Matthew J. Mazzei and Charles M. Carson
Urban Affordable Housing (UAH) Inc. was a real estate asset management syndication firm that sponsored affordable housing to low-income families and seniors across the USA. The…
Abstract
Synopsis
Urban Affordable Housing (UAH) Inc. was a real estate asset management syndication firm that sponsored affordable housing to low-income families and seniors across the USA. The case examines the firm’s management of an internal information technology (IT) change initiative. The case follows the firm’s recently hired IT manager, Anthony Bryant, as he works to change a culture while acquiring resources and acceptance for the project he was hired to oversee. Bryant deals with numerous changing priorities, inadequate sponsorship, resistance from various levels, and a dearth of resources as he struggles to get the organization to complete an overdue database conversion.
Research methodology
This case is based upon the firsthand experiences of the lead author over a seven-year period while working at UAH. Measures have been taken to disguise the firm’s identity, including using a pseudonym, fictitious names for firm employees, a fictitious location, and the alteration of key dates. Key elements of the case have been constructed around semi-structured interviews and the review of archival documentation. Most quotes are verbatim in an attempt to preserve their authenticity, and were drawn from the semi-structured interviews and from historical accounts of actual occurrences and conversations.
Relevant courses and levels
The UAH case is multi-faceted, as it can be used in a number of environments amid a business school curriculum. A primary use is likely in a course revolving around organizational change and development. It might also be featured as part of the organizational change component in a course on organizational behavior, used to illustrate and analyze organizational culture and change leadership. Furthermore, the case could be used for change-related topics in management information systems or project management courses. The authors suggest the case be assigned at the graduate level, though it could also be suitable for an advanced undergraduate class.
Theoretical bases
Critical knowledge for successfully analyzing this case includes the following concepts: the change process (Lewin, 1951); leading change (Kotter, 1996); resistance to change (Kegan and Lahey, 2001); and communicating change (Armenakis and Harris, 2002).
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Charles M. Carson, Donald C. Mosley, John S. Bishop and Douglas L. Smith
This case involves the issues within an organization of growth, expansion, change, and a possible shift of focus from hobby to profit. The case also deals with important factors…
Abstract
This case involves the issues within an organization of growth, expansion, change, and a possible shift of focus from hobby to profit. The case also deals with important factors, which could potentially impact any company's operation. The owners are seeking to address two key issues. The first is a valuation issue prompted by one of the shareholders wishing to sell her interest in the railcar LLC. The second issue is one of expansion. A potential investment ($60,000-$135,000) would permit the company to lease the railcar to other operators who could run the railcar on Amtrak certified tracks nationwide but would remove the shareholders from the day to day operations of the train. The critical decision is whether the owners should invest more money in the business or maintain their current business model and operational structure.
Franz T. Lohrke, Charles M. Carson and Archie Lockamy
The purpose of this paper is to review Bayesian analysis in recent entrepreneurship research to assess how scholars have employed these methods to study the entrepreneurship…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review Bayesian analysis in recent entrepreneurship research to assess how scholars have employed these methods to study the entrepreneurship process. Researchers in other business fields (e.g. management science, marketing, and finance) have increasingly employed Bayesian methods to study issues like decision making. To date, however, Bayesian methods have seen only limited use in entrepreneurship research.
Design/methodology/approach
After providing a general overview of Bayesian methods, this study examines how extant entrepreneurship research published in leading journals has employed Bayesian analysis and highlights topics these studies have investigated most frequently. It next reviews topics that scholars from other business disciplines have investigated using these methods, focusing on issues related to decision making, in particular.
Findings
Only seven articles published in leading management and entrepreneurship journals between 2000 and 2016 employed or discussed Bayesian methods in depth when studying the entrepreneurship process. In addition, some of these studies were conceptual.
Research limitations/implications
This review suggests that Bayesian methods may provide another important tool for researchers to employ when studying decision making in high uncertainty situations or the impact of entrepreneurial experience on decision making over time.
Originality/value
This review demonstrates that Bayesian analysis may be particularly appropriate for entrepreneurship research. By employing these methods, scholars may gain additional insights into entrepreneurial phenomenon by allowing researchers to examine entrepreneurial decision making. Through this review and these recommendations, this study hopes to encourage greater Bayesian analysis usage in future entrepreneurship research.
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Charles M. Carson and Jennings B. Marshall
Dr. Lawrence Frazier was an emergency room physician who was an employee of Honore Staffing Services of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He worked at Methodist Health System hospital in…
Abstract
Dr. Lawrence Frazier was an emergency room physician who was an employee of Honore Staffing Services of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He worked at Methodist Health System hospital in Grant, Georgia. He had recently added the title of ER Medical Director and served as liaison between Honore staffing and the Methodist hospital. His additional duties included overseeing the other physicians which staff the emergency room. Methodist had a bonus system in place based on obtaining 31 patients’ satisfaction surveys each month. Dr. Frazier believed that the small sample lead to erroneous results and created problems for the physicians under his supervision. He wanted to change the data collection process (e.g. sample size collected, instrument), but encountered obstacles when he broached the subject with his hospital administrators.
Charles M. Carson and Jonathan N. Ishee
Erick Wilson and Richard Hyche, managers of Hughes Family Furniture Store in Charlotte N.C. are exploring new ways to motivate their sales force to sell more of one of their most…
Abstract
Erick Wilson and Richard Hyche, managers of Hughes Family Furniture Store in Charlotte N.C. are exploring new ways to motivate their sales force to sell more of one of their most profitable items, a Furniture Protection Plan. They are considering a new compensation plan but are concerned about how this new change might affect their sales force.
Archie Lockamy, Charles M Carson and Franz T Lohrke
The purpose of this study is to identify the key determinants which inhibit intra-family business succession. The study also explores the effects these determinants have on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify the key determinants which inhibit intra-family business succession. The study also explores the effects these determinants have on preventing intra-family business succession. Finally, the study explores the probability that intra-family business succession does not take place based upon the effects of the identified determinants.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 250 surveys were mailed to family business owners across the United States, yielding 68 usable responses (27.2% response rate). Factor analysis was used to determine the most influential factors which inhibit intra-family business succession, and Bayesian Networks were constructed to determine the probability that intra-family business succession does not occur based on these factors.
Findings
The study results indicate that there are four key constructs comprised of 23 variables which have the most influence on deterring intra-family business successions. The results also suggest managerial actions that can be taken to improve the probability of intra-family business succession.
Research limitations/implications
A possible research limitation is that the survey respondents may not represent the entire cross-section of family-owned business in the United States. Additionally, the impact of company size, age, industry, and other demographic factors were not considered in the analysis of results. Finally, the selection of the key determinants was made based upon the highest value extracted from the principle components analysis. Combining these variables with other relatively high values may lead to different results.
Originality/value
The empirical findings contained in this study demonstrate that process, context, and governance factors have the largest effect on increasing the probability that intra-family succession does not take place. Additionally, the results of this study suggest several managerial actions that can be taken to improve the probability of intra-family business succession. Thus, the results of this study can be used by practitioners to assist them in intra-family business successions. The results can also be used by researchers as a basis for conducting additional empirical studies in this area.
Charles M. Carson, Don C. Mosley and Scott L. Boyar
This paper explores the role of individual goal orientation on the self‐management work process and how individual goal orientation may impact self‐managed work team (SMWT…
Abstract
This paper explores the role of individual goal orientation on the self‐management work process and how individual goal orientation may impact self‐managed work team (SMWT) effectiveness. Supervisory encouragement, team member goal orientation, and work team behaviors are included in a conceptual model of work team effectiveness. Propositions addressing the relationships between goal orientation, encouraging supervisory behaviors, and self‐managed work team effectiveness are offered and practical implications addressing the usage of goal orientation as a selection tool for self‐managed work teams and the need for external supervisors to encourage certain work team behaviors to promote work team effectiveness are discussed.
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Scott L. Boyar, Charles M. Carson, Donald C. Mosley, Carl P. Maertz and Allison W. Pearson
The purpose of the current paper is to continue assessment of the construct and predictive validity of the Netemeyer et al. Work Family Conflict (WFC) and Family Work Conflict…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the current paper is to continue assessment of the construct and predictive validity of the Netemeyer et al. Work Family Conflict (WFC) and Family Work Conflict (FWC) scales while reassessing the scales for possible improvements.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from workers in a poultry processing plant to reassess Netemeyer et al.'s WFC and FWC scales. Carlson et al. were unable to include Netemeyer et al.'s items in constructing and validating their new measures of WFC and FWC. This paper assesses and extends the validation of the Netemeyer et al. scales.
Findings
This study supports the notion that a reduced model of both scales (four items for WFC and three items for FWC) fit the data in the sample better than the original five‐item measures presented by Netemeyer et al. By deleting items from each scale more variation in the constructs was accounted for and reduced unexplained error. By clarifying the measurement of WFC and FWC, the substantive predictive model in the paper was supported. In addition, both WFC and FWC predicted individuals' intention to quit, indicating potential predictive validity for these modified scales.
Originality/value
While this is a reassessment of a previously used scale, the improvements in functionality (decreased items needed for assessment) and potential for predictive validity of the modified scales result in an exciting new avenue for WFC and FWC research.
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Charles M. Carson and James E. King
Has the objective of examining why the focus given to leadership should be severely curtailed in research and teaching, and replaced by concepts that are better defined…
Abstract
Purpose
Has the objective of examining why the focus given to leadership should be severely curtailed in research and teaching, and replaced by concepts that are better defined, understood and whose positive contributions are clearly and consistently attainable. Education and research should firmly alter its focus to concentrate on empowerment, a concept that has been consistently tied to important organizational outcomes. Greater benefit can be attained by refining and advancing our understanding of empowerment (while instructing students/practitioners with our current knowledge), than by continuing to devote massive resources to the morass that is leadership.
Design/methodology approach
These concepts are supported by prior studies and theoretical development rather than empirical evidence.
Findings
Finds that we are infinitely better off teaching people what we know about using and encouraging empowerment than what we do not know about leadership, as traditionally defined. Moreover, in the twenty‐first century with flatter hierarchies and less variance in knowledge, power and resources, perhaps “leadership” should be defined by one's ability to respond to empowered situations with self‐leadership, as opposed to the traditional characterizations, which were derived from and are rooted in a more hierarchical view of work and organization.
Originality/value
This paper calls for a radical shift in our thinking about leadership research and teaching. Its value and originality to leadership scholars should be high.
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Scott L. Boyar, Nathanael S. Campbell, Donald C. Mosley Jr and Charles M. Carson
The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive measure of social support to include within and across domain support from the organization, supervisor, coworkers, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive measure of social support to include within and across domain support from the organization, supervisor, coworkers, and family for two types of support, emotional, and instrumental.
Design/methodology/approach
Four diverse samples were used in an iterative process to develop and provide an initial validation of the 16 dimensions of social support.
Findings
The results provide support for the development and initial validation of the 16 dimensions of social support.
Research limitations/implications
A cross-sectional design was used and may be problematic when examining relationships that occur over time. Further, capturing all scales with a single survey could result in common method bias, which may inflate predictive relationships.
Practical implications
A comprehensive measure of social support can assess the differential effect of various types of social support, which can help in identifying unique work-family variables. The multidimensional measure will allow organizations to better diagnose and address performance issues related to a particular type of support.
Originality/value
The study develops a comprehensive measure of social support that can be useful for organizations wanting to diagnose potential support-related issues that may impact important outcomes.