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Article
Publication date: 6 November 2017

Pernilla Bolander, Andreas Werr and Kajsa Asplund

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the development of a deeper understanding of the conceptual and empirical boundaries of talent management (TM) so that scholars and…

25671

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the development of a deeper understanding of the conceptual and empirical boundaries of talent management (TM) so that scholars and practitioners may enhance their knowledge of what TM actually is and how it is carried out.

Design/methodology/approach

A comparative study was conducted of the TM practices of 30 organizations based in Sweden. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 56 organizational representatives. The transcribed interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

Findings

The findings comprise a typology consisting of four distinct TM types that exist in practice: a humanistic type, a competitive type, an elitist type and an entrepreneurial type. Descriptions are provided that probe into how specific practices are differently shaped in the different types.

Research limitations/implications

The study design enabled the generation of an empirically rich understanding of different TM types; however, it limited the authors’ ability to draw systematic conclusions on the realized outcomes of different types of TM.

Practical implications

The descriptions of different TM types give practitioners insight into how TM may be practiced in different ways and point to important decisions to be made when designing TM.

Originality/value

The paper addresses two main shortcomings identified in the academic literature on TM: conceptual ambiguity and the paucity of in-depth empirical research on how TM is carried out in actual organizational settings. The empirically derived typology constitutes an important step for further theory development in TM.

Details

Personnel Review, vol. 46 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0048-3486

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Article
Publication date: 1 June 2003

Robert Sandberg and Andreas Werr

Companies in the business‐to‐business segment increasingly try to expand their product offerings into customer solutions offerings. This often implies adding value through…

2430

Abstract

Companies in the business‐to‐business segment increasingly try to expand their product offerings into customer solutions offerings. This often implies adding value through professional services such as systems integration and business consulting related to the parent organization’s products. The addition of a consultative component to the product business both poses new challenges and provides new possibilities for the product organization’s innovation processes. We argue that corporate consulting units provide a vital source of knowledge for organizations seeking to increase their innovation capacity by learning about and from their customers. The current paper discusses the knowledge created in such consulting business as well as the filters that hinder utilizing this knowledge in the innovation processes of the product‐oriented organization.

Details

European Journal of Innovation Management, vol. 6 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1460-1060

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Article
Publication date: 15 October 2008

Jonas Bäcklund and Andreas Werr

Hiring management consultants as external support in organizational change is in the literature described as a socially and emotionally stressful activity for managers. Management…

1858

Abstract

Purpose

Hiring management consultants as external support in organizational change is in the literature described as a socially and emotionally stressful activity for managers. Management consultants need to deal with these threatening aspects of their service. This paper aims to explore the subject positions management consultants offer managers in their self‐presentations on the World Wide Web.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper studies the self‐presentations on the www of four large management consultancies–Accenture, BCG, KPMG, and McKinsey & Co. Using a Foucault inspired discourse analytical framework, we analyze the subject positions offered to client‐managers in these self‐presentations and how these subject positions relate to the management regimes of bureaucracy and post‐bureaucracy.

Findings

The study identifies two different discursive practices–one normalizing practice, constructing the use of management consultants as a natural aspect of management and a second practice rationalizing the use of management consultants, providing arguments aimed at reducing the pressures on the manager. The normalizing discourse which draws on a post‐bureaucratic regime was found in Accenture and KPMG. The rationalizing discourse was found in McKinsey and BCG and draws on the bureaucratic regime.

Originality/value

This work highlights how consultants deal with the pressures their presence puts on managers. It illustrates how managerial truth regimes contribute to shaping the conditions for management consulting and the consultant‐client relationship.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 21 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

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Book part
Publication date: 28 June 2017

Kajsa Asplund, Pernilla Bolander and Andreas Werr

Performance management can play an important role in the implementation of strategic change, by aligning employees’ mindsets and behavior with organizational goals. However, the…

Abstract

Performance management can play an important role in the implementation of strategic change, by aligning employees’ mindsets and behavior with organizational goals. However, the ways in which employees react to change efforts aided by performance management practices are far from straight-forward. In this chapter, we develop a conceptual framework for understanding employees’ reactions to strategic change as a consequence of their occupational identities and their performance management outcome. We further apply the framework to an empirical study of a strategic change initiative in a school organization that was supported by a new performance management practice. We show how variations in perceived identity threat translate into four distinct patterns of emotional and behavioral reactions, where only one represents whole-hearted change acceptance. The study contributes to our understanding of individual- and group-level heterogeneity in reactions to strategic change, and also to a more nuanced conception of identity threat.

Details

Research in Organizational Change and Development
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-436-1

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Article
Publication date: 23 October 2009

Andreas Werr, Jesper Blomberg and Jan Löwstedt

The purpose of this paper is to investigate interorganizational knowledge exchange from the perspective of the individual manager/professional. The paper aims to study the kinds

2444

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate interorganizational knowledge exchange from the perspective of the individual manager/professional. The paper aims to study the kinds of relationships managers/professionals in SMEs are involved in and the way in which they construct boundaries within and around these interorganizational relationships enabling and hindering knowledge acquisition.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on 31 interviews with managers and professionals in seven SMEs. Interviews focused on the interorganizational relationships they viewed as important sources of knowledge for themselves and their organizations.

Findings

The study shows that managers/professionals gain vital knowledge from far more interorganizational relationships than those formally designed for knowledge acquisition. The most important sources of knowledge were relationships with suppliers and customers. The study also identifies five boundary dimensions – interests, interpretive frameworks, trust, private/organizational and priority – which respondents use in constructing boundaries within and around the relationships. These boundary dimensions represent important conditions for knowledge acquisition through the relationship.

Research limitations/implications

The five boundary dimensions are generated based on a sample of SMEs in Sweden. They must thus be regarded as provisional and need to be validated in further research including larger organizations in different cultural contexts. Future studies should also focus on the dynamics of the boundaries and their interrelations as relationships evolve.

Originality/value

This paper adds to research on interorganizational knowledge acquisition by taking an individual level perspective and identifying boundary dimensions through which the relationships and their knowledge flows are shaped.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 13 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

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Article
Publication date: 1 March 2013

Andreas Werr and Philip Runsten

The current paper aims at contributing to the understanding of interorganizational knowledge integration by highlighting the role of individuals' understandings of the task and…

939

Abstract

Purpose

The current paper aims at contributing to the understanding of interorganizational knowledge integration by highlighting the role of individuals' understandings of the task and how they shape knowledge integrating behaviours.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents a framework of knowledge integration as heedful interrelating. Knowledge integration is conceptualized as help seeking, help giving and reflective reframing, and the paper discusses how these knowledge integrating behaviors are shaped by actors' representations of the situation and their role in it. The framework is illustrated and refined in relation to a qualitative case study of an IT outsourcing project.

Findings

Narrow and separating representations of actors' roles, partly based on institutionalized ideas of the proper behaviors of “buyers” and “suppliers”, impede knowledge integration. Such representations render the knowledge integrating behaviors help seeking, help giving and reflective reframing illegitimate.

Research limitations/implications

Results call for attention to actors' representations of the situation and their role in it in order to understand knowledge integration. The interorganizational setting, with its institutionalized roles, provides unique challenges that need to be investigated further. As findings are based on a single case study, further research needs to extend the findings to other kinds of interorganizational collaboration.

Originality/value

The paper adds to the understanding of interorganizational knowledge integration by drawing attention to the importance of individual actors' representations and behaviors. Hereby, the dominant organizational and network levels of analysis in the literature on interorganizational knowledge integration are complemented by an individual level of analysis.

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Article
Publication date: 1 August 1997

Andreas Werr, Torbjörn Stjernberg and Peter Docherty

States that highly structured methods and tools for bringing about organizational change are frequent features in both the management literature and the practice of management…

12294

Abstract

States that highly structured methods and tools for bringing about organizational change are frequent features in both the management literature and the practice of management consultants. Reports that, in order to understand the nature and popularity of these methods and tools, a study of the availability and use of methods in business process re‐engineering (BPR) projects was carried out in five large consulting companies. Identifies six functions of methods on the basis of this study. Finds that methods play important roles both in the consulting organization and in the consultant’s interaction with the client in the specific change project. Also reveals that common to the identified functions is an ability to store and transfer knowledge, which contributes to the change process interface for clients and consultants. Shows also that consulting companies with very different professional backgrounds have very similar approaches to BPR projects. Identifies and comments on the similarities between these companies’ methods in respect of managing change.

Details

Journal of Organizational Change Management, vol. 10 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0953-4814

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Article
Publication date: 1 March 2004

Håkan Linnarsson and Andreas Werr

Alliances are an increasingly common way of organizing the uncertain exploration phase of radical innovation. It may, however, be argued that there is inherent tension between the…

2948

Abstract

Alliances are an increasingly common way of organizing the uncertain exploration phase of radical innovation. It may, however, be argued that there is inherent tension between the logic of alliances and the logic of innovation. Whereas innovation is generally argued to require flexibility, political protection and extensive communication, the commonly mentioned key characteristics of alliances are detailed contractual regulation, political struggles and limited information exchange. Based on an in‐depth case study of a largely successful alliance for innovation between a European bank and a European telecommunications operator, this paper argues that the tensions between an innovation logic and an alliance logic may be overcome by creating a multilevel governance structure for the alliance, with a learning agenda on both the operational and strategic levels. The different levels of the structure are described and their contribution to the success of the alliance discussed.

Details

European Journal of Innovation Management, vol. 7 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1460-1060

Keywords

Available. Content available
Book part
Publication date: 28 June 2017

Abstract

Details

Research in Organizational Change and Development
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78714-436-1

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Article
Publication date: 26 August 2014

Giulio Nardella

299

Abstract

Details

Personnel Review, vol. 43 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0048-3486

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