A Study Of Strategic Sourcing And Strategic Supporting Of Virtual Teams

The number of virtual teams has increased in recent years due to globalization of business, advanced information and communication technology and increased need for innovation and competitiveness. In this article, two different virtual team arrangements that are successful in meeting their current competitive needs are reported. Data collected using in-depth interviews were analyzed and several key patterns that support strategic sourcing and strategic supporting emerged. Accordingly, the organization with “virtual teams in an organization (VTO)”structure indicated support for strategic supporting whereas the organization with “Organization as Virtual Teams (OVT)” structure indicated patterns that support strategic sourcing. The authors envisage that there is an opportunity for HRM to leverage on strategic opportunities when overlap of VTO and OVT structures is considered.

Overcoming Blockages In Strategy Execution: Lessons From Agile Managers

Managers’ attempts to implement their organization’s strategy often meet with challenges that block the execution as planned and these blockages are not always obvious. This paper presents seven lessons from agile software development that managers can use to avoid and overcome blockages in strategy execution. They are: 1) Define and communicate an agile culture. 2) Define and communicate an end goal with measures and deadlines. 3) Break the end goal into multiple projects with specific objectives and short deadlines and assign them to small teams. 4) Give project teams autonomy, but hold them responsible for achieving their objectives on time. 5) Hold frequent brief meetings to identify problems and coordinate across teams. 6) Frequently consult with the customer or end user. 7) Constantly monitor all teams’ progress and customer needs to look for blockages; pivot quickly when a change is needed to execute the strategic plan. These seven lessons help managers quickly recognize when the path to strategy implementation is blocked and lead their teams to find alternatives and quickly pivot to new implementation plans. The process creates a culture that focuses on results yet empowers teams and employees to use their talents and creativity. As a result, the organization is focused and energized as it implements its strategy.

Looking At The User Side Of Software Engineering For Project Success

As a general definition, software engineering is “the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software.” The importance of user-related factors has long been recognized by various researchers as important to the successful implementation of any commercially available system. This study attempts to test the importance of these factors as determinants of software engineering project success as measured by adherence to specified requirements, compliance with initial budget estimations, timeliness of agreed delivery, and overall user satisfaction with the product delivered. It has brought together some user-related variables (degree of user participation, user expertise, user/developer communication, user training, user influence, and user conflict) previously studied separately by different authors into a more cohesive model. Data regarding 178 system development projects using software engineering methodologies has been used to test proposed relationships between the independent variables and project success as defined in this study. The results confirm the importance of user participation, training, expertise, user/developer communication, and lack of user conflict for improving project success.

Global Value Perceptions: The Case of Luxury Hotels

This exploratory study analyses value perceptions of luxury hotels in cross-cultural contexts. Value perceptions between the two biggest luxury consumer groups, Americans and Chinese, are compared in the context of the upscale hotel business. Based on an established conceptual framework, this study uses the phenomenological approach, first introduced by C. E. Moustakas in 1994, to compare data from in-depth interviews exploring the perceptions of luxury hotels. The findings suggest adjustments to existing luxury frameworks to recognize tangible and intangible characteristics upscale hotels might consider when driving brand value and reputation. Offers, amenities, and services differ in value perception in ways previous studies did not address.

The Rise of Prepping in New York City: Community Resilience and COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic’s brutal impact on New York City has laid bare the social inequalities and injustices of living in a global capital. To better understand urban prepping as a process for helping communities to plan and respond to disaster, this analysis draws on Faulkner, Brown, and Quinn’s (2018) framework of five capacities for community resilience: place attachment; leadership; knowledge and learning; community networks; and community cohesion and efficacy. Given the New York City’s Prepper’s Network mission to acquire preparedness skills, knowledge and learning were core principals of the group it was found that community cohesion was reinforced throughout preparedness training as group members learned to develop their individual skills and to rely on one another. This research also points to the need to develop disaster management approaches that can expand the traditional “command and control” models while making space for local knowledge and resources only works to increase community resilience.

Generative Engagement: Conceptualizing A Relational and Cross-Boundary Approach to Human Development and Sustainability in Today’s Divided World

Grounded in the findings from a case study of a nonprofit educational consulting firm that specialized in math literacy reform and operated throughout the American South during the 1990s–early 2000s, this paper presents Generative Engagement (GE), a practice-centered process model on relational behavior that fosters prosocial interaction and collaboration among social identity groups in demographically diverse, highly stratified social environments. The paper describes the dynamic interplay between generativity and inclusivity, presents four different types of relational engagement that result from this interplay and offers five testable propositions. The paper concludes with a discussion on how cross-boundary leaders, work teams, organizations, and communities can better understand, develop, and demonstrate generative relational behavior that enhances work group efficacy and sustains the greater public good. Along with encouraging scholarly exploration of GE, the generative engagement model (GEM) is offered as a tool for inspiring and equipping development and use of generative approaches to leadership, collaboration, and transformative change within organizations.

Management and Social Justice? An Oxymoron or Inevitability

An Editorial Introduction by SAM Advanced Management Journal Editor-in-Chief, Latha Poonamallee to the Special Issue on Managing for Social Justice.

Building Supportive, Inclusive Workplaces Where Neurodivergent Thinkers Thrive: Approaches in Managing Diversity, Inclusion, and Building Entrepreneurship in the Workplace

Companies with differently-abled employees outperform their competitors, averaging 28% higher revenue plus higher shareholder returns (Hyland & Connolly, 2018). However, individuals with intellectual and developmental differences have an 85% unemployment rate (Moss, 2019). The disconnect between talent and opportunity is due to job misalignment and neurodiverse individuals’ unique needs (Armstrong, 2010). Self Determination Theory (SDT) shows how individuals who have more control over their work environment and interactions enjoy more significant states of well-being (Deci and Ryan, 2000). Intrapreneurs work in a team and project-based environment, which mimics the entrepreneur’s experience and leads to greater well-being (Shir, Nikolaev & Wincent, 2019). Building successful neurodivergent intrapreneurs requires instruction in thinking awareness, coaching, and teambuilding methods. A hybrid academic and workplace collaboration creates an innovative, self-directed problem-solving approach that benefits the individual and the organization. This approach appears through collaborations with Landmark College and Ernst & Young (EY), SAP software, and DXC Technology – global neurodiverse individuals’ employers.

Using Social Media in the Selection Process: An Ethical Perspective for Employers and Applicants

Social media is a widely popular communication platform that has been quickly adopted by millions of users world-wide (Statista, 2020). The vast amount of available information on social media is increasingly utilized in the selection process (Landers & Schmidt, 2016). This manuscript considers the use of social media in the selection process through the lens of two ethical perspectives. The utilitarian perspective provides an ethical lens with which to discuss the actions of employers. Alternatively, the deontological perspective provides an ethical lens to better understand the position of job seekers. The manuscript concludes with a discussion and recommendations for practice.