Search results

1 – 10 of over 18000
Article
Publication date: 5 April 2013

Susan K. DelVecchio, Dawn R. Deeter‐Schmelz and Kenneth Anselmi

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of salespersons' attributions about managerial e‐monitoring on salespersons' customer orientation.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of salespersons' attributions about managerial e‐monitoring on salespersons' customer orientation.

Design/methodology/approach

Hierarchical linear modeling was used to test the six study hypotheses. A main effects model was used to test the first two hypotheses, with a comparison of regression models used to identify pure modifiers.

Findings

The results of this study found informing attributions enhance customer orientation. This effect, however, can be weakened under highly bureaucratic organizational cultures. Similarly, the ability of controlling attributions to hamper customer orientation is less pronounced in cultures described as more bureaucratic.

Research limitations/implications

Building on self‐determination theory (SDT), the authors' study provides an explicit test of e‐monitoring and examines the nature and effects of information and controlling attributions. Given a low variance extracted value attained for bureaucratic culture, future research investigating the underlying dimensions of bureaucratic cultures is warranted. Likewise, more tests of the cognitive mechanisms behind salespersons' attributions are needed to further extend SDT.

Practical implications

Managers seeking to improve customer orientation through the use of e‐monitoring might be best served by encouraging a salesperson's informing attributions. This might be accomplished by clearly communicating the purposes of the e‐monitoring to members of the salesforce.

Originality/value

By investigating the positive and negative effects of e‐monitoring on salesperson customer orientation, this study offers concrete implications for researchers and practitioners on a topic that previously has been examined in the literature only via speculative post hoc analysis.

Book part
Publication date: 9 July 2018

Lizabeth A. Barclay

With the shift from an industrial to a knowledge economy, organization theorists continue to address the role and nature of control in organizational structure. The continuing…

Abstract

With the shift from an industrial to a knowledge economy, organization theorists continue to address the role and nature of control in organizational structure. The continuing utility of bureaucracy in new organizational forms was a focal point for this discussion. Research on this shift contributes to the ongoing debate on the role of ethics in bureaucratic and post-bureaucratic organizations. This paper suggested that the work of the artist Joseph Cornell provides a visual representation of the dimensions of this debate. First, the paper introduced Cornell to the reader. Next, the paper reviewed the research on bureaucratic and post-bureaucratic organizations with a focus on ethics, control, and enchantment in organizations. To provide visual reflections of the literature, this paper embedded examples of Cornell’s works throughout the discussion. Cornell’s art not only provides representations of these organizational forms, but also demonstrates how conflicts of an artist capture the development of thought within this area of organizational analysis.

Details

Visual Ethics
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-165-6

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 November 2014

Markus Vanharanta, Alan J.P. Gilchrist, Andrew D. Pressey and Peter Lenney

This study aims to address how and why do formal key account management (KAM) programmes hinder effective KAM management, and how can the problems of formalization in KAM be…

1234

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to address how and why do formal key account management (KAM) programmes hinder effective KAM management, and how can the problems of formalization in KAM be overcome. Recent empirical studies have reported an unexpected negative relationship between KAM formalization and performance.

Design/methodology/approach

An 18-month (340 days) ethnographic investigation was undertaken in the UK-based subsidiary of a major US sports goods manufacturer. This ethnographic evidence was triangulated with 113 in-depth interviews.

Findings

This study identifies how and why managerial reflexivity allows a more effectively combining of formal and post-bureaucratic KAM practices. While formal KAM programmes provide a means to initiate, implement and control KAM, they have an unintended consequence of increasing organizational bureaucracy, which may in the long-run hinder the KAM effectiveness. Heightened reflexivity, including “wayfinding”, is identified as a means to overcome many of these challenges, allowing for reflexively combining formal with post-bureaucratic KAM practices.

Research limitations/implications

The thesis of this paper starts a new line of reflexive KAM research, which draws theoretical influences from the post-bureaucratic turn in management studies.

Practical implications

This study seeks to increase KAM implementation success rates and long-term effectiveness of KAM by conceptualizing the new possibilities offered by reflexive KAM. This study demonstrates how reflexive skills (conceptualized as “KAM wayfinding”) can be deployed during KAM implementation and for its continual improvement. Further, the study identifies how KAM programmes can be used to train organizational learning regarding KAM. Furthermore, this study identifies how and why post-bureaucratic KAM can offer additional benefits after an organization has learned key KAM capabilities.

Originality/value

A new line of enquiry is identified: the reflexive-turn in KAM. This theoretical position allows us to identify existing weakness in the extant KAM literature, and to show a practical means to improve the effectiveness of KAM. This concerns, in particular, the importance of managerial reflexivity and KAM wayfinding as a means to balance the strengths and weaknesses of formal and post-bureaucratic KAM.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 48 no. 11/12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2003

Christian Maravelias

This article develops a framework for understanding autonomy and control in post‐bureaucratic organizations. It reviews two dominant discourses on post‐bureaucracy – the…

13944

Abstract

This article develops a framework for understanding autonomy and control in post‐bureaucratic organizations. It reviews two dominant discourses on post‐bureaucracy – the managerial discourse and the critical management discourse. Whereas the one pictures post‐bureaucracy as an emancipating regime based on the personalities and social networks of individuals, the other pictures it as a totalitarian regime, which subordinates individuals’ thoughts, emotions and identities to its instrumental schemes. Both discourses are criticized for being grounded in a view of post‐bureaucracy as a “total” organization. An alternative conceptualization is developed, which shows that post‐bureaucracy neither emancipates individuals from control, nor captures them in totalitarian control. A distinguishing characteristic of post‐bureaucracy is that it displaces the responsibility for setting limits between professional and non‐professional concerns from the organization to the individual. Via a case study it is shown how this implies a specific form of control that does not restrict individual freedom, but uses it as its prime vehicle.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 16 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2004

Danture Wickramasinghe, Trevor Hopper and Chandana Rathnasiri

The Sri Lanka Telecommunications company was recently partially privatised and a major Japanese company became responsible for its management. Previously, it was a government…

3218

Abstract

The Sri Lanka Telecommunications company was recently partially privatised and a major Japanese company became responsible for its management. Previously, it was a government department characterised by rule bound, bureaucratic management and political interventions into operational issues. The longitudinal study illustrates how a Japanese manager's charismatic and patrimonial leadership eliminated bureaucratic controls, brought new management controls and reward systems, and achieved some commercial success. However, some employees unsympathetic to the changes allied with politicians frustrated with their exclusion from organisational affairs to get the Japanese manager removed and restore formal bureaucracy. This was achieved not through direct intervention but largely through the politicians' control of the regulatory system. Conflicts between the two competing management control ideologies were profound and violent. The paper traces how modes of production and management accounting and controls in less developed countries are related, and are transformed in an unpredictable and often unexpected fashion due to cultural, economic, and political factors.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 17 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 March 2015

Sofiah Md. Auzair

The purpose of this study is to utilize a configuration approach to examine the relationships between multiple contingent variables and management control systems (MCS) in service…

1540

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to utilize a configuration approach to examine the relationships between multiple contingent variables and management control systems (MCS) in service organizations from various industries. The contingent variables include service process type, cost leadership and differentiation strategies, environmental unpredictability, change and complexity and organizational life cycle stage.

Design/methodology/approach

Questionnaires were administered to the financial controllers of service organizations operating in Australia. Cluster analysis is utilized to reveal the MCSs fit.

Findings

The data reveals that high-performing service organizations are those firms that place high emphasis on a differentiation strategy. The lower performers, on the other hand, are firms with a lack of emphasis on both cost leadership and differentiation strategies. Overall, the data demonstrates that strategic orientation plays an important role in high-performing organizations and the ability to incorporate various contingent situations determines the effectiveness of an organization.

Practical implications

The potentially broad framework offered in this study allows managers from various service industries to relate the variations in the combination of situations to those of their firms. The service managers’ experience with certain type of combinations can assist them to identify the strategic position of their respective organizations. Consequently, service managers can estimate the prospect for further development to enhance the firm performance.

Originality/value

This study offers a holistic view of the multiple and simultaneous relationships between contingent factors and MCS design in service organizations using a configuration approach. This paper contributes to the literature on organizational configurations in particular by studying the systematic nature of effective MCSs in service organizations when adapting to the contextual settings of the organizations.

Details

Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, vol. 11 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1832-5912

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 March 2008

André Paccioni, Claude Sicotte and François Champagne

The purpose of this paper is to describe and understand the effects of the accreditation process on organizational control and quality management practices in two Quebec…

1832

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe and understand the effects of the accreditation process on organizational control and quality management practices in two Quebec primary‐care health organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

A multiple‐case longitudinal study was conducted taking a mixed qualitative/quantitative approach. An analytical model was developed of the effects of the accreditation process on the type of organizational control exercised and the quality management practices implemented. The data were collected through group interviews, semi‐directed interviews of key informers, non‐participant observations, a review of the literature, and structured questionnaires distributed to all the employees working in both institutions.

Findings

The accreditation process has fostered the implementation of consultation mechanisms in self‐assessment teams. Improving assessments of client satisfaction was identified as a prime objective but, in terms of the values promoted in organizations, accreditation has little effect on the perceptions of employees not directly involved in the process. As long as not all staff members have integrated the basis for accreditation and its outcomes, the accreditation process appears to remain an external, bureaucratic control instrument.

Originality/value

This study provides a theoretical model for understanding organizational changes brought about by accreditation of primary services. Through self‐assessment of professional values and standards, accreditation may foster better quality management practices.

Details

International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, vol. 21 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0952-6862

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2004

Andreas Hoecht

It is widely accepted that companies operating in research‐intensive industries need to pursue an “outward‐looking”, collaborative research and technology development strategy…

1082

Abstract

It is widely accepted that companies operating in research‐intensive industries need to pursue an “outward‐looking”, collaborative research and technology development strategy. Research collaboration, however, always carries risks, in particular, the risk of sensitive information leakage, be it as a result of purposeful betrayal by collaborators or accidental disclosure. It has been shown that traditional legal and bureaucratic control mechanisms are not able to deal with this problem adequately and that the more “outward‐looking” the research strategy that a company follows, the more it has to rely on social control mechanisms such as reputational concerns of key researchers and the incremental development of higher levels of trust among individuals. This paper analyses the relationship between management control and social control in collaborative research and development in more detail and introduces the results of a small‐scale interview‐based study of the trust‐building and control processes in fine fragrance research.

Details

Journal of Managerial Psychology, vol. 19 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-3946

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 September 2016

Ranjith Appuhami and Sujatha Perera

The purpose of the study is to examine the use of management controls by a public partner to minimise risks associated with a public-private partnership (PPP) in a developing…

1097

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to examine the use of management controls by a public partner to minimise risks associated with a public-private partnership (PPP) in a developing country.

Design/methodology/approach

Using case study method, management controls used in a power project formed as a PPP are examined based on data gathered from semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis.

Findings

The study reveals that the public partner of the PPP used multiple controls depending on the nature of risks in different phases of the project. While bureaucratic control was the predominantly used control pattern throughout the three phases (namely, selecting, building and operating) of the PPP, trust-based controls also played an important role. Market controls on the other hand played, somewhat, a nominal role, particularly in the selecting phase of the project. The study also highlights the problematic nature of forming PPPs in developing countries despite the various benefits associated with such organisational arrangements. Additionally, the study provides insights into how certain contextual features of developing countries affect the way in which controls are applied.

Practical implications

The insights provided in this paper would be beneficial to policy makers, in developing countries in particular, when making decisions in relation to implementation, management and risk control of PPPs.

Originality/value

This study makes an original contribution to the existing literature on PPPs by examining the way in which management controls are used to minimise risk in a PPP in a developing country.

Details

Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, vol. 12 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1832-5912

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 March 2010

Daniela Cristofoli, Angelo Ditillo, Mariannunziata Liguori, Mariafrancesca Sicilia and Ileana Steccolini

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mechanisms adopted by cities to control the provision of externalized public services and to explore the determinants of such…

1996

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mechanisms adopted by cities to control the provision of externalized public services and to explore the determinants of such control choices.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents the results of a multiple case study based on the experiences of three cities and three public services (transport, solid waste collection and home care services for the elderly), where control mechanisms and their possible antecedents were analyzed.

Findings

The results show that the control models found in the cases analyzed do not correspond to the “pure” patterns described in the private sector literature and that the factors identified by management control contributions do not seem to be exhaustive in explaining the configuration of control systems in the public sector. While environmental and task characteristics only partially explain the adoption of certain configurations of control, the features of the control systems seem to be rather influenced by variables that are related to party characteristics.

Originality/value

The paper shows that the combinations of control mechanisms are more multifaceted than those presented in the literature, and that the factors identified in the private sector literature do not seem to explain comprehensively the configuration of control systems in the public sector.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 23 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 18000