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1 – 10 of 242Alfred Wong, Xiaohui Wang, Xinyan Wang and Dean Tjosvold
The purpose of this paper is to propose that effective ethical leaders develop high quality relationships with team members; in particular, they manage their conflicts with team…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose that effective ethical leaders develop high quality relationships with team members; in particular, they manage their conflicts with team members cooperatively.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors empirically tested this hypothesis with responses from 117 managers and 302 subordinates.
Findings
Through cooperative conflict management, leaders develop trusting, mutually committed relationships. Ethical leaders and their employees avoid competitive conflict where they try to impose their ideas and resolutions on each other.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that ethical leaders can have a significant impact by fostering cooperative conflict management and reducing competitive conflict management. Thus, organizations are encouraged to adopt training and selection procedures to develop more ethical leaders.
Originality/value
This study adds to leadership research that effective leaders develop high quality relationships that help them influence employees as well as to be open and influenced by them.
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Marc K. Peter, Lucia Wuersch, Alfred Wong and Alain Neher
The purpose of this study is to better understand technology adoption and working from home (WFH) behaviour of micro and small enterprises (MSE) with 4 to 49 employees during the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to better understand technology adoption and working from home (WFH) behaviour of micro and small enterprises (MSE) with 4 to 49 employees during the first (2020) and second (2021) COVID-19 lockdowns in Switzerland.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses two data sets gathered using computer-assisted telephone interviewing surveys conducted with 503 managing directors of Swiss MSEs after the first and 506 MDs after the second COVID-19 lockdown period.
Findings
The study revealed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, WFH arrangements are related to the adoption of technology by Swiss industry groups. Furthermore, industry characteristics and technology adoption strategies are also associated with the long-term prospect of WFH. The overall result confirms the predominant role of technology pioneers.
Research limitations/implications
The study focuses on MSEs in Switzerland during a specific period. The data set includes mainly quantitative data. Future studies could investigate larger enterprises in international contexts, integrating employees’ viewpoints founded on long-term gathered qualitative data. The implications of this study include predictions about future WFH behaviour in Swiss MSEs.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study collecting data in Swiss MSEs after the two COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. As a result, this study offers a unique perspective on a specific business segment, which accounts for around 70% of global employment.
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Alfred Wong, Lu Wei, Xinyan Wang and Dean Tjosvold
This study aims to identify mechanisms to manage conflicts that occur when organizations with different cultures, habits and experiences try to coordinate effectively in…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify mechanisms to manage conflicts that occur when organizations with different cultures, habits and experiences try to coordinate effectively in international joint ventures (IJV). This study proposes that partners can promote their joint venture performance to the extent that they rely on cooperative rather than competitive conflict management. This study further hypothesizes that adopting collectivist values strengthens relationships and thereby provides a foundation for cooperative conflict management.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected data for this study in Shanghai, which is currently the most attractive province in China for FDI (FDI Intelligence, 2014). In all, 75 pairs of foreign and Chinese managers at middle and senior levels, knowledgeable about the joint venture relationships, completed their respective questionnaires.
Findings
Results of the structural equation analyses support the hypotheses that collectivist values support cooperative conflict management that in turn facilitates joint venture learning and performance. In contrast, individualistic values promoted competitive conflict management which in turn frustrated IJV performance.
Practical implications
Results suggest that IJV managers can strengthen their venture by developing collective values and training such cooperative conflict management skills as self-expression and demonstrating understanding of opposing views.
Originality/value
This study directly documents that while conflicts may interfere they can also stimulate discussions and decisions that promote coordination and performance of IJVs. This study contributes to conflict management research that has largely focused on investigating the consequences of approaches by examining conditions that promote constructive conflict management approaches.
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Alfred Wong, Wei Lu, Dean Tjosvold and Jie Yang
Funding small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) may be especially valuable in China to stimulate innovation and its emerging market economy. These firms have been advised to…
Abstract
Purpose
Funding small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) may be especially valuable in China to stimulate innovation and its emerging market economy. These firms have been advised to build on the Chinese value of guanxi to manage conflicts and develop relationships with banks. This study aims to explore the nature of relationships that help SMEs inform banks and convince them to provide credit.
Design/methodology/approach
As this study’s theorizing is about whether banks and firms that manage their conflicts for mutual benefit set the foundation for bank’s confidence in extending credit, therefore, both the bank officers and the company managers were asked to provide information for the study. In total, 106 pairs of bank officers in the loan department of four banks and SME managers in Shanghai, China, completed a questionnaire survey for this study.
Findings
Results support the argument that marketing research on customer orientation and organization behavior research on conflict management identify how to develop effective marketing relationships between SMEs and banks in China. Banks that were customer-oriented laid the groundwork for managing conflict cooperatively and not competitively with borrowing firms. Cooperative conflict management in turn was found to convince banks that they could confidently provide credit and to convince borrowers that their transaction costs will be reasonable.
Originality/value
This study identifies that developing guanxi and the capacity to manage conflict cooperatively are an important foundation for providing credit to SMEs in China.
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Alain Neher, Alfred Wong and Morgan P. Miles
This study aims to explore if corporations that publicly disclose more information about their managerial values are also more organizationally authentic in enacting these values.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore if corporations that publicly disclose more information about their managerial values are also more organizationally authentic in enacting these values.
Design/methodology/approach
A maturity model of managerial values is used that ordinally ranks a corporation’s level of managerial values enactment using corporate annual reports. The samples of corporations’ corporate reports are qualitatively content analyzed, and the outcomes are statistically tested.
Findings
The findings indicate that as an organization voluntarily discloses more information about its corporate values, it tends to be more likely to enact their espoused values, and their corporation’s level of organizational authenticity increases.
Originality/value
This study suggests an approach to benchmark a corporation’s level of organizational authenticity using public information, and by doing so, contributes to both policy and practice by offering a framework to compare organizational authenticity between public corporations by their sector, size or the age of the corporation.
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Presents an analysis of the total quality management (TQM) system of a logistics service provider operating in a supply chain context. The company can achieve ongoing improvement…
Abstract
Presents an analysis of the total quality management (TQM) system of a logistics service provider operating in a supply chain context. The company can achieve ongoing improvement in its services cost‐effectively through efficient use of information system and teamwork. Following the strategy of case study research, analytical generalisation is made with respect to the multiple roles of the logistics service provider in determining its relationships with internal and external customers and in setting service goals; the intensive use of information in facilitating and monitoring logistics service operations, which in turn determines the competitive advantage of the service provider; essence of people‐based management and how that promotes interactions in teamwork, trust building and flexibility in meeting changing goals and process requirements; and alliance leadership and its potential to empower teams to innovate and upgrade total quality service in turbulent environments.
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Companies are expected to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction in order to outperform their competitors. Many companies focus on how they themselves can do better to meet…
Abstract
Companies are expected to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction in order to outperform their competitors. Many companies focus on how they themselves can do better to meet their customers’ needs. However, they may not be aware that they can best satisfy their customers by teaming up with their suppliers. This study suggests that a company can sustain its performance by extending TQM principles beyond its internal boundaries, i.e. it should partner with its suppliers. This paper studies the factors that lead to successful partnering with suppliers and how supplier partnering can help a company improve its performance. This paper proposes that companies can improve suppliers’ satisfaction and solicit their contribution through satisfying their needs, developing cooperative goals, and interacting constructively with suppliers. Moreover, it argues that supplier satisfaction and contribution will lead to customer satisfaction. Results from 139 supply chain managers show that partnering with suppliers can help companies achieve higher customer satisfaction.
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Hans Genberg, Cho-Hoi Hui, Alfred Wong and Tsz-Kin Chung
This chapter analyses the impact of the global credit crisis on the money market and discusses its potential implications. The turbulence in money markets has spilled over to…
Abstract
This chapter analyses the impact of the global credit crisis on the money market and discusses its potential implications. The turbulence in money markets has spilled over to foreign exchange (FX)-swap markets amid a reappraisal of counterparty risks during the recent financial turmoil. We examine the situations of six currencies: the euro, the British pound, the Australian dollar, the Japanese yen, the Hong Kong dollar, and the Singapore dollar. We find that (i) the risk premiums have indeed gone in tandem with the spreads of money market rates over their corresponding overnight index swaps across the economies, a popular measure of potential banking insolvency; and (ii) the risk premiums bear a negative relationship with the strength of the spot rates of the respective currencies, which is consistent with the increased pressure in the money and swap markets.
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Keith Kay Hin Tan and Camelia May Li Kusumo
Existing tourism studies focusing on Southeast Asia often emphasize the culture, history and heritage of the region or its natural beauty and cuisine, most of which are often…
Abstract
Purpose
Existing tourism studies focusing on Southeast Asia often emphasize the culture, history and heritage of the region or its natural beauty and cuisine, most of which are often viewed as exotic through a Western lens. By contrast, this interdisciplinary study looks at the untapped potential for modern architectural tourism in Singapore as a fascinating and increasingly authentic way of understanding how the next generation of Singaporean residents will live in their land-scarce city-state. This study aims to highlight the importance of modern architecture as a tourism product in a globalized Asian city.
Design/methodology/approach
It engages with visiting architects and their local facilitator to examine the touristic potential energy of cutting-edge residential buildings in Singapore from an intra-Asian viewpoint. By also identifying practical design solutions to promote modern architectural tourism that will have a positive impact on city branding, this study opens the door for future research regarding Southeast Asia’s rapidly changing modern architecture and urban landscape, and how these can be made attractive for its important tourism industry.
Findings
The findings suggest that just as Singapore’s cultural diversity has long been viewed as a touristic asset, its authentic, escapist, exotic and spectacular contemporary residential architecture, if well managed, presented and designed, can provide a unique place for sustainable community interactions between locals and visitors, which will help Singapore develop a unique city brand attractive to architectural tourists and even repeat visitors, through a new concept for authenticity in a global city.
Originality/value
This cross-disciplinary study linking tourism and architecture explores modern architectural tourism in Singapore, specifically in relation to residential buildings where locals and visitors can interact.
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Alfred Wong, Lu Wei and Dean Tjosvold
This study aims to examine the conditions that help businesses develop confidence in their government regulators. Businesses are dependent upon governments and subject to their…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the conditions that help businesses develop confidence in their government regulators. Businesses are dependent upon governments and subject to their regulations. This study proposes that businesses and governments that confirm each other’s social face have the relationship that helps businesses become confident in their government regulators. It also uses the theory of cooperation and competition to identify when they confirm social face.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected in Shanghai, China, from government bodies and business organizations from diverse industries. One hundred forty-six pairs of government officials and business managers provided us data for our analysis.
Findings
Structural equation analysis suggests that cooperative, but not competitive or independent, goals provide the foundation for mutual confirmation of social face that in turn results in business confidence that the government is competent, caring and regulates effectively.
Practical implications
These findings were interpreted as reaffirming the value of relationships for collaboration between business and government and the usefulness of the concepts of social face and goal interdependence for understanding how to develop high-quality business–government relationships in China.
Originality/value
This study directly investigates social face among Chinese people and explores its impact on inter-organizational government–business relationships. This study uses social face and goal interdependence to understand when business and regulators develop relationships that promote effective regulation.
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