Embracing Guanxi

Guanxi is deeply ingrained in Chinese society and business etiquette; therefore, it is critical to understand and appreciate it to gain a commercial foothold in China. This paper explores the fundamental differences between Chinese and Western approaches to business dealings, to identify the factors that make it difficult for Western managerial practises to adopt guanxi. The authors identify the differences in the perception of trust in both societies and how this ultimately leads to clashes in cultures. However, there is also a need for Western practices to be more flexible and appreciate guanxi and its implications if multinational corporations are to succeed in China. The paper concludes by suggesting a possibility for both approaches to co-operate well, given the relative success of each approach in their respective cultures.

The Role of ICTs and the Management of Multinational Intellectual Capital

This chapter provides a systematic multidisciplinary framework that defines the role of technology in leveraging IC across borders and between headquarters and subsidiaries. In reaching this conclusion, this chapter investigates the strategic importance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the management of Intellectual Capital (IC) within a Multinational Company (MNC) ecosystem. The chapter addresses the transubstantiation of MNC into boundaryless Global Knowledge-Based Organization (GKB-MNC) which ultimately propagates into Learning MNC (LMNC). The latter is a suggested MNC category that sustains competitive advantage through systemic adoption of “Knowledge Iterative Supply Network (KISN)” model proposed by the authors. The chapter suggests a new multinational ICT/IC governance strategy that handles the emerging complexities associated with modern intangible resource synthesis.

A Unified View of Enablers, Barriers, and Readiness of Small to Medium Enterprises for E-Business Adoption

SMEs have been looking at expanding their market share by extending beyond their geographical boundaries and this is where electronic business has come to the forefront. The path to e-business adoption is ridden with barriers and understanding these along with the benefits it offers to SMEs is important. This chapter has reviewed the existing literature of barriers and benefits of e-business adoption by SMEs to identify the various enablers that can facilitate adoption. The chapter also provides an insight into e-readiness and analyses six existing tools that are used globally to measure e-readiness. Based on a comprehensive analysis, an holistic framework (Motivation Application Measurement Support (MAMS) e-readiness assessment framework) has been proposed. The framework can be utilized as a reference to assess, design and implement a supplementary strategic approach for the assessment of e-business readiness of SMEs. Further empirical research to test, amend and improve the MAMS framework can be undertaken in the future.

Teleworking and the "Disability Divide"

Much of the discourse on the digital divide focuses on issues of information disparity and accessibility, frequently in socioeconomic terms. This perspective overlooks an important aspect of the digital divide, the lack of access and missed opportunities faced by persons with disabilities, referred to here as the “disability divide.” Barriers to access and knowledgeable use of information and communication technology (ICT) represent more than simple exclusion from information to encompass social segregation and devaluation. At its most insidious, barriers to ICTs limit full community engagement in employment activities. This chapter examines the ramification of the impact of digital divide on the nature of employment and participation in the workplace, using ICT to conduct telework, and explores challenges to social policy with respect to ‘reasonable’ accommodations. In the absence of practices, structures, and policies targeting the distributive work environment, telework is much less likely to close the digital divide for persons with a disability. This suggests the need to explore and develop potential policy options to close the disability divide.

Interventions and Solutions in Gender and IT

The role of women in technology-related fields began with promising contributions from pioneers like Grace Hopper. In recent years, women have moved away from information technology (IT) fields, and the number of women selecting IT majors in universities continues to decline. Likewise, the number of women employed in the IT workforce remains low and declining. Researchers have recognized the problem and have investigated the many reasons for low participation of women in IT-related fields. Researchers have proposed various interventions to fill the pipeline and retain women in computing. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the current state of women in IT. We focus on girls and women at various life stages, from early education to the IT workplace. We also provide a discussion of the various methods and appropriate interventions that may be employed to encourage women to become empowered users of technology worldwide. We use a broad definition of IT, which includes computer science (CS), computer engineering, information systems (IS), information technology (IT), and related professional fields. By examining research from multiple technologyrelated fields, we gain a clearer picture of the many ways that women may participate in IT. Recent research on gender and IT has used an interdisciplinary approach, which has greatly expanded our potential for understanding why women decide not to pursue IT-related fields and how to implement appropriate interventions. Researchers from topics as diverse as IS, psychology, social sciences, education, and feminism, have taken a distinctive approach to understanding why women are not better represented in the IT workplace. We believe this broad, interdisciplinary approach has great potential to understand motivations for women pursuing IT-related careers. As Trauth & Niederman (2006, p. 8) said, “…the IT profession is challenged with meeting the demand to enlarge the IT workforce by recruiting and retaining personnel from historically underrepresented groups.” This chapter looks at women in IT, shedding light on one historically underrepresented group.

Assessment Strategies for Servant Leadership Practice in the Virtual Organization

Leadership in the virtual organization presents unique opportunities and challenges for the manager. Some researchers consider management in the virtual organization to be comprised mainly of challenges while others see it as the opportunity to realize competitive advantage in the global marketplace. Several leadership approaches offer interesting options for the manager within the context of the virtual organization. One standout approach that has gained increasing popularity over the last 30 years is servant leadership in which the leader is servant first. Those managers in virtual organizations who have committed to a practice of servant leadership recognize the need for assessment instruments to help them understand the level of perceived servant leadership characteristics among organizational members under their guidance. This understanding acts as a foundation for training within this context. With this in mind, Laub’s Organizational Leadership Assessment (OLA) offers a reliable survey instrument accepted by the servant leadership practice community. The OLA is easily administered to virtual organization members as a set of Web pages and can be used in conjunction with complementary, third-party data sets such as the World Values Survey database. Future directions for the assessment of servant leadership in the virtual organization include the potential modification of the OLA, as well as the creation of survey instruments to be used in conjunction with it.

Examining Tensions in Telework Policies

This chapter examines workplace policies related to virtual work, with a specific focus on telework policies. Such policies are important to successful telework in communicating rules and expectations and providing a basis for negotiation between individual teleworkers and their employers. A content analysis of 35 state government telework policies revealed that such policies are characterized by two major tensions between autonomy and control and between flexibility and rigidity. The first tension relates to issues such as individual versus organizational responsibility for monitoring performance, providing equipment, and ensuring physical and data security, while the second tension relates to the standardization of working hours and eligibility criteria, whether rules are clear or left ambiguous, and the degree of work/family balance. Although explicit contradictions between stated benefits and realities of telework implementation may be problematic, most of the policies used tension productively by providing enough ambiguity to allow for competing individual and organizational interests to co-exist. Practical implications for teleworkers and their managers are suggested.

Assessing Relational E-Strategy Supporting Business Relationships

As per the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce, the estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the first quarter of 2009 was $31.7 billion. For the same period, e-commerce accounted for 3.5 percent of total sales with a value of $30.2 billion sales. As electronic business (e-business) has become essential in our economy, organizations have begun to demand a return on their investment in such endeavors (Damanpour and Damanpour, 2001). More recently, research indicates that webbased technologies enhance performance when the environmental pressures are high, the technical capabilities within the organization are well integrated, and the management team highly supports and sees value in e-business initiatives (Sanders, 2007). An extensive and diverse body of literature has been produced regarding e-business. One research angle that lacked over the years is the definition and assessment of an e-business strategy (e-strategy). Some efforts were made in evaluating e-strategy through an electronic simulation (Ha and Forgianne, 2006). Another recent research observed that human, technological and business capabilities and e-business implementation influence the business performance at various levels (Coltman, Devinney, and Midgley, 2007). However, both studies did not develop an e-strategy construct empirically tested with managers.

Business Relationships and Organizational Structures in E-Business

In today’s e-business, context, technology, customers, competitors, and partners can change rapidly. Technology can become obsolete in the blink of an eye and customers can appear and disappear with a keystroke. There are practically no barriers to new entrants (competitors) in an e-business world. Likewise, e-business partnerships and virtual organizations become ephemeral and opportunistic in nature. This article explores the dynamics of the changing nature, process, and practice of business relationships and network form of organizations in the cyberspace. It also identifies and discusses a series of management issues raised in the processes of e-partnerships and virtual organizations.

Lessons Learned from the NASA Astrobiology Institute

Complex social, economic, political and environmental challenges as well as new research areas that cut across disciplinary, institutional and national boundaries are catalyzing a rapid increase in geographically distributed work groups. At the same time, advanced information technologies designed to facilitate effective communication and collaboration among remote colleagues are having a dramatic impact on social and professional relationships and organizational structures and forms. The practice of science is one of the domains that are undergoing significant change as a result of this trend toward increased collaboration. In this chapter we describe our efforts to promote collaboration among geographically dispersed multidisciplinary science teams in the NASA Astrobiology Institute. The lessons learned regarding the importance of recognizing and addressing the complex and inter-related dimensions of collaboration have implications not only for science but also for many other contemporary domains of activity.