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 […]
Read More… from How Signaling Motives Send Women Managers Towards the “Glass Cliff”
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 […]
Read More… from Supply Chain Resilience Depends on the Internal Capabilities of Partners
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 […]
Read More… from Crisis Communication: Emphasize the Positive
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 […]
Read More… from Bad Framing Leads to Bad Decisions and Bad (Even Fatal) Actions
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 […]
Read More… from Does Your Organization Need a Chief External Officer?
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 […]
In April 2010, an explosion on an oil rig connected to BP in the Gulf of Mexico threatened the fate of the company forever. The disaster resulted in the death of 11 workers, and approximately five million barrels of crude oil ended up being discharged into the ocean by the time the well was finally […]
Read More… from Ethical Leadership in a Crisis (and to Avoid Crises)
What are the causes of organizational misconduct? How does it spread and what consequences does it have? These questions are the focus of research by faculty from the University of California and INSEAD. Considering the wealth of existing literature on this topic, they examine the causes of misconduct and suggest some safeguards. Organizational misconduct is […]
