Search results

This study investigates the relationship between a firm's competitive strategy and strategic plan intensity, defined as the emphasis placed on strategic planning in guiding the future decisions and activities carried out by organisational members. The research question addressed is “Under what competitive strategy contexts does high strategic plan intensity lead to greater performance?” The competitive strategies considered are low‐cost, differentiation and competitive strategy segmentation. Strategic plan intensity is viewed as the combined emphasis a firm places on mission/vision, long‐term objectives, planned activities, short‐term objectives and policies in guiding the decisions and activities of organisation members.

Mintzberg has severely criticised the current state of strategic planning practices (1994). So thorough was his condemnation of planning, plans and planners that Peters, in a brief review of Mintzberg's work, offered a eulogy to strategic planning as we know it, “Rest In Peace” (1994). However, after arguing convincingly against the effectiveness of strategic planning in all situations, Mintzberg does suggest that there may be situations or certain contexts in which strategic planning is beneficial (1994).

This study empirically develops a framework of dominant dimensions of organisation direction. ‘Organisation direction’ denotes the paths taken by organisations through time. Isolating dominant dimensions of direction will aid planners by providing a set of directional dimensions to be considered when developing the organisation's overall strategic plan.

Popularity of the resource‐based theory of the firm has brought renewed interest in internal organisational domain as an important contributing factor toward organisational success. Generally, this research has taken the perspective that a direct link exists between internal domain and performance. An underlying premise of this view is that competitive direction is simply a reflection of the parameters of this domain. This study investigates the strength and direction of the link between internal domain and competitive direction to determine the significance of this assertion.

Looks at the relationship between strategic planning and leadership characteristics, claiming that, in most research, leadership characteristics are seen as a dependent variable. Carries out a survey of 91 firms (through questionnaires sent to Chief Executive Officers) using a 7‐point Likert scale to measure responses. Performs varimax rotation and regression analysis to analyse the results. Focuses on three specific characteristics ‐ power/control, creativity, and people/dependence ‐ and attempts to establish the impact these characteristics have on plan intensity (the degree to which organization members are guided by an established plan) and the use of direction‐setting tools such as mission/vision, long‐term objectives, short‐term objectives and action planning. Reviews some literature in the separate fields of strategic planning and leadership, drawing together various strands to suggest that leadership characteristics are important predictors of plan intensity within organizations and that they will also be strong predictors on how direction‐setting tools are used within the organizational planning process. Discusses the findings as they link into the three leadership factors mentioned. Mentions, also, the planning index and how it relates to planning intensity. Concludes that leadership characteristics are strong predictors of planning intensity and planning tools. Notes limitations of the study.

Questions whether companies are in danger of becoming too narrow in their focus making their views too simplistic and perhaps ignoring other strategic factors which may be important. Lists arguments for a more focused simplistic strategy but then states that as organizations become more complex a wider view is required. Presents the results of a survey of 156 US chief executives suggesting that vertically integrated companies need a more complex strategy but product diversity leads to a more simplistic strategy and international scope appeared to have little effect. Concludes further research is required but initial findings suggest that a company’s structure and market may define the optimum simplicity of its strategic view.

This study sought to determine the effect of class size on the evaluation of teaching effectiveness for on‐line courses using a standard student evaluation survey instrument. The data set consists of all MBA courses taught online during an academic year at a large, regional Midwestern university in the U.S. Several simple regression analyses are performed with class size as the independent variable. Dependent variables analysed were global course effectiveness and summated indices representing “building blocks” of online effectiveness. These include course content, instructor support, course structure, student‐to‐student interaction and instructor to‐student interaction. Results indicate no significant relationship between class size and global course effectiveness. In addition, class size showed some significance in predicting instructor support and course structure. Unexpectedly the direction of this association was positive suggesting that larger classes lead to higher levels of instructor support and greater perceived course structure. A comparison to traditional courses is also provided.

Looks at Mintzberg’s pentagon model of ideal structures as a tool for describing organization structural designs. Surveys 91 US CEOs to test the validity of the model, in an attempt to provide greater insight into the model and its applicability to real life situations. Details research methodology. Fails to find a link between an organization with an ideal structure and performance, reporting that simple structured firms seemed to be the best performers, while hybrids and firms failing to score “high” on any ideal structure were also solid performers. Notes limitations of the study but suggests further research could expand knowledge of the structuring of organizations.

Explores the impact and relative importance of course content and the role of the instructor on measures of effectiveness for online courses. Uses items from a standard questionnaire to form measures of the quality of course content, the instructor’s role in facilitating the course and a number of global effectiveness measures. Suggests that the results vary depending on the global effectiveness measure being assessed, and identifies the questions which are of greatest importance.

It has become evident that students have diverse preferred learning styles and effective instructors must design and deliver courses to meet the needs of those students. This study investigates the four physiological learning styles of visual, aural, read‐write and kinesthetic as they apply to online education. Findings suggest that online students are more likely to have stronger visual and read‐write learning styles. Further, read‐write learners and students that were strong across all four learning styles were likely to evaluate course effectiveness lower than other students while aural/readwrite learners and students that were not strong on any learning style were more likely to evaluate course effectiveness higher than other students.