David Shackleton, Leyland Pitt and Amy Seidel Marks
Decision styles and Machiavellianism were studied among four groupsof managers in pharmaceutical companies. Using a Decision StylesInventory, directive, analytic, conceptual and…
Abstract
Decision styles and Machiavellianism were studied among four groups of managers in pharmaceutical companies. Using a Decision Styles Inventory, directive, analytic, conceptual and behavioural decision styles were studied, each representing a different combination of cognitive complexity and brain hemisphere preference in decision making. Machiavellianism was assessed using the Mach IV scale of Christie and Geiss (1970) and its components, namely, tactics, views and morality. The sample studied comprised 39 marketing, 23 financial, 35 medical and 21 operations managers. No significant interdependence was found between decision style, Machiavellianism and managerial group. Further research is recommended to investigate differences in decision style between managers and non‐managers, and to establish the effects of Machiavellianism in the workplace.
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C. Jayachandran and Myroslaw J. Kyj
Marketing literature on consumer behavior has been generally oriented toward the “at‐need” purchase, goods that are purchased only when current consumption needs are felt…
Abstract
Marketing literature on consumer behavior has been generally oriented toward the “at‐need” purchase, goods that are purchased only when current consumption needs are felt. Marketing management strategies have been proposed under the assumption that buying occurs shortly before actual consumption. Behavior patterns that did not fit this mold were either ignored or given the label of unsought goods. This standard approach has overlooked purchase behavior that has a time Jag to consumption. “Pre‐need” goods are purchased in anticipation of their future use. This article identifies the characteristics of “pre‐need” goods and services and elaborates on them through case examples. Finally, a case is advanced for the important managerial and research implications of including the “pre‐need” dimension in consumer behavior analysis.
Myroslaw J. Kyj, C. Jayachandran and John L. Haverty
The general orientation of services marketing literature with regard to consumer or buyer behavior has been with “at‐need” purchases, those purchases made only when current…
Abstract
The general orientation of services marketing literature with regard to consumer or buyer behavior has been with “at‐need” purchases, those purchases made only when current consumption needs are felt. This standard approach has overlooked purchase behavior that has a time lag to consumption. “Pre‐need” services are purchased in anticipation of their future use. The characteristics of “pre‐need” services are identified and a model or framework is developed for integrating the pre‐need dimension with the marketing mix variables. The model leads to important managerial and research implications in the pre‐need marketing of services.
Dries Couckuyt and Amy Van Looy
Green Business Process Management (BPM) focusses on the ecological impact of business processes. Although it is an emerging field, different attitudes exist towards the…
Abstract
Purpose
Green Business Process Management (BPM) focusses on the ecological impact of business processes. Although it is an emerging field, different attitudes exist towards the discipline’s name, the objectives and the approaches to realise them. By means of a systematic literature review, the purpose of this paper is to arrive at a common understanding of the discipline for successful development.
Design/methodology/approach
The review methodology relies on a hermeneutic framework which integrates the search, analysis and interpretation of the literature. The sample is used in a text analysis to find an appropriate definition (RQ1), a bibliometric analysis to give insights in current Green BPM contributions (RQ2) and a content analysis to present differences with conventional BPM (RQ3).
Findings
Green BPM follows a similar development as conventional BPM, namely from a more technical perspective to also including the managerial perspective. More research is required that goes beyond the traditional business process lifecycle.
Originality/value
The research questions generated a comprehensive overview about application domains and research topics, which in turn can deliver benefits for both research and practitioner-related communities. Researchers identify future research avenues, while practitioners find appropriate Green BPM techniques for their domain.
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Amy B.C. Tan, Desirée H. van Dun and Celeste P.M. Wilderom
With the growing need for employees to be innovative, public-sector organizations are investing in employee training. This study aims to examine the effects of a combined Lean Six…
Abstract
Purpose
With the growing need for employees to be innovative, public-sector organizations are investing in employee training. This study aims to examine the effects of a combined Lean Six Sigma and innovation training, using action learning, on public-sector employees’ creative role identity and innovative work behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors studied a public service agency in Singapore in which a five-day Lean Innovation Training was implemented, using a combination of Lean Six Sigma and Creative Problem-Solving tools, with a simulation on day one and subsequent team-based project coaching, spread over six months. The authors administered pre- and postintervention surveys among all the employees, and initiated group interviews and observations before, during and after the intervention.
Findings
Creative role identity and innovative work behavior had significantly improved six months after the intervention, enabled through senior management’s transformational leadership. The training induced managers to role-model innovative work behaviors while cocreating, with their employees, a renewal of their agency’s core processes. The three completed improvement projects contributed to an innovative work culture and reduced service turnaround time.
Originality/value
Starting with a role-playing simulation on the first day, during which leaders and followers swapped roles, the action-learning type training taught all the organizational members to use various Lean Six Sigma and Creative Problem-Solving tools. This nimble Lean Innovation Training, and subsequent team-based project coaching, exemplifies how advancing the staff’s creative role identity can have a positive impact.
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Logan Crace, Joel Gehman and Michael Lounsbury
Reality breakdowns generate reflexivity and awareness of the constructed nature of social reality. These pivotal moments can motivate institutional inhabitants to either modify…
Abstract
Reality breakdowns generate reflexivity and awareness of the constructed nature of social reality. These pivotal moments can motivate institutional inhabitants to either modify their social worlds or reaffirm the status quo. Thus, reality breakdowns are the initial points at which actors can conceive of new possibilities for institutional arrangements and initiate change processes to realize them. Studying reality breakdowns enables scholars to understand not just how institutional change occurs, but also why it does or does not do so. In this paper, we investigate how institutional inhabitants responded to a reality breakdown that occurred during our ethnography of collegial governance in a large North American university that was undergoing a strategic change initiative. Our findings suggest that there is a consequential process following reality breakdowns whereby institutional inhabitants construct the severity of these events. In our context, institutional inhabitants first attempted to restore order to their social world by reaffirming the status quo; when their efforts failed, they began to formulate alternative possibilities. Simultaneously, they engaged in a distributed sensemaking process whereby they diminished and reoriented necessary changes, ultimately inhibiting the formulation of these new possibilities. Our findings confirm reality breakdowns and institutional awareness as potential drivers of institutional change and complicate our understanding of antecedent microprocesses that may forestall the initiation of change efforts.
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Leandra Koetsier, Monique Jacobs, Jutka Halberstadt, Marian Sijben, Nick Zonneveld and Mirella Minkman
The development of a national model has led municipalities in the Netherlands to implement integrated care for childhood overweight and obesity. To monitor how this approach is…
Abstract
Purpose
The development of a national model has led municipalities in the Netherlands to implement integrated care for childhood overweight and obesity. To monitor how this approach is being implemented locally, an appropriate tool is required. This study presents a “Tool to monitor the local implementation of Integrated Care for Childhood Overweight and obesity” (TICCO).
Design/methodology/approach
A three-step study was conducted in order to adapt and refine a generic integrated care questionnaire into a tool that suits the specific characteristics and context of integrated care for childhood overweight and obesity. The three consecutive steps comprised the following: a focus group session that assessed the relevance and comprehensiveness of the original integrated care instrument; a pilot questionnaire for end users that evaluated the feasibility of the preliminary tool and a pilot questionnaire that determined the feasibility and potential limitations of this adapted tool.
Findings
The adaptation process resulted in a 47-element digital tool for professionals actively involved in providing integrated care for childhood overweight and obesity. The results highlighted differences pertaining to how individual respondents judged each of the elements. These variations were found across both municipalities and different domains of integrated care.
Originality/value
This article presents an adapted tool that seeks to both support local discussion in the interpretation of individual TICCO scores and identify potential areas for improvement in local integrated care for childhood overweight and obesity.
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Dries Couckuyt and Amy Van Looy
The discipline of business process management (BPM) is challenged by investigating how work is performed in organizations while simultaneously recognizing preeminent environmental…
Abstract
Purpose
The discipline of business process management (BPM) is challenged by investigating how work is performed in organizations while simultaneously recognizing preeminent environmental issues. Although organizations have become more open to the ecological impact of business processes through Green BPM, research in this field and guidance for practitioners remains relatively limited. Therefore, this study aims to extend and translate the conventional perspective on business process maturity towards green business process maturity levels.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors bridged product-focussed and process-focussed environmental management practices by surveying ecolabels against theoretical capability areas for business process maturity. Since ecolabels are instruments to develop environmental-friendly products and services, the authors looked at the underlying processes to produce such green outcomes. By surveying 89 ecolabel organizations, the authors had indirectly access to an international set of companies, operating in distinct industries and producing a wide variety of green products and services.
Findings
The authors statistically uncovered a classification of four groups of ecolabels based on the process capabilities, each representing a distinct green business process maturity level. The four levels are “Green BP immaturity”, “Green BPL maturity”, “Green BPM maturity” and “Green BPO maturity” and align with well-established concepts in the business process literature and profession.
Originality/value
Scholars are encouraged to elaborate on the identified maturity levels in order to build and test a green business process maturity model, whereas practitioner-related advice is provided based on possible green business process maturity journeys towards excellence.