Organizational pursuit of multiple performance goals-recommendations on strategy and structure

Gupta, Kamini (2017) Organizational pursuit of multiple performance goals-recommendations on strategy and structure. Doctoral thesis, University of London: London Business School.

Abstract

What enables firms to pursue multiple goals simultaneously? Much of organizational study has focused on the idea that multiple performance goals are difficult and often even counter-productive to pursue. Yet, apart from the question of whether firms should pursue multiple goals, organizational scholars are taking note of the fact that a number of organizations do pursue multiple performance goals. Thus, in this dissertation, I examine the different factors that influence a firm's ability to successfully pursue multiple goals simultaneously, focusing particularly on the pursuit of social and financial value creation. Problems with pursuing multiple goals and their solutions can occur at various levels such as the legitimacy problem that hybrid organizations face, and the cognitive limitations that individuals face. Similarly, solutions to the multiple goal problem also occur at various levels such as institutional factors that can support the pursuit of multiple goals or organization designs that can alleviate the cognitive limitations of individuals. The three chapters in this dissertation explicitly acknowledge this variation and theoretically connect these different solutions to the sources of the problem that make multiple goal pursuit difficult. In chapter one, I study the 'fit' between firm strategy and institutional contexts in producing financial value from a firm's CSR programs. In chapter two, I study organization design solutions to the problem of multiple goal pursuit when the same task simultaneously affects multiple goals. And in chapter three, I study how the incorporation mode of micro-finance institutions affects their ability to adapt effectively and pursue both social and financial value. At the heart of this dissertation is the idea that pursuing multiple goals is the reality of organizations today, and that it thus requires an examination of what an organization can do (such as in designing the organization structure), to more effectively pursue multiple goals.