Search results
1 – 10 of over 13000Andrés Hatum, Luciana Silvestri, Roberto S. Vassolo and Andrew Pettigrew
There is little doubt that organizational identity – that which is central, distinctive, and enduring about an organization – mediates in adaptive processes. Exactly how this…
Abstract
Purpose
There is little doubt that organizational identity – that which is central, distinctive, and enduring about an organization – mediates in adaptive processes. Exactly how this mediation takes place, and whether it is favorable or unfavorable to adaptation, must still be fully established. The purpose of this paper is to add to the literature on identity and adaptation by exploring the relationship between these two constructs in family firms operating in an emerging economy. Based on measures of strength of identity, the authors examine how identity affects the adaptive processes of issue identification, strategic impulse definition, and implementation, where the authors look at pace of adjustment.
Design/methodology/approach
Longitudinal and comparative case studies were conducted of polar types presenting two pairs of organizations in two separate industries. These organizations faced the challenge of founder succession and a radical shift in macroeconomic conditions over a period of three decades. Through these four cases the authors hope to provide clear pattern recognition of strength of identity and adaptation – and of the relationship between these two constructs – in the face of severe internal and external shocks. The approach seems adequate in the larger context of inductive theory development and particularly suitable to the exploration of theoretical constructs, as it allows the researcher to unravel the underlying dynamics of path dependencies and/or evolutionary processes.
Findings
It is found that strong‐identity organizations are able to foresee relevant changes in their industries, define adequate strategic responses, and implement them in an evolutionary (i.e. smooth) manner. Conversely, loose‐identity organizations misread industry trends, incur strategic paralysis, and must eventually enforce revolutionary (i.e. violent) changes in order to ensure survival.
Originality/value
The paper addresses a critical issue for the advancement of organizational theory: the relationship between organizational identity and adaptation in emerging economies. In addition, it has important practical implications for managers doing business in turbulent environments. It makes a sound theoretical contribution and has important managerial implications.
Details
Keywords
John H. Humphreys, Milorad M. Novicevic, Stephanie S. Pane Haden and Md. Kamrul Hasan
Uhl-Bien and Arena (2018) presented a persuasive argument for recognizing the concept of enabling leadership as a critical form of leadership for adaptive organizations. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Uhl-Bien and Arena (2018) presented a persuasive argument for recognizing the concept of enabling leadership as a critical form of leadership for adaptive organizations. This study aims to narratively explore the concept of enabling leadership in the context of social complexity.
Design/methodology/approach
To explore how leaders enable adaptive processes, Uhl-Bien and Arena (2018) called for future research using in-depth case studies of social actors centered on emergence in complex environments. In this in-depth case study, the authors pursue theory elaboration by using a form of analytically structured history process to analyze primary and secondary sources.
Findings
During archival research of Whitney Young, Jr’s largely overlooked and misunderstood leadership in the historic social drama of the 1960s US civil rights movement, the authors discovered compelling evidence to support and extend the theoretical arguments advanced by Uhl-Bien and Arena (2018).
Research limitations/implications
The reflexivity associated with interpretive case approaches confronts the issue of subjectivism. The authors ask readers to judge the credibility of their arguments accordingly.
Originality/value
Using a relational leadership-as-practice lens, the authors interpret the dramaturgical performance Whitney Young, Jr directed to facilitate coherent emancipatory dialogue, affect the social construction of power relations and enable the adaptive space needed for social transformation to emerge.
Details
Keywords
Iffat Sabir Chaudhry and Angela Espinosa
Despite being a seminal explanation of the workforce emotional experiences, capable of mapping the path from the antecedents to consequences, affective events theory (AET) only…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite being a seminal explanation of the workforce emotional experiences, capable of mapping the path from the antecedents to consequences, affective events theory (AET) only offers a “macrostructure” of a working environment. To date, little is known about the universal features of the work environment that may guide the understanding of imperative work aspects triggering employees’ emotions at work. Hence, the study proposes and validates that Stafford Beer’s viable system model (VSM) can provide a holistic view of the organizational work environment, enabling a comprehensive understanding of work events or factors triggering workforce emotions.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the VSM structural layout is used to fill in the “macrostructure” of the “working environment” in AET to diagnose the functional and relational aspects of the work and the related work events occurring within. Using a deductive approach, 31 work events were adopted to determine the impact of VSM-based work environment events on the employees’ emotional experiences and subsequent work attitudes (job satisfaction) and behaviors (citizenship behavior). To field test the proposed nexus of VSM and AET, the survey was conducted on two hundred and fifteen employees from 39 different organizations. PLS-SEM tested the explanatory power of the suggested VSM’s systemic approach for understanding the affective work environment in totality.
Findings
The findings confirmed that the VSM metalanguage provides a holistic view of the organizational functioning and social connectivity disposing of affective work events, helpful in assessing their aggregate influence on employees’ emotions and work-related outcomes.
Practical implications
The findings identify how employees' emotions can be triggered by everyday work operations and social relations at work, which can affect their extra-role behaviors and necessary work-related attitudes.
Originality/value
The study utilized Beer’s VSM framework based on the systemic principle of “holistic view” for ascertaining the affective work environment and its related features holistically, which filled in well the macrostructure of “work environment features” with micro-structures of organizational inter-related aspects which are yet to be known in AET – a seminal explanation for managing workforce emotions.
Details
Keywords
Doctoral thesis research projects are often limited in their resources and time. Complex research topics and qualitative research designs often, however, call for a large scope…
Abstract
Doctoral thesis research projects are often limited in their resources and time. Complex research topics and qualitative research designs often, however, call for a large scope. This article explores ways in which fairly large scope qualitative research designs can be made manageable in terms of effort and time, utilizing one PhD thesis methodology as an example.
Details
Keywords
Daniela Patricia Blettner and Simon Gollisch
This study aims to elucidate reference points and organizational identity in letters to shareholders (LTSs) of publishing companies and develops propositions on their relation to…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to elucidate reference points and organizational identity in letters to shareholders (LTSs) of publishing companies and develops propositions on their relation to strategic adaptation. This study examines how characteristics of reference points (number, temporality and specificity) and organizational identity (focus, discontinuity and distinctiveness) relate to strategic adaptation. This research advances performance feedback theory and behavioral strategy by presenting rich data on how managers use reference points. This study also theorizes on the role of organizational identity as an observation frame. Finally, this study informs managers on how they can adapt reference points and organizational identity to drive strategic adaptation in their organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses text analysis of LTSs of eight companies in the global publishing industry over six years. The research design is an exploratory, comparative case study.
Findings
The authors present the findings of rich empirical data analysis of reference points and organizational ideology, develop a typology and propose three proposed relationships. This paper develops three propositions on how characteristics of reference points (number, temporality and specificity) and organizational identity (focus, discontinuity and distinctiveness) relate to strategic adaptation.
Originality/value
This study elucidates reference points that managers use when they make sense of performance feedback. This study further develops a typology of reference points and suggests propositions on how reference points and organizational identity relate to strategic adaptation. The novel linguistic approach to revealing reference points-in-use and the study of decision-making in its empirical context contribute to a better understanding of the micromechanims of decision-making that are central to behavioral strategy.
Details
Keywords
Marko Kohtamäki, Sara Thorgren and Joakim Wincent
The purpose of this study is to develop and test a framework describing the interplay between collective organizational identity, network behaviors and performance in strategic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to develop and test a framework describing the interplay between collective organizational identity, network behaviors and performance in strategic networks.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses data from 141 firms that participated in strategic networks. Structural equation modeling is used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
This study demonstrates how a firm’s collective organizational identity directs managerial perceptions toward partner’s opportunism in strategic networks; how these views shape interactions with network partners; and how these interactions facilitate firm adaptations within strategic networks. Moreover, it demonstrates how network adaptations affect the satisfaction with strategic network performance and how this ultimately loops back to influence organizational identity.
Research limitations/implications
Given the limits of quantitative research to capture the mechanisms driving network collaborations, further case-based research on the role of organizational identity for network behaviors is needed.
Practical implications
The results highlight the importance of collective organizational identity for network behaviors and positive performance outcomes. Firms that intend to engage in strategic networks should develop a collective organizational identity that supports implementing the network strategy. The results emphasize the importance of developing a collective organizational identity.
Originality/value
Organizational identity in facilitating network behaviors.
Details
Keywords
Rekha Rao-Nicholson and Zaheer Khan
The recent increase in the presence of emerging market firms (EMFs) in global markets requires a closer examination of their international marketing strategies (including…
Abstract
Purpose
The recent increase in the presence of emerging market firms (EMFs) in global markets requires a closer examination of their international marketing strategies (including branding). The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors behind the standardization or adaptation of global marketing strategies adopted by EMFs for their cross-border acquisitions.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper examines the determinants of the marketing strategies adopted by Indian and Chinese firms for their cross-border acquisitions. The drivers of the standardization/adaptation of marketing strategies (including branding) are identified using both quantitative data collected in 168 cross-border acquisitions conducted by the EMFs mentioned above and the institutional theory and organizational identity literature.
Findings
Institutional factors have a stronger effect than organizational identities on global marketing strategies, including branding. The standardization of the EMFs’ marketing strategies is driven by the private statuses of the acquirers, legal distances, target countries’ economic development, and the ethnic ties that exist between the home and host countries. The acquirers’ decisions to retain the targets’ brand identities, thus adapting their global marketing strategies, are related to the cultural distances, economic freedom distances, and sizes of the targets.
Research limitations/implications
In this study, two large emerging markets – India and China – are used to gather the empirical data; future works can expand upon this line of research and examine other EMFs.
Practical implications
The acquiring companies have to decide whether to adopt an adaption marketing strategy, with reference to the acquired targets’ local stakeholder requirements, or to incorporate their targets’ brands into their own global marketing strategies.
Originality/value
Typically, previous work on the adaptation vs standardization of global marketing strategies adopted in the wake of cross-border deals has focussed on acquisitions involving companies from developed countries; this paper extends the field of research to the EMFs of two of the most important developing countries: China and India.
Details