This article analyses value preferences and basic cultural behavioural patterns in two fairly diverse countries/societies: Britain and Yugoslavia. It is, from the very outset…
Abstract
This article analyses value preferences and basic cultural behavioural patterns in two fairly diverse countries/societies: Britain and Yugoslavia. It is, from the very outset, assumed that both countries are undergoing a period of significant social changes, both political and social. The UK is introducing the policy of devolution with significant constitutional changes pending, while the Yugoslav society is recovering from the conflict in the area, economic slowdowns and is searching for its new identity. Due to long‐standing British interests in the Balkans, the attractiveness of a virtually unpenetrated Yugoslav market and the vast opportunities for investment pending the solution of political crises in the Balkans, it is expected that British investors, companies and entrepreneurs will be interested in establishing business links in Yugoslavia, and therefore it is more than useful to analyse basic cultural patterns of both societies, expressed through public opinion polls and informal exchange of opinions (used only in anecdotal manner). It is concluded that although both societies are shaped in the dominant European manner, there are also many differences between them, but none of them so significant as to pose an obstacle to a successful business co‐operation.
Details
Keywords
G.R. Mallory and David C. Wilson
Central to the concerns of management and to writers of organisation theory are the considerations of strategic decision making. The Organisational Analysis Research Unit, in the…
Abstract
Central to the concerns of management and to writers of organisation theory are the considerations of strategic decision making. The Organisational Analysis Research Unit, in the Management Centre, University of Bradford, has been researching the process of strategic decision making in thirty British organisations, a sample ranging from orchestras to a police force with industrial and service organisations in between. The research was initiated in response to the apparent lack of any systematic comparative studies of decision making appearing elsewhere.
In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of…
Abstract
In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.
Details
Keywords
Seeks to investigate the extent to which CEOs shape the process of making strategic decisions (SDs). Despite the significant research interest in this topic, knowledge is still…
Abstract
Purpose
Seeks to investigate the extent to which CEOs shape the process of making strategic decisions (SDs). Despite the significant research interest in this topic, knowledge is still incomplete.
Design/methodology/approach
Using evidence from a sample of 107 SDs, studied in Greece, the present paper explores the influence of CEO personality and demographic characteristics on the process of making SDs. A number of environmental and internal organisational variables are used as control variables measuring the broader context.
Findings
The results suggest that the broader context is on average more influential than the CEO. However, the CEO's demographic characteristics appear to influence several process characteristics (i.e. rationality, hierarchical decentralisation and politicisation). CEO personality characteristics do not appear to have any significant influence on the process.
Research limitations/implications
This paper focuses on only a few personality and demographic characteristics. The use of a different set of CEO characteristics (e.g. functional specialisation, etc.) as well as the characteristics of the top management team is more than welcome. More empirical studies are needed to replicate and extend this study by examining variables not included here.
Practical implications
Conventional wisdom as well as recent empirical evidence holds that the management style of Greek companies tends to be rather centralised, and dominated by one powerful individual. The results contradict this belief. It seems that in order to survive and achieve long‐term viability, Greek companies were forced to introduce changes in their management style, including a more team‐based style of decision making. In such a context, personality characteristics of the CEO or any other single influential player may not decisively affect the SD process.
Originality/value
Few studies have examined empirically the influence of such a combination of factors on strategic decision processes.
Details
Keywords
Siva Ganapathy Subramanian Manoharan, Rajalakshmi Subramaniam and Sanjay Mohapatra
Allen C. Amason and Ann C. Mooney
Research into the antecedents of TMT conflict has become increasingly popular in light of the effects that conflict can have on strategic decision making and organizational…
Abstract
Research into the antecedents of TMT conflict has become increasingly popular in light of the effects that conflict can have on strategic decision making and organizational performance. Of course, such performance becomes a part of the contextual backdrop against which future decisions are made. Thus, organizational performance is itself an important antecedent of TMT conflict. Using data drawn from the TMTs of 44 mid‐sized public firms, we demonstrate that cognitive and affective conflict relate differently to past performance. The implications of this research for efforts to effectively manage conflict during strategic decision making are discussed.
Allison W. Pearson, Michael D. Ensley and Allen C. Amason
Jehn (1992, 1994) developed the Intragroup Conflict Scale (ICS) to measure two theoretically distinct dimensions of conflict: relationship and task conflict. In the years since…
Abstract
Jehn (1992, 1994) developed the Intragroup Conflict Scale (ICS) to measure two theoretically distinct dimensions of conflict: relationship and task conflict. In the years since, the ICS has been widely adopted by researchers as a measurement tool for group conflict. However, limited evidence of the scale's psychometric properties has been published. Following guidelines provided by Schwab (1980) and Hinkin (1995), we assess the construct validity of the scale, using both individual level and group level techniques, and test proposed nomological relationships, using six diverse samples. We conclude that a 6‐item version of the original 9‐item scale best captures relationship and task conflict.