The COVID-19 crisis has sparked new interest in the resilience of organizations in the face of a widespread crisis on the scale of the pandemic. A study by a team of scholars from La Rioja University in Spain and the University of Surrey in the UK identified a surprising negative factor in determining the firm […]
The agile management approach, which began as a project management approach in the field of software product development, rejects rigid structures and processes in favour of customer-focused incremental processes that respond and adapt continuously to changing developments and customer feedback. Numerous methodologies have been developed to ensure the flexibility and responsiveness at the heart of […]
Prior research has revealed a ‘glass cliff’ phenomenon: Companies in crisis situations are more likely to appoint women top managers than companies that are not in trouble. These disproportionate crisis appointments often set up women executives to fail. Some have argued that companies in crisis appoint women as top managers because of stereotypical beliefs by […]
Competition, complexity and global outsourcing are making supply chains more vulnerable to disruptions and interruptions, with issues ranging from inefficient production scheduling to broken equipment to financial crises and natural disasters. Supply chain capabilities, such as adaptability, agility and cooperation among supply chain partners, will help supply chains be more resilient to disruptions. But what […]
Some people are motivated by growth goals — goals that reflect aspirations and ambitions. In psychological terms, these people are promotion-oriented. In contrast, prevention-oriented people are motivated by goals that stress responsibility and safety. The word ‘prevention’ is used since their motivation is often framed by something they want to avoid. For example, prevention-oriented people […]
To make decisions, leaders must understand, to use the vernacular, ‘what is happening’. They must make sense of the events and situations that impact their areas of responsibility; this sense-making not only involves the past and present, but also the future: what is likely to happen. In July of 2005, an innocent man commuting to […]
Uncertainty — such as a coming organizational restructuring, a new CEO brought in to turn around the company, a competitor’s new product or new technology that could derail the company’s market position, an impending sale or merger — can represent a threat or an opportunity. The immediate response to uncertainty usually involves 1) finding more […]
Major social and political events around the world can often have rippling and lasting effects on businesses. Take the tragic fires and accidents in factories in India and Bangladesh during the spring of 2013 that shook the global apparel and textiles industry; companies like Wal-Mart Stores, The Gap, H&M and many others suddenly found they […]
Do soldiers make better CEOs? There is no doubt that the hands-on leadership lessons learned in combat — or in preparation for combat — can seldom be matched by any corresponding leadership learning from business school or a typical corporate environment. Given the stress of war or training for war, ex-military business leaders may be […]
While the commonly accepted wisdom is that new CEOs from the outside will be in a better position to bring change to an organization, the record indicates otherwise. They often fail. Ayse Karaevli of the WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management, and Edward Zajac of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management challenge the conventional wisdom and […]