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In this paper, we examine how Covid‐19 was utilized by the management of a university as a catalyst for ideological change, with the objective of transforming the ethos of a university management school and the role(s) of the academics employed within. Through new modes of working that maintained corporeal distance between university staff, market‐based ideology was mobilized to institute radical and lasting change within the roles of academics and operations of the institution. We focus on a singular case study: "Blue Management School" (BMS, pseudonym), based within an English mid‐tier research university which has historically embraced corporatization more readily than most of its peers. We conducted a qualitative analysis of management email communications and from interviews with nine academics (both current and former employees) who were working at BMS during the time concerned (March 2020 onward). We observe that Covid‐19 posed significant challenges to corporatized universities, and that university managers at BMS sought to address these challenges by undertaking further steps toward corporatization and mobilizing organizational change legitimized by the need to manage the Covid‐19 situation. This included hierarchical forms of accountability, with academics answering for module content to teaching convenors and the management team ("manager academics"). We draw attention to how management communications carried profound effects for the mobilization of ideological change within the institution, during this period. In addition, academic identity was affected, moving away from traditional research and teaching scholars toward revenue‐generating customer service workers, facilitating a power shift away from academics and further toward managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this essay is to contribute to a new perspective of strategic management by developing a new theory of organizational knowledge. The article focuses on how managers can understand and guide knowledge development processes in organizations. Our epistemology broadens strategic management to also include the advancement activities of the organization. In addition to discussing development of organizational knowledge, the essay also emphasises fundamental consequences for research methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research is a longitudinal study of 10 newly appointed top managers; the research focuses on understanding (1) their business vision and strategy and (2) how they use formal control systems as levers of strategic change and renewal. The results reported in the paper are based on data collected over a period of approximately 18 months following the appointment of each new manager. Analysis of the data suggests that control systems are important levers used to manage both evolutionary and revolutionary change. In situations of strategic change, control systems are used by top managers to formalize beliefs, set boundaries on acceptable strategic behavior, define and measure critical performance variables, and motivate debate and discussion about strategic uncertainties. In addition to traditional measuring and monitoring functions, control systems are used by top managers to overcome organizational inertia; communicate new strategic agendas; establish implementation timetables and targets; and ensure continuing attention to new strategic initiatives. [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]

Research indicates that numerous variables impact a leader's effectiveness. In this study, the authors explore leadership effectiveness in driving change and innovation, along with the precursory skills necessary to do so. The findings confirm previously identified low rates of organizational success with change and point to skill deficiencies as a cause. Specifically, the abilities to communicate appropriately and motivate others significantly influence a leader's ability to effectively implement change and drive innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the best practices in an organizational communication that delivers the highest return. It has been found out that companies having implemented or improved their communication practices with one important deviation can attain 15.7 percent growth in market or shareholder value. Studies showed that progressive companies surpass in the areas such as customer focus, employee engagement, managerial communication, change management, measuring effectiveness, and employer brand. Moreover, the three communication Return on Investment study on the actions that differentiate top performers from other companies provide essential insight how top performers differed over time.

Although commitment is commonly identified as an essential element for the effective implementation of organizational change, little empirical evidence exists to support this claim. We conducted two studies to replicate and extend findings pertaining to Herscovitch and Meyer's three-component model of commitment to an organizational change. In the first study, we examined relations within and across time between employees' commitment (affective, normative and continuance) and level of support for a strategic initiative undertaken by a Canadian utility company in response to deregulation. In the second study, we tested the model in a sample of managers in an Indian organization undergoing major restructuring. In both studies we found considerable support for the relations between commitment and support predicted by the model. However, we also found evidence for potential culture differences. Implications for theory, research and change management practice are discussed. [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 article examines managers' experiences of introducing a team-based work system in a manufacturing firm, and their efforts to manage this. Drawing on a social constructionist view, findings are presented that point to the plurality of 'world views' held among managers responsible for the delivery of change and to the socially contested nature of teamworking. Implications of these findings are pursued, including the need for change agents and human resource development (HRD) specialists to build sufficient time for review and reflection into change programmes. This is central to developing more skilled approaches to balancing inherent tensions in the employment relationship and processes of change, and in creating opportunities for more fluid and open dialogue among different groups and individuals within management in order to enhance processes of learning and understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article refers to research on planning staff effectiveness and presents a planning model. A study of 101 executives found that the strategic planning process needs to be coordinated across divisions. The planning staff model is based on research by Lorange (1980), Quinn (1980), and Javidan (1985). The model categorizes planning staff functions into three groups: input for corporate strategic planning; input for divisional strategic planning; and planning system management. According to Quinn (1980), there are seven characteristics of an effective planning department, such as building awareness of new options and communication channels to promote organizational change.

Tins study investigated the work of managers by attempting to determine exactly what managers do during those instances when they are effective and ineffective. This was done in the belief that ascertaining how manager actions differ during effective incidents and ineffective incidents would provide added insights into the manager's job. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the value of action research, which has been developed by the Tavistock institute of Human Relations in Great Britain. Action research, or the sociotherapeutic approach, is a collaboration between social scientists and managers who identify and try to resolve human problems in the work situation. A project conducted by the Research Department of Ashridge Management College focused on management at small firms. The development of management strategy is defined in three time periods and changes in organizational structure and communication patterns are evaluated. The risk in action research is sharing the decision-making process with outsiders whose expertise is not an exact science.

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.