Download ppt - Wayne Smith, Ph.D.

Open Questions and
Emerging Issues in the
Theory and Practice of
Management
Wayne Smith, Ph.D.
Department of Management
CSU Northridge
1
Organizational Technology
• Carr, N. (2003), “IT doesn’t Matter”, Harvard
Business Review, 81(5), May.
– Information technology (IT) is becoming more ubiquitous.
• In general, (many) more people have access to the same
technologies
• Therefore, the capital of technology is beginning to have
more similarities than differences with other capital-intensive
activities, such as electricity and railroads (i.e., common
carriers)
– Conclusion? IT is increasingly operationally-valuable, but
decreasingly strategically-valuable.
• Play defense (decrease risks) rather the play offense (increase
rewards)
– This is arguably the most controversial article on IT and
management is the past ten years.
2
Organizational Productivity
• Zeldes, N. (2009), “Infoglut: It’s the Disease
of the New Millennium. How do we Treat
It?”, IEEE Spectrum, Oct.
– From “plan-driven” to “interrupt-driven” (Mark)
• An interruption occurs approximately every 3 minutes
• It takes 1 minute to “get back to where you were” for
each interruption
– Attention Deficit Trail (Hallowell)
• Interruptions degrade accuracy, judgment, creativity,
and effective management
– What is “quality” or “creative” time?
• Can it be expressly designed into professional life?
3
Organizational Complexity
• Birkenshaw, J., and Heywood, S. (2009), “Too Big to
Manage?”, Wall Street Journal (MIT special section),
Oct. 26, p. R3
– Are some companies simply too complex to be run
effectively?
• Types of Complexity
– Dysfunctional
• Creeps into companies over time, perpetual practices
– Designed
• Expecting the benefits of complexity to outweigh costs
– Inherent
• The rules that exist when everything else is automated
– Imposed
• Largely beyond the control of the organization
4
Organizational Psychology
• Rock, D. (2009), “Managing with the Brain in Mind”,
Strategy+Business, Issue 56. Autumn.
– “Neuroscience research is revealing the social nature of the
high-performance” workplace.”
– http://www.strategybusiness.com/article/09306?gko=5df7f&cid=enews2009
– Functional MRI (physiological) leading to a SCARF
(psychological) model
•
•
•
•
•
Status and its discontents
A Craving for certainty
The Autonomy factor
Relating to relatedness
Playing for Fairness
5
Organizational Networking
• Nevo, D., Benbasat, I., and Wand, Y. (2009), “Who Knows
What?”, Wall Street Journal (MIT special section), Oct. 26, p.
R3
– “Finding in-house experts isn’t easy. But most companies make
it harder than it should be.”
• Types of Complexity
– Blogs
• Individual knowledge
– Wikis
• Collaborative knowledge
– Social Networks
• An organic mix of data, information, knowledge, and “wisdom”
– Tagging
• Work experience, currency of knowledge, self-reported extent
6
Organizational Efficiency
• Gittell, Jody. (2003), The Southwest Airlines Way: Using the Power of
Relationships to Achieve High Performance, New York: McGraw-Hill.
– Can an organization have a distinctive set of organizational practices?
• “Relational Coordination”
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Leadership credibility (care about workers)
Investment in front-line supervision
Selection and training based on “relational competence” (teams)
Proactive conflict resolution based on mutual understanding
Efforts to bridge work and family
Identification and use of “boundary spanners” (operations agents)
Performance measurement that focuses on processes (not blame)
Maintenance of job flexibility by minimizing work rules
Treatment of Unions as partners, not adversaries
Cultivation of solid relationships with suppliers
• Can other airlines (or other organizations) replicate SouthWest’s
success?
7