Frederick A. Starke

Passing the baton - The importance of sequence, timing, technique and communication in executive succession

Abstract The extensive literature on executive succession gives only scant attention to the actual process of succession. To better understand the dynamics of the succession process, the analogy of a relay race is suggested, where success is influenced by four factors: sequence, timing, baton-passing technique, and communication. These four factors are used as a framework for a longitudinal examination of a failed executive succession in a small, family-owned manufacturing firm. In-depth examination of the attempted succession showed that the four themes are helpful in working toward the development of a general theory of executive succession.

The Postulates of Expectancy Theory

This article reviews the basic expectancy formulation of work effort theory and touches briefly on some elaborations of it. It is pointed out that both the basic and elaborated versions rest on cer...

The Formation of Breakaway Organizations: Observations and a Process Model

Two qualitative studies examined the processes leading to the formation of breakaway organizations, which result when groups leave existing organizations to form new organizations. In the first study, analysis of interviews at 11 organizations in which group exit occurred revealed that the process unfolded in six stages: relative harmony, idea development, change, resistance, intense conflict, and exit. Five trigger events—introduction of conflicting ideas, legitimizing them, alarm, polarization of views, and justification—moved the participants through the group exit process. Study 2, conducted in three organizations in which group exit was avoided, revealed a trigger harmonizing event instead of a polarization event and a final dissonant harmony stage, instead of exit. Implications for the exit/voice/loyalty/neglect paradigm, the group studies literature, and organization theory in general are discussed.

Employee versus conventionally-owned and controlled firms: an experimental analysis

Full employee ownership, under which employees enjoy dominant ownership and control rights, is an innovation which alters the relationship between employees and the organization in which they work. Although it has been hypothesized to have a number of positive implications, it has suffered from poor diffusion and survival rates overall, and selection biases have limited the generalizability of field research. We have therefore attempted to develop experimental methods to test hypotheses about the effects of employee ownership on selected economic, social, and psychological outcomes. In our experiments, subjects in employee-owned firms exhibited higher productivity, perceived greater fairness in the pay they received and the method used to pay them, reported higher levels of involvement in their tasks, had more positive evaluations of their supervisors, and showed a greater propensity to interact with and provide assistance to their co-workers than did those in employee-owned firms. Four areas where further research is needed are identified; these will refine our understanding of employee ownership and the conditions under which it will operate as hypothesized.

Final-Offer versus Conventional Arbitration as Means of Conflict Management.

This research was made possible by a grant to W. W. Notz from the Faculty of Graduate Studies of the University of Manitoba. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1977 meeting of the American Institute of Decision Sciences. We would like to thank Jim Chapryk and Wilf Pinsonneault for their very able performance as confederates, and Larry Cummings, Les Roos, and Paul Salipante for their valuable suggestions on the paper.

Pre- and Post-Intervention Effects of Conventional Versus Final Offer Arbitration

This study investigated the relative impact of final offer (FOA) and conventional (CA) arbitration on bargainers’ pre- and post-intervention attitudes and behavior over two rounds of bargaining. Am...

Coping with the Sudden Loss of an Indispensable Employee: An Exploratory Case Study

Using real-time longitudinal survey and interview data, the authors assessed explicit and tacit knowledge flows within a small manufacturing firm for an indispensable employee (IE). They then compared those flows to the flows for a replacement employee (RE) who took over after the IE became ill. As expected, they found that (a) explicit and tacit knowledge outflows to coworkers were greater for the IE than for the RE, and (b) tacit knowledge inflows from coworkers were slightly greater for the RE than for the IE. Explicit knowledge inflows from coworkers were not consistently greater for the RE than for the IE. Surprisingly, the loss of the IE did not have a negative impact on the firms productivity.

Upheavals in Congregations: The Causes and Outcomes of Splits

In spite of the increased research on congregational conflict, much remains to be learned about the causes, processes, and outcomes of such conflict. In the research reported here, the causes and outcomes of congregational conflict were examined in 11 self-governing congregations that had experienced such an intense conflict that some members from each congregation had left the parent and formed a new breakaway congregation. Thus, 22 congregations now exist where only 11 existed before. Data showed that governance and doctrinal issues were the primary reasons for congregations to split apart. Members who remained at the parent congregation were more likely to perceive the conflict as authority-based, while those who left to form the breakaway were more likely to perceive the conflict as doctrinally-based. In the period immediately following the split, the parent congregations continued to experience some difficulties, but the breakaways prospered. Over time, however, the performance of parent and breakaway congregations converged. Implications for future research and for congregational growth and performance are analyzed.

MANAGEMENT, PROPHETS, AND SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECIES

This article responds to the increasing calls in the literature for “new prophets and old ideals” on which to develop (Radical) management theory and practice that will help us escape the “iron cage” and the undue emphasis on materialism and individualism that characterizes conventional management. The authors examine teachings ascribed to Jesus in the biblical record, which have historically been used to support conventional management theory and practice, and show how they can be (re)interpreted from a less materialist—individualist moral point-of-view to support a radical view of management theory and practice. Implications for management theory and practice are noted.

A Test of Two Postulates Underlying Expectancy Theory

The descriptive accuracy of two of the axioms underlying expectancy theory—independence and transitivity —is examined. It was found that many individuals did not make work effort decisions in a man...