leadership

[هيون 2008]

• L and M are two distinctive and complementary systems of action

• http://www.asla.org.au/access/a_commentary_180404.htm



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Parallel leadership for 21st century schools (Volume 18 Issue 4, 2004)

Dorothy Andrews and Marian Lewis

Dr Dorothy Andrews is director of the Leadership Research Institute at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ). Dorothy is also Associate Dean (Research and Development) in the Faculty of Education. Dr Marian Lewis, a member of the Leadership Research Institute, is program co-ordinator for the Bachelor of Education (Primary and Middle Schooling) at USQ. Dorothy and Marian have been members of the IDEAS Core Team since 1999. In 2003, the team was awarded the Gold Medal of the Australian Council of Educational Leaders, in recognition for its research and for its work with schools in the development of leadership capacity.

(The views expressed in articles are those of the author(s) concerned and do not necessarily represent the views of ASLA.)



When you first encounter the notion of parallel leadership (Crowther et al. 2001; Crowther, Hann & McMaster 2001a), you may be left wondering how these two words might relate to each other and what the term could mean in a school context. Parallelism is a term rich with meaning: in music, in language, in mathematics, in computer science, and in philosophy (Crowther et al. 2002). In diverse ways, it expresses relationships between elements that are individual yet complementary. When combined with leadership, parallelism can be used to capture a process where teacher leaders work with principal leaders, in distinctive yet complementary ways, towards goals they all share. In combination, they create the concept of parallel leadership, a concept with significant meaning for the work of teachers in 21st century schools.

Our work with parallel leadership is within the context of a whole-school renewal project known as Innovative Designs for Enhancing Achievements in Schools (IDEAS). Since 1998, more than 150 Queensland schools have taken part in the project, which was developed by the University of Southern Queensland in partnership with Education Queensland. In 2002, IDEAS moved into a Federal Department of Employment, Science and Training-sponsored national trial, involving schools in the ACT, New South Wales and Western Australia. Parallel leadership is an underpinning concept of IDEAS.

Change and leadership

It is not new to say that the work of schools and of teachers has become increasingly complex in a rapidly changing globalised world. The magnitude of the challenge now faced by schools is illustrated by the following quotation:

‘…there is taking place now a shift in the way our world is organised and the way in which we see reality; therefore, there has to be a parallel paradigm shift in schools in order that they do not become asynchronous with the society that they intend to serve.’ (Bowring-Carr & West-Burnham 1997, p. 38)

Schools are being given the central role in ensuring our future national prosperity and stability, dealing with many of the problems arising from the transition into a post-industrial world. Teachers are expected to cater for the needs of their increasingly diverse student cohorts and to prepare them for success in a future that cannot be predicted. Meeting the challenges posed by the transition from the industrial age to the knowledge age requires the development of new ways of working and, within that, new forms of leadership. If schools are to succeed in meeting their challenges and enhancing their effectiveness, educational leadership needs to be conceptualised more broadly.

Traditionally, leadership in schools has been associated with positional authority and primarily seen as ‘top-down’, that is, the province and responsibility of the school principal. While this view may have had some justification in the industrial age, it is inadequate in meeting the challenges of the post-industrial, knowledge-based world (Andrews et al.2004; Crowther 2002). More recent views of educational leadership tend to recognise the potential of much more broadly based types of leadership within the school community (Clarke & Dempster 2003). Parallel leadership is a particularly powerful understanding of shared leadership with ‘teacher leaders and their principals engaging in collaborative action to build capacity. It embodies mutualism, shared purpose and respect for individual expression and contribution’ (Crowther, Hann & McMaster 2001b, p, 14).

New paradigm

Parallel leadership is a way of describing teacher leaders working in parallel with administrator leaders to build on their school’s successes and enhance their achievements— together building their desired future for the school. It encompasses the notions of teachers as leaders, of teacher leaders working in parallel with principal leaders and of principals leading in ways that enable teacher leadership. Each of these will be considered, followed by an example of parallel leadership in action.

Teachers as leaders

Crowther et al. (2002) argue that educational leadership in the post-industrial world must involve teacher leadership, which they recognise as having ‘the power to transform the teaching and learning in a school’ (p. xvii). Research into the work of teacher-leaders conducted by the Leadership Research Institute (LRI) at the University of Southern Queensland has tried to describe teacher leadership and to outline its essential features. The following definition emerges from that work:

Teacher leadership derives from the distinctive power of teaching to shape meaning for children, youth, and adults. It originates in principled world views and manifests in processes of learning that engage the school community in concerted action. It contributes to enhanced quality of life of the community in the long term. It appears to reach its potential in contexts where system and school structures are facilitative and supportive (Crowther et al. 2001, p, 70).

LRI research confirms that it is possible to describe teacher leadership in quite definitive terms, as outlined in the following Teachers as Leaders framework (adapted from Crowther et al. 2002, pp. 4-5). Teacher leaders:

Convey convictions about a better world, for example, by articulating a positive future for their students and contributing to an image of teachers as professionals who make a difference

Strive for authenticity in their teaching, learning and assessment practices, for example, by creating learning experiences related to students’ needs and connecting teaching, learning, and assessment to children’s futures

Facilitate communities of learning through organisation-wide processes, for example, by encouraging a shared, schoolwide approach to pedagogy and facilitating understanding across diverse groups while also respecting individual differences

Confront barriers in the school’s culture and structures, for example, by testing the boundaries rather than accepting the status quo and standing up for children, especially marginalised or disadvantaged individuals or groups

Translate ideas into systems of action, for example, by maintaining focus on issues of importance and nurturing networks of support

Nurture a culture of success, for example, by adopting a no-blame attitude when things go wrong and acting on opportunities for others to gain success and recognition.

Parallel leadership

Parallel leadership involves teachers and principals working collaboratively (in complementary but different ways) to build the capacity of the school to enhance its outcomes, particularly in relation to teaching and learning. This is what King and Newmann (2000) call ‘enhanced organisational capacity’, and what some other researchers have called ‘value-addedness’. As Walsey points out:

‘Simply put, new and different working relationships need to be established between teachers and administrators in order for any new leadership role to make a positive and lasting contribution to the improvement of teaching and learning in any given setting' (cited in Sherril 1999, p. 57).

Parallel leadership is a concept that arises from emerging views of educational leadership as something that is shared or distributed across the school. But, as Crowther et al. (2002) point out, it is different in two significant ways:

It sees the leadership of principals and teachers in school reform as similar in significance (they are different but equivalent).

It recognises today’s schools as learning organisations and assumes an inextricable link between school-based leadership and the enhancement of educational outcomes.

Parallel leadership has three distinct characteristics: mutualism, a sense of shared purpose, and allowance for individual expression (Crowther et al. 2001). The first characteristic, mutualism, is a form of mutual trust and respect between teacher leaders and the principal leader—as each accepts the responsibilities and expertise that are associated with the role of the other. An environment of mutual trust and respect supports the generation of new ideas and the valuing of others’ expertise.

The second characteristic, a sense of shared purpose, appears to have its origins in a shared commitment to explicit values such as the integrity of teaching or the need for social justice. It tends to develop most effectively in contexts characterised by transparent decision processes, collaborative problem-solving and positive communications (Andrews et al. 2004) .

The third characteristic of parallel leadership relates to the allowance of a significant degree of individual expression (and action) by respective leaders. Initially, this may seem contrary to concepts such as teamwork, collegiality and consensus decision-making. However, LRI research clearly indicates that highly successful parallel leaders have manifested strong convictions about individual values as well as a capacity to accommodate the values of co-leaders and work collaboratively with them.

The following definition of parallel leadership incorporates these three characteristics:

Parallel leadership engages teacher leaders and administrator leaders in collaborative action, while at the same time encouraging the fulfilment of their individual capabilities, aspirations and responsibilities. It leads to strengthened alignment between the school’s vision and the school’s teaching and learning practices. It facilitates the development of a professional learning community, culture building and schoolwide approaches to teaching and learning. It makes possible the enhancement of school identity, teachers’ professional esteem, community support, and students’ achievements (Crowther et al. 2001, p. 73).

Principal’s role

From our research into successful school revitalisation, undertaken largely in conjunction with the IDEAS project, the LRI has reached four fundamental conclusions regarding the principal’s leadership role in 21st century schools:

The principalship remains critically important to educational success.

The principals who engender sustained success do so because they work in parallel with other school leaders including teacher leaders.

Principals take on a metastrategic role, along the lines developed by Limerick, Cunnington and Crowther (1998).

Since parallel leadership cannot occur without teacher leadership, principals must be competent in enabling teacher leadership and subsequent parallel leader relationships.

It can be convincingly argued, therefore, that parallel leadership plays a vital role in successful and sustainable school renewal, and that teacher leadership is essential to parallel leadership. It follows that principals seeking to work in parallel with teacher leaders need to enable and support teacher leadership in their school. This presents challenges for principals. In summary, these challenges are:

to communicate a clear strategic intent

to incorporate the ideas and aspirations of others

to pose difficult-to-answer questions

to make space for individual innovation

to know when to step back

to create opportunities out of perceived difficulties

to build on achievements to create a culture of success.

(adapted from Crowther et al. 2002)

These challenges may pose difficulties for principals who continue to equate leadership with positional authority or who rely mainly on systemic support structures to provide the direction for their schools. Evidence suggests, however, that most principals derive deep satisfaction from their efforts to develop the leadership capabilities of teachers and to establish new forms of leadership with them. They also find that the effectiveness of their schools increases in important ways.

Creative process

The three aspects of the parallel leadership paradigm outlined above suggest that school leadership should be approached as essentially a creative process. Through this kind of leadership:

‘…new and powerful forms of knowledge can be stimulated, revitalised identity in our school communities can be established, and challenging new professional roles for teachers can be activated. Images of this sort are far removed from the authoritarian control that was frequently associated with school-based leadership a generation ago, or even the hierarchical accountability that tended to dominate educational thinking just a decade ago' (Andrews et al. 2004, p. 22).

The school’s engagement in a whole-school revitalisation process, as outlined in the case study, is a process that centres on the work of teachers. In the process of developing a distinctive school culture through the vision and schoolwide pedagogy, teacher leaders work in parallel with administrator leaders. Teachers develop their pedagogic leadership role while administrator leaders take on a strategic leadership role. The dynamics of developing this distinctiveness is shown in figure 1.



Source: Andrews & Crowther 2002, p. 154.

Figure 1: Parallel leadership and enhanced school outcomes.

School-based leadership is an important factor in enhancing capacity to improve student outcomes (Crowther et al. 2001; Crowther, Hann & McMaster 2001a). Through parallel leadership, three school-based processes can be activated and integrated. These processes are: schoolwide culture building; organisation-wide professional learning; and development of a schoolwide approach to pedagogy. LRI research has consistently shown that through engagement in a process (in this case the IDEAS process), teachers learn together in their professional community, develop an agreed schoolwide pedagogy and transpose this into practice. It is through the interaction and alignment of these processes that school communities are able to enhance their capacity to improve school outcomes.

References

Andrews D, Conway J, Lewis M, McMaster J, Morgan A & Starr H 2004, School revitalisation: the IDEAS way, ACEL Monograph Series 34, Australian Council for Educational Leaders, Melbourne, Victoria.



Andrews D & Crowther F 2002, 'Parallel leadership: a clue to the content of the "black box" of school reform', International Journal for Educational Management, vol. 16, pp. 152-159.



Bowring-Carr C & West-Burnham J 1997, Effective learning in schools: How to integrate learning and leadership in a successful school, Financial Times Pitman Publishing, London, UK.



Clarke S & Dempster N 2003, 'New leadership for new times', Leading Matters, vol. 2, no.2, pp. 1-2.



Crowther F 2002, 'Big change questions: Is the role of the principal in creating school improvement over-rated?', Journal of Educational Change, vol. 3, pp. 167-173.



Crowther F, Andrews D, Dawson M & Lewis M 2001, IDEAS Facilitation Folder, Leadership Research Institute, University of Southern Queensland and Education Queensland.



Crowther F, Hann L & McMaster J 2001a, 'Leadership', School Innovation: Pathway to the Knowledge Society, Innovation and Best Practice Consortium, Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs, Australia.



Crowther F, Hann L & McMaster J 2001b, 'Parallel leadership: A new strategy for successful school reform', The Practising Administrator, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 12-14.



Crowther F, Kaagan S, Ferguson M & Hann L 2002, Developing Teacher Leaders: How teacher leadership enhances school success, Corwin Press, Thousand Oaks, California.



King MB & Newmann FM 2000, 'Will teacher learning advance school goals?' Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 81, pp.576-580.



Limerick D, Cunnington B & Crowther F 1998, Managing the New Organisation, (2nd ed),: Business and Professional Publishing, New South Wales.



Sherrill J 1999, 'Preparing teachers for leadership roles in the 21st century', Theory into Practice, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 56-61.



Case study

Western State High School—Parallel leadership in action

Western State High School is a large high school on the outskirts of a major provincial Queensland city. The school has experienced considerable growth during the past few years and the school population reflects the cosmopolitan nature of its surrounding community. Within this community, the high rate of youth unemployment is considered to be a major concern.

IDEAS (Innovative Designs for Enhancing Achievements in Schools) was adopted after discussions with the district director. From the school's perspective, no particular expectations were associated with the project at the outset, though interest was high due to the success of a similar ‘re-visioning’ process in the school some years earlier.

The principal and deputy principal assumed major responsibility for initiating IDEASin mid 1999. A small number of teacher leaders, characterised by the dual qualities of personal assertiveness and professional conviction, quickly assumed key roles and ensured that IDEAS at Western High was very much a teacher-directed process. Potential industrial issues were carefully managed at Western, reflecting, to a large degree, the professional accommodation of the school administration and the professional flexibility of teacher leaders.

A further notable characteristic of IDEAS at Western High was the flexible nature of the involvement of participants, including the very significant role that students played. Perhaps most obvious was the engagement of students in teasing out Western High's pedagogical framework. Surveys were constructed and trialled, and while the open nature of the surveys made data collation complicated, the detail of student responses surprised and pleased the team managing IDEAS. The seriousness with which students treated their involvement in IDEAS since the outset encouraged the school’s IDEAS team to go back to the students with the difficult issue of trying to define the school vision in practical terms.

IDEAS continues to function effectively at Western High, with the pedagogical framework currently going through its third revision. Western teachers move in and out of various roles in the process as they choose to do so. Decisions are taken by consensus. Time is treated flexibly, with deadlines studiously avoided. Communication with more than 80 teachers on staff creates difficulties but these are addressed through regular meetings run by Heads of Department. The clear message that IDEAS is not a ‘have to’ project continues to provide the impetus for authentic and widespread involvement.

In summary, IDEAS leadership at Western High is distinguished by some striking features, including:

A proactive, highly integrated senior administration team

A cadre of assertive, confident teachers

Flexibility in school development and decision processes

Systematic processes for pedagogical conceptualisation and refinement

Continuous public image building

A highly engaged student body.

The experience of Western High illuminates what is possible in state high schools—a source of community identity and pride, an exemplar of sophisticated democratic decision-making, and the generation of new forms of pedagogical meaning through teacher-led professional learning that engages students and parents. Western High has not yet reached its ultimate goal, and may never do so, but it provides strong evidence to support our view that in the communities of the future, state high schools can and should be the central institution.



© ASLA Inc., 2004

Prepared by: ASLA Webmaster (asla@asla.org.au),

Last updated: 21 December 2004

[هيون 2008]

• L and M are two distinctive and complementary systems of action
http://www.refresher.com/!thoughtpartnerships.html




Thought Partnerships: Creating Value Through Generative Thinking
by Daniel D. Elash, Ph.D. and James R. Long, Ph.D.
Executives just aren't getting it! They're looking to others for answers. They attend workshops where little work occurs but where experts (real and self styled) lecture on the latest approach to the "what", "when" and "how" of solutions. If some members of the audience become too involved in dialogue during the lecture, others feel cheated because they aren't getting enough of the expert's insights. They seek magical answers in some guru's six principles or a facilely framed top ten list. Harried executives don't have time to think; don't take time to think.
Without a deep, cogent, and abiding understanding of your organization and the unique context in which you find yourself, the application of someone else's key principles is insufficient. It isn't gathering information that's counterproductive. It's allowing the experts to think for you rather than to think with you that's the problem.
Our traditional model of management says our leaders are the executives and managers who run the organization. Just because you are managing something does not automatically make you a leader. "Leadership and management are two distinctive and complementary systems of action…. Most U.S. corporations are over managed and under led." (See Kotter, 2001)
Indeed, the most crucial criteria of leadership are people willing to follow. It is our belief that everyone in an organization should act, at times, from a leadership perspective; they should shoulder some responsibility for taking a leading role in enacting the strategic intent. The level of leadership responsibility will vary depending upon one's position. People in all leadership positions need to be thinkers, and in higher-level positions, they need to be skilled critical thinkers. One cannot effectively lead while s/he is a passive consumer of other people's thoughts, hopping on the bandwagon of each new business insight. In order for executives to enable their organizations to learn, there must be a network of thought partners throughout all levels of the organization, who buckle down and think things through together. The alternative is to have one thinker with lots of non-thinking doers (the traditional approach), which wastes an organization's intellectual capital.
The Traditional Business Paradigm
Why do we need to consider new ways of working together to produce value? Aren't the old ways good enough? Today's workplace is very different than what existed 10 or 20 years ago. The lessons of the past are insufficient to see us through. In the industrial era, workers did a job (see Wm. Bridges, 1994). That job was defined, clearly articulated and tightly circumscribed. Flexible applications, creativity, innovation, and personality were not sought, encouraged or offered. Much like the guilds of medieval Europe, experienced crafts people passed on their knowledge to apprentices and new comers. For over one hundred years, running a company successfully meant reapplying the prevailing business paradigm to each new business situation. That culture did little to encourage thinking on an organizational level.
In today's reality we see, "…the factors that define an organization's capabilities and disabilities evolve over time---they start in resources, then move to visible, articulated processes and values; and migrate finally to culture" (See Clayton M. Christensen, 2000). If we look at today's requirements for success, we can appreciate the changes. To be successful today with value-creating endeavors requires a different sense of working together. It involves more than simply being a co-worker. It involves a shared vision (See Peter Senge, 1994), which is a mutually agreed upon and understood purpose. It also assumes that people in the same organization share similar values and commitments toward mutually beneficial outcomes. Fundamental to these assumptions is the necessity for people to be thinking together and doing it well. These factors help define the organization's culture. Enterprise success will not come from the efforts of isolated genius, but from exploiting the concept that nobody is as smart as everybody, and nurturing the capability for thinking together.
There are three primary reasons for this need to work differently together:
• Access to unlimited amounts of information is virtually immediate; the learning curve is steep as we acquire new information at increasingly rapid rates, and we struggle to find timely methods for sharing knowledge among all levels of the organization.
• There are discoveries in one field of knowledge that have an immediate and dramatic effect upon other fields of knowledge, increasing the interconnectedness of learning across fields of knowledge.
• Technological improvements have led to disruptive technologies, which have literally made the impossible of the past not only possible today, but probably soon to be outdated and passé.
Today's Changing Business Climate
"A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter---and getting faster than most companies"(See Levine, et. al., 1999). Markets are getting smarter because consumers are talking to other consumers, thinking together, learning from each other. These same consumers go to work each day in companies where they also collaborate and problem solve. Leadership involves nurturing the conditions that foster thinking together, while mitigating the barriers that hinder us (See Senge, 1999). Developing and preserving social capital rivals our efforts to leverage intellectual capital in importance. Yet, many executives have been slow to depart from traditional management thinking and embrace the value of social groups or communities of practice within organizations. They continue to prefer formal organizational units to less formal structures, and to focus responsibility on individual workers rather than self-organized groups (See Cohen and Prusak, 2001).
As new paradigms emerge, nobody knows what answers will remain correct. Yet, managers are still expected to deliver the right results. The managerial challenge is no longer defined by the presentation of questions that need answers; it's now centered on the importance of thinking through new situations. Too many of us have been taught in school to memorize information, learn steps, regurgitate the correct answer, etc.---but not to think (see de Bono, 1982). Given the speed of business today, people will tell you that they don't have time to think. Too many co-workers (and bosses) would look askance at someone squirreled away---thinking---during the course of the business day. People are expected to know the answers already.
The equation is simple. New conditions require new behaviors that must be grounded on the social contract of today, where people are taking more control over their lives; thinking through the choices that come with more alternatives. In spite of the reported resistance by people to change, we know of obvious examples of how social innovation fosters flexibility in organizations. One example is the rise of the self-organizing team, people who are capable of organizing themselves into groups for specific purposes: The activities of the police and firefighters of New York as they worked at ground zero shortly after the tragedy occurred on September 11th in 2001, exemplifies the work of self-organizing teams. Local leaders were killed, the chain of command disrupted, communications chaotic and danger was omnipresent. Still, people needed to be rescued and evacuated; fires needed to be fought; the situation controlled. Emergency workers reorganized and carried on.
It isn't that the idea of self-organizing teams is a new one. In the 1998 Steven Spielberg movie, Saving Private Ryan, we saw a dramatization of the realities of combat where soldiers must face the loss of leaders, the threat of dying and the unexpected. In the chaos of battle, soldiers will self-organize for survival purposes. These activities significantly depart from any predetermined formal plan of battle. There are many examples in military history where self-organization has made a difference in the success of an important mission. The point is that meaningful change can and does occur quickly, in the right circumstances.
Although the traditional management philosophy in this country is still prevalent, there are organizations where knowledge workers, in their efforts to create value, are encouraged to think together to:
• Share information to acquire and transfer knowledge
• Collaborate to shift organizational paradigms/assumptions
• Add to or enhance existing skills
• Engage in social innovation ideas and strategies
Executives who fail to encourage and support social innovation become a barrier to the success of organizations. Organizations that succeed foster the development of leaders throughout the organization and enable all employees to form thought partnerships with key stakeholders and allies.
What is a Thought Partnership?
Relationships become key to the effective sharing of needed information. These collaborative relationships create the connections inside the organization required to operationalize its strategic intent. We refer to these relationship interconnections as "thought partnerships." More specifically, a thought partnership is a relationship formed among two or more people, in a value creating enterprise for the purpose of generating social or intellectual value.
The challenge of building leadership capabilities at all levels of the organization is as critical as it is daunting. The business literature, both popular and academic, is rife with examples of companies whose managers knew what they needed to do, but who could not operationalize their purpose. Company investments in executive development, leadership development and/or management development do not guarantee an individual's success. However, some companies like GE, PepsiCo, and Dell (see Tichy and DeRose, 1996) succeed, both in developing leaders and generating results.
Successful companies develop leadership skills within a strategic context and in a disciplined manner: routinely, rigorously, and repeatedly. Any company can do this if the purpose is clear, key supportive relationships are established and the needed information to complete a successful program is available.
To lead in today's workplace, one must communicate in a consistent and effective manner. Success at work requires people to do several things in a collaborative way, that is, doing things with others rather than to others. The following is a thought-provoking partial list of critical success factors for leadership:
• Contract for purpose - Assume that different points of view predispose us to hear, interpret, and use what we hear in highly personalized ways. When we begin to collaborate with someone, even with someone with whom we have worked in other areas, we need to clarify the nature, purpose and goals of the connection that we want to establish.
• Speak the language of your audience - Articulate your ideas, but communicate in a manner that is understandable to your audience. Think of your comments as your efforts to market your point of view. The context in which the message is delivered can be as powerful as the presentation logic.
• Be able to articulate a compelling vision - People collaborate effectively when they see a mutually desirable outcome. The person seeking to establish the thought partnership has the responsibility for defining the shared vision.
• Use storytelling - As a primary technique for presenting complex ideas, such as the business idea, or the company's brand promise, storytelling is a powerful vehicle for communicating a shared perspective.
• Be an Active Listener - Active listening is a fundamental element of dialogue. Listening for understanding is more effective for building partnerships than is listening to find fault or to gain advantage. Highly effective partnerships cannot exist without a foundation of authentic conversation.
People work together to help one another evolve their thinking and stretch their paradigms. They do that in some of the following ways:
• Offering people experiences that generate new awareness.
• Dramatizing the gap between what people want and what they do.
• Challenging illogical conclusions drawn from experience.
• Connecting or distancing new ideas and developments to old assumptions.
We can all think of instances where people work together as thought partners in a variety of activities such as: learning/teaching, theory development, mental model building, team working and/or problem solving. These are task-oriented instances, and often ad hoc by nature. However, we don't have a term encompassing that range of shared activity among people. They are partnerships based upon ongoing processes that encompass a shared vision and a network of mutually complementary and authentic relationships, striving to contribute to social innovation. We are offering the term "thought partners" as a way to talk about, to consider and to explore the nature of these relationships. "Companies are inventing new ways of doing business together that are bringing unprecedented gains in profit and competitiveness…the emerging term for these new relationships is partnering."(See Rackham et. al., 1996)
There are examples of real world situations that demonstrate this concept. In the movie, Apollo 13, the NASA engineer walked into the room filled with a problem solving team of workers, laid down several pieces of material, and said: "This is what they have to work with…. figure out a way to clean the filter." This dramatization of a real life effort where success was a function of close working relationships generating effective results irrespective of status or level of training.
We have recently learned that our military success in Afghanistan was in part related to the success of specialty trained ground forces working in conjunction with native alliance troops. The effectiveness of this partnership among alliance forces and U.S. ground and air support was in contrast to the effort in Kosovo, where the military capabilities were available but the partnerships did not exist. The difference in levels of effectiveness was the presence of networked relationships in the Afghanistan effort.
On February 9th of 1999, ABC News's Nightline program aired a show that explored the Creative process at Ideo, Inc., a leading product development firm. The program was entitled, "The Deep Dive," which is also the phrase that Ideo uses to describe its innovation process. During the course of the program, Dave Kelley, Ideo's founder and CEO, was interviewed and a project team was shown in action. Ideo's process is also described by Tom Kelley and Christopher Littman in their book, The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from Ideo, America's Leading Design Firm, (2001). When they're describing the essential element of the Deep Dive process, they're talking about a robust thought partnership. Their mantra posits the idea that, "enlightened trial and error succeeds over the planning of the lone genius." In describing the process behind Ideo's success, Kelley's conversation is full of references to learning, exploring and observing to get below the surface.
To support its success, Ideo clearly forms thought partnerships with their clients as well as depending on those internal partnerships to create the value they are in business to produce. In this joint collaboration, they find a richer source of innovation and intellectual capital than by working within the bounds of typical, hierarchical relationships.
Summary
Executives must become leaders by abandoning the search for quick answers and glib explanations. Leaders, by definition, are engaged in deep thought about the situations in which they assume the lead. The traditional business paradigm of the past did not really require an entire organization to think well. A few thinkers in key roles were sufficient. That paradigm is gone. That expectation is not only wrong but also counterproductive.
Today's business circumstances require crisp organizational thinking. Leaders must arise at all levels of the organization to assure speed and agility within the strategic intent. Scattered examples of lone genius are insufficient when competing against an organization rife with networks of thought partners and social innovators.
The examples mentioned above are representative of the kinds of thought partnerships we believe lead to success. Much of the work done by individuals can be improved by collaboration with others. In doing so, they can talk about the work, share tacit knowledge, teach and learn from each other, identify the context in which problems occur and discuss new creative and innovative ideas.
An executive staff person approaches the CEO's office and asks the Executive Secretary if the CEO is busy. The Executive Secretary answers by stating that the CEO is not available because he or she is thinking. This isn't a typical cameo of today's business culture. When it is, we will no longer be concerned about whether or not American executives are "getting it", and that development will signal the beginning of a new more enlightened management paradigm.
The authors are asking the readers of this article for help. Please send stories of successful "thought partnerships" working in your company; generating value in today's workplace. We think that it's happening, that people are self organizing in ways that aren't appreciated. We'd like to hear tales from the trenches. We will use some of your stories in our future work. Please send stories to Dan Elash at delash@syntient.biz .
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Senge, P, et al., The Fifth Discipline, Doubleday, New York, 1994
Senge, P, et al., The Dance of Change, Doubleday, New York, 1999
Tichy, N.M. and DeRose, Christopher, "The Pepsi challenge: Building a Leader-Driven Organization," in Training and Development, May 1996.
Wheatley, M., Leadership and the New Science, published by Berret-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco, 1992.
________________________________________
Daniel D. Elash, Ph.D. - Dan is the principal of Syntient. Dan's Doctoral Degree is in Psychology from the University of Kansas. Dan's consultant expertise includes enhancing organizational capability through collaboration and facilitating change at the individual, team and organizational levels. Dan is a speaker and teacher who places strong emphasis on developing social innovation in client organizations. His consulting client base is diverse, including industrial, retail, financial and service companies. Dan uses communication and community building as fundamental platforms for generating and sustaining personal and organizational capability. E-mail: delash@syntient.biz and visit www.syntient.biz (http://www.syntient.biz/) .
James R. Long, Ph.D. - Jim Long is a principal and senior consultant with PERSOMA Management, Inc. Jim holds a Doctorate in Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of Pittsburgh. His leadership experience includes roles as military officer, manager, executive coach, consultant, business principal and board member. Jim has always had an interest in viewing organizations as systems. He has first-hand managerial experience leading organizations during various stages of change, in both growth-oriented and downsizing circumstances. He has worked with both small and large profit and non-profit organizations and firms. His clientele includes organizations in healthcare, technology and manufacturing areas. Jim has worked with individual leaders, executive teams and leadership groups of managers. Jim can be reached at jlong@persoma.com or by calling 412-824-5359.
Many more articles on Creative Leadership, Partnering & Alliances and Executive Performance in The CEO Refresher Archives

Copyright 2002 by Daniel D. Elash and James R. Long. All rights reserved.
Current Issue - Archives - CEO Links - News - Conferences - Recommended Reading

[هيون 2008]

Leadership Style, Regime Type, and Foreign Policy Crisis Behavior: A Contingent Monadic Peace?
Authors: Keller, Jonathan W.1

Source: International Studies Quarterly; Jun2005, Vol. 49 Issue 2, p205, 28p

Document Type: Article
Abstract: While a substantial body of theory suggests that democracies should behave peacefully toward all states (monadically), most empirical evidence indicates they are only pacific in their relations with fellow democracies (dyadically). A new theoretical synthesis suggests that the missing link between democratic constraints and pacific monadic behavior is leaders' perceptions of, and responses to, these constraints. Research on political leadership indicates that, contrary to conventional wisdom, leaders respond in systematically different ways to domestic constraints:“constraint respecters” internalize constraints in their environments, while“constraint challengers” view such constraints as obstacles to be surmounted. An analysis of 154 foreign policy crises provides strong support for this contingent monadic thesis: democracies led by constraint respecters stand out as extraordinarily pacific in their crisis responses, while democracies led by constraint challengers and autocracies led by both types of leaders are demonstrably more aggressive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Author Affiliations: 1¹Southern Methodist University
ISSN: 0020-8833
DOI: 10.1111/j.0020-8833.2005.00342.x
Accession Number: 16719705
Persistent link to this record: http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=afh&an=16719705
Database: Academic Search Elite

[هيون 2008]

M is responsible for effective use of all resources. L is a sub-section of M (human resource) - still predominant view

http://www.globalbusinessinsights.com/rbi/report.asp?id=rben0172


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[هيون 2008]

Defining, formulating and implementing strategy and its implications for change

Johnson and Scholes (1993) identify a number of characteristics that help to define strategy. These lead them to offer the following definition of strategy:

Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long term: ideally which matches its resources to its changing environment, and in particular its markets, customers or clients so as to meet stakeholder expectations. (Johnson and Scholes, 1993: 10)

This definition recognises internal (resource) as well as external (environmental) factors affecting organisations and the need for change as part of the process of strategic adaptation. The process of matching resources so that an organisation may be able to operate effectively in its 'marketplace' clearly suggests identifying and developing its resource capability or 'organisational competence. In addition, it points to the need to recognise other resource implications that stem from this matching process and to respond to these through appropriate change (Johrison and Scholes, 1993; Burnes, 1996). This may result in the restructuring of existing resources and other attempts to use these more efficiently, or acquiring new resources, perhaps by replacing some existing ones.

This approach to strategy, focusing on the internal, resource capability of an organisation as well as the challenges which it faces in its external operating environment, has the potential to enhance the role that HR strategies may contribute to the change process as an organisation attempts to adapt itself strategically (Purcell, 1995). Although an organisation's human resources are only one aspect of its resource base, this approach suggests that recognising and developing these resources will not only help an organisation to match them to changes in the environment but also create 'distinctive capabilities' to seek (further)

competitive advantage (Kay, 1993; Purcell, 1995). Burnes (1996: 142) recognises that
'the capabilities of an organisation, in terms of its structure, systems, technology
and management style, restrict the range of strategic options the organisation can
pursue'. If an inadequate resource base has the ability to restrict the capability of an
organisation in relation to competitors, the development of its resource capability
may, conversely, help it to develop the scope of its strategic options. We now explore
this argument in relation to the formulation and implementation of strategy in
practice.
.
Strategy as a deliberate process

There are essentially two views of the process of formulating and implementing strategy. The classical, or textbook, view advocates a linear, rationalistic and deliberate process, driven from the top of an organisation. This process involves a number of strategic planning steps including analysing the organisation's environment and its resources, establishing organisational mission and objectives, identifying and evaluating strategic options, and then implementing and evaluating chosen strategies (see, for example, Certo and Peter, 1988; Johnson and Scholes, 1993). Underpinning this approach to strategic management is a range of techniques and tools, ranging from a SWOT analysis to a variety of diagrammatic and quantitative methods.

This approach to the formulation and, in particular, the implementation of strategy would provide a 'neat' model to which to attach the HR strategies discussed in this book. To use Purcell's (1989) terminology in relation to strategy, the need for and direction of such HR strategies would flow logically from the 'first-order' strategic decisions taken 'upstream' in relation to the formulation of an organisation's future direction. Thus, the design of HR strategies to help to implement the overall strategy of an organisation would be part of the same linear, rationalistic and deliberate process described in the previous paragraph. However, while this approach may occur in broad terms in particular cases, the development of strategy is unlikely to happen in reality in such an apparently planned and orderly manner in many others.

Strategy as an emergent process

In contrast to the formalised strategic planning process outlined above, Mintzberg (1987) refers to the approach of 'crafting strategy'. He sees the development of strategy as analogous to the approach of the craftswoman or craftsman, whose knowledge and skills means that they conceive of (formulate) as well as execute (implement) their work in an integral manner. This provides a powerful contrast to the formal planning approach. Mintzberg's work suggests that organisational strategies often emerge from the work of those in an organisation and the opportunities that become apparent rather than being deliberately planned. Thus, the formulation and implementation of strategy is, in practice, a more integrated or fluid process, rather than being different stages in a deliberately planned and formal process.

Page – 14- 17

The Implementation and impact of change

The implementation of strategic change is likely to be problematic. This is especially likely to be the case in situations where this type of change involves people, and 'in which personal relationships and emotional responses are predominant' (McCalman and Paton, 1992: 18). Mabey and Salaman (1995) consider a number of perceptions about the management of change that will affect reactions to it. Amongst these factors are whether change is perceived as 'deviant or normal' and 'threatening or desirable' (Mabey and Salaman, 1995: 73). Change judged as deviant will be perceived as imposed and outside prevailing cultural norms. This is likely to generate resistance at various levels. Change seen as threatening is also likely to meet resistance and this will require careful implementation to overcome the fear amentation to overcome the fear aPerceptions about the nature of change and the need for it will therefore affect reactions to it.

The methods used to implement change will have an important role in affecting the nature and strength of these reactions. By methods, we refer to whether change is implemented as a 'top-down' or 'bottom-up' approach, whether its intention is transformational or incremental and whether it is a rapid or gradual process. There are clearly links between these facets of the implementation of change. Choice between these approaches will affect perceptions about the degree to which change is accepted or resisted and whether it is seen as imposed and controlled or, to some extent, participative. In addition, the exercise of choice between these approaches may affect the extent to which any resultant change is intended (that is, planned) or unintended (unplanned). We consider these aspects of implementation and their possible implications.

Top-down change is associated with the strategic planning approach discussed in the previous section and is designed and driven by an organisation's senior management. Nicholson (1993) believes that it will be necessary to use this approach to bring about radical change in an organisation. Another advantage of this approach is suggested by Mabey and Salaman (1995: 105) linked to the provision of 'a clear, sustained direction that is well resourced and co-ordinated'. However, where this approach is associated with a 'transformational' approach to change (e.g. Beckhard, 1992) its impact and effectiveness are frequently criticised. Change that is intended to be transformational will affect many aspects of an organisation and levels within it. It will require the creation of a new mission and future direction, alterations to the dominant values, beliefs and perceptions in the organisation with fundamental implications for the organisational paradigm and distribution of power, new structures and methods of working. In this sense, such change is seen as radical and discontinuous (see, for example, Levy and Merry, 1986; Beckhard, 1992).

Beer et al. (1990) are amongst those who criticise this type of approach to change because they believe that its use is not effective. They do not believe that intended change will be generated simply by changing organisational structures and imposing new systems. The change that is realised will not be that which was intended. This has clear implications for the use and nature of HR strategies, as we discuss in the next section. Pettigrew and Whipp (1991:176) are amongst those who also criticise this approach and it is worth considering the following quotation from them to understand why.

[T]he evidence from our research suggests that rigid or programmatic conceptions of the translation (change) process are of little use in understanding how that process works in practice. ... The subsequent interpretation by those affected and the myriad local adjustments are of equal importance. The translation process is the outcome of multiple actions. Sequential, linear programmes of implementation fall down because organisations fail to fit such straitjackets. In practice, attempting to carry out a given strategy or seeking to act out a plan invariably leads to its re-formulation.... Putting a concept into practice leads to valuable clarification of the original.


Mabey and Salaman (1995: 74) refer to this process as one of 'co-construction'. In this process any attempt to implement change will be interpreted and acted upon by the individuals and groups who are affected by it. This may result in these individuals or groups adopting behaviours that effectively minimise or even negate the purpose of the intended change. The top-down approach to change may also be criticised where it is used in environmental conditions associated with a high level of unpredictability. This may result in the design and attempted implementation of changes that have a low level of credibility with those affected by them.

Perceptions about change will affect its acceptance and may lead to forms of resistance. We have seen that such reactions will be shaped by perceptions about the need for and nature of change, and the way in which it is implemented. In this context, we also need to add perceptions about the expected outcomes or impact of change, which we discuss latter in this section. In practice, there will be relationships between these facets. They are singularly and jointly capable of generating forms of resistance (or acceptance). We now focus on issues of implementation in particular.

Resistance to change may occur at a number of levels in an organisation, from senior managers down. We saw in the previous section that the dominant culture in an organisation is capable of masking the need to introduce change. Even when the need for change is recognised this will be interpreted through the prevailing organisational culture. Transformational change is of course likely to be aimed at changing this prevailing culture, resulting in conflict and clear implications for the use of HR strategies, as we discuss below. We also saw that the organisational culture and structures of an organisation confer power on individuals and groups. Managers and others may attempt to influence the implementation of change in order to maintain their power, with the outcome that some of its intentions are subverted.

More generally, resistance may arise from past personal investments, uncertainty, identification with previous organisational routines and ideological objections. Organisational participants may resist attempts to change the tasks that they undertake, their methods of working, those with whom they work and the way in which they are rewarded because of their sense of familiarity with these aspects and investments in forms of job control. In contrast, a situation of change may be associated with uncertainty and threat, and organisational participants may attempt to import as many of the practices with which they are familiar to their new work situation. Some participants, especially managers, may have been responsible for or involved in the introduction of previous organisational routines and may experience a 'loss of face' and sense of resistance to changes to these practices (Mabey and Salaman, 1995:112). More generally, transformational change will alter the ethos of an organisation and lead many who have long service to regret the passing of the previous set of values. This undoubtedly helped some of the privatised public corporations in Britain in the 1990s to achieve high downsizing targets. Resistance to change may be seen as a form of withdrawal, and complete withdrawal with compensation may be seen as a preferable alternative by some organisational participants who will be most resistant to the need to adapt to a new situation and values.

Resistance to transformational change is likely to be higher in comparison to the 'task alignment' or bottom-up approach described by Beer et al. (1990) (discussed later). Beckhard (1992: 96) suggests ten organisational prerequisites which 'must exist before transformational change can be achieved in an organisation'. These are summarised in Table 1.3. The nature of these points is supported or complemented by other authors (for example, Huse, 1980).

A major distinction may be drawn between a top-down led attempt to generate transformational change and a bottom-up approach to bring about incremental change. The bottom-up perspective is associated with the emergent approach to the development of organisational strategy, discussed in the previous section. It is 'bottom-up' in the sense that, according to Beer et'al. (1990), the change process commences in an operational part of an organisation away from its corporate centre, and is led by the operating unit's general manager rather than its corporate management. The change process will focus on a specific business problem and the strategy to overcome this will emerge through the efforts of those engaged in this situation. Beer et al. outline a number of stages in order to realise effective change, summarised in Chapter 3, in Fig. 3.6. These are underpinned by the use of, for example, team working, joint problem solving, producing a shared vision through involvement, and equipping those involved with competencies which are specific to the requirements of the change situation. Beer et al. support the redeployment or release of those who do not fit into the changing situation and replacement of these employees by others to facilitate change. They believe that the implications of this emerging strategy and incremental change process for other functions in the organisation need to be worked out through experience rather than being imposed. When each part of the organisation has recognised the need to change and how best to implement this within the overall requirements of the 'new' organisation, Beer et









Table 1.3 Beckhard's ten organisational prerequisites for transformational change

Priority
Prerequisite

1
Ensuring senior management commitment to the proposed changes which needs to be visible to all participants throughout the organisation.


2
Producing a written statement about the future direction of the organisation that makes clear its new objectives, values and policies.

3
Creating a shared awareness of conditions to produce a common perception that change must be implemented.

4
Assembling a body of key managers and other important opinion-formers to gain their commitment to the change process so that this may be disseminated more widely.

5
Generating an acceptance that this type of change will require a longtime to implement fully even though there may be short-term, dramatic changes as part of the overall process of transformation.

6
Recognising that resistance to change is part of the normal process of adaptation, so that managers can be educated to be aware of this and equipped to manage this reaction.

7
Educating participants about the need for change and training them with the necessary competence to be effective, to overcome resistance and gain commitment.

8
Persevering with the change process and avoiding blame where an attempt to implement a facet of this process fails. Such negative action will generate resistance and reduce necessary risk-taking behaviour.

9
Facilitating the change process with necessary resources.

10
Maintaining open communication about progress, mistakes and subsequent learning


Source: Developed from Beckhard (1992).















Page – 25- 26

Who will be responsible for leading the implementation of the change process?

In Table 1.3 we noted how Beckhard (1992) stressed the importance of assembling a body of key managers and other important opinion-formers to gain their commitment to the change process so that this may be disseminated more widely. We also noted the importance of equipping those responsible for implementing change with the necessary competence to be effective through overcoming resistance and gaining commitment.

This raises the question of the best choice of principal person(s) to implement the change process. Mabey and Salaman (1995) suggest that there are three sources for the choice of candidate(s): line managers, HR specialists and external consultants.

Line managers
It is a recurrent theme throughout this book that the responsibility for conducting HRM in recent years has moved from the HR specialist to the line manager. Indeed, it was noted earlier in this section that Guest (1987) specifies one of the goals of strategic HRM as integration of line managers with HR philosophy. It is often they who communicate plans to their workforce, explain the relevance of those plans to the pursuit of the overall business strategy, operate the personnel procedures and monitor the performance of those procedures. In addition, they perform the critical function of managing the resources necessary for effective implementation of the strategy.

As Chapter 2 explains, one of the reasons for this assumption of greater responsibility by line managers for managing employees is organisational structures which hold line managers more accountable for the economic performance of their unit of the organisation. It follows from this that they have a close interest in the contribution that their workforce is making to the unit's goals. Arguably, this will increase the likelihood that managers will take personnel issues 'seriously'.

Mabey and Salaman (1995) note that HR changes will stand a greater chance of
being implemented effectively if they are conducted by line managers because of
their greater 'local' knowledge. They have a better idea of what will work and what
will not. However, there is a fear that line managers may be so close to the
situation that they do not see the need for change as sharply as the 'outsider'.
Additionally, they may be so concerned with the pressing, everyday minutiae of
managing the work of their unit that change issues may be constantly put in the
'pending tray'.

Human resource specialists

It would be wrong to conclude that the increasing importance of the line manager signals the demise of HR specialists. They have a key role to play in implementing change. The strategic HRM approach, depicted in Fig. 1.1, points to the HR specialist in a 'changemaker' role (Storey, 1992). In this the HR specialist has a close awareness of the organisation's operating environment and business plans, devises the personnel strategies to generate the HR outcomes in Fig. 1.1 and is in a position to ensure congruence between personnel, structural and cultural strategies. Mabey and Salaman (1995) note also that HR specialists have an important role in securing the resources necessary for the change programme and selling the ideas of HRM changes to other managers.

This somewhat optimistic portrait of the role of the HR specialist in implementing change seems not to be borne out by the evidence. Storey (1992), in a study of fifteen UK organisations, reports that there was little evidence of the HR specialists adopting the changemaker role. The lack of status of the personnel function in the UK has long been noted (see, for example, Sisson, 1994) as an impediment to HR specialists playing a strategic role through influencing business strategy. The point remains, however, that strategic HRM does afford HR specialists the opportunity to make a major contribution to organisational change.

External consultants

In addition to line managers and HR specialists working in concert in the implementation of organisational change, the services of an external consultant may be called upon. The external consultant may adopt a variety of roles from providing change recipes 'off the shelf for the client, through recommending courses of action based on problem diagnosis to helping managers to implement measures which those managers have designed.

Mabey and Salaman (1995) suggest that the engagement of external consultants affords managers two main advantages. First, they bring a fresh, 'objective' perspective to organisational problems, which may be helpful as a catalyst in developing novel solutions. In addition, they often bring to the organisation experience of problems and solutions in other organisations. However, there can be a major disadvantage in the engagement of an external consultant. This is where the consultant works on the early phases of the change project and is not in place to follow through or evaluate its success. This disadvantage may be overcome by the adoption of what Schein (1988) called the 'process consultation' model of consultancy. This is where the process consultant helps the client to perceive, understand and act upon process events in the client's environment (discussed in more depth in Chapter 10). An important part of process consultancy is the consultant passing on his/her skills to client managers in order that they may become a process consultant in their own organisation (Coghlan, 1993).














Page 131 – 134

Performance management: old wine, new label, new flavour

What is performance management?

Clark (1995: 187) indicates that 'there is no single universally accepted model of performance management in use'. It is a term which originated in North America and is used to describe an integrated set of techniques which have had an independent existence under their own names (e.g. performance appraisal). Storey and Sisson (1993) note that at its broadest the term can mean any activity which is designed to improve the performance of employees. At its narrowest performance management is used to refer to individual performance-related pay. The definition we adopt in this chapter is that which emphasises the three basic activities recognised by Storey and Sisson (1993). These are:

1. setting clear objectives for individual employees which are derived from the organisation's strategy and departmental strategies (or, as they call this, 'departmental purpose analysis');

2. formal monitoring and review of progress towards these objectives;

3. using the outcomes of the review process to reinforce desired employee behaviour through differential rewards and identifying training and development needs.





















Fig. 5.1 The performance management Cycle

Clark (1995) stresses one additional performance management activity which you will have noticed is emphasised at Siemens Standard Drives: that of feeding back to the employee the results of the formal monitoring.

Clark, like Storey and Sisson, emphasises that performance management's set of processes is operated in a cycle (see Fig. 5.1). In Clark's cycle there is a stage which is placed after the four stages of setting objectives, measuring performance, feeding back results and rewarding based on results. This stage entails the possible amendment of objectives and changing the activities which contributed to the performance measure. This creates a direct feedback loop to the setting of objectives.

Storey and Sisson (1993) also build in feedback loops. Employees have their objectives set in accordance with corporate or departmental strategy. A feedback loop is evident at this point to allow amendment to the objectives in the light of particular departmental strengths and weaknesses. At the next stage formal monitoring and review of progress towards those objectives takes place. This generates the outcomes of differential rewards and identification of training and development needs. Another feedback loop is inserted after this stage 'to allow renewed individual objectives so that the department may adjust its mission in the light of enhanced performance levels achieved' (Storey and Sisson, 1993: 134).


Self Check – questions

5.1 Why do you think stage 3 of the performance management cycle shown in Fig. 5.1, feeding back results, is so important.

5.2 What skills do you think line managers must use in order for stage 3 to be performed effectively?

Why is there such interest in performance management?

 A major study of performance management (Institute of Personnel Management, 1992) claims it offers several advantages. Among these are:
 more effective employees able to meet increased product market competition;
a greater opportunity for employees to share in the organisation's vision and the way to realise that vision;
 the pushing of key decisions down the organisational structure to line managersand supervisors (note the importance of this at Siemens Standard Drives);
 a greater acceptance of accountability by line managers of the necessity to make such decisions (note the importance of this at Siemens Standard Drives); and
 reward structures which forge a clear link between individual and/or group performance.

You will note that these claimed advantages for performance management have a missionary zeal about them suggesting that they have an important part to play in the generation of organisational change. They are a long way from the traditional 'just another piece of personnel bumph' view of performance appraisal so prevalent in many organisations.

We will now explore in more detail the ways in which performance management may contribute to organisational change. These are: communicating the organisation's mission; making employees more effective by linking their performance objectives to those of the organisation; involving employees in decision making; assisting restructuring through the devolvement of decision making; making managers manage; linking employee rewards to individual performance; reducing trade union influence; and developing employees in line with organisational goals.

How performance management may contribute to organisational change
Communicating the organisation's mission

Performance management is characterised by the major influence the organisation's strategic objectives have upon the definition of unit, department, team and individual performance objectives. Siemens Standard Drives is a good example of this. The mission is to be market leader by 2005. This provides a clear focus and rationale for all the change the company is promoting. The challenge for senior managers is to get all employees to be committed to the mission.

The pursuit of employee commitment to the organisation's mission is something which has dominated people management thinking in recent years. Beer et al. (1984) specified commitment as one of their 'HR outcomes'. Guest (1987) identified commitment as one of the four goals of HRM together with strategic integration, flexibility and quality.

Legge (1995: 180) suggests that the orthodox interpretation of commitment 'is operationalised in terms of three factors: a strong desire to remain a member of the organisation; a strong belief in, and acceptance of, the values and goals of the organisation; and a readiness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organisation'. Guest (1987) argues that the theoretical proposition which follows from this orthodox interpretation of commitment is that organisational commitment will result in high employee satisfaction, high performance, longer tenure and a willingness to accept change.

The research evidence on the effects of employee commitment is inconclusive,
not the least reason being the difficulty of separating cause and effect (Legge, 1995).
For example, you may be asking: does the opportunity to negotiate individual
performance objectives cause employee commitment or does a committed employee
define the objective-setting process as negotiation where, in truth, it is little more
than imposition with a cursory opportunity for the individual to disagree? What
this suggests is that testing the theoretical proposition that employee commitment
leads to specific outcomes is extremely difficult.

However, we need to make two points here. The first is that managers have taken this theoretical proposition as an act of faith on the assumption that employees who 'sign on' to the organisation's goals are more likely to be effective performers than those who are at best apathetic or at worst alienated. Notwithstanding the complexity of the topic masked by its seeming simplicity, it is a compelling argument. The second point is that without the communication of the organisation's mission, commitment to it is impossible. Performance management offers an excellent opportunity not only to introduce the mission but to reinforce it consistently through regular reviews of individual performance.

Making employees more effective by linking their performance objectives to those of the organization

Much of the writing on HRM in recent years has stressed the importance of integrating human resource activities with the strategic objectives of the organisation (Beer et al., 1984; Fombrun et al, 1984). This may take the form of, for example, selecting the sort of people who have the potential to deliver a contribution specifically to organisational objectives and training them in such a way that such performance may be realised. But performance management offers the most obvious link. As you saw at Siemens Standard Drives, the performance objectives of individuals are derived from the organisation's objectives.

This raises the question of the extent to which designing a clear link between individual job and organisational objectives will actually create that connection in practice. For reassurance, doubting managers may turn to goal-setting theory (Locke et al., 1981). Goal-setting theory has a long history which has been substantiated over 30 years of research. The components of the theory are that:

 clear and challenging goals lead to higher performance than easily attainable goals, those goals at which you try your best or no goals;

 goals affect performance by directing employees' attention and effort, increasing
their determination to succeed and motivating them to develop strategies for
achievement;

 goal-setting is most likely to improve employees' task performance when goals are clear and challenging; employees have sufficient ability to achieve them; supportive managers give regular feedback on the level of progress being made; tangible rewards, such as money, are given for goal achievement; and employees accept their goals.

Many performance management schemes involve setting employees challenging goals. An oil company in which we did research call them 'stretch goals'. An insurance company whose performance management scheme Phil studied (Lewis, 1998) emphasised that rewards would only be given to those employees who demonstrated improved performance; performing at last year's level, however good, simply wasn't good enough. You may be thinking that this reveals a particularly 'hard' side to performance management. What it does imply is the necessity for managers to ensure that the opportunity is available for individuals to demonstrate improved performance.

You may have noticed the close relationship between the performance management cycle in Fig. 5.1 and the last set of components of goal-setting theory listed above (i.e. the necessity for goals to be specific and sufficiently challenging, the subjects to have sufficient ability, feedback to be provided to show progress in relation to the goal, rewards such as money being given for goal attainment, a supportive manager and assigned goals accepted by the individual). The first stage (setting objectives), the second stage (measuring performance) and the fourth stage (process outputs, in particular, reward) relate to goal-setting theory.

The acceptance by the individual of assigned goals suggests that mere imposition of goals by managers is unlikely to lead to goal acceptance, goal pursuit and, therefore, organisational change in line with strategic objectives. There may be two reasons why managers impose rather than negotiate objectives. The first relates to what Marsden and Richardson (1992) call 'information asymmetry'. This occurs when managers control all the information relevant to performance management. They set objectives, define performance measures, conduct appraisals and decide rewards. It is easy to see why some managers may prefer to do this: it enables them to retain the power which they derive from their managerial status and it makes them less accountable for their actions. We explain below how performance management has the capacity to change the organisation by making managers more accountable to their employees. This happens at Siemens Standard Drives where dialogue is encouraged to foster the 'open and honest' values the organisation is seeking to create. The second reason why managers may impose rather than negotiate objectives is structural. In many large organisations, such as the building society where Phil studied performance management, the objective-setting process is a mini-industry (Lewis, 1998). Goals are 'handed down' to over 700 branch managers through their area managers. In reality there is little scope to amend the content of these goals which relate to the outputs (e.g. mortgage sales) the manager is expected to achieve. However, there is scope for area managers to negotiate process goals, on the way in which the branch managers perform their duties (e.g. leadership style of branch staff).

The provision of feedback to show progress in relation to the goal is the third stage of the performance management cycle. This is a powerful indicator of performance management effectiveness. Some organisations have weekly, monthly or quarterly progress meetings and reviews. This is a very demanding and time consuming process for managers. This element of the performance management cycle needs managers who are not only prepared to spend the time, but who are committed to , the style of management which is consistent with emphasis upon giving feedback. Their concern is for management processes, rather than outputs being their sole concern. This 'new style' managerialism is characterised less by concern for the technical side of individuals' jobs than by talking to them about what they do to ensure everything is right for them to do their jobs. The 'new style' manager is supportive, a team leader, a coach and facilitator. This is precisely the vision senior managers have for group leaders at Siemens Standard Drives, confirming the impressions of Storey (1992) in his research at fifteen mainstream UK organisations.

Giving rewards such as money for goal attainment raises the contentious question of individual performance-related pay which we cover in some detail below. Suffice it to say at this stage that for many employees the achievement of goals is a reward in itself, providing that other preconditions of goal-setting theory have been met.





Reward management processes: their role in changing employee behaviours

In this section we consider key reward management processes which are associated with the reward management structures analysed above. It is our view that these processes are usually given scant attention in the reward management literature. The emphasis is invariably upon structures. However, the soundest structures based upon a clear view of the values which underpin the organisation's reward strategy are of little value if they are implemented ineffectively. If that is the case they are unlikely to lead to the reward strategy playing its part in encouraging the changed employee behaviours necessary for organisational change.

Here we do not discuss, as we did in the previous two sections, the processes associated with each of the reward management values. Instead we concentrate on two process issues: employee involvement and communication. It is these two which appear to be the most significant and which are given the most attention in the literature.

Employee involvement
We make the point in the section on values that employee involvement in the design and implementation of reward strategy is likely to lead to greater employee acceptance of the strategy. This acceptance means that the change organisations seek to generate through revised reward strategies is likely to be achieved.

Schuster and Zingheim (1992) advocate that employee involvement in the design of reward strategies may occur at five stages. In the first of these there is a feasibility study to establish precisely what is expected both from a new reward strategy and the involvement of employees in its design. In the second stage a task force is set up. This may comprise about a dozen members: managers, supervisors and employees. The group's task is to consider all the possible methods of achieving the expectations defined in the first stage and to put a proposal to senior management about the purpose and content of the new reward strategy. At the third stage the strategy is implemented. Schuster and Zingheim assert that involved employees should be held accountable for the results achieved following monitoring of the strategy. This means monitoring not only the pay strategy itself but also the process of its design. The fourth stage is particularly important. This is the communication of the strategy to affected employees and training of those supervisors and managers who have to implement it. The more radical the new strategy the more the communication effort is necessary as, for example, British Gas Trading discovered when it needed to announce details of a pay freeze for some employees and reduced rises for others in the light of a predicted downturn in the business cycle (Welch, 1998). The final stage is monitoring and evaluation where the task force meets regularly to review progress.

Schuster and Zingheim (1992) make two further valid points. The first is that organisations may consider an employee attitude survey prior to the consideration of a new reward strategy. This can be seen as an important part of the communications effort in that it sets the climate for introduction. Their second point is equally important: employee involvement will not be sufficient in itself to lead to reward strategy success. They argue that new pay plans must be technically and qualitatively sound in order that they may be effective.

The way in which employees are involved in the implementation of reward strategy is equally important. In Chapter 5 we noted how employees may be > involved in the processes which are crucial to the effective implementation of performance management. Among these are the setting of performance objectives. The point here is that objectives are more likely to be accepted by employees if they have had a hand in setting them. Similarly, criteria for measuring performance which are not simply imposed by the line manager without consultation are more likely to be seen as valid by employees.

In team-based pay schemes the implementation processes which are of particular importance are similar to those in individual performance-related pay. Such decisions as the method of setting team objectives, performance measurement criteria and the method of determining the amount payable lend themselves to employee involvement. This last issue may be particularly important in team-based pay, assuming the award is given to the team based on overall team performance. The team may then make its own decision as the way in which that allocation should be distributed to team members. After all, team members are best placed to judge the contribution of individuals. We have all been in teams where some of the
members haven't pulled their weight. In such cases, the hardest decision team members have to make is to allocate less to individuals whom they thought contributed least. To empower the team to give less to these individuals would be a powerful form of poor performance control - probably a good deal more powerful than that which the line managers would impose.

The potential combination of financial and non-financial rewards highlights the importance of employee involvement in reward strategy implementation. This is where employees may be involved in a choice as to how their rewards are distributed. So-called 'cafeteria' benefits systems are more popular in the USA than in the UK. They allow employees some freedom of choice over a range of benefit options within the constraint of the overall amount to which they are entitled. Although such systems are more prevalent for senior managers, most of us place different values on aspects of reward. Some, for example, would prefer to forego cash to enjoy private health benefits or a sabbatical period. Armstrong and Murlis (1994) note the difficulties inherent in managing such schemes, not the least of which are the tax complications which can arise. The point remains, however, that it may be a more imaginative use of the employee rewards which finds acceptance among some employees.




















Page 252 – 258

Downsizing

What is downsizing?

Downsizing is an organisational strategy to reduce the size of an organisation's workforce. It is frequently used as a synonym for redundancy. Although references in the media often associate downsizing with redundancy, it may involve a range of methods, as we saw in the case of BT where significant numbers were also reduced through natural wastage. In this sense downsizing may be seen as a term that includes some of the methods that have traditionally been seen as alternatives to redundancy. These methods include the use of natural wastage, early retirement, voluntary as opposed to compulsory redundancy, freezing recruitment, redeployment and retraining. Freeman and Cameron (1993) offer two further distinguishing features of downsizing in relation to redundancy (or 'layoffs' as this
is referred to in the North American literature). For them, downsizing is an
organisation-level concept whereas redundancy is approached at the level of the individual. Following from this differentiation, downsizing should be approached as a strategic issue whereas redundancy is an operational one.

The purpose of and problem with downsizing

The purpose of downsizing is to provide a means to improve organisational
performance (Kozlowski et al, 1993). However, this statement of purpose may be
criticised for being too general, since it can be associated with either a short-term
goal to cut costs, or a more fundamental and longer-term aim to realise
improvements related to greater effectiveness, efficiency, productivity and
competitiveness. This distinction, and the fact that downsizing is frequently linked
with the former goal and the use of redundancy, leads to the fundamental problem
associated with its intended purpose. In practice, pursuing short-term cost cutting
through redundancy to reduce headcount is likely to lead to the loss of key
competence and to the creation of lowered morale and insecurity. This outcome
may adversely affect, rather than improve, aspects of the performance of an
organisation. Even the use of a more carefully managed and longer-term attempt to
restructure and transform the organisation may still have adverse effects. Thus,
downsizing is likely to be associated with the creation of negative psychological and
behavioural consequences for survivors no matter how well it is managed. The
management of this type of change therefore needs to alleviate the causes of such
consequences as far as is possible and reduce their effects.

Organisations as well as human resource management theorists often recognise the importance of committed employees (see, for example, Guest, 1987). Alternatives to a strategy that encourages employee integration with, and commitment to, the goals of an organisation (see Chapter 8) may be to muddle along or to seek to use an approach that overtly increases the degree of managerial control over the workforce. However the use of either of these approaches may only work effectively in the short term where no attempt is made to manage the issues which arise from downsizing. In relation to BT, Doherty et al. (1996: 56) illustrate how commitment may have been affected, through the view of one of their participants:

What drove us on to complete the project, even with its impossible targets, was our professionalism and our relationship with the customer to whom we were committed. It had little to do with loyalty to the company. :

The need for organisational commitment and loyalty is likely to be more significant after the advent of downsizing since those who remain become more important to the functioning of the organisation. However, this is likely to be threatened if the organisation does not purposefully intervene to foster commitment, unless its employees maintain some sort of third-party relationship with its customers, perhaps related to a sense of professional commitment.

Shaw and Barrett-Power (1997) recognise that the measures typically used to assess the effectiveness of downsizing from a corporate perspective are clearly inadequate as a means to understand and manage the impact of this process on stakeholders such as work groups and individuals who survive this event. Typically, corporate measures are related to profitability, productivity, investment returns, customer satisfaction ratings, etc. While these may indicate that downsizing has had a negative impact on those who survive as employees in the organisation, they can only serve to highlight the presence of psychological and behavioural consequences for survivors. There is evidence of the existence of such consequences, and their adverse effect on expected corporate outcomes from downsizing, from the findings of a number of USA-based surveys. Mishra and Mishra (1994) cite Tomasko (1992) who reported survey research that found that just one-quarter of surveyed organisations had realised their objective of improved productivity, higher investment returns, etc. Similarly, a survey by the Wyatt Company of 1005 organisations found that less than half of those surveyed were able to agree that they had achieved a particular organisational objective related to a desire to reduce costs, improve productivity, increase investment returns, or increase profits, etc. (Cameron, 1994a).

We believe that these USA-based survey findings suggest the need for similar research in other countries to see if their results can be replicated. But in any case, our view is that the continued commercial success of many organisations that have engaged in significant downsizing programmes means that there is a need to interpret the results of such surveys with a degree of caution. Whilst a failure to achieve a key objective following downsizing may indicate the presence of psychological and behavioural reactions from survivors we believe that such consequences may be present even where corporate results do not point to this outcome. A range of contextual variables could affect, and disguise, the impact of negative reactions of downsizing survivors on the commercial performance of an organisation. These include the nature of the technology being used, the skills of the workforce, the nature of work processes, and the need for innovative behaviour. For this reason, we believe that the negative impact of survivors' reactions may be hidden from an organisation's 'balance sheet', at least in the short term.

Thus, rather than diminish the importance of the study of this area of change management where organisations continue to demonstrate commercial success, we believe that it may be claimed to increase its significance. Even where observable commercial costs are not recognised it may be the case that a significant adverse impact has occurred. This may be related to the creation of negative psychological consequences for survivors or to the altered profile of an organisation's workforce, which impairs its ability to demonstrate adaptability to altered circumstances in the future (see Chapter 2).

To summarise our discussion so far, it has been suggested that the intended reason for organisations to downsize is to achieve an improvement in organisational performance. However, it has also been recognised that the creation of psychological and behavioural reactions from those who survive this process may lead to the impairment, rather than the improvement, of the performance of the organisation. This suggests that downsizing needs to be examined as a 'bottom-up' process as well as a 'top-down' one. In other words, for the corporate intentions of a downsizing organisation to be realised it will be necessary to consider and manage the process from the perspective of affected individuals and work groups and the stresses which this event creates. This type of approach has led Shaw and Barrett-Power (1997: 109) to propose a definition which focuses on this perspective:
we define downsizing more broadly as a constellation of stressor events centering around pressures toward workforce reductions which place demands upon the organisation, work groups, and individual employees, and require a process of coping and adaptation.

The nature of these psychological and behavioural reactions is summarised in Fig. 9.1 and discussed more fully, along with their implications, on pp. 259-67.














Fig. 000 Survivor reactions to downsizing

Downsizing is a powerful means to generate organisational change. As a structural change adversely affecting the retention of people's jobs its incidence will be highly transparent and its impact pervasive. Downsizing can also contribute to and affect other forms of organisational change. For example, it may be used as a means to help to bring about a change in the culture of an organisation (see Chapter 3), or to introduce a system of performance management (see Chapter 5). Such changes may be easier to introduce in the wake of the shift which downsizing produces as organisational participants cease to believe in the notion of 'a job for life' and steady progression through the organisation. The incidence and scale of downsizing in BT appears to have introduced such a shift in the thinking of its employees (Newell and Dopson, 1996). However, the use of downsizing may also impair an attempt to introduce another type of change strategy where it produces negative reactions amongst those who survive. The process of downsizing also necessitates the introduction of other changes. For example, as events such as restructuring, de-layering, redundancy and redeployment occur, training and development needs will become apparent (see Chapter 6).

This suggests that downsizing can be seen as either a primary lever to introduce organisational change, or as a link in a chain of change events. Implicit in both of these interpretations is an undertaking to manage the implications of downsizing proactively, and to try and ensure that strategies to manage change are congruent. In practice, as we discuss later, this may not happen. Where this is the case, the opportunity to achieve the organisational objectives intended from the use of downsizing is likely to be impaired. This will require reactive interventions to attempt to obtain the type of change that was originally intended. The need for a reactive intervention to overcome unintended and negative change outcomes may also result from the use of inappropriate or ineffective interventions when downsizing was introduced. This is illustrated in Fig. 9.2.


Intended change
Change trigger

Downsizing


Unintended Change
Change trigger



Fig. Change implications related to downsizing


Management of change implications arising from alternative organizational strategies for downsizing

Work by Cameron and colleagues (see, for example, Cameron et al., 1991, 1993) has identified three organisational strategies to achieve downsizing. The first of , these is the workforce reduction strategy, which focuses simply on reducing an organisation's headcount. The second is the organisation redesign strategy, which involves elements of de-layering, eliminating areas of work and job redesign, so that the amount of work is reduced as well as the organisation's headcount. The third is the systemic change strategy and, as its name suggests, it is a longer-term approach intended to promote a more fundamental change that affects the culture . of the organisation through promotion of employee involvement and adherence to a continuous improvement strategy. Downsizing may thus be implemented solely through reducing an organisation's headcount (the most popular strategy) or in combination with one or more other strategies which seek to reduce the amount of work undertaken and bring about structural and cultural organisational change.

Significantly, Cameron et al. (1993) found that the exclusive use of a workforce reduction strategy led to a diminution, rather than an improvement, in organisational performance. In a confirmatory study, Mishra and Mishra (1994) found that organisational performance was adversely affected in relation to both cost and quality where this strategy was used exclusively. Such a strategy may lead to the loss of valued organisational competence, as we discussed above, and to negative consequences for those who remain. Its benefits are seen to be short-term whereas the attendant costs remain into the longer term as the organisation attempts to overcome the loss of required competence and negative survivor reactions.

By comparison the use of an organisation redesign and/or systemic change strategy has been positively related to organisational performance in terms of both cost reduction and quality improvement (Cameron et al., 1993; Mishra and Mishra, 1994). Moreover, organisations which relied exclusively on the use of a workforce reduction strategy were found to be likely to repeat the use of this approach whenever cost reduction was deemed necessary (Cameron, 1994b). Repeated use of a workforce reduction strategy has also been shown to have further damaging consequences to employee morale as subsequent downsizing programmes are revealed (Thornhill and Gibbons, 1995).

The management of change implications arising from an organisation's choice of strategy for downsizing will also be related to the extent to which the approach adopted is proactive or reactive (Kozlowski et al., 1993). A proactive downsizing strategy is likely to be integrated with the organisation's business strategy, target organisational areas and competencies for downsizing selectively, and recognise the potential consequences from both organisational and individual perspectives. The recognition of potential consequences is also likely to lead to the development of interventions to alleviate or manage their incidence. Proactivity therefore implies careful planning throughout the stages of downsizing.

In contrast, a reactive approach is unlikely to consider those aspects that a proactive approach is designed to address. It is therefore more likely to be used where the aim of downsizing is limited to reducing organisational costs, and to lead to the creation of negative consequences in relation to remaining employees. The North American literature suggests that a reactive approach to downsizing may be more frequently used than a proactive one. For example, the small amount of time available to the HR managers in the study undertaken by McCune et al. (1988) meant that they had little opportunity to plan before downsizing. It probably also follows that managers faced with such a situation will have insufficient, if any, time to plan and develop interventions to alleviate and manage the consequences of downsizing for those who survive. The change management implications are thus more likely to be negative and, in the event, more difficult to manage, where an organisation pursues only a workforce reduction strategy, especially where this is conducted on a reactive basis.

Self –check Question


9.1 Why might the requirement to adopt a proactive downsizing strategy in order to
minimise the negative consequences associated with this type of change be ; fe
difficult to achieve in practice?

9.2 Re-read the BT case study. How would you categorise BT's organisational strategy to achieve downsizing?

Management of change implications arising from the methods used to implement downsizing

Our earlier discussion has highlighted the relationship between the type of organisational strategy used to downsize and the nature of the consequences which result from this process. This has suggested that a strategy which focuses only on workforce reductions, especially where this is reactive in nature, is less likely to achieve the organisational objectives established for downsizing and more likely to lead to unintended negative consequences related to survivors' reactions. We now suggest a similar relationship between the methods used to implement downsizing (for example, redundancy, early retirement, etc.) and the nature of the reactions that occur.
The nature of survivors' reactions generated by use of a particular method is likely to be linked to the level of managerial control that this method promotes over the implementation of downsizing (Greenhalgh et al., 1988). For example, a high level of managerial control over the implementation of downsizing is likely to promote a lack of perceived employee influence and greater feelings of job insecurity. The use of compulsory redundancy to achieve downsizing is therefore likely to lead to low employee influence and high levels of job insecurity because it is management that exercises choice not only about method but also about selection of those to be made redundant.

level pf managerial control
Low High
Compulsory
redundancy
early induced with
retirement redeployment Outplacement

natural Voluntary Involuntary Compulsory
attrition redundancy redeployment redundancy
without
Outplacement

High Low
Level of employment influence

The use of methods such as natural wastage or early retirement should reduce the level of perceived managerial control. This is likely to reduce levels of job insecurity for those below the early retirement age as well as concerns about low employee influence since the use of such methods does not threaten these employees' continuity of employment. Greenhalgh et al. (1988) discuss five downsizing methods which they place on a continuum that emphasises employees' influence over their continuity of employment at one end and managerial control at the other. We have added early retirements and voluntary redundancy to this continuum (see Fig. 9.3).

However, even where an organisation encourages early retirements or uses a voluntary approach to redundancy, a high level of managerial control may be exercised (Wass, 1996; Turnbull and Wass, 1997). Redundancy through all categories arises as the result of a managerial decision. Although voluntary redundancy involves a decision by an employee to accept an offer of a redundancy payment, and is differentiated from compulsory redundancy which affects selected employees regardless of their wishes, managerial control over inducements to accept voluntarily have been shown to be highly persuasive (Wass, 1996). In addition, non-financial inducements to volunteer are suggested by Lewis (1993: 34): 'Increasing the target staffing reduction may add to the pressure upon employees and may further reduce morale. More volunteers may result. Intensification of work and other changes may have a similar effect....’

Perhaps the key point in this respect is the perception by employees of their level of influence over this change process. While careful targeting of the terms to be offered may allow organisations to exercise effective control over the implementation of downsizing, even where the process is ostensibly voluntary, employees may perceive that they still exercise choice in accepting redundancy. Alternatively there may be an exchange relationship whereby employees are willing to trade their influence over the process for a sizeable compensatory payment. There may even be a sense that employees have exercised some degree of collective control in influencing management to offer relatively generous redundancy terms to avoid

[هيون 2008]

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter provide proof of scholarship to analyze the intellectual capacity to read it and criticise it constructively. The applicability of these methods to this study are reviewed and justification given for the Methodology adopted.
In considering the chosen methods suitability and appropriateness, it was necessary to undertake a review of research design, methods and techniques.
on the choices of methodology some of these questions are; what is the role of prior theory is the focus on theory building or theory testing, will the research be inductive or deductive, why the researcher choose the qualitative research and the semi structured method
Drawing on the network theory of models by Hesse (1980) and Ryan, Scapens and Theobald (1992), Source: Business Research , Page 287
In conducting the studies for this project, information has been collected from books, articles, periodicals, government papers as well as through my investigation and and follow up with Parliament sessions for 2 years continuously , external consultant, annual, and internal reports produced for the XYZ management. Data has also been collected through personal interviews (see interview questionnaire in Appendices…… with top management and other professionals.


Table 1.1 The Research Process


Phase 1: The Researcher as a Multicultural Subject
history and research traditions
conceptions of self and the other
ethics and politics of research
Phase 2: Theoretical Paradigms and Perspectives
positivism, postpositivism
interpretivism, constructivism, hermeneutics
feminism (s)
racialized discourses
critical theory and Marxist models
cultural studies models
queer theory.
Phase 3: Research Strategies
study design
case study
ethnography, participant observation, performance ethnography
phenomenology, ethnomethodology .
grounded theory
life history, testimonio
historical method
action and applied research
clinical research
Phase 4: Methods of Collection and Analysis interviewing observing
artifacts, documents, and records visual methods
autoethnography
data management methods
computer-assisted analysis
textual analysis
focus groups
applied ethnography
Phase 5: The Art, Practices, and Politics of Interpretation and Presentation
criteria for judging adequacy
practices and politics of interpretation
writing as interpretation
policy analysis.
evaluation traditions
applied research


Source:

INTRODUCTION

The Discipline and Practice of Qualitative Research

(Author : Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln - Page – 1 – 24)



3.1 Various Parts
The questionnaire was divided into 2 distinct parts in which it consisted of the following:
Part 1: This part was targeted to the external audience in which a sample of 6 individual of the top management of financial institutions. A letter in Arabic and in English was sent to the individual before visiting them and conducting the interview.
Part 2: This part was targeted to the internal audience in which a sample of 6 individual of the general managers, middle and line managers. These were informed by telephone that an interview would be conducted. the researcher would have liked to have received more responses from the selected employees to whom the questionnaire was sent
Main Decisions when using questionnaires

• Sample Size
• Type of questions
• Wording of the questions and how to ensure that they are intelligible and unambiguous.
• Design of the questionnaire, including any instructions
• Wording of any accompanying letter
• Method of distribution and return of completed questionnaires.
• Tests for validity and reliability and when they should be applied.
• Methods for collating and analyzing the data thus collected
• Any action to be taken if questionnaires are not returned.


As Michel Fine (1994) remarks, qualitative researchers collaborate in the construction of the self-other hyphen. In fact, it has been asserted that the relationship between researcher and participants reproduces colonial and postcolonial structures. I argue that group interviews minimize some of the self-other distance in various ways. First, the multivocality of the participants limits the control of the moderator who has less power over a group than over a sin¬gle individual (Holstein &c Gubrium, 1995. Wilkinson, 1998). Second, the unstructured character of the focus group interview guide (the instrument favored by feminist ethnog¬raphers) decreases the control of the researcher over the interview process. Structured question¬naires, which consist of closed- or open-ended questions, maximize the influence of the re¬searcher over the direction of the conversation and introduce the researcher's preconceived notions and opinions and even words and con¬cepts. Indeed, it is possible to have a focus group without an interview guide, entirely eliminating the researcher's prejudices from the interaction (Morgan, 1988; Wilkinson, 1998). Finally, fo¬cus groups involve not only "vertical interac¬tion," or interaction between the moderator and the interviewees, but also "horizontal inter¬action" among the group participants. Although it can be argued that there is a potential for power relations to surface among the partici¬pants, these relations, if they arise, are the par¬ticipants' own power relations, in their own constructed hierarchies. Indeed, observing and documenting the development of these hierar¬chies may provide the researcher with some very important data.

Source: Page 835 – 841,Focus Groups in Feminist research,Author : Esther Madriz

Table 38.1 Major Contemporary Approaches to Formal programe Evaluation

Epistemology Primary Values promoted Key Audiences Preferred Typical Evaluation Questions
Postpositivism ( Cook, 1985) Efficiency, accountability, cost - effectiveness, policy enlightenment High- level policy and decision makers, funders, the social science community Quantitative: experiments and quasi-experiments, surveys causal modeling, cost – benefit analysis.
Are intended outcomes at tained and attributable to the program? Is this program the most efficient alternative?
Utilitarian pragmatism, ( Patton, 1997) Utility, practically, managerial effectiveness Midlevel program managers and on site administrators Electric, mixed: structured and unstructured surveys, interviews, observations, document analyses, panel reviews Which program components work well and which need improvement? How effective is the program with respect to the organizations’ goals and mission ? Who likes the program?
Interpretivism, constructivism (Strake, 1995) Pluralisam,
understanding, contexturalism, personal experience Program directors, staff, and beneficiaries Qualitative: Case studies, open-ended interviews and observations, document reviews, dialectics How is the program experienced by various stake holders? In what ways is the program meaningful?
Critical social science (Fay, 1987) Emancipation, empowerment, social change, egalitarianism, critical enlightenment Program beneficiaries and their communities, activities Participatory, action oriented: Stakeholder participation in evaluation agenda setting, data collection, interpretation, and action In what ways re the premises, goals, or activities of the program serving to maintain power and resource inequities in this context?
Page 936 to 939

WRITING A METHOD OF ENQUIRY

Author: Laurel Richardson


4.4 Reasons for choosing qualitative research
There was no intention from the researchers to test a theory or emphasis on hypothesis, in qualitative research there is more emphasis on description and discovery and less emphasis on hypothesis testing and verification. Furthermore, the aim of the researcher is to study internal reality not external, therefore being close to people in the organisation is an essential part for in depth research. Rudeston & Newton 2001 p36. (90) Besides the chosen sample size is small, only formed in qualitative research. Ely 1991, McCraker p.188; Bryman 2001 (77)
The researcher began the investigation with a clear focus on the topic and aim, plus, the researcher need to understand the relationship between people in the organisation and that is only achieved by qualitative research. Thus the qualitative methods are especially useful in the generation of categories for understanding human phenomena and the investigation of the interpretation and meaning that people give to events they experience. Rudeston & Newton 2001 p36. (90)
The next chapter will clarify and summarize the research finding and reflection on the conclusion that the results targeted have been successfully achieved or not by way of example, I include here (Figure 4.2) a working diagram that offers visual representation of a variety of approaches to on-site research. My original purpose for organizing this material was to identify a number of strategies so that students’ new to qualitative research would not invariably affix the label ethnography to their studies merely because they were unaware of the wide range of alter¬native terms and approaches. Initially I condensed some brief compar¬ative material describing each approach into a columnar table (Wolcott, 1990). The table, however, lent an unfortunate rigidity to its contents. I wanted to convey a sense of the interrelatedness among the approaches without implying a hierarchy. A pie chart provides an alternative way to organize the information, suggest that interrelatedness, and aid my effort to identify and arrange the elements. Note that there are already more words in this paragraph than in the figure, which is another part of my message: the chart speaks for itself.
That the chart speaks for itself happens to be both a fact and a con¬dition for material that appears separate from the

text: text and alter¬natives to it stand independently of each other. Supplementary material must be labeled

adequately to be understood without having to consult the text. Obviously, this is accomplished with captions and

subhead¬ings. The problem is to ensure that the material is self-explanatory, not text dependent. To determine

whether your charts and tables stand by themselves, see if someone unfamiliar with the text can interpret your visual

displays correctly.

Source: Harry F. Wolcott, Page 65,Writing Up Qualitative Research (1990) Vol 20, Sage Publications


3.2 Report Objectives
In order to achieve the report’s objectives, direct method were used to gather as much information as possible about the best way to select the suitable XYZ changes and the implications for leadership level due to the proposed change in Informative strategy, FMIS, hence maximizing, efficiency, profits and minimizing the risk. The following research methodologies has been considered: The Semi Structured interviews (focus group) targeting Top Management at the XYZ., and the middle and line managers within the organization and from the outside experiences and telephone interview Questionnaires to the senior managers.

3.3 Research Focus
Focus group, or group interviews, possess elements of both techniques while maintaining their own uniqueness as a distinctive research method ( Morgan, 1988) Fundamenetally, they are “a way of listening to people and learning from them” ( Morgan, 1998, P.9) As maria Feranndez’s words suggest, Focus groups allow access to research participants who may find one-one-one, face-to-face interaction “scary” or “intimidating”. By creating multiple lines of communications, the group interview offers participants such as Maria a safe environment where they can share ideas, beliefs, and attitudes in the company o£ people from the same socioeconomic, ethnic, and gender backgrounds. Some of the studies that have been conducted on focus groups show that group participants find the experience more gratifying and stimulating than individual inter¬views (Morgan, 1988; Wilkinson, 1998).

they enable research to gather large amounts of information about such interactions in limited periods of time. Curiously, although focus groups have been used extensively in market research, it h taken some time for qualitative and ethnographic social researchers to accept them and to get acquainted with the method. Hence the ex¬isting information regarding focus groups is not only scarce but unsystematic. As Morgan and Krueger (1993) suggest, "Social science and evaluation research are still at a stage at which most of our knowledge about focus groups comes from personal experience rather than systematic investigation" (p. 3). During the past 5 years, however, group interviews have gained in popularity among a few feminist and post¬modernist social researchers.
Compared with participant observation, fo¬cus groups have the disadvantage of some¬times taking place outside of the settings where social interaction typically occurs. There¬fore, the range of behavioral information that can be gathered through group interviews is narrower and is with some exceptions — lim¬ited to verbal communication, body language, and self-report data. In addition, given the nec¬essary presence of a facilitator, it is difficult to discern how "authentic" the social interaction in a focus group really is. This last limitation, however, is also shared with participant obser¬vation, for it has been argued that the presence of the researcher may also alter the behavior of those he or she observes
Compared with individual interviews, the clear advantage of focus groups is that they make it possible for researchers to observe the interactive processes occurring among partici¬pants. Often these processes include spontane¬ous responses from the members of the group that ease their involvement and participation in the discussion. Moreover, the interaction among group participants often decreases the amount of interaction between the facilitator and the individual members of the group. This gives more weight to the participants' opinions, decreasing the influence the researcher has Over the interview process.
Source: Page 835 – 841

Focus Groups in Feminist research

Author : Esther Madriz

The research has focused on