Yew Kwan Tong and Richard D Arvey
While advancements in theory have helped illumine the complex workings of today’s organization, little is said on the practical implications for managers in terms of their role…
Abstract
Purpose
While advancements in theory have helped illumine the complex workings of today’s organization, little is said on the practical implications for managers in terms of their role and behavioral style. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how a behavioral diagnostic tool – the Competing Values Framework (CVF; Quinn and Rohrbaugh, 1983) – can be utilized to develop managers in the behavioral skills needed to stay relevant and effective amid new organizational realities.
Design/methodology/approach
The conceptual anchor of this paper is in complexity theory. The authors conducted a literature search for articles on complexity theory in selective management journals, and reviewed them to extract key lessons for effective managerial behavior.
Findings
Three behaviors found to be central to managing complexity were: enabling, sensemaking, and facilitating shared leadership. It is suggested that the CVF is a useful tool for helping managers develop their behavioral repertoire and hence their skills for enacting these behaviors.
Originality/value
The paper synthesizes a guiding frame for developing managers in some of the behavioral skills needed to handle complexity at the workplace. Toward this end, useful tips are offered for putting together a short training workshop where the CVF is rediscovered as a unique developmental tool.
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Keywords
Singapore's rapid gain in notoriety is most certainly due to Lee Kwan Yew's strong political governance structures and vision that led the country towards an ambitious development…
Abstract
Singapore's rapid gain in notoriety is most certainly due to Lee Kwan Yew's strong political governance structures and vision that led the country towards an ambitious development strategy. Given the pressing challenges of the time, his top-down leadership style, which led to Singapore's success, was often associated to being counter-conducive to participatory planning. Today, as cities seek liveability over functionality and efficiency, there is a need for enhanced public participation to build a more robust civil society. This calls for a change in Singapore's governance structures which are currently being accelerated through the use of technology.
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Yang Zhao, Yuka Fujimoto and Sanjaya Singh Gaur
The purpose of this paper is to identify key antecedents of work-family enrichment (WFE) for Chinese workers in China. The paper adopts the Chinese cultural perspectives (i.e…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify key antecedents of work-family enrichment (WFE) for Chinese workers in China. The paper adopts the Chinese cultural perspectives (i.e. philosophy of Confucian: Chinese family orientation and collectivism) as well as traditional Chinese philosophies of life as a whole.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper. Therefore, this section does not apply.
Findings
The key antecedents of Chinese WFE have been identified and presented in the conceptual framework. Testable propositions have also been developed and presented in this paper.
Practical implications
The conceptual framework showing the identified key antecedents of Chinese WFE highlights the necessity for the corporate leaders to rethink the ways to promote well-being and productivity of Chinese workforce in China. Meanwhile, managers should rethink about WFE among Chinese employees and regard employees as a whole person rather than just a worker with certain skills or abilities.
Originality/value
This is the first paper to propose the concept of life enrichment by examining the antecedents of WFE particularly from the Chinese philosophical and cultural perspective.
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Juana Du and Charles Krusekopf
This study aims to examine two innovation zones in China, including the Suzhou Industrial Park and Tianjin Eco-city, to gain a comprehensive understanding of city locations…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine two innovation zones in China, including the Suzhou Industrial Park and Tianjin Eco-city, to gain a comprehensive understanding of city locations attributes and its relationship to inward foreign direct investment (FDI) from multinational enterprises (MNEs) in innovation zones embedded in nonhub cities in China.
Design/methodology/approach
This research incorporates two site visits and in-depth interviews with 39 personnel working with innovation zones. Thematic analysis is used to analyze interview data and documents.
Findings
The results highlight that cities can use innovation zones as a strategy to build high scale knowledge community precincts to connect MNEs and other global actors. As an important institutional feature of city locations, innovation zones increase within-city connectivity and connect cities in global networks resulting in cross-city connectivity to attract FDI from MNEs. From a dynamic knowledge community perspective, this research also compares active and passive approaches toward building knowledge communities and identifies several elements of knowledge communities within innovation zones in China.
Research limitations/implications
The research results could be further explored in other institutional and economic contexts, to understand the interplay of city locations, FDI and innovation zones, and the dynamics of building knowledge communities.
Practical implications
This research has several implications for policymakers and administrators who work with municipal economic development and the development and enhancement of innovation zones. It offers recommendations for MNEs to consider where to make foreign investments and the advantages innovation zones may offer to support FDI.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the literature related to economic development and how nonhub cities can attract FDI and join global networks. It offers empirical insights drawn from two successful innovation zones located in nonhub cities in China.