Jane V. Wheeler

Managing from the Boundary: The Effective Leadership of Self-Managing Work Teams

We used in-depth critical incident interviews with the external leaders of self-managing work teams and their team members, and interviews and surveys provided by managers, to understand how effective leader behaviors and strategies unfold over time. Content analyses of the data produced a process model showing that effective external leaders move back and forth across boundaries to build relationships, scout necessary information, persuade their teams and outside constituents to support one another, and empower their teams to achieve success.

Philosophy as a missing link between values and behavior.

Despite the persistence of social scientists, evaluating the relationship between values and behavior has not yielded clear results. Here, a model is proposed to conceptualize and measure a persons operating philosophy. This assesses a different level of the value structure within personality from separate values or clusters of values; it is the evaluative structure within which a persons values exist. Building on major philosophies, such as utilitarianism or humanism, the model assumes that a person has a predominant Pragmatic, Intellectual, or Human Operating Philosophy. In a sample of 801 subjects, each of these operating philosophies had significant associations with a variety of the expected behaviors evident in work and graduate school, such as initiative and empathy, as well as learning styles, skills, and flexibility. Interpretation of the results is offered as a way to understand the relationship between peoples values or beliefs and their behavior and approach to learning.

The impact of social environments on emotional, social, and cognitive competency development

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to examine the interactions between individuals and the social environment as individuals engage in self‐directed learning, a predecessor to intentional change theory. The individuals are graduates of a part‐time MBA program and the social environment is the life sphere framework introduced with this study. Self‐directed learning refers to the learning agendas that these people outlined for themselves when they first entered the MBA program.Design/methodology/approach – Longitudinal assessment data were collected using the critical incident interview, the learning skills profile, and the life sphere interview. Correlations were run testing the hypotheses: as the number of life spheres, relationships, or activities increases, so will the demonstration of the targeted competencies; and if the participant is able to work on developing these competencies in the life sphere that he or she designates as primary to the learning goal, then the demonstration of these compe...

Expanding our Teaching Effectiveness: Understanding our Responses to “In-The-Moment” Classroom Events

Responses to “in-the-moment” events—defined as events that take an unexpected and potentially negative turn and that require immediate unplanned responses, which may affect the continued integrity and effectiveness of the learning environment—are examined as formative of teaching effectiveness. It is argued that teacher flexibility when responding is a key factor for effectiveness. Using experiential learning theory as a framework, the concept of flexibility in responding to such events is explored. Case studies of actual teaching situations are used as the authors illustrate the application of the framework and offer strategies for increasing response flexibility.

The Magnetic Sentences Industry Game: A Competitive In-Class Experience of Business-Level Strategy

The Magnetic Sentences Industry Game is a high-energy in-class exercise designed to help students gain hands-on experience with setting, implementing, evaluating, and revising business-level strategy. Students compete in teams to create and market sentences using Magnetic Poetry (a product of Magnetic Poetry, Inc.). Revenues earned are highly dependent on the successful development and implementation of a cohesive business-level strategy. The game experience should create opportunities for the class to discuss a variety of strategic issues including external environment, internal environment, competitive dynamics, the advantages and disadvantages of various generic business-level strategies, organizational learning, and strategic groups.

Institutional effect on born global firms in China: the role of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War strategies

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the role of Sun Tzu’s significant strategies on the relationship between the institutional environment and international performance of Chinese born global firms, a type of small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) characterized by the company’s limited resources and its early efforts to internationalize. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is based on a multi-case analysis of interviews conducted with four chosen born global firms, coupled with public database and Web site searches. Through the use of qualitative methods, propositions were developed. Findings – This paper provides insights regarding how the institutional environment, both formal and informal, has a strong positive relationship with born global firm’s international performance. Moreover, Sun Tzu’s significant strategies play a critical role in the internationalization process of born global firms in emerging markets. Originality/value – Although existing studies discuss the application of ...