In this paper we examine the adaptability of the Japanese style lean organization system and the traditional American style mass organization system under changing environments. From an organizational design perspective, key structural aspects of the two organizations are modeled in a problem solving context using computational methods. Organizational-level performance in terms of decision making accuracy and severity of errors is measured as an indicator of organizational adaptability under conditions where the task environment shifts between predictable to unpredictable or vise versa. Our study shows that both organizations have their respective advantages under different task environments and that they adapt to environmental shifts in different forms. Specifically, when the time pressure is high the lean organization system’s performance is virtually identical to the mass organization system, even though the lean organization system’s members are more proactive. When the time pressure is low, the mass organization system shows a much faster adaptability when the environment shifts to a predictable one but it is also more vulnerable when the environment shifts to an unpredictable one. In contrast, the lean organization system’s response to the changing environment is characterized by its slower adaptability. When the environment shifts to an unpredictable one, the lean organization system shows a gradual improvement till reaching a high level. When the environment shifts to a predictable one, however, the lean organization system shows a gradual

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This paper reports the results of an empirical study that examines how a manager's experience with a specific strategic information technology in their industry influences cognitive managerial tasks associated with new information technologies. Specifically, we sought to assess the effects of both positive and negative managerial experiences on: the framing of new information technologies as threats or opportunities for the firm, the perceived uncertainty associated with responding to new information technologies, and the seeking of information about new information technologies. We undertook this study in the tax preparation industry and examined how managerial perceptions of new information technologies were shaped by managers' previous experiences with electronic filing technology for tax returns. 3 4 LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE: MANAGERIAL INTERPRETATIONS OF PAST AND FUTURE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES 1.0 Introduction Information and information technologies have long been considere...

As an exploratory step toward integrating differing views in the field of top management succession, this study takes an open system’s perspective and examines the effect of top management succession on organizational performance, in particular decision-making accuracy, under conditions where various organizational and environmental factors can interact. Through a formal computer simulation model that captures the basic behaviors of human decision making and the fundamental characteristics of organizational and environmental settings, the results show that whether top management successions may affect organizational performance, and if so, how organizational performance may be affected, depends on such contextual variables as industry environment, organizational structure, succession type, and organizational age. This study has also demonstrated the importance of moving toward a more systematic and precise contingency approach and the power of computer modeling in understanding the multilevel process of top management succession in complex and dynamic organizations.

To navigate our environment we are often required to quickly and accurately derive simplified patterns from the complexity of life. This proposal seeks to understand when the process of pattern perception goes awry and individuals falsely or inaccurately perceive patterns. I have structured the proposal into three sections. The first section reviews the literature on various types of pattern perception, including superstitions, conspiracies, and magical thinking. I suggest that even though many areas of pattern perception are talked about as if they were separate phenomena, there is actually an underlying fundamental relationship among them all. The second section presents four preliminary studies that investigate potential causal forces behind false pattern perception, specifically looking at uncertainty and lack of control over one's environment. Together the studies demonstrate that lack of control, both primed through a recall task (Study 1) and experimentally manipulated through a response task (Studies 3 and 4), results in greater false pattern perception in terms of seeing conspiracies and finding order in random static. Similarly, uncertainty (Study 2) also resulted in greater false pattern perception as participants were more likely to perceive superstitious patterns. Finally, the third section presents three proposed studies. Study 5 illustrates the effect of false pattern perception in a

This paper analyzes the relationship between business model innovation and firm performance in terms of both cost and profit efficiency. Unlike previous studies, the present analysis is carried out within a stochastic frontier framework, while we use a suitable econometric model to solve for possible endogeneity issues. The empirical framework is applied to an industry-wide sample of UK firms during the period 2002-2009. The paper, firstly, documents a positive correlation between business innovation and cost and profit efficiency. Secondly, we investigate the effect of individual, organizational and country level characteristics on business model innovation. Using dynamic frameworks, the empirical analysis reveals that business model innovation is affected by the size of the company and the human capital. The board structure plays a crucial role as well as the presence of foreign owners, by contrast to increased ownership concentration which seems to exert a negative influence. Moreover, we find that GDP enhance business innovation. Finally, we identify a positive impact of certain industries on innovation, based on individual investments on R&D.