Category Archives: Management

Entrepreneurship, Management

Do You Have a Strategy for Success in the Music Business?

Ira Selkowitz and Jeff Nystrom
Colorado Lawyers for the Arts http://www.lawyersforthearts.org/

Although some don’t think the worlds of arts and business mix, successful musical artists know that having a sound business strategy can result in wider recognition of their talents, not to mention fewer legal entanglements. A seminal paper in the field of strategic management is “Are You Sure You Have a Strategy?” written by Donald C. Hambrick and James W. Fredrickson. The advice articulated in this paper is as timely now as it was when it first appeared in the Academy of Management Executive nearly a decade ago and our article applies the principles from this classic paper in the field of strategic management to the music business.

Management

Guiding organizational identity through aged adolescence

Corley, K.G., C.V. Harquail, M.G. Pratt, M.A. Glynn, C.M. Fiol & M.J. Hatch
Journal of Management Inquiry Vol. 15, Issue 2, p. 85-99.

In this article, the authors reflect on the past two decades of research on organizational identity, looking to its history and to its future. They do not provide a review of the literature, nor do they promote a particular perspective on the concept. Instead, they advocate pluralism in studying organizational identity while encouraging clarity and transparency in the articulation of definitions and core theoretical suppositions. Believing there is no one best approach to the study of organizational identity, their intent is to establish a reference point that can orient future work on organizational identity. They focus on three questions they feel are critical: What is the nomological net that embeds organizational identity? Is organizational identity “real” (or simply metaphoric)? and How do we define and conceptualize organizational identity? Last, they try to anticipate organizational identity issues on the horizon to suggest future directions for theory and research.

Management

Research in industrial and organizational psychology from 1963 to 2007: Changes, choices, and trends

Cascio, W. F., & Aguinis, H.
Journal of Applied Psychology Vol. 93 Issue 5, p. 1062-1081

We conducted a content analysis of all articles published in the Journal of Applied Psychology and Personnel Psychology from January 1963 to May 2007 (N = 5,780) to identify the relative attention devoted to each of 15 broad topical areas and 50 more specific sub-areas in the field of industrial and organizational (I/O) psychology. Results revealed that some areas have become more (or less) popular over time, whereas others have not changed much, and that there are some lagged relationships between important societal issues that involve people and work settings (i.e., human-capital trends) and I/O psychology research that addresses them. Also, much I/O psychology research does not address human-capital trends. Extrapolating results from the past 45 years to the next decade suggests that the field of I/O psychology is not likely to become more visible, more relevant to society at large, or even to achieve the lofty goals it has set for itself unless researchers, practitioners, universities, and professional organizations implement several types of changes. For example, researchers can make more conscious decisions about which topics to tackle and collaborate more often with practitioners. Universities can re-think the incentive structure of academic research and consider offering sabbaticals for academics in business practice. Academics can re-think graduate training, as well as the socialization and mentoring of new faculty members. Finally, professional associations can offer joint academic practitioner sessions at conferences, in which both groups can work together on important problems; and certification bodies can incorporate more research-based content into
examinations.

Entrepreneurship, Management

Before Identity: The Emergence And Objectification Of New Organizational Forms

Romanelli, Elaine, And Fiol, C. Marlene
Academy of Management Proceedings, p, 1-6

The evolution of new organizational forms has attracted growing theoretical and empirical attention, but little research has considered the micro-social processes that promote the emergence of quasi-similar organizations that may evolve over time into organizational forms with distinctive identities that are both claimed and granted. Drawing on social psychological theories of identity formation within and among organizational groups, we develop a model of identification and identity development for organizational forms that underpins arguments from ecological and institutional theory.

Management

First Decade Of ORM: Trends In Design, Measurement, And Data-Analysis Topics

Aguinis, Herman, Pierce, Charles, Bosco, Frank, and Muslin, Ivan
Academy of Management Proceedings; 2008, p. 1-6

We conducted a content analysis of the 193 articles published in the first 10 volumes (1998-2007) of Organizational Research Methods (ORM). We identified more and less popular quantitative and qualitative topics, trends over time, and compared these topics with the methodological tools needed for theory testing in the organizational sciences.

Management

Constrained Growth: How Experience, Legitimacy, and Age Influence Risk Taking in Organizations

Vinit M. Desai
ORGANIZATION SCIENCE Vol. 19: p. 594-608

Poor performance indicates that an organization’s routines are not well suited for its environment and prompts decision makers to search for solutions. However, results conflict regarding how this search process influences risk taking in organizations. Managers in some organizations facing actual or expected performance shortfalls tend to take risks, while managers in other poorly performing organizations avoid risky changes. This conflict is interesting because some level of risk taking appears necessary for organizations to remain competitive, adapt to their environment, and improve performance. This study examines several mechanisms that moderate risk taking following performance shortfalls. First, I draw from organizational learning theories to argue that organizations with limited operating experience are less buffered from failure, and hence that poor performance constrains risk taking at these organizations. Second, I argue that organizations with poor legitimacy are also less buffered, and hence that performance shortfalls also lead to risk aversion at these organizations. Third, I draw from structural inertia theory to suggest that older organizations are less able to support risk taking following performance shortfalls. A test of these hypotheses on the capacity expansion behavior of U.S. railroad companies generally supports these hypotheses, although the effect of age is weaker. The findings contribute to theories of organizational learning and to several perspectives in organization theory more broadly.

Management

Staffing twenty-first-century organizations

Cascio, W. F, & Aguinis, H.
Academy of Management Annals, Vol. 2, p. 133-165

We highlight important differences between twenty-first-century organizations as compared with those of the previous century, and offer a critical review of the basic principles, typical applications, general effectiveness, and limitations of the current staffing model. That model focuses on identifying and measuring job-related individual characteristics to predict individual level job performance. We conclude that the current staffing model has reached a ceiling or plateau in terms of its ability to make accurate predictions about future performance. Evidence accumulated over more than 80 years of staffing research suggests that general mental abilities and other traditional staffing tools do a modest job of predicting performance across settings and
jobs considering that, even when combined and corrected for methodological and statistical artifacts, they rarely predict more than 50% of the variance in performance. Accordingly, we argue for a change in direction in staffing research and propose an expanded view of the staffing process, including the introduction of a new construct, in situperformance, and an expanded view of staffing tools to be used to predict future in situperformance that take into account time and context. Our critical review offers a novel perspective and research agenda with the goal of guiding future research that will result in more useful, applicable, relevant, and effective knowledge for practitioners to use in organizational settings.

Management

Forensic Implications of Metadata in Electronic Files

Ruhnka, John, and Bagby, John W.
CPA Journal; Vol. 78 Issue 6, p. 68-71.

In this article, the authors discuss the forensic implications of metadata in electronic files in the U.S. According to the authors, metadata in electronic files can play a potentially critical role in litigation outcomes because it reveals forensic information about the creation, authorship, history, and even intent of a document. They suggest that metadata may be removed in the ordinary course of business as necessary to preserve enterprise and client confidentiality.

Management

Moving beyond a legal-centric approach to managing workplace romances: Organizationally sensible recommendations for HR leaders

Pierce, C. A., & Aguinis, H.
Human Resource Management, In Press

The goal of this article is to encourage HR leaders to think more strategically about managing workplace romances. The traditional management approach is legal-centric in that it focuses on
minimizing risks of workplace romance. We advocate embedding the legal-centric approach within a broader and more strategic organizationally sensible approach that provides a balanced focus on minimizing risks and maximizing rewards of workplace romance. Drawing from the empirical workplace romance literature, we derive a set of organizationally sensible best-practice
recommendations that HR leaders can adopt to manage risks and rewards of romantic relationships in organizations. Implementing our more strategic recommendations should provide the added benefit of elevating HR professionals’ roles as organizational leaders.

Entrepreneurship, Management

Perceived entrepreneurial success and social power

Aguinis, H., Ansari, M. A., Jayasingam, S., & Aafaqi, R.
Management Research, Vol. 6, P. 121-137.

Based on the leadership, entrepreneurship, and issue selling literature, we hypothesized that entrepreneurs who are perceived to be successful can be differentiated from unsuccessful entrepreneurs based on their degree and type of social power. We conducted a field experiment including 305 Malaysian managers with considerable experience in working with entrepreneurs and in entrepreneurial environments. Entrepreneurs perceived to be successful were ascribed greater referent, information, expert, connection, and reward power; less coercive power; and similar legitimate power than unsuccessful entrepreneurs. These results provide evidence in support of social power as a distinguishing individual characteristic of successful entrepreneurs and make a contribution to theories linking social capital with entrepreneurial success. Aspiring entrepreneurs need to be aware that their social power profile is associated with various degrees of perceived success. Our paper points to the need to investigate variables beyond personality and that are more directly relevant to social and interpersonal interactions that may differentiate entrepreneurs perceived to be successful from those who are not.

Management

The language of leaders

Holly H. Brower, C. Marlene Fiol, Cynthia G. Emrich
Journal of Leadership Studies, Vol. 1 Issue 3, p. 67-80

Information fatigue, analysis paralysis, communications gridlock: These and other terms entered the business lexicon with the rapid acceleration of information technology and globalization in the late 20th century. Taken together, these terms paint a picture of an increasingly complex workplace and hint at the challenges facing leaders in the 21st century. Today’s leaders cannot afford to focus solely on the inspirational rhetoric that their predecessors used to build commitment. In fact, we argue that there are four significant objectives that leaders must accomplish with their language: building and breaking down commitment and building and breaking down understanding. By focusing on all four objectives, leaders engage the hearts (through commitment) and minds (through understanding) of their followers. We draw from literature in communication, management, organizational behavior, and psychology to describe and illustrate techniques and objectives with contemporary examples of executives such as Steve Jobs of Apple Computer and Gary Kelly of Southwest Airlines. By providing a thoughtful analysis of the critical language objectives and techniques in a contemporary context, we not only highlight cutting-edge work on leader communication, but also provide actionable insights for leaders, researchers, and students who want to improve their understanding and execution of the language of leadership.

Management

Broadening international perspectives on the legal environment for personnel selection

Myors, B., Lievens, F., Schollaert, E., Van Hoye, G., Cronshaw, S. F., Mladinic, A., Rodríguez, V., Aguinis, H., Steiner, D. D., Rolland, F., Schuler, H., Frintrup, A., Nikolaou, I., Tomprou, M., Subramony, S., Raj, S. B., Tzafrir, S., Bamberger, P. Bertolino, M., Mariani, M., Fraccaroli, F., Sekiguchi, T., Onyura, B., Yang, H., Anderson, N., Evers, A., Chernyshenko, O., Englert, P., Kriek, H.J., Joubert, T., Salgado, J. F., König, C.J., Thommen, L. A., Chuang, A., Sinangil, H. K., Bayazit, M., Cook, M., Shen, W., & Sackett, P. R.
Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, Vol. 1, p. 266-270.

We are pleased that our article (Myors et al., 2008) prompted this most useful set of commentaries. The goal of our article was to highlight similarities and differences in the
legal environment for personnel selection across a broad range of countries. Whereas
some articles in this journal present a point of view that prompts considerable disagreement
and challenge from commentators, our article is largely descriptive, and thus, the role of commentators is to expand upon the perspectives offered in our article rather than to take issue with them. We believe that the commentators have accomplished just that and they offer a most useful supplement to our article.

Management

International perspectives on the legal environment for selection

Myors, B., Lievens, F., Schollaert, E., Van Hoye, G., Cronshaw, S. F., Mladinic, A., Rodríguez, V., Aguinis, H., Steiner, D. D., Rolland, F., Schuler, H., Frintrup, A., Nikolaou, I., Tomprou, M., Subramony, S., Raj, S. B., Tzafrir, S., Bamberger, P. Bertolino, M., Mariani, M., Fraccaroli, F., Sekiguchi, T., Onyura, B., Yang, H., Anderson, N., Evers, A., Chernyshenko, O., Englert, P., Kriek, H.J., Joubert, T., Salgado, J. F., König, C.J., Thommen, L. A., Chuang, A., Sinangil, H. K., Bayazit, M., Cook, M., Shen, W., & Sackett, P. R.
Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, Vol. 1, pp. 206-246.

Perspectives from 22 countries on aspects of the legal environment for selection are presented in this article. Issues addressed include (a) whether there are racial/ethnic/religious subgroups viewed as ‘‘disadvantaged,’’ (b) whether research documentsmean differences between groups on individual differencemeasures relevant to job performance, (c) whether there are laws prohibiting discrimination against specific groups, (d) the evidence required to make and refute a claim of discrimination, (e) the consequences of violation of the laws, (f) whether particular selection methods are limited or banned, (g) whether preferential treatment of members of disadvantaged groups is permitted, and (h) whether the practice of industrial and organizational psychology has been affected by the legal environment.

Management

From charm to harm: A content-analytic review of sexual harassment court cases involving workplace romance

Pierce, C. A., Muslin, I. S., Dudley, C. M., & Aguinis, H.
Management Research, Vol, 6, p. 27-45.

We reviewed U.S. federal and state sexual harassment court cases involving a prior workplace romance between the plaintiff and alleged harasser. Results of our content analysis show that, unlike employees’ decisions, judges’ decisions can be predicted from legal but not ethically salient extralegal case features. Hence, when compared to prior research, our study reveals the following discrepancy: judges follow a traditional legal model, whereas employees follow an ethical model when making decisions about romance-harassment cases. Our study also reveals that the mere presence (versus absence) of a prior romance reduces the likelihood of a plaintiff’s success in a harassment case. We discuss implications for management practice and research from the perspective of legal and ethical decision making.

Management

The Contribution of Positive Politics to the Prediction of Employee Reactions

Donald Fedor, John Maslyn, Steven Farmer and Kenneth Bettenhausen
Journal of Applied Social Psychology Vol. 38, Issue 1, p. 76 – 96

This study investigates whether perceptions of positive (i.e., beneficial) political behaviors are distinct from those of negative political behaviors and the extent to which positive politics perceptions contribute to the prediction of organizationally relevant employee reactions. Data were drawn from 119 survey respondents. The results indicate that, rather than 2 ends of a continuum of political behavior, positive and negative politics represent separate perceptions both of which are seen to occur for individual, group, and organizational foci. In addition, perceptions of positive politics contribute significantly beyond perceptions of negative politics to the prediction of the 4 outcomes used in this study (satisfaction with one’s job, supervision, and coworkers; and fulfillment of one’s psychological contract with the organization).

Management

Enhancing the relevance of organizational behavior by embracing performance management research

Aguinis, Herman and Pierce, Charles A
Journal of Organizational Behavior Vol. 29, Issue 1, p. 139-145

There is a science-practice gap in organizational behavior (OB) whereby entire bodies of scholarly knowledge are ignored by practitioners. We identify research needed to improve performance management practices that is likely to enhance the relevance of OB in the eyes of practitioners and thus help reduce the science-practice gap.

Management

Comparison of three meta-analytic procedures for estimating moderating effects of categorical variables

Aguinis, Herman, Sturman, M.C., & Pierce, C.A.
Organizational Research Methods Vol 11, Issue 1, 2008

We conducted Monte Carlo simulations to compare the Hedges-Olkin (1985), Hunter-Schmidt (1990, 2004), and a refinement of the Aguinis-Pierce (1998) meta-analytic approaches for estimating moderating effects of categorical variables. The simulation examined binary moderator variables (e.g., gender–male, female; ethnicity–majority, minority). We compared the three meta-analytic methods in terms of their point estimation accuracy as well as Type I and Type II error rates. Results provide guidelines to help researchers choose among the three meta-analytic techniques based on theory (i.e., exploratory vs. confirmatory research) and research design considerations (i.e., degree of range restriction and measurement error).

Management

Evidence-Based Management And The Marketplace For Ideas

Cascio, Wayne F.
Academy of Management Journal Vol. 50, Issue 5, p. 1009-1012

In this article the author examines methods which management professionals can use to excel in their given fields. He contrasts the academic study of human resource management with the practical application of the process. Examined are the roles played by different types of professionals in the field such as management consultants, human resource managers in a corporate setting and journalists who report on personnel matters. He notes that academics use management science to create new knowledge, while practitioners are not always receptive to academic theory, preferring more practical applications. In addition the author examines human resource matters and the influence on them of evidence-based management.

Management

Teaching The Concept Of The Sampling Distribution Of The Mean

Aguinis, Herman and Branstetter, Steven A.
Journal of Management Education Vol. 31, Issue 4, p. 467-483

The authors use proven cognitive and learning principles and recent developments in the field of educational psychology to teach the concept of the sampling distribution of the mean, which is arguably one of the most central concepts in inferential statistics. The proposed pedagogical approach relies on cognitive load, contiguity, and experiential learning theories and on the integration of new knowledge within previously formed knowledge structures. Thus, the proposed approach stimulates both visual and auditory learning, engages students in the process of learning through problem solving, and presents information so that it builds on existing knowledge. Results of an experiment including introductory statistics undergraduate students indicate that students exposed to the proposed theory- based pedagogical approach enhanced their learning by approximately 60%.