An Exploratory Examination of Casual Models for Telecommunication Technologies, Organizational Structural Attributes and Organizational Performance in the U.S. Manufacturing Sector

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-116
Author(s):  
Choong Lee

In the past decade there have been significant improvements in Telecommunications Technologies (TT). These have had a profound effect on contemporary organizational structures. In attempting to understand this, a few theoretical works have offered a contingent explanation. To extend these research efforts with empirical evidence, our study tested two alternative models to explain the relationship between TT, organization structure, and the organization’s financial performance. Two models tested different scenarios based upon whether structural change leads to more TT use (the organizational imperative view) or vice versa (the technological imperative view. TT penetration, organizational structure (centralization, formalization, complexity, and integration) and organizational performance were examined using a survey of manufacturing organizations. The results of causal modeling show that the relationship between TT and organizational structure is better explained by the technology imperative, which TT leads to change in organizational structure: the more decentralized, more complex and more integrated organizational structures are the consequence of the higher penetration of TT. None of the models supports the notion that improved financial performance is a direct consequence of the link between TT and alternative organization structures. Although recent literature suggest that TT flattens corporate hierarchy, simplifies business structure and processes, and minimizes the use of conventional integrated mechanism, this study found that greater penetration of TT creates a need for more coordination and allows more complex and larger organization structures to evolve.

1988 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliza Ching-Yick Tse ◽  
Michael D. Olsen

There is an increased emphasis in the management literature on the use of strategic management as the primary means of adapting organizations to their changing environments. for firms in the maturing hospitality industry to survive and succeed, they will have to depend upon their ability to strategically align themselves with the turbulent environment and select appropriate strategies to create defendable competitive positions. Success in strategy implementation depends partly on a proper match between strategy and organizational structure and this match is expected to have a positive impact on financial performance. This study was conducted to explore the relationships among strategies of restaurant firms, their organizational structure and financial performance. The top management team in 296 American multi-unit restaurant firms were surveyed. Results regarding relationships posited among strategy, structure and performance are presented.


Author(s):  
Teuta Cata

This article has investigated the insurance industry and provided insights into the relationships of organizational size and age with outsourcing and organizational structure. Also, this study investigated the relationship between Web site age, outsourcing, and organizational structure. The main findings are that firm size and maturity is related to the decision of Web-based development approach and the best organizational structure to support online activity. The insights obtained by a new variable: Web site age suggests that insurance companies are trying to develop their Web-based activities within their existing organizational structures, rather than creating new e-commerce divisions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-257
Author(s):  
Xiaoxuan Zhai ◽  
Xiaowen Tian

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a resource-based framework to explain the relationship between high-performance work system (HPWS) and organizational performance (OP) and the moderating role of performance measures. Design/methodology/approach The paper takes a meta-analysis approach, and tests hypotheses against data of 47,741 firms and establishments in 192 studies published by June 2016. Findings The paper finds that HPWS has a greater positive effect on operational than financial performance. Moreover, HPWS influences operational performance more strongly in developing than advanced countries and at the firm level than the establishment level, but such variations are not evident in the effect of HPWS on financial performance. Practical implications The paper suggests that managers should treat human resource management (HRM) practices as a system, and develop HPWS for operational gains which in turn lead to financial gains. Managers need to take different approaches to develop HPWS for high performance depending on the country of origin and the level of organization. Originality/value Based on studies of individual HRM practices, previous meta-analytical studies suggested that the HPWS-OP relationship is invariant across performance measures. Taking HRM practices as integral components of HPWS, this paper extends the resource-based theory to demonstrate that performance measures interact with country of origin and level of analysis to moderate the HPWS-OP relationship.


2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 699-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiumei Zhu ◽  
Mingxu Bao

Purpose The significant performance implications of individual-focused and group-focused transformational leadership have been documented for established firms, but the issue of whether they are complementary or substitutive still remains a puzzle, and whether their relationship differs in new firms remains unanswered. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between individual-focused and group-focused transformational leadership in different organizational structures in new firms. Design/methodology/approach The study draws on survey data of 209 questionnaires from 63 teams in 63 new firms in China. Findings The results suggest that individual-focused and group-focused transformational leadership are substitutive when the organizational structure is mechanistic, and are complementary when the structure is organic. Originality/value The study contributes to the debate on the relationship between individual-focused and group-focused transformational leadership by comparing organizational structure characteristics and offering a comprehensive understanding of the issue.


2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 1478-1483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine M. Wong ◽  
Margaret E. Ormiston ◽  
Michael P. Haselhuhn

Researchers have theorized that innate personal traits are related to leadership success. Although links between psychological characteristics and leadership success have been well established, research has yet to identify any objective physical traits of leaders that predict organizational performance. In the research reported here, we identified leaders’ facial structure as a specific physical trait that correlates with organizational performance. Specifically, we found that firms whose male CEOs have wider faces (relative to facial height) achieve superior financial performance. Decision-making dynamics within a firm’s leadership team moderate this effect, such that the relationship between a given CEO’s facial measurements and his firm’s financial performance is stronger in firms with cognitively simple leadership teams.


2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Michael Chidiebere Ekwe

The general belief that employees of an organization are important assets to that organization has not been empirically proved as not many studies have investigated the relationship or association between the intellectual capital components and the organizational  performance indices.


Author(s):  
Yassine BOUSSENNA

In a knowledge-based economy, and a context of fierce international competition that spares no field. universities as organizations highly dependent on knowledge should pay special attention to it and its management, in such a way that the effective management of this asset is a key factor in building a competitive advantage and became the cornerstone of efforts to improve the performance of the university. In addition, it has long been demonstrated that better knowledge management has a positive impact on organizational performance. However, it is not yet clear how this process is to be achieved in academia and particularly in developing countries such as Morocco. On the other hand, and throughout the literature, several factors affect positively KM initiatives in public organizations and more specifically in universities are discussed. Some of these are the same as those found for private organizations and others are specific to public organizations. Most authors cite the organizational structure. This work has the main objective to verify the moderating role of organizational structure on the intensity of the relationship between the application of knowledge management and organizational performance of Abdelmalek Essaadi University. by collecting the views of the Abdelmalek Essaadi University teacher-researchers, through a hypothetico-deductive reasoning approach and a quantitative working method. Our questionnaire was administered to a representative sample of 88 teacher-researchers from the different institutions of the university under study. The results obtained prove the moderating and positive role of organizational structure, on the intensity of the relationship between the application of the K.M and (Training, research, publication, and governance) as indicators of organizational performance with a degree of impact of 1.1%.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyoungshin Kim ◽  
Karen E. Watkins ◽  
Zhenqiu (Laura) Lu

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships among a learning organization, knowledge and financial performance using the Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire and its abbreviated version. Design/methodology/approach This study used a secondary data set and performed second-order factor analysis and structural equation modeling for testing the proposed relationships. Findings The study found that a learning organization has a positive effect on knowledge performance; knowledge performance has a positive effect on financial performance; and knowledge performance fully mediates the relationship between a learning organization and financial performance. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to validating the current dimensionality of the theoretical framework of a learning organization proposed by Watkins and Marsick (1993, 1996) and offers a valid conceptual framework of the relationship among the learning culture and organizational performance dimensions. Practical implications This study re-stresses the significance of the learning and knowledge generated by the human resources of an organization and developed by human resource development practitioners. Originality/value This study is valuable to human resource development scholars and practitioners interested in improving and measuring organizational performance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 2679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minhyuk Jung ◽  
Shira You ◽  
Seokho Chi ◽  
Ilhan Yu ◽  
Bon-Gang Hwang

Operating profit is one of the most important measures in financial statements to evaluate a organizational performance. In the construction industry, however, the profit has a possibility to be misestimated as a loss and can be included in Unbilled Accounts Receivable (UAR) and shown as a profit; this is due to the uncertainty of predicting a total construction cost and project progress on which the calculation of profit is based. UAR results from the different perceptions regarding project progress between clients and contractors and can include costs related to loss that cannot be acknowledged as a progress. Therefore, UAR can be a significant clue to understanding estimation errors of a contractor’s financial performance data. This study investigated the possibility of estimation error of contractors’ operating profit by analyzing the relationship between UAR and other relevant financial performance measures. The accounting data of 41 Korean major contractors was collected and analyzed based on the correlation analysis. The results of this study implies that the profit of construction companies has the possibility to contain estimation errors, causing a significant variance in the process of adjusting the evaluation errors at the end of projects, which can cause unexpected losses to investors. In addition, this study found that the UAR containing estimation errors could be different depending on market in which contractors operate; therefore, when dealing with contractors’ financial performance data, it is necessary to discern whether their profit data contains distortion and, in the case that errors are included, appropriate data preprocessing should be conducted for more reliable and sustainable construction investment and project management.


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