Lynn Perry Wooten

Linking Crisis Management and Leadership Competencies: The Role of Human Resource Development

The problem and the solution. Most executives are aware of the negative consequences associated with an organizational crisis and focus on communications and public relations as a reactive strategy. However, many neglect the other leadership responsibilities associated with organizational crises.This may result from lack of formal training and on-the-job experiences that prepare executives to lead crises. Executives who enable their organizations to recover from a crisis exhibit a complex set of competencies in each of the five phases of a crisis—signal detection, preparation and prevention, damage control and containment, business recovery, and reflection and learning. In this article, through the use of qualitative research design and the analysis of firms in crises, we examine leadership competencies during each phase of a crisis. In addition, this article links the important role of human resource development to building organizational capabilities through crisis management activities.

When Firms Fail to Learn The Perpetuation of Discrimination in the Workplace

Scholarly and anecdotal evidence suggests that despite an increasing tolerance for diversity among many Americans, workplace discrimination is on the rise. This article addresses the role that learning, or more specifically barriers to learning, plays in the perpetuation of discrimination. The authors use several organizationally based learning theories to illustrate ways in which firms may fail to learn how to manage diversity challenges effectively, such as a discrimination lawsuit. They conclude the article with two relatively successful learning situations involving the Georgia Power Corporation and the Denny’s restaurant chain, both of which have faced discrimination lawsuits in recent years. They use this discussion to highlight reactive versus reflective learning strategies and how each may lead to successful discrimination lawsuit resolution.

Crisis Management: Informing a New Leadership Research Agenda

As the business community becomes more complex, crisis events are likely to increase in both prevalence and severity. Whether management scholarship has kept pace with this new reality is debatable...

Generating Dynamic Capabilities through a Humanistic Work Ideology: The Case of a Certified-Nurse Midwife Practice in a Professional Bureaucracy

Strategic management research overlooks dynamic capabilities generated from the “humanistic side” of organizational life, such as relationships, compassion, virtuous actions, and honorable behavior. However, exploring these dynamic capabilities can provide the field of strategic management with a different viewpoint of how organizations create value through human processes. To examine this issue, the article presents results from a case study of a nurse-midwife practice within a large research hospital. The study explores how the humanistic work ideology of the nurse-midwife practice creates dynamic capabilities. Through theoretical analysis of the case study data, the authors develop a framework to explain the humanistic work ideology of the midwives and its linkages to human resource management and patient service capabilities. Last, the authors conclude with a discussion proposing that institutional pressures legitimize the humanistic work ideology of the midwifery practice.

What Makes Women-Friendly Public Accounting Firms Tick? The Diffusion of Human Resource Management Knowledge Through Institutional and Resource Pressures

Through the analysis of qualitative data, this research applies institutional theory and the resource-based perspective to examine why public accounting firms adopt women-friendly human resource management policies. The study reveals that 5 types of institutional pressures explain why women-friendly policies have proliferated in the public accounting industry. In addition to these institutional pressures, the proliferation of women-friendly policies in accounting firms has occurred because these firms are motivated to optimize available economic choices. Firms view women-friendly policies as a means to acquire, develop, and accumulate resources that will give them a competitive advantage in the marketplace. However, these women-friendly policies only provide competitive advantage when they are both valuable and difficult for competitors to imitate because of social complexity, knowledge management, and tacitness.

When Firms Fail to Learn

Scholarly and anecdotal evidence suggests that despite an increasing tolerance for diversity among many Americans, workplace discrimination is on the rise. This article addresses the role that learning, or more specifically barriers to learning, plays in the perpetuation of discrimination. The authors use several organizationally based learning theories to illustrate ways in which firms may fail to learn how to manage diversity challenges effectively, such as a discrimination lawsuit. They conclude the article with two relatively successful learning situations involving the Georgia Power Corporation and the Denny’s restaurant chain, both of which have faced discrimination lawsuits in recent years. They use this discussion to highlight reactive versus reflective learning strategies and how each may lead to successful discrimination lawsuit resolution.

The 7C Approach to Conceptualizing Administration: Executive Leadership in the 21st Century

The field of administration of organizations is huge. There are about 1.1 million 501©3 organizations in 2011 (Independent Sector). Each has a CEO, and other top administrators. Let’s assume an average of 4—which would generate 5.5 million Executive Leaders. On the operation level there are huge questions about how these individuals are recruited, trained and educated, paid, replaced and so on. Then there are questions about what, actually, should they DO? And on the conceptual level, there are questions about how we understand the thousands of pieces of writing—both popular and scholarly—about Administration and Executive Leadership. This editorial makes two overall points. One is that the taxonomic device discussed here— the 7Cs—is a good way to think about Executive Leadership and that vast literature. Second the word “Administration” is made up of two parts—Executiveship—the tactical/management part, and Leadership—the strategic/visioning and strategic. Further, as is perhaps evident from the previous definition—Executiveship and Leadership conflict with each other. Many of us are oriented more one way or the other and a few are nimble enough to do both, each when necessary. Let’s discuss each in turn.

C. K. Prahalad's passions reflections on his scholarly journey as a researcher, teacher, and management guru

Recently we had the opportunity to spend 2 engaging hours interviewing Professor “CK” Prahalad. This was a privilege for us given CK’s busy schedule of teaching MBAstudents, consulting to CEOs, working on his research, and serving on a special United Nations Commission on Private Sector and Poverty Alleviation. Although we have known CK for some time, listening to him share his extraordinary career journey was fascinating.

Building the Bridge for Diversity and Inclusion: Testing a Regional Strategy

· Organizational excellence through diversity and inclusion requires an organization to find a goal that resonates with its stakeholders and then create collaborative communities that focus on achieving that goal. This strategy positions an organization to use the full diversity of those stakeholders for tasks such as problem-solving, innovation, quality initiatives, and the acquisition of resources.

Strategic Leadership in Healthcare: The Role of Collective Change Agents in Closing the Gap of Healthcare Disparities

Healthcare management research overlooks the role of collective leadership actions in alleviating health disparities. However, exploring the strategic actions of collective leaders can provide the field with a different viewpoint of how individuals and organizations partner to solve complex problems such as health disparities. To examine this issue, this paper uses prenatal health disparities as a backdrop. We present our analysis of multiple case study data of nonprofit and healthcare organizations. Through our analysis of this case study data, we develop an understanding of collective leadership and strategies they employ as change agents. In addition, the case studies highlight the importance of collective leadership as of process of learning, the diffusion of knowledge across organizational boundaries, and the empowerment of stakeholders.