Alan Belasen

Competing values leadership: quadrant roles and personality traits

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to validate the number and order of leadership roles and identify the personality traits which trigger the choice of leadership roles.Design/methodology/approach – A survey addressing classification and measurement questions in each of the competing values framework (CVF) quadrants was administered to a sample of managerial leaders across organizations. Multidimensional scaling representing the underlying CVF dimensions in a spatial arrangement was conducted with input derived from LISREL, which was also used to test the degree‐of‐fit between the CVF roles and quadrants as well as to examine the relationships between personality traits and leadership roles.Findings – The results produced a remarkable synthesis of two separate fields of study within a single competing quadrants grid confirming the causal paths from traits to the compressed CVF latent variables.Research limitations/implications – This study raises important questions about the causal effects of persona...

A Peek Through the Lens of the Competing Values Framework: What Managers Communicate and How

This study is an attempt to correlate the message orientations developed by Rogers and Hildebrandt (1993) with what managers actually address in downward communication, not only how they say it. Specifically the study is aimed at (a) confirming the path between the four message orientations and the quadrants of the Competing Values Framework (CVF), (b) demonstrating what managers address across hierarchical levels, and (c) showing preliminary evidence of the shift in emphasis from upper CVF quadrants to lower CVF quadrants in both message orientations and types of messages delivered during changing organizational conditions. Data obtained from a sample of managers with different demographic characteristics were converted into a LISREL compatible format and analyzed using covariance and asymptotic matrices, as recommended by Jöreskog (2002). Our findings of the existence of four message orientations not only match the CVF quadrants but also align similarly in a multidimensional scaling model. The model fit with the data was strong, with a goodness of fit index (GFI) of 0.98 and T values for all paths confirming the existence of the four primary orientations used by managers with those reporting to them. It also quantified the extent of the shift of message orientations to promotional and hierarchical suggesting the influence of environmental conditions on the choice of message orientation and types of messages used during change. Implications for management and directions for future research are also included.

Innovation Communication and Inter-Functional Collaboration: A View from the Competing Values Framework for Corporate Communication

Firms in intensive-technology industries need to constantly innovate and rapidly commercialize innovations to capture consumer needs and preferences, create value for shareholders, and sustain competitive advantage. Consistent with disruptive innovation theory, which places a great emphasis on the power of organizational processes and enabling technology to deliver products and services at lower costs than incumbent firms, innovative firms transform their markets by pulling in new customers (Christensen and Raynor 2003). Key organizational functions with important synergistic effects for successful innovation include marketing, R&D, and operations/production. However, it has long been recognized that without open communication and joint accountability, the tension among these functions that often is also triggered by conflicting communications with external stakeholders, might lead to lower levels of organizational performance. Indeed, resources and capabilities that are not translated into well-synchronized activities, best practices, or business processes cannot have a positive impact on a firm’s performance (Ray et al. 2004). Using the Competing Values Framework for Corporate Communication to examine communication relationships within and outside organizations (Belasen 2008), this chapter will focus on identifying characteristics of adaptive culture and innovation communication that contribute to effective inter-functional collaboration.

The perceptions of human resource managers of the shifting importance of managerial roles in downsizing organisations

Middle managers are often called upon to exercise completely new skills that may well be the opposite of those they had exercised successfully before organisational downsizing. These same managers are suddenly expected to become vastly more valuable in their current roles. In this research, we have set out to survey the perceptions of human resource (HR) managers across industries regarding the shifting importance of managerial roles before and after downsizing and whether existing or planned HR systems are well enough designed to handle the training and development needs of surviving middle managers. Overall, 85% of the HR managers in our sample agreed that, after downsizing, transformational roles are more important than transactional roles for the functioning of middle managers. Across the board, HR managers reported that tasks and responsibilities underlying transactional and transformational managerial roles shifted significantly after downsizing. About 47% of the HR managers believed that more could have been done to ease the adjustment and increase the success of the transition of middle managers into a changing organisational environment, but their suggestions differed little from activities provided before or during the transition. It is proposed: that the transformation of middle managers should be followed by a parallel transformation of the HR function; and that redressing the long term unsustainable effects of hypereffective managerial behaviour lies in the ability of HR executives and professionals to design competency and educational programmes that help restore the confidence of surviving middle managers, while also supporting their developmental needs.

Value in the middle: cultivating middle managers in healthcare organizations

Purpose Senior executives in healthcare organizations increasingly display preference for a closer handling of operational levels, bypassing middle managers, and de-emphasizing the need to cultivate the next cadre of leaders, creating the potential for leadership and performance gaps. The authors argue that middle managers are a vital resource for healthcare organizations and review the benefits for including them in leadership development and succession planning programs. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Current theories and common practices in addition to data collected from government sources (e.g. BLS), business and industry surveys and reports (e.g. Moody’s, Witt/Kieffer, Deloitte, American Hospital Association) are used to classify the roles, skills, and strategic value of middle managers in healthcare organizations. Findings The combination of a greater executive span with less hierarchical depth creates a dual effect of devaluing middle management, and a decrease in middle managers’ autonomy. Healthcare middle managers who stay away or lay low further trigger perceptions of low expectations leading to low morale and high levels of stress. Others become hypereffective or develop exit strategies. Major problems are: rising turnover costs; and insufficient attention to succession planning, internal promotion, and leadership development. Practical implications The outcomes of this study are useful for management development, particularly at times of change. Practitioners and researchers can have a better understanding of the value of middle managers and their development needs as well as the factors and dynamics that can influence their motivation and affect retention. Originality/value Understanding and implementing the ideas developed in this paper by healthcare organizations and other companies can lead to a drastic change in the current perceptions of the importance of middle managers and should lead to long-term retention, well-being, and extrinsic benefits for both the company and its employees.

Innovation Implementation: Leading from the Middle Out

The Competing Values Framework, a model for understanding paradoxical tension in an organization, can explain how managers help translate new ideas into actionable improvements to ultimately fit an organization’s culture and operations by managing tasks and culture. Middle managers’ central roles at the crossroads of defining culture, strategy, process and markets allow them to act as a fulcrum for leaders to pry people and systems toward delivering meaningful change, yet also serve as a lynch pin to hold organizations together amid stress. These managers play alternating roles, first as agents of change and then buffers to temper the same, internalizing competing values stress then forging its resolution. An ambidextrous ability to shift focus then de-focus through skillful communication can yield significant results.

The Important Role of Women in Social Entrepreneurship

In the broadest sense, entrepreneurship describes the organization and management of a business enterprise. Typically, we associate entrepreneurship with the running of a business and the assumption of associated risks. It is a critical component of a capitalistic society. Indeed, it could be argued that, because business is the primary engine of economic growth in a capitalistic system, entrepreneurship is the fuel for that engine. We examine these issues and suggest ways to overcome these challenges and become better business leaders. We argue that the solutions to many societal problems require social entrepreneurship characterized by the bold, “heroic” behaviors described by Schumpeterian. We argue that women are poised to assume a central role in this brand of entrepreneurship.