Jas Kalra, Michael Lewis and Jens K. Roehrich
This paper aims to investigate governance in service triads, specifically studying significant steering and connecting coordination failures, to reveal typically hidden…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate governance in service triads, specifically studying significant steering and connecting coordination failures, to reveal typically hidden characteristics and consequences.
Design/methodology/approach
This study focuses on coordination functions and activities between a buyer (a government department), a customer (a military service) and two service providers. Rich data on these normally confidential service ties are drawn from an official report into the causes of a fatal accident involving a UK reconnaissance aircraft and specifically from the evidence presented regarding the earlier development of its complex safety case. The authors also analysed a range of additional secondary data sources.
Findings
The authors examine the sources, drivers and manifestation of coordination failures. The authors uncover a series of coordination failures driven from the bridge position, revealing that while bounded rationality and opportunism influenced steering coordination failures, connecting coordination failures were associated with knowledge asymmetry, dyadic inertia and unethical practices.
Practical implications
Organisations and governments delivering complex projects and knowledge-intensive professional services should guard against outsourcing the “coordination” activity to a third party, thereby relinquishing the bridge position. Handing over the bridge position to an integrator would leave the client vulnerable to coordination dysfunctions such as bounded rationality, opportunism, knowledge asymmetry, dyadic inertia and unethical practices.
Originality/value
The study links the previously separate research streams of service triads and inter-organizational coordination. While extant research pays attention to mainly positive control functions, this study focuses on all three actors in two (failed) service triads – and highlights the impact of coordination activities and failures.
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Javier Tamayo-Torres, Jens K. Roehrich and Michael A. Lewis
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between organizational ambidexterity, the ability of companies to explore new and to exploit existing processes…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between organizational ambidexterity, the ability of companies to explore new and to exploit existing processes simultaneously, and manufacturing performance as represented by the sand cone model. Moreover, the paper analyses the impact of stable and dynamic environments on this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
A set of research questions are tested using structural equation modeling on a sample of 231 Spanish manufacturing companies.
Findings
Results illustrate a significant relationship between ambidexterity as the basis and enabler for manufacturing performance improvements, building on the sand cone model and its dimensions of quality, delivery, cost, and flexibility. This relationship is further emphasized when companies work in a dynamic environment.
Practical implications
The study contributes to practice by investigating the important and yet under-explored relationships of ambidexterity, the sand cone model, performance, and a company’s wider market environment. Findings suggest a positive relationship between the sand cone model and ambidexterity capability.
Originality/value
This study adds to the limited theoretical and empirical understanding of the relationships between ambidexterity, the sand cone model, environmental dynamism, and performance. It also contributes through a set of empirical data derived from Spanish manufacturing companies.
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For decades, psychopathy has been thought to be untreatable. Yet, conceptualisations, and indeed its assessment, have deviated away from viewing the disorder as personality…
Abstract
Purpose
For decades, psychopathy has been thought to be untreatable. Yet, conceptualisations, and indeed its assessment, have deviated away from viewing the disorder as personality pathology towards a behavioural focus where the core underlying deficits in cognition and affect have been ignored. Interventions have followed suit leading to a premature discounting of the role of therapy in adjusting psychopathic traits. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The review critically evaluates the conceptual and empirical evidence relevant to the treatment of psychopathy, deciphering components integral to the disorder that require intervention. Psychopathy is approached from a developmental perspective, with the review identifying several mechanisms thought to be responsible for precipitating and perpetuating its expression.
Findings
There appears some utility in targeting psychopathy from multiple angles, addressing experiences of trauma, associated schemas and the underlying cognitive-affective dysfunction noted to give rise to psychopathic traits. A new model for treatment was proposed integrating these factors to encourage the design of effective interventions that will address the origins and underlying deficits of the disorder, rather than symptomology.
Originality/value
The review encourages future research to consider the aetiology of psychopathy, with the aim of informing early intervention and containing the disorder whilst in its infancy, as well as addressing neurobiological dysfunction when most malleable.
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Sewanu Awhangansi, Michael Lewis, Khalid Karim, Jibril Abdulmalik, Philip Archard, Adeniran Okewole and Michelle O'Reilly
This paper aims to report a non-randomized control study undertaken to investigate prevalence and correlates of conduct disorder among male secondary education students in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to report a non-randomized control study undertaken to investigate prevalence and correlates of conduct disorder among male secondary education students in South-West Nigeria and to assess the impact of a problem-solving skills and attributional retraining (PSSAR) intervention with this population.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 787 male students from two schools were screened for conduct disorder. All participants who met criteria for the disorder were allocated to either treatment (n = 55) or control (n = 47) groups. Outcome measures comprised the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ; teacher and student versions) and the teacher rating of students’ aggressive behaviors.
Findings
Of the sample, 13% were found to present with difficulties that met criteria for conduct disorder. The presence of these difficulties correlated with several demographic variables, including parental conflict and alcohol use. A statistically significant reduction in mean scores was observed for the treatment group in the student rating of the SDQ emotional subscale and total difficulties scores. Teacher ratings were less consistent in that conduct problems, prosocial behavior and total difficulties increased following the intervention, whereas peer problems and aggressive behavior were reported by teachers to reduce. No statistically significant change was found in the outcome measures for the control group.
Practical implications
In resource-constrained settings, school-based interventions are an important means through which treatment gaps in child and adolescent mental health can be addressed.
Originality/value
In resource-constrained settings, school-based interventions are an important means through which treatment gaps in child and adolescent mental health can be addressed. This study’s findings offer some preliminary support for the PSSAR intervention for conduct disorder in this context and indicate areas for further research.
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Marianna Frangeskou, Michael A. Lewis and Christos Vasilakis
The purpose of this study had two aims: (1) to extend insight regarding the challenges of implementing standardised work, via care pathways, in a healthcare setting by considering…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study had two aims: (1) to extend insight regarding the challenges of implementing standardised work, via care pathways, in a healthcare setting by considering interactions with other operational (i.e. resource sharing, portfolio alignment) and professional (i.e. autonomous expertise) dependencies and (2) to develop novel insights regarding a specific flow mechanism, the stroke nurse practitioner, a form of flow “pilo” or guide.
Design/methodology/approach
This was a longitudinal case study of implementing the acute stroke care pathway in a National Health Service hospital in England based on 185 hours of non-participant observations and 68 semi-structured interviews. Archival documents were also analysed.
Findings
The combined flow, operational and professional dependency lens extends operations management understanding of the challenge of implementing standardised work in healthcare. One observed practice, the process pilot role, may be particularly valuable in dealing with these dependencies but it requires specific design and continuous support, for which the authors provide some initial guidance.
Research limitations/implications
The research was a single case study and was focussed on a single care pathway. The findings require replication and extension but offer a novel set of insights into the implications of standardised work in healthcare.
Originality/value
In addition to confirming that a multidependency lens adds conceptual and practical insight to the challenges of implementing standardised work in a healthcare setting, the findings and recommendations regarding flow “pilots” are novel. The authors' analysis of this role reveals new insights regarding the need for continued improvisation in standardised work.
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– This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.
Design/methodology/approach
This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.
Findings
One of the curious phenomena of publishing since the turn of the millennium has been the success of books in the business market that started out as being as far away from that sphere as it is possible to be. Moneyball by Michael Lewis was a huge hit, supporting as it did the use of data analysis rather than gut feel, despite the fact it centered on a plucky baseball team that ultimately never won anything. Similarly, other books that have looked at political empires, creativity, historical events and even episodes in fiction have garnered praise and sales in equal measure for the insights they purport to bring business leaders.
Practical implications
The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations.
Originality/value
The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.
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Although trust and distrust as distinct phenomena are of increasing interest to operations and supply chain management (OSCM) scholars, they have been inconsistently…
Abstract
Purpose
Although trust and distrust as distinct phenomena are of increasing interest to operations and supply chain management (OSCM) scholars, they have been inconsistently conceptualized and there is a lack of evidence regarding the distinctiveness of their respective antecedents. This study, therefore, focuses on one of the most widely accepted dimensions of trust, benevolence, to help more fully analyse (supplier) trust and distrust (in a buyer) and explore the effects of relational norms and structural power as specific antecedents.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employed a scenario-based role-playing experimental method. The proposed hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling.
Findings
The results that while relational norms increase supplier trust, power asymmetry can simultaneously generate supplier distrust, support the coexistence of supplier trust and distrust in a buyer–supplier relationship.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first to explore the antecedents of supplier trust and distrust in a buyer. It demonstrates that supplier trust and distrust can coexist when the relationship is characterized by relational norms and asymmetrical power. This opens important questions for future trust–distrust research.
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Jie Chen, Xiande Zhao and Michael Lewis
This paper draws on social exchange theory to theorise supplier motivation to share knowledge. It examines the effects of supplier anticipated future dependence on their…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper draws on social exchange theory to theorise supplier motivation to share knowledge. It examines the effects of supplier anticipated future dependence on their motivation to share knowledge with a buyer, mediated by economic, relational and learning motives. It also examines the conditional effects imposed by the current embeddedness of the relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The study tested the proposed moderated mediation model using a scenario-based experimental method.
Findings
The results show that supplier anticipated future dependence increases their motivation to share knowledge, mediated by relational and learning motives. The results also show that current embeddedness has negative moderation effects on economic and learning but not relational motives.
Originality/value
The study deepens our understanding of supplier motivation to share knowledge as social exchange and offers insights on buyer-supplier relationship embeddedness.
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Michael Shulver and Michael A. Lewis
This paper explores theoretical and practical aspects (i.e. resources allocated, activities undertaken, actors/decisions involved) of corporate “parenting” in the development of a…
Abstract
This paper explores theoretical and practical aspects (i.e. resources allocated, activities undertaken, actors/decisions involved) of corporate “parenting” in the development of a retail lending network. A review of the relevant corporate strategy, supply‐chain, networks and services management literature underpins a preliminary content (capability; market orientation) and process (top‐down; bottom‐up) typology of network parenting. This provides the structure for discussion of findings from extended analysis of a UK retail banking sector case study. Analysis of the case data suggests that a richer conceptualisation of different forms of “network parenting” is needed to provide both practical guidance and support further theoretical developments. A preliminary typology (with contingent management mechanisms) is developed and used to represent the parenting trajectory described in the case study. The paper concludes with a discussion of possible directions for future work.
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IF we count the University of Strathclyde School of Librarianship as a “new” school—rather than simply an old school transferred from a College of Commerce to a university—then…
Abstract
IF we count the University of Strathclyde School of Librarianship as a “new” school—rather than simply an old school transferred from a College of Commerce to a university—then four “new” schools were established between 1963 and 1964, three of the four in universities and the other closely linked with a university, though remaining independent. All four schools have their special features but I consider the more significant of Belfast's features to be its right, from the outset, to conduct all its own examinations for graduates and non‐graduates. Queen's was also the first British university to provide non‐graduates with courses in librarianship. (Strathclyde is the second.) All successful students are eligible for admission to the Register of Chartered Librarians (ALA) after they have completed the prescribed period of practical experience.