APPLICATION OF LEADERSHIP CONCEPTS

There are a myriad of leadership definitions and they vary in complexity. For instance, Dwight Eisenhower made a simple, pragmatic definition when he stated, "Leadership is the ability to decide what is to be done, and then getting others to do it" (Larson, 1968). A more complex definition, however, was presented by Cleeton and Mason (1934) when they stated, "Leadership indicates the ability to influence men and secure results through emotional appeals rather than through the exercise of authority."

The key concept in these as well as most other leadership definitions appears to be a person’s ability to organize their followers and directing them toward a common goal. The way to do it depends on factors such as the conditions of their situation and the nature of the people being lead. For instance, an authoritarian monarch may command his subjects and expect unquestioned obedience. A corporate executive, on the other hand, may take a democratic approach of seeking the opinion of her subordinates in developing a strategy to achieve a mutually desired outcome. Consequently, the meaning of leadership may depend on the kind of institution in which it is found (Bass & Stogdill, 1990).

In addition to being institution dependent, leadership is more precisely defined in the context of other dimensions. Bass (Wren, 1995, p38) summarizes these when he stated,
"Leadership has been conceived as the focus of group processes, as a matter of personality, as a matter of inducing compliance, as the exercise of influence, as particular behaviors, as a form of persuasion, as a power relation, as an instrument to achieve goals, as an effect of interaction, as a differentiated role, as initiation of structure, and as many combinations of these definitions."

Leadership definitions, therefore, are situational because they are a function of people, place, position, personality, power, and purpose.

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References

Bass, B. M., & Stogdill, R. M. (1990). Bass & Stogdill's handbook of leadership theory, research, and managerial applications (3rd ed.). New York: Free Press.

Cleeton, G. U., & Mason, C. W. (1934). Executive ability - its discovery and development. In B. M. Bass (Ed.), Bass & Stogdill's handbook of leadership theory, research, and managerial applications (3 ed., pp. 14). New York: The Free Press.

Wren, J. T. (1995). The leader's companion : insights on leadership through the ages. New York: Free Press.

Considerations for Successful Innovation Management

In an ambitious, global environment it is important for businesses to achieve competitive advantages that can enable their organization to earn better than average returns. Competitive advantage can be achieved by possession of important assets, control of natural resources, or economies of scale. The pattern, however, is increasingly coming to favor those organizations that can mobilize knowledge, technological skills, and experience to create novelty in their offerings and in the ways in which they create and deliver those offerings. This novelty is the result of Innovation in product, process, position, or paradigm (Godin, 2010).

Innovation, therefore, is driven by the ability to see connections, to spot opportunities and to take advantages of them. In essence, innovation is about bringing something new into the world: an idea, a behavior (or action) or an object. Innovation Management, on the other hand, is the practice of managing new and creative ideas (Godin, 2010) (Chesbrough, 2011). This means firms need to address multiple determinants at distinct levels, from the individual to the organizational, to enhance their open innovation management. For instance, Procter & Gamble improved its innovation management capability by setting up dedicated organizational structures and establishing incentives for employees who initiated innovation efforts (Lichtenthaler, 2011).

One of the key issues in innovation management is mapping their organization’s innovation space. An organization’s marketing space defined their marketing mix that is a set of variables that are to a large extent controllable by the company, and normally referred to as the four Ps of product, price, place and promotion. Similarly, the four Ps of innovation include product, process, position, and paradigm innovation. Each of the 4Ps of innovation can take place along an axis running from incremental through to radical change (Tidd, Bessant, & Pavitt, 2005).

Innovation is a challenge to accumulate and deploy knowledge resources in a strategically effective fashion. The knowledge produced by an organization through its R&D activities is a valuable commodity that could be applied internally to produce new innovations or be sold as an end-product itself. The decision to sell knowledge assets or use it internally largely depends on whether the organization has an open or closed innovation perspective.

An important consideration of innovation management is managing knowledge processes. Most medium-size and large firms simultaneously make-and-buy in knowledge exploration, integrate-and-relate in knowledge retention, and keep-and-sell in knowledge exploitation (Chesbrough, 2011).

Innovation in a global environment presents unique problems and opportunities for post-industrial organizations. Managers that successfully control their firm’s innovation activities recognize that innovation can help give their firm a distinctive competence, enabling it to provide goods and services better than competitors. In addition, successful innovation managers recognize that Innovation is more than simply coming up with new ideas; it is the process of growing them into practical use. But, in order to develop an organization that has a successful innovation perspective, managers need to complete the development and exploitation aspects of new knowledge, not just its invention (Tidd, Bessant, & Pavitt, 2005) (Lam, 2010).

Successful innovation managers will transform their organizations to operate with a process of sustained growth through continuous invention and adaptation thereby enabling the firm to achieve above average rates of return.

Click the following link to view the video that accompanies this blog post:
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PtQBP4cdUE

References

Chesbrough, H. (2011, Winter). Bringing Open Innovation to Services. MIT Sloan Management Review , 52 (2), pp. 85-90.

Godin, B. (2010, July). Innovation Without the Word: William F. Ogburn’s Contribution to the Study of Technological Innovation. Minerva: A Review of Science, Learning & Policy , 48 (3), pp. 277-307.

Lam, Y. Y. (2010). Impact of Globalization on Higher Education. International Education Studies , 3 (4), 73-85.

Lichtenthaler, U. (2011, Feb). Open Innovation: Past Research, Current Debates, and Future Directions. Academy of Management Perspectives , 25 (1), pp. 75-93.

Tidd, J., Bessant, J., & Pavitt, K. (2005). Managing Innovation: Integrating Technological, Market and Organizational Change (3rd. ed.). Chichester, West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The Case for Professional Organization Development

Organizational change, being the primary means by which all other organi­zational concepts are applied to organizational life, may be accomplished through a variety of proven methods and is important to both academicians and management consultant practitioners. Organization development is one of the primary methods of implementing organization change and is defined by Cummings (2005), “Organization development is a system-wide application and transfer of behavioral science knowledge to the planned development, improvement, and reinforcement of the strategies, structures, and processes that lead to organization effectiveness” (p.1).

The analysis of the organizational situation identifies the need for an organizational change or what Cummings (2005) calls the “presenting problem” and provides impetus to begin the planning process. The identified organizational change process is driven by the organizational situation as moderated by the available organizational resources and the probable organizational resistance. The process is then formalized into a strategic plan for organizational change. This plan is implemented and the results are evaluated. The changed organizational situation becomes the focus of a new analysis and the cycle is repeated (Cummings, 2005), (Michael, 1982). The change process should produce a better fit between the organization and its environment than what existed prior to the change initiative.

It is evident that the type of change desired is dependent on the fit between an organization and its environment as bound by the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (Michael, 1982). There is a variety of change methods that an organization developer could employ to affect change and improve effectiveness. The six commonly used change methods are organization behavior modification, management by objectives, management development, organization development, management auditing, and control cycle. Presently, organization development is the most popular change method especially for organizations operating in a global economy because it takes a holistic approach to organization change by implementing an organization-wide, planned effort designed to increase an organization effectiveness and health through planned interventions in the organization’s “processes,” using behavioral science knowledge.

In summary, professional organization development (OD) critically important too for organization success in the 21st Century because it focuses on well-defined changes at all organization levels and is efficacious for:

· enhancing congruence between organizational structure, process, strategy, people, and culture,

· developing new and creative organizational solutions,

· developing the organization’s self-renewing capacity.

Please click the following link to watch the training video, “The Case for Professional Organization Development:”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED7w3aRi2oo

Government Policy and Poverty Reduction

The IMF article, “Macroeconomic Activity and Poverty Reduction,” is quite revealing about the sources of poverty. I frequently thought of the countries of North Korea, Somalia, and Ethiopia while reading the article especially relative to the comment, “In most cases, sustained high rates of growth also depend upon key structural measures, such as regulatory reform, privatization, civil service reform, improved governance, trade liberalization, and banking sector reform. . .” (Ames, Brown, Devarajan, & Iquierdo, 2001, p. 1). Despite our complaints regarding the United States’ (hereafter U.S.) economy, we are fortunate to have good “key structural measures” that provide macroeconomic stability that enable the U.S. to avoid some the economic problems that afflict the aforementioned countries. Even though the U.S. has a poverty level of 14.3 percent (Smith, 2010) , the majority of the population appears to be in a nominal economic condition but that is not to say that 14 percent poverty is acceptable. There are, however, ways to lower this percentage.


There appear to be two major factors that contribute to poverty in the U.S.: lack of enough work hours available to poverty-level families, and lack of marriage in families. Heritage Foundation research revealed, “In good economic times or bad, the typical poor family with children is supported by only 800 hours of work each year: That amounts to 16 hours of work per week. If work in each family were raised to 2,000 hours per year--the equivalent of one adult working 40 hours per week throughout the year--nearly 75 percent of poor children would be lifted out of official poverty” (Rector, Understanding Poverty and Economic Inequality in the United States, 2004) , (Rector & Hederman, Jr., The Role of Parental Work on Child Poverty, 2003) . Therefore, macroeconomic policies that create jobs and encourage marriage in families with children will be effective in reducing poverty.


Examples of policies that may contribute to poverty include legislation enabling the EPA to impose draconian regulation of CO2. The regulations could add as much as $3, 000 per year to household costs of energy, clothing, food, and increased transportation costs all of which amounts to a tax on the poor. Conceivably, costs could increase to a point where companies move their production facilities, including jobs, from the U.S. to countries that provide lower manufacturing cost (Cuccinelli, 2011) .


Since the economic crisis of 2008, the U.S. government has instituted a macroeconomic policy of using government funds, the “stimulus,” to extricate the country from the crisis but there has been frustration over the facts that the economy is still sluggish, the poverty level is high, there are not enough jobs that provide a sustainable living, and American businesses are not making significant investments toward growth. Yarbrough (2007) provided what I regard as a good explanation of why the 2008 stimulus package has proved unsuccessful: “. . . increased government spending crowds out private investment; that is, private investment spending falls by the full amount of any rise in government purchases” (p. 522).


It appears that the macroeconomic policies in place prior to the 2008 economic crisis were adequate in keeping poverty at a low level in the U.S. but the crisis has intensified the problems contributing to poverty, subsequent macroeconomic policies have not improved the situation, and proposed policies may very well exacerbate the causes.


References


Ames, B., Brown, W., Devarajan, S., & Izquierdo, A. (2001, August). Macroeconomic Policy and Poverty Reduction. Retrieved April 26, 2011, from International Monetary Fund: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/exrp/macropol/eng/index.htm


Cuccinelli, K. (2011, April). Reasserting Federalism in Defense of Liberty. Imprimis, 40(4), pp. 1-5.


Rector, R. E. (2004, September 15). Understanding Poverty and Economic Inequality in the United States. Retrieved April 30, 2011, from Heritage Foundation: http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2004/09/Understanding-Poverty-and-Economic-Inequality-in-the-United-States


Rector, R. E., & Hederman, Jr., R. S. (2003, January 27). The Role of Parental Work on Child Poverty. Retrieved April 30, 2011, from Heritage Foundation: www.heritage.org/Research/Family/cda-03-01.cfm
Smith, D. (2010, September 17). Poverty Rate Hits 15-year High. Retrieved April 30, 2011, from Reuters U.S. Edition: http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/09/17/us-usa-economy-poverty-idUSTRE68F4K520100917


Yarbrough, B. V., & Yarbrough, R. M. (2007). The World Economy: Trade and finance (7th ed.). United States: Thompson South-Western.

Fundamental Considerations of Electronic Commerce

Electronic commerce (EC) is a relatively recent phenomenon in the history of business with the term first appearing in business vocabulary in the 1970s. EC became possible by the proliferation of inexpensive information technology (IT) devices and reliable telecommunication systems but despite the new technology, businesses had to change their idea of the retail business paradigm. Businesses had to realize that EC does not only have potential to generate new business, but rather, it changes the point of purchase.

Some of the macro-level considerations that should be addressed before launching an EC project, especially a retail project, is that customers need to trust the purchase mechanism or website, there must be an adequate product or service mix, the shopping experience must be convenient to customers, and there must be satisfaction with the purchase.

Trust is a particularly important issue because if customers feel that the EC system is unreliable or perceived to be too risky for monetary transactions, they will refrain from using it. As shown in Figure 1, the higher an EC system’s reliability and the lower the perceived risk, the higher the customer’s level of trust and the greater the success of the EC site.

Figure 1: Relationship of Reliability and Risk to Customer Trust

In addition to having access to an electronic delivery system, businesses had to clearly define how they planned to incorporate the new business channel into their existing operations. The EC delivery system, whether based on telephony or Internet, had be designed relative to the organization’s goals in order to ensure it interacted well with the way the organization was doing business; i.e. form fits function. Rupple (2003) suggested that the purposes of a successful EC site are, “. . . 1) promotion of product and service, 2) provision of data and information, and 3) processing business transactions” p. 28. With these purposes in mind, the successful EC site will satisfy the business need for electronically promoting a product, providing information, and providing appropriate transactions in a secure, reliable, and trustworthy manner.

Reference

Ruppel, C. U.-Q. (2003). E-Commerce: The role of trust, security, and type of e-commerce involvment. e-Service Journal, 2(2), 25-44.

The Auburn Creed

Today I discovered the creed of Auburn University and was stirred by its lucid, sensible message. In my opinion, words such as these can help guide us to lead more fruitful, productive lives and should be shared with friends and family. Herewith, the Auburn creed:

I believe that this is a practical world and that I can count only on what I earn.

Therefore, I believe in work, hard work. I believe in education, which gives me the knowledge to work wisely and trains my mind and my hands to work skillfully.

I believe in honesty and truthfulness, without which I cannot win the respect and confidence of my fellow men.

I believe in a sound mind, in a sound body and a spirit that is not afraid, and in clean sports that develop these qualities.

I believe in obedience to law because it protects the rights of all.

I believe in the human touch, which cultivates sympathy with my fellow men and mutual helpfulness and brings happiness for all.

I believe in my Country, because it is a land of freedom and because it is my own home, and that I can best serve that country by "doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with my God."

And because Auburn men and women believe in these things, I believe in Auburn and love it.

George Petrie (1945)

http://www.auburn.edu/main/auburn_creed.html

Cultural Effects on Consumer Behavior

Consumer behavior is largely dependent on cultural factors consisting of mutually shared operating procedures, unstated assumptions, tools, norms, values, standards for perceiving, believing, evaluating, and communicating. Cultural factors vary by country but become increasingly complex when people immigrate to foreign countries that have different cultural dimensions. In these situations, people are subjected to a wide variety of cultural reference groups that ultimately affect their purchase behavior. In addition, reference groups may consist of familial groups or external peer groups with each group providing specific and often conflicting information that affects purchase and consumption behavior. In response, marketers must develop marketing communication that addresses cultural and reference group factors from both a domestic and global perspective. To this end, marketers use market segmentation and micromarketing to develop customer-centric marketing messages with the goal of providing precisely defined marketing messages that satisfy consumer’s need for personal information regarding products and services so that consumers should be adequately stimulated to purchase the product or service being advertised.

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