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This paper elaborates and provides empirical support for two different approaches to managing the nexus of headquarters-subsidiary relations in a multinational corporation(MNC). The first approach is that of Differentiated Fit. We show that the extent to which an MNC differentiates the formal structure of its headquarters-subsidiary relations to fit the contexts of its various subsidiaries, the better the performance of the MNC as a whole. The second approach is that of Shared Values. We show that a high degree of shared values among the headquarters and subsidiaries is another approach to governing headquarters-subsidiary relation that enhances the performance of the MNC. We further maintain that differentiated fit and shared values, while being alternatives, are not mutually exclusive ways of effectively managing headquarters-subsidiary relations. Indeed, MNCs that can simultaneously implement these two approaches have the best relative performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To innovate at work is risky as every new endeavour is also error‐prone. Therefore, the way errors are managed in organisations may be related to organisations' innovativeness. We studied error management culture as one important and often overlooked organisational culture factor hypothesised to be related to organisational and individual innovativeness. Error management culture implies that a firm accepts that people make errors and uses “organizational practices related to communicating about errors, to sharing error knowledge, to helping in error situations, and to quickly detecting and handling errors” to deal with errors (Van Dyck, Frese, Baer, & Sonnentag, , p. 1229). Our sample consists of 30 companies with N = 227 employees. To decrease the problem of common method variance, we split the samples within each company into two subsamples: one subsample was used for the measurement of error management culture and the other one for the measure of organisational innovativeness. A multilevel structural equation modelling (MSEM) analysis showed error management culture to be related to organisational and individual innovativeness. Organisational innovativeness was a mediator for the relationship between error management culture and individual innovativeness. A potential implication is that organisations wanting to increase their innovativeness may need to examine their error management culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the importance of internal transparency in achieving corporate sustainability, the pitfalls of insufficient internal transparency, and ways to attain such transparency. It examines corporate sustainability reports, the overemphasis on external reporting, and the advantage of internal transparency over the external one. Among the ways cited to achieve internal transparency include setting up unfiltered communication in the management hierarchy, and being honest and real.

The article focuses on the implementation and management of Six Sigma methodology in blood service centers. It discusses the responsibilities of chief operating officer (COO) which include ensuring promotion of continued Six Sigma culture, mentoring, and responsibility for project performance communication. It highlights various Six Sigma phases for process improvement and importance of monthly communication meeting among department heads, designated staffs, and COO for project result reporting.

We study the conflict that can occur in a merger due to firms' use of specialized language, or “code,” and whether participants accurately forecast this difficulty. After creating a shared code to describe different pictures accurately, subjects bid for extra payments to join a merged group. The two lowest bidders are placed in the merged group. Values inferred from two different bidding procedures indicate fairly accurate general appraisals of the cost of the merger, but the values of those subjects who bid the least, and choose to join the merged group, are too optimistic, reflecting an “organizational winner's curse.” ( JEL D23, D83, G34, L21, M14) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes that when top management team members are convinced that their leader is committed to people and productivity, they conclude that their leader is effective and contribute to making their organization innovative. Cooperative goals among top management team members may be credible evidence that their leader has people and production values. Executives from over 100 organizations in China completed measures of their cooperative, competitive, and independent goals, their leader's people and production values, and their leader's effectiveness. CEOs from these firms rated their organization's innovativeness. Structural equation analysis suggested that cooperative goals among top management teams convince them that their leader values people and production and that these values in turn result in leader effectiveness and organizational innovation. Results, coupled with previous research, were interpreted as suggesting that cooperative goals and leader people and production values are foundations for leader and top management team effectiveness in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a segment of broader theory-building case study research exploring organizational learning and knowledge processes in a bio-medical consortium. Its focus is the individual-level factors that influence knowledge processes associated with organizational learning. As we explored how organizational learning occurred, the underlying knowledge processes came forward as complex and idiosyncratic. In an unanticipated finding, micro-processes emerged as highly influential, with individual perceptions of approachability, credibility and trustworthiness mediating knowledge importing and knowledge sharing activities. We introduce a model the psychosocial to describe the cluster of micro-processes that were brought forward in the study. Firstly, scientists filtered knowledge importing by deciding whom they would approach for information and from whom they would accept input. The individual's confidence to initiate information requests (which we termed social confidence) and the perceived credibility of knowledge suppliers both mediated knowledge importing. Secondly, scientists mediated knowledge sharing by actively deciding with whom they would share their own knowledge. Perceived trustworthiness based on perceptions of what colleagues were likely to do with sensitive information was the factor that influenced knowledge-sharing decisions. Significantly, the psychosocial filter seemed to Constitute a heedful process with high functionality. Its elect was not to block knowledge circulation, but instead to ensure that knowledge-sharing decisions were made in a thoughtful and deliberate way. The psychosocial filter suggests an initial framework for conceptualizing the role individual-level processes play in organizational knowledge sharing. Building on this, the model provides a platform for more focused exploration of knowledge processes and social relationships in organizational learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of how MNCs manage the organizational culture in their overseas subsidiaries is one of the central questions for managing overseas employees. The study explores how a Japanese MNC in Hong Kong manages its organizational culture across cultures. The results imply that a company will not be effective if it uses artifacts only, such as ceremonies to convey the desired culture to the local employees. The more important mechanism is the human resource management system which is considered as the statement of the company's values, beliefs and assumptions. Since the case company uses a dual human resource management system and a dual control practice for the Japanese and local employees, these practices send out mixed messages and signals to the local employees who cannot project the desired state culture. Furthermore, because local employees bring along with them their values derived from national culture, they tend to adhere to these values rather than those of the company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participators in Farm and Home Development in three states are compared with samples of nonparticipating families of similar ages on characteristics considered indirect indicators of managerial ability to determine if there is selectivity in the recruitment of families and whether such selectivity is likely to influence the effects of Farm and Home Development. Data concerning prior educational and occupational experience, tenure and financial status, communication and information-seeking behavior, and attitudes and values functionally related to management are analyzed. These lead to the conclusion that the process which has occurred in the recruitment of participators in all three states resulted in a group which is above average in managerial ability. This paper is therefore designed to explore the problem of the managerial selectivity of Farm and Home Development. In the absence of direct measures of managerial ability this will be done by examining those aspects of the experience, behavior, and attitudes of participators in Farm and Home Development which are indirect indicators of managerial ability.

The article focuses on corporate culture's contribution to innovation management and the chief executive officer's role in organizational change. Creating and optimizing a corporate culture of innovation based on a technique called Frame Stretching which uses lessons from the story of legendary character Robin Hood is discussed. Recommendations for senior executives who want to become change agents in their organizations are related to the concepts of value-driven leadership, environmental scanning, talent management, and transparency in the communication process.