Matthaei The Nature of Executive Work

2010
ISBN: 978-3-8349-8626-9
Verlag: Betriebswirtschaftlicher Verlag Gabler
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 247 Seiten, eBook

Reihe: Markt- und Unternehmensentwicklung Markets and Organisations

Emilio Matthaei presents igniting insights from studying senior executives of global organizations. In so doing, he gives a powerful view to what executives really do, how long they work, where they work, what media they use, and with whom they interact.

Dr. Emilio Matthaei has been a researcher / lecturer in Leipzig, Nuremberg and Oxford. Today, he works and lives in London.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Matthaei, Emilio

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Foreword;6
2;Acknowledgement;8
3;Contents;9
4;List of Figures;14
5;List of Tables;16
6;Chapter I Introduction;18
6.1;1 Studying “Executive Work”;19
6.2;2 How the Research and Thesis Are Guided;22
6.2.1;2.1 Empirical Research Framework;22
6.2.2;2.2 Structure of the Thesis;24
7;Chapter II Literature Review;26
7.1;1 The Rise of a Research School;27
7.1.1;1.1 A Brief Sketch of the Classical Management School;27
7.1.2;1.2 Motivation of the Work Activity School;28
7.1.3;1.3 Scope of the Work Activity School;29
7.2;2 The Work Activity School;31
7.2.1;2.1 Research Questions;31
7.2.2;2.2 Methods Applied;33
7.2.3;2.3 Empirical Fields;37
7.2.4;2.4 Towards a Map of Empirical Studies;43
7.2.4.1;2.4.1 Job;46
7.2.4.1.1;2.4.1.1 Demands;47
7.2.4.1.2;2.4.1.2 Constraints;48
7.2.4.1.3;2.4.1.3 Choices;50
7.2.4.2;2.4.2 Object;51
7.2.4.2.1;2.4.2.1 Characteristics;51
7.2.4.2.2;2.4.2.2 Individual Perception;52
7.2.4.2.3;2.4.2.3 Preferences;52
7.2.4.3;2.4.3 Activity;53
7.2.4.3.1;2.4.3.1 Activities;54
7.2.4.3.2;2.4.3.2 Time Distribution;56
7.2.4.3.3;2.4.3.3 Behavior;58
7.2.4.3.4;2.4.3.4 Managerial Roles;60
7.2.5;2.5 Literature Map of the Work Activity School;62
7.2.6;2.6 Major Contributions and Scholars of the Work Activity School;63
7.2.6.1;2.6.1 Foundational Contributions by Sune Carlson;64
7.2.6.2;2.6.2 Lateral Relationships and Systematic Understanding by Leonard Sayles;66
7.2.6.3;2.6.3 Demands, Constraints, and Choices of Jobs by Rosemary Stewart;67
7.2.6.4;2.6.4 The Theory of Managerial Work by Henry Mintzberg;71
7.2.6.5;2.6.5 ICT and Managerial Work by Ralf Reichwald et al.;76
7.2.6.6;2.6.6 Jobs, Managers, and Activities by John Kotter;80
7.2.6.7;2.6.7 New Directions in Managerial Work by Stefan Tengblad;83
7.3;3 Conclusion of Literature Review;86
8;Chapter III Case Study Methodology;87
8.1;1 Case Study Framing;88
8.1.1;1.1 Research Questions;88
8.1.2;1.2 Research Strategy;89
8.1.3;1.3 Challenges in Studying the Executive;91
8.1.3.1;1.3.1 Objectivity and Consistency;92
8.1.3.2;1.3.2 Convenience for the Executive;93
8.1.3.3;1.3.3 Comparability;94
8.1.4;1.4 Existing Methods and Evaluation;94
8.1.5;1.5 Arguments for the Method Selections;96
8.1.6;1.6 Choice of Methods Applied;96
8.1.6.1;1.6.1 Choice of Executive Calendars;97
8.1.6.2;1.6.2 Choice of Executive Interviews;98
8.2;2 Data Gathering;100
8.2.1;2.1 Data Gathering Strategy;100
8.2.2;2.2 Data Collection Process;100
8.2.3;2.3 Sample;102
8.2.3.1;2.3.1 Data Set of Executive Calendars;103
8.2.3.2;2.3.2 Data Set of Executive Interviews;103
8.3;3 Data Analysis;104
8.3.1;3.1 Analysis of Calendar Data;104
8.3.1.1;3.1.1 Categories of Calendar Analysis;106
8.3.1.2;3.1.2 Process of Calendar Analysis;110
8.3.2;3.2 Analysis of Interview Data;111
8.3.2.1;3.2.1 Quality Criteria of Interview Analysis;112
8.3.2.2;3.2.2 Process of Interview Analysis;113
8.4;4 Conclusion of Case Study Methodology;116
9;Chapter IV Results and Discussion;118
9.1;1 Results;119
9.1.1;1.1 Scheduled Activities of the Executive;119
9.1.1.1;1.1.1 Executive Working Hours;119
9.1.1.2;1.1.2 Place of Executive Work;120
9.1.1.3;1.1.3 Mode of Executive Activity;122
9.1.1.4;1.1.4 Size of Executive Meeting;123
9.1.1.5;1.1.5 Executive Contact;124
9.1.1.6;1.1.6 Initiator of Executive Meeting;126
9.1.1.7;1.1.7 Subject of Executive Activity;127
9.1.1.8;1.1.8 Purpose of Executive Activity;128
9.1.1.9;1.1.9 Summary of Scheduled Activities;129
9.1.2;1.2 Perceived Influencing Themes of Executive Work;130
9.1.2.1;1.2.1 Contextual Themes;131
9.1.2.1.1;1.2.1.1 Values and Morals in Society;131
9.1.2.1.2;1.2.1.2 Markets and Organizations;132
9.1.2.1.3;1.2.1.3 Communication;134
9.1.2.1.4;1.2.1.4 Jobs;135
9.1.2.1.5;1.2.1.5 Responsibility;136
9.1.2.1.6;1.2.1.6 Contacts;137
9.1.2.2;1.2.2 Challenges and Conflicts;138
9.1.2.2.1;1.2.2.1 Pressures of Volume, Time, and Complexity;138
9.1.2.2.2;1.2.2.2 Physical Proximity;139
9.1.2.2.3;1.2.2.3 Privacy;140
9.1.2.2.4;1.2.2.4 Compliance and Governance;142
9.1.2.3;1.2.3 Summary of Perceived Influencing Themes;142
9.2;2 Discussion;144
9.2.1;2.1 New Directions of Executive Work;144
9.2.1.1;2.1.1 The Executive Works Long Hours Which Influences Private Life;144
9.2.1.2;2.1.2 The Executive Spends Increasingly More Activities Outside the Office;146
9.2.1.3;2.1.3 The Executive Faces Inappropriate Use of Communication Channels by Others;148
9.2.1.4;2.1.4 The Executive Meets with External Independent Contacts;149
9.2.1.5;2.1.5 The Executive Meetings are of Relatively Large Size;151
9.2.1.6;2.1.6 The Executive Moves from an Actively to a Passively Managed Calendar;152
9.2.1.7;2.1.7 The Executive Engages in Financial, Legal, and Organizing, Planning Activities;154
9.2.1.8;2.1.8 The Executive Activities have Various, Often Unrelated Purposes;156
9.2.2;2.2 Summary of New Directions;159
9.2.3;2.3 The Roles of Executive Work;161
9.2.3.1;2.3.1 Business Operation Roles;164
9.2.3.1.1;2.3.1.1 The Coach;166
9.2.3.1.2;2.3.1.2 The Confidant;167
9.2.3.1.3;2.3.1.3 The Motivator;168
9.2.3.1.4;2.3.1.4 The Reviewer;169
9.2.3.2;2.3.2 Business Integration Roles;170
9.2.3.2.1;2.3.2.1 The Connector;172
9.2.3.2.2;2.3.2.2 The Integrator;173
9.2.3.2.3;2.3.2.3 The Custodian;174
9.2.3.2.4;2.3.2.4 The Negotiator;174
9.2.3.3;2.3.3 Business Networking Roles;175
9.2.3.3.1;2.3.3.1 The Searcher;177
9.2.3.3.2;2.3.3.2 The Gatherer;178
9.2.3.3.3;2.3.3.3 The Transmitter;179
9.2.3.3.4;2.3.3.4 The Figurehead;180
9.2.4;2.4 Summary of Roles;180
9.3;3 Conclusion of Case Study;183
10;Chapter V Reflection;187
10.1;1 Contributions and Limitations;188
10.1.1;1.1 Literature Review;188
10.1.2;1.2 Case Study;189
10.2;2 Implications;193
10.2.1;2.1 Implications for Research;193
10.2.2;2.2 Implications for Teaching;195
10.2.3;2.3 Implications for Practice;196
11;Annexes;199
11.1;1 Leadership Schools;200
11.1.1;1.1 Trait School;201
11.1.2;1.2 Behavioral School;202
11.1.3;1.3 Contingency School;202
11.1.4;1.4 Transactional School;203
11.1.5;1.5 Transformational School;204
11.2;2 Empirical Research Framework;205
11.3;3 Background and Details of Literature Review;208
11.3.1;3.1 Review Approach;208
11.3.2;3.2 Review Collection Process and Analysis;210
11.3.3;3.3 Descriptive Results of the Literature Review;212
11.4;4 Arguments to Consider for Explorations;221
11.4.1;4.1 Arguments to Consider for a Descriptive Exploration;221
11.4.2;4.2 Arguments to Consider for an Interpretative Exploration;222
11.5;5 Executive Interview Guide;224
11.6;6 Results of the Calendar Analysis;225
11.7;7 Citations;231
12;Bibliography;240

Literature Review.- Case Study Methodology.- Results and Discussion.- Reflection.

Leseproben

Chapter V Reflection (S. 181-182)

1 Contributions and Limitations

“I am sure that you will try to find a couple of typologies, but at the end of the day, each executive is a separate project. I hope for you that you will find some common ground other than going to the bathroom. But at the end of the day, each executive is a separate project. That makes your study more difficult, and leads you into dangerous waters, because others always want typologies.” (citation 1) The thesis accounts for two sources of contributions and limitations.

First, the literature review has given an overview of the Work Activity School and has specific limitations that are pointed out. Second, the research case study contributes with a novel methodological approach to an new understanding of executive work. Apart from its contribution the limitations will also be acknowledged. This focus on the contributions and limitations of this thesis will help readers to view the results appropriately as well as to perceive the implications in the investigated perspective.

1.1 Literature Review

The literature review provides a systematic study of prior contributions of the Work Activity School. While a precise body of the literature has made a reference to a selected number of research studies in the management literature, this literature review is the first systematic overview of published empirical contributions questioning “What does the manager/the executive do?” In so doing, the literature review reports on seventy five empirical studies through the last six decades, and clearly presents an overview of the methods used, days studied of each manager/executive, number of managers/executives studied, management level studied, sector studied, and country studied by the Work Activity School.

Following the systematic review of the empirical design of the Work Activity School, the literature review presents the empirical research along the dimensions (1) job, (2) object, and (3) activity. In line with the three dimensions, this literature conceptualizes all seventy five contributions into a literature map, which provides researchers an understanding of the Work Activity School. Finally, the literature review depicts the foundational findings and contributors of the Work Activity School. Here, the literature review gives insights about the motivation, background, and contribution of research scholars that have helped shape the Work Activity School to date.

The literature review has limitations that deserve to be acknowledged. The first limitation is related to the focus employed in the data gathering. In this context, the literature review focused predominantly on empirical studies of the Work Activity School published in high-ranking academic journals. Only a small part of the set of analyzed studies was book publications. Unpublished empirical studies (for example, unpublished dissertations and working papers), empirical work published in languages other than English and German, and articles presented at conferences or submitted to journals for review were not considered.

While this is advantageous for ensuring the high relevance and academic impact of the observed studies of the Work Activity School, it also suggests a strong bias toward published research, for which multiple rounds of peer review and significant publishing time lags are typical. In a sense, it may be argued that this literature review also reflects editors’ and reviewers’ perceptions of what constitutes “relevant” research on managerial/executive work (see also Lim, Richardson, and Roberts, 2004).

Über Autor(innen)

Dr. Emilio Matthaei has been a researcher / lecturer in Leipzig, Nuremberg and Oxford. Today, he works and lives in London.