Search results

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the changes of Chinese business managers' values for the last three decades since the open door policy. Moreover, the paper discusses the mix picture, which combines Western and Eastern values, and its influence on management practice.

Via the seven “value dilemmas” regarding the value dimension proposed by Hampden‐Turner and Trompenaars, the authors surveyed Chinese enterprise managers in 2000 and 2009, then analyzed and compared the data from the questionnaire and the other findings in order to explore the changes of Chinese managers' value system.

First, the value system of Chinese enterprise managers is subjected to dual influence from Western management philosophy and Eastern traditional philosophy. The value system shows significant consistency. The Chinese managers remain amazingly consistent in their value systems, except one changed dimension – “outer direction” in 2009, and “inner direction” in 2000. Second, the mix picture of Chinese business managers' value system has traditional Eastern philosophy characteristics, such as “particularism”, “diffusion”, “communitarianism”, “synchronous time”, besides, this picture also has “achieved status” and “equality” features which is the result of the influence of open‐door reform. Third, this mix picture of value system forms a great part of Chinese companies' management practice: the “Eastern part” plays a great role in decision making regarding strategy and people issues; meanwhile, the “Western part” works well at operation level and application of specific management tools.

This is the first study to discover the invisible driver behind Chinese management, namely the value system of the business managers, since their value system deeply influences the managerial decision making, as well as the daily operations. The paper's findings provide a new perspective to interpret Chinese management style and explain the management reality in this fast‐growing economy. The paper also adds evidence in the study of the relationship between managerial values and management practice.

The paper discusses the balance between values and economic efficiency in the public sector in comparison with the private sector. The argument is that the public sector, hence the public welfare service institutions, can learn much from the private service sector, hence the private service firms with regard to the relation to values, ethics, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and efficiency in order to improve the balance between values and efficiency in the public sector.

The paper discusses the concept of balance in relation to the development of the management of private service companies as a useful alternative to new public management (NPM). It discusses this with regard to three issues: the evolution of the management of private companies; what can the public sector, hence the public welfare institutions, learn from the evolution of management of private companies? How would it be possible for governments to work for an alternative to NPM, on the basis of the experiences of management of private companies, improving the balance between values and economic efficiency in the public sector?

It is argued that a deadlock in the development of efficiency management in the public sector, hence in the public welfare service institutions, is created. It is argued, furthermore, that this deadlock to a great extent, paradoxically, is created because of the focusing on NPM for almost two decades as the most important tool to develop efficiency management in the public sector. Finally, it is argued that the experiences in private companies regarding how to find a proper balance between values, ethics, CSR and economic efficiency can be very helpful in developing a strategy within the public sector to unlock the deadlock regarding the development of efficiency management. That is why the experiences of management of the private services companies can become a constructive alternative to the experiences of NPM in the public sector at the level of welfare institutions.

There would be potential for more research on CSR, business ethics and values‐driven management in relation to the public sector.

The paper offers new insight into the relation between values, CSR and management models in the private and in the public sector.

The purpose of this research is to understand the current developments in business models that are aimed at meeting changing market characteristics, many of which require specific customer service responses.

The paper presents a conceptual model that is based on research into the applications of response management.

This paper suggests validity of the proposed model but also identifies the need for further research.

The paper assumes that management has the awareness and the skills set to manage and deliver added value to customers by implementing a more relevant model.

This paper offers examples of organisations that are responding to market and customer expectations using response management models.

Looks at the ways value is added in an organization through facilities management. Suggests that if facilities are tuned in they help meet business objectives and values. Concludes that facilities can be effectively managed only if seen as integral parts of the enterprise.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the need to go beyond relationship management to embrace the techniques of value management with details on why and how CRE managers should pursue this as a professional goal.

This article discusses the experiences of the author working across multiple global corporate accounts. The article advances the discussion on how to strategically align and advance the performance of CRE departments to support business change for corporate competitive advantage.

As CRE managers strive to elevate their strategic relevance to the organization, they are challenged to go beyond relationship management. They are challenged to become value managers, capable of implementing corporate strategy anywhere and with anyone in the organization.

Further research is warranted into the perspectives of senior management on the contribution of CRE to the business planning process. CRE managers are often viewed as functional experts and may be overlooked as candidates for involvement in corporate management development programs.

CRE managers, in charge of business alignment, must turn a professional corner by focusing more on driving corporate value. A career choice is required to invest in the business and financial acumen needed to sit credibly at the planning table with senior management. The career path of the in‐house CRE manager is one of a general business manager, referred to in this article as a “value manager”.

CRE managers are challenged to adopt the behavior, attitude and skill set of general business managers to arrive at solutions to business challenges. These challenges are cross‐functional in nature and often do not start nor end with real estate or, by extension, facilities. Thus, the role of relationship manager needs to evolve into a value manager, who possesses the skills of business planning, business case development, and cross‐functional project management.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of Value Management towards achieving sustainability through reducing the construction waste during the design process.

To achieve the abovementioned aim, a research methodology consisting literature review and survey questionnaire is designed to achieve the following objectives: first, building a comprehensive understanding of the research topic through reviewing literature related to the nature of the construction industry, waste in construction, sustainability, the design phase and Value Management; second, presenting and analysing two case studies to validate the role of Value Management towards reducing waste in construction projects; third, conducting a survey questionnaire with a representative sample of architectural design firms (ADFs) in Egypt to evaluate their perception and application of Value Management towards reducing the construction waste during the design phase; and finally, proposing a business improvement framework to facilitate the integration of Value Management into the design phase as an approach for reducing construction waste.

The construction waste has a negative impact on achieving sustainability objectives. The design process plays a major role in generating waste throughout the project life cycle. This is a result of improper decisions taken during the design phase. Egypt as a developing country does not have the required technical or financial resources to deal with the huge amount of waste generated during the construction process. The Egyptian Sustainable Development Strategy 2030 focussed on eradicating the waste from its source (i.e. design phase). Integrating Value Management into the design phase will help developing creative ideas and better decisions, which will enable achieving sustainability objectives and reducing construction waste.

The Egyptian Sustainable Development Strategy 2030 has discussed the importance of dealing with the wastes from the source. Although the construction waste is a dangerous type of waste, most research studies have not focussed on the design process as a source for the construction waste. In this research, the design phase was discussed as an important element in reducing the construction waste by using Value Management approach.

Much of the literature in the field of logistics and supply management is concerned with the role that should be taken by business activities to add value for the customer and the shareholder. One of the problems currently under discussion is how this may be achieved. Discusses the issues underlying shareholder value management and planning. It proposes that value drivers are identified and examined in the context of both value and cost implications when related to the broader objectives of delivering shareholder value. A model is proposed which links EVA criteria, operating management criteria and logistics options. The model offers managers the opportunity to explore operational options and their impact on shareholder value criteria.

This paper aims to investigate the value management workshop process and specifically identifies the roles and responsibilities of the quantity surveyor within this. Information accrued is then used to develop a novel template value management workshop that provides a platform for educating future quantity surveying and other construction professionals.

This research adopts a mixed philosophical epistemological design that uses interpretivism with elements of postpositivism. Specifically, a cross-sectional study of extant literature informs the development of a structured questionnaire that is posed to focus group participants (consisting of experienced industrial practitioners) to secure qualitative feedback and validate the template.

Research findings reveal that the roles and responsibilities of the quantity surveyor in the value management workshop process have hitherto received scant academic attention. Additionally, literature has revealed that available information on workshop content is limited, leading to ineffective studies. There has also been a miscommunication among construction practitioners in relation to the quantity surveyor’s role in the workshop process. Following extensive research, a novel template has been created which identifies the content of each workshop session alongside the roles and responsibilities of the quantity surveyor (and other construction professionals) which can be used for educational purposes.

The literature revealed that scant academic and professional governing body(ies) attention has been paid to the education and training of future generations of quantity surveyors involved in value management. Specifically, there is limited applied case study evidence to investigate this phenomenon and, hence, the workshop curricular presents advance knowledge in this respect and provides a practical template solution.

The paper examines ways that Knowledge Management (KM) can demonstrate practical value for organizations. It begins by reviewing the claims made about KM, i.e. the benefits KM can provide to organizations. These claims are compared with traditional firm performance metrics to derive a criterion to measure the value of KM. Seven practical outcomes of KM are then presented as methods to persuade managers to invest in KM. These practical outcomes are then evaluated against the value criterion. The paper is based on empirical evidence from a five year longitudinal study.

This paper is based on a longitudinal change project for a large Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project grant in the period 2008-2013. The Project was a transformational change program which aimed to help make the partner organisation a learning organisation. The partner organisation was a large Australian Government Department, which faced the threat of knowledge loss caused by its ageing workforce. The sample was 118 respondents, mainly engineering and technical workers. A total of 150 respondents were invited to participate in the study which involved an annual survey and attendance at regular training workshops and related activities, with a participation rate of 79 per cent.

This paper provides a checklist from which to evaluate KM in terms of financial and non-financial measures and seven practical outcomes from which to identify the organisational problem which may be addressed by KM. Lead and lag indicators – what needs to be done and what will result – are also provided. Managers may use this framework to identify the value proposition in any KM investment.

The research is based on a single case study in a public sector organization. While the longitudinal nature of the study and the rich data collected offsets this issue, it also presents good opportunities for researchers and practitioners to test the ideas presented in this paper in other industry contexts. The seven practical outcomes also vary in the maturity of the empirical evidence supporting KM ' s impact. Strategic alignment, value management, and psychological contract, in particular, are still under-developed and could be areas for specific further research testing the ideas presented here.

This paper argues that investment decisions regarding KM may benefit from focusing on significant and on-going organisational problems, which will connect KM with firm performance and demonstrate financial and non-financial impact. The seven practical outcomes were evaluated against measurement criteria and against KM ' s claims. Overall, common themes were time and cost, as well as capability growth and performance improvements. Financial impact was mainly found in cost savings. Non-financial impact was found across the seven practical outcomes. It provides management with a checklist to make investment decisions regarding KM.

The decision whether to invest in KM begins with methods used to evaluate any organisational project. Managers must determine first whether necessary funds are available; and then whether the project is worthwhile. The standard method for evaluating a project ' s worth is return on investment (ROI). However, calculating ROI for KM investment is problematic. Unless KM can be proven to directly improve performance in financial terms, managers may struggle to see its ROI. The paper begins by reviewing the claims made about KM, i.e. the benefits KM can provide to organizations. These claims are compared with traditional firm performance metrics to derive a criterion to measure the value of KM.

This paper aims to study personnel perceptions about value processing in three case organizations in the Finnish context, especially management's role in organizational change where values are considered.

The research follows the methodology of the case study approach to tackle the research theme. The data include interviews from multiple (managerial) hierarchical levels, from top management to local levels (in top management and at the local level) in the case companies. The interviews are analyzed by content analysis.

The paper provides information about personnel perceptions in organizational value processes, especially the management's and organizational culture's role, in this kind of change process, as well as the individual's own role and responsibilities as an employee.

The research reported is not exhaustive and was done in the Finnish context, which may reduce its applicability to other, especially non‐European, countries.

The paper represents a very useful source of information and practical advice for companies encountering changes where organizational values are processed.

This paper fulfils the growing need for information about value management and value processing in organizations, and offers practical help to individuals working among these themes in their organizations.