Browsing by Author "Lettice, Fiona"
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Item Open Access Exploration of sense-making and learning with complexity science : a diary-based study(Cranfield University, 2005-08) Webb, Carol; Lettice, FionaLiterature in the organisational science and strategic management domains attribute value in the utilisation and application of analogies, metaphors and principles from the complexity science domain. However, little work has been carried out to explore how individuals do this. The aim of this research was therefore to explore the ways in which individuals made sense of their working lives by means of complexity science, as evidenced in work-focussed diaries. In order to meet this aim, a path of inductive, qualitative research was undertaken, of an exploratory and descriptive nature. The qualitative research tradition taken into consideration was that associated with management research. The research was loosely inspired by the survey approach and utilised commonly associated data collection methods. A hybrid interview style was adopted, combining well-known techniques that support a more conversational approach. Diaries were utilised in an open-ended format and an interactive style of on going research. Thirteen individuals volunteered to write weekly, work-focussed diaries, with the intention of continuing for one year: a goal which some met, but some did not. The general approach was inspired by a subjectivist, postmodern perspective, where it was seen as important to collect data from 'multiple voices', where relativist findings were generated from that data. As a result of this study, the novelty presented by this research includes: the development of an interactive and open-ended, personal, journal-like diary method, facilitating longer term research in conversations with research participants, producing thickly descriptive and narrative data; a complexity science learning model representing the development of individual interest, learning and potential areas of application; and, a replicable approach incorporating specific methods of interaction with individual learners and the knowledge around such an intervention.Item Open Access An exploration of the strategy formation process in diverse business organisations(Cranfield University, 2004-06) Ziv, Atai; Lettice, FionaThe business environment is perceived as becoming ever more turbulent. New strategic management theories point to a more organic and emergent strategy formation process, emphasising the paradox of control and questioning management’s role within the strategy domain. This research investigates the theoretical and empirical relationships between strategy formation, management’s role and the business environment within different organisations and at different times. Sixteen cases, representing insights of the strategy formation process in a large high technology company, are presented based on action research conducted over a nineteen month period. A theoretical framework, named the Strategy Formation Matrix, is developed to investigate the relationship between the strategy formation type and the management role. The model is validated and researched theoretically against the strategy literature and empirically in a multiple case study with six diversified companies. The framework is later extended to incorporate the business environment and these relationships are investigated based on a sample of seventeen diversified companies, who represent different industrial sectors and vary in size from small to medium to large. This research has developed new frameworks and models to describe the relationships between the business environment, the strategy formation process, management’s role and the size of organisation. In addition, it adds to existing models and challenges existing theories that link increased turbulence with a more emergent strategy formation process and a static business environment with a more intended strategy formation process.Item Open Access An exploration of the use of graphic facilitative methods within the strategic change process(Cranfield University, 2003-10) Young, Karen Elizabeth; Lettice, FionaThe strategy and change management fields have developed new perspectives in recent years. Studies show that a high percentage of strategic change efforts fail and it was argued that one problem was the unsuccessful communication of the vision and strategy to employees. This exploratory research studied the use of graphic facilitative methods within the context of an organisation's strategic change process. Phase one of the explorative study was carried out using the combination of interview data, workshops and literature to identify emerging themes and to develop a conceptual model. Phase two of the study was again exploratory but more focused on the themes that had emerged from the preliminary study. Data was collected through interviews, observational methods, survey and a more focused literature review. Through the combined findings of the preliminary and focused study and from the literature, the author established an understanding and theory of how the methods contribute to improved strategy communication. The research has re-enforced the view in literature that the strategy communication process will be more successful by ensuring the strategy is driven by the right people and the strategy development is realistic. The use of graphics, metaphors, stories and dialogue, in combination, can help to improve the strategy communication process by conveying a clear strategic message, by facilitating an interactive strategy communication process, by encouraging communication in an open and safe environment, and because they are new, innovative and different.Item Open Access Explorative study into the design and use of visual reporting systems in project and programme management environments(Cranfield University, 2005-09) Wickes, Martin James; Lettice, FionaProject and programme management environments are extremely challenging, dynamic places to work. Understanding issues and correcting poor performance is crucial to the successful achievement of project/programme objectives, yet many organisations struggle to develop reporting systems that are efficient and still provide accurate insight. In response to this problem, this thesis describes collaborative academic-industrial research into the use of a visually-based poster-size reporting system, referred to as the Dashboard. Given the exploratory nature of the research, a grounded theory, case study methodology was selected. Two case studies are presented: one at programme level involving a national utilities and roadside recovery organisation and one at project level, conducted with a support services company. The case studies were conducted over 20 and 9 month periods respectively. Data was collected from a number of sources including formal and informal interviews, workshops, company documentation, researcher diaries and for the second case study, through action research. The Researcher found that a visual reporting system is an effective way of reporting status and performance, though is better suited to programme rather than project management environments. Specifically, it is effective as a communications and knowledge transfer mechanism to both internal and external stakeholders. Secondly, the visual approach can leverage mechanisms for developing trusting relationships between stakeholders, which could lead to more effective team working. 'Mese findings are important as they address common reasons for project failure. Finally, the type of organisational culture has been shown to have a significant impact in the longer-term success of a visual reporting system. Where there is a culture of blame, of protecting information or where participative management practices are not embraced, the visual approach is unlikely to be successful beyond providing performance visibility and remedying actions in the short-term.Item Open Access Exploring and describing management action for the pursuit of disruptive innovation(Cranfield University, 2004-10) Thomond, Peter Nicholas; Lettice, FionaDisruptive Innovation as a theory is often misunderstood and as a term it tacks clear definition. Moreover, there is an absence in existing research of a coherent framework to explain the qualitative factors that management practitioners face when attempting to pursue disruptive innovation as part of a balanced approach to innovation management. I In response to these problems, this thesis describes a researcher-led collaborative academic- industrial exploration of disruptive innovation. The research was conducted in three waves; first to generate an holistic appreciation of the organisational effort required in the pursuit of disruptive innovation; second to generate focus; third to explore a primary area of management action that constrains businesses to the pursuit of incrementalism. New qualitative knowledge was generated, based upon the experiences and insights of 127 industrialists from four case study organisations, 11 experts and the researcher's observations over a 33 month period. Findings suggest that the theory of disruptive innovation fails to be translated into practice because managers lack an holistic appreciation of th e innovation agenda. When this is the case, disruptive opportunities invoke management cognitions that drive disruptive innovation rejection strategies. In effect, managers allow their prevailing mental models to dictate an imbalanced focus upon steady-state, sustaining innovation. However, it was found that such inhibitors can be challenged by the use of adjusted portfolio management approaches. The research is primarily exploratory and provides the basis for a new, more grounded understanding of the pursuit of disruptive innovation in average performing organisations.Item Open Access Impact of knowledge management on law firm performance(Cranfield University, 2005-11) Forstenlechner, Ingo; Lettice, Fiona; Bourne, MikeIt is a management truism that you cannot manage what you cannot measure. To manage knowledge effectively organisations need to understand how to measure their knowledge management performance against organisational goals. The case study organisation has developed a balanced scorecard, which is used to monitor key drivers for performance within the remit of the knowledge management function, thereby aiming to improve the delivery of value adding services. The set of cause and effect relationships at the heart of the scorecard - referred to as the success map - is at the core of this research, which aims to investigate if the link between managing knowledge and financial performance really exists and - if it does - how it can be influenced. By means of analytical methods including regression, correlation and semi-structured interviews the existence of this link is supported by evidence and the success map updated to reflect the relationships among key performance drivers that were positively identified as relevant. The outcome is a model for managing knowledge that can be applied to professional service firms or comparable organisations that are highly dependant on knowledge. In relation to this model, cultural variations were investigated and found to significantly influence the relevant performance drivers in several regions and countries across the case study organisation. Ignoring these cultural variations was found to carry the risk to base action on deceitful insights. In addition to this, the analysis of the survey also gave a clear indication of how to foster knowledge sharing among lawyers of different nationality and levels of seniority. This thesis provides the empirical evidence for a link between knowledge management and organisational performance.Item Open Access Pre-paradigmatic status of industrial sustainability: a systematic review(Emerald, 2017-10-01) Smart, Palie; Hemel, Stefan; Lettice, Fiona; Adams, Richard; Evans, StephenPurpose The purpose of this paper is to progress operations management theory and practice by organising contributions to knowledge production, in industrial sustainability, from disparate researcher communities. It addresses the principal question “What scholarly dialogues can be explicated in the emerging research field of industrial sustainability?” and sub-questions: what are the descriptive characteristics of the evidence base? and what thematic lines of scientific inquiry underpin the body of knowledge? Design/methodology/approach Using an evidenced-based approach, a systematic review (SR) of 574 articles from 62 peer-reviewed scientific journals associated with industrial sustainability is conducted. Findings This paper distinguishes three prevailing dialogues in the field of industrial sustainability, and uses Kuhn’s theory of paradigms to propose its pre-paradigmatic scientific status. The three dialogues: “productivity and innovation”, “corporate citizenship” and “economic resilience” are conjectured to privilege efficiency strategies as a mode of incremental reductionism. Industrial sustainability espouses the grand vision of a generative, restorative and net positive economy, and calls for a future research trajectory to address institutional and systemic issues regarding scaling-up and transition, through transformative strategies. Research limitations/implications The review is limited by the nature of the inquiries addressed in the literatures by specific researcher communities between 1992 and 2014. Originality/value This study performs the first SR in the field of industrial sustainability, synthesises prevailing scholarly dialogues and provides an evaluation of the scientific status of the field.Item Open Access Towards a mid-range theory of method selection for innovation pre-project activities(Cranfield University, 2006-01) Herzberg, Torsten; Lettice, FionaThere is a large variety of approaches that describe the pre-project innovation phase as the cradle of successful innovation activities, and thus as an important factor to reach the objective of organisational growth and competitive advantage. However, theoretical contributions to date mainly address this phase either from a strategic or from an organisational perspective. On a conceptual level, the developed methods are either specific to an organisational situation, or too general to be applied in a specific problem situation. In consequence, there is a missing link between strategy, organisation and concept development in theory about the early stage innovation activities. Thus, the innovation pre-project phase is not researched in an holistic way, which prevents a structured accumulation of knowledge in the research field. In this thesis, this gap is being bridged by developing a mid-range theory about the appropriate selection of methods in different, generic organisational situations. The theoretical framework consists of four theoretically derived situations and a set of generic activities that are conducted in pre-project innovation phases. The framework builds upon the research fields of decision-making and problem-solving theory, strategy development, and the contingency view. By combining these perspectives, the strategic problem of generating profit can be solved by the two second order problems of organising and conceiving new products or services. Profit can be generated by solving customers' problems, and this can be pursued by organising this process together with external collaboration partners in a value chain or network. In consequence, the degree of customer problem-solution and the degree of external collaboration are identified as the two dominant factors to describe the strategic innovation problem, and thus the innovation problem solving focus. As a result, on the basis of customer needs theory and transaction cost theory, the four generic situations are derived, and operationalised together with pre-project activities and the concept of methods. On the basis of the operationalised concepts, propositions about adequate method selection were derived, and further evaluated and illustrated by case study research. The thesis ends with the development of hypotheses about the framework and the value of appropriate method selection. On the basis of these hypotheses, requirements for appropriate method selection, in different organisational situations were developed. The central contribution to knowledge provided by this research is the approach to the innovation pre-project phase on the conceptual level in contrast to the existing approaches on an organisational or strategic level. By the development and application of the theoretical framework, research about methods can be conducted on a more general level and then be refined and taylored to specific organisational situations. Redundancies and contradictions from comparison of research conducted for specific situations can be explained, and further accumulation of knowledge in the field of preproject innovation activities is enabled. As a result, the developed mid-range theory allows a more comprehensive and structured approach to evaluate and understand the innovation pre-project phase compared to existing research in this topic.Item Open Access Turning knowledge into value in professional service firms(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2007-09-01T00:00:00Z) Forstenlechner, Ingo; Lettice, Fiona; Bourne, Mike; Webb, CarolAbstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the findings of research into the value perception of knowledge management among lawyers and staff from among the top ten global law firms. Design/methodology/ approach – Interviews were conducted with lawyers as well as knowledge management (KM) service providers within the selected law firms. The results were then analysed by statistical means and compared to previous findings in literature. The methodology is inspired and broadly based on a research paper into the value perception of information by Broady-Preston and Williams. Findings – The findings are that respondents showed strong support for the value of KM to law firm success through concepts such as improved efficiency, quality and other drivers for better performance. Research limitations/implications – The survey in the paper itself was limited to the top ten global law firms and is therefore not representative of the entire professional service sector or the law firm sector. Practical implications – The results in the paper indicate strong support from the internal customer side for the notion of KM adding value to the business of a law firm. Originality/value – Prior to this paper there has been little research into the value perception of knowledge management within the professional service