Rafik I. Beekun

Assessing the Effectiveness of Sociotechnical Interventions: Antidote or Fad?

In spite of an official record of success, much uncertainty surrounds the mean effect of sociotechnical interventions on organizational effectiveness. A new technique, a meta-analysis, is used to estimate both this mean effect and its variation across 17 sociotechnical studies. Several contingency variables which may have moderated this mean effect are also examined. Results indicate that interventions that (1) involved the formation of autonomous instead of semi- or non-autonomous workgroups, (2) included an increase in monetary incentives, and (3) occurred in a non-U.S. country rather than in the U.S. led to greater increases in productivity. Conversely, sociotechnical interventions that also included a change in technology resulted in a smaller improvement in productivity and a smaller drop in escape behavior than interventions without a technological change. More importantly, a curvilinear relationship was uncovered between the duration of an intervention and productivity. This curvilinear relationship rejects the hypothesis that the positive outcomes of sociotechnical interventions are temporary and indicative of a “Hawthorne Effect.”

Organization Structure from a Loose Coupling Perspective: A Multidimensional Approach*

Organizational theories frequently rely on notions of sharing and dependence among organizational participants, but researchers usually focus on characteristics of the actors themselves instead of the relational patterns among the actors. Loose coupling is one conceptual tool that emphasizes relational patterns. Loose coupling, however, is an abstract metaphor that is simultaneously fertile and ambiguous. This paper develops a rigorous and comprehensive framework that sharpens the theoretical contributions of loose coupling to our understanding of structural relationships. Characteristics of loose coupling capture some important and underexplored features of multidimensional fit and interdependence in organizations. The proposed framework clarifies these theoretical contributions of loose coupling with concepts and equations modified from network analysis. Testable hypotheses are proposed with respect to three key independent variables that may affect patterns of coupling: organization strategy, technology, and environmental turbulence. Additional hypotheses are advanced with respect to the use of the multidimensional approach to loose coupling in studying new organizational forms. Initial psychometric and empirical evidence are presented.

Boards of Directors and the Adoption of a CEO Performance Evaluation Process: Agency - and Institutional - Theory Perspectives

Using both agency and institutional theories, we examined factors associated with the board’s adoption of a formal process for evaluating the performance of the corporation’s chief executive officer (CEO). Our sample was drawn from the hospital industry. Results show that an independent board chairperson, the level of market competition and the degree of managed care penetration were significant predictors of whether or not the board had adopted a formal CEO evaluation process. These findings imply that initiatives to improve governance effectiveness based on agency theory should take into account the institutional environment of corporate boards.

Board Characteristics, Managerial Controls and Corporate Strategy: A Study of U.S. Hospitals

This study examined the relationships among board characteristics, emphasis on managerial controls, and corporate strategy. Results suggest that certain board characteristics that decrease board members’ access to information about CEO performance-related behavior, e.g., infrequent CEO-board meetings and lack of a strategic planning committee, are likely to increase the emphasis on out come based controls. Results also indicate that an emphasis on out come based controls is likely to lead to more risk averse strategic decisions on the part of the CEO, specifically with respect to capital investment.

Comparing business ethics in Russia and the US

In this comparative survey of seventy-three Russians and ninety-two US managers, we explore differences and similarities in ethical decision-making among respondents from these two countries within a business context. Using Reidenbach and Robins (1988) multi-criteria ethics instrument, we examined whether business people in Russia and the US differed in their judgement of the ethical content of business decisions. Russia and the US provide an interesting comparison because of the extreme differences in their cultural characteristics as well as in their economies and related business development. Our results indicate that, while Americans, in general, tended to assess certain actions as less ethical when applying utilitarian or justice criteria, the ethical judgements of the two groups differed by situation and by criteria employed.

Business Strategy and Interorganizational Linkages Within the Acute Care Hospital Industry: An Expansion of the Miles and Snow Typology

This survey study of acute care hospitals expands Miles and Snows (1978) strategy gestalts by drawing from the literature on strategic choice, resource dependence, and loose coupling. Building upon the resource dependence perspective, we hypothesize that interorganizational coupling patterns will differ by strategy type. We also contend that different configurations of inter-organizational coupling are involved within each Miles and Snow strategy type when an organization deals with increasing environmental turbulence. The responses of 58 chief executive officers of acute care hospitals indicate that the strategy gestalts associated with Miles and Snows typology have distinctive patterns or interorganizational coupling.

Character centered leadership: Muhammad (p) as an ethical role model for CEOs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the leadership style of Muhammad (p) within a character‐centric framework as a useful alternative to the transactional, self‐centered model and the value‐neutral transformational approach that currently permeate business management. The author differentiates such perspectives from the character‐centered, moral approach to leadership suggested by the Qur’an and modeled by Muhammad (p), and proposes that this approach may be of practical use to CEOs.Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual, comparative discussion of Muhammads leadership style based on the primary Islamic sources is shown to have practical implications for the leadership process in management.Findings – The current malaise in business leadership can be resolved by a new focus on character and on virtues.Practical implications – The character‐centered, moral approach of Muhammad provides exemplars of virtues and behaviors that, if emulated by CEOs, may help pre‐empt potentially self‐serving...

Ethical Judgment in Business: Culture and Differential Perceptions of Justice Among Italians and Germans

This study focuses on the cultural context of ethical decision making by considering the relationship between power distance and ethical judgment. Specifically, we propose that this relationship exists because of the influence of peers on ethical judgment and perceptions of justice. Considering the importance of peers in stage three of Kohlbergs model of moral development, we argue that peers are the basis for social comparisons, social cues and social identification and, hence, are critical to an individuals beliefs about justice. Using scenarios developed by Reidenbach and Robin, data were collected from German and Italian graduate business students. Germany and Italy differ substantially in power distance, but not in the three other cultural dimensions of Hofstede. Results show that the ethical assessment of the respondents from the two countries differs when justice criteria are used. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.

Practical wisdom for management from the Islamic tradition

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the special issue on practical wisdom for management from the Islamic traditions.Design/methodology/approach – The guest editorial introduces the papers in this special issue, focusing on practical wisdom for management from the Islamic tradition.Findings – Using multiple levels of analysis as well as both academic and practitioner‐oriented perspectives, this special issue demonstrates that the Islamic tradition offers valuable practical wisdom insights in multiple areas including leadership, human resource management, action learning, knowledge transfer and business ethics.Originality/value – This issue represents the first exploratory contribution to the research on practical wisdom from the Islamic tradition, opening a new focus of research and contributing to management development.

Development and Test of a Contingency Framework of Coupling Assessing the Covariation between Structure and Culture

Though the concept of loose coupling permeates organizational science, it has stagnated because of definitional and operational issues. In this study, a contingency framework of coupling was developed and tested. Using an organizational simulation, the pattern of covariation between cultural and structural coupling was tracked across two different stages of the organizational life cycle and two levels of technological routineness. Quantitative, network measures of cultural and structural coupling were used. As organizations evolved from the infancy to the maturity stage of their life cycle, both structural and cultural coupling among participants became tighter. Unexpectedly, individuals involved with a nonroutine technology were more tightly coupled structurally but less tightly coupled culturally when compared to individuals engaged in a routine technology.