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Book part
Publication date: 19 August 2015

Gerard P. Hodgkinson, Robert P. Wright and Jamie Anderson

Developments in the social neurosciences over the past two decades have rendered problematic the main knowledge elicitation techniques currently in use by strategy researchers, as…

Abstract

Developments in the social neurosciences over the past two decades have rendered problematic the main knowledge elicitation techniques currently in use by strategy researchers, as a basis for revealing actors’ mental representations of strategic knowledge. Extant elicitation techniques were advanced during an era when cognitive scientists and organizational researchers alike were preoccupied with the basic information of processing limitations of decision makers and means of addressing them, predicated on an outmoded conception of strategists as affect-free, cognitive misers. The need to adapt these techniques to enable the investigation of the emotional content and structure of actors’ mental representations is now a pressing priority for the advancement of theory, research, and practice pertaining to several interrelated areas of strategic management, from dynamic capabilities development, to upper echelons theory, to strategic consensus formation. Accordingly, in this chapter, we report the findings of two studies that investigated the feasibility of adapting the repertory grid, a robust method, widely known and well used in strategic management, for this purpose. Study 1 elicited a series of commonly mentioned strategic issues (the elements) from a sample of senior managers similar in composition to the sample recruited to the second study. Study 2 participants evaluated the elements elicited in Study 1 in relation to a series of researcher-supplied bipolar attributes (the constructs), based on the well-known affective circumplex model of human emotions. In line with expectations, a series of vector-based multivariate analyses revealed a number of interesting similarities and variations among participants in terms of the basic structure and emotional salience of the issues under consideration.

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Book part
Publication date: 5 December 2017

Gerard P. Hodgkinson, Kristian J. Sund and Robert J. Galavan

This book comprises the second volume in the recently launched New Horizons in Managerial and Organizational Cognition book series. Volume 1 (Sund, Galavan, & Huff, 2016)…

Abstract

This book comprises the second volume in the recently launched New Horizons in Managerial and Organizational Cognition book series. Volume 1 (Sund, Galavan, & Huff, 2016), addressed the topic of strategic uncertainty. This second volume comprises a collection of contributions that variously report new methodological developments in managerial and organizational cognition, reflect critically on those developments, and consider the challenges that have yet to be confronted in order to further advance this exciting and dynamic interdisciplinary field. Contextualizing within an overarching framework the various contributions selected for inclusion in the present volume, in this opening chapter we reflect more broadly on what we consider the most significant developments that have occurred over recent years and the most significant challenges that lie ahead.

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Methodological Challenges and Advances in Managerial and Organizational Cognition
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78743-677-0

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Book part
Publication date: 1 January 2008

Elmer Steensen and Ron Sanchez

This chapter proposes that organizational strategy formation should be characterized theoretically as a process that is subject to several interacting forces, rather than…

Abstract

This chapter proposes that organizational strategy formation should be characterized theoretically as a process that is subject to several interacting forces, rather than represented by separate discrete decision-models or theoretic perspectives, as is commonly done in the strategic management literature. Based on an extensive review of relevant theory and empirical work in strategic decision-making, organizational change theory, cognitive and social psychology, and strategy processes, seven kinds of “forces” – rational, imposed, teleological, learning, political, heuristic, and social – are identified as interacting in and having significant influence on the strategy formation process. It is further argued that by applying a holistic “forces-view” of the significant and interacting influences on strategy formation, we can better understand the dynamics and challenges in managing the process of defining and changing organizational strategies.

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A Focused Issue on Fundamental Issues in Competence Theory Development
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84855-210-4

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Article
Publication date: 1 February 1993

Daniel G. Johnson

Four years ago, the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling millions of barrels of oil and despoiling a priceless wilderness. Exxon's clumsy reaction to…

309

Abstract

Four years ago, the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling millions of barrels of oil and despoiling a priceless wilderness. Exxon's clumsy reaction to the crisis raised awareness in boardrooms across America, and corporations went to work crafting crisis communications plans that would, they assumed, save them the embarrassment — not to mention the financial loss — Exxon and its chairman, Lawrence G. Rawl, faced.

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Journal of Business Strategy, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0275-6668

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Book part
Publication date: 18 September 2006

Robert P. Wright

The psychological analysis of strategic management issues has gained a great deal of momentum in recent years. Much can be learned by entering the black box of strategic thinking…

Abstract

The psychological analysis of strategic management issues has gained a great deal of momentum in recent years. Much can be learned by entering the black box of strategic thinking of senior executives and bring new insights on how they see, make sense of, and interpret their everyday strategic experiences. This chapter will focus on a powerful cognitive mapping tool called the Repertory Grid Technique and demonstrate how it has been used in the strategy literature along with how a new and more refined application of the technique can enhance the elicitation of complex strategic cognitions for strategy and Board of Directors research.

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Research Methodology in Strategy and Management
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76231-339-6

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Book part
Publication date: 4 December 2020

Timothy F. O’Shannassy

Ethics of governance deficiencies including weak management of the principal-agent problem by the board of directors and conflict over the strategic intent of the organisation

Abstract

Ethics of governance deficiencies including weak management of the principal-agent problem by the board of directors and conflict over the strategic intent of the organisation between groups of employees such as the board of directors, top management team, and the middle-line managers working in small teams are age old problems for stock exchange listed companies. These matters continue to cause shareholders of listed companies much concern, creating tense annual general meetings and robust community debate on how to reign in blatant moments of managerial hegemony (or dominance) with agents exploiting principals, at times at great financial cost to long suffering shareholders. The role of the chairperson and the board applying agency theory is to manage these conflicts on behalf of the shareholders; however, in many instances, company directors have failed in their duties and investors have been aggrieved – the result, war in organisations. The challenge for organisations is to avoid this source of tension and war caused by emergence of managerial hegemony over the organisation and to promote sound executive stewardship and effective social exchange among the board, executive team, and middle-line managers. These challenges are discussed and solutions are developed. The importance of strategic intent as a unifying rhetorical message as a key component of an ethics of governance regime that keeps the peace and prevents war in the organisation is explained.

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Educating for Ethical Survival
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-253-6

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Article
Publication date: 1 August 1999

John Sparrow

SMEs are both users of marketing research and subjects of market research. There is clear evidence that the decision processes in such firms often render the products/services…

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SMEs are both users of marketing research and subjects of market research. There is clear evidence that the decision processes in such firms often render the products/services designed for medium and large firms inappropriate. One of the major suppliers of services to the small firms sector is the business support infrastructure. This includes agencies associated with business start‐up/expansion and their management consultancy services concerning marketing, finance, insurance and risk management etc. This paper considers the value of using in‐depth qualitative research to establish the unique features of business support required by small firms. In addition to a review of recent studies that have adopted ethnographic, repertory grid and cognitive mapping qualitative approaches in this context, the paper presents the results from a specific study where the repertory grid procedure was used to establish the risk management practices of high technology small firms. Conclusions are drawn concerning the strengths and limitations of qualitative market research in designing SME training/development support.

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Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, vol. 2 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1352-2752

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Book part
Publication date: 27 June 2013

Michael D. Mumford and Jill M. Strange

Articulation of a vision is commonly held to be a critical component of theories of outstanding leadership – both transformational and charismatic leadership. Although there is…

Abstract

Articulation of a vision is commonly held to be a critical component of theories of outstanding leadership – both transformational and charismatic leadership. Although there is reason to suspect that vision contributes to leader performance, less is known about the nature and origin of viable visions. In the present chapter, we argue that leaders’ visions can be viewed as a prescriptive mental model reflecting beliefs about the optimal functioning of an organization. To test this proposition, outstanding leaders possessing two contrasting types of prescriptive mental models were identified: ideologues whose models stress the maintenance of extant standards and charismatics whose models stress adaptive change. These two types of prescriptive mental models were associated with distinct patterns of leader behavior in a sample of notable historic leaders. The implications of these findings are discussed with respect to current theories of outstanding leadership.

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Transformational and Charismatic Leadership: The Road Ahead 10th Anniversary Edition
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78190-600-2

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Article
Publication date: 16 November 2015

Annick Van Rossem, Stefan Heusinkveld and Marc Buelens

Building on recent research that emphasizes the role of managers as central in the adoption and implementation of management ideas, the purpose of this paper is to explore the…

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Abstract

Purpose

Building on recent research that emphasizes the role of managers as central in the adoption and implementation of management ideas, the purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons why managers may vary in their responses toward these ideas.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on a cognitive perspective, the research uses a repertory grid approach to analyze survey data from 189 managers.

Findings

Rather than stressing only the role of organizational context, the paper indicates the likelihood that more invariant mental models shaped by especially position and disposition play an important role in explaining the way managers view and eventually implement management ideas.

Originality/value

The findings indicate the significance of cognitive factors in explaining managers’ attitudes toward ideas, and advance the understanding of the variety in managers’ responses toward these ideas, particularly in implementation trajectories.

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Management Decision, vol. 53 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

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Article
Publication date: 23 August 2011

Sreedhar Madhavaram, Vishag Badrinarayanan and Elad Granot

This paper aims to attempt to develop an integrative theoretical framework that approaches global industrial marketing from a managerial cognition perspective.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to attempt to develop an integrative theoretical framework that approaches global industrial marketing from a managerial cognition perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing from the managerial cognition research, business strategy research, and international business research, this paper develops a theoretical framework that is relevant to global industrial marketing.

Findings

Global industrial marketing research has much to gain from the managerial cognition literature. The framework developed in this article presents relevant managerial cognition variables, their individual and firm level antecedents, and desirable outcomes.

Research limitations/implications

The framework presented in this paper provides strong theoretical foundation for further theory development in global industrial marketing research and managerial cognition research. However, given the conceptual nature of our research, empirical scrutiny and further conceptual and empirical research are required.

Originality/value

Given the growing importance of global industrial marketing, the authors hope that this article provides a theoretical foundation for future research. For practitioners, the framework provides a useful starting point for evaluating managerial cognition in their firms and effective usage of the managerial cognition concept.

Details

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 26 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0885-8624

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