Vera Ferrón-Vílchez

Coaching: An Effective Practice for Business Competitiveness

– The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effectiveness of one of the more widespread techniques for personnel development and training: coaching. This technique in the business context entails boosting of a managers capabilities so as to improve business results through a combination of experience, knowledge, support and the motivation provided by advisers who specialize in business management., – To analyze the effectiveness of this innovative technique, the authors examined a sample of 40 small companies located in Ceuta (an autonomous Spanish city in North Africa) using a Wilcoxon‐Mann‐Whitney test. Participants were divided into two groups; in one group, an individualized audit process was conducted to obtain an actual picture of managerial practices (focusing on needs and corrective measures). In the other group, an advising process also complemented a coaching phase that was implemented to facilitate employee adoption of the proposed measures. Ultimately, differences between these two groups were found., – Results indicate that coaching substantially increases the level to which processes of improvement are established within organizations, consequently increasing the competitive capability., – The findings highlight the potential benefits of the use of coaching in the business context. Coaching facilitates the implementation of a set of improvement measures designed to increase business competitiveness, suggesting that this type of advising stands to be very beneficial for companies., – Practices that lead to the development of human capital in organizations are basic tools for managers that are becoming increasingly essential for achieving business efficiency and strategic change. The paper analyzes the implementation of coaching in the business arena, specifically in the case of managers, which is a novelty given the dearth of empirical research on coaching. Thus, the results of the paper provide the wider academic community with empirical evidence on how coaching is a profitable practice for improving human resource management.

Does symbolism benefit environmental and business performance in the adoption of ISO 14001

Much research has focused on the organisational and reputational benefits of ISO 14001. However, less discussed is the symbolic adoption that some firms are implementing without experiencing significant reductions in environmental impacts. This work analyses the relationships between the different ISO 14001 adoption profiles (from symbolic profile to factual approach) and both environmental performance and profitability. These relationships are examined using a sample of 1214 manufacturing firms in 7 OECD countries while controlling for selection bias. The results suggest that only ISO 14001 adopters that monitor an extensive set of negative environmental impacts are associated with real improvements in both environmental performance and business performance.

Job‐related skill heterogeneity and action team performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on job‐related skill heterogeneity and action team performance by considering that team members may differ in the levels of their job‐related skill, as well as in the way their job‐related skill is spread over the different dimensions of the task.Design/methodology/approach – Data were used from 30 National Basketball Association (NBA) teams collected over 21 seasons (1986/1987 through 2006/2007). The total number of team‐seasons analyzed was 584.Findings – A positive relationship was found between job‐skill level heterogeneity and action team performance that declines as average job‐skill level in the team grows. Furthermore, action teams showed poorer performance when their members with a low job‐related skill level have a high specialization.Practical implications – From the practical perspective, it is of special interest to an action team manager to know that job‐related skill heterogeneity has a positive influence on team performance – mainly when the ...

Team Decision Making and Individual Satisfaction With the Team

The literature on team members’ satisfaction has mainly focused on analysis at the team level; however, studies of team members’ satisfaction at the individual level are less frequent. In this work, we analyzed how team members’ attitudes and perceptions developed before starting the team decision-making process, how their perceptions developed during the team decision-making process, and how the consequences of the team decision-making process influence individual satisfaction with the team. Questionnaires were filled out by 84 undergraduate students working in 28 teams that had to make a management decision. The results show that individual satisfaction with the team is positively related to team members’ self-efficacy for teamwork and to their perception of the decision’s comprehensiveness, but negatively related to their perception of team debate and the deviation between their individual preference and the team decision.

What Motivates Hotel Managers to Become Ecopreneurs: A Case Study on the Spanish Tourism Sector

This chapter first presents a brief theoretical review of environmental concerns and entrepreneurship. It then analyses the main motivating factors for ecopreneurs outlined in research literature. The next section uses a case study to discuss ecopreneurship in the hotel sector, including the reasons and methodology used. The results of the case analysis are then given. The final section offers conclusions, contributions and future areas for research.

Are Companies Maintaining Social Benefits in Constrained Economic Times

Is the current economic crisis affecting the quality of working conditions within organisations? More specifically, due to constrained economic times, are organisations reducing the social benefits they offer to employees? This study analyses whether the current situation of economic downturn influences companies’ maintenance of social benefits. Social benefits are those remunerations in kind voluntarily offered by an employer beyond what is established in labour laws and collective agreements.

The effects of exploitative innovations on firms' performance and the moderating influence of slac

Although previous studies have primarily debated the advantages and drawbacks of exploitative and explorative innovations in the context of technology-based alliances or acquisitions, we focus on a context of non-mature environmental innovations measured by patented environmental innovations to propose that the exploitative choice leads to higher firm market-based performance, as measured by Tobins Q. In addition, we propose that the availability of resource slack negatively influences the positive relation between exploitative innovation and market performance. We employ a longitudinal analysis of 5,845 environmental patents from the 75 largest companies in the Electrical Components & Equipment industry worldwide during the period of 2006-2009.