Helmut Kasper

How does organizational structure influence performance through learning and innovation in Austria and China

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between organizational structure and performance, especially through organizational learning and innovation, based on evidence from Austria and China.Design/methodology/approach – Based on the literature and hypothesis, a theoretical, conceptual and structural equation model is set up through a questionnaire survey and sample of about 90 Austrian and 71 Chinese samples. Partial least squares were used in the analysis and the results are tested by bootstrap methods.Findings – The findings reinforce the important infrastructure position of organizational structure on performance. First, organizational structure has more effects on organizational learning than on innovation, organizational learning has an indirect effect on performance through innovation, except the direct effect of structure on performance. Second, managers in Austria think structure has a more important effect on performance; both managerial and technical innovation inf...

Managers dealing with work‐family‐conflict: an explorative analysis

Purpose – Most managers are heavily affected by the relationship between their professional and their private life. Work‐life‐balance is discussed rarely without discomfort, which suggests a massive tension and conflict caused by the contradiction of private and professional requirements. Managers use a range of individual strategies to deal with this conflict situation. An explorative empirical study on these strategies is presented.Design/methodology/approach – The sample is drawn largely according to the principles of theoretical sampling, different family‐work constellations provide the basis of selection. Our sample includes people from the upper and highest levels of organizational hierarchies. Most of them have children and working partners, hence they find themselves in specific phases of the family cycle. Thirty problem‐focussed interviews are content analyzed. In order to reveal pattern of dealing with work‐life‐conflict cluster and pronominal analyses are applied.Findings – Results show three d...

Thinning Knowledge: An Interpretive Field Study of Knowledge-Sharing Practices of Firms in Three Multinational Contexts

Knowledge is often tacit and “sticky,” that is, highly context-specific and, therefore, costly to transfer to a different setting. This article examines the methods used by firms to facilitate cross-site knowledge sharing by “thinning” knowledge, that is, by stripping knowledge of its contextual richness. An interview-based study of cross-site knowledge sharing in three industries (consulting, industrial materials, and high-tech products) indicates that highly developed knowledge-sharing systems do not necessarily involve extensive codification and recombination of personalized knowledge. Many multinational firms evidently conceive their knowledge-sharing systems with more modest objectives in mind than any large-scale “learning spirals” featuring iterative conversion of personalized knowledge into codified knowledge and vice versa. A typology of knowledge-thinning systems is derived by interpreting the field study results from the perspective of knowledge-thinning methods used in earlier eras of history. The typology encompasses topographical, statistical, and diagrammatic knowledge-thinning systems.

Integration-Responsiveness and Knowledge-Management Perspectives on the MNC A Typology and Field Study of Cross-Site Knowledge-Sharing Practices

This interview-based study of eight multinational corporations (MNCs) in five industries investigates varying patterns of cross-site knowledge sharing associated with MNCs pursuing global, multidomestic, and transnational strategies. The study revealed considerable polarization in knowledge-sharing practices between MNCs implementing transnational and global strategies, with cross-site knowledge sharing being of very high intensity among the former and quite minimal among the latter. MNCs pursuing global, multidomestic, and transnational strategies each tended to share qualitatively different kinds of knowledge as well. The relationship between MNC strategy and intrafirm knowledge sharing is encapsulated in a framework that bridges two hitherto largely separate research streams: the integration-responsiveness framework and knowledge-management studies of the MNC.

Organizational context and knowledge transfer of a high‐tech MNC

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present, analyze and discuss the case of AT&S, Europes largest and most technologically advanced producer of printed circuit boards and one of the most successful Austrian‐based global players..Design/methodology/approach – The paper focuses on the companys strategy and its global integration, its structure in terms of decentralisation, its organizational culture, and how the corporate approach towards knowledge management and cross‐site knowledge transfer is attuned to these premises. The paper encoded nine qualitative, semi‐structured interviews with top managers of the Austrian headquarters and two subsidiaries in Asia according to a system of categories and integrated the results for three interviews per site to an assessment on unit level. Then the three units were again merged and combined to an analysis on the company level.Findings – Discussing the knowledge flows among the three sites and also the mechanisms of knowledge transfer across organizational a...

Strategische Aufgaben- und Kompetenzverteilung im Management

Ausgehend von der Ableitung des selbstdispositiven Kompetenzbegriffs und der Darstellung unterschiedlicher Konzepte der Aufgaben- und Kompetenzverteilung im Management testet diese Studie die von Porter vorgeschlagene strategische Kompetenzverteilung zwischen Top- und Mittelmanagement. Methodisch basiert die Untersuchung auf einer Internetumfrage hinsichtlich aktuell erforderlicher und zukunftig antizipierter Kompetenzen, an der 275 Fuhrungskra fte teilnahmen. Die statistische Analyse fuhrt zu zwei unterschiedlichen Ergebnissen. Erstens wird fur die Gegenwart Porters Modell der Aufgabenteilung weitgehend bestatigt. Zweitens weisen die zukunftigen Erwartungen jedoch auf einen umfassenden Wandel hin. Beide hierarchischen Ebenen setzen in Zukunft verstarkt auf die Erho hung der Flexibilitat. Dies fuhrt zu einem Mangel an Innovation, Teamwork und Empowerment, die als wesentliche Kompetenzen fur den Aufbau und Erhalt eines strategischen Wettbewerbsvorteils angesehen werden mussen.

Unternehmenskulturelle Voraussetzungen der Kooperation

Anfang der achtziger Jahre des vorigen Jahrhunderts — als die kritischen Einwande gegen situative Ansatze der Organisationslehre ausdiskutiert schienen — wurden alternative Konzepte zur Gestalt- und Steuerbarkeit von Organisationen entwickelt. Als besonders wirklichkeitsmachtig wurden die Organisationskulturkonzepte angesehen. Organisationskultur und synonym Unternehmenskultur wurde als Schlagwort und wird auch heute — mehr denn je — zur Beschreibung und Erklarung des organisatorischen Geschehens herangezogen. Eine neue Blute erleben Unternehmenskulturkonzepte gegenwartig durch die rasante Zunahme von Unternehmenskooperationen, Mergers & Acquisitions sowie Joint Ventures internationaler bzw. globaler Art. Als ein wesentlicher und dominanter Erfolgsfaktor fur das Gelingen von Unternehmenskooperationen wird vor allem die Organisationskultur angesehen.

Die Prozeßorientierung in der Organisationstheorie

Bislang sind Organisationen uberwiegend als relativ statische Gebilde betrachtet worden, die gelegentlich Veranderungen — zumeist von ausen durch Berater vorgeschlagen — erfahren. Die Organisationsforschung ist dabei von geradlinigem Denken gepragt, das von einem Ausgangspunkt mehr oder weniger linear auf Folgerungen hinarbeitet. Methodisch haben sich Ansatze1 herauskristallisiert, die durch systematische komparative Studien Regelmasigkeiten in den Strukturen von Organisationen aufdecken wollen. Aus dem Vergleich unterschiedlicher Strukturen in spezifischen Kontexten sollten Empfehlungen fur die Praxis abgeleitet werden (vgl. Wolff 1982, S. 7). Erkenntnisinteresse war (und ist) das Herausarbeiten effizienter Organisationsstrukturen in den je spezifischen Umwelten von Unternehmungen.

Dilemmas of innovation management

Abstract The action of management with regard to the control of innovation processes cannot be understood as a rationally soluble task. Quite the opposite: in the case of innovation management, the superior finds himself more than ever in dilemmas that have their origin in the specific functional role of the manager and/or in the prevailing characteristics of the organisations structure. Management therefore has, above all, the task of guaranteeing the balancing process between conservation and change, between order and freedom, between security and development and other opposites. The interest of the empirical study presented here focuses on proving such contradictions, paradoxes and conflicts. Partly because of the importance of the “middle manager” for the occurence of innovation, the field work was restricted to the situation facing middle management. One hundred and seven managers from four Austrian organisations with over one thousand employees were included in the study. Extensive questionnaires—(some, developed by ourselves, recorded the occurence of innovation and the extent to which organisational structures are shaped; calibrated tests to record each managers view of himself, and “job description forms” to ascertain job satisfaction)—and demographic data were used. It was possible to prove the fundamental role of middle management in the innovation process. In addition, the following dilemmas became significantly visible: the dilemma between security and development, dilemmas resulting from a “double-bind” -type situation, and the dilemma of specialisation as opposed to generalisation.

Perceptions of Chinese Negotiation Behavior: A Quantitative Study of Differences in Perceptions between Chinese and Western Managers

Chinese-Western business negotiations often fail because of cultural differences. Our research aims at investigating whether and how the self-perception of Chinese negotiation behavior differs to the perception of Western managers. This contributes to identifying possible areas of conflict. For this reason a quantitative survey was conducted among managers from German speaking countries and from China. Our results show that the impact of Confucian values and external conditions on Chinese negotiation behavior are perceived similarly by Western and Chinese managers. However, the Western perception and interpretation of Chinese stratagems thinking differs significantly. In particular, our results show that the purpose of the principal agreement is perceived contrarily.