly in debates about organizational learning, a point that is illustrated in a discussion of influential studies of teamworking. Despite the insights that such studies have provided into the nature of expertise and collaboration they have tended not to explore the relevance of issues of hierarchy, politics and institutionalized power relations. The paper addresses the problem by exploring the links between power, expertise and organizational learning. Power is analysed both as the medium for, and the product of, collective activity. The approach emphasizes how skills and imaginations are intertwined with social, technical and institutional structures. While studies of teamworking have concentrated on situations where imaginations and structures are tightly linked, unexpected developments may occur when these relations are loosened. Such situations occur when the needs of the moment overshadow normal routines and relationships and there is no single overview or centre of control. It is suggested that organizational learning can be conceptualized as the movement between familiar and emergent activities and between established and emergent social relations. Events in a two-year action research project are used to illustrate the approach and explore episodes of decentred collaboration.     

Strategic global human resource management research in the twenty-first century: an endorsement of the mixed-method research methodology

Global competition is rapidly becoming the norm in which nearly all business organizations must compete in one fashion or another. The complexity and value of strategic global human resource management (SGHRM) will continue to compound in significance as globalization becomes the predominate form of business. Both practitioners and researchers maintain the grapple with understanding the global phenomena and the resulting impact on the entire human resource management system.

Previously, researchers' maintained research programmes utilizing Western-style theories and methods, which were predominantly quantitative, to explore phenomena that may now be inappropriate. These methods and theories frequently do not capture the ‘fabric’ of global phenomena that include complex interactions of culture, institutions, societal norms and government regulations, among a few concerns.

The mixed methods approach is proposed to add the ‘fabric’ required, illustrating the depth and flexibility needed to explore the SGHRM issues. Mixed methods are a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches that maintain methodological rigour as well as measures for reliability and validity. This paper explores the current methods, the reasons for their lack of success in portraying the depth of the phenomena and why the mixed methods approach appears to be a superior method for research for the SGHRM field.     

Foundations of Project Management Research: An Explicit and Six‐Facet Ontological Framework

This article proposes a new, explicit, and integrated ontological framework to stimulate project management research. It suggests that the ontological question should be viewed as a six‐facet diamond that represents a set of root assumptions about projects. The article conveys the idea that whenever a project management researcher emphasizes a specific facet, he or she knowingly or unknowingly leaves the other five facets in the dark in his or her research. This article calls for attention on the ground ontological assumptions of project management research in order to transcend the abstract epistemological and methodological debates and concentrate on what really divides the different theoretical positions.     

Methodological criteria for the internal validity and utility of practice oriented research

For conducting practice oriented research different research strategies are available. In this paper a typology is developed for differentiating between practice oriented research strategies that are data based and participatory research strategies. The former category involves quantitative and qualitative data based research strategies. The latter category, participatory research strategies, includes knowledge based research and practice based research. At present, methodological criteria for assessing the quality of practice oriented research heavily rely on those developed for theory oriented research, in particular internal and external validity and reliability. However, we argue that for assessing the results of practice oriented research other criteria are necessary. In this paper, methodological criteria are formulated for evaluating the internal validity and practical utility of practice oriented research with the help of a Delphi study using research methodologists as experts. They agree upon the criteria of verifiability, comprehensibility and acceptance of the results, as well as holism. Moreover, different categories of participatory and data based research strategies are compared to these criteria. Practice based research and qualitative data based research are best equipped to fulfill these criteria. These findings may enable researchers to make a more deliberate choice for a specific research strategy in practice oriented research.     

Content analytic approach to measuring constructs in operations and supply chain management

This paper presents and illustrates the content analytic approach to measuring constructs in operations and supply chain management (OSCM). In this paper, a methodological review of OSCM empirical research in 2002-2007 is provided to highlight that OSCM empirical studies, unlike those in other business disciplines, have rarely used content analysis as a methodological tool. This paper then reviews the methodological strengths of content analysis, which lie primarily in its malleability, economy of data collection, repeatability, and unobtrusiveness. These strengths not only make content analysis a viable empirical method but also position it as a method that can be used in concert with other empirical methods in OSCM research, such as survey, case study, and secondary research methodologies. This paper also proposes a generic framework for a content analytic approach to measuring theoretical constructs, illustrates the application of the framework to a construct in the OSCM literature (buyer-supplier relationalism), and reports the satisfactory results of reliability and validity tests for the content analysis-based measure of buyer-supplier relationalism. In addition, this paper proposes and demonstrates that the use of convergence study in tandem with content analysis can substantially reduce the content analysis efforts needed in measuring the construct of interest, thus improving the overall efficiency of the process of content analysis.     

Cognitive interviewing and factor-analytic techniques: a mixed method approach to validity of survey items measuring national identity

This paper explores the possibilities of method triangulation between two methodological approaches for assessing the validity performance of survey items: cognitive interviewing and factor analytic techniques. Although their means of approaching validity differ, both methods attempt to prove whether a measure corresponds to a theoretical (latent) concept (e.g. patriotism vs. nationalism), thus both are concerned with the question, whether an indicator measures what it is supposed to measure. Based on two representative samples for Austria [data gathered within the framework of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) on National Identity in 1995 and 2003] and 18 cognitive interviews conducted between 2003 and 2005, the paper shows the considerable advantages of using a multi-method approach for ensuring the quality of survey items. On the one hand, we apply exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis in order to identify poorly performing indicators with regard to validity and reliability. On the other hand, the analysis of the cognitive interviews reveals the substantial sources of response error. Results show that to a large extent, respondents do not understand the items that have been defined to measure national identification and related concepts in Austria the way intended by the drafting group of this ISSP Module, a fact that has considerable implications on the scales’ predictive power.     

State employees' unions and administrative reforms: comparisons between Sweden,Norway, Australia and New Zealand

This paper discusses how methodological challenges and problems were handled in a study of how state employees' unions responded to, had an impact on and were affected by new public management reforms in Sweden, Norway, Australia and New Zealand. In the study, particular emphasis was put on institutional characteristics of the unions. The paper clarifies the operational measures of this concept (construct validity) and their causal relationship to the actions and outcomes of the reform processes (internal validity). Two other aspects of research design (external validity and reliability) are also discussed. Finally, some more general lessons learned from the study are indicated.     

Managerial applicability of graphical formats to support positioning decisions

Issues of segmentation and positioning have always been at the heart of marketing management. In recent years, much methodological progress has been made in order to carry out these two tasks simultaneously, that is, to combine certain types of clustering algorithms with appropriate multidimensional scaling or unfolding procedures. When trying to provide managers with a tool to support marketing decision-making in segmentation and positioning, the ease of use and the visual quality of results must be emphasized. This paper provides a state-of-the-art review of alternative graphical formats designed to assist strategic management. It focuses on three aspects, namely, (I) representing competitive market structures, (II) illustrating preferences for product attributes, and (III) describing customer heterogeneity at the individual as well as segment-specific levels; this paper also explores the interrelations among these aspects. The benefits and limitations of different approaches are discussed, and graphical examples are provided. Advances in academic research are contrasted with the information requirements of marketing managers. Finally, recommendations on the applicability of these alternatives for practical use are offered, and issues for further research are specified.     

Assessing the implementation of sustainable public procurement using quantitative text-analysis tools: A large-scale analysis of Belgian public procurement notices

Public organizations are using sustainable public procurement (SPP) as a policy tool to address societal and environmental issues. Having a policy on SPP however does not guarantee implementation. Several barriers have for example been identified that prevent public procurers from implementing SPP in their procurement projects, such as financial constraints, lack of knowledge or motivation. The question therefore arises how much SPP public organizations actually implement in their procurement projects. However, existing studies often focus on the environmental part of SPP and often rely on using interviews or surveys to assess the perceived degree of SPP (which have been accused of being subject to social desirability bias and low response rates). Little is therefore known about what SPP is in practice, and how frequently it is implemented. In this study, we therefore provide a detailed operationalization of SPP that encompasses the full concept. We subsequently assess the implementation of SPP in practice using text mining techniques to analyse over 140.000 Belgian public procurement notices that were published between 2011 and 2016. The research shows that in more than 70% of the notices (with an annex) SPP is implemented, but there appears to be a downward trend. It seems that SPP is implemented less over time, rather than more. Environmentally friendly procurement was, relative to other types of SPP, prevalent over time and across regions. For SPP to live up to its potential there are thus still barriers to be overcome.     

扩大内需电网工程后评价应侧重国民经济评价

已有和将有较大一批属于扩大内需的电网工程陆续投运,这些工程的项目后评价有什么特点,该如何评价,本文就这些问题进行探讨。通过对国内外同类工程与扩大内需电网工程进行对比,同时了解国家出台拉动内需政策的背景,分析扩大内需电网工程自身的特点,本文认为扩大内需电网工程后评价应侧重进行国民经济评价。     

Interdisciplinary social science: a methodological analysis

Since the 1930's, interdisciplinarity has been advocated in the social sciences for the purpose of achieving more comprehensive explanations of observable social phenomena. However, the realization of this promising perspective has been rather poor. This article argues that two main causes of the failure to create interdisciplinary social science can be distinguished, i.e., methodological and theoretical problems. Methodological problems stem either from taking a reductionist approach towards interdisciplinarity, or by mistaking measurement issues for theoretical topics. Theoretical problems result from the poor state and rate of theory formation within psychology. The implications of these problems are that the validity and reliability of explanations of macro social phenomena, which are provided by disciplines such as sociology and macro economics, are seriously at stake.