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1 – 10 of over 159000Relationships are socially constructed by companies in interaction. This study explains the dynamic character of business-to-business relationships with the aid of rules theory, a…
Abstract
Relationships are socially constructed by companies in interaction. This study explains the dynamic character of business-to-business relationships with the aid of rules theory, a theory borrowed from the communications field. Two forms of rules are identified: constitutive rules guide the interpretation of the other's acts, and regulative rules guide the appropriate response to the interpreted act. Rules theory asserts that companies act as if applying these rules. Relationships provide not only the context in which the parties’ acts are performed but are also the result of such acts. Thus, relationships are potentially reshaped each time one party performs an act and the other party gives meaning to that act and reacts.
Katherine Tyler and Edmund Stanley
Banks’ structural re‐organisation with centralised units for increased efficiency, technological advances, product diversification, and strategic initiatives to provide multiple…
Abstract
Banks’ structural re‐organisation with centralised units for increased efficiency, technological advances, product diversification, and strategic initiatives to provide multiple products through “deep” multi‐channel access, have challenged the relationship banking model at the heart of bank‐company interaction. Paradox‐ically, while improving the quality of transactional service, the “deep” relationship interface has under‐mined the relationship manager role and caused confusion and antagonism among customers. The negative result is that customers have a more aggressive, trans‐actional approach to purchasing decisions. The banks need to compromise between trans‐actional and relational effort, and the “deep” multi‐channel service delivery interface must have a re‐invigorated relationship manager if banks are to retain their competitive advantage.
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Atif Saleem Butt, Ahmad Bayiz Ahmad and Syed Hamad Hassan Shah
This paper aims to explore the role of personal relationships (friendships) in mitigating knowledge hiding behaviour between managers.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the role of personal relationships (friendships) in mitigating knowledge hiding behaviour between managers.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a phenomenological methodology by studying seven UAE-based firms. Furthermore, 30 semi-structured (15 dyadic) interviews with senior managers are undertaken. The senior managers were chosen from multiple industries including plastic, frozen food, logistics, etc.
Findings
Based on 30 semi-structured interviews and comprehensive data analysis, results reveal that the development of personal relationships between managers results in higher interpersonal trust, mutual loyalty, higher cooperation, strong mutual goals and cultivation of reciprocity. The result further states that these factors diminish knowledge hiding behaviour between them.
Research limitations/implications
This study has some limitations. First, this study explores behavioural patterns concerning the United Arab Emirates culture only. Second, the results presented in this study should be quantitatively tested to demonstrate their generalizability.
Practical implications
Firms can use this study’s findings to understand how and why personal relationships between managers within firms diminish knowledge hiding behaviour.
Originality/value
There is a dire need for research exploring how knowledge hiding can be mitigated in firms. This paper addresses this gap by exploring the role of personal relationships in the knowledge hiding literature.
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Graham R. Massey and Elias Kyriazis
The primary objective of this research is to test a model examining interpersonal trust between marketing managers and R&D managers during new product development projects.
Abstract
Purpose
The primary objective of this research is to test a model examining interpersonal trust between marketing managers and R&D managers during new product development projects.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study interpersonal trust as a bi‐dimensional construct with cognitive and affective components is conceptualised. The authors' integrative structural model specifies Weber's structural/bureaucratic dimensions – formalisation and centralisation to predict three communication dimensions, communication frequency, quality, and bi‐directionality. In turn these communication dimensions are used to predict cognition‐based trust, and affect‐based trust. In addition, the paper models the direct effects of the three communication dimensions on a dependent variable – perceived relationship effectiveness. The hypothesised model consists of 16 hypotheses, seven of which relate to the two focal interpersonal trust constructs. The measures were tested and a structural model estimated by using PLS. Data were provided by 184 R&D managers in Australia, reporting on their working relationship with a counterpart marketing manager during a recent product development project.
Findings
The hypothesized model has high explanatory power and it was found that both trust dimensions strongly influenced the effectiveness of marketing/R&D relationships during new product development, with cognition‐based trust having the strongest impact. The results also reveal which forms of communication help to build interpersonal trust. The most powerful effect was from communication quality to cognition‐based trust. The next strongest effects were from bi‐directional communication, which was a strong predictor of affect‐based trust, and a somewhat weaker predictor of cognition‐based trust. Interestingly, the direct effects of our three communication behaviours on relationship effectiveness were modest, suggesting that their relationship building effects are largely indirect. Last, it is revealed that bureaucratic means of control on product development projects have mixed effects. As expected, centralisation reduces cross‐functional communication. In contrast, formalisation has a positive effect during product development, as it stimulates both the frequency and bi‐directionality of communication between marketing managers and R&D managers on these projects.
Originality/value
This is the first study to treat interpersonal trust as the focal construct in marketing/R&D relationships during new product development. Moreover, it is the only study of marketing/R&D relationships to conceptualise, measure, and model two underlying dimensions of interpersonal trust (cognition‐based trust, and affect‐based trust). Our study also integrates aspects of Weber's theory of bureaucracy, with interaction theory, and demonstrates the strong links between these theoretical frameworks.
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Angelica C Cortes and Arturo Vasquez-Parraga
This paper aims at advancing research on the identification and the first test of the primary steps companies follow to generate and maintain enablers of long-term marketing…
Abstract
This paper aims at advancing research on the identification and the first test of the primary steps companies follow to generate and maintain enablers of long-term marketing relationships in cross-cultural business. To achieve the objective, the authors first identify the communication difficulties in generating and maintaining long-term relationships in bi-cultural or multi-cultural settings. They then develop the building blocks, or enablers, that are needed to form and maintain enduring relationships. They finally illustrate the suggested process by describing the use of enablers in two contrasting cultures, the Anglo-Saxon and the Latin, using samples from the United States and Chile, respectively.
A fundamental need in the development of managers that rarelyreceives the priority attention it warrants is the process ofnetworking. Whatever the reasons for this, it is vital…
Abstract
A fundamental need in the development of managers that rarely receives the priority attention it warrants is the process of networking. Whatever the reasons for this, it is vital that managers should not remain so deprived, particularly as “third‐wave” organisations start to become a reality. Features and actions essential to the effective development and management of a network of relationships are identified. Managers are encouraged to make an investment in networking as a key management activity, so that the network becomes something which serves the manager and has a major impact on personal effectiveness.
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Amarjit S. Gill, Alan B. Flaschner and Mickey Shachar
The paper seeks to extend Coulter and Coulter (2002) findings regarding the impact of “person‐related” service characteristics (empathy, politeness, and similarity) and…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to extend Coulter and Coulter (2002) findings regarding the impact of “person‐related” service characteristics (empathy, politeness, and similarity) and “offer‐related” service characteristics (customization, competence, and promptness) by examining business client trust in their current bank service representatives based on the length of the relationships with their banks.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper tested the effects of the above variables by collecting data from small business owners in the transportation industry in British Columbia, Canada. Clients were surveyed as to their beliefs about and feelings toward their bank service representatives.
Findings
The findings in this paper demonstrate that all six factors are related to trust building in general, but the factors are more salient at different periods of the relationship with their banks. Customization was found to be of particular importance at “crucial” periods of time in the business life cycle.
Practical implications
The results in this paper demonstrate how relationship‐managers at banks can work toward the establishment of their clients' trust by emphasizing the attributes that meet their clients' respective and timely needs.
Originality/value
In this paper Coulter and Coulter (2002) documented that both “person‐related” and “offer‐related” service characteristics have an impact on trust. This study focused on and presents the relative importance of these characteristics in general and across various time periods in particular. The results uniquely demonstrate that the relative importance of the factors in building trust varies according to stages in the life cycle of the businesses.
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Arno Nuijten, Mark Keil, Gerrit Sarens and Mark van Twist
Information system projects often go awry and when they do internal auditors are often in a position to bring the problems to management’s attention. However, managers are not…
Abstract
Purpose
Information system projects often go awry and when they do internal auditors are often in a position to bring the problems to management’s attention. However, managers are not always receptive to risk warnings, even when internal auditors who are role prescribed to carry out this function deliver such warnings. This phenomenon is known as the deaf effect. This paper aims to examine the actions that internal auditors take to resolve the deaf effect and how these actions affect the auditor–manager relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a multiple case study approach, the authors conducted in-depth interviews with auditors and examined ten cases of the deaf effect from the auditor’s perspective.
Findings
The findings revealed three categories of actions that auditors took in response to the deaf effect and how these actions immediately affected the auditor–manager relationship. Further, by analyzing the subsequent sequence of actions taken by the auditor in each case, the authors identified three distinct patterns that capture the dynamics of the auditor–manager relationship over time until the deaf effect was, ultimately, resolved.
Originality/value
Several practitioner studies have shown that internal auditors and managers struggle to build effective relationships, even under the most favorable circumstances and the authors suggest that deaf effect situations are likely to pose an even greater challenge to the auditor–manager relationship. The study contributes to the discourse on internal audit effectiveness in several ways. First, the authors identified three categories of actions that internal auditors took in response to the deaf effect. The authors found that two of these categories of action are related to the two distinct roles that internal auditors can play (inspector or consultant). Second, the authors examined how these categories of actions played out over time, influencing the auditor–manager relationship dynamics.
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In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of…
Abstract
In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.
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Anders Dysvik, Robert Buch and Bård Kuvaas
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the relationship between employees’ knowledge donating and managers’ knowledge collecting is moderated by social leader-member…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the relationship between employees’ knowledge donating and managers’ knowledge collecting is moderated by social leader-member exchange (SLMX) and economic leader-member exchange (ELMX).
Design/methodology/approach
Data were obtained from 227 employee-leader dyads from four Norwegian organizations. Hierarchical moderated regression was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Even though the authors observed a positive relationship between employees’ knowledge donating and managers’ knowledge collecting, the moderation analysis revealed a positive relationship only for high levels of SLMX relationships.
Research limitations/implications
The data were cross-sectional, thus prohibiting causal inferences.
Practical implications
SLMX relationships may be particularly important for the facilitation of knowledge exchange. Managers may draw on this finding to develop their relationships with employees by means of relationship-oriented behaviors.
Originality/value
Given the importance of knowledge-sharing processes, a better understanding of the conditions under which knowledge donating related to knowledge collecting is particularly important. The present study advances knowledge on SLMX and ELMX relationships by demonstrating how SLMX moderates the association between knowledge donating and knowledge collecting.
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