Abstract
Welcome to this winter edition of the Journal of General Management in which we report on recent research of relevance to general managers in many countries. Our first article is entitled “Talent Development and a Firm’s Performance: Evidence From Russian Companies.” Professor Marina Latukha reports on a study that investigated talent development (TD) as part of human resource management (HRM) in an emerging market context. Talented employees are those who have an ability to achieve exceptional results and are top performers in the organization. For example, TD is notably important for Russian information technology firms. This work pays attention to the analysis of TD programs used to develop talent in Russia and the factors that influence the creation and implementation of TD. The main research question was what peculiarities of TD exist in Russian companies and what factors influence the creation and implementation of TD in Russian firms?
The article explores various aspects of the TD process including elaboration, realization, and practice improvement. The focus is on native Russian firms whose headquarters are located in Russia. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, including a large-scale empirical survey. Data analysis involved the use of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and found a positive connection between TD efforts and organizational performance. The results contribute to the field of HRM and general management by showing that TD significantly influences organizational performance in different ways. A thorough analysis of responses indicated the most needed capability is mastery of foreign languages, particularly English. The respondents emphasized the need for different leadership skills and competencies, including the ability to delegate and communicate. Another important factor mentioned was business education. Professor Latukha’s work may well be generalizable to different emerging market settings similar to the Russian context, for example, Commonwealth of Independent States countries. However, in interpreting the results it should be noted that Russian firms are different to many Western firms in their history of state ownership, top–down management, and bureaucracy. Limitations of the research are also discussed.
Our second article is a research note from Professor Keith Glanfield and his colleagues entitled “Corporate Branding’s Influence on Front-Line Employee and Consumer Value Co-Creation in UK Household Consumer Markets.” Firms serving any consumer market (Business-to-consumer) must balance managing the operational delivery of both products and services to consumers to greater or lesser degree. Some offerings hold a very large service component, for example, servicing of household central heating systems. Others less so, for example, the manufacture and sale of fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs). Both examples contain an element of service even if this is simply the interaction between a consumer and front-line employee (FLE) at point of sale, such as purchase of an FMCG product at a supermarket checkout. This important contact between FLEs and customers is referred to as a service encounter and implies that consumers passively consume a service provided by an FLE. Service encounters influence customer satisfaction and loyalty and impact on a firm’s profitability and growth. Therefore, it is important for general managers to create an appropriate environment for the effective delivery of services.
The article provides an interesting literature review resulting in the formulation of three hypotheses concerning the degree to which FLEs identify with the organization and are committed to its goals. These hypotheses relate to the central theme of the article: corporate branding’s influence on FLE and consumer service exchange and value co-creation. The sample consisted of 260 FLEs in a large firm that provided installation, servicing, and emergency services to domestic households across the United Kingdom. Subsequent analysis used structural equation modeling on the 145 responses. Findings provided partial support for two of the hypotheses and greater support for the third hypothesis. The research suggests that if general managers manage their corporate brand in a consistent and holistic manner, rather than separating out internal and external brand messaging, it is much more likely that FLEs will develop a strong organizational identity and bond with the firm. General managers should ensure their firm’s brand clearly communicates the purpose of the firm and what factors make it unique and distinctive. The brand can be used as a means of bringing together the firm’s stakeholders around common purposes and to solve problems by co-creating solutions. Communicating the benefits and potential possibilities of consumers and FLEs coming together for mutual benefit and to share information and experiences is also important. The article presents further implications for general managers and directions for future research.
The third article by Professor Louise Kelly and Dr Mark Fotohabadi addresses very important topics of leadership and is entitled “Making Conflict Work: Authentic Leadership and Reactive and Reflective Management Styles.” The positive aspects of conflict are much debated and conflict is often directly or implicitly a part of development processes such as at Apple. Many different leadership styles are apparent in the leadership literature. One intriguing and relatively recent style is authentic leadership. This is a positive and strengths-based approach. In a Harvard Business Review article (February 2004), George et al. identify five essential dimensions of authentic leaders: purpose, values, heart, relationships, and self-discipline. These leadership qualities are presented as crucial for dealing with conflict. However, the relationship between authentic leadership and conflict management has not been extensively researched to date. In this article, two hypotheses were tested: first, whether authentic leadership is positively correlated with active constructive conflict behaviors, and second, whether the conflict management styles of the organization moderate the relationship between authentic leadership and active constructive conflict behaviors. Partial least square structural equation analysis was used to examine the responses of 65 leadership participants in a survey of management styles. The results supported the hypotheses and suggest that when a leader is more authentic he or she manages conflict more constructively.
Contrarian leadership takes best practices and shows why leaders should sometimes do the opposite. This study stretches the view of leadership practices to include this contrarian approach to conflict management in combination with practices of authentic leadership. Specifically, collaboration within leadership can be enhanced by adding contrary actions to accomplish a common goal. The leadership has to strike a balance between collaboration and leadership. This can be particularly in the context of cross-functional teams where conflict management is a fundamental challenge. Leaders who adopt the findings of this study could develop greater awareness of their own organizational culture, understand the importance of constructive organizational environments, and identify the factors supporting the growth of their support teams, managers, and personnel.
Our fourth article by Dr Arief Rijanto is entitled “Donation-Based Crowdfunding as Corporate Social Responsibility Activities and Financing.” Crowdfunding is a relatively new phenomenon and means of raising money from small donations, investments, or loans typically through social platforms on the Internet. One of the most well-known examples is kickstarter.com. Individuals, charities, and not-for-profit organizations, such as the United Nations Refugee Agency, have used crowdfunding to raise sponsorship and support worthy causes. Corporate social responsibility (CSR), in the form of, for example, philanthropy and charitable donations, is a much older phenomenon. Professor Michael Porter and Mr Mark Kramer have described well how CSR can help develop competitive advantage through, for example, image building (Harvard Business Review, December 2006). Clearly CSR activities and donation-based crowdfunding are potentially synergistic. Just as there are different business models for entrepreneurship that exploit the Internet, there are different models for crowdfunding to support CSR. Fundraisers naturally face competition and may need different models, activities, and strategies to achieve their donation target. CSR initiatives may create opportunities to generate financial support through crowdfunding which can be used to micro-fund many socially beneficial activities in line with an organization’s CSR goals. The study reported in the article by Dr Rijanto explores the relationship between successful fundraising through crowdfunding and choices of various activities and strategies. For example, the study examined the relationship of the initial value and size of funds raised (as measured on the first day) of fundraising effort with its target funds by the fundraiser and type of activities. Data from crowdfunding activities in South East Asian countries are used to examine the funds raised through donations by comparing trends, cultures, and characteristics of fundraisers using donation-based crowdfunding. The results of the study show that the value of funds raised in the beginning (first day) has a significant positive correlation with small targeted funds. Art, culture, and product-based activities of crowdfunding show the potential to have synergistic effects with CSR activities, and they tend to be correlated with successful project financing in South East Asia.
Finally, we present a review by Professor Ying Zhu of a book entitled The Emergence of Entrepreneurial Behaviour. The editor and multiple authors from Portugal, Sweden, and France provide an international perspective and include Susana C. Santos (editor), Professor Antonio Caetano, Craig Mitchell, Professor Hans Landström, Sten K. Johnson, and Professor Alain Fayolle. Entrepreneurship has become an increasingly popular field in recent years. Interest in entrepreneurial topics in management research, publication, and consulting has grown rapidly, becoming broader and deeper. Increasing attention has been paid to behavioral aspects of different practices to identify and pursue entrepreneurial opportunities. This book is timely in analyzing three key strands of contemporary research into entrepreneurial practice: intention, education, and orientation. The various authors of the book offer novel insights that can be applied to foster entrepreneurial activities in different settings, notably in emerging nations such as Malaysia and South Africa. It includes various case studies from Europe and Asia. The book is divided into three sections corresponding to intention, education, and orientation. The section on intention focuses more on the individual entrepreneur, while the section on orientation takes more of an organizational perspective. The editor and authors do a good job in discussing these behavioral aspects. However, opportunities are missed to explore a cultural perspective and investigate more deeply the relationship between various national and regional cultures and different forms of successful entrepreneurship. A starting point for such further research might be Porter’s work on the competitive advantage of nations.