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    ANZAM'13: Leadership & Governance interactive session

    Conferences Governance Leadership Management Performance Research
    A new innovation that has been introduced to the ANZAM conference this year is the Interactive Session. Whereas the format in the main conference sessions emphasises the presentation (with 5 minutes for questions), the interactive session encourages conversation, with several quick-fire presentations followed by an extended discussion. Many of the papers I heard can best be described as research works-in-progress, rather than completed studies.
    • Derek Man spoke about value of moving beyond "hero" leadership, towards an alliance model, not dissimilar to that employed by companies endeavouring to form strategic alliances. He asserted that the increasing complexity of business demanded a new approach, but stopped short of providing any robust theory or evidence of how such a model might work effectively in the anglosphere. Man's ideas are not dissimilar to those discussed by Dimovski at ECMLG several weeks ago.
    • Clive Boddy provided a very revealing insight, by drawing a link between the descriptions of toxic and destructive leadership in the psychology literature, and the traits of leaders in company failure situations. Boddy's noted that the behaviours and excesses of leaders in many failure situations are remarkably similar to those of psychopaths. He introduced the term corporate psychopath, applied it to the triumvirates that held power in several high-profile failures (Enron, Worldcom), and   described some of the behavioural indicators that characterise such leaders.
    • Kumudini Heenetigala questioned the shareholder primacy "value" that dominates governance practice, particularly in AngloAmerican jurisdictions, and noted that many "causes" of company failure can be traced back to factors commonly associated with the agency perspective of governance and the shareholder primacy value. These include a lack of accountability at the board level; unethical practices by board and management; duty of care breaches; and, acting in a reckless or irresponsible manner.

    This session really caught my imagination. The three studies summarised above are a small sample of over 100 studies presented in thIn my view, sessions like this should be included in the programmes of all research-oriented conferences. The supportive, collegial style of engagement by other speakers and attendees provided a considerable amount of useful feedback, much of which should lead to more robust research outcomes as the various studies are finalised, I'm sure.
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    ANZAM'13: CEO replacement decisions

    Conferences Governance Management Performance Phd Research Strategy
    The replacement of a poor performing CEO is an important but challenging task of boards. Young Kim's (University of New South Wales) summarised recent research into factors which contribute to the speed with which boards make CEO dismissal decisions. Her quantitative study, using data from 348 publicly-listed US firms, explored the relationship between external signals of declining performance (analyst downgrades), the board's interpretation of any signalled decline, and the time to any subsequent dismissal of the CEO. The results revealed that three factors seem to be significant to the speed with which the board makes any CEO dismissal decision. According to Kim, boards made dismissal decisions more quickly when:
    • The magnitude of performance drops were high/strong (gross failure to achieve performance targets)
    • The performance drop represented a large variation from a previously consistent pattern of performance
    • The performance drop was more extreme than prevailing industry patterns

    These results were encouraging. They confirmed my intuition that most boards tend to react only when large changes or variations from forecast occur, and that the response they turn to first is to dismiss the CEO. In so doing, the larger problem—of boards operating as the "ambulance at the base of the cliff"—is brought into stark relief. The continuing failure of boards to understand the operational context within which the company operates, and to monitor performance against strategy adequately, amazes me. Kim's study provides a useful launch pad for further research, perhaps using qualitative methodology, to understand the motivations of boards, and the changes needed to move boards into the role of the top of the cliff. I intend to chat with Kim about this, because I suspect there are synergies between her work and mine.
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    ANZAM'13: The importance of organisational leadership systems to leader sense-giving

    Conferences Governance Leadership Management Research
    Peter McKiernan (Murdoch University, Western Australia) presented research which explored the effect of organisational leadership systems (OLS) on leader sense-giving. This paper caught my eye because it offered a different perspective—sense-giving, not sense-making. The possible effects of contextual factors in the leadership process are not well understood. McKiernan's longitudinal study sought to address this gap in the knowledge, by analysing qualitative data collected from interviews with leaders in 37 multinational firms, in order to discover whether the OLS is a trigger, enabler or barrier to leader sense-giving. The results showed that a degree of inherent complexity and ambiguity are triggers for sense-giving, and that objective (external) factors appears to have the biggest impact.

    I asked the "so what?" question after the talk, and McKiernan said that this is the next step in his work. To understand implications for practice. I look forward to seeing the fruits of this work, because it is likely to be helpful to enhance leadership effectiveness in high change environments.
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    ANZAM'13: Streams of knowledge and learning

    Conferences Governance Management Performance Research Strategy
    The 27th Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management conference starts this morning, in Hobart, Australia. If the registration process and pack is any indication, the three day conference will be a well-run, high quality affair. This year, papers have been categorised into 15 subject streams:
    • Managing on the Edge
    • Critical Management Studies
    • Entrepreneurship, Small Business and Family Enterprise
    • Gender, Diversity and Indigeneity
    • Human Resource Management
    • International Management
    • Leadership and Governance
    • Management Education and Development
    • Marketing and Communication
    • Organisational Behaviour
    • Organisational Change and Development
    • Health, Public Sector and Not-for-profit
    • Strategic Management
    • Sustainability and Social Issues in Management
    • Technology, Innovation and Supply Chain Management

    With about 340 papers on the programme, and several plenary keynotes, the logistics exercise of paper and stream selection has not been without challenge. Today, I'll be concentrating my attention on two streams: Leadership and Governance, and Strategic Management. I will post reflections and comments as time and wi-fi access permits. 
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    Holiday reading plans

    Readings Research
    The task of exposing the twelfth and last page of my desk calendar, in a couple of days' time, signals the arrival of the Christmas season in our household. As happens each year, my mind moves to the prospect of spending time with family and friends; to BBQs; to warm weather (as happens when one lives in the Southern Hemisphere); and, to the books that I'd like to read over the holiday period. This year, there are just three titles on my list. Hopefully one or more of them finds their way under the Christmas tree later in the month!

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    The Victorian City, by Judith Flanders.

    Flanders has written several books about Victorian London, none of which I've read. This particular title caught my eye when I was browsing in a local book store, perhaps as a result of my heightened awareness of the great city following my recent visit there.
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    The Men who United the States, by Simon Winchester.

    Winchester ranks amongst my favourite story-telling authors. I've enjoyed The Surgeon of Crowthorne, A Crack in the Edge of the World, and The River at the Centre of the World in the past. If this new title is comparable, then I suspect that I'm in for a treat.
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    Strategy: A History, by Lawrence Freedman. 

    This newly published title has received critical acclaim from several well-regarded reviewers. It offers an expansive view of strategy and strategic thinking, from ancient military strategists (Achilles, Sun Tzu, Machiavelli) to modern business strategists (Drucker, Sloan). At 768 pages, I may take a while to get through this one!
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    ANZAM Conference: Observations and insights

    Conferences Governance Management Performance Research Strategy
    I will be attending the 27th Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) Conference, in Hobart, Australia, next week. The three-day gathering, from Wed 4 to Fri 6 December, is the premier conference for management scholars and practitioners in this part of the world, with over 340 research papers and several keynote presentations on the programme! Papers have been grouped into 15 topic areas, with up to eight streams of papers being presented at any one time. Consequently, delegates have the challenging task of deciding what papers they want to hear—a not insignificant logistics exercise for sure.

    While I will not be presenting a paper this year, I will be sharing observations and insights during the conference, as I have done with other conferences. Please check back here later next week if you like to hear about the latest developments in the management field.