Executive SummariesSource: The Academy of Management Executive (1987-1989), Vol. 1, No. 3 (Aug., 1987), pp.167-169Published by: Academy of ManagementStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4164749 .

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August, 1987

Summaries

The Professional as the Executive's Ethical Aide-de-Camp By Joseph A. Raelin

In light of recent managerial oversights such as those connected with the Challenger space shuttle dis- aster, having executives rely more on their profession- als might serve to improve their organization's ethical consciousness. Although the professional record on cor- porate ethical behavior is by no means exemplary, the functional basis of the professions, especially the sup- port rendered members through their professional as- sociations and codes, is sufficient to make them poten- tial watchdogs of corporate misconduct. The IEEE, for example, has taken steps to defend engineers who, in acting professionally to defend the public interest, are subject to arbitrary reprisals from employers.

Executives, however, need to lead in encouraging professionals to follow their best instincts in support- ing an ethical postion within the enterprise. According to Raelin, three steps executives can take in this regard are (1) raising an ethical consciousness, (2) setting up an ethical process and structure, and (3) institutional- izing the structure. The first step involves a pronounce- ment from the CEO that the company is forever com- mitted to a free and open exchange of ideas, including discretionary opinions from the professional staff. It also consists of an articulation of social and ethical goals that share the corporate agenda with economic goals. The next steps dictate how the organization goes about meeting those goals and what decision-making procedures and structures are to be adopted in carry- ing out such a social policy. By institutionalization, professionals and operating managers have incorpo- rated ethical objectives into their day-to-day practice.U

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Academy of Management EXECUTIVE

Behind the Mask: The Politics of Employee Appraisal By Clinton 0. Longenecker, Dennis A. Gioia, and Henry P. Sims, Jr.

According to the books and manuals, employee performance appraisal is an objective, rational and, hopefully, accurate process. Despite many historical ef- forts to improve the accuracy of performance apprais- als, they continue to resist all attempts to reflect actual performance. Why?

The idea that executives might deliberately dis- tort and manipulate performance ratings for political reasons seems unthinkable. However, in-depth, candid interviews that the authors conducted with 60 top-level executives in seven different organizations revealed ex- tensive evidence that executives do engage in such ma- nipulations intentionally and systematically. The pri- mary finding of this research is that accuracy in ratings is not the primary concern of the practicing executive. The main concern is how best to use the appraisal pro- cess to motivate and retain subordinates. The astute manager recognizes that politics in employee appraisal will never be entirely squelched. The issue, then, is not one of arbitrarily and ruthlessly trying to eliminate politics in the appraisal process but, instead, one of ef- fectively managing the role of politics in employee ap- praisal. The authors examine the causes of political ratings, their potential effects, and what steps individ- ual managers and the organization as a whole can take to manage the employee appraisal process. U

High Hurdles: The Challenge of Executive Self-Development

By Robert E. Kaplan, Wilfred H. Drath, and Joan R. Kofodimos

Based on exploratory interviews with 22 execu- tives and 18 experts on executives, Kaplan, Drath, and Kofodimos found that self-development is espe- cially difficult for those who are positioned high in the organizational hierarchy. Defined as "the conscious, deliberate effort to come to terms with one's limita- tions," self-development at high levels is affected by four elements of the executive job: the possession and exercise of power, the highly demanding nature of the job itself, the need to be and to appear to be compe- tent, and the history of career successes that inevita- bly precedes executive position.

The factors associated with the power that ac- crues to an executive are an air of authority, the exag- gerated impact of the executive's actions, the execu- tive's autonomy, and isolation. These elements affect both the willingness of others to criticize the execu- tive's actions and the likelihood that he or she will be available to those who might offer critical feedback. According to the authors, introspection, or self-feed- back, is a necessary step in self-development. How- ever, the demands of the job make it difficult for the executive to indulge in introspection. The executive is also by nature a "doer" who is not likely to put intro- spection high on his list of priorities. A history of suc- cess may leave the executive well acquainted with his strengths, but relatively unacquainted with his weak- nesses. He may feel that his particular configuration of strengths and weaknesses is responsible for his suc- cess and is likely to reject any suggestions that he tamper with a "winning formula."

In addition to discussing the barriers to executive self-development, the authors also present strategies that can be employed by those around the executive, by the organization of which he is a part, and by the executive himself to overcome constraints to self- development. U

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August, 1987

Linking Competitive Strategies with Human Resource Management Practices By Randall S. Schuler and Susan E. Jackson

The recent attacks on U.S. firms for failing to keep costs down, not maintaining quality, and ignoring innovation are misdirected, given what many firms are doing. Increasingly, these firms are pursuing competi- tive strategies aimed at cost reduction, quality im- provement, and innovation. The goal here is to gain competitive advantage, both domestically and internationally.

While the need to match the qualities of top man- agement with the nature of the business has been widely recognized, there has been much less recogni- tion given to the need to manage all employees in the organization with the nature of the business. The au- thors decribe the impact of competitive strategies on all employees by means of a framework that links human resource management (HRM) practices with competitive strategies. They provide examples of the hypothesized relationships among competitive strate- gies, needed employee role behaviors, and HRM prac- tices, and examine implementation issues.E

For Successful Organization Culture, Honor Your Past

By Alan L. Wilkins and Nigel J. Bristow

It is perhaps an understatement to say that changing an organization's culture is difficult. We know this to be true because many efforts have simply not suc- ceeded. Wilkins and Bristow explore several reasons why attempts to change organization culture have failed. They propose that instead of ignoring their or- ganization's cultural roots and trying to copy so-called successful companies, executives should adopt change strategies that shape their organizations by honoring their past and building on the lasting natural "genius" of the organization. Following these two principles, Wilkins and Bristow offer two lists of change strategies: one list that emphasizes how executives can honor the past, for example, identifying certain aspects of the or- ganization that will remain the same while other parts of the culture are changing, and another list that sug- gests how executives can grow in new ways without un- duly threatening important past commitments, for ex- ample, changing modes of customer service yet providing renewed and improved ways at the same time. Wilkins and Bristow conclude by providing exec- utives with guidelines and challenges for changing or- ganization culture that link to highly successful leader behavior. U

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