PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between organizational structure and performance, especially through organizational learning and innovation, based on evidence from Austria and China.Design/methodology/approachBased on the literature and hypothesis, a theoretical, conceptual and structural equation model is set up through a questionnaire survey and sample of about 90 Austrian and 71 Chinese samples. Partial least squares were used in the analysis and the results are tested by bootstrap methods.FindingsThe findings reinforce the important infrastructure position of organizational structure on performance. First, organizational structure has more effects on organizational learning than on innovation, organizational learning has an indirect effect on performance through innovation, except the direct effect of structure on performance. Second, managers in Austria think structure has a more important effect on performance; both managerial and technical innovation influence performance, managerial innovation is not significant in China. Austrian companies prefer structural‐oriented innovation whereas Chinese prefer learning‐oriented innovation. Third, in a hi‐technology or knowledge intensive industry, organizational structures affect organizational performance mainly through innovation and organizational learning. But in traditional industry, such as labor‐ or capital‐intensive industry, organizational structure impacts organizational performance mainly through innovation. Fourth, for younger firms, learning is important in the relationship of organizational structure with performance, but in older firms, innovation is the mediator for structure on performance. Finally, senior managers think organizational structure improves performance directly and through innovation. But the middle and junior managers think organizational learning has an important mediating effect on performance.Originality/valueThe paper shows that innovation is a more important mediating variable in the influence of organizational structure on performance. Innovation needs to be encouraged at the strategy level instead of at the implication level.
Highlights► A qualitative study investigated different ways in which six MNCs conceived of knowledge and knowledge sharing. ► The results disclose heterogeneous “worlds” of MNC knowledge sharing. ► A typology of MNC knowledge-sharing practices is derived. ► The typology distinguishes self-organizing, technocratic, and best-practice knowledge sharing. ► The typology sheds light on numerous issues, including the conflict between sender–receiver and social learning theories.
PurposeMost managers are heavily affected by the relationship between their professional and their private life. Work‐life‐balance is discussed rarely without discomfort, which suggests a massive tension and conflict caused by the contradiction of private and professional requirements. Managers use a range of individual strategies to deal with this conflict situation. An explorative empirical study on these strategies is presented.Design/methodology/approachThe sample is drawn largely according to the principles of theoretical sampling, different family‐work constellations provide the basis of selection. Our sample includes people from the upper and highest levels of organizational hierarchies. Most of them have children and working partners, hence they find themselves in specific phases of the family cycle. Thirty problem‐focussed interviews are content analyzed. In order to reveal pattern of dealing with work‐life‐conflict cluster and pronominal analyses are applied.FindingsResults show three distinct prototypes of dealing with the work‐family‐tension: career as subject of social fascination, family as a factual task, the tradition of two worlds, double burden and the pressure of tasks. One outstanding result in advance: if both partners are professionally active (Double Career Couples), the family will increasingly be dominated by merely functional requirements.Originality/valueExplorative analyses and results are presented. The applied combination of content analysis and detailed linguistic procedures allows a new, more differentiated view on how managers perceive work‐life‐balance. Real types of handling work‐life‐conflicts are revealed. Based on these findings, more quantitative and structured analyses of managers' work‐life‐behavior can be conducted, especially on these types' overall prevalence, on changes in the course of managers' life cycle, on causal factors, and on implications for human resource management.
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