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Challenges in the Era of Globalization - iaabd

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<strong>Challenges</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Era</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Globalization</strong><br />

Edited by Emmanuel Obuah<br />

<strong>the</strong> chang<strong>in</strong>g bus<strong>in</strong>ess environment <strong>in</strong> order to create organizational value. Organizational value refers to<br />

<strong>the</strong> attractiveness and reputation <strong>of</strong> a firm (Moore and Khagram, 2004). This is one way <strong>of</strong> identify<strong>in</strong>g a<br />

resilient organisation. Resilient organizations must have <strong>the</strong> capability to design new bus<strong>in</strong>ess processes<br />

that are deemed fit for efficiency and effectiveness (Li-Hua, 2007; Deselnicu, et al., 2007). These scholars<br />

argue that efficiency and effectiveness are matters <strong>of</strong> competitiveness which is <strong>the</strong> firm’s <strong>in</strong>dication <strong>of</strong><br />

service excellence that is tantamount to organizational resilience.<br />

Organisational resilience is built based on <strong>the</strong> ability <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> organization to transform <strong>the</strong> way <strong>of</strong> do<strong>in</strong>g<br />

bus<strong>in</strong>ess <strong>in</strong> a way that meets <strong>the</strong> demands <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> environment under which it is operat<strong>in</strong>g (Weeks, 2008).<br />

However, one wonders what constitutes organizational resilience especially <strong>in</strong> Uganda parastatals?<br />

Research method<br />

The study was a quantitative cross sectional survey. For Sekaran (2008) <strong>the</strong> quantitative design is suitable<br />

for carry<strong>in</strong>g out multivariate analysis like factor analysis which was applicable <strong>in</strong> our study. A pilot study<br />

was done to pretest <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>strument and identify <strong>the</strong> researchable constructs so as to ref<strong>in</strong>e <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>strument.<br />

The results showed that <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>strument was both reliable (α = .893) and valid.We carried out this study<br />

based on a random sample <strong>of</strong> 342 senior managers. We selected members <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> senior management team<br />

<strong>in</strong> parastatal organization because <strong>the</strong>y occupy strategic positions (O’Regan and Ghobadian, 2004) to<br />

report about organizational resilience which is a strategic function. To get <strong>the</strong> actual respondents, <strong>the</strong><br />

researchers got a contact person and requested him or her to distribute questionnaires to his or her senior<br />

colleagues <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> organization while ensur<strong>in</strong>g as much representativeness <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> senior management team<br />

as possible (Baer and Frese, 2003). The researchers targeted seven managers to be given questionnaires<br />

with a m<strong>in</strong>imum response expectation <strong>of</strong> three respondents per organization (Baer and Frese, 2003).<br />

Organisational Resilience Measure<br />

There seems to be no universally accepted measure <strong>of</strong> organizational resilience (McManus, 2008; Cho, et<br />

al., 2007). Reliable and valid measures <strong>of</strong> organizational resilience rema<strong>in</strong> elusive. The solution <strong>the</strong>n was<br />

to conceptualise and design measures <strong>of</strong> organizational resilience (appendix 1) with reference to <strong>the</strong><br />

relevant <strong>the</strong>ory and extant literature as recommended by Sekaran (2008). In this study, we conceptualized<br />

organizational resilience to be measured <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong>; organizational adaptation (Weeks, 2008),<br />

organisational competitiveness (Li-Hua, 2007; Deselnicu et al., 2007), and organizational value (Alford<br />

and O’Flynn, 2008; Moore and Khagram, 2004). These scholars believe that a resilient organization is<br />

one that; responds to <strong>the</strong> demands <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> environment for survival (organisational adaptation), is efficient<br />

and effective at service delivery (Organisational competitiveness), and makes itself reputable<br />

(organizational value). The scales <strong>of</strong> organizational resilience were developed on a Likert scale and tested<br />

for reliability (α = .893) and validity (total variance expla<strong>in</strong>ed by three convergent factors = 69.7%). In<br />

<strong>the</strong> scales, <strong>the</strong> researchers made statements that required <strong>the</strong> respondents to <strong>in</strong>dicate <strong>the</strong> extent to which<br />

certa<strong>in</strong> resilience behaviors occur <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir organizations.<br />

Data Collection and Management<br />

We collected data from senior managers who were randomly selected from 51 parastatals. The data were<br />

checked for completeness, consistence, and accuracy <strong>of</strong> responses. Based on <strong>the</strong>se criteria, we determ<strong>in</strong>ed<br />

<strong>the</strong> usefulness <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> data for fur<strong>the</strong>r process<strong>in</strong>g. For <strong>in</strong>stance, <strong>the</strong>re were a few cases which were<br />

discarded upon realiz<strong>in</strong>g that <strong>the</strong>y were quite <strong>in</strong>complete. After this check, we entered <strong>the</strong> data <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS version 17) computer program for analysis. Dur<strong>in</strong>g data<br />

entry, we reverse coded all <strong>the</strong> negatively worded scale items. We checked for miss<strong>in</strong>g values because <strong>in</strong><br />

most self report studies, respondents have a tendency to skip provid<strong>in</strong>g responses to certa<strong>in</strong> items <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

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