Purpose Alliances have become prominent in the global economy. Firms enter alliances to enhance their competitive positioning. In practice, many partnerships fail to achieve their potential, either due to conflicting goals, divergent cultures, a lack of trust and/or shifts in the external environment. In this conceptual paper, the authors aim to demonstrate how friction leads to trade-offs and tensions that might impede the alliance’s ability to achieve its full potential. The authors conclude by discussing turnaround strategies to enhance alliance performance. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual paper draws on the extant alliance literature to develop a framework that will be helpful for alliance managers. The authors illustrate the usefulness of this framework through real-life cases. The examples highlight effective and ineffective ways of managing alliances. Findings The authors posit that there are four kinds of alliance states: destructive chaos, disruptive chaos, transient harmony and blissful harmony. The four states are a composition of friction that rises from various degrees of strategic congruence and relational harmony. Blissful harmony is the normatively ideal state to which firms should aspire. This is a state in which the partners are well aligned to achieve their strategic objectives. A key to any successful alliance is to manage the strategic and relational aspects of the relationship. Originality/value Although the alliance literature offers numerous frameworks, they do not directly address the issue of impaired integration. The authors believe that this is a key, underexplored avenue in alliance research and practice and this paper seeks to address this deficiency.

Motivation in the workplace is a critical factor that impacts employee performance, engagement, and overall organizational success. It is influenced by a combination of individual and organizational factors. Employees are motivated when they find their work meaningful, feel a sense of accomplishment, and believe their efforts contribute to the company's objectives. Recognition, rewards, and opportunities for growth are key extrinsic motivators. Providing regular feedback, acknowledging achievements, and offering promotions or bonuses can boost employee motivation. Intrinsic motivation is nurtured through tasks that allow employees to exercise their skills, creativity, and autonomy. Workplace is a business communication tool that helps organizations stay connected with their employees. The research method of this study used the secondary data listed in different databases of books, research papers, and related articles on the Internet of Motivation. This paper aims to delve into the multifaceted aspects of motivation in the workplace, exploring theories, strategies, benefits, role of leadership, and suggestions for improving motivation in the workplace.

The Internet plays a central role in e-recruitment by providing a wide range of tools and platforms that make the entire hiring process more efficient, cost-effective, and accessible to both employers and candidates. It has transformed the way talent is sourced and hired in the digital age. E-recruitment is the latest trend, and it has been adopted by every organization. Many organizations use e-recruitment to post jobs on websites, accept resumes on the Internet, and correspond with applicants by e-mail. The main factors in e-recruitment are the value-added services provided by the job sites, cost-effectiveness, speed, providing customized solutions, helping to establish relationships with HR managers, and facilitating the brand building of the companies. Despite the inherent benefits, specific challenges are also associated with the e-recruitment process. The practice of using digital platforms for talent acquisition is rapidly reshaping recruitment prospects in India. This research paper delves into the emerging trends, challenges, and opportunities associated with e-recruitment and the transformative potential that it holds for organizations seeking to acquire top talent. In the digital revolution, India's e-recruitment landscape is marked by diverse trends. The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, the proliferation of mobile recruitment, and the integration of social media platforms are shaping how organizations connect with potential candidates.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to further the understanding of how the regulatory foci of the multinational enterprises (MNE) headquarters and the subsidiary lead to internal legitimacy crises. This paper discusses how pragmatic and moral legitimacy crises affect relational social capital. Design/methodology/approach The paper is conceptual. Findings This paper highlights the importance of internal legitimacy as well as the motivational orientations of headquarters and subsidiaries for the functioning of MNEs. Internal legitimacy management is crucial for building relational social capital. This study proposes that legitimacy crises are particularly likely to occur in cases of goal incongruence between headquarters and subsidiaries. This study postulates that organizations with a promotion-oriented institutional logic are concerned by the absence of pragmatic legitimacy processes. In contrast, given their aim of protecting the status quo, prevention-oriented institutional logic MNEs are concerned about the absence of moral legitimacy. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to explore the relationship between regulatory focus, internal legitimacy and relational social capital.

One World Trade Center (One WTC) is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. This new structure has the same title as the North Tower of the original World Trade Center which was destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. One WTC is the tallest building in the United States and the sixth tallest in the world. The steel frame of One World Trade Center is higher than the 1250-ft-high Empire State Building which is the second tallest building in USA. The building has 94 stories with the top floor numbered 104. It occupies approximately 3 million square feet which includes 2.6 million square feet of new Grade A office space spread across 71 floors. It is most expensive new office tower with cost exceeding $3.8 billion. The tower’s construction consists of steel and concrete.

Conflict management is one of the most broadly researched topics in the area of organizational behaviour. Conflict management has become the centre of gravity of human activities. The inevitability of conflict in social relations has made conflict management an essential element for human adaptability and survival. This is because the approach adopted to mitigate conflict will determine one’s survival instinct and adjustment patterns in terms of how to live amicably with people to achieve set goals. The issue is that to live amicable with people call for the understanding of conflict dynamics and its management approaches in society. This paper presents a review of past literature on conflict management in organizations. The purpose of the review is to identify research gaps and concepts of conflict management. On the basis of previous literature review, it has been found that only conflict and conflict management, the conflict resolutions are also important predictors of organizational success. This literature review offers a synthesis of the past and contemporary studies about conflict and conflict management.

We analyze the announcement-period returns of 4315 two-party, non-equity alliances undertaken by US-based firms between 1986 and 2015 in 11 industries and find positive returns for all of the 11 samples, with the Drug industry reporting the highest (2.69%) cumulative abnormal return (CARs) and Wholesale Trade for Non-Durable Goods industry the lowest (0.84%) around the five-day window surrounding the announcement of the alliances. Using proxy variables, we study whether the alliances in the specific industry are motivated by Exploration, Exploitation, or a combination of both Exploration and Exploitation motive. We find strong evidence that the alliances in the Business Services; Computer and Office Equipment; Electronic and Electrical Equipment; and Telecommunications industries are Exploration motivated. Alliances in the Investment & Commodity Firms, Dealers, and Exchanges; Measuring, Medical, Photo Equipment and Clocks; Prepackaged Software; and Wholesale Trade-Durable Goods industries are motivated by the Exploitation motive, whereas alliances in the Communications Equipment and Drugs industries are motivated by both Exploration and Exploitation (dual) motives. The average CAR (ACAR) for alliances in industries motivated by both Exploration and Exploitation motives is the highest at 2.2%—thereby, creating the most value—followed by Exploitation motivated at 1.58% and Exploration motivated at 1.23%.

This article utilizes a motivational perspective on emotions to reconceptualize the impact of negative emotions on relationship dynamics between alliance partners. Alliance failure is endemic and yet we know little about how alliance partners manage the interface between them. We draw upon the alliance discrepancy model, self-discrepancy theory, appraisal theory, emotions as social information theory, and Horney’s behavioral typology of moving toward, moving against, or moving away to analyze the emotional, motivational, and behavioral dynamics among alliance decision makers. We propose that process discrepancies predominantly produce agitation-related emotions such as anger and anxiety, whereas outcome discrepancies predominantly produce dejection-related emotions such as sadness and disappointment. We analyze the impact of emotions at both the intrapersonal and the interpersonal levels. The intrapersonal level captures the impact of alliance decision makers’ experienced emotions on their own behavior, whereas the interpersonal level captures the impact of alliance decision makers’ expressed emotions on their partners’ behavior. At the intrapersonal level, agitation-related emotions lead alliance decision makers to move against (or away from) their partner, whereas dejection-related emotions lead them to move toward their partner. At the interpersonal level, the expression of dejection-related emotions leads alliance decision makers to move toward their partner, whereas the expression of agitation-related emotions leads alliance partners to either move toward or against their partner depending upon the relative power of the parties and the specific agitation emotion that is expressed. We develop a series of propositions linking discrepancies with emotions and alliance management, which highlight a different way of thinking about emotions in alliances. Rather than treating negative emotions as destructive forces, our model points to the potential functionality of the experience and expression of negative emotions in alliances. We conclude by outlining some boundary conditions of our model and discussing implications for research and practice.

In this paper, we draw on the construct of regulatory fit in explaining how expatriates manage interactional and work-related discrepancies in diverse cultural contexts. When expatriates go overseas, they are often faced with a set of expectations that are at variance with their home country norms and these differences in expectations generate discrepancies. The emergence of discrepancies in an alien cultural context exacerbates the uncertainties facing the expatriate, though the response to uncertainty varies between expatriates. We posit that expatriates with a promotion-focused self-regulatory system are focused on maximizing gains leading them to manage uncertainty through experimentation whereas expatriates with a prevention-focused self-regulatory system are oriented to minimizing losses leading them to manage uncertainty by persisting with the status-quo. Utilizing insights from motivational science and by linking the self-regulatory processes to the cultural context, we develop a framework and propositions for expatriate adaptation in loose and tight cultures. We present managerial implications of our model and offer guidance for testing the framework.

In this chapter we propose a framework for understanding how alliance partners interpret alliance functioning and how these interpretations shape their subsequent behaviors. We proceed from the notion that interpretive schemes have important implications for the evolution of cross-national alliances, impacting upon the management of the problems arising from the cultural conflicts and discrepancies inherent in such alliances. We describe the two fundamental interpretive schemes that relate to sensemaking, that of sensemaking of and in chaos, and examine how an appreciation of these interpretive schemes enable us to better manage cultural conflicts and discrepancies that inevitably arise in cross-national alliances. Our framework makes clear that the two types of interpretive schemes need to be appreciated as interpretive frames that are present among the alliance managers to effectively interact and influence partner firms. Briefly, the two types of the interpretive schemes call for different strategies for developing them. Alliance partners embedded in different national cultures rely on interpretive schemes to make sense of the conflicts and discrepancies that emerge in cross-national alliances. The chapter responds to the need of managers with alliance responsibilities for a framework to help develop the most effective ways of managing interpretive schemes in alliances for productive interactions and performance.

We demonstrate the role of regulatory fit and moral emotions, that is, contempt and anger, in influencing conflict resolution between the headquarters and subsidiary boundary spanners. We develop a theoretical framework, which integrates literature on international business and headquarters-subsidiary relationships with regulatory focus, moral emotions, and conflict resolution. The chapter outlines the relationships between the regulatory focus of a headquarters' boundary spanner, and his or her manner of engagement, conflict sensitivity, violation of code, moral emotions, and the way conflicts are resolved. The theoretical framework developed here provides a starting point for future research on bargaining processes between boundary spanners of a multinational corporation (MNC). This chapter is the first one to discuss regulatory focus, and moral emotions, in the contexts of a MNC headquarters-subsidiary relationship.

This study explores the linkages between culture, emotions and behavioural tendencies in unsuccessful intercultural business negotiations. A set of novel research hypotheses are developed. They are tested using a negotiation scenario analysis involving 106 Finnish and 114 Indian study participants. Three key findings emerge from the statistical tests conducted. First, new empirical evidence suggesting that qualitatively different emotions (dejection vs. agitation) are experienced after a failed intercultural business negotiation by individualists and collectivists is provided. Second, the existence of the relationship between perspective-taking ability and emotional volatility in the context of failed intercultural business negotiation involving individualists and collectivists is revealed. Third, partial support is found for the idea that different types of negative emotions can lead to the same behavioural tendency (approach) among individualists and collectivists when intercultural business negotiation fails. The paper concludes by outlining a set of theoretical and managerial implications and suggestions for further research.

Alliances are subject to heightened instability and while process based explanations are attracting increasing attention (e.g., Ring & Van De Ven, 1994), process based theorizing continues to remain an emergent field of study. In this paper I articulate a process based perspective of alliance instability that is rooted in the motivational orientation of the alliance boundary spanners (Das & Kumar, 2011). The process based perspective exemplifies the micro behavioral view which highlights the importance of individual’s cognitions and actions in shaping alliance outcomes. The paper explicates the linkages between the alliance boundary spanners motivational orientation, the alliance discrepancy model, and legitimacy repair strategies. I postulate that alliance boundary spanners may possess either a promotion focused or a prevention focused self-regulatory system. Alliance boundary spanners with a promotion focus are geared towards maximizing positive outcomes whereas alliance boundary spanners with a prevention focused self-regulatory system are geared towards minimizing negative outcomes. Alliance partners with a promotion focused self-regulatory system will detect outcome discrepancies sooner whereas alliance partners with a prevention focused self-regulatory system will detect process discrepancies sooner. Unfavorable outcome discrepancies are associated with a crisis of pragmatic legitimacy whereas unfavorable process discrepancies are associated with a crisis of moral legitimacy. I discuss the alternative ways in which alliance partners can seek to repair legitimacy. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

China and India are now emerging as major players in the new international economic order. Their economies are growing at a rapid pace, and increasingly foreign investors are flocking to these countries to capitalize on the emerging opportunities. Although economic and social transformation is under way in these societies, this transformation is occurring within a backdrop of an institutional context that is rather different from what is present in Western societies. We draw upon an institutional theory framework to compare and contrast China and India along the dimensions of the regulatory, normative, and the cognitive dimensions. The regulatory dimension refers to the restrictions or lack thereof that might impact foreign investors and/or the manner in which they are implemented. Normative dimension refers to the dominant cultural norms and values present in a given society, while cognitive dimension pertains to the acceptance or the lack thereof of foreign investment. These dimensions are then posited to impact on the negotiating processes that are characteristic of that society. We compare and contrast the negotiating practices in China with that of India and outline strategies through which foreign investors may manage the negotiating process in these countries more effectively. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Alliances have become a core component of many firms' strategy, but they are often characterized by a high level of instability that can lead to failure. Ambiguity is an intrinsic aspect of strategic alliances and effective management of it determines how well the partners are able to make the alliance work. Alliances are subject to three types of ambiguity—partner, interaction, and evaluative—that are important at different stages of alliance evolution. Partner-related ambiguity is most prevalent at the formation stage of the alliance, interaction ambiguity at the operational stage, and evaluative ambiguity at the outcome stage. This article examines the mechanisms by which firms can best manage these different types of ambiguity to achieve a successful alliance.

Outsourcing and alliance collaboration have become prominent features of the global economy. Empirical studies demonstrate that outsourcing alliances are often not as successful as their initiators expect them to be. National cultural differences are frequently viewed as a crucial factor when such alliances fail. While empirical studies are abundant, theoretical frameworks that explicate the role of national cultural differences in shaping the dynamics of outsourcing alliances are rare. This article builds on Kumar and Nti's (1998) discrepancy model to specify how culture affects the dynamics of outsourcing alliances. We suggest that national cultural differences give rise to process and outcome discrepancies in outsourcing alliances. Notably, outsourcing alliances evolve through three stages-formation, operation and outcome-with discrepancies arising in each of these stages (Das & Teng, 2002). We develop a framework to link discrepancy management to these different stages, and to the notions of task-oriented and relationship-oriented cultures. Our study has a number of implications for future research and managerial practice. (C) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.