Incremental innovation in services through continuous improvement
Employees contribute to the process of innovation through engaging in continuous improvement (CI) programmes such as individual suggestion systems or working teams. This article reviews the main features of CI, and examines the results derived from its implementation, what are the most common procedures and what problems arise during operation of these programmes. The empirical analysis shows how a high-tech service of a large public centenarian university faces the challenges of innovation through CI and how its organizational design variables generate a barrier to successful implementation.
Prácticas de alto rendimiento y compromiso afectivo: el papel mediador de la cultura organizacional en pymes colombianas
En los últimos años ha cobrado importancia el efecto de las actitudes de los individuos en la productividad de la organización, razón por la que directivos han enfocado sus esfuerzos en consolidar una base de prácticas universales para promover mejores rendimientos. El fin de este artículo es analizar si la cultura organizacional cumple una función mediadora en la relación con prácticas de alto rendimiento y compromiso afectivo, distinguiendo entre las prácticas que dicen implantar los directivos y las percibidas por empleados. Se utilizan ecuaciones estructurales en una muestra de 601 individuos y 50 directores de recursos humanos en pymes de Colombia. Los resultados no permiten afirmar qu…
Franchising: the dilemma between standardisation and flexibility
Both standardisation and flexibility are naturally linked to franchising and the balance between them has become an important research issue. Literature states that cost minimisation, brand image and innovation are the main reasons that push towards standardisation, while flexibility is claimed (for those that advocate for it) in order to achieve a higher adaptation to local markets and enhance franchisees’ entrepreneurial attitudes. This research will focus on the computer retail sector to find out how franchise networks in services settle this dilemma. Here, franchisors have decided to focus on economies of scale and strong common corporate image as key goals and thus allow franchisees to…
Services supporting female entrepreneurs
There are many public initiatives that fund services which support women entrepreneurship. In order to help them improve, this paper takes a closer look at the characteristics of female entrepreneurs, their motivations, and the difficulties they face in their ventures. Through a literature review and the results of a Delphi study with 25 technicians from an EU-funded support programme, this research concludes that policies for the support of women entrepreneurs should aim at strengthening pull motivators and concentrate in designing programmes specifically tailored to the type of business, focusing on long-term policies rather than short-term initiatives.
Political support for women entrepreneurs
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the application of EU programmes that seek to help women to set up their own businesses and discuss how public measures can help full integration of women into all walks of society, especially within jobs that correspond to their skills and capabilities.Design/methodology/approachAfter a literature review on the difficulties women face to find a suitable job, according to their preparation, their needs and their expectations, and the political considerations to act towards equality, this study is aimed at analyzing a European initiative designed to avoid gendered impacts on the present labour market. Through in‐depth interviews of project leade…
Resistance to change: a literature review and empirical study
This paper examines organizational change, focusing on the distinction of changes according to their scope and presenting a typology of evolutionary and strategic changes. It also offers an in‐depth study of resistance to change. Through empirical research, the paper analyzes the importance of the sources of resistance to change defined theoretically, and considers both types of changes. The article shows which sources of resistance differ most, according to the scope of change, offering hints about where organizations should pay special attention when initiating a change process.
Seeking partners in international alliances: The influence of cultural factors
Abstract Insufficient attention during the search and selection stages of a prospective partnership may jeopardize the cooperation agreement's chances of success. Therefore, in both of these phases, prospective partners must consider factors that could lead to problems in the cooperation agreement or hinder the international alliance. Following a literature review, the study presents five hypotheses to determine how considering the partner's country of origin, the partner's size, and trust between partners can alleviate future problems during the agreement. Regression analysis using data from 83 firms tests these hypotheses. Findings reveal the importance of trust and highlight an interesti…
The impact of ad hoc teams in the automobile industry
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the effect of training on ad hoc teams in an industrial setting.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, data were collected from 11 Spanish automobile manufacturer suppliers and included the assessment of the current situation, the creation and holding of different workshops followed by the collection of the results.FindingsThe paper finds that ad hoc teams are really effective especially in lean companies.Originality/valueThis paper breaks new ground in analysing the effect of training ad hoc teams in an industrial setting.
Cultural audit as a tool to increase employee involvement in small firms: a case study
Employee involvement is a common goal for most companies. This research started when managers of a familyrun horticultural firm decided to increase employee commitment and improve organizational climate. To help them, we considered the possibility of developing a cultural audit, adapting the tool to the fact that it was a small family business. Therefore, this paper will firstly review the existing literature concerning organizational culture, specially which cultural characteristics should be more valuable to achieve employee commitment and involvement and how to run a cultural audit. Secondly, it will expose the design and implementation of a cultural audit at this company, through an exp…
Participative management and its influence on organizational change
PurposeThis paper aims to deal with the influence of a participatory management style along a change process, specifically in seeking to analyze the effect of participative management style on resistance to change and its effects on change performance.Design/methodology/approachAfter a revision of previous literature, an empirical research is presented to test the existence and signs of the relationships between participation and organizational change. To measure the main concepts, the authors have used scales and other measures already published and through a correlation analysis gain some insight into the relationships among variables.FindingsData suggest that participative management mig…
The influence of institutions development in venture creation decision: A cognitive view
Abstract This study seeks to provide new evidence on the way men and women process information in venture creation decision (VCD) and on the differences that may arise when taking this decision depending on the level of development of countries and their institutions. To reach this objective, this study carries out an experiment and identifies 120,536 people from 25 countries. Results indicate that institutions are necessary but not sufficient to achieve quality entrepreneurship, and that information processing is different between men and women, because women, regardless of the level of institutional development, process information similarly, whereas men do not.
The impact of training andad hocteams in industrial settings
This paper aims to reflect the use of training via ad hoc teams to adopt lean production practices. In our research, eleven automobile manufacturer suppliers implement training interventions to achieve better results through lean production, concluding that training helps companies to develop lean production systems and to improve performance indicators.
Women Entrepreneurship and Performance
Research on gendered performance in entrepreneurship is scarce, making the resolution of this issue a relevant research field. Chapter 7 starts by describing what we understand by performance, widening the concept from a financial to an operational or even a stakeholders’ satisfaction level. Next, we present some relevant research that suggests explanations for a gendered difference in entrepreneurs’ performance, mainly in terms of the existence of horizontal segregation, differences in size and in personal attributes of entrepreneurs. The discussion about gender differences in resource possession and accessibility is then introduced as a fundamental concern in this debate, by describing ec…
Análisis de programas de mejora continua. Un estudio longitudinal en una empresa industrial
Las empresas han utilizado diversas herramientas que permiten que los operarios contribuyan al proceso de mejora continua. Entre las herramientas más usadas podemos destacar los sistemas de sugerencias tanto individuales como en grupo. En esta comunicación haremos un repaso de las principales características de ambos sistemas y los modos habituales de implantación. Nuestra ponencia pretende intentar responder a estas preguntas de investigación. ¿Qué resultados se derivan de la implantación de sistemas de sugerencias individuales o en grupo? ¿Cuál de los dos sistemas es más beneficioso para la empresa? ¿Qué problemas surgen durante el funcionamiento de estos programas? Para ello, analizaremo…
Systematic literature review of interpretative positions and potential sources of resistance to change in organizations
Purpose: This article addresses the main concerns of existing literature about resistance to change (RC) in organizations, namely the limited interpretative position regarding RC focusing mainly on negative aspects and excluding potential benefits, and the poor consensus or even understanding of RC sources in organizations. Design/methodology: To approach our goal, a systematic literature review will be carried out. The initial sample, obtained using reproducible search algorithms on Scopus and Web of Science, comprises 65 papers. After applying five inclusion/exclusion criteria supported by previous systematic reviews, the final sample consists of 30 papers. Findings: This article demonstr…
Strategic orientation to educational innovation : A systematic review and conceptual model
Purpose: To carry out a systematic review of the literature on strategic orientation to educational innovation (SOEI), considering methodological and conceptual aspects. Methodology: Four macro-processes were implemented: identification (study location), description (information extraction), in-depth analysis (grouping and characterization patterns) and dissemination. The studies were identified through Scopus and Web of Science. The search expressions yielded 63 documents; afterwards, quality control was carried out using seven inclusion/exclusion criteria; the final sample consisted of 19 documents subject to review. Findings: With regard to methodological aspects, qualitative studies sta…
An empirical study about the effect of cultural problematic on organizational learning in alliances
In an environment where favoring organizational learning is imperative, the option of business cooperation is considered an optimal means to transmit knowledge between companies and to encourage the generation of new ones. But differences in organizational cultures of the cooperation partners can make this process difficult. Through an empirical study of small and medium‐sized companies that had established international cooperation agreements during 1997 and 1998 in the Valencian community (Spain), the influence of the differences in size and in national culture of the partners in organizational learning is observed.
Does the ideal entrepreneurial team exist?
Up until now, studies on entrepreneurs and their relationship to business performance have focused primarily on analyzing the entrepreneur as an individual. While studies have been conducted on the entrepreneurial team, their focus has centered on team size and degree of diversity - cultural, age, gender - leaving a gap in the analysis of the effect of a team’s competencies on the outcome of the ventures. This research aims to help fill this gap by using the psychometric instrument DISC. This research analyzes entrepreneurship by opportunity, evaluating the performance of 109 Colombian companies and the composition of their entrepreneurial teams. The results obtained provide the basis for b…