Managerial discretion is said to be a fundamental condition for effective leadership. Studies of managerial discretion have to a large degree focused on the magnitude of managers’ discretion and how different factors influence managers’ perceived level of discretion (Hambrick, 2007; Hambrick & Finkelstein, 1987; Hutzschenreuter & Kleindienst, 2013). In this chapter, we argue that it is insufficient to study the size of managers’ room for discretion. We also need to understand the content included in leaders’ discretionary rooms. In a study of ten successful logistics companies, one of which was studied more in-depth, we find that the managers perceive their room for managerial discretion as large. However, the alternatives considered are to a large extent operational and short-term, at the expense of more long-term, strategically relevant alternatives facing future challenges. Hence, we develop the concept “strategically relevant managerial discretion”, which, in addition to the alternatives that managers are aware of and that are acceptable for the mangers’ stakeholders, also includes a new dimension: to what extent the alternatives are strategically relevant for future challenges. We conclude the chapter by pointing out interesting directions for future research, including a call for empirical studies of the conceptual model developed in this chapter.
The research on and practice of human resource management (HRM) typically are related to standard employment relationships and the HRM triad of line managers, employees and a HRM department. In this chapter we describe and analyze HRM in the context of television production in Norway. We identify a “deviant” context that is rarely studied, one characterized by project-based work and contingent employment relationships. In the theoretical part of the paper different contexts for HRM are described. We then provide a brief overview of the Norwegian institutional environment of employment relations. Based on 18 semi-structured interviews with respondents in various roles in TV production, we describe and analyze key HRM themes in the sector. Project organization is a characteristic feature in the production companies. They typically combine a small core of employees on open-ended contracts with (project-based) temporary employees and contractors. A collective agreement has been established in the TV industry for temporary employees, which is quite unique in Norway. A consistent finding is that the HRM function is minimalistic and “fuzzy”, for example, in relation to employee development and performance appraisals. However, many firms emphasize health and safety issues.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.