Browsing by Author "Tikkanen, Henrikki, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Management, Finland"
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- Global Integration and Local Flexibility: Managing Contradictions in a Global Company - A Case Study of a Multi-National Service-Oriented Manufacturing Company
Other units and institutes | D4 Julkaistu kehittämis- tai tutkimusraportti tai -selvitys(2019) Suurnäkki, MargitThis dissertation addresses strategic change from the viewpoint of managing strategic dualities in the growth and internationalization of a company. The theoretical framework builds on theories of international business, organizational capabilities, and managing contradictions in organizations. The overarching theme of this research is the management of strategic dualities. Based on a cross-theory review, I frame a qualitative single case study, which produces a research narrative of a long-term strategic change, introducing various perspectives to provide a description of the research phenomenon in its context: a multinational service-oriented manufacturing company going through a strategic change. The data for the single case study were drawn primarily from a set of documentary data. The documentary data consisted of in-house employee magazines, company internal presentations and memos, annual reports, and articles and books on the company. This monograph starts with a review of existing literature. The literature review draws a line from traditional internationalization theories and managing the liability of foreignness to globalization and the needs to balance between global integration and local flexibility. A historical single case study follows the Finland-based multinational service-oriented manufacturing company and its growth and change. The research interest lies in the company’s attempts to harmonize its ways of working globally across the company. The results describe the various harmonization efforts and their impact on the growth and productivity of the company. The results shed light on how the company has managed tensions arising from the conflicting demands between global integration and local flexibility, between productivity and innovation, and between company internal and external views. These contradictions are addressed from three different aspects: structures and processes and adaptation thereof: technologies and products and innovation thereof: and short-term and long-term view and renewal thereof. The findings of this study explicate how the case company has developed its global operating model, the “company way” and what choices the company has made in managing tensions it has faced in the integration efforts. The key findings of this case study are the following. First, involving geographical business areas in global decision making has been helping the prioritization and allocation of scarce global resources across the network of local companies. Involving these businesses has also supported the global strategy – and the global mindset – of the company. Second, technological innovations have had a key role in developing global products and have thus supported the renewal from local to global business, differentiating the case company from many of its competitors. Third, harmonized ways of working are seen as key for agility and renewal, because the harmonized baseline enables faster changes. Fourth, the case company have chosen different approaches to manage the conflicting demands between global and local requirements. In many cases, the question has been about choices between global and local, and therefore about accepting possible trade-offs. However, in the case of an exceptional market situation in the emerging China market, local demands and pressure led to conflicts that in turn led to transformation and creation of even better ways of working by combining the global and local views. Finally, the results indicate how the drivers for harmonization have changed over time. The focus appears to have shifted from ensuring operational efficiency and economies of scale, towards making it possible for the company to integrate with external networks, especially as technological development has accelerated, and the locus of innovation has been moving outside companies. The main theoretical contribution of this dissertation is to examine international management theories with a historical long-term case study, where the need for harmonization remains but the drivers for a global strategy change. Through an empirical case study, this dissertation demonstrates the role of harmonization in a global company. It applies the existing theories to practice and illustrates how the case company has been managing the tensions that it has faced during the harmonization programs. This research complements existing international business research with a real-life case study on the global integration process of one company operating in a traditional industry. - Learning to Resolve Interpersonal Conflicts more Efficiently through Transformational Leadership: A Study on Coaching
Other units and institutes | D4 Julkaistu kehittämis- tai tutkimusraportti tai -selvitys(2018) Airaksinen-Aminoff, Pauliina“It is in your hands, to make a better world for all who live in it.”- Nelson Mandela - All leaders must deal with interpersonal conflicts and know how to resolve them (Kets De Vries 2017; Bass & Riggio 2006). It has also been argued that ever more interpersonal conflicts will inevitably occur due to the transformation of business models, mergers and acquisitions, organizational turnarounds, and digitalization and robotics (De Wit & Meyer 2010; Todnem By 2005). These changes have already impacted leadership, making it more complex than ever before (Avolio, Sosik, Kahai& Baker 2014; Uhl-Bien, Riggio, Lowe & Carsten 2014). Scholars generally agree that it is critical to resolve interpersonal conflicts as they arise as such conflicts lower group cohesion and decrease followers’ effectiveness, motivation and well-being (Tekleab, Quigley & Tesluk 2009; Di Carlo & Ranalli 2008; De Dreu & Weingart 2003). However, leaders often seem to avoid intervening in and resolving interpersonal conflicts because they find them unpleasant and intervention time consuming (Saeed, Almas, Anis-ul-Haq & Niazi 2014; Jehn 1997; Wall & Callister 1995). This study builds on Bass’s (1990; 1999) theory of transformational leadership and the previous literature on interpersonal conflicts (e.g. Deutsch 1990; Jehn 1997). The study investigates how leaders orient themselves when they encounter interpersonal conflicts, asking how leaders negotiate engagement and avoidance when called upon to resolve and manage interpersonal conflicts and how they can be supported in their conflict-management efforts through coaching. In order to better understand the complexity of intervening in interpersonal conflicts, and the effects of coaching, this study investigates three leaders, focusing on their leadership styles, their current approaches to solving interpersonal conflicts and the impacts of coaching on these approaches. These three leaders, who the author of this study observed and coached for 8 lengths of time varying from three months to two years, greatly differ in terms of their leadership styles, their approaches to resolving interpersonal conflicts and the industries in which they work in (new technology, energyand media). Methodologically, this empirical study represents action research. This has allowed the author to assume the roles of both coach and researcher; in action research, the researcher is actively engaged in solving problems and developing the business or organization and in producing beneficial information for daily operations, which can also lead to the researcher’s own profound transformation (Brydon-Miller, Greenwood & Maguire 2003). The empirical data collected during this study consist of 1) notes of observations of meetings, events, workshops and seminars in the organizations over a period of two three years, 2) recorded personal interviews (audio and video), 3) emails with the three leaders, and 4) notes of the coaching sessions, which totalled over 1 000 hours. Based on the research findings, the study argues that transformational leadership, as delineated by Bass (1990; 1999), is an unattainable goal for most leaders. Nonetheless, a transformational leadership style can be taught and learned. However, to change one’s behaviour, for instance in order to perform a more transformational style or to resolve interpersonal conflicts, requires more time than the ten weeks mentioned by some scholars (Grant 2016; Kets De Vries & Korotov 2007). The findings of this dissertation have various implications for leadership education and support. 1) Leaders would benefit from peer support, as it facilitates the development of their skills and self-esteem, thereby allowing them to better intervene in and resolve interpersonal conflicts. 2) Leadershipeducation should focus more on interpersonal conflict resolution and intervention. 3) Teaching should be pragmatic in nature, including concrete advice on verbal communication and other specific techniques.Companies would benefit highly from leaders who understand the reasons behind interpersonal conflicts because such understanding can prevent these conflicts from occurring. Moreover, the ability to notice conflicts as soon as they arise is also helpful in resolving them. In addition, companies would benefit from leaders with positive self-esteem, as such leaders possess the courage to confront such challenging situations as interpersonal conflicts.