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Book part
Publication date: 3 June 2008

Steffen Andersen, Glenn W. Harrison, Morten I. Lau and E. Elisabet Rutström

We review the use of behavior from television game shows to infer risk attitudes. These shows provide evidence when contestants are making decisions over very large stakes, and in…

Abstract

We review the use of behavior from television game shows to infer risk attitudes. These shows provide evidence when contestants are making decisions over very large stakes, and in a replicated, structured way. Inferences are generally confounded by the subjective assessment of skill in some games, and the dynamic nature of the task in most games. We consider the game shows Card Sharks, Jeopardy!, Lingo, and finally Deal Or No Deal. We provide a detailed case study of the analyses of Deal Or No Deal, since it is suitable for inference about risk attitudes and has attracted considerable attention.

Details

Risk Aversion in Experiments
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-547-5

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 3 June 2008

Abstract

Details

Risk Aversion in Experiments
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84950-547-5

Article
Publication date: 29 March 2013

Svein S. Andersen and Dag Vidar Hanstad

In elite sport competitions there are small margins, and small advantages may be the key to big success. Details that in many other setting would be considered insignificant can…

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Abstract

Purpose

In elite sport competitions there are small margins, and small advantages may be the key to big success. Details that in many other setting would be considered insignificant can have a major impact on results. Awareness about risks therefore becomes a key concern in such projects, and this is often viewed as the essence of project management. Compensations for negative outcomes do not make sense. Delays, cost‐overruns or compensations are not viable options. In such situations, success depends on the ability to manage risks with a high degree of reliability, reflects the ability to mobilize, use and develop new knowledge. This paper aims to offer an opportunity to investigate mechanisms for knowledge development and transfer in relation to risk management in a mindful organization.

Design/methodology/approach

The starting point was formal documents and plans, but the main data source is semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with all major actors involved. The data are representative in the sense that they provide a comprehensive mapping of critical elements in Olympic projects, strategies for dealing with them and how knowledge from earlier projects were exploited. As data were collected they were systematized through open coding, identifying recurrent themes relating to major concerns, influence of earlier experience, knowledge sharing, relationships between experiences and new project team members, etc. The next step was to recode descriptive categories in ways that captured underlying analytical or theoretical dimensions relating to different types of risk, knowledge and knowledge carriers.

Findings

The article links risk management to knowledge development and transfer in a mindful organization. Three mechanisms are crucial for successful project‐based learning: relating different competences; reflecting on experiences; and routinizing lessons learned. Such processes are at the core of a mindful organization. Knowledge transfer and risk management are an integrated part of best practice. In Olympiatoppen there is little codification of knowledge in formal systems and detailed operating procedures. Knowledge is mainly carried by individuals – and activated, evaluated and used in a setting where relationships play a key role. The ability to exploit such mechanisms for knowledge transfer is generally attracting attention as an essential success factor in project‐based learning.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the literature on knowledge development in projects in the following ways: first, knowledge development and transfer is linked to risk management and the concept of mindful organization. In a mindful organization knowledge transfer and risk management are an integrated part of best practice. Second, it pays special attention to the social aspects of knowledge transfer; particularly the role of personal knowledge and problem solving capacities and the importance of social relationships.

Details

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, vol. 6 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8378

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 October 2019

Steffen Roth, Teemu Santonen, Maximilian Heimstädt, Carlton Clark, Nikolay Trofimov, Jari Kaivo-oja, Arthur Atanesyan, Balazs Laki and Augusto Sales

The purpose of this paper is to examine how much value national governments worldwide place on political, economic, scientific, artistic, religious, legal, sportive…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how much value national governments worldwide place on political, economic, scientific, artistic, religious, legal, sportive, health-related, educational and mass media-related issues. This knowledge is critical as governments and policies are typically expected to be congruent with the importance these issues have for society.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on theories of polyphonic and multifunctional organization, the authors recoded and analyzed a US Central Intelligence Agency directory to test the cabinet portfolio of a total of 201 national governments for significant biases to the above issues.

Findings

The results suggest that governments worldwide massively over-allocate their attention to economic issues.

Originality/value

The authors conclude that this strong pro-economic governance-bias likely translates into dysfunctional governance and development at both the national and supra-national level.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 32 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 23 May 2005

Glenn W. Harrison, Morten Igel Lau, Elisabet E. Rutström and Melonie B. Sullivan

We design experiments to jointly elicit risk and time preferences for the adult Danish population. The experimental procedures build on laboratory experiments that have used…

Abstract

We design experiments to jointly elicit risk and time preferences for the adult Danish population. The experimental procedures build on laboratory experiments that have used traditional subject pools. The field experiments utilize field sampling designs that we developed, and procedures that were chosen to be relatively transparent in the field with non-standard subject pools. Our overall design was also intended to be a general template for such field experiments in other countries. We examine the characterization of risk over a wider domain for each subject than previous experiments, allowing more precise estimates of risk attitudes. We also examine individual discount rates over six time horizons, as the first stage in a panel experiment in which we revisit subjects to test consistency and stability of responses over time. Risk and time preferences are heterogeneous, varying by observable individual characteristics. On a methodological level, we implement a refinement of existing procedures which elicits much more precise estimates, and also mitigates framing effects.

Details

Field Experiments in Economics
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76231-174-3

Article
Publication date: 22 July 2019

Steffen Muxoll Bastholm and Kristin B. Munksgaard

The strategic importance of the purchasing function increases, as its task become more dynamic in various interfaces with different suppliers. Changes in these customer–supplier…

Abstract

Purpose

The strategic importance of the purchasing function increases, as its task become more dynamic in various interfaces with different suppliers. Changes in these customer–supplier interfaces pose specific challenges. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the purchasing function handles the interplay of interface changes.

Design/methodology/approach

This study applies a qualitative single case study design. Data are collected through observations and interviews conducted before, during and after a concrete change of interface taking place between a buying firm and its suppliers and customers.

Findings

Three main findings are identified to redefine the tasks of the purchasing function. The first concerns the new ways of defining the purchasing tasks. The main issue is to balance tasks with the simultaneous changes influencing other interfaces and relationships. The second is the division and alignment of tasks in intra- and inter-organizational networks with regards to who decides and coordinates what. Third, the inter-connected performance relates to how other actors perform their tasks. For the purchasing function, managing supplier interfaces influences and is influenced by how the firm simultaneously manages its user interface.

Practical implications

For management, a new way to evaluate the performance of the purchasing function is needed by including relationship management and interactive capabilities.

Originality/value

This study contributes with new insights into how managing the dynamics of changing interfaces requires interactively defined purchasing tasks, division and alignment of tasks and inter-connected performance vis-à-vis others in the wider network setting.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 35 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

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Article
Publication date: 6 December 2022

Richard Jabot

The purpose of this paper is to problematize the need for debate in operationalizing the planetary boundaries framework when accounting for the Anthropocene.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to problematize the need for debate in operationalizing the planetary boundaries framework when accounting for the Anthropocene.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper’s aim is achieved through a literature review focusing on the assumptions around the Anthropocene, planetary boundaries and organizations. The author conducted an integrated review of 91 documents discussing the operationalization of the planetary boundaries framework and the need for debate.

Findings

This paper develops two major findings. First, the author identifies the four main dimensions of the planetary boundaries that need to be debated: social, normative, narrative and control aspects. Second, the author exposes proposals in the literature that have the potential to fuel the debate, but which are themselves a source of debate.

Practical implications

This paper argues that, while being scientifically informed, the planetary boundaries framework leaves decision-makers with critical choices and decisions that need to be openly debated. This paper identifies some relevant proposals for doing so.

Social implications

This paper underlines the need to open forums of debate for scientists and other stakeholders to raise the democratic legitimacy of the planetary boundaries framework.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is one of the very first papers to investigate dimensions of the planetary boundaries that need to be debated to respond to the challenge of its operationalization.

Details

Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal, vol. 14 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-8021

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Article
Publication date: 18 March 2020

Heiko Kleve, Steffen Roth, Tobias Köllner and Ralf Wetzel

This conceptual article aims to contribute to the design of a theory of family-influenced firms by a framework for the management of business-family dilemmas.

Abstract

Purpose

This conceptual article aims to contribute to the design of a theory of family-influenced firms by a framework for the management of business-family dilemmas.

Design/methodology/approach

It combines systemic principles with the tetralemma, a tool from ancient Indian logic that families and businesses can use to manage and reframe dilemmas without dissolving the dilemmatic tensions or blurring their boundaries.

Findings

In applying the tetralemma, the article offers a range of suggestions, such as observing business and family as two discrete, yet codependent, social systems and envisioning conceptual and methodological imports from codependency research and therapy into family business research and practice.

Originality/value

The article proposes a framework for the selective and flexible navigation of family-business tensions without dissolving them or blurring their boundaries.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 33 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 19 October 2022

Thomas Borup Kristensen, Henrik Saabye and Amy Edmondson

The purpose of this study is to empirically test how problem-solving lean practices, along with leaders as learning facilitators in an action learning approach, can be transferred…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to empirically test how problem-solving lean practices, along with leaders as learning facilitators in an action learning approach, can be transferred from a production context to a knowledge work context for the purpose of becoming a learning organization while enhancing performance. This is important to study because many organizations struggle to enhance efficiency in the short term while still trying to be long-term learning oriented (i.e. learning organization development).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors draw on theory on learning interventions to show how lean practices for problem-solving can foster learning and help an organization to become adaptive. This study’s subject is a non-production department of 100 employees at the LEGO corporation. The authors applied survey results from a natural experiment lasting 18 months between a pre-measurement survey and a post-measurement survey. The results were compared to a control department of 50 employees who were not exposed to the lean practices intervention. The authors’ focus was on the individual level as individuals have different perceptions of lean practices, performance, and learning.

Findings

Using repeated-measures tests, difference-in-difference regressions analyses, and structural equation models, the authors find that a package of contemporary lean practices for problem-solving, along with leaders who function as learning facilitators, significantly improved learning organization dimensions while also enhancing efficiency and quality and that learning organizations positively mediate the relationship between the lean intervention and quality-related performance, while efficiency is directly affected by the lean interventions. Data from LEGO's key performance indicators (KPIs), benefit trackers, on-site observations and more than 40 interviews with managers provided results that were consistent with the survey data. A detailed description of the lean practices implemented is provided to inspire future implementations in non-operations environments and to assist educators.

Research limitations/implications

The authors contribute to the learning literature by showing that a learning-to-learn approach to lean management can serve as an active and deliberate intervention in helping an organization becoming a learning organization as perceived by the individual organizational members. The authors also add to the lean literature by showing how a learning approach to lean, as used by LEGO, can positively affect short-term efficiency and quality and create a foundation for a longer-term competitive advantage (i.e. a learning organization) in a non-production context. By contrast, most of the lean literature streams treat efficiency separately from a learning organization and mainly examine lean in a production context.

Originality/value

The extant literature shows three research streams on lean, learning, and performance. The authors built on these streams by trying to emphasize both learning and efficiency. Prior research has not empirically tested whether and how the application of problem-solving lean practices combined with leaders as learning facilitators helps to create a comprehensive learning organization while enhancing performance in a non-production context.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 42 no. 13
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 5 April 2024

Barbora Holubová, Marta Kahancová, Lucia Kováčová, Lucia Mýtna Kureková, Adam Šumichrast and Steffen Torp

Studies on the work integration of persons with disabilities (PwD) and the role of social dialogue therein are scarce. The study examines how the different systems of workers’…

Abstract

Purpose

Studies on the work integration of persons with disabilities (PwD) and the role of social dialogue therein are scarce. The study examines how the different systems of workers’ representation and industrial relations in Slovakia and Norway facilitate PwD work integration. Taking a social ecosystem perspective, we acknowledge the role of various stakeholders and their interactions in supporting PwD work integration. The paper’s conceptual contribution lies in including social dialogue actors in this ecosystem.

Design/methodology/approach

Evidence was collected via desk research, 35 semi-structured in-depth interviews with 51 respondents and stakeholder workshops in 2019–2020.

Findings

The findings from Norway confirm the expected coordination of unions and employers in PwD work integration. Evidence from Slovakia shows that in decentralised industrial relations systems, institutional constraints beyond the workplace determine employers’ and worker representatives’ approaches in PwD integration. Most policy-level outcomes are contested, as integration occurs predominantly via sheltered workplaces without interest representation.

Social implications

This paper identifies the primary sources of variation in the work integration of PwD. It also highlights opportunities for social partners across both situations to exercise agency and engagement to improve PwD work integration.

Originality/value

By integrating two streams of literature – social policy and welfare state and industrial relations – this paper examines PwD work integration from a social ecosystem perspective. Empirically, it offers novel qualitative comparative evidence on trade unions’ and employers’ roles in Slovakia and Norway.

Details

Employee Relations: The International Journal, vol. 46 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

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1 – 10 of 75