Decisions made and actions taken by individuals in the operations function impact the formation of a company’s manufacturing strategy (MS). Therefore, it is important that the MS is understood and agreed on by all employees, that is, strategic consensus among the individuals in the operations function is essential. This research contributes to the current body of knowledge by including a workers’ perspective on MS formation. It is the workers on the shop floor who bring the MS to life in the actual operations through their daily decisions and actions. The MS falls short if the priorities outlined do not materialise in practice as intended. The purpose of this research is to investigate how the individuals in the operations function perceive the MS in order to understand how these individuals are involved in the MS formation. The research is based on five studies, differing by evidence, as follows: one theoretical, three qualitative in the setting of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and one quantitative at a large company. Based on the findings presented in the six appended papers, the results show that empirically and conceptually, workers have been overlooked or given a passive role in the MS formation. Empirically, it is seen that workers and managers do not have a shared understanding of the underlying reasons for strategic priorities; hence, the level of strategic consensus is low. Furthermore, the level of strategic consensus varies among the different MS dimensions depending on their organisational level. Moreover, the empirical findings reveal that internal contextual factors influence the individuals’ perceptions of the MS and the possibilities for strategic consensus. Regarding the external context, the results show that major customers’ strategies influence the subcontractor SMEs’ MS formation. The usage of means of communication in the operations function has also shown to be of importance for how the MS is perceived. Conceptually, the findings indicate that the MS literature tends to treat individuals in the operations function in a deterministic manner; individuals on the shop floor are regarded as manufacturing resources. To ensure a successful MS formation process, where the patterns of the decisions made by the individuals in the operations function forms the MS, the view on human nature within the MS requires a more voluntaristic approach. This research suggests to view the MS formation as an iterative “patterning process” which builds on a reciprocal relationship between workers and managers. The introduction of the patterning process contributes to the research on MS formation by explaining the perception range within the hierarchical levels, by re-defining the hierarchical levels included in the MS formation and by detailing the activities in the MS formation.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:50:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 6650.pdf: 4387621 bytes, checksum: 0ee7958387914863b99b763660d6bdc3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-26 / This study evaluates the Strategic Consensus in the production area in small companies in São Carlos through the level of the agreement of managers and operators as for the importance of competitive priorities, structural investments and infrastructure policies, associating this theme research of organizational specificities of those companies that foster the consensus. Therefore, in order to explore these issues, this research examines the theoretical background regarding the Strategic Consensus and the specificities of small firms and presents an exploratory analysis derived from a sample consisting of 58% of the study population, accounting for 38 small businesses analyzed. The observations are based on responses from multiple respondents, which are represented by 55 managers and 117 operators. With the assistance of a statistical software, the analyzes were guided primarily in hypothesis testing by Analysis of Variance, non-parametric tests (Friedman and Adjusted Rank Transform), Correlation Analysis and Clusters Analysis. As main results, it is observed that in general it is possible to understand that there is substantial consensus, highlighting the strategic elements related to quality, flexibility, production and infrastructure polices. In addition, to the sample in question, managers and operators tend to give more importance to the competitive priority quality, to establish as infrastructural police more important delegation of responsibility and the least important to the formation of teams. Nevertheless when explored the organizational characteristics of small business in São Carlos before his behavior with regarding to the profile of the existent consensus, technical knowledge, degree of formalization and number of employees were identified as significant factors for the characterization of these companies. These conclusions enable small companies find out their better strategic positioning in sense of getting a more appropriate pattern in terms of Strategic Consensus, as well as becoming this decision achievable. / Este trabalho avaliou o Consenso Estratégico na área de produção em pequenas empresas de São Carlos por meio da análise do nível de concordância entre gerentes e operadores em relação à importância das prioridades competitivas, investimentos estruturais e políticas infraestruturais, associando a esse tema a investigação das características organizacionais que fomentam o consenso. Assim, a fim de explorar tais questões, a presente pesquisa examinou o aporte teórico a respeito do Consenso Estratégico e das especificidades das pequenas empresas, bem como apresentou uma análise exploratória oriunda de uma amostra constituída de 58% da população de estudo, correspondendo a 38 pequenas empresas analisadas. As observações foram embasadas nas respostas de múltiplos respondentes que totalizaram 55 gerentes e 117 operadores. Com o auxílio de um software estatístico, as análises foram pautadas, principalmente, em testes de hipóteses por meio da Análise de Variância, testes não paramétricos (Friedman e Adjusted Rank Trasnform) e Análise de Clusters. Como resultado desse estudo, chegou-se a conclusão de que existe consenso nos elementos estratégicos pertinentes à qualidade, flexibilidade, produção e políticas infraestruturais. Ademais, para a amostra em questão, gerentes e operadores tenderam a dar mais importância à qualidade entre as demais prioridades competitivas, a estabelecerecem como política infraestrutural mais importante a delegação de responsabilidade e o menos importante a formação de equipes. Já quando segmentadas as empresas, em função do comportamento que possuem no que se refere ao Consenso Estratégico foi possível constatar grupos de empresas com comportamentos antagônicos, assim como identificar variáveis que se mostraram relevantes para justificar a existência desses grupos, a saber: o número de funcionários, a formalização da estratégia de produção e conhecimento técnico dos gerentes. As recomendações apontadas permitem que as pequenas empresas de São Carlos posicionem-se estrategicamente de uma forma mais adequada para a obtenção de um padrão mais elevado de Consenso Estratégico e torna tal decisão factível, uma vez que aponta as variáveis que o fomentam.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:52:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 869.pdf: 1727649 bytes, checksum: b95834e18fed6283154a61f1d9b51e4a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-12-15 / This research concentrates in the analysis of the strategic consensus in operations, having as starting point the perceptions of the competitive priorities of managers, middle managers and technical managers. These professionals work in marketing, sales, product development and manufacturing areas. The word consensus is defined as the similar understanding of these managers regarding the importance and the performance of the strategic priorities. The case study method was adopted due to the necessity of examining the operations strategy in the intra-plant basis, through the perceptions in different functional areas of one same company. It aimed to understand the deficiencies of such strategy through a meticulous investigation in one of the establishments of a corporation that is world widely known in the writing, painting and cosmetics businesses. The use of the Importance-Performance matrix of Slack (1993) as an analytical instrument, and the development of a methodology that will interrelate the perceptions with the functions and the hierarchical levels, allowed this work to contribute to the business unity researched through the divergences noticed in the priorities order, through the inconsistent perceptions on the disaggregated priorities, through the relative dispersions of the perceptions between functions and levels; ultimately, through the understanding of how the operations strategy is interpreted in the company. The practical relevance is presented by the inferences that considerably influence the perception of the competitive priorities, and which can improve the practice in other companies, making them aware of the importance of the strategic consensus in the operations: the organizational protection that contributes to determine the interaction/intermediation ratio; the accessibility of information, especially those relating to competitors, the non-communicating of objectives, the inability to operationalize the strategy through the disaggregated priorities management and the products manufacturing policies make-to-stock, make-to-order, assembled-to-order, etc. Ultimately, besides the utilized methodology and the assessment of the consensus extended to middle management and to technical management, the research also contributes to the knowledge of the operations strategy area, proposing the systematization of the integration of activities that will promote consensus in managing the competitive priorities, since that is a challenge to the whole hierarchy of strategies, being of main importance to attain a sustainable success in its implementation. The following steps are suggested: the contextualization of a reality, the exploration of perceptions of such reality; the suppositions that orientates investigations; the search for reliable information; the birth of new perceptions; the discussion of the trade-offs; the negotiating of an explicit collective consensus, and the checking of this consensus among the social actors. / Esta pesquisa centra-se na análise do consenso estratégico nas operações a partir das percepções de gerentes, médios gerentes e gerentes técnicos das áreas de marketing, vendas, desenvolvimento de produtos e manufatura sobre as prioridades competitivas. O termo consenso é definido como entendimento similar desses gerentes em relação à importância e à performance dessas prioridades estratégicas. Adotou-se o método de estudo de caso devido à necessidade de se examinar a estratégia de operações na base intraplanta através das percepções de diferentes áreas funcionais de uma mesma companhia. Objetivou entender as deficiências de tal estratégia por meio de investigação minuciosa de uma das organizações de um grupo empresarial que atua mundialmente nos segmentos de escrita, pintura e cosmético. O uso da matriz importância/desempenho de Slack (1993) como instrumento analítico e o desenvolvimento de uma metodologia que inter-relaciona as percepções com as funções e os níveis hierárquicos permitiram a contribuição deste trabalho para a unidade de negócios pesquisada pelas divergências constatadas nas ordens das prioridades, pelas inconsistências das percepções sobre as prioridades desagregadas, pelas dispersões das percepções entre funções e níveis, enfim, pelo entendimento de como a estratégia de operações é interpretada na organização. A relevância prática é apresentada pelas inferências que influenciam consideravelmente as percepções sobre as prioridades competitivas e que podem melhorar a prática de outras empresas, e sensibilizá-las para a importância do consenso estratégico nas operações: a proteção organizacional que contribui na determinação da razão interação/intermediação, a acessibilidade das informações, especialmente em relação ao concorrente, a falta de comunicação dos objetivos, a inabilidade de se trabalhar a estratégia através da gestão das prioridades desagregadas e a política de fabricação dos produtos make-to-stock, make-to-order, assembled-to-order etc. Por fim, além da metodologia utilizada e da avaliação de consenso estendida à média gerência e a gerência técnica, a pesquisa também contribui para o conhecimento na área de estratégia de operações propondo a sistematização da integração de atividades que promovam consenso quanto à gestão das prioridades competitivas uma vez que isso é desafio para toda a hierarquia das estratégias e fundamental para se obter sucesso sustentável na implementação. Os seguintes passos são sugeridos: a contextualização de uma realidade, a exploração das percepções dessa realidade, as suposições que orientam investigações, a busca de informações confiáveis, o nascimento de novas percepções, a discussão dos trade-offs, a negociação de um consenso coletivo explícito e a verificação desse consenso entre os atores.

Strategic consensus in work teams is a group process related to the shared comprehension among team members of the strategies defined to attain work goals. This study aimedto verify the predictive power of strategic consensus in relation to team performance. The prediction model was constructed based on data collected from teachers and coordi-nators of 70 educational institutions in Ecuador. The individual data were aggregated per institution to obtain group level scores. The results indicate that strategic consensus predicts about 6% of the team performance as rated by the coordinator. We concluded that more studies are required to gain a better understanding of the role of strategic consensus in workteams. / El consenso estratégico en equipos de trabajo es un proceso grupal relativo a la comprensióncompartida entre los integrantes, sobre las estrategias definidas para alcanzar las metas de trabajo. El estudio realizado buscó verificar la capacidad de predicción del consenso estratégico en relación al desempeño. Los datos fueron recogidos de docentes y coordinadores de 70 planteles educativos ecuatorianos, a partir de los que se construyó el modelo de predicción. Las respuestas individuales fueron agregadas por plantel para obtener puntajes grupales. Los resultados mostraron que el consenso estratégico predice aproximadamente 6% de los resultados del desempeño del equipo evaluado por el coordinador. Concluimos que son necesarios más estudios para entender mejor el papel del consenso en equipos de trabajo.

Background: Considering high merger failure in the process of strategy implementation, there is a need to elaborate on strategic consensus building during this major organizational change. Purpose: To gain understanding about the strategic consensus building process in a merged organization from a teleological perspective. The premerger influence and the intervening circumstances are expected to affect the process of consensus building. Methodology: A single case study approach was taken by interviewing twelve senior managers from two hierarchical levels as well as five managers from the corporate strategy department of a merged organization to gain a comprehensive understanding of the research topic. Findings: The empirical findings indicated that consensus on strategic priorities is essential for further development of a merged organization. In addition, this study has identified three strategic consensus building facilitators vertical communication, transparency, and agility.

Strategic consensus is a group process that can be described as the agreement among team members on strategic matters for success at work. The psychometric evidences of the validity of an assessment scale measuring strategic consensus in pedagogic teams are analyzed. Participants were 140 school teachers in Quito (Ecuador). Statistical analyses of the applied scale containing 14 items revealed a uni-dimensional factor structure explaining 49.7% of the variance. The internal consistency of the scale was satisfactory (α = .92; r item-total = .66). Results show that the scale is an useful tool for the diagnosis of the existence of consent among members of pedagogic teams and contributes to a full understanding of the phenomenon. / Se estudia las evidencias psicométricas de validez de una escala de evaluación del consenso estratégico en equipos pedagógicos. El consenso estratégico es un proceso grupal descrito como la concordancia entre los miembros sobre asuntos estratégicos para el éxito del trabajo. Los participantes fueron 140 profesores de escuelas de Quito (Ecuador). La escala aplicadacuenta con 14 ítems y los análisis estadísticos realizados revelaron una estructura unifactorial que explica 49.72% de la variancia. La confiabilidad interna fue satisfactoria (α = 0.92; r ítem-total = 0.66). Los resultados revelan que la escala constituye una herramienta útil para el diagnóstico del consenso existente entre miembros de equipos pedagógicos y contribuye para la mejor comprensión del fenómeno.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:50:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 3439.pdf: 1894294 bytes, checksum: 32327083edfaaf2bfd148fc426e5d1c2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-02-21 / This research presents a discussion on the strategic alignment of operations associated with an understanding of market requirements. This subject is a essential strategic issue for operations and demands an appropriate level of interaction between their interfacing processes with marketing. The first objective of this thesis is to analyse these processes in three multinational manufacturing companies located in Brazil. This analysis was grounded in three theoretical bases: the strategic alignment of operations, the operations-marketing interface and strategic consensus. It aimed to answer the following research question: how is operations alignment implemented in the interface with marketing? The second objective is to evaluate the results of the application and evaluation of a framework, which is designed to improve operations strategic alignment. The following research question was developed: which factors in the framework‟s implementation affect the strategic alignment of operations in the interface with marketing? This research addresses an under-studied area that is subject to the influence of unquantifiable human behaviours related to managers‟ strategic tasks. Studies on perceptions, behaviour, interests, conflicts and power can reveal management‟s representations which are important for the strategic alignment. Therefore, this study employed a qualitative approach and a case study method to investigate how operations alignment is implemented and to understand the factors associated with the framework. This study verified that strategic operations alignment is established through the analysis of issues related to introducing new products, meeting demand and responding to tactical and operational problems. Therefore, meetings about introducing new products and meeting demand (Sales and Operations Planning S&OP) are key determinants of capacity choices in operations, infrastructure and control systems. Consensus on operations activities is achieved during S&OP meetings, but only on issues of capacity; this restriction limits operations alignment from reaching a broad and shared understanding of the business. In the case of technological choices, strategic alignment is established through the efforts of operational managers. These managers reconcile the needs of the marketing department with the recommendations of the engineering, research and development departments, the recommendations of the headquarters specialists and issues of cost and flexibility. The factors affecting the strategic alignment of operations included the balance between intra-functional trade-offs; perceptions of managers based on scientific evidence; the joint investigation of the competitive context; reflections on the customer needs and operational performance; low perception disparity; break-downs in organisational protections and an understanding of inter-functional trade-offs. / Este trabalho apresenta uma discussão sobre o alinhamento da estratégia de operações associado ao entendimento das necessidades de mercado. Esse tema é uma questão estratégica essencial para as funções de operações e exige um apropriado grau de interação de seus processos de interface com marketing. O primeiro objetivo desta tese constitui-se em uma análise dos processos de alinhamento em três empresas manufatureiras multinacionais localizadas no Brasil. Através dessa análise fundamentada em três bases teóricas o alinhamento estratégico das operações, a interface com marketing e o consenso estratégico constatou-se como se estabelece o alinhamento das operações na interface com marketing. O segundo objetivo é avaliar os resultados da aplicação de um ciclo de atividades desenvolvido para melhorar esse alinhamento e verificar quais os fatores relacionados a essa aplicação que o afetam na interface com marketing. Esses objetivos tratam de um domínio pouco explorado e sujeito à influência de aspectos humanos, que não podem ser quantificados e que estão envolvidos nas atribuições estratégicas dos gerentes. As análises que abordem percepções, comportamento, interesses, poder e conflitos podem revelar representações gerenciais relevantes ao alinhamento estratégico. Assim, optou-se por uma abordagem qualitativa. A procura pela compreensão de como se estabelece o alinhamento das operações e dos fatores associados ao ciclo de atividades determinaram os estudos de caso como método mais adequado para essa pesquisa. Verificou-se que o alinhamento estratégico das operações se estabelece a partir da análise dos problemas de introdução de novos produtos e de atendimento da demanda e constitui uma resposta aos problemas táticos e operacionais. Portanto, as reuniões de introdução de novos produtos e de atendimento da demanda (Sales and Operations Planning S&OP) são determinantes às alterações da capacidade das operações, da infraestrutura e dos sistemas de controle. O atingimento de consenso em relação às atividades operacionais se dá durante as reuniões de S&OP, mas apenas sobre as questões de capacidade, o que limita o alinhamento das operações por um entendimento compartilhado e amplo do negócio. Tratando-se de escolhas tecnológicas, o alinhamento estratégico se estabelece a partir dos esforços dos gerentes operacionais em compatibilizar as necessidades de marketing com as recomendações da área de engenharia, do setor de pesquisa e desenvolvimento, dos especialistas das sedes e de questões de custo e flexibilidade. Os fatores verificados que afetam o alinhamento estratégico das operações são o balanceamento entre os trade-offs intrafuncionais, as percepções dos gerentes fundamentadas por estudos com credibilidade científica, a investigação conjunta do contexto competitivo, as reflexões sobre o entendimento das necessidades dos clientes e do desempenho operacional, a menor disparidade de percepções, a ruptura de proteções organizacionais e o entendimento dos trade-offs interfuncionais.

Purpose - The purpose of the current study was to gain a broader understanding of corporate sustainability strategy formulation and implementation in multi-business organizations. Specifically, regarding how to succeed with efficiency, alignment and consensus across strategic levels. Method - The study was conducted through a single case study in a multi-business organization operating in the defense sector globally. A qualitative method with 18 semi-structured interviews to collect data was used to gain a broad contextual understanding of the research questions. The data was inductively analyzed through thematic analysis. Findings - The primary findings of the study are 18 themes of drivers and challenges for successfully formulating and implementing corporate sustainability strategies in multi-business organizations. Considering the drivers and challenges, distinctions between the strategic levels were outlined, and predominantly indicated that the role of the corporate level enables the success. Additionally, a visual understanding of four contradictions that needs to be managed by the corporate level was provided - autonomy and compliance, cooperation and competition, exploitation and exploration, communication bottom-up and top-down. Theoretical and practical implications - The study has contributed theoretically by increasing the knowledge regarding drivers and challenges for formulation and implementation of corporate sustainability strategies in multi-business organizations. Further, the study contributes with managerial support by illustrating distinctions of the key drivers and challenges between the strategic levels, and by visualizing the strategic contradictions that needs to be balanced by the corporate level, to manage corporate sustainability strategies in multi-business organizations successfully. Limitations & Future research - The research concerned the strategic management process, with a focus on the internal organization, whereas the findings revealed the significance of incorporating an external perspective. Thus, future research could further investigate the exchange with external stakeholders. Moreover, this research was limited by being a single case study, and in future research it would be interesting to investigate other industries. / Syfte – Syftet med den här studien var att öka förståelsen kring formulering och implementering av hållbarhetsstrategier i fler-företagsorganisationer. Specifikt gällande hur man lyckas med effektivitet, en gemensam inriktning och konsensus, genom de strategiska nivåerna av ett sådant företag. Metod – Studien har genomförts som en fallstudie på en fler-företagsorganisation inom försvarsindustrin, som finns globalt över hela världen. En kvalitativ metod med 18 semi-strukturerade intervjuer för att samla in data användes för att öka den kontextuella förståelsen av forskningsfrågorna. Den insamlade informationen var sedan induktivt analyserad genom tematisk analys. Resultat – Resultatet av studien var primärt 18 teman av drivkrafter och utmaningar för att framgångsrikt lyckas med hållbarhetsstrategier i fler-företagsorganisationer. Gällande drivkrafterna och utmaningarna har också skillnader mellan de strategiska nivåerna blivit överskådliga, vilka tydligt visar på att företagsnivån spelar den mest avgörande rollen för att lyckas. Dessutom har en visuell förståelse för fyra strategiska motsägelser som behöver hanteras av företagsnivån blivit tillhandahållen – autonomi och efterlevnad, samarbete och tävlan, kortsiktighet och långsiktighet, kommunikation nerifrån-och-upp och uppifrån-och-ner.  Teoretiskt och praktiskt bidrag – Studien har bidragit teoretiskt genom att öka kunskapen kring drivkrafter och utmaningar för formulering och implementering av hållbarhetsstrategier i fler-företagsorganisationer. Vidare bidrar studien med praktiskt stöd genom att illustrera skillnader mellan de framträdande drivkrafterna och utmaningarna mellan dom strategiska nivåerna, och genom att visualisera de strategiska motsägelserna som behöver balanseras av företagsnivån, för att lyckas med hållbarhetsstrategier i fler-företagsorganisationer. Begränsningar och framtida forskning – Studien hade ett fokus på den interna organisationen gällande den strategiska lednings processen, men resultatet visade på att ett externt perspektiv också är högst relevant. Så, framtida forskning skulle vidare kunna undersöka utbytet med externa intressenter. Dessutom så har den här studien blivit begränsad av att vara en fallstudie på endast ett företag, framtida forskning skulle kunna vidare undersöka andra industrier.