Leadership, behavioral context, and the performance of work groups in a knowledge-intensive setting

The behavioral work context in which members of groups interact with each other is crucial for facilitating knowledge exchange and combination (Nonaka in Great minds in management: the process of theory development, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2005; Nonaka et al. in Long Range Plan 33:5–34, 2000). Yet little is known about the ways leaders, by signaling expectations and exhibiting supportive behaviors, facilitate such a behavioral context, which may then enhance performance. This study aims to contribute to the literature by examining how leader expectations and supportive behaviors facilitate behavioral integration and enhance the performance of work groups engaging in the development of advanced technological products. Data collected from management teams of 102 work groups indicate significant and positive relationships between: (1) leader expectations and leader supportive behaviors, (2) leader supportive behaviors and group behavioral integration, and (3) behavioral integration and group performance. In addition, the results indicate that leader supportive behaviors partially mediate the relationship between leader expectations and group behavioral integration, and the latter partially mediates the link between leader supportive behaviors and group performance. No significant link was found between leader expectations and group performance. In so doing, this study contributes to research on the way leaders, by shaping a behavioral context, facilitate knowledge exchange and combination, thereby enhancing group performance.     

The Financial Crisis of the Local Authorities in Israel: A Resource-Based Analysis

The financial crisis affecting many of the local authorities in Israel has a significant influence on their ability to supply municipal services of an appropriate amount and quality. So far, studies have been addressed to the financial crisis from a political approach by discussing aspects such as the problematic interrelation between central and local governments together with resource allocation. In this paper we investigate the financial crisis of many local authorities in Israel from a strategic point of view. However, this is by no means to argue that other approaches such as institutional and political ones are not important. Rather, the paper investigates whether the financial crisis affecting many Israeli local authorities is a result of their own strategies and practices.
Specifically, we have used the resource-based approach to explore the nature of their joint crises and the potential strategic responses that the local authorities should adopt in order to move into a more favourable state. In particular, we examine three resource-based systems: customer-oriented, organizational culture, and human resources, as the strategic roots of this crisis. We also examine the way they could produce a sustainable competitive advantage and could lead local authorities from the present position to a better one. The article recommends that the heads of local authorities should move to a resource-based strategy in order to perform both more efficiently and effectively.     

Linking Leader Social Skills and Organisational Health to Positive Work Relationships in Local Governments

This study examines the links between leaders' social skills, organisational health (decline) and positive work relationships. In particular it tests whether leaders' social skills are more strongly associated to work relationships when the organisation's fiscal health is more precarious. Using data from both surveys and annual financial statements of 103 public sector organisations, the results indicate that a leader's social skills and organisational fiscal health are positively related to work relationships. However, the interactive effect of leaders' social skills and organisational fiscal health on positive work relationships was not significant.     

The managerial skills of the top management team and the performance of municipal organisations

This paper examines the extent to which the managerial skills possessed by top management teams affect the performance of municipal organisations in Israel. We evaluated both perceived (education, employment, and culture, recreation and sport services) and objective (collecting efficiency ratio and surplus (deficit) ratio) performance measures. In general, the results show that the managerial skills possessed by the top management team explain variance in organisational performance. Interestingly, structural context plays an important role, especially for performance measures that are potentially less changeable in the short term (collecting efficiency ratio). Managerial skills are a good predictor of performance measures (surplus (deficit) ratio) that can be changed in the short term rather easily, and explain variance in municipal services, especially when the top management team views them as important and highly valued by residents.     

Fiscal Distress in Local Authorities in Israel: the Convened Committee as a Method and a Solution

This study addresses fiscal distress in local authorities in Israel and around the world, and provides an in-depth analysis of the city of Bnei Brak from 1994 to 2003. When the city of Bnei Brak grappled unsuccessfully with fiscal distress, the Ministry of the Interior appointed a Convened Committee (CC; Va'adah Kruah) to handle the crisis. This study explores the methods and solution used by the government to extricate the authority from bankruptcy, while examining the sources and repercussions of this decision. The findings show that the CC solution was borne of necessity, due to the gravity of the financial crisis and the fact that the government had no other way of bailing out the city. However, the situation in Bnei Brak did not improve even after the CC was appointed, which challenges the very efficacy of the solution. This forms the basis for a discussion of the complexities of resolving the fiscal distress of localities in Israel.     

Does founding team composition influence external investment? The role of founding team prior experience and founder CEO

The Journal of Technology Transfer - Entrepreneurship research examines the nature and diversity of founding teams’ prior experience to understand its influence on the new ventures’...