How do organizations assess and explain their performance? Prior studies have attempted to demonstrate that, like individuals, organizations take credit for good performance and blame poor performance on influences in their environment. However, these studies have found only a weak relationship between performance and attribution at the level of the firm. This dissertation seeks to elucidate this relationship by conceptualizing firms as social agents and by combining aspiration and attribution theory for the first time at the level of the firm. Analysis of performance explanations by large, public manufacturing firms in 2004 and 2005 revealed that firms' performance explanations correlated with their cognitive experiences of success and failure. These findings further understanding of organizational cognition, attribution, and image management.

Secteur bancaire en Serbie est souvent vu comme un phénomène de groupe, ce qui peut influencer les individus qui en font partie. La perception individuelle, les valeurs et les pensées sont souvent influencées par le contexte culturel dans lequel nous habitons. Les valeurs représentent un certain type de système qui influence la manière dont nous générons et recevons certaines informations, qui motive nos actions et qui fait que nous adoptons un modèle comportemental. Elles nous différencient d’autres systèmes de valeur. L’étude a pour but d’enquêter sur les effets de la culture nationale sur la perception des salariés dans les banques serbes à l'égard de la qualité du service. L’étude inclue une analyse documentaire de la culture générale, de la culture nationale ainsi que des dimensions culturelles. Elle comprend également la culture des organisations et la qualité du service, tout en explorant des lacunes de la littérature, ce qui préconise la réalisation de recherches plus approfondies. Afin de combler les lacunes, un modèle de recherche a été développé. Ce dernier a illustré une relation possible entre les dimensions de la culture nationale et celles du service bancaire de qualité. Le modèle a été utilisé comme cadre de référence au cours de la recherche sur le terrain. Cette recherche empirique a été menée dans huit banques en Serbie. Les principaux résultats obtenus indiquent qu’il existe une influence majeure de la culture nationale sur la qualité du service bancaire. Aussi, l'étude a révélé que les banques en soi influencent la perception globale qu'a l'employé du service bancaire de qualité. / Culture is often seen as a group phenomenon, which influences individuals in it. The individual’s perception, values and thoughts are often influenced by the cultural context in which they are living in. The values represent certain type of system, which influences how we generate and receive certain information, motivates our actions and behavioral pattern, and differentiate us from the members of other value systems. This study investigates the effect of national culture on the employee’s perception in Serbian banks, towards the service quality. The study includes a literature review about culture in general, national culture and cultural dimensions, organizational culture, service quality, exploring gaps in the literature which calls for further research. In addressing one of the gaps, a research model has been developed, which illustrated the possible relationship between the national culture dimensions and bank’s service quality dimensions. The model has been utilized as framework and guided us during the empirical research. The empirical research was conducted in eight banks in Serbia. The main findings suggest that there is significant influence of national culture on bank’s service quality. Secondly, study found that banks per se have influence on employee’s perception regarding bank’s service quality.

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. Communication, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains [1], v, 71 p. : ill. Includes bibliographical references (p. 62-67).

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2017-04-24T13:12:15Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Andre_M_de_ Souza_MPA_CCSA_2016_DISSERTAÇÃO.pdf: 1370513 bytes, checksum: 7bb49fb148783f014d53dd8aae9f2087 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-24T13:12:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Andre_M_de_ Souza_MPA_CCSA_2016_DISSERTAÇÃO.pdf: 1370513 bytes, checksum: 7bb49fb148783f014d53dd8aae9f2087 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-28 / O estudo teve por objetivo compreender, por meio das experiências dos coordenadores TAE´s da UFPE, como a gestão administrativa da UFPE pode ser considerada inovadora. Os objetivos específicos foram: verificar o grau de importância e o grau de utilização de práticas inovadoras de gestão na UFPE; identificar as principais práticas de gestão consideradas inovadoras e as respectivas barreiras à implementação destas na UFPE; e compreender o conceito de uma “gestão administrativa inovadora” implícito nas ideias, valores e crenças compartilhados pelos gestores. O referencial teórico fundamentou a compreensão da temática inovação em práticas de gestão (PAIVA; ROCHA-PINTO, 2015; BRANDÃO; BRUNOFARIA, 2013; COSTA et al, 2013); e da Teoria da cognição organizacional e o construto Teoria implícita (BASTOS, 2002; JANISSEK-DE-SOUZA, 2007). Trata-se de um estudo de caso, as técnicas de análise foram quantitativa e qualitativa, a amostra composta por 53 coordenadores e um questionário semi-aberto foi utilizado. Como resultados, a gestão administrativa da UFPE parece estar distante de um contexto considerado inovador; Por outro lado, o Plano de capacitação e qualificação dos servidores e a interiorização da UFPE foram as principais práticas de gestão consideradas inovadoras. As principais barreiras à implementação de práticas inovadoras foram: resistência às mudanças, recursos financeiros insuficientes e burocracia excessiva; o conceito de gestão administrativa inovadora da UFPE caracterizou-se pela existência de processos participativos, de incentivo à capacitação, de canais de comunicação eficazes e tecnologias integradas, de transparência pública. Para estudos futuros, sugere-se ampliar as observações com os demais servidores da UFPE, como também, o desenvolvimento de propostas de avaliação de desempenho no contexto das universidades federais. / The study aimed to understand, through the experiences of TAE's UFPE coordinators, as the administration of UFPE can be considered innovative. The specific objectives were to verify the degree of importance and the degree of use of innovative management practices at university; identify key management practices considered innovative and their barriers to implementing these at university; and understand the concept of an "innovative administrative management" implicit in the ideas, values and beliefs shared by managers. The theoretical reasons for the understanding of the subject innovation management practices (PAIVA; ROCK-PINTO, 2015; BRANDÃO; BRUNO-FARIA, 2013; Costa et al, 2013); and the theory of organizational cognition and construct Implicit theory (BASTOS, 2002; JANISSEK-DESOUZA, 2007). This is a case study, the analysis techniques were quantitatively and qualitatively, the sample of 53 engineers and a semi-open questionnaire was used. As a result, the administration of UFPE seems far be considered an innovative context; On the other hand, the training plan and training of servers and the internalization of UFPE were the main management practices considered innovative. The main barriers to the implementation of innovative practices were: resistance to change, insufficient financial resources and excessive bureaucracy; the concept of innovative administrative management of UFPE characterized by the existence of participatory processes, to encourage training, effective communication channels and integrated technologies, public transparency. For future studies, it is suggested to extend the observations to other UFPE servers, as well as the development of performance evaluation of proposals in the context of federal universities.

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T20:51:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 127147.pdf.jpg: 20119 bytes, checksum: a2fd4ab6fd6b053974a62d1b3b806e92 (MD5) 127147.pdf: 912844 bytes, checksum: e713d5718d2d450597c33130beb21773 (MD5) 127147.pdf.txt: 433044 bytes, checksum: 0fedbee5f5a92547544109efa5f7ff42 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2004-12-08T00:00:00Z / Esta pesquisa assenta-se num campo emergente dos estudos organizacionais e de estratégia: Cognição Gerencial & Organizacional (Managerial e Organizational Cognition, daqui em diante, MOC). Avanços teóricos e metodológicos no campo da Ciência Cognitiva têm viabilizado o acesso, mapeamento e análise de como indivíduos produzem sentido e agem de modo inteligente. A aplicação desse ferramental tem permitido a mensuração do que se convencionou chamar ‘complexidade cognitiva situacional’, ou seja, o grau de diferenciação e integração com que uma pessoa percebe determinada situação, problema, objeto ou fenômeno. Tem havido, no entanto, controvérsias sobre a relação entre essa variável e, em ultima análise, o desempenho do indivíduo na realização de uma atividade e no alcance de resultados. Enquanto alguns estudos têm encontrado apenas relações residuais, grande parte das pesquisas têm encontrado relações positivas, na forma de ‘U invertido’ ou, até mesmo, negativas entre complexidade cognitiva e desempenho. Nosso objetivo principal aqui é identificar como se deu essa relação na indústria siderúrgica no Brasil no período de 2001 a 2003. Para atingir esse objetivo estruturamos esta pesquisa como segue: no primeiro capítulo identificamos as principais bases teóricas e conceituais do campo. Advinda predominantemente da Filosofia, Sociologia e Ciência Cognitiva, essa base fornece os alicerces sobre os quais a Teoria de MOC, de um modo geral e esta pesquisa, em particular, se fundamentam. No capítulo seguinte apresentamos o campo de MOC em si, com especial ênfase sobre suas origens, processos cognitivos estudados, métodos de pesquisa e as principais relações causais exploradas. Em seguida apresentamos um estudo empírico realizado com dois experts e com os CFOs de três das principais companhias siderúrgicas no Brasil. Buscamos, primordialmente, identificar dois tipos de fenômenos nos dados obtidos: diferenças de complexidade cognitiva entre os experts e os executivos, e o tipo de relação existente entre a complexidade cognitiva dos executivos e o desempenho organizacional. Nesse capítulo apresentamos o problema de pesquisa, os objetivos da investigação, as hipóteses, a metodologia utilizada, os resultados e as análises. Finalmente, concluímos com alguns apontamentos em relação ao campo de MOC e à pesquisa empírica, avaliando algumas forças e fraquezas deste trabalho e sugerindo direções futuras de pesquisa nesse campo. / This research is rooted on an emerging field of the Organizational Studies and Strategy: Managerial and Organizational Cognition (hereafter, just MOC). Theoretical and methodological advancements in the field of Cognitive Science have made it possible to surface, elicit, map and analyze how individuals make sense of reality and act based on it in an intelligent way. The application of these tools has allowed the measurement of what is usually called the ‘situational cognitive complexity’ of an individual or, in other words, the degree of differentiation and integration a person notices in certain situations, problems, objects or phenomena. There has been, however, controversies about the relationship between cognitive complexity in one hand, and the individual's performance level while accomplishing an activity and reaching his goals in the other hand. While some studies have found just residual relationships, the majority of the research has found positive, inverted ‘U’ shaped or even negative relationships between cognitive complexity and performance. Our goal in this research is just to identify how these two variables behaved in the steel industry in Brazil from 2001 to 2003. To reach this goal we structured this research as follows: in the first chapter we identify the main theoretical and conceptual bases of MOC. The foundation over which the theory of MOC, in general, and this research, in particular, is based comes mainly from Philosophy, Sociology and Cognitive Science. In the second chapter we present the field of MOC itself, with special emphasis on its origins, cognitive processes studied, research methods used and main causal relationships explored. Then, we follow presenting an empiric study carried on with two experts and three CFOs of the main steel companies located in Brazil. We focused on identifying two different phenomena in the data obtained: differences in the situational cognitive complexity between the experts and the CFOs, and the type of relationship between the situational cognitive complexity of the CFOs and the performance of their companies. We also present the research problem, the goals of the investigation, its hypotheses, the methodology applied, the results obtained and their analysis. Finally, we wrap up with some notes about the field of MOC and its empiric research, pinpoint some forces and weaknesses of this work and suggest future research directions.

<p>When duties are documented, new ideas are often created regarding how the work should be carried out. Writing is an important source of development, but unfortunately the possibilities are limited when it comes to transferring new ways of thinking to personnel. As with organizational change in general, employees tend to neglect new instructions. On the basis of their personal ways of thinking, they might find that the new order is incorrect, requires more resources, lacks contact with reality, or cannot be understood. The people who have prepared the new directives think they are surely justified and easy to understand. In their eyes, those who stick to what used to be correct and reasonable seem resistant to change.</p><p>The aim of this dissertation is to understand the influence of self-assessment on service cognition and to propose how this influence can be utilized to attain strategic aims. The term self-assessment refers here to the activity whereby employees, in a structured manner, collectively assess and document their own instructions. The concept of service cognition refers to individual employee’s conceptions on how to carry out their own tasks, on how colleagues carry out theirs, and on connections between activities in the common workflow. The object of study is self-assessment as business process modeling at the local offices of the Swedish Employment Service.</p><p>What is explored is the crass but fruitful understanding that new ways of thinking more easily arise among those who define organizational design than among those who are expected to change. Using socio-cognitive theory as well as longitudinal and extensive action research, the reasons are investigated behind the inevitable development of units which are trusted to write their own instructions and, in so doing, start to talk about the way work is done. Despite the independence needed to coordinate by consensus, it seems that the collective mind thereby induced actually enhances opportunities for central control and change: Units designing their own routines surely become better coordinated, but also more controllable and adaptive to strategic change. Furthermore, some principles are presented to support self-assessment regarding organization and change.</p>

Die Thematik der Strategieberatung in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen (KMU) hat in der Managementforschung bisher wenig Beachtung gefunden und dies obwohl jenem Forschungsfeld hohe Relevanz attestiert wird. Die vorliegende Arbeit adressiert genau dieses Forschungsdesiderat. Im Rahmen einer explorativen, qualitativ-empirischen Studie wird beleuchtet, inwieweit KMU-Geschäftsführer (KMU-GF) Unternehmensberatung zur strategischen Unternehmensführung in Anspruch nehmen, ob diesbezüglich unterschiedliche Typen existieren und wodurch sich die entsprechenden Verhaltensweisen der KMU-GF begründen. Für die Analyse, weshalb KMU-GF Strategieberatung nutzen bzw. nicht nutzen, wird eine sozio-kognitive Perspektive eingenommen, die kognitive Strukturen sowie kognitive Prozesse als Auslöser von Verhalten untersucht und dabei auch die Rolle von Kontextfaktoren berücksichtigt. Ergänzend werden Einblicke in die Denk- und Verhaltensweisen von KMU-GF hinsichtlich der Themen Unternehmensberatung allgemein und strategische Unternehmensführung geboten.

When duties are documented, new ideas are often created regarding how the work should be carried out. Writing is an important source of development, but unfortunately the possibilities are limited when it comes to transferring new ways of thinking to personnel. As with organizational change in general, employees tend to neglect new instructions. On the basis of their personal ways of thinking, they might find that the new order is incorrect, requires more resources, lacks contact with reality, or cannot be understood. The people who have prepared the new directives think they are surely justified and easy to understand. In their eyes, those who stick to what used to be correct and reasonable seem resistant to change. The aim of this dissertation is to understand the influence of self-assessment on service cognition and to propose how this influence can be utilized to attain strategic aims. The term self-assessment refers here to the activity whereby employees, in a structured manner, collectively assess and document their own instructions. The concept of service cognition refers to individual employee’s conceptions on how to carry out their own tasks, on how colleagues carry out theirs, and on connections between activities in the common workflow. The object of study is self-assessment as business process modeling at the local offices of the Swedish Employment Service. What is explored is the crass but fruitful understanding that new ways of thinking more easily arise among those who define organizational design than among those who are expected to change. Using socio-cognitive theory as well as longitudinal and extensive action research, the reasons are investigated behind the inevitable development of units which are trusted to write their own instructions and, in so doing, start to talk about the way work is done. Despite the independence needed to coordinate by consensus, it seems that the collective mind thereby induced actually enhances opportunities for central control and change: Units designing their own routines surely become better coordinated, but also more controllable and adaptive to strategic change. Furthermore, some principles are presented to support self-assessment regarding organization and change.

Die Thematik der Strategieberatung in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen (KMU) hat in der Managementforschung bisher wenig Beachtung gefunden und dies obwohl jenem Forschungsfeld hohe Relevanz attestiert wird. Die vorliegende Arbeit adressiert genau dieses Forschungsdesiderat. Im Rahmen einer explorativen, qualitativ-empirischen Studie wird beleuchtet, inwieweit KMU-Geschäftsführer (KMU-GF) Unternehmensberatung zur strategischen Unternehmensführung in Anspruch nehmen, ob diesbezüglich unterschiedliche Typen existieren und wodurch sich die entsprechenden Verhaltensweisen der KMU-GF begründen. Für die Analyse, weshalb KMU-GF Strategieberatung nutzen bzw. nicht nutzen, wird eine sozio-kognitive Perspektive eingenommen, die kognitive Strukturen sowie kognitive Prozesse als Auslöser von Verhalten untersucht und dabei auch die Rolle von Kontextfaktoren berücksichtigt. Ergänzend werden Einblicke in die Denk- und Verhaltensweisen von KMU-GF hinsichtlich der Themen Unternehmensberatung allgemein und strategische Unternehmensführung geboten.