...emeraldinsight.com/0953-4814.htm “Flexibility” as the rationale for organizational change: a discourse perspective Richard Dunford, Suresh Cuganesan and David Grant “Flexibility” as the rationale for change 83 University of Sydney Business School, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia Ian Palmer College of Business, RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) University, Melbourne, Australia, and Rosie Beaumont and Cara Steele Faculty of Business and Enterprise, Swinburne University, Hawthorn, Australia Abstract Purpose – The concept “flexibility” is ubiquitous as a rationale for organizational change. However, its broad application is accompanied by a general lack of definitional agreement or theoretical cohesion. The purpose of this paper is to propose the merits of an alternative approach – applying a discourse perspective to the use of flexibility as a rationale for organizational change. Design/methodology/approach – This paper first illustrates the broad referencing of flexibility as a desired organizational characteristic. It then discusses the associated lack of theoretical coherence associated with the use of the concept “flexibility” before arguing the merits of a discourse perspective on flexibility as a rationale for organizational change. Findings – This paper identifies a set of questions to frame a discourse perspective on the use of “flexibility” as a rationale for organizational change. Research limitations/implications – The questions derived...
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...Organizational Behavior in the Military Christian Milarion, Monique Prado, Brian Eschan, Darien O’Neal Brandman University Business & Professional Studies Organizational Dynamics Professor Daniel C. Brake February 15th 2012 Military Organizational Behavior The purpose of this in-depth analysis is to analyze organizational behavior using a theory based approach, that will compare and contrast organizational behavior experiences in the military from the perspectives given in motivation, communication, power base, and conclude with researching and applying practical application from findings to address organizational issues to include cultural integration techniques needed for recommendation’s and strategies to facilitate better organizational practices. Background Analysis This report will deliver its fair share of analysis with organizational problems that need to be addressed, this report seeks to apply the theories of OB and apply the principles to the military Addressing relevant issues with the design and implementation of military customs and traditions established working conditions of night check versus day, working at night or during normal working hours. People who put in more work hours versus people who work less hours and receive the same compensation. The issues of group dynamics between the aviation mechanic and the aviation technician such as exploring the foundations of group’s behavior, to include shop fighting/unequal treatment/ to policies...
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...Organizational Structures (Author’s name) (Institutional Affiliation) Date Introduction The organization of corporate structures is important in the allocation of duties and roles, supervision of employees at the workplace as well as the efficient coordination of workflow in an organization. These plans form the basis of effective operations of any company’s projects, and give accurate insights on the exploration of the minimal resources available to an organization’s disposal. Besides, it enables any company to manage the work force in the process of timely completion of projects and extension of the businesses longevity. Therefore, it is important to define the roles of each party in any project assigned to the organization. Analysis of the case: designing the authorities of a project manager The Beijing EAP Inc. is a company that provided EAPs to many customers. The nature of its operations required the employees to have strong academic backgrounds that qualified them to operate in this multinational service company. Being the largest market holder in the mainland China, the Company had a huge customer base that categorized it as a big corporation. Amongst some customers of BEC were IBM, Siemens, Samsung, Lenovo, Guadong Mobile and the China Development Bank. Consequently, the Company had many projects that prompted the management to subdivide the projects to different segment managers. In this case study, for instance, Mr. Yang represents a training department...
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...Contingency theory is perceived by some scholars as a fragmentation of various ideals patched together into a theory of management accounting, nevertheless, it should be recognised that it provides a wealth of knowledge into contemporary management accounting practices. Contingency theory provides enhanced information to the individual which ultimately improves decision making and assists in achieving organisational objectives (Hamas and Lääts, 2002, p. 379). This theory has invaluably provided research evidence that are attributable to contemporary management accounting knowledge and designs. It has provided a profound method to adjust to ever changing external environments and the need for changes in internal factors (Otley, 1980, p. 413). Strengths of contingency theory style research Challenging the criticisms of contingency theory for being fragmentary and contradictory due to its methodological limitations, it is the failure of critiques in realising the many different forms of management accounting designs under the contingency approach and the relationships between those design which have perpetuated this idea (Gerdin and Greves, 2004, p.303). Attention should be shifted to the concepts under which contingency theory has been applied. Contingency theory in its simplest form highlights that an organisation’s structure is conditional upon contextual factors such as environment, strategy and size. One of its key strengths is a congruence approach that it represents...
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...Value Chains Versus Supply Chains by Andrew Feller, Dr. Dan Shunk, and Dr. Tom Callarman Abstract The concept of a Value Chain has existed for twenty years but we find it still is an unclear concept. It has been suggested that the third generation supply chain is based on customer intimacy and is fully synchronized. In this paper, the authors discuss the need to relate the concepts of the value chain and the supply chain in a more comprehensive and integrative manner. We begin with a discussion of value and the development of the concept of value chain. We then discuss similarities and differences of the value chain and the supply chain, and conclude with suggestions regarding the need for synchronizing value and supply chains to optimize business performance. What is Value? The Value Chain concept was developed and popularized in 1985 by Michael Porter, in “Competitive Advantage,” (1) a seminal work on the implementation of competitive strategy to achieve superior business performance. Porter defined value as the amount buyers are willing to pay for what a firm provides, and he conceived the “value chain” as the combination of nine generic value added activities operating within a firm – activities that work together to provide value to customers. Porter linked up the value chains between firms to form what he called a Value System; however, in the present era of greater outsourcing and collaboration the linkage between multiple firms’ value creating processes has more commonly...
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...There are numerous assumptions on which the HRM’s soft model can be said to rest on and these assumptions include, for example, that a lot of people have a lazy attitude or mentality towards work in spite of the fact that work is practically a necessity for their existence. In other words then, the reason why they are compelled to work is perhaps because of the benefits they can derive as reward for working. One other very important assumption of the HRM’s soft model is that people tend to try and equate the remuneration they get for working with the amount of their perceived effort and vice versa. And so, morale is high when they perceive payment or reward to be at least equal to or greater than effort put in. And when it is the reverse case, people are not motivated to give their best efforts. Suffice to state that people naturally quite innovative; which could count as priceless asset to an organization. Unfortunately, it has come to the observation that this valuable characteristic of people has been far from being optimally exploited. In certain other cases, the attribute has not seen the light of day let alone put to use. On account of the initially stated, the apparent conjecture of the soft model is that people will be inclined to work to the best of their abilities and by extension bring positive returns to the organization they work for if they by any means become committed to their organization (Beaumont, 1992; Dunham and Smith, 1979; Lundy, 1994). Hope (1994, p.3)...
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...[pic] McDonald's and the Environmental Defense Fund: a case study of a green alliance Sharon Livesey Originally published in…The Journal of Business Communication • January 1999 In 1987, the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development, which had convened to address the global ecological crisis, produced Our Common Future (the Brundtland Report). This watershed event established the conceptual underpinnings for environmental politics and debate in the 1990s by reframing the problem of the natural environment as one of sustainable development. In the wake of this reframing, a new practice in environmental management emerged - that of green alliances or partnerships between business and ecology groups (Westley & Vredenburg, 1991, pp. 71-72). These alliances, considered one of the ten most significant trends in environmental management and the greening of industry (Gladwin, 1993, p. 46), appeared to signal a sea change in the way business, as well as environmentalists, could respond to the ecological impacts of firms' economic activities. Indeed, environmental partnerships offered both business and ecology groups the potential for a new rhetorical stance. Business communication scholarship has identified a variety of rhetorical strategies adopted by corporations in the face of environmental controversy: defensiveness and apologia (e.g., Ice, 1991; Tyler, 1992), competing information campaigns (e.g., Lange, 1993; Moore, 1993), or retreat (e.g., Seiter...
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...COGNITIVE ORGANIZATION AND IDENTITY MAINTENANCE IN MULTICULTURAL TEAMS A Discourse Analysis of Decision-Making Meetings Jolanta Aritz Robyn C. Walker University of Southern California Measuring culture is a central issue in international management research and has been traditionally accomplished using indices of cultural values. Although a number of researchers have attempted to identify measures to account for the core elements of culture, there is no consensus on those measures. This article uses an alternative method—discourse analysis—to observe what actually occurs in terms of communication practices in intercultural decision-making meetings, specifically those involving U.S.-born native English speakers and participants from East Asian countries. Previous discourse studies in this area suggest that differences in communication practices may be attributed to power differentials or language competence. Our findings suggest that the conversation style differences we observed might be attributed to intergroup identity issues instead. Keywords: intercultural communication; intercultural communication; group communication; discourse analysis; intercultural management; group decision making; communication accommodation theory In an increasingly global economy, multicultural work teams are becoming more commonplace, and fostering teamwork in multicultural teams is a growing challenge. The growing body of intercultural research suggests important Jolanta Aritz is an Associate...
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...Social Enterprises as Hybrid Organizations: A Review and Research Agenda* Bob Doherty, Helen Haugh1 and Fergus Lyon2 The York Management School, University of York, Freboys Lane, York YO10 5GD, UK, 1Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1AG, UK, and 2Middlesex University, The Burroughs, London NW4 4BT, UK Corresponding author email: bob.doherty@york.ac.uk The impacts of the global economic crisis of 2008, the intractable problems of persistent poverty and environmental change have focused attention on organizations that combine enterprise with an embedded social purpose. Scholarly interest in social enterprise (SE) has progressed beyond the early focus on definitions and context to investigate their management and performance. From a review of the SE literature, the authors identify hybridity, the pursuit of the dual mission of financial sustainability and social purpose, as the defining characteristic of SEs.They assess the impact of hybridity on the management of the SE mission, financial resource acquisition and human resource mobilization, and present a framework for understanding the tensions and trade-offs resulting from hybridity. By examining the influence of dual mission and conflicting institutional logics on SE management the authors suggest future research directions for theory development for SE and hybrid organizations more generally. Introduction The phenomenon of social enterprise (SE) has attracted...
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...as possible. Activities, for example such as task allocation, coordination, and supervision directed toward the attainment of organizational aims are the elements of organizational structure. In conjunction with structure is organizational design, the plan. According to Hearst Communications, Inc. (2013), “When a company's leaders develop plans for how their company should function or would perform better, they undertake the business of organizational design. Good design takes inventory of all the tasks, functions and goals of a business, and then develops groupings and orderings of job positions; departments and individuals to best and most efficiently achieve those ends. Usually, designs are expressed through an organizational chart, which helps players throughout an organization understand functions and power relationships” As a business’s environment changes it is vital to identify, reassess, and possibly change one’s organizational structure and design. Knowing how to respond to the environment aids the company as economic, legal, political, and social circumstances change. Virgin America Airlines is expanding into China, and management realizes recommended changes in strategy may affect its current organizational structure and design. This discourse summarizes its existing organizational structure and describes the existing organizational design with specific discussion of how work is divided among people and departments as well as how Virgin America Airlines uses...
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...CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP: STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTING SOCIAL CHANGE C. Marlene Fiol University of Colorado - Denver Drew Harris Fairleigh Dickinson University Robert House University of Pennsylvania Second revision February 1999 Please address all correspondence to: C. Marlene Fiol University of Colorado at Denver College of Business CB 165 PO Box 173364 Denver CO 80217-3364 303-556-5812 mfiol@castle.cudenver.edu CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP: STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTING SOCIAL CHANGE ABSTRACT Due to their unique relationship with followers, charismatic leaders can be powerful agents of social change. Current theories of charismatic leadership have emphasized primarily the personality and behavior of leaders and their effects on followers, organizations, and society. This emphasis fails to uncover why and how the charismatic leader-follower interaction can generate social change. Our study draws on theories of social meaning to develop a process model of charismatic leadership. Empirical exploration of our model suggests that charismatic leaders employ a set of consistent communication strategies for effecting social change. INTRODUCTION We have substantial evidence that charismatic leaders behave differently than non-charismatic leaders. Further, we know that charismatic leaders can generate radical social changes, and that the performance of charismatic leaders and their followers tends to exceed that...
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...The Evolution of Management Theory People have been changing the shapes of the organizations for much generation. Looking back towards world history, we can mark out the incidents of people working together in official organizations such as the Greek and Roman armies, the East India Company, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Hudson Bay Company. People have also long been thinking about how to make organizations efficient and effective‐‐ since long before terms such as "management" came into common terms. Early Strategies The adjective 'Machiavellian' is used to Identify Shrewd and manipulative opportunists. Therefore Machiavelli was a great believer in the virtues of a republic. This is a proof in Discourses, a book Machiavelli has written in 1531 while he lived in the early Italian republic of Florence. The principles he set forth can be taken into consideration to apply to the management of organizations today. An organization is more stable if members have the right to express their differences and solve their conflicts within it while one person can begin an organization, "it is lasting when it is left in the care of many and when many desire to maintain it." A weak manager can follow a strong one, but not another weak one, and maintain authority. A manager seeking to change an established organization "should retain at least a shadow of the ancient customs." Another classic work that offers insights to modem managers is The Art of War, written by the Chinese philosopher...
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...knowledge and technologies. Modernists’ assumption of reality is objectivism and view organizations are real entities which exist in the objective world. Organizations are viewed as real entities driven by rationality to achieve efficiency and organizational objectives/goals. When organizations are well-managed, they are systems of decision and action driven by norms of rationality, efficiency and effectiveness for stated purposes. Similar to modernists, critical theorists’ ontology is also objectivism, and organizations are real entities which exist in the objective world. However, critical theorists view organizations as objects used by capitalists for the exploitation and alienation of workers and the environment. Symbolic interpretivists believe that reality is subjective, and only exists if we give meaning to it. As such, organizations are socially constructed realities which are constructed and reconstructed by their members through symbolically mediated interaction. Without its members giving meaning to it, an organization does not exist. Postmodernists suggest that reality is constructed through language and discourse. Organizations are ‘imagined’ entities whereby power and social arrangements are reinforced through language and discourse. C. Epistemology Epistemology is defined as knowing how u can know. It is concerned with how human form knowledge and establish criteria for evaluating it. Modernist relates to positivist epistemology which assumes that one can...
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...Effective Leadership Literature Review Patrick Carter Dr. Dale Mancini Solutions Leadership August 10, 2009 Effective Leadership Effective leadership is crucial to an organization’s success. There are several common characteristics that effective organizational leaders share. Without these characteristics, initiatives and change can fail. Leaders can take many different steps to help keep projects from failing. Leaders need to be self-aware of how their actions are perceived by those they manage (Moment, 2007). Employees will sometimes mirror the behavior of managers. Aghdaei (2008) talks about the philosophy of “shadow of a leader,” where the leader demonstrates the wanted behavior (p. 16). Leaders should model hard work for employees (Weiss, 2000). Aghdaei (2008) states that “when you repeatedly demonstrate meaningful, positive behavior, people are motivated to follow” (p. 16). Leaders must have enthusiasm for their work so that it spreads to those whom they supervise. That involves leaders believing in the company in which they work. “The ability to inspire loyalty and build relationships is a key component of leadership” (Newcomb, 2005, p. 35). “The CEO who wants to be a true leader must be the most vivid example of the culture at work. Only then can the CEO inspire passion in the rest of the team” (Hesselbein, Goldsmith, & Somerville, 2002, p. 124). To get the best out of workers, leaders need to be able to motivate them (Moment, 2007). Leaders should...
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...The mission of Google)is to organize the information of the world and make it useful and universally accessible to all. It was founded back in 1998, but was created in the background by two former Stanford University college students since 1995. The names of the founders are Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Since the startup, the company has grown to employ over 40,000 worldwide. The name Google comes from the word “googol”, meaning 100 zeros following the number 1. Google reportedly generated $21 billion last year, in which close to 95% of that was from advertising. The platform used by Google connects people’s queries to the information they are looking for. That benefit along with the free services that Google has to offer is what attracts a wide variety of customers. Advertisement is at the top of the list when it comes to discussing the business model for Google. Adwords is one way that Google uses advertising to increase its revenue. Adwords came about in 2000, which is a self-service program for creating online ad campaigns. Based on the words that are used across Google’s platform, advertisers can reach you. Every click that you make, even if you did not choose one of the paid results in a search browser, its being watched by Google’s computers. Everything that you search and write is being watched. In the past, many users paid internet providers like AOL for use of their online service and email. Google’s founders used this as an opportunity to monetize on. When...
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