Transformational leadership,group affective tone,and group member social inferences: A leadership complementarity perspective

We investigated how the complementarity between transformational leadership behaviours and group potency predicts changes in group affective tone and subsequent group members' social inferences (job satisfaction, trust in supervisors, and turnover intentions). We analyzed two waves of data from 135 skilled professionals working in 29 groups within a Canadian government agency. Transformational leadership behaviours did not directly relate to changes in group affective tone. However, group potency moderated the relationship between transformational leadership behaviours and group affective tone, as well as the indirect relationships between transformational leadership behaviours and group members' social inferences via group affective tone, such that the relationships were stronger for low-potency groups. These results suggest transformational leadership may work best when complementing a group's sense of its own perceived capability.     

Consideration of Moral Intensity in Ethicality Judgements: Its Relationship with Whistle-blowing and Need-for-Cognition

Within the theoretical framework of the moral intensity model of ethical decision making (Jones, 1991), two studies ascertained the contention that ethicality judgements are contingent upon the perceived intensity of the moral issue. In addition, Study 1 extended the validity of the moral intensity notion to whistle-blowing behaviour; Study 2 addressed the effect of the individual difference variable, need-for-cognition, on differential utilization of intensity dimensions in the ethical decision process. A scenario approach was used in both studies. Results have provided convergent support for the issue-contingency nature of ethical decisions. Study 1 also showed that felt empathy for potential victims predicted the likelihood of whistle-blowing behaviour, and that the perceived overall ethicality of a wrongdoing predicted felt empathy when potential victims are psychologically and physically close. Results of Study 2 further suggested a greater utilization of issue-relevant information by high need-for-cognition individuals in ethical decision making.     

Engineering careers and technology transfer: Japanese companies in the UK

This article examines two issues: first how Japanese companies recruit, train and utilise engineers in their UK transplants; secondly, how technology transfer between British and Japanese engineers is affected by career structures. It draws on questionnaire responses from 88 companies and interviews at a small number of sites.     

Unionisation and human resource management in Irish companies

Irish trade unions, at establishment level, are experiencing the same problems as in other countries. This article, from a survey of 1500 companies, firstly assesses the impact of structural variables on trade union density; and, secondly, the influence of human resource management on labour management strategies.     

Cutting-edge technology

In recent years there has been a growing belief that materials constitute a generic technology of revolutionary significance, ranking alongside information techno- logy and biotechnology. Our main aim is to examine the plausibility of this claim. In so doing we indicate what is distinctive about changes i n materials science and technology, and report on recent forecasts of potential change. Our second aim is briefly to discuss corporate and public policy on materials innovation i n a number of advanced countries. We present some preliminary jindings from interviews conducted with prominent UK materials producers and users. We conclude that there have been some important incremental and radical innovations i n materials technology. But because the diffusion of innovative materials and processes into different industry sectors and products has been uneven, i n terns of their current and likely future impact on the economy as a whole these changes cannot yet be described as revolutionary. The future impact of materials technology will depend not just on the materials innovation strategies of companies and governments, but on their ability to overcome users' conservatism and to convince them of the design and quality improvements that are possible.     

Housing Cooperatives in Sweden: The Effects of Financial Deregulation

The article focuses on transaction prices for recent movers in cooperative dwellings during the period 1980–1993. Prices increased by 80% in real terms up to 1990, then fell by 35% between 1990 and 1993. A hedonic analysis is used to analyze the impact of changmg macroeconomics and financial deregulation. The financial deregulation, which took place in 1985, seems to have caused increased loan-to-value ratios on the cooperative housing market. Using 1983 as a point of reference, a Tobit analysis reveals that the average LTV ratio in 1990 was 290% higher that year. After 1990 the LTV ratio fell by 45% due to credit constraints.     

Navigating in the Midst of More Uncertainty and Risk

With the steady increase in the variety and scale of uncertainties and risks, the challenges for today's executives have become ever more complex and daunting. One powerful tool for navigating among different risks and uncertainties is scenario planning. From its early days of use within Shell, scenario planning has evolved in ways that make it better suited to the tasks of identifying, analyzing, and managing various financial risks across different industries. During the last ten years, Morgan Stanley has also been using scenario planning to gain a better understanding of key risks and uncertainties facing the financial services industry, ranging from the consequences of possible changes in the dollar to the emergence of hedge funds and the remarkable growth of China and India. In discussing the benefits of scenario planning, the authors note its potential to help management in a number of ways:

• ? By challenging conventional thinking and current assumptions about its industry and world;
• ? By identifying key signals or potential direction changes ahead of time, which is especially important when lead times to invest, hedge, or change assets are limiting factors;
• ? By identifying and assessing the value of strategic or “real” options—options to invest in new opportunities or limit downside risks that may suddenly open up or disappear, and that man‐ agement must be prepared to “exercise” quickly and decisively;
• ? By reinforcing the recognition that value added comes not just from better strategic thinking and planning, but from the role of risk management in helping companies take advantage of new opportunities;
• ? By encouraging more cross‐divisional and firm‐wide conversations about strategic choices and options, thereby creating a shared understanding of and greater consensus about chosen strategies; and
• ? By forcing them to go beyond the limits of typical three‐to‐five year forecasting limitations to think hard about longer‐term strategic choices.

     

OLIVE: A SIMPLE METHOD FOR ESTIMATING BETAS WHEN FACTORS ARE MEASURED WITH ERROR

We propose a simple and intuitive method for estimating betas when factors are measured with error: ordinary least squares instrumental variable estimator (OLIVE). OLIVE performs well when the number of instruments becomes large, whereas the performance of conventional instrumental variable methods becomes poor or even infeasible. In an empirical application, OLIVE beta estimates improve R² significantly. More important, our results help resolve two puzzling findings in the prior literature: first, the sign of average risk premium on the beta for market return changes from negative to positive; second, the estimated value of average zero‐beta rate is no longer too high.     

The liquidity of the London capital markets, 1825–70†

This article examines the liquidity of the London capital markets in the decades following the liberalization of UK incorporation law. Using comprehensive stock and bond data, we calculate a measure of market liquidity for the period 1825–70. We find that stock market liquidity trended upwards but bond market liquidity did not increase over the sample period. Stock market liquidity during our sample period was partially influenced by the bond market, rather than fluctuations in economic output. In our analysis of the cross‐sectional determinants of individual stock liquidity, we find that firm size and the number of issued shares were important determinants of liquidity.  Finally, we find little evidence of an illiquidity premium, which is consistent with the view that investors did not price liquidity in this nascent market.     

Book reviews

New Advanced Materials: Economic Dynamics and European Strategy.

New Technology in Context: The Selection, Introduction and Use of Computer Numerically Controlled Machine Tools.

Management Strategies for Information Technology.

Managing Information Technology in Insurance: A Guide to the Key Issues.