Business Models and their Implications for Skills

The dominant political-economic narrative of our time is that, under conditions of global competition with low-wage economies able to undercut even efficient western firms, the only viable and sustainable route to competitiveness is to trade on high value-added goods and services and that these in turn require enhanced skills and knowledge. This kind of analysis finds echo and sustenance in the management literature concerning 'knowledge'. Drawing upon a series of case studies this monograph reveals a more varied and complex pattern of possibilities

Employee ownership and the drive to do business responsibly: A study of the John Lewis Partnership

As a means towards revealing both the strategic and the day to day operational practicalities of managing a ‘responsible business’, this paper reports on research conducted over an extended period in the John Lewis Partnership (JLP). This is a major retail organization based in the UK which operates at scale (90,000 employees and annual sales of £11bn). It has sustained itself as an employee-owned enterprise for nearly a century, and it makes explicit claims to conduct itself in a ‘responsible manner’ which differs markedly from the notions of responsibility maintained by many conventional businesses. But what do these commitments mean in practice and what compromises, if any, do they entail or require, and crucially how are these tensions managed? We find that there are many lessons that conventional organizations could learn from this case, and yet we also show that the process of managing in this responsible way is a practical accomplishment that requires considerable conceptual and applied skills

A response to Snell: The learning organization: Fact or fiction?

Snell in his article in this issue has argued that the moral basis of the learning organization is comprehensively and systematically at odds with the moral foundations of the conventional organization. In this article, this critique of the learning organization is taken a step further. It is argued that, as defined by its proponents, the learning organization is limited by conventional organizational structures and hierarchy, by organizational cultures that frequently encourage anti-learning values and routines, and by shared structures of organizational cognition. It is argued that the learning organization also overlooks the extent to which standards of rationality within organizations arise from dominant external discourses of government and organization

Bureaucracy and beyond: managers and leaders in the 'post-bureaucratic' organization

About the book: Argues for the importance of bureaucracy in organizations Critiques the characterization of bureaucracy often employed in Management, Organization, Political, and Social Theory Includes contributions from leading scholars in a range of disciplines

A Better Way of Doing Business? Lessons from the John Lewis Partnership

The crisis in the modern business corporation has been explored by an increasing number of commentators. Even the chief economist of the Bank of England has expressed his concerns. There have been calls for a different model - mainly based on a wider set of stakeholders. The John Lewis Partnership is one such alternative. It is an extraordinary organization. It is extraordinary in terms of its distinctive features, its longevity, its size (over 90,000 staff) its continuing success, its popularity with staff, customers and the wider public. It enjoys increasing appeal to politicians and management-writers for whom it represents a much-lauded admirable moral alternative to the conventional form of business organization. The key questions include: how does JLP work in practice? What is the link between co-ownership, the JLP employment model, and the performance of the businesses? What is the role of management in the success of John Lewis and Waitrose? Are mutuality, co-ownership and business performance at odds? What is the significance of democracy within the JLP? And probably most significantly: is it feasible for businesses in the public or private sector to replicate or emulate the JLP model

Managerial Dilemmas: Exploiting Paradox for Strategic Leadership

This book undertakes a close analysis of dilemmas and paradoxes in organizations. It critiques the conventional assumption of organizations as rational entities. It is argued that by focusing on and utilizing the power of paradox, organizational leaders can obtain new and deeper insights into the challenges they face and can also contribute more imaginative solutions

‘Nature has no outline, but imagination has’ contrasting executive renditions of the ‘commitment to innovation’

In recent years, corporate and governmental agency declarations of a commitment to, and exploitation of, ‘innovation’ has been pervasive and powerful. In this paper we show how executives rearrange such a dominant societal thematic in order to control their organization in a manner which fits with their interpretative schemas. Drawing upon in-depth research of discourse and action in two major corporations – one in banking and the other in advanced telecommunications equipment design and manufacture – we reveal how senior executives ‘ruled in’ certain ways of talking about innovation and strategy and also as a direct result, ‘ruled out’ other, alternative ways of thinking. Antecedent, formative thinking leading up to the banking crisis of 2008 is explored

A response to Snell

On behalf of