This paper outlines frameworks for assessing and classifying manufacturing and service operations in terms of their suitability for use of cross-trained (flexible) workers. We refer to our combined framework as Agile Workforce Evaluation (AWE). The primary contributions of this paper are: (1) a strategic assessment framework that structures the key mechanisms by which cross-training can support organizational strategy, (2) a tactical framework that identifies key factors to guide the selection of an architecture and worker coordination policy for implementing workforce agility, (3) a classification of workforce agility architectures, (4) a survey of a broad range of archetypical classes of worker coordination policies, (5) a survey of the literature with an operational perspective on workforce agility set within our frameworks, and (6) the identification of opportunities for research and development of architectures for specific production environments.

transactions, and the boundaries of firms

an earlier version of this paper, and to members of the Senior Teams Workshop and the Negotiations, Organizations, and Markets Seminar at the Harvard Business School for ideas and inspiration. We benefited from comments provided by three anonymous reviewers and the Editor of Leadership Quarterly. A DYNAMIC MODEL OF TOP MANAGEMENT TEAM EFFECTIVENESS: MANAGING UNSTRUCTURED TASK STREAMS Leadership research relating top management team demographics to firm performance has produced mixed empirical results. This paper suggests a new explanation for these inconsistencies. We first note that a given top management team (TMT) is likely to face a variety of different situations over time. Thus, while TMT demographic composition is relatively stable, the TMT task is dynamic and variable. In some situations, team members have similar information and interests (a symmetric distribution); in others, information or interests diverge (an asymmetric distribution). Based on team effectiveness theory, we then argue that, unless group process is managed accordingly, asymmetric distributions of situation-specific information and interests will reduce TMT decision-making effectiveness. We develop leader process choices to mitigate the potentially

This paper is based on my dissertation completed at the University of Iowa. I gratefully acknowledge the encouragement and assistance of my dissertation committee members, Ramji Balakrishnan, Joyce Berg, Douglas DeJong (Chairman), Robert Forsythe, and Tim Lowe. This paper has greatly benefited from the detailed and insightful suggestions of Marlys Lipe, Laureen Maines, and Jerry Salamon. I also appreciate

Working papers are in draft form. This working paper is distributed for purposes of comment and discussion only. It may not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder. Copies of working papers are available from the author. Many studies highlight the challenges facing incumbent firms in responding effectively to major technological transitions. While some authors argue that these challenges can be overcome by firms possessing what have been called “dynamic capabilities, ” little work has described in detail the critical resources that these capabilities leverage, or the processes through which these resources accumulate and evolve. This paper explores these issues through an in-depth exploratory case study of one firm that has demonstrated consistently strong performance in an industry that is highly dynamic and uncertain. The focus for our study is Microsoft, the leading firm in the software industry. We motivate our focus on Microsoft by providing evidence that the firm’s product performance has been consistently strong over a period of time in which there have been several major technological transitions – one indicator that a firm possesses dynamic

Working papers are in draft form. This working paper is distributed for purposes of comment and discussion only. It may not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder. Copies of working

This paper studies organizational change following a shift in an industry environment, in the context of how a focused factory adapts to a change in its manufacturing objectives. We use the organizational nature of production operations to suggest that the effectiveness of adaptation will depend on how well the manufacturing requirements of the new objectives match manufacturing capabilities at the production line level. We test our hypotheses using primary data from the Hartselle, Alabama compressor manufacturing focused factory of the Copeland Corporation. The results suggest that factors that influence adaptability derive from individual and organizational competence, and that the direction and extent of their influence depends on the systemic nature of the operational activity concerned. The results highlight roles of carefully designed complexity in operations and of processoriented decision making on the shop floor in successful adaptation. This work contributes to our understanding of how business organizations overcome constraints to change.

Working papers are in draft form. This working paper is distributed for purposes of comment and discussion only. It may not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder. Copies of working papers are available from the author.

What is a strategy? The answer to this question ought to depend on the foresight horizon: how far ahead, and how much, the strategist thinks he can foresee. When the very structure of the firm's world is undergoing cascades of rapid change, and interpretations about the identity of agents and artifacts are characterized by ambiguity, we say that the foresight horizon is complex. We argue that strategy in the face of complex foresight horizons should consist in an on-going set of practices that interpret and construct the relationships that comprise the world in which the firm acts. Our discussion focuses on two intertwined kinds of strategic practices. The first is cognitive: a firm "populates its world" by positing who lives there and interpreting what they do. The second is structural: the firm fosters generative relationships within and across its boundaries--relationships that produce new sources of value that cannot be foreseen in advance. We illustrate the ideas advanced in the paper with a story about the entry of ROLM into the PBX market in 1975. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank the Santa Fe Institute and CNR (Italy) for support for our research. We benefited from discussions around the ideas presented here from many people, including especially Brian Arthur, Win Farrell, Dick Foster, John Hagel, Franco Malerba, Gigi Orsenigo, John Padgett, Jim Pelkey, Howard Sherman and Somu Subra- * Lane, Department of Political Economy, University of Modena (lane@c220.unimo.it); Maxfield, Department of Engineering and Economic Systems, Stanford University (maxfield@leland.stanford.edu). maniam. We also appreciate helpful comments on a previous draft of this paper from Arthur, Eric Beinhocker, Roger Burkhart, Farrell, Henry Lichstein, Kathie Maxfield, Ken Oshman, Pa...

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