scholarly journals Organizing for business digitalization and innovation : theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence on the role of top managers and inter-organizational networks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Fabian Reck
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Innovation ◽  
Organizational Transformation ◽  
Innovation Management ◽  
Organizational Factors ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Top Management ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Management And Leadership

Especially in times of digitalization and digital transformation, firms need to generate and commercialize innovations in order to reinvent their business model, to build and expand their competence base, and to secure their long-term survival. Questions of how firms should “organize for innovation” and which organizational factors determine firms’ innovation performance have for long been subject to academic discussion. Most prominently, past research has identified factors such as “top management and leadership”, “strategy”, “structures and processes”, “organizational culture”, “resources, skills, and expertise”, or “networks and external partners” as major determinants of organizational innovation. However, the pervasiveness of digital technologies and innovations entails two major challenges that will most likely dictate the rules of the “innovation game” in years to come: (1) business digitalization entails holistic organizational transformation; (2) distributed and combinatorial innovation are the major modes of digital innovation. In the light of those challenges, especially the factors “top management and leadership” and “networks and external partners” might be crucial differentiators between innovation leaders and laggards. Hence, my cumulative dissertation centers around those two focus areas. In this thesis, I first identify pressing research gaps with regard to the dominant theoretical perspectives on both topics (upper echelon/strategic leadership theory for “top management and leadership”; stra-tegic network perspective for “networks and external partners”). Then, I present five empiri-cal studies that each address a specific set of the identified limitations in theory and research literature. In all, my work advocates the use of either multi-level research models or typological/taxonomic frameworks as core elements for theoretical reasoning in innovation management research. Doing so, I aim to help overcome theoretical fragmentation in both focus areas and support the development of mid-range theories that adequately reflect the complex and interdependent nature of organizations and of the causal mechanisms at play.

Coaching in Context: Exploring Conditions that Shape Instructional Coaching Practice

2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (10) ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Maggie Quinn Hannan ◽  
Jennifer Lin Russell
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Instructional Coaching ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Qualitative Comparative Analysis ◽  
Organizational Factors ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Instructional Change ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Organizational Conditions ◽  
Context Specific

Background/Context The literature shows that one constant in coaching is the high degree of variation in coach roles and contexts, suggesting that understanding coaching practice requires that we also understand the role structures and organizational conditions that shape coaches’ work. Research on both instructional coaching and instructional change is increasingly attending to the organizational and social factors that shape, facilitate, and constrain the web of interactions that coaching work comprises. Past research points to the complex systems and social networks that shape critical elements of coaching practice, emphasizing the interdependency of organizational processes and the critical importance of considering not only the outcomes of implementation, but also the contextual factors that shape them. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study Given that multilayered social, technical, and organizational factors shape the practice and impact of instructional coaching, understanding the combinations of factors that are most consequential is key for both policy implementation and instructional coaching research. Consequently, understanding coaching requires attending to specific practices, the structural contexts in which those practices are embedded, and varied implementation processes across system levels and diverse school districts. Therefore, we built this study on the foundational idea that coaching work inherently and continuously interacts with the complex systems in which it takes place and that understanding and analyzing coaching requires attending to the organizational and social structures that shape it. Accordingly, this article focuses on the following research question: What contextual conditions facilitate and constrain coaching, and why? Research Design To understand the interactions between coaching work and these many social and technical factors, we investigated how a group of coaches implemented a mathematics coaching model, focusing specifically on the relationship between coaching contexts and coaching practice. Our case-focused, mixed-methods approach, which included both qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and case-study methods, allowed us to explore the interrelationships between coaching and the system conditions that shape, enable, and constrain instructional change. Conclusions/Recommendations Our findings support the argument that coaching cannot be extricated from the surrounding system factors that shape it. On the contrary, we found that supports for and barriers to robust coaching practice are context-specific phenomena, suggesting that any coaching intervention ought to be tailored to its specific organizational location. Accordingly, we argue that different combinations of contributing factors can affect coaching in different ways, thereby contributing to the theory that a nested-systems perspective on instructional coaching is key to understanding its effects.

scholarly journals Workplace exercise programmes – how organizational factors influence employee participation

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 37-39
Author(s):  
Anna Little ◽  
Russell Wordsworth ◽  
Sanna Malinen
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Organizational Factors ◽  
Employee Participation ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Leadership Support

Purpose Past research identifies many positive outcomes associated with workplace exercise initiatives. Realizing these outcomes is, however, dependent on securing sustained employee participation in the initiative. This study examines how organizational factors influence employee participation in workplace exercise initiatives. Design/methodology/approach The study utilizes data from 98 employees who were provided with the opportunity to participate in a workplace exercise initiative. Data were collected via an online survey as well as semi-structured interviews. Findings The paper shows that organizational, rather than individual-level, factors had the greatest impact on employee participation in workplace exercise initiatives. Leadership support for well-being was particularly important and had a significant effect on participation frequency. This relationship was moderated by employee perceptions of employer intentions, such that the more genuine and caring an employer’s intentions were perceived to be, the more likely employees were to participate. Our findings also show that perceived employer intentions have a significant direct effect on employee participation. Research implications We extend research on employee participation in well-being initiatives by considering the influence of organizational, rather than individual-level, factors. Practical implications This research is of practical significance as it highlights the importance of positive leadership in fostering physical well-being in the workplace. It reinforces that sustained participation in workplace exercise initiatives requires deliberate planning, promotion and support from organizational leaders. Originality/value Most studies of workplace exercise and well-being initiatives focus on individual barriers to participation. Our study highlights the important role of leadership support and perceived intentions as organizational influences on employee participation.

The Inclusion of CIOs in Top Management Teams

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 37-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenhong Luo
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Factors ◽  
Top Management Teams ◽  
Top Management ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Top Executives ◽  
Firm Diversification ◽  
Upper Echelons Theory ◽  
Role Of It ◽  
The Relationship

The inclusion of the CIO in the top management team (TMT) is one indicator of how top executives view the role of IT within their firms. This study draws upon the upper echelons theory to examine the organizational factors contributing to the CIO inclusion. A panel data set is used to empirically test the hypotheses. The results show that TMT age and firm diversification are found to be linked to the CIO inclusion. The study contributes to an understanding of the relationship between the CIO and TMT and provides a potential measure of IT importance within firms.

scholarly journals Effective Change in Educational Institutions

2016 ◽  
pp. 88-107
Author(s):  
Evgenia Theodotou ◽  
Avraam Papastathopoulos ◽  
Panagiotis Koutsouvelis
Keyword(s):  
Organisational Change ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Everyday Practice ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Leadership Models ◽  
Effective Change ◽  
Change Event ◽  
Management And Leadership

This chapter discusses the theoretical framework of management and leadership of change, focusing on the construct of power in educational institutions. Managers and leaders in educational institutions can adopt different models to apply change in the existing organisational procedures. According to the model they follow, they use their power differently. This chapter argues that the manner managers and leaders utilise their power strongly influences effective organisational change and their role in the organisation. Relevant managerial and leadership models of change are analysed in relation to different forms of power, with regard to the theoretical and research literature. The argument is further illuminated with a change event in a school in Greece in order to create a link between theory and everyday practice.

Strategic Innovation Management

2014 ◽  
pp. 102-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kijpokin Kasemsap
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Causal Model ◽  
Organizational Innovation ◽  
Innovation Management ◽  
Strategic Orientation ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Strategic Innovation

This chapter introduces the framework and causal model of knowledge management, strategic orientation, organizational innovation, and organizational performance. It argues that dimensions of knowledge management, strategic orientation, and organizational innovation have mediated positive effects on organizational performance. Organizational innovation positively mediates the relationships between knowledge management and organizational performance and between strategic orientation and organizational performance. Knowledge management is positively correlated with strategic orientation. Furthermore, the author hopes that understanding the underlying assumptions and theoretical constructs of knowledge management, strategic orientation, organizational innovation, and organizational performance through the use of the framework and causal model will not only inform researchers of a better design for studying knowledge management, strategic orientation, organizational innovation, and organizational performance, but also assist in the understanding of intricate relationships between different factors.

Leadership and Organization Innovation Adoption

2019 ◽  
pp. 339-367
Author(s):  
Vítor Hugo Santos Ferreira ◽  
Henrique Miranda
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Innovation ◽  
Organizational Factors ◽  
Innovation Adoption ◽  
Firm Survival ◽  
Adoption Of Innovations ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Leadership And Organization ◽  
Organizational Innovations ◽  
Innovation Processes

Innovation is a tool to ensure competitiveness. Firm survival is inexorably linked to its ability to reinvent itself, obviously apart from other circumstances. Organizational innovation and its adoption are key concepts that are rarely studied. Little is known about factors related to decisions to adopt innovations and how the likelihood of adoption of innovations can be increased. This chapter aims to answer the question: what are the determinants of the adoption of organizational innovation? In this sense, this chapter aims to identify some of the organizational factors which have the capacity to influence organizational innovation in a specific case study, an innovative Portuguese company. This chapter addresses the personal dimension of the leader as a driver of organizational innovation processes. This chapter finds that, in the case study, the culture of the company which itself is driven by the CEO is fundamental for innovation and the adoption of organizational innovations.

Research Profiles

2012 ◽  
pp. 1539-1558
Author(s):  
Gretchen Jordan ◽  
Jonathon Mote ◽  
Jerald Hage
Keyword(s):  
Quality Control ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Organizational Innovation ◽  
Innovation Management ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Research Management ◽  
Extensive Field ◽  
Management Approaches ◽  
New Perspective

Despite the increasing importance of the management of research for innovation, the range of differences among types of research, as well as projects and programs, is not adequately captured in current theories of either project or organizational innovation. This chapter offers preliminary discussions for a new perspective about alternative styles of management for different types of research, whether basic, applied, product development, manufacturing, quality control or marketing. Based on these discussions, the chapter proposes a framework for a new perspective of innovation management, called Research Profiles, which is derived from a literature review and extensive field research. This new perspective delineates four research profiles on the basis of two dimensions of research objectives and two dimensions of research tasks. In matching the research objectives and tasks, we identify inherent dilemmas that managers must address and this developing perspective suggests some appropriate research management approaches.

Innovating Elite Undergraduate Education through Quality Continuous Improvement

2013 ◽  
pp. 1754-1789
Author(s):  
Kam Hou Vat
Keyword(s):  
Curriculum Reform ◽  
Undergraduate Education ◽  
Open Innovation ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Organizational Innovation ◽  
Organizational Transformation ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
The University

This chapter investigates a mechanism of organizational innovation serving to make sense of a maturing university community involving educational executives, academic staff, and students in the occasion of a new campus development, starting in the year 2009 and realizing in the year 2013, under the auspices of a national policy benefiting the long-term development of higher education in the Macau Special Administrative Region (Macau SAR) of China. It is understood that the university as a public institution should not be operated like a business enterprise, running on profit-making initiatives; yet, without the enterprising context, the transformation of the existing infrastructure could hardly be innovated effectively, especially regarding the productivity of its staff, both academic and administrative. As a university with a staff count of less than 1000 and a history of close to thirty years, the University of Macau (UM) is ready to steward an elite undergraduate education marked by a quality learning experience that could become her branding value in the immediate future. The question is how innovatively UM could scale up in this opportunistic growth to excel for the local community. This case study is aimed to investigate from the perspective of a learning enterprise, a reflective way of forward thinking to record the author’s observation and interpretation of what is entailed in this process of upbringing a relatively young university in this age-old city, Macau, famous for its rich heritage of East (Chinese) meeting West (Europeans – Portuguese). Of specific interest is the proper context of open innovation in university governance for organizational transformation. The chapter examines the accountability framework for undergraduate curriculum reform and by treating the electronic transformation (e-transformation) as one of the open innovation strategies, the chapter explores the e-transformation of the university environment, based on holistic concerns of the campus community. The challenge is to identify the organizational context of innovation, which lies in the realm of electronic governance (e-governance), referring mainly to the decisions that define expectations, enable empowerment, and verify performance of the systems in support of community engagement and shared responsibilities in campus development, providing a sense-making perspective to interpret what is entailed in the organizational innovation of the university in this precious occasion of campus relocation. In practice, the lessons learned behind the e-transformation of the learning enterprise should benefit all walks of our local community, including the community of the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

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