Thomas W. Zimmerer

A Leadership Profile of American Project Managers

This paper reports the results of a survey of senior project managers. The results clearly and unequivocally identify positive success and negative leadership as the cause of project failure. The characteristics of leadership are further identified, as well as the project management tools that are most useful and most often used. It can be concluded that organizational effectiveness requires project managers to combine their technical competency with the ability to develop and display leadership.

The role of benchmarking in achieving continuous service quality

Links the application of benchmarking to the hotel′s ability to achieve continuous quality improvements. Defines both the operating and service subsystems of the hotel and clearly indicates specific methods for quality improvement in each. Places emphasis on the role of upper management in the implementation of the benchmarking process, as well as the process reinforcing and supporting the organization′s strategic planning activities. Throughout, the benchmarking process focuses on the need to meet and exceed the expectations of the customer. Provides recommendations and practical guidelines to assist the hospitality executive in implementing a benchmarking programme which is both consistent with the customer‐oriented strategic plan, while also directly impacting on the hotel′s level of service quality and performance.

Modeling Strategic Acquisition Policies: A Simulation of Executives' Acquisition Decisions

The acquisition policies of 42 executives were examined and were found to be individual or firm specific. The decision makers had poor insight into their own decision policies. Therefore, researche...

Pressures from stakeholders hit Japanese companies

Abstract In recent years few US and European executives have been faced with the task of managing in a highly complex, dynamic business environment. There is a growing awareness of the need to consider the interests of a variety of stakeholder groups when making business decisions. This awareness has quickly become a requirement for executives across the globe, even among those in Japanese firms who have historically been less encumbered due to different societal, cultural, and business expectations. This article addresses these differences and discusses the global evolution of stakeholder group influence with an emphasis on US, European, and Japanese executives.

Adapting a strategic management model to hospital operating strategies

Industrial organizations have employed the process of strategic management in their attempts to cope effectively with global competitive pressures, while attempting to build and maintain competitive advantage. With health-care organizations presently trying to cope with an increasingly turbulent environment created by the uncertainty as to pending legislation and anticipated reform, the need for such organizational strategic planning is apparent. Presents and discusses a methodology for adapting a business-oriented model of strategic planning to health care.

A profile of successful US manufacturers

Examines the relationship between business strategy, organizational performance and manufacturing techniques and practices among 130 US companies. The research supports the notion that innovative strategies, which stress customer orientation and differentiation through the careful manipulation of the operating systems to achieve higher levels of quality, flexibility and dependability, form the basis for strategic success.

The Role of Buyer Sophistication in Competitive Bidding

The competitive bidding process is the method by which firms efficiently and effectively make purchases for necessary goods and services at a desired level of quality. Those firms with managers who understand the competitive bid process and are sufficiently sophisticated with regard to its implementation can create a tremendous competitive advantage in the marketplace. Explains the concept of buyer sophistication in terms of the skills necessary for successful competition in markets heavily influenced by the competitive bid process. Places particular emphasis on how the seller must map the sophistication level of the buyer in order to determine the most appropriate sales and negotiation strategy.

Using decision modeling to examine management consensus: A study of a maintenance management control system

Abstract Using a decision modeling approach, this research examined differences across levels of management in a large construction company concerning the criteria for a maintenance management control system. The six criteria were cost efficiency, productivity improvement, materials management, unification of work control, planning and scheduling, and information and retrieval. A decision-making exercise was constructed that asked the respondent to make recommendations concerning the approval or disapproval of 32 hypothetical maintenance management systems. Among the 60 managers who completed the exercise, there was evidence of significant differences across levels of management concerning the criteria for a maintenance management control system. Additionally, distortions were observed between what the managers said was important and what their decisions indicated. These data demonstrate that the decision modeling approach presented can be effectively used to examine the degree of consensus within an organization.

Building a socially responsive drug testing programme

States that management faces a dilemma when it rightly desires to create and maintain a drug‐free work environment. Addresses the need to test employees to ensure a safe and productive workplace while ensuring that the testing procedures are neither demeaning to employees or viewed as an invasion of privacy. Recommends the establishment of a five‐step process. States that asking and answering the right questions before setting policy in this sensitive human resources area is essential. The framework presented is designed to assist management in planning for the development of a drug testing programme, responsive to the needs of the organization and its employees.

Advising your clients about environmental accounting issues

Certified public accountants (CPAs) must advise their clients about potential environmental problems and solutions. Only by doing this can the long‐term survival and profitability of many clients be ensured. Reports on a survey of 940 CPA firms which identified their inconsistent attitudes to timing of disclosure, measurement issues and income statement presentation. Inconsistent practices are mainly owing to lack of authoritative support in the area. Recommends future actions and suggests the CPA should be aware of three critical issues that can adversely affect clients′ operations: valuation of the business, acquisition and divestiture and access to capital. Discusses the CPA′s role as external adviser.