Title: Problem-Solving with Sub-goals: How Primary and Secondary Goals Interact
Speaker: Henrich R. Greve, INSEAD
When: 9:00- 10:15 am, December 20, 2022 (China Time, UTC+8)
Language: English
Where: Zoom

Abstract:

There is currently significant research on problemistic search and organizational change in response to performance below aspiration levels, including work on organization with multiple goals. Most of this work considers goals that have an imperfect or ambiguous ranking, and thus differs from the original focus on how overarching organizational goals and sub-goals interact to guide responses. We return to this focus on ranked goals by examining how a primary goal interacts with a temporally more proximate sub-goal to influence organizational risk-taking. We show that sub-goals are important because they are temporally proximate and causally determinate of primary goals, and thus performance feedback from sub-goals affects organizational responses to performance feedback from the primary goal. We also show that decision-making is dominated by the primary goal, and responses to sub-goals are shaped by their contribution to achieving the primary goal.

Speaker’s Bio:

Henrich R. Greve
Rudolf and Valeria Maag Chaired Professor of Entrepreneurship, INSEAD

Henrich R. Greve is a Professor of Entrepreneurship and the Rudolf and Valeria Maag Chaired Professor in Entrepreneurship at INSEAD and is the Academic Director of the Rudolf and Valeria Maag INSEAD Centre for Entrepreneurship. He holds a PhD in Organisational Behaviour and MA in Sociology from the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University.

Henrich’s research focuses on the causes and consequences of strategic change in organisations, and he also studies organisational innovations and founding and growth of organisations in young industries. He has published over 90 articles in leading journals including Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, American Journal of Sociology, and Management Science. His books include Network Advantage: How to Unlock Value from Your Alliances and Partnerships(Jossey-Bass, 2013) and Organizational Learning from Performance Feedback: A Behavioral Perspective on Multiple Goals (Cambridge University Press, 2021).

Henrich has been the editor of Administrative Science Quarterly where he has also been an Associate Editor, and has also served as a Senior Editor of Organization Science. He has been a joint guest editor at Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Advances in Strategic Management, Research in the Sociology of Work, and Research in the Sociology of Organizations. He has served as the Program Chair and Division Chair of the Organisation and Management Theory (OMT) Division at the Academy of Management.