Corporate Governance: An International Review, Dec 4, 2012
Question/Issue: The article is concerned with the prevalence, character and development of qualit... more Question/Issue: The article is concerned with the prevalence, character and development of qualitative research within the field of corporate governance. The paper provides an overview of published qualitative research in the field of corporate governance based on a structured literature search of papers published in scholarly peer-reviewed journals between 1986 and 2011. Research Findings/Insights: A fine-grained search based on key words resulted in a sample of 78 qualitative corporate governance studies. A review and content analysis of these studies show that qualitative studies in governance have grown in number since the '90s but remain a small fraction of the published work on corporate governance. Studies are mostly developed by UK and European scholars, published in European journals and tend to explore boards of directors more than other governance related actors and mechanisms. These studies utilize a range of disciplines, predominantly management, adopting a wide range of methods, the most prevalent being that of the interview, often in combination with other methods to get a better account of the empirical phenomenon. Theoretical/Academic Implications: The search reveals an eclectic range of theories, spanning several disciplines, which is serving to generate, elaborate and refine theorizing about corporate governance and the associated meanings, mechanisms, processes and relationships. There is much scope and need for more qualitative studies of significant rigor and relevance which explore the array of interactions and processes involved in corporate governance, across different levels of analysis and contexts. Practitioner/Policy Implications: After over two decades of research and reform of corporate governance, problems of practice remain and corporate governance prescription via codes and other forms of regulation is increasing in search of better governance. Qualitative research can assist policy-makers and practitioners to develop more efficient governance mechanisms, by shedding light on the efficacy of policy prescription. Qualitative research provides a basis for rethinking and challenging some of the dominant assumptions and meanings about how governance actors and institutions actually function.
The paper observes a challenge within contemporary public policy to change professional practices... more The paper observes a challenge within contemporary public policy to change professional practices and relations to improve public services. Policy-makers' advocacy of process redesign as a best-practice mechanism for effecting change in public-sector organizations is the particular focus of attention. In both theory and method the paper engages an interest in public policy and practice with mainstream developments in the field of organization and management studies. The theoretical framework links debate about process organization, organizational change, professional collaboration and business process re-engineering. The public sector is not immune from the hype of transformation that characterizes much current debate about organization form and change. Empirical data about several redesign interventions that occurred in the context of a hospital re-engineering programme are used to analyse the rhetoric and reality of change in public services. Contested processes and limited effects of re-engineering are discussed for what they reveal about the prospects and possibilities for redesign to effect change in public services.
... Our argumentis that hospitals can be more effective at implementing marketing if they ... How... more ... Our argumentis that hospitals can be more effective at implementing marketing if they ... However, progress is being undermined by weaknesses within hospitals' broader processes of ... a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Corporate Strategy and Change, Warwick Business ...
This article analyses the processes of market-driven change in two professional service sectors, ... more This article analyses the processes of market-driven change in two professional service sectors, Research and Development @&D) and the National Health Service. Building on these sectors' common experiences, the article proposes a general model of market-driven change in professional services, highlighting the complex and multi-level nature of the process. It is argued that, while marketdriven change is an increasingly practised and observed phenomenon, its complexity has been widely underestimated. For managers, the problem is one of synchrony between different levels in the change process, with the top strategic level particularly liable to lag changes at other levels. For academic observers of new market forms of control, the risk is of repeating the simplifications of early 'labour process' analyses of hierarchical control.
Directors take decisions that can have significant impacts on others as illustrated by the global... more Directors take decisions that can have significant impacts on others as illustrated by the global financial crisis and the collapse of Thomas Cook Group plc. Yet many academics argue that courts should not review or impose liability on directors for poor business judgments. These arguments often rely on untested empirical assumptions about directors' behaviour and attitudes. Through semi-structured interviews and focus groups with directors, company secretaries, and others we explored their responses to the prospect of judicial review of directors' business judgment. Our findings challenge orthodox thinking: many directors supported some form of review and the impact of review may not be as great as the literature predicts, nor necessarily detrimental. The debate about whether courts should review directors' business judgment should therefore move away from reliance on negative empirical assumptions about the impact of review, to clearly articulating, and engaging with, normative positions that underpin opposition to, and support for, review.
Chapter 11 is about judicial practice in litigation brought against directors of a company, Conti... more Chapter 11 is about judicial practice in litigation brought against directors of a company, Continental Assurance of London (Continental). The chapter utilizes the “judgment,” a contemporaneous text of the legal ruling in which the judge explains the reasoning behind his decision. By drawing on a judge’s narrative account, and combining it with social, organizational, and legal theorizing, the chapter demonstrates how individual action is connected to societal order through mechanisms of practice and logics. This processual analysis of judicial practice is valuable for the development of practice theorizing that has been criticized for an inability to handle big topics, as well as the development of micro-foundations of institutional theory.
have asserted their moral rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identi... more have asserted their moral rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the editors of this work. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Gower handbook of leadership and management development.-5th ed. 1. Executives-Training of. 2. Executive coaching. 3. Leadership-Study and teaching. I. Handbook of leadership and management development II. Gold, Jeffrey. III. Thorpe, Richard. IV. Mumford, Alan. 658.4'071245-dc22 ISBN 978 0 566 0 8858 2 (hbk) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gower handbook of leadership and management development / edited by Jeff Gold, Richard Thorpe, and Alan Mumford. p. cm. Rev. ed. of: Gower handbook of management development / edited by Alan Mumford. 4th ed. c1994. Includes bibliographical references.
Securing the license to act: a foundational capability
Process Matters: Understanding Board Behaviour and Effectiveness
Market-Orientated Strategic Change: Managing Complexity and Context
This book addresses some of the most significant issues currently facing business strategists, in... more This book addresses some of the most significant issues currently facing business strategists, including restructuring and reorganization, global competition, strategic change, and organizational learning. These issues are, of course, currently relevant but as thoughts and approaches to management issues they are timeless in their nature and importance. Strategic Renaissance and Business Transformation addresses one of the Strategic Management Society s primary concerns building and maintaining bridges between management theory and business practice.
This paper draws on a study of the implementation of business process reengineering (BPR) in a UK... more This paper draws on a study of the implementation of business process reengineering (BPR) in a UK National Health Service (NHS) hospital to examine the challenge of effecting a transformatory shift to a new form of process organization in a large and complex public service organization. The paper’s theoretical and empirical interests go beyond BPR by bringing together literatures about organizational transformation, new organizational forms and the new public management (NPM) in a novel way. Data reveal important limits to intended organizational transformation and develop findings about sedimented rather than transformational change and the limitations of radical top-down change strategies in professionalized public service organizations. Within the domain of public service organizations, the paper also advances a new argument about why intended moves to post-NPM forms may remain contained in scope.
ACCA's international research programme generates high-profile, high-quality, cutting-edge re... more ACCA's international research programme generates high-profile, high-quality, cutting-edge research. All research reports from this programme are subject to a rigorous peer-review process, and are independently reviewed by two experts of international standing, one academic and one professional in practice. The Council of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants consider this study to be a worthwhile contribution to discussion but do not necessarily share the views expressed, which are those of the authors alone. No responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from acting as a result of any material in this publication can be accepted by the authors or publisher.
This paper explores a meta level question in process research: the implications of the move to a ... more This paper explores a meta level question in process research: the implications of the move to a more market based mode of research now evident for the production of process knowledge. It first of all examines the implications for the changing organisation of process research. For example, there has been the emergence of a group of contract process researchers. These researchers may also form alliances with researchers from other disciplines within multidisciplinary teams. Second, it examines implications for the changing character of process knowledge in relation to criteria of internal and external validity. Different effects are evident at different stages at the research cycle, but it is argued that there is no inherent threat to concepts of validity. These trends are exemplified by a project on which the authors are currently engaged. The article concludes with a discussion about the possible future for process research.
This study brings together developments in corporate governance and organization studies to exami... more This study brings together developments in corporate governance and organization studies to examine the work of the company secretary, a mandatory legal officer in UK listed corporations, typically positioned close to the board of directors, but hitherto largely ignored in governance and organizational research. Regulation continues to use distinctions between inside executive and outside independent non-executives on boards, opening up organizational space between what one director actually does vis-a-vis another. This study combines a socio-spatial perspective of organization with theories of board behaviour to identify the potential for company secretaries to engage in a vibrant role performance in and around the boardroom. Findings show the potential for company secretaries to act as boundary spanners, ‘walking the lines and working the spaces’ that connect executive and non-executive directors, so developing the governance space in ways that enable board effectiveness.
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