Towards a revised model of innovation in organizations

Some critics of studies of innovation in organizations suggest that the process of innovation needs to receive more attention. They imply that a process study, as opposed to a survey type research, can offer a deeper insight into the nature of that process. The objective of this study is to enhance our understanding of the process of innovation. For this purpose, a relatively in-depth study of an attempt at innovation in a higher education setting in Iran is undertaken.This research consists of four parts. In Part One, innovation is viewed from a theoretical perspective. Part Two is devoted to the description of the case. Part Three covers the analysis of the case. Part Four comprises the implications of the study for theory and practice as well as a research agenda.Derived from a single case study, the findings can be regarded as indicating hypotheses to other students of innovation. These findings that:(a).Irrespective of its manifestation, innovation is driven by its essence, which is abstract.(b).A process of innovation has two sides: on the surface it is linear and, like an organizational chart, is static; but it is iterative and sine linear under the surface. It is dynamic like the reality of organization.(c).It will be misleading to distinguish between the administrative and technical as a way of accounting for the possible differential impacts of some variables on strategic innovations. (d).Different aspects of the same elements may affect either the initiation or the implementation of an innovation.(e).More attention has to be paid to the relationship between group variables as well as organizational fairness, or equity, and innovation

Forecasting change based on employees' work engagement: case study (civil servants in government organizations in Sanandaj)

The study tries to identify predictors of change acceptance based on work engagement of civil servants in government organizations in Sanandaj. The population of the study is 4235 civil servants in government organizations in Sanandaj. The present study uses stratified random sampling method. Using Cochran's Formula, as many as 352 people were set as the sample size and the same number of questionnaires was filled by the participants. The study was descriptive co relational and was carried out through a descriptive method. A questionnaire was used for data collection to measure the level of work engagement, the questionnaire proposed by Schaufeli and Becker (2003) was used. To measure change acceptance in the respondents, the questionnaire proposed by Saeatchi, Kamkari and Askarian (2010) was designed according to the model by Kurt Lewin. After the validity and reliability of the questionnaires were confirmed, the questionnaires were distributed among the participants. Cronbach's alpha in work engagement and in change acceptance questionnaires were 0.84 and 0.82, respectively. After completing the questionnaire using SPSS20, Pearson correlation analysis and multivariate regression analysis were calculated and analyzed. The results of regression analysis showed that the dependent variable (change acceptance) was directly affected by liveliness and eagerness of the staff. This variable alone explains 44% of acceptance of change variance in this study. The independent variable is directly affected by eagerness variable. This variable alone accounts for 39% of accepting change variance in the population under study. The third determinant of accepting change is the employees' dedication variable. This variable alone amounts to 31% of change acceptance variance by staff in the population under study

Cognitive Dimensions of Decision-Making in Managers; Do Managers Have Different Cognitive Processes in Decision-Making?

AbstractDecision-making is assumed to be one of the most important functions of managers. So much so that the success or failure of the company can be considered to a large extent due to the quality of the decisions made by its managers. The development of methodologies in the field of organizational cognitive neuroscience (OCN) has created hopes for strategic management researchers to understand this managerial function and its dimensions and identify opportunities for interventions to improve it. Nevertheless, there is very little empirical evidence regarding the cognitive dimensions of decision-making in managers, and this has challenged the efforts to achieve the necessary theoretical basis for the development of tools and methods to improve decision-making. In this article and in an attempt to answer some part of this gap in the theoretical body, important processes affecting decision-making dysfunctions in two dimensions of time and uncertainty have been investigated. For this purpose, 62 subjects (33 female) in two groups of managers and people without a managerial background, randomly performed the Delayed Discounting Task (DDT) and Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). The results showed that there is no significant difference between managers and non-managers from the delayed discounting standpoint. Nevertheless, managers had a higher level of risk-taking than non-managers. The results of this study will help researchers in the field of OCN to better understand decision-making in managers and try to provide objective solutions to improve this cognitive function.IntroductionWhile decision-making is among the most important functions of managers, most of the recommendations given by management scholars and professional consultants are either subjective or too instrumental. Cognitive neuroscience methodologies recently have brought some hope to first reach a more profound understanding of this function and then look for opportunities for intervention and improvident. However, very few studies have experimentally examined cognitive aspects of decision-making in professional managers. Here we examined two main aspects of managerial decision-making dysfunctions (time and uncertainty) in a group of managers and non-managers to see if there is any difference between them.Case studyIn this study, the group of managers includes procurement and investment portfolio managers who have lived experience of decision-making under uncertainty.Materials and MethodsTwo behavioral tasks were implemented to assess the time (Delay Discounting Task (DDT)) and uncertainty (Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART)). 62 adults (33 females) were recruited into two groups: 1) managers with at least 4 years of professional experience at the middle management level (N = 29) and 2) participants with no effective managerial experience.Discussion and ResultsStatistical analysis has shown no significant difference between managers and non-managers in the delay discounting task. However, this could be assumed to the small sample size as the median and variance were different in the two groups. In line with former studies, female participants have shown higher discount rates compared to males.In the risk-taking aspect, managers and non-managers have shown significantly different scores as managers were more risk-takers compared to non-managers in BART. However, no significant difference was seen between male and female participants.ConclusionAs one of the first attempts to investigate cognitive aspects of managerial decision-making in managers and non-managers, in this study, two aspects of decision-making dysfunction have been addressed. Results showed that while having no significant difference between managers and non-manager in delay discounting, managers were shown to be more risk-taker compared to the non-manager group. This study will help management scholars to better understand the cognitive aspects of decision-making in managers and look for opportunities to design and implement interventional strategies to improve this function

The Effect of Information Technology (IT) on Organizational Structure in Governmental Banks of Iran

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between information technology and organizational structure in governmental banks of Iran. This study was a correlative survey. Data were collected using two questionnaires. The standard questionnaire of information technology belonged to Zegardy and Ismaili (2007) and the standard organizational structure questionnaire belonged to Robbins were used. Reliability of the questionnaires using Cronbach's alpha method was questionnaire of the information technology was 0.866 and for the organizational structure questionnaire was 0.725. The ideas of a group of experts were looked for in order to determine the validity of the questionnaire. A sample size of 50 subjects was selected in Marivan city's governmental banks. Data were analyzed using SPSS17 and LISREL8.50 softwares. Pearson correlation and linear regression test were used to analyze the data. Results showed that there was a positive and direct correlation between using information technology and organizational structure in governmental banks. In other words, as the using of information technology increases, organizational formality, complexity, and centralization improve

A competency Model of the Organization's Strategy Consultant

Today, the use of strategy consultancy in most organizations is not a choice, but a necessity. Strategy consultants have irreplaceable role in the success of organizations. Competency and competency-based management has been considered widely in recent years. Despite this fact, less attention has been paid to competencies of strategy consultants. This study aims to discover the competencies, determine the relative importance of each competency and finally suggest a comprehensive competency model for strategy consultants. So a mixed (qualitative-quantitative) research was conducted. At the first stage (qualitative research) based on the data approach of Glaser grounded theory and through deep interviews with 21 experts in strategy consulting, 25 competencies of strategy consultants were identified. At the second stage (quantitative research), by fuzzy Dematel method, relative importance of these competencies and the relationships between them have been identified and finally a comprehensive model has been presented. Among the important results of this research is that at the level of main categories, personality competencies and at the level of sub-categories, management and organizational knowledge, strategic thinking, mindfulness and leading the leaders are of the highest importance and effectiveness

Categories growth in strategic management decisions and vector based on the works of Igor. HTML Ansf

ایگور انسف یکی از چهره های کاملا برجسته ی بیست و پنج ساله ی اخیر در زمینه ی آموزش بازرگانی و تجارت است. انجام وظیفه در سمت های متعدد دانشگاهی در آمریکا و اروپا، انتشار مقاله ها و کتابها تالیفی و تحقیقی متعدد که بعضی از آنها با همکاری دیگران تالیف شده و گسترداندن افق نگرش به زوایای مدیریت علمی و علمی ویژگی بارز زندگی حرفه ای او به شمار می آید. وسعت فعالیت های علمی انسف به قدری است که به نظر می رسد او می خواسته هم خود را برای صورت بندی یکی نظریه ی عمومی مدیریت به کار برد. علاقه وافر انسف به رشته مورد علاقه اش باعث شد او فنون، مفاهیم و واژه های متعددی را از چندین رشته به خدمت گیرد و بعضا به نتایجی عجیب برسد. نتایج فراوان تلاش های او نه تنها به لحاظ پرمایگی بل که به جهت صداقت در اظهار عقایدی که گاهی کاملا نادرست یا غیر عملی بوده اند غیر عادی می نماید

Several methods of designing the overall strategy for profit organizations

آشنایی با چند روش طراحی استراتژی کلی در سطح سازمان های انتفاعی درک مراحل برنامه ریزی را برای علاقه مندان به آن بخصوص در سطوح کلی سازمان های چند محصوله و تک تک واحدهای تولید کننده هر یک از آن محصولات آسان می نماید. این روش ها چارچوبهای کلی برای تدوین استراتژی های تفصیلی و جامع در بر گیرنده سطوح مختلف سازمانی به دست می دهد.این راه کارهای عمده مسیرهایی را که امروزه مدیران، متخصصان برنامه ریزی و مشاوران مدیریت عمدتا در خارج برای رسیدن به اهداف خود می پیمایند نشان می دهد و تجربه های ارزشمندی را برای برنامه ریزی به ما می آموزد. این روشها که متعاقبا تشریح خواهند شد با عنوان هایی که در پی می آیند معروف شده اند. روش های مورد بحث عبارتند از: 1. روش تجزیه و تحلیل شرایط بیرونی و وضعیت درونی سازمان 2. تجزیه و تحلیل بدره سازمان با استفاده از چارچوب گروه مشاورین بوستن 3. روش رقابتی پورتر 4. روش تطابقی مایلز و اسنو 5. روش گام به گام و خودروینده مستتر در آثار کوئین و مینزبر

Iranian Industry’s Need for Learning and the Requirements of Creating Learning Industries

Iran’s industry has had a considerable number of difficulties to perform so well as was expected in the post – revolutionary era. Unfavorable legal, political environments combined with eight –year imposed war may be singled out as the root causes of such performances. However, this paper argues that our industry’s lack of realization of its dire need to adapt to the emerging unprecedented environmental challenges is an even more important cause of our industry’s plight. The possibilities of committing our industry to the five disciplines, which are grounded in relevant national cultures, the cultural characteristics, which might curb adoption of the five learning disciplines are explained. Some external as well as internal conditions or prerequisites which must be, met before the five disciplines are activated or operational, are reviewed

Relationship Between Institutional Ivestors Ownership and Firm Performance (Evidence From Theran Stock Exchang Market

Past   studies  suggest   that   the  structure   and   composition   of ownership  affect  a  firm's  goals,   strategy   and  I  or  performance. Most    of   these     studies,     rely    mainly     on    cross     sectional, multivariate  analysis, that  tend  to  reduce  the  complexity of the corporate ownership concentration, ignoring, interaction amongst different  forms  of  ownership,  and  their effect  on  firm   strategy and   I   or   performance.   Focusing    on   the   role   of  institutional owners,   this study  poses  the  following  question:  (1) What  is the relationship   between    institutional   investors   shareholding   and firm  performance?  (2)  Does  the  size  of shareholding  by  other groups    of  stockholders,  modify   this   relationship?  And   ,does corporate governance of a firm and  its ownership structure perse, describe differences  in  performance of the firms. The   data   sample   is   based   on   131   non-financial  companies listed  in  the  stock  exchange  of Tehran.  Data were  collected for a 5    year   period    (1996-2000).   Results    from   Anova,  component analysis   and   multivariate   analysis    indicate   that,    the   size   of outside   institutional   stockholding   have    significant   effect   is greater   for  smaller firms.  Further  investigation,  shows  that  other groups    of  stock   holders   do   not   supplement  the   relationship between institutional  shareholding and firm performance Findings   also    suggest    that    the   ownership   structure    and governance  of the  firm  can  partly   define   the  variation  in  firm performance