Search results

This paper aims to investigate the influence of cognitive style diversity on intra-group relationship conflict and individual-level organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). The role of leader-member exchange as a moderating variable is also examined.

The authors used hierarchical linear modeling and hierarchical regression analysis to analyze results from a sample of 344 members from 83 teams nested within 126 departments in six manufacturing organizations in the People’s Republic of China.

Results yielded general support for our hypothesized relationships between cognitive style diversity and intra-group relationship conflict. Leader-member exchange was also found to moderate the relationship between these two variables. Contrary to expectations, there were no relationships between these variables and individual-level organizational citizenship behaviors.

This research addresses calls from the team diversity and conflict literature to address the understudied area of deep-level cognitive diversity. Second, this study addresses previous calls for more team-level and mixed-level theory and methodology to inform OCB research. Third, this is the first study of group-level cognitive style diversity and the moderating influence of leader-member-exchange and provides valuable insights into ways of mitigating some of the negative effects of cognitive diversity on teams.

This study aims to identify differences in knowledge-sharing mechanisms and personality among expert, typical and novice managers within the Malaysian public sector. Strengthening knowledge sharing function is essential for enabling public institutions around the world to be more productive.

This quantitative study involves 308 employees from management and professional groups within 98 local authorities in the Malaysian local government. Stratified random sampling techniques were used and the sampling frame comprised 1,000 staff using postal surveys. Data analyses were carried out using analysis of variance and correlations to test the research hypotheses.

The findings reveal that expert managers are more proactive in sharing their knowledge, particularly those with the personality traits of conscientiousness and openness. These two personality traits were also related to expert behaviours such as thoroughness, responsibility and persistence, which led to work competency and managerial success.

This study provides theoretical insights into how managerial tacit knowledge differs and can accumulate, depending on the personality traits of middle managers. The paper shows the different mechanisms of knowledge sharing, tacit knowledge and personality among expert, typical and novice managers. Practically, this study is important for guiding senior managers in their attempts to identify the most appropriate personalities of their middle managers. This study found that the expert group was higher in conscientiousness, openness and overall personality traits compared with the typical and novice groups. The paper also highlights the value of sharing managerial tacit knowledge effectively.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of organizational change, more specifically business model change, on corporate employees’ motivation and, consequently, performance.

The main approaches and managerial frameworks on organization change implementation, as well as the assessment methods on whether the company is ready to implement the change, were identified by reviewing the current literature on the subject between 1940 and 2016.

Reviewed individual behavioral reactions and provided steps to encourage favorable individual employee perceptions.

Existing gaps in supporting empirical data on the subject and a limited number of direct case studies and real-life scenarios. The research was primarily focused on employee motivation during the initial planning phase of organizational change, with lesser focus on motivation throughout and especially after the change process.

To benefit from the change, organizations must avoid improvising and should follow specific and formal change management procedures which take employee motivation and individual response towards change under consideration.

By providing real-life illustrations of successful business model change implementations, current and future companies facing this type of change in the future can learn from these specific scenarios.

The distinction of business model change as a sub-type of organizational change and the study of employee motivation under a business model change specifically is the novel contribution of the paper.

Gender‐centred perspectives of women managers and women in general characterise them as being more intuitive than male managers and men in general. Evidence for gender differences in cognitive style was sought by administering the Cognitive Style Index, a measure of intuition analysis, to three UK samples of managers and three UK samples of non‐managers. Results indicate that there is no difference between female and male managers in terms of intuitive orientation, that female non‐managers are more analytical (less intuitive) than male non‐managers and more analytical than female managers. This lack of support for stereotypic characterisation of women managers and women in general as being more intuitive than their male equivalents is discussed within the context of structural and gendered cultural perspectives on behaviour in organisations.

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.

This study investigates the relationship between buyer-supplier top management team (TMT) demographic misalignment (defined as differences in TMT composition based on background, age and gender) and environmental performance (EVP).

The empirical setting is publicly held US manufacturing firms that are present in both the Kinder, Lydenberg and Domini’s (KLD's) annual EVP ratings and Bloomberg's supply chain database. The study employs panel data regression methods on an unbalanced panel dataset of 7,493 dyad-year observations comprising 427 unique firms.

The research shows that misalignment in functional background and gender composition between TMTs have a negative outcome on both the buyer's and the suppliers' EVP. However, increasing presence of females across TMTs has a positive influence on EVP. Further, the research shows that misalignment based on age between the TMTs does not impact EVP in any significant way. On the contrary, increasing age across TMTs is a significant predictor of EVP.

This study builds on existing works in TMT heterogeneity and adds context to the heightening belief in the positive linkage between heterogeneity and performance through extension to a boundary spanning interfirm context.

This paper aims to examine impediments to the adoption of sustainable water-efficient technological innovation in agriculture. Farming is the largest water consumer and food production expansion in response to global population growth, combined with increasing droughts from climate change, threatens water and food insecurity for many countries. Yet, climate smart agriculture (CSA) innovation adoption has been slow, and in this regard, governments and the agricultural sector are not fulfilling their social responsibility and sustainability obligations.

Barriers to water-efficient drip irrigation (DI) adoption in Australia were investigated via 46 depth interviews with agricultural stakeholders and a survey of 148 farmers.

While DI water efficiency is recognised, this is not the key determinant of farmers’ irrigation method selection. Complex interrelationships between internal and external barriers impede DI adoption are identified. These include costs, satisfaction with alternative irrigation methods, farmer characteristics that determine the suitability of the innovation and the extent it is incremental or radical, plus various multidimensional risks. Government support of alternative, less water-efficient irrigation methods is also a critical barrier.

A conceptual framework for understanding barriers to sustainability oriented innovation adoption is presented. Its insights should be applicable to researchers and practitioners concerned with understanding and improving the adoption of socially responsible and sustainable innovation in a wide range of contexts. Recommendations for overcoming such adoption barriers are discussed in relation to the research focus of water-efficient agriculture and encouraging uptake of DI.

In the modern global marketplace, failure to respond to customer requirements can have dramatic effects on the success of manufacturing companies. Supporting customers after the “market” is a key element of such a response. Communication systems can be slow, unresponsive and expensive for large, distributed customer networks. Here a more proactive Internet‐based model is proposed. It uses push technology to provide greater visibility, improve inter‐company relationships, and lower costs. The model was developed at a leading UK manufacturer and a case study illustrates the developmental stages in terms of different types of communication media. This paper contends that information transfer, delivery and control is crucial for the effective management of extended aftermarket supply networks. A CD‐ROM‐based solution (developed by a UK diesel systems manufacturer) is documented, but it is further argued that such solutions may well already be insufficiently inflexible. The paper argues that manufacturing companies should adopt more information‐intensive solutions (such as webcasting, or push technologies) in order to manage the challenges emerging from Internet‐based business and communications.

Since the first Volume of this Bibliography there has been an explosion of literature in all the main areas of business. The researcher and librarian have to be able to uncover specific articles devoted to certain topics. This Bibliography is designed to help. Volume III, in addition to the annotated list of articles as the two previous volumes, contains further features to help the reader. Each entry within has been indexed according to the Fifth Edition of the SCIMP/SCAMP Thesaurus and thus provides a full subject index to facilitate rapid information retrieval. Each article has its own unique number and this is used in both the subject and author index. The first Volume of the Bibliography covered seven journals published by MCB University Press. This Volume now indexes 25 journals, indicating the greater depth, coverage and expansion of the subject areas concerned.

Develops an original 12‐step management of technology protocol and applies it to 51 applications which range from Du Pont’s failure in Nylon to the Single Online Trade Exchange for Auto Parts procurement by GM, Ford, Daimler‐Chrysler and Renault‐Nissan. Provides many case studies with regards to the adoption of technology and describes seven chief technology officer characteristics. Discusses common errors when companies invest in technology and considers the probabilities of success. Provides 175 questions and answers to reinforce the concepts introduced. States that this substantial journal is aimed primarily at the present and potential chief technology officer to assist their survival and success in national and international markets.