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Competitive performances of manufacturing firms are affected by the strategies they selected. The implementations of strategies, as usually assumed, rely on the effectiveness of work teams. The performances of teams, to a large degree, are directed by team leaders. Therefore, the compatibility between competitive performances, manufacturing strategies, and the functions of team leaders should be explored. Based on the statistical findings obtained from other literature as well as an analysis of an international survey of manufacturing strategies. It is proposed that the compatibility is basically the relationship between the knowledge seeking behavior of team leaders and the knowledge required for improving competitive performances. We also discovered that it is worth further investigating two particular types of team leaders, i.e. shaper and company builder. Their characteristics may provide a basis to expand our understandings of team leaders’ performances and the competence‐based organizations of today.

Team performances are usually affected by the combination of team members. When the roles of each of the team members are supplementing the functions of one another, a balanced team is formed. In a fast‐moving business environment, it is not uncommon to see that certain key team members may not be present in the team at all times. The remaining team members are required to play their roles dynamically in order to supplant the roles and the functions of the missing members. However, it is not very clear how the role adjustment process is managed. Understanding the role modification phenomenon may enable the management to regulate the composition of their work teams more effectively. Specifically, this paper will discuss two different approaches to studying this dynamic team role behavior.

The ultimate objective of knowledge management is to effectively maintain and transfer the necessary knowledge to the operation's staff. The conventional knowledge‐management methods may only be suitable for the larger‐sized enterprise, but, for the small and medium‐sized companies, it is difficult to spare dedicated resources (people, time, and money) to manage the knowledge‐accumulation and dissemination‐activities. The work presented in this paper proposes a method to overcome some of these difficulties. A role‐modification approach is used to stimulate an autonomously conducted knowledge transfer. New knowledge is developed and managed by the person who successfully takes up a new role in work team. To achieve role modification, ordinary staff‐training methods may not be effective. Psychotherapists already have a set of role‐ modification practices to assist people having role problems. Benchmarking is a suitable methodology to apply to these practices. The authors assisted an engineering‐and‐design company in adopting this psychotherapists’ practice and applied it to a work‐team environment. One of their team members was induced to undergo a role modification and an autonomous knowledge‐ transfer experience.

Justice rules are standards that serve as criteria for formulating fairness judgments. Though justice rules play a role in the organizational justice literature, they have seldom been the subject of analysis in their own right. To address this limitation, we first consider three meta-theoretical dualities that are highlighted by justice rules – the distinction between justice versus fairness, indirect versus direct measurement, and normative versus descriptive paradigms. Second, we review existing justice rules and organize them into four types of justice: distributive (e.g., equity, equality), procedural (e.g., voice, consistent treatment), interpersonal (e.g., politeness, respectfulness), and informational (e.g., candor, timeliness). We also emphasize emergent rules that have not received sufficient research attention. Third, we consider various computation models purporting to explain how justice rules are assessed and aggregated to form fairness judgments. Fourth and last, we conclude by reviewing research that enriches our understanding of justice rules by showing how they are cognitively processed. We observe that there are a number of influences on fairness judgments, and situations exist in which individuals do not systematically consider justice rules.

Using a contingency approach, this study examines the moderating effects of personality and compensation schemes on the budgetary participation ‐ performance relationship. The data collected from a random sample of 303 chartered management accountants in Hong Kong was used to test three hypotheses. Multiple regression analyses found that both personality and compensation schemes interacted singly as well as jointly with budgetary participation in affecting performance. Post‐hoc tests further reveal that managers who perform better when they are highly participative in budget processes, are internally‐oriented, and receive a high variable‐pay income. The results are of interest not only to researchers but also to practitioners in management selection, job placement, and compensation package designs.

Looks at consumer research in Greater China including Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Maps out the contributions within this area and guides future research. Examines the state of the art over the 1979‐97 period, with particular emphasis on the topics that have been researched, the extent of the theory development in the field and the methodologies used in conducting research. Uses content analysis to review 75 relevant articles. Suggests that, while a considerable breadth of topics have been researched, there remains much to be done, there is further room for theoretical development in Chinese consumer behaviour studies; and the methodologies used need improvement and further refinement.