Papers by Senthil Kumar, M.
Organization Studies, 2005
Although social interactions and exchanges between partners are emphasized as imperative for alli... more Although social interactions and exchanges between partners are emphasized as imperative for alliance success, comprehensive examination of how social exchanges facilitate learning and knowledge transfer in strategic alliances is lacking. Drawing on social exchange theory, we examined the effects of social exchange processes between alliance partners on the extent of learning and knowledge transfer in a strategic alliance. An empirical examination of data collected from alliance managers of 144 strategic alliances revealed that social exchanges such as reciprocal commitment, trust, and mutual influence between partners are positively related to learning and knowledge transfer in strategic alliances.
Strategic Change, 2008
The knowledge base of an organization is considered its intellectual capital, and is increasingly... more The knowledge base of an organization is considered its intellectual capital, and is increasingly emphasized as a vital source of competitive advantage. Engineering, managing, and leveraging knowledge (individual-, group-, and organizational-level knowledge) are becoming strategic activities in many organizations for achieving competitive advantage.
In this context, building organizational capabilities to acquire, create, and disseminate knowledge on a continual basis has become a key challenge for strategy and organizational design experts. While the research and practice in this regard has focused extensively on Information Technology (IT) capabilities for building knowledge communities, the process dimension of learning, knowledge creation, and dissemination has received less attention.
This paper articulates the need for cultivating the various learning as well as socio-cognitive routines to create and leverage knowledge and suggests how this approach would help formulate better strategies and enhance employees' commitment.
This article also highlights the importance of a dynamic approach to managing organizational cognition, a critical factor in organization survival. We further discuss the implications for strategic management and organization development practices.
Strategic Change: Briefings in Entrepreneurial Finance, 2015
A s firms are witnessing uncertain business conditions and more thrust is being given to agility,... more A s firms are witnessing uncertain business conditions and more thrust is being given to agility, speed, and market responsiveness rather than scale and size, operating in a shoaling form is a desired strategy across many industries.
Shoaling can be considered a unique business strategy, because it enables a large firm to operate with the nimbleness of a smaller
firm or it can allow small firms to effectively rally their resources
against large rivals. A shoaling strategy, on the one hand, reduces the opportunity cost of not exploiting emerging market opportunities and, on
the other hand, reduces the investment risk that accrues due to large‐scale integration. A shoaling form enables multipronged competitive strategies, permitting a firm to develop unique or optimal strategy for
each rival it encounters in the respective market or region.
Journal of Information & Knowledge Management, 2004
The organisation that wants to build competitive advantages has to create and leverage its capabi... more The organisation that wants to build competitive advantages has to create and leverage its capabilities. One of the central bases for achieving competitive advantage is the organisational capability to create new knowledge and transfer it across various levels and parts of the organisation. Because knowledge is central to strategy formulation and implementation, knowledge management has become a key strategic task facing managers for achieving success in today's complex and dynamic environments. A major challenge facing strategic management is engineering and managing the individual and group level knowledge that facilitates better strategies and invokes commitment. A knowledge management based model of strategy formulation process is presented. Traditional strategy frameworks are evaluated and a comprehensive cognition and learning centered strategy framework is suggested as a better model of strategy formulation and implementation for achieving competitive advantage. The implications of the knowledge-based approach for strategic management practice and research are highlighted.
The Quality Management Journal, 2007
Over the last five decades the Toyota Production System (TPS) has evolved from an advanced sociot... more Over the last five decades the Toyota Production System (TPS) has evolved from an advanced sociotechnical concept in manufacturing to a participative design for large-scale change management. Toyota has been able to sustain a strategic competitive advantage by applying TPS as a process innovation and intervention, as measured by quality, reliability, productivity, cost reduction, sales and market share growth, and market capitalization. Many organizations are trying to replicate Toyota's success with TPS in their respective business/industry environments. It could be argued that the correlation between the application of TPS as part of organizational strategy and Toyota's documented success in achieving the aforementioned outcomes creates an “industrial engineering paradigm” or “social change intervention” that crosses multiple industries. In this light, TPS can be a powerful intervention technique, even in industries unaccustomed to advanced production techniques such as the healthcare industry. Because the healthcare industry is under enormous pressure to reduce costs, increase reliability and quality, and enhance organizational effectiveness, TPS-like interventions are significant to healthcare organizations. This article captures the process of applying TPS to a healthcare organization. It analyzes the challenges, problems, and outcomes, and addresses remedies for enhancing the success of TPS implementation.
Organization Development Journal, 2005
In this article, we explore the relationship between self-managed work teams and innovative behav... more In this article, we explore the relationship between self-managed work teams and innovative behaviors they demonstrate from the socio-technical, social learning, and cognitive perspectives. Our specific argument is that self-managed work teams foster greater autonomy, increase communication among team members, and intensify their commitment to the team and the organization, which in turn enhances innovative behaviors in such teams. Propositions that may be of use to both the theoretician and the practitioner are presented.
Trusts & Trustees, 2020
Trustworthiness is the core feature of the most productive and effective organizations. While the... more Trustworthiness is the core feature of the most productive and effective organizations. While the market value of an economic or business entity would mostly correspond to its trust-equity, however, an erosion of trust-equity will cause the market-value to nose dive. Studies have demonstrated that the 'distrust' or a 'lack of trustworthiness' can cost a business or government billions of dollars. Lack of trust within an organization can result in employee disengagement and organizational atrophy. An untrustworthy organization will not only alienate its employees, it will also cause damage to customer interests. In this article, we postulate how trustworthiness can act as a dialectical fulcrum between the diametrically opposing market/social forces within an economic/political organization-such as self-interest versus public good, cooperation versus competition, freedom versus control, labor versus capital, and production versus consumption.
Emerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The compan... more Emerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services. Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.
Strategic Change: Briefings in entrepreneurial Finance, 2011
In this paper we argue how employee participation in corporate decision-making augments organizat... more In this paper we argue how employee participation in corporate decision-making augments organizational performance and limits corporate excesses, and we further highlight the significance of codetermination in the context of knowledge work and economy.
Given the economic crisis, the spate of scandals and corporate failures due to irregularities, systemic corruption, and the complaints on managerial whims, there is a renewed emphasis on reforming corporate boards to protect the interests of all stakeholders in addition to shareholders.
What role employees are supposed to play in the firm governance, and what responsibilities they need to assume for firm performance and shareholders' wealth, are becoming of paramount interest to modern management and economics.
The knowledge of employees has become a major competitive resource. We argue how employee participation in corporate decision-making augments organizational performance and limits corporate excesses, and further highlight the significance of codetermination in the context of the knowledge-based economy.
Journal of General Management, 2021
Extant research on strategic alliances has established that contractual controls do not provide a... more Extant research on strategic alliances has established that contractual controls do not provide a complete safeguard to avert an alliance failure, and that alliance governance needs to be reinforced with relational norms such as trust. However, there is scant research evidence available on whether interfirm trust can be significant under the trying contexts the alliances typically face like rivalry, power conflicts, and cultural or institutional barriers. Employing a relational exchange perspective, we examined whether the espoused positive effect of interfirm trust on alliance performance is moderated by mutual influence and coopetition between partners, and the international dimension of an alliance. Based on the survey and archival data on 223 strategic alliances, we found that interfirm trust was quite significant to alliance performance and that the link between trust and performance was more salient in alliances with high mutual influence and coopetition, whereas it was less salient and weaker in international alliances.
Journal of Business Research, 2006
Although several scholars have emphasized that a balance in power and control between partners en... more Although several scholars have emphasized that a balance in power and control between partners enhances alliance stability, the extant studies have not explicitly addressed the performance implications of relational influence between partners. Drawing on social exchange theory, we examined the effect of mutual influence between partners on perceived alliance performance. An empirical examination of data collected from the alliance managers of 179 strategic alliances revealed that mutual influence between partners is positively related to perceived alliance performance. We also found that the relationship between mutual influence and perceived alliance performance is relatively more salient in international alliances than in domestic alliances.
Organization Studies, 2005
Abstract
Although social interactions and exchanges between partners are emphasized as imperative... more Abstract
Although social interactions and exchanges between partners are emphasized as imperative for alliance success, comprehensive examination of how social exchanges facilitate learning and knowledge transfer in strategic alliances is lacking. Drawing on social exchange theory, we examined the effects of social exchange processes between alliance partners on the extent of learning and knowledge transfer in a strategic alliance. An empirical examination of data collected from alliance managers of 144 strategic alliances revealed that social exchanges such as reciprocal commitment, trust, and mutual influence between partners are positively related to learning and knowledge transfer in strategic alliances.
Journal of Organizational Change Management, 2019
This paper won Outstanding Paper Award for the Year 2020 from JOCM
In the extant organizational ... more This paper won Outstanding Paper Award for the Year 2020 from JOCM
In the extant organizational change literature scant attention has been given to the communication and cognitive processes consequential to organizational transformation. From the communication and sense-making perspectives, this study discusses the role of positive communication involving stories, metaphors or axioms in fostering socio-cognitive routines necessary for organizational change. The study further examines the empirical link between positive communication and organizational transformation with the survey data from professionals who have experienced the organizational change episode. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The study examines the empirical link between the positive communication and organizational transformation with a survey data collected from 174 management professionals who have recently experienced the organizational change episodes such as restructuring, reengineering, TQM adoption or new strategy implementation. With the content analysis of narratives containing metaphors, axioms and stories, the study unravels the underlying clusters of organizational and socio-cognitive dimensions associated with organizational transformation.
Findings
The study results affirm the importance of positive communication and its effects on the emotional buy-in, learning and transformation occurring at the individual level, and attest to the transformational effect of positive axioms, metaphors or stories on the organization. The study also revealed that the positive communication diffusing social, cognitive or emotional attributes such as commitment, trust or optimism produces the desired transformational effect.
Practical implications
It is imperative for managers to understand the relationship between socio-linguistic processes and cognitive attributes such as trust, commitment and learning. With the help of right metaphors, stories and axioms that resonate with changing industry conditions, managers can effectively orchestrate the strategic intent and organizational transformation.
Originality/value
Most studies on the relationship between managerial communication and organizational transformation are primarily qualitative case studies focusing on the dialectics of organizational change. This study carries the strong external validity by capturing the connection between managerial communications and their transformational effect with the help of data collected from the management professionals across multiple industries.
Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, 2023
With the arrival of the new millennium, many industries across the developed economies are increa... more With the arrival of the new millennium, many industries across the developed economies are increasingly facing volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous business environments—often characterized as VUCA—caused by a host of disruptive factors hyper-competition, globalized value chains, high-velocity business cycles, frequent technological changes, shorter product life cycles, unstable financial markets, and the rise of the digital economy. These disruptions are triggering serious financial crises within the traditional scale-economy industries by decoupling the link between the firms' size and growth-related strategies and profitability. There is a lack of explanation as to what systemic changes are causing the attrition of managerial effectiveness and firm performance. Given the trying industry and global competitive environments, wanting answers, the science of management is in dire straits.
By capturing the changes in firms' assets, revenue, and financial performance with the help of long-range panel data on public companies, this study traces the impact of such disruptions on the financial performance of firms operating in the traditional scale-based industries in the U.S. economy. The study indicates emerging challenges to corporate management due to disruptive technologies, widening global competition, dynamic consumer trends, and volatile financial markets and highlights further the implications for firms' strategy, corporate governance, and organizational design.
Total Quality Management , 2015
The objective of this study is to document the implementation of the Toyota production
system (T... more The objective of this study is to document the implementation of the Toyota production
system (TPS) in a Healthcare Organisation – Heartland Regional Medical Center –
undertaken to meet accreditation standards and customer service goals. We record
the challenges experienced and elaborate the effectiveness of knowledgemanagement
(KM) procedures during TPS implementation. The study addresses an
organisation-wide preparation for implementing TPS and the accreditation standards
of the National Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
Our observations are centred on the Quality Management Council which has been
involved in carrying out improvements in patient care, service, and hospital
administration. The study documents the effectiveness of KM approaches such as
cross-functional coordination and subject-matter experts in the implementation of
TPS. This is a single site case study, and the challenges observed and remedies
pursued while implementing TPS may be specific to the site or unique to the
healthcare industry, and may not be appropriate in other organisational contexts. The
study highlights key strategies and tenets that managers can pursue for effective
integration of TPS in a Healthcare setting. Our study implies the importance of the
creation of missions and goals that effectively bond the top management and
employees to quality and safety goals. The use of subject-matter experts, employee
committees, cross-functional teams, and process champions documented will provide
the template for TPS implementation.
Purpose -In the extant organizational change literature scant attention has been given to the com... more Purpose -In the extant organizational change literature scant attention has been given to the communication and cognitive processes consequential to organizational transformation. From the communication and sense-making perspectives, this study discusses the role of positive communication involving stories, metaphors or axioms in fostering socio-cognitive routines necessary for organizational change. The study further examines the empirical link between positive communication and organizational transformation with the survey data from professionals who have experienced the organizational change episode. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach -The study examines the empirical link between the positive communication and organizational transformation with a survey data collected from 174 management professionals who have recently experienced the organizational change episodes such as restructuring, reengineering, TQM adoption or new strategy implementation. With the content analysis of narratives containing metaphors, axioms and stories, the study unravels the underlying clusters of organizational and socio-cognitive dimensions associated with organizational transformation. Findings -The study results affirm the importance of positive communication and its effects on the emotional buy-in, learning and transformation occurring at the individual level, and attest to the transformational effect of positive axioms, metaphors or stories on the organization. The study also revealed that the positive communication diffusing social, cognitive or emotional attributes such as commitment, trust or optimism produces the desired transformational effect. Practical implications -It is imperative for managers to understand the relationship between socio-linguistic processes and cognitive attributes such as trust, commitment and learning. With the help of right metaphors, stories and axioms that resonate with changing industry conditions, managers can effectively orchestrate the strategic intent and organizational transformation. Originality/value -Most studies on the relationship between managerial communication and organizational transformation are primarily qualitative case studies focusing on the dialectics of organizational change. This study carries the strong external validity by capturing the connection between managerial communications and their transformational effect with the help of data collected from the management professionals across multiple industries.
Global competition, ever-demanding customer expectations, and rapid technological changes are for... more Global competition, ever-demanding customer expectations, and rapid technological changes are forcing firms to restructure the scope of operations and then outsource non-core processes to outside suppliers. Such organisational efforts have resulted in increased dependence on supplier firms to sustain competitive advantage. This paper provides a theoretical model to understand the process of successful learning and knowledge transfer in buyer-supplier alliances. The proposed model uses a social exchange framework for effective knowledge exchange and learning. Reciprocal commitment, interorganisational trust, power sharing, and socialisation are identified as essential for collaborative behaviour for successful learning and knowledge transfer between alliance partners. Specific testable propositions are presented.
Competitiveness Review, 2014
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to trace the emergence of knowledge-centric innovative ... more Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to trace the emergence of knowledge-centric innovative enterprises that function in a disaggregated and dispersed form and further contemplate the economic and managerial rationale behind this strategy. A constant challenge to large organizations as well as those pursuing the intent to grow bigger is how to sustain the innovative dynamism.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors review the evolution of disaggregated and dispersed enterprises and discuss the changing cost structures for transactions, integration and coordination in the global knowledge economy. They elaborate the benefits of scale reduction and dispersed operations with examples.
Findings
Their review of the extant practices suggests that managers are finding value in disaggregating the firm operations. Disaggregation enhances the firm agility and responsiveness and helps the firm exploit the fleeting opportunities without incurring the opportunity cost or risking high investment.
Practical implications
Corporations need to become nimble, and their structure should be networked and permeable with significant industry actors. Integration would be imprudent if there is huge sunk cost due to uncertainty in business. Scale reduction and disaggregation, and operating in a dispersed mode – like a shoaling form – would help the companies exploit the fleeting opportunities without incurring the opportunity cost and risking high investment.
Originality/value
In addition to reviewing the rise of disaggregated enterprises, we explore the economic and managerial rationale of the disaggregation strategy, and discuss the learning and innovation, investment and cost-related advantages that stem from the disaggregated form of organization.
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Papers by Senthil Kumar, M.
In this context, building organizational capabilities to acquire, create, and disseminate knowledge on a continual basis has become a key challenge for strategy and organizational design experts. While the research and practice in this regard has focused extensively on Information Technology (IT) capabilities for building knowledge communities, the process dimension of learning, knowledge creation, and dissemination has received less attention.
This paper articulates the need for cultivating the various learning as well as socio-cognitive routines to create and leverage knowledge and suggests how this approach would help formulate better strategies and enhance employees' commitment.
This article also highlights the importance of a dynamic approach to managing organizational cognition, a critical factor in organization survival. We further discuss the implications for strategic management and organization development practices.
Shoaling can be considered a unique business strategy, because it enables a large firm to operate with the nimbleness of a smaller
firm or it can allow small firms to effectively rally their resources
against large rivals. A shoaling strategy, on the one hand, reduces the opportunity cost of not exploiting emerging market opportunities and, on
the other hand, reduces the investment risk that accrues due to large‐scale integration. A shoaling form enables multipronged competitive strategies, permitting a firm to develop unique or optimal strategy for
each rival it encounters in the respective market or region.
Given the economic crisis, the spate of scandals and corporate failures due to irregularities, systemic corruption, and the complaints on managerial whims, there is a renewed emphasis on reforming corporate boards to protect the interests of all stakeholders in addition to shareholders.
What role employees are supposed to play in the firm governance, and what responsibilities they need to assume for firm performance and shareholders' wealth, are becoming of paramount interest to modern management and economics.
The knowledge of employees has become a major competitive resource. We argue how employee participation in corporate decision-making augments organizational performance and limits corporate excesses, and further highlight the significance of codetermination in the context of the knowledge-based economy.
Although social interactions and exchanges between partners are emphasized as imperative for alliance success, comprehensive examination of how social exchanges facilitate learning and knowledge transfer in strategic alliances is lacking. Drawing on social exchange theory, we examined the effects of social exchange processes between alliance partners on the extent of learning and knowledge transfer in a strategic alliance. An empirical examination of data collected from alliance managers of 144 strategic alliances revealed that social exchanges such as reciprocal commitment, trust, and mutual influence between partners are positively related to learning and knowledge transfer in strategic alliances.
In the extant organizational change literature scant attention has been given to the communication and cognitive processes consequential to organizational transformation. From the communication and sense-making perspectives, this study discusses the role of positive communication involving stories, metaphors or axioms in fostering socio-cognitive routines necessary for organizational change. The study further examines the empirical link between positive communication and organizational transformation with the survey data from professionals who have experienced the organizational change episode. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The study examines the empirical link between the positive communication and organizational transformation with a survey data collected from 174 management professionals who have recently experienced the organizational change episodes such as restructuring, reengineering, TQM adoption or new strategy implementation. With the content analysis of narratives containing metaphors, axioms and stories, the study unravels the underlying clusters of organizational and socio-cognitive dimensions associated with organizational transformation.
Findings
The study results affirm the importance of positive communication and its effects on the emotional buy-in, learning and transformation occurring at the individual level, and attest to the transformational effect of positive axioms, metaphors or stories on the organization. The study also revealed that the positive communication diffusing social, cognitive or emotional attributes such as commitment, trust or optimism produces the desired transformational effect.
Practical implications
It is imperative for managers to understand the relationship between socio-linguistic processes and cognitive attributes such as trust, commitment and learning. With the help of right metaphors, stories and axioms that resonate with changing industry conditions, managers can effectively orchestrate the strategic intent and organizational transformation.
Originality/value
Most studies on the relationship between managerial communication and organizational transformation are primarily qualitative case studies focusing on the dialectics of organizational change. This study carries the strong external validity by capturing the connection between managerial communications and their transformational effect with the help of data collected from the management professionals across multiple industries.
By capturing the changes in firms' assets, revenue, and financial performance with the help of long-range panel data on public companies, this study traces the impact of such disruptions on the financial performance of firms operating in the traditional scale-based industries in the U.S. economy. The study indicates emerging challenges to corporate management due to disruptive technologies, widening global competition, dynamic consumer trends, and volatile financial markets and highlights further the implications for firms' strategy, corporate governance, and organizational design.
system (TPS) in a Healthcare Organisation – Heartland Regional Medical Center –
undertaken to meet accreditation standards and customer service goals. We record
the challenges experienced and elaborate the effectiveness of knowledgemanagement
(KM) procedures during TPS implementation. The study addresses an
organisation-wide preparation for implementing TPS and the accreditation standards
of the National Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
Our observations are centred on the Quality Management Council which has been
involved in carrying out improvements in patient care, service, and hospital
administration. The study documents the effectiveness of KM approaches such as
cross-functional coordination and subject-matter experts in the implementation of
TPS. This is a single site case study, and the challenges observed and remedies
pursued while implementing TPS may be specific to the site or unique to the
healthcare industry, and may not be appropriate in other organisational contexts. The
study highlights key strategies and tenets that managers can pursue for effective
integration of TPS in a Healthcare setting. Our study implies the importance of the
creation of missions and goals that effectively bond the top management and
employees to quality and safety goals. The use of subject-matter experts, employee
committees, cross-functional teams, and process champions documented will provide
the template for TPS implementation.
The purpose of this paper is to trace the emergence of knowledge-centric innovative enterprises that function in a disaggregated and dispersed form and further contemplate the economic and managerial rationale behind this strategy. A constant challenge to large organizations as well as those pursuing the intent to grow bigger is how to sustain the innovative dynamism.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors review the evolution of disaggregated and dispersed enterprises and discuss the changing cost structures for transactions, integration and coordination in the global knowledge economy. They elaborate the benefits of scale reduction and dispersed operations with examples.
Findings
Their review of the extant practices suggests that managers are finding value in disaggregating the firm operations. Disaggregation enhances the firm agility and responsiveness and helps the firm exploit the fleeting opportunities without incurring the opportunity cost or risking high investment.
Practical implications
Corporations need to become nimble, and their structure should be networked and permeable with significant industry actors. Integration would be imprudent if there is huge sunk cost due to uncertainty in business. Scale reduction and disaggregation, and operating in a dispersed mode – like a shoaling form – would help the companies exploit the fleeting opportunities without incurring the opportunity cost and risking high investment.
Originality/value
In addition to reviewing the rise of disaggregated enterprises, we explore the economic and managerial rationale of the disaggregation strategy, and discuss the learning and innovation, investment and cost-related advantages that stem from the disaggregated form of organization.