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Open Questions and Emerging Issues in the Theory and Practice of Management

Wayne Smith, Ph.D.Department of

ManagementCSU Northridge

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Organizational Technology• Carr, N. (2003), “IT doesn’t Matter”, Harvard

Business Review, 81(5), May. – Information technology (IT) is becoming more

ubiquitous.• In general, (many) more people have access to the same

technologies• Therefore, the capital of technology is beginning to have

more similarities than differences with other capital-intensive activities, such as electricity and railroads (i.e., common carriers)

– Conclusion? IT is increasingly operationally-valuable, but decreasingly strategically-valuable.

• Play defense (decrease risks) rather the play offense (increase rewards)

– This is arguably the most controversial article on IT and management is the past ten years.

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Organizational Productivity

• Zeldes, N. (2009), “Infoglut: It’s the Disease of the New Millennium. How do we Treat It?”, IEEE Spectrum, Oct.– From “plan-driven” to “interrupt-driven” (Mark)

• An interruption occurs approximately every 3 minutes

• It takes 1 minute to “get back to where you were” for each interruption

– Attention Deficit Trail (Hallowell)• Interruptions degrade accuracy, judgment, creativity,

and effective management

– What is “quality” or “creative” time?• Can it be expressly designed into professional life?

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Organizational Complexity• Birkenshaw, J., and Heywood, S. (2009), “Too Big

to Manage?”, Wall Street Journal (MIT special section), Oct. 26, p. R3– Are some companies simply too complex to be run

effectively?• Types of Complexity

– Dysfunctional• Creeps into companies over time, perpetual practices

– Designed• Expecting the benefits of complexity to outweigh costs

– Inherent• The rules that exist when everything else is automated

– Imposed• Largely beyond the control of the organization

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Organizational Psychology

• Rock, D. (2009), “Managing with the Brain in Mind”, Strategy+Business, Issue 56. Autumn. – “Neuroscience research is revealing the social nature of

the high-performance” workplace.”– http://www.strategy-business.com/article/09306?

gko=5df7f&cid=enews2009

– Functional MRI (physiological) leading to a SCARF (psychological) model

• Status and its discontents• A Craving for certainty• The Autonomy factor• Relating to relatedness• Playing for Fairness

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Organizational Networking• Nevo, D., Benbasat, I., and Wand, Y. (2009), “Who Knows

What?”, Wall Street Journal (MIT special section), Oct. 26, p. R3– “Finding in-house experts isn’t easy. But most companies

make it harder than it should be.”

• Types of Complexity– Blogs

• Individual knowledge– Wikis

• Collaborative knowledge– Social Networks

• An organic mix of data, information, knowledge, and “wisdom”– Tagging

• Work experience, currency of knowledge, self-reported extent

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Organizational Efficiency• Gittell, Jody. (2003), The Southwest Airlines Way: Using the Power

of Relationships to Achieve High Performance, New York: McGraw-Hill.– Can an organization have a distinctive set of organizational practices?

• “Relational Coordination”– Leadership credibility (care about workers)– Investment in front-line supervision– Selection and training based on “relational competence” (teams)– Proactive conflict resolution based on mutual understanding– Efforts to bridge work and family– Identification and use of “boundary spanners” (operations agents)– Performance measurement that focuses on processes (not blame)– Maintenance of job flexibility by minimizing work rules– Treatment of Unions as partners, not adversaries– Cultivation of solid relationships with suppliers

• Can other airlines (or other organizations) replicate SouthWest’s success?