This study explores how a business turnaround was managed successfully at a firm within the textile manufacturing industry. The internal problems/ limitations and external challenges that the firm faced during its business decline are highlighted, as well as the functional level strategies that the firm implemented in order to arrest and then reverse the decline. A case study approach was adopted in order to understand and analyse the business turnaround. The need for studying the turnaround process is warranted as a number of firms in the clothing and textile manufacturing industry that attempt a business turnaround eventually experience greater levels of business decline and close down. The major empirical findings of the study undertaken reveal that certain key operational and strategic enablers were identified and utilised in order to effect a successful business turnaround. Some of these enablers have been developed into core competences which the firm is leveraging to create a sustainable competitive advantage in its chosen high value niche markets. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

ABSTRACT This research is about identifying the characteristics or success profiles of professionals working in the turnaround industry. The turnaround industry possesses a number of dynamic capabilities in processes, positions, resources and paths that are unique to its industry. The firms that compete in the turnaround industry serve their clients, the dying organizations, by using a mix of these dynamic capabilities. While these dynamic capabilities are seen as the turnaround firms’ “secrets of success,” they have over time evolved into “best practices.” This commoditization of best practices in the turnaround industry has created a need for turnaround firms to search for a competitive advantage. Specifically, this advantage is identified in the literature as the skills, knowledge, and experience of the turnaround professional. These unique characteristics of the turnaround management professional (TMP), see appendix C for a complete definitions of terms, have been accounted for in the Turnaround Management Association (TMA) certification process called the Certified Turnaround Professional, or CTP. One of the TMA’s goals is to establish professional work standards and guidelines and to regulate the industry. While a noble effort, this focus takes the “competitive advantage” away from the turnaround organization and standardizes it into the “best practices” arena via “certified” professionals leaving these organizations to compete on size and location alone. Evidence from a focus group, case research interviews, and two different surveys, suggests that there is a profound difference in the effectiveness of TMPs beyond the knowledge, skill, and experience levels identified as one of the core components of dynamic capabilities theory. This evidence led to the investigation of psychometric profiling as a method to measure the distinct success profiles of these “highly successful” TMPs, or Most Valuable players (MVP). Measuring the thinking style (cognitive reasoning ability), work motivation, personality behaviors, and occupational interests of MVP s, has led to the discovery of a success composite. The findings of this research suggest that MVP s score higher on this composite than do other TMPs who were identified as “low performers”, or Least Valuable Players (LVP), as well as non-turnaround managers, executives, and business professionals in general. It is postulated that by using this composite score in hiring, training, and promoting turnaround professionals, a turnaround firm will obtain a competitive advantage in their industry and generate higher success for all stakeholders. Resultantly, the researchers have uncovered a critical gap in the dynamic capability theory surrounding the construct of human capital. Evidence suggests that psychometric profiling is an acceptable and, indeed, important measure of the value of human capital.

No description available.

Educational leaders have shared concerns of the shortage of qualified candidates applying for principal openings, particularly at challenging schools, such as turnaround schools (Gurley, Anast-May, and Lee, 2015; Kutash et al., 2010). The challenge of turning around a failing school makes it essential to study when and how successful turnaround principals adapt their leadership practices in their unique contexts. Kouzes and Posner (2017) studied leaders at all levels from a variety of organizations. Their research identified five common leadership practices. Good leaders model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, and encourage the heart (Kouzes and Posner, 2017). The purpose of this study was to compare Kouzes and Posner's five leadership practices with what successful elementary school turnaround principals described as performing at their personal best. This research was conducted at a Mid-Atlantic school district, Riverdale Public Schools (pseudonym). Seven successful elementary school turnaround principals were interviewed. The leadership practices of these principals were compared to Kouzes and Posner's five leadership practices to determine where their leadership practices were consistent with what turnaround principals described as their personal best experiences. The information gained will contribute to the knowledge base of prioritizing essential leadership actions for turnaround leadership. / Doctor of Education / Being an elementary school principal is challenging work. Leaders have shared concerns of the shortage of qualified principals applying for schools that failed to meet state or national academic benchmarks (Gurley, Anast-May, & Lee, 2015; Kutash et al., 2010). The challenge of improving a failing school makes it important to study when and how successful principals lead in these situations. Kouzes and Posner (2017) studied leaders at all levels from a variety of organizations. Their research identified five common leadership practices. Good leaders model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, and encourage the heart (Kouzes & Posner, 2017). This study compared Kouzes and Posner’s five leadership practices with what successful elementary school principals described as performing at their personal best. This research was conducted at a Mid-Atlantic school district, Riverdale Public Schools (pseudonym). Seven elementary school principals who were hired to lead a failing school were interviewed. The leadership practices of these principals were compared to Kouzes and Posner’s five leadership practices to determine where their leadership practices were consistent. The information gained from this research study will contribute to the knowledge base of prioritizing essential leadership actions for failing schools.

A capacidade de uma firma se recuperar de uma fase de declínio é denominada turnaround. Compreender as ações tomadas por empresas que se recuperaram de um período de declínio e as diferenças destas empresas em relação àquelas que faliram é um dos principais objetivos da literatura sobre o turnaround. Contudo, a definição de um modelo geral que pode ser aplicado a qualquer negócio parece ser algo ainda distante para os trabalhos que tratam do assunto. No limite, compreender a passagem do período de declínio para o de recuperação é definir como restaurar a vantagem competitiva de negócios. Estudos mostram que as abordagens dos trabalhos que tratam das vantagens competitivas oscilaram de maneira pendular ao longo das décadas de 1970 a 2000, ora com ênfase nas abordagens externas à firma como a Organização Industrial (OI), ora com abordagens internas como a Teoria Baseada em Recursos (TBR) e Capacidade Dinâmica (CD) ou evidenciando abordagens centrais como a Economia dos Custos de Transação (ECT). Aparentemente os estudos sobre turnaround foram influenciados por esta dinâmica pendular da evolução do conhecimento em estratégia, refletidos nas discussões existentes sobre o que seriam causas estratégicas ou operacionais do declínio das organizações. O presente trabalho propõe primeiramente um estudo bibliométrico a fim de compreender a evolução da literatura sobre o turnaround e as contribuições da literatura sobre estratégia para o tema. A partir da análise qualitativa dos principais trabalhos apontados pelo estudo bibliométrico e da relação destes com as abordagens de estratégia são derivadas proposições para um modelo de estratégia competitiva para o turnaround. Para discutir o modelo e as proposições, é desenvolvido um estudo de caso da Cooperativa Agro Industrial Holambra. Os resultados alcançados indicam caminhos para desenvolvimento de um modelo geral sobre o turnaround de empresas bem como aspectos que devem ser investigados com maior profundidade. / The ability of a firm to recover from a declining financial performance is called turnaround. The understanding of the actions taken by such firms and the differences in between them and those that went bankrupt is one of the main goals addressed by the turnaround literature. However, a definition of a general model that can be applied to any business situation seems to be something still distant for research on the subject. Ultimately, understanding the transition from the period of decline to the recovery period is to set how to restore firms competitive advantage. Studies show the papers that address the approaches of competitive advantage, swung like a pendulum over the decades from 1970 to 2000, sometimes with emphasis on the external approaches to the company as Industrial Organization (IO), sometimes with internal approaches such as Resource Based View (RBV) and Dynamic Capacity (DC) or showing central approaches such as Transaction Cost Economics (TCE). Apparently studies about the turnaround were influenced by this pendulum dynamics of the strategy knowledge evolution, reflected, for example, in ongoing discussions about what would be strategic or operational causes of the organizations decline. This paper first proposes a bibliometric study in order to understand the evolution of the literature on the turnaround as well as the contributions of the literature on strategy field for the theme. From the qualitative analysis of the main papers and studies identified by the bibliometric study and their relationship with the strategy approaches, propositions are made for a competitive strategy model for the turnaround. To discuss the model and propositions, a case study is developed on an agribusiness cooperative - \"Cooperativa Agro Industrial Holambra\". The results achieved indicate paths for general model of development on the turnaround of firms as well as aspects that should be studied in greater depth.

Ao longo das últimas décadas, o declínio organizacional despertou interesse de pesquisadores em função da necessidade de se compreender a dinâmica organizacional por uma perspectiva oposta ao crescimento. Esse desejo surge em função da crescente dificuldade das grandes organizações em conseguir manter sua posição competitiva: acredita-se que a perpetuação do bom desempenho depende cada vez mais de quão adaptáveis estas organizações são às turbulências do ambiente de negócios. Porém, esta flexibilidade não depende apenas da capacidade de antecipar as mudanças estratégicas, mas também de como a sua estrutura organizacional está estabelecida e da sua capacidade empreendedora. Assim, pelo fato da teoria do declínio organizacional ser relativamente recente, inúmeras definições taxonômicas ainda precisam ser debatidas, além de se ressaltar a necessidade de explorar melhor o próprio conceito do declínio e compreender sua origem. Considerando este contexto, o presente trabalho desenvolve um modelo de diagnóstico do declínio organizacional, cujo objetivo central é identificar o estágio de declínio das organizações. Para cumprir com este propósito, estudos de casos múltiplos foram aplicados em empresas do segmento automobilísticos (montadoras), tanto pelo fato de estarem presentes no Brasil há vários ciclos econômicos quanto por se depararem com uma intensa necessidade de reavaliação do modelo de negócio nos últimos anos. Para a definição dos constructos que compõem o arcabouço teórico, foi realizada uma análise bibliométrica e, posteriormente, uma análise cienciométrica, de modo a permitir a compreensão da estrutura cognitiva da teoria do declínio organizacional, a partir da qual foi desenvolvida uma proposta aqui denominada modelo 3E, pois contempla as seguintes dimensões: Estratégia, Estrutura e Empreendedorismo. Os resultados obtidos validam o modelo proposto e permitem inferir não apenas a situação do setor automobilístico, mas também posicionar cada montadora em seu estágio de declínio correspondente com base em uma análise temporal da organização: passado, presente e futuro. Como efeito colateral, o modelo oferece um roteiro para verificar a coerência da estrutura à estratégia, a eficiência da estrutura organizacional e também a capacidade empreendedora destas organizações em definir o horizonte estratégico adequado. / Along the latest decades, organizational decline raised interest on the part of scholars due to the need of understanding the organizational dynamics from a perspective opposed to growth. This occurs in function of the increasing difficulty of large organizations in managing to keep their competitive position; the perpetuation of good performance is believed to depend more and more on how adaptable these organizations are to the turbulences of the business environment. However, this flexibility does not only depend on the capacity of anticipating strategic changes, but also on how their organizational structure is established and on their entrepreneurial capacity. Hence, once the organizational decline theory is relatively recent, a number of taxonomic definitions still have to be discussed before the need to better explore the very concept of decline and understanding its source is felt. Considering this context, a model for diagnosing organizational decline is developed herein, the central goal of which is to identify the organizations decline stage. To meet this goal, multiple case studies were conducted in organizations in the automotive sector (assemblers), both for the fact of their being present in Brazil along several economic cycles and for their facing an intense need to reassess their business model in the last years. For defining the constructs composing the theoretical framework, a bibliometric analysis was conducted and, later, a scientometric analysis, so as to allow understanding the cognitive structure of the organizational decline theory, from which a proposal was developed and denominated 3E model here, contemplating the following dimensions: Strategy, Structure and Entrepreneurship (which start with an E in Portuguese). The results validate the model proposed and allow inferring not only the automotive sector scenario, but also placing each assembler in its corresponding decline stage based on a temporal analysis of the organization: past, present and future. As a side effect, the model provides a script for verifying the adherence of the structure to the strategy, the efficiency of the organizational structure, as well as the entrepreneurial capacity of these organizations in defining an adequate strategic horizon.

Ao longo das últimas décadas, o declínio organizacional despertou interesse de pesquisadores em função da necessidade de se compreender a dinâmica organizacional por uma perspectiva oposta ao crescimento. Esse desejo surge em função da crescente dificuldade das grandes organizações em conseguir manter sua posição competitiva: acredita-se que a perpetuação do bom desempenho depende cada vez mais de quão adaptáveis estas organizações são às turbulências do ambiente de negócios. Porém, esta flexibilidade não depende apenas da capacidade de antecipar as mudanças estratégicas, mas também de como a sua estrutura organizacional está estabelecida e da sua capacidade empreendedora. Assim, pelo fato da teoria do declínio organizacional ser relativamente recente, inúmeras definições taxonômicas ainda precisam ser debatidas, além de se ressaltar a necessidade de explorar melhor o próprio conceito do declínio e compreender sua origem. Considerando este contexto, o presente trabalho desenvolve um modelo de diagnóstico do declínio organizacional, cujo objetivo central é identificar o estágio de declínio das organizações. Para cumprir com este propósito, estudos de casos múltiplos foram aplicados em empresas do segmento automobilísticos (montadoras), tanto pelo fato de estarem presentes no Brasil há vários ciclos econômicos quanto por se depararem com uma intensa necessidade de reavaliação do modelo de negócio nos últimos anos. Para a definição dos constructos que compõem o arcabouço teórico, foi realizada uma análise bibliométrica e, posteriormente, uma análise cienciométrica, de modo a permitir a compreensão da estrutura cognitiva da teoria do declínio organizacional, a partir da qual foi desenvolvida uma proposta aqui denominada modelo 3E, pois contempla as seguintes dimensões: Estratégia, Estrutura e Empreendedorismo. Os resultados obtidos validam o modelo proposto e permitem inferir não apenas a situação do setor automobilístico, mas também posicionar cada montadora em seu estágio de declínio correspondente com base em uma análise temporal da organização: passado, presente e futuro. Como efeito colateral, o modelo oferece um roteiro para verificar a coerência da estrutura à estratégia, a eficiência da estrutura organizacional e também a capacidade empreendedora destas organizações em definir o horizonte estratégico adequado. / Along the latest decades, organizational decline raised interest on the part of scholars due to the need of understanding the organizational dynamics from a perspective opposed to growth. This occurs in function of the increasing difficulty of large organizations in managing to keep their competitive position; the perpetuation of good performance is believed to depend more and more on how adaptable these organizations are to the turbulences of the business environment. However, this flexibility does not only depend on the capacity of anticipating strategic changes, but also on how their organizational structure is established and on their entrepreneurial capacity. Hence, once the organizational decline theory is relatively recent, a number of taxonomic definitions still have to be discussed before the need to better explore the very concept of decline and understanding its source is felt. Considering this context, a model for diagnosing organizational decline is developed herein, the central goal of which is to identify the organizations decline stage. To meet this goal, multiple case studies were conducted in organizations in the automotive sector (assemblers), both for the fact of their being present in Brazil along several economic cycles and for their facing an intense need to reassess their business model in the last years. For defining the constructs composing the theoretical framework, a bibliometric analysis was conducted and, later, a scientometric analysis, so as to allow understanding the cognitive structure of the organizational decline theory, from which a proposal was developed and denominated 3E model here, contemplating the following dimensions: Strategy, Structure and Entrepreneurship (which start with an E in Portuguese). The results validate the model proposed and allow inferring not only the automotive sector scenario, but also placing each assembler in its corresponding decline stage based on a temporal analysis of the organization: past, present and future. As a side effect, the model provides a script for verifying the adherence of the structure to the strategy, the efficiency of the organizational structure, as well as the entrepreneurial capacity of these organizations in defining an adequate strategic horizon.

A capacidade de uma firma se recuperar de uma fase de declínio é denominada turnaround. Compreender as ações tomadas por empresas que se recuperaram de um período de declínio e as diferenças destas empresas em relação àquelas que faliram é um dos principais objetivos da literatura sobre o turnaround. Contudo, a definição de um modelo geral que pode ser aplicado a qualquer negócio parece ser algo ainda distante para os trabalhos que tratam do assunto. No limite, compreender a passagem do período de declínio para o de recuperação é definir como restaurar a vantagem competitiva de negócios. Estudos mostram que as abordagens dos trabalhos que tratam das vantagens competitivas oscilaram de maneira pendular ao longo das décadas de 1970 a 2000, ora com ênfase nas abordagens externas à firma como a Organização Industrial (OI), ora com abordagens internas como a Teoria Baseada em Recursos (TBR) e Capacidade Dinâmica (CD) ou evidenciando abordagens centrais como a Economia dos Custos de Transação (ECT). Aparentemente os estudos sobre turnaround foram influenciados por esta dinâmica pendular da evolução do conhecimento em estratégia, refletidos nas discussões existentes sobre o que seriam causas estratégicas ou operacionais do declínio das organizações. O presente trabalho propõe primeiramente um estudo bibliométrico a fim de compreender a evolução da literatura sobre o turnaround e as contribuições da literatura sobre estratégia para o tema. A partir da análise qualitativa dos principais trabalhos apontados pelo estudo bibliométrico e da relação destes com as abordagens de estratégia são derivadas proposições para um modelo de estratégia competitiva para o turnaround. Para discutir o modelo e as proposições, é desenvolvido um estudo de caso da Cooperativa Agro Industrial Holambra. Os resultados alcançados indicam caminhos para desenvolvimento de um modelo geral sobre o turnaround de empresas bem como aspectos que devem ser investigados com maior profundidade. / The ability of a firm to recover from a declining financial performance is called turnaround. The understanding of the actions taken by such firms and the differences in between them and those that went bankrupt is one of the main goals addressed by the turnaround literature. However, a definition of a general model that can be applied to any business situation seems to be something still distant for research on the subject. Ultimately, understanding the transition from the period of decline to the recovery period is to set how to restore firms competitive advantage. Studies show the papers that address the approaches of competitive advantage, swung like a pendulum over the decades from 1970 to 2000, sometimes with emphasis on the external approaches to the company as Industrial Organization (IO), sometimes with internal approaches such as Resource Based View (RBV) and Dynamic Capacity (DC) or showing central approaches such as Transaction Cost Economics (TCE). Apparently studies about the turnaround were influenced by this pendulum dynamics of the strategy knowledge evolution, reflected, for example, in ongoing discussions about what would be strategic or operational causes of the organizations decline. This paper first proposes a bibliometric study in order to understand the evolution of the literature on the turnaround as well as the contributions of the literature on strategy field for the theme. From the qualitative analysis of the main papers and studies identified by the bibliometric study and their relationship with the strategy approaches, propositions are made for a competitive strategy model for the turnaround. To discuss the model and propositions, a case study is developed on an agribusiness cooperative - \"Cooperativa Agro Industrial Holambra\". The results achieved indicate paths for general model of development on the turnaround of firms as well as aspects that should be studied in greater depth.

There is currently a gap in performance among Swedish schools. Statistics show some schools demonstrating great results, while others are facing significant challenges. This study focuses on schools that have been underperforming and managed to turn this negative trend around. This is what is known as a turnaround, which occurs when an organization manages to improve negative results to positive through various measures. Turning an organization around requires extensive efforts, time and resources from its leadership and employees. Breaking down existing routines and practices to impose new ones may create discomfort and uncertainty among those that these changes are exerted upon. This especially when the organization in question does not view itself as in need of change. Calling for turnarounds to be enacted requires the organization to be aware of its shortcomings or even crises that they face. Awareness of underperformance is the main contention this thesis explores and its relation to a turnaround process. This study delves into schools that have demonstrated awareness of underperformance and acted upon it.

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between office politics and selected performance outcomes namely stress, turnaround intent and work engagement, as perceived by employees working in law firms. A literature study indicated the relationship between perceptions of office politics and these selected job outcomes. As an empirical analysis, a measuring instrument consisting of five structured questionnaires was distributed via a non-probability, convenience sampling technique. Spearman’s correlation coefficient indicated the relationships between the variables. The results indicated a positive relationship between perceptions of office politics, job stress, burnout and turnaround intent but a negative relationship between perceptions of office politics and work engagement as well as its antecedents. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015