Annette L. Ranft

Viewing Family Firm Behavior and Governance Through the Lens of Agency and Stewardship Theories

Agency and stewardship theories are prominent perspectives to examine myriad issues within family firms. Although considered opposing theories, both address the same phenomena: the individual-level behaviors and firm-level governance mechanisms that predict organizational outcomes. Accordingly, we review and synthesize these theories concurrently, using the concepts of behavior and governance as our organizing framework. Our review encompasses 107 family firm articles grounded in agency and/or stewardship theory, published between 2000 and 2014 in 24 journals across several disciplines. Additionally, we identify future research areas that provide scholars opportunities to push theoretical boundaries and offer further insights into the family firm.

Motivations to Maintain Social Ties With Coworkers The Moderating Role of Turnover Intentions on Information Exchange

This study examines the relationships among an individuals motivations to maintain social ties with coworkers, information exchange with others outside the firm, and turnover intentions. The authors considered both relationship motivation to maintain friendships at work and job facilitation motivation to maintain workplace relationships that facilitate an individuals job performance. Results suggest that both types of motivation are related to workplace social inclusion, a concept that has been based in part on the social capital literature. The authors also find that individuals with job facilitation motivation for maintaining social ties with coworkers engage in more interorganizational information exchange than do those with relationship motivation. When individuals have turnover intentions, the relationship between job facilitation motivation and interorganizational information exchange is stronger.

Capturing knowledge and knowing through improvisation: what managers can learn from the thoracic surgery board certification process

To compete effectively in the information age, managers must take actions in ambiguous, complex, and rapidly changing environments. A thoracic surgeon facilitates actions that are consequential and difficult to reverse, that require individual and group expertise, and that are based on changing, complex inputs and environments that are often ambiguous and interact in unpredictable ways. We suggest that managers can benefit from learning we have gained from studying the thoracic surgery certification process.

Meso-level theory of accountability in organizations

Accountability is ubiquitous in social systems, and its necessity is magnified in formal organizations, whose purpose has been argued to predict and control behavior. The very notion of organizing necessitates answering to others, and this feature implies an interface of work and social enterprises, the individuals comprising them, and subunits from dyads to divisions. Because the nature of workplace accountability is multi-level as well as interactive, single-level conceptualizations of the phenomenon are incomplete and inherently misleading. In response, this chapter sets forth a meso-level conceptualization of accountability, which develops a more comprehensive understanding of this pervasive and imperative phenomenon. The meso model presented integrates contemporary theory and research, and extends our perspectives beyond individual, group, unit, or organizational perspectives toward a unitary whole. Following this is a description of challenges and opportunities facing scholars conducting accountability research (e.g., data collection and analysis and non-traditional conceptualizations of workplace phenomenon). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, as are directions for future research.

Resources Matter Examining the Effects of Resources on the State of Firms Following Downsizing

Downsizing is a common business management practice. Prior research has examined the financial consequences of downsizing or the impact on individuals remaining in a downsizing organization. Taking a resource-based perspective, this study integrates and extends prior research on downsizing by examining how downsizing influences the relative likelihood that a firm will experience one of three states in the three years following downsizing. Multinomial logistic regression is employed to test hypotheses using a sample of 445 firms that downsized during the period 1995 to 2000. The authors find significant differences in the relative likelihood of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, acquisition, or remaining a nonbankrupt going concern based on the size of the downsizing, firm-level intangible resources, the tangible asset intensity of the firm, and industry-level knowledge intensity. Implications for managers and future research are discussed.

The influence of organizational variables on the transferability of management practices: An examination of traditional and learning manufacturing environments in Mexico

Abstract This study examines two plants in Mexico operating under different management practices—one as a traditional, control-oriented manufacturer, another pursuing an organizational learning approach. Individual behaviors and an organizational-level factor related to learning are examined both quantitatively and qualitatively to understand their impact on the transferability of different management practices that are more or less congruent with Mexican cultural values. Significant differences were found between the two plants in both individual behaviors and on the organizational-level factor, providing support for the implementation of different management approaches in Mexico. Support for innovation, the organizational-level factor, was a good predictor of individual behavior differences, indicating that it may moderate the impact of national value differences on the transferability of management practices. Semistructured interviews revealed a range of human resource management policies that seem to affect the success of a learning approach. Implications for researchers and managers are discussed.

CAPTURING KNOWLEDGE AND KNOWING: WHAT MANAGERS CAN LEARN FROM THE THORACIC SURGERY BOARD CERTIFICATION PROCESS.

Management scholars and professionals continue to struggle with effective processes for measuring highly specialized knowledge. This challenge is becoming more critical as firms attempt to develop and extend core competencies, pursue growth strategies through mergers and acquisitions, and develop technological competencies. Particularly in professional service firms and high-tech firms, knowledge residing in human capital is complex, critical to achieving competitive advantage, and difficult to measure and manage. Based on recent conceptualizations of knowledge and knowing as action, we explore how knowledge is assessed and measured in a discipline that has a long and rich history of measuring complex, specialized knowledge: the medical specialty of thoracic surgery. Our in-depth exploration of the three-pronged approach of the thoracic surgery board certification process reveals important insights into assessing and developing knowledge in organizations. Four key lessons were learned. First, a systematic...

Designing Executive Risk-Taking: An Agenda for Improving Executive Outcomes Through Work Design

Executives exert a pervasive influence on the organizations they lead. As such, scholars have long considered how to calibrate the risks inherent in executive decision making, often relying on incentives and compensation to calibrate executive risk behavior. However, there are shortcomings that reduce the efficacy of this approach, largely because incentives and compensation do not alter the work environment itself, which play a significant role influencing executive risk behavior. Consequently, in this chapter, we propose a conceptualization that integrates executive risk-taking with work design, framing three central features of the strategic leader job and work environment that may be manipulated to channel and shape executive risk-taking. Specifically, accountability, discretion, and relationships are proposed as the key higher-order characteristics of the executive work context, and they are examined with respect to optimal calibration in order to maximize both executive performance and well-being, as well as organizational coordination and control. Implications of this conceptualization and directions for future research are discussed.