Corporations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Corporations - Essay Example In this regard, a duty of care involves the duty to ensure that the corporation’s interests are protected and in doing so, directors must ensure that their conduct does not bring about harm to the corporation (Guth v Loft, Inc.). In the class action lawsuit against the board, the claim is that the board of directors is jointly liable for the illegal conduct of Operator and Accountant. The claim is therefore substantiated by findings that board directors Operator and Account breached their duty of loyalty and the board as a whole was negligent in not preventing or acquiescing in that breach of the duty of loyalty. Liability in this regard will be founded on the statutory duty of care articulated by the Model Business Corporation Act 1984. Pursuant to Section 8.30 of the Model Business Corporation Act 1984, directors have a responsibility to act with the care of an ordinary reasonable person in the director’s position and how such a person would be expected to act in â₠¬Å"similar circumstances† (Model Business Corporation Act, Section 8.30). Therefore the substantive issue is whether or not the board as whole indirectly and through agency, breached the duty of loyalty and in doing so, directly breached the duty of care. From a purely procedural perspective, the business judgment rule engages judicial review of the substantive issues and argument. ... On the facts of the case, it appears that the board relied on Accountant and his teams to appropriately carry out the corporation’s financial affairs. Moreover, the audited financial statements sent to the directors would not have revealed an obvious issue although a closer examination of the books would have revealed the unlawful activities. The main question in assessing the business judgment rule is therefore whether or not it was prudent for the board to trust Accountant and to accept the audited financial statements at face value. Since audited financial statements are usually prepared by a certified public accountant and its authentic is confirmed by the certified public accountant, it does not appear to be unreasonable for the board to rely on the audited financial statements (Merrill Lynch). If the certified public accountant was Accountant and his team, it is only with hindsight that the board might have a reason to second guess his preparation of the audited financia l statements. Therefore this part of the class action lawsuit will not likely succeed. The board appears to have acted prudently or reasonably and had a rational basis for their decision and cannot be said to have acted in breach of a duty of care and therefore did not breach the duty of loyalty. With respect to the payment of a US$50 fine to avoid an indictment against the company, it can be argued that this particular act is negligent since the case against Operator appears to be falling apart. Procedurally, if the case against Operator, the main actor in the scandal is weakening, the case against Mousetrap is decidedly weaker. However, the prospect of facing an investigation and an

Writing an evaluative essay about the experience

Writing an evaluative about the experience - Essay Example The play begins with the appearance of the three witches where they meet the two generals Banquo, Macbeth. We later find that the heinous crimes committed by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have affected their psyche. Lady Macbeth is seen suffering from sleep walking malady and finally she kills herself. Macbeth is left alone to fight with the enemies after he has been crowned the King of Scotland. The play ends with the death of Macbeth. He is beheaded (Shakespeare, Gill). I have analyzed the play based on- The program note informed that the director designed the theme based on a 16th century mandala, which was present at the backdrop of the play. The play was spectacular. The supernatural scenes, which were played by three men, were exquisite. The witches looked perfect in their black gory dressed with their accompanying high-pitched voices. The dresses of the actors looked perfectly of the Elizabethan period. The dim lights and the shadowy backdrop reinforced the effect of darkness and mystery that portrayed though out the play. To enhance their effect the witches were dressed in rotting costumes, which were types of shrouds. The porter scene was also very symbolic. The drunken porter went on rambling about the inner hell of Macbeth’s castle. His drunken yet appropriate metaphors not only enhanced the plays but also lifted to another level. The sleepwalking scene of Lady Macbeth is also nerve chilling because it shows the complete disintegration of her psyche. It is seen that she tells to herself that not all the perfumes of Arabia would sweeten her hand. By this she means that the crimes that were committed by these hands could not wash away and the heinous deeds were as if smelling even after they had been washed away repeatedly. The doctor informs later the audience that she used to keep on washing her hands. We

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 45

Assignment Example nserved proteins responsible for the maintenance of the conformational homeostasis of cellular proteins and RNAs† and are believed to be usually induced by environmental stress (Soti & Csermely, â€Å"Molecular Chaperones† 227). In short, as molecular chaperones are often associated with aging tissues and aging in general, these proteins are especially found in such situations. There is, however, a debate whether their presence in the aging tissue is merely induced or it is this presence that induces aging. Hsp60 is involved in protein folding and hsp70 has a role in the regulating the heat shock response as well as membrane translocation. While hsp60 are found in the mitochondria, hsp70 is found in the eukaryotic cytosol, ER and mitochondria. Both families of proteins actually function for protein translocation and transport as well as folding and assembly (â€Å"Molecular Chaperones†). In aging and diseased tissues, high amounts of hsp60 are found in people with atherosclerosis, acute coronary syndromes and angina, while hsp70 is found in those with peripheral as well as renal vascular diseases (Frostegard & Pockley 201-202). A number of experts and experiments in the field of molecular biology are pointing out that chaperones are the ones that bring about the aging process at the molecular level. Soti and Csermely, in their study entitled â€Å"Chaperones and aging: role in neurodegeneration and in other civilizational diseases, underlined the possibility that HSPs â€Å"might contribute to the onset of†¦atherosclerosis, cancer, diabetes and several neurodegenerative diseases† (384). In an actual experimental study in Korea, it was confirmed that the HSPs â€Å"might be involved in tumorigenesis† as it did in patients with hepatocellular carcinomas (Lim et al. 2077). This is so because, as proven by rodent experiments, â€Å"HSPs are known to be essential for the survival of cancer cells in different cancers† (Lim et al. 2077). Moreover, one particular HSP, hsp90,

The takeover market and corporate governance Essay

The takeover market and corporate governance - Essay Example The corporate takeover market is the market for corporations which have been weakened by poor management or systemic risks, the prices of which have therefore fallen, and which present opportunities for buy-out by stronger, cash rich firms. The approach to corporate takeovers may be either friendly or hostile, but the intention is the same – to gain control over a productive enterprise. Other than this basic definition, there have been certain characteristics popularly attributed to corporate takeover bids, among which are that they are, according to De Pamphilis (2010, p. 86): (1) motivated by excessive greed; (2) reviled as a job destroyer; (3) praised as a means of dislodging incompetent management; and (4) heralded by shareholders as a source of windfall gains. While these may be true, the corporate takeover market serves two important purposes in a free market economy, which are, according to De Pamphilis (2010) that: (1) The corporate takeover market facilitates the effi cient allocation of resources to sectors where they may be needed more and where they can be used more efficiently; and (2) The corporate takeover market provides a mechanism by which underperforming corporate managers may be held accountable for their inefficiencies and to discipline them for their poor management of their corporations.Corporate takeover would sometimes take the form of hostile takeovers or proxy fights, the successful conduct of which may replacing incompetent and unreliable managers, and thereby promote good corporate governance practices. ... 87) When mechanisms for corporate control internal to the firm are relatively weak, then it is possible for a hostile takeover of the firm to take place. In such cases, the corporate takeover market performs the function of a â€Å"court of last resort† (Kini, Kracaw & Mian, 2004 in DePamphilis, 2009, p. 94). In a hostile tender offer, the potential acquirer bypasses the board and management of the target firm, and makes a direct offer to the shareholders to purchase their shares at an attractive price. A study of nearly 8,000 acquisitions between 1980 to 1999 showed evidence that the corporate takeover market tends to impose discipline on managers of larger firms more effectively than on managers of smaller firms (Offenberg, 2009). Two theories that have evolved to explain why managers resist takeover attempts are the management entrenchment theory, and the shareholders’ interest theory. Management entrenchment theory states that managers defend against takeover attemp ts in order to prolong their stay with the firm (it will be recalled that takeovers result in new and better management replacing the old and incompetent one). Shareholders’ interest theory, on the other hand, posits that management may resist takeovers as a bargaining strategy to raise the proposed purchase price for the benefit of the shareholders of the target firm. Companies have developed several defenses against takeover bids, such as poison pills (these are plans that give shareholders the right to buy the company’s shares below the prevailing market price, in the likelihood of a takeover bid). However, in order to improve transparency and meet shareholders’ demands for more responsive corporate governance practices, many of these firms

Moral relativism and Moral absolutism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Moral relativism and Moral absolutism - Essay Example The concept of moral relativism stipulates that there is no sense in asking abstract questions concerning whether an act is either good or its bad. As per the theory, abstract questions that contain neither goodness nor badness in them. The concept stipulates that the issues of goodness and badness can only be found in contexts that are specified. Therefore, this implies that an action can be good for a certain individual but on the other hand be bad for another individual. It also suggests that certain acts may be correct in a certain cultural setting but considered to be bad in another cultural setting (Moral Relativism. Info). However, if the concept of moral relativism is considered true, an act should not be questioned on its goodness or badness in its abstract form but should only be questioned in particular situations. Different people view the issue of more relativism as being a palpable truth and undeniable whereas others perceive it as a threat to the ethical foundations up on which societies are built (Hammerlinck). The concept of moral relativism has been supported with various proofs by different people. Some of them have put forward arguments from disagreements, flexibility and from tolerance. Those who have forwarded arguments from disagreements argue that ethical relativism best describes the fact that different cultures and individuals have different ethical beliefs. From this perception, the ethical disagreements demonstrate that the issue of morality is just but a product of our personal opinions or our different cultures. This is the exact claim that has been put forward by the notion of moral relativism (Moral Relativism. Info). Other arguments for the notion of moral relativism that have been presented from flexibility arguments stipulate that the issue of moral absolutism will certainly break down when exposed to particular situations.

Marketing Across Culture Success or Dilemma Essay Example for Free

Marketing Across Culture Success or Dilemma Essay Marketing across culture is one of the biggest issues which multinational companies have been confronting nowadays. Since marketing is an important factor for the propagation of a particular product or company, marketing plan should also be effective simultaneously. Every organization has to pay attention towards all the aspects which can make a marketing plan successful and ethical aspect is one of them. Since global marketing is a complex process, ethical issues like cultural diversity is one of the major reasons that can cause failure of marketing plan. Marketing across culture is basically defined as product or service promulgation beyond the borders. Since beyond borders, culture, lifestyle and audience get changed, the attitude of the people also gets changed simultaneously. (Hutterer 2006) So, it can be regarded an ethical dilemma to market the products on international level and for dealing with such situation, company needs to scrutinize interests, traditions and culture of the indigenous people. However, different organizations have developed dissimilar strategies in order to cope with such ethical issues. Reasons of this dilemma Cultural diversity is generated by dissimilarity between native culture and the culture beyond the borders. Since every society has its own culture, its audience also possesses dissimilar concerns, ideologies, concepts, principles and keeping all these dynamics under consideration, a marketing plan is developed so that it can come up with the requirements of that respective culture. (Hall Hall, 1990) If the organizations neglect this aspect without considering the emotions and affiliations of its audience important, the result appears in the form of negative consequences. Since the main reason of this dilemma is dynamic nature of traditions, the organizations usually employ strategic plan keeping the regional aspects under consideration. However, in such cases, the organizations which assume theory of relativism are considered successful because it enables them to come up with regional cultural requirements. Since there are no absolute criteria for universal morality in this regard, this ethical dilemma has been solved using the utilitarian approach and the example can be taken from IKEA Inc. In Saudi Arabia, they have kept ethical and moral concerns in limelight while marketing their services and their apology for using female images in marketing transmedia can be taken as evidence in this regard. (Quinn 2012) Another reason why this thing is considered a dilemma is that marketing across culture makes it complex for the organizations to comply with the needs of customers since not only traditions, culture and thoughts of the audience change with the boundaries, but their taste and priorities also change simultaneously. For instance, McDonalds in India markets its products keeping the vegetarian audience under consideration while in other regions like USA, UK and Canada, they market their products through promulgating other additional factors. Hence, through this way, McDonalds not only keeps the cultural but also religious needs of its audience under consideration and this ethical aspect of its marketing plan makes it outstanding in one way or other. However, with the expansion of the business on global level and with the advancement in technology, marketing has become rather a technical yet interesting task and the reason behind this fact is the propagation of social media and similar other sources. These sources have made it ample easy to approach targeted audience yet the cross-culture issue is still persistent since these sources do not give any remarkable evidence regarding the cultural diversity and marketing plan. Comparatively, there are different other organizations like Air Asia which have been struggling with the ethical issue of marketing across culture. Though it has assumed different ethical approaches like absolutism, egoism etc in order to deal with its audience yet there is no remarkable progress in making its service a world popular one. However, there can be several strategic options available to deal with this issue of marketing across culture. Proposed solution: Different solutions for dealing with the issue of marketing across culture are as followed: Pluralism: The first solution in this regard can be given in the form of pluralism since it enables the organization to have an in-between path of utilitarianism and absolutism. (Hinman 2011) Some organizations use absolute ethics for marketing its products and some consider utilitarianism as the best source of marketing across culture but both of them might cause failure since no absolute policy or theory works when the regions are diverse and discriminate from each other. So, only an organization, who assumes theory of pluralism in order to deal with this global dilemma, can get successful position in global market. For this purpose, the organization can also do cultural analysis before marketing its product. Cultural analysis before marketing: This solution can be regarded one of the most significant steps in order to deal with the dilemma of marketing across culture. The reason behind this claim is that understanding the culture of the native people would not harm their feelings in any way. Suppose, if McDonalds never does cultural analysis in India and launches its products without differentiating vegetarian and non-vegetarian food, the result would appear in the form of violation of ethical code of that country. In such case, this organization would face severe opposition and there would be no profitability as well. So, another best solution to deal with this issue would be cultural analysis of the organization and before marketing a specific product or service in any region of the world, it is mandatory for it to analyze the potential market from cultural perspective. Change management strategy: Apart from assuming above given both solutions, the organization would also need to have caliber to adopt change management strategy since marketing across culture would need a severe change in the core marketing plan of the company. In such case, the company would have to deal with the internal issues as well and it can deal with this global ethical dilemma only if it would be able to deal with the internal issues of the organization. Through assuming all these three solutions, all the organizations aiming at expanding its services beyond borders can deal with the ethical dilemma of marketing across culture. Hence, only through dealing with ethical issues, the organizations can get successful marketing promotions throughout then world. References: Hall, E. T. Hall, M. R., (1990) Understanding cultural differences. Yarmouth, Me.: Intercultural Press. Hinman, L. M. (2011) Ethics: A Pluralistic Approach to Moral Theory. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Pub. Hutterer, R. (2006) Marketing Across Cultures Qoo an International Success Story? NY: GRIN Verlag Quinn, Ben. Ikea Apologises over Removal of Women from Saudi Arabia Catalogue. The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 01 Oct. 2012. Web. 05 Jan. 2013. .

Contemporary Issues in Leadership

Contemporary Issues in Leadership Leadership is the process of influencing the behavior of others to work willingly and enthusiastically for achieving predetermined goals. It may be seen in terms of relationship between a leader and his followers (individuals / groups) which arises out of their functioning for common goals. The followers work willingly to achieve goal, thus there is no coercive force which induces the followers to work. LEADERS AS Shapers of Meaning Framing Issues. Framing is a way to use language to manage meaning. Its a way for leaders to influence how events are seen and understood. Contemporary roles relating to lead team as managing the conflicts; coaching to improve team member performance; used to serve as troubleshooters. It seems to respond in a group in which they have to participate with the leader. It involves mentor who is a senior employee who sponsors and supports a less experienced employee. Leadership can be taught online as it builds trust in the working environment of the organization. Challenges facing to leadership can be on the basis of qualities attributed as leaders are intelligent, ongoing, have strong verbal skills, understanding, are aggressive and industrious. Actually they perceive or project the appearance of being a leader. Many people today are seeking to understand and many people are writing about the concept and practices of leadership.. The concept of leadership is relevant to any aspect of ensuring effectiveness in organizations and in managing change. There has been an explosion of literature about leadership lately. Leading is a very human activity were all human so there are many people who consider themselves experts on leadership. There are a great many reasons for the popularity of the topic, including that organizations are faced with changes like never before. Understanding the concept of leadership requires more than reading a few articles or fantasizing about what great leaders should be. Contemporary issues includes [1] out of the box thinking; [2]leading by example; [3]globalization;[ 4]changing group dynamics; [5]technology; [6]quick decision making; [7]dealing with change and uncertainty; [8]mentoring; [9]ethical behavior; [10] recruiting and retaining quality workers. Now, managerial and leadership effectiveness depends on the ability to gain the trust of the followers. A recent survey in U.S. employees found that only half trusted their senior manager. Also the bad practices of corporations in the U.S. like the leaders of ENRON, WORLDCOM, etc that were accused of engaging in activities like secret loans, insider trading, manipulating profit figures, evading taxes all these has lost the confidence and trust of employees and investors, supplier, customers in senior executives. Unfortunately, many people make strong assertions about leadership without ever really understanding a great deal about leadership. Leaders need basic intelligence and job related knowledge but this is not enough. They are necessary but not sufficient. It is emotional intelligence that makes him a star performer. These are: Self-awareness exhibited by self confidence, realistic self assessment and a sense of humor. Self management. Exhibited by trustworthiness, integrity, and comfort with ambiguity, openness to change. Self motivation: exhibited by strong drive to achieve, optimism, and high organizational commitment. Empathy cross cultural sensitivity, expertise in building talents. ABSTRACT: However, subsequent scientific studies find that leaders are not exceptionally brilliant, splendid speakers or highly energetic. Instead, leaders know how to forge relationships and accomplish tasks. In fact, analysts find that leaders ability to accomplish tasks is even more important than their interpersonal skills. Leadership Personalities Academic studies achieve varied results when they try to isolate the characteristics of effective leaders. In work done in 1948 that is still well-regarded, scholar Ralph Stogdill proposed that leaders have five clusters of characteristics that make them good at leading. The five are: capacity (intelligence, judgment); achievement (knowledge, scholarship); responsibility (dependability, aggressiveness, self control, and desire to excel); participation (activity, sociability, cooperation, adaptability) and status (position, popularity). In 1990, subsequent research identified five more factors that leaders have in common: they are reliable, agreeable, extroverted, and emotionally stable and open to new experiences. Current theory proposes that anyone can become a leader to some degree if he or she can: Be confident about taking action, and controlling his or her life. Use power in pro-social ways that extend beyond personal gain or narcissism. Develop personal vision by seeing the future impact of todays actions. Leaders must have vision, a future view of events. Good leaders have the ability to convey their visions and make the future unfold as they hope it will. This generally begins with writing a vision statement, a process that often goes badly. Commonly, vision statements are confusing. They tend to cite goals that are really associated with strategies and objectives, not vision. To craft an effective vision statement, write a brief, memorable declaration. Then share your vision; make it more tangible by telling stories and using metaphors. Good leaders consistently align their actions with their verbal messages. They see their followers in a positive light, and care about their well being. Strong leaders provide the proper support to help their followers accept new challenges. Leaders assist others in finding meaning in their work and in their lives. Emotional Intelligence Leaders forge relationships with groups or individuals. The individual relationships tend to be more intellectual but, in both cases, good leaders exhibit highly developed emotional or social intelligence. They are self-aware, socially skilled, disciplined and able to deal capably with other people. People with emotional intelligence think before they act, focus on their goals, understand other peoples emotions and have the skill to establish common grounds for discussion. In this instance, scholars concluded that even the most talented executive cannot succeed without emotional intelligence. Some major corporations that wanted to encourage future leaders in their ranks hired psychologists to sort out leadership characteristics. The psychologists found that leaders are smart and have solid, long-term vision, but that their emotional intelligence is twice as important as either intellect or vision. One study shows that companies where the employees have high emotional intelligence earn higher profits. The reverse is also demonstrably true. A workforce marked by a lack of emotional intelligence can mean lower profits. Leaders can learn emotional intelligence. People who know their limitations can plan to avoid stressful situations or to work around events that tug at their weaknesses. One-on-one training is the best way to learn how to improve your emotional intelligence. Such training focuses on correcting undesirable social habits, such as acting impulsively or being a bad listener. Because this process requires people to correct brain-based emotional drives, it is time-consuming. Theory of Leadership Leadership has been described as the process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. Definitions more inclusive of followers have also emerged. Alan Keith of Genentech states that, Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen. According to Ken Ogbonnia effective leadership is the ability to successfully integrate and maximize available resources within the internal and external environment for the attainment of organizational or societal goals. Leadership remains one of the most relevant aspects of the organizational context. However, defining leadership has been challenging and definitions can vary depending on the situation. According to Ann Marie E. McSwain, Assistant Professor at Lincoln University, leadership is about capacity: the capacity of leaders to listen and observe, to use their expertise as a starting point to encourage dialogue between all levels of decision-making, to establish processes and transparency in decision-making, to articulate their own values and visions clearly but not impose them. Leadership is about setting and not just reacting to agendas, identifying problems, and initiating change that makes for substantive improvement rather than managing change. The following sections discuss several important aspects of leadership including a description of what leadership is and a description of several popular theories and styles of leadership. This article also discusses topics such as the role of emotions and vision, as well as leadership effectiveness and performance, leadership in different contexts, how it may differ from related concepts (i.e., management), and some critiques of leadership as generally conceived. Trait Theory Trait theory tries to describe the types of behavior and personality tendencies associated with effective leadership. In modern times, Thomas Carlyle (1841) can be considered one of the forerunners of trait theory, seeking to identify the talents, skills and physical characteristics of men who rose to power Although trait theory has an intuitive appeal, difficulties may arise in proving its tenets, and opponents frequently challenge this approach. The strongest versions of trait theory see these leadership characteristics as innate, and accordingly label some people as born leaders due to their psychological makeup. On this reading of the theory, leadership development involves identifying and measuring leadership qualities, screening potential leaders from non-leaders, then training those with potential. In response to criticisms of the trait approach, researchers have begun to assess leader attributes using the leadership attribute pattern approach. Behavioral and style Theories In response to the criticism of the trait approach, theorists began to research leadership as a set of behaviors, evaluating the behavior of successful leaders, determining behavior taxonomy and identifying broad leadership styles. David McClelland, for example, saw leadership skills, not so much as a set of traits, but as a pattern of motives. He claimed that successful leaders will tend to have a high need for power, a low need for affiliation, and a high level of what he called activity inhibition (one might call it self-control The researchers evaluated the performance of groups of eleven-year-old boys under different types of work climate. In each, the leader exercised his influence regarding the type of group decision making, praise and criticism (feedback), and the management of the group tasks (project management) Situational and contingency Theories Situational theory also appeared as a reaction to the trait theory of leadership. This theory assumes that different situations call for different characteristics; according to this group of theories, no single optimal psychographic profile of a leader exists. According to the theory, what an individual actually does when acting as a leader is in large part dependent upon characteristics of the situation in which he functions. Some theorists started to synthesize the trait and situational approaches. The descriptive models of leadership climates, defining three leadership styles and identifying in which situations each style works better. The authoritarian leadership style, for example, is approved in periods of crisis but fails to win the hearts and minds of their followers in the day-to-day management; the democratic leadership style is more adequate in situations that require consensus building; finally, the laissez faire leadership style is appreciated by the degree of freedom it provides, but as the leader does not take charge, he can be perceived as a failure in protracted or thorny organizational problems. Thus, theorists defined the style of leadership as contingent to the situation, which is sometimes classified as contingency theory. Four contingency leadership theories appear more prominently in the recent years: Fiedler contingency model, Vroom-Yetton decision model, the path-goal theory, and t he Hersey-Blanchard situational theory. Functional Theory Functional leadership theory is a particularly useful theory for addressing specific leader behaviors expected to contribute to organizational or unit effectiveness. This theory argues that the leaders main job is to see that whatever is necessary to group needs is taken care of; thus, a leader can be said to have done their job well when they have contributed to group effectiveness and cohesion (Fleishman et al., 1991; Hackman Wageman, 2005; Hackman Walton, 1986). While functional leadership theory has most often been applied to team leadership (Zaccaro, Rittman, Marks, 2001), it has also been effectively applied to broader organizational leadership as well (Zaccaro, 2001). In summarizing literature on functional leadership (see Kozlowski et al. (1996), Zaccaro et al. (2001), Hackman and Walton (1986), Hackman Wageman (2005), Morgeson (2005)), Klein, Zeigert, Knight, and Xiao (2006) observed five broad functions a leader performs when promoting organisations effectiveness. These functions include: (1) environmental monitoring, (2) organizing subordinate activities, (3) teaching and coaching subordinates, (4) motivating others, and (5) intervening actively in the groups work. Leader as a communicator the framing Framing is a way of communicating to shape meaning. Its a way for leaders to influence how others see and understand events. Selecting and highlighting one or more events while excluding others. It is the ability of the leader to influence others to act beyond their self interests Two contemporary theories of leadership with a common theme. Charismatic leadership Transformational leadership Charismatic Leadership The Charismatic Leader gathers followers through dint of personality and charm, rather than any form of external power or authority. The searchlight of attention It is interesting to watch a Charismatic Leader working the room as they move from person to person. They pay much attention to the person they are talking to at any one moment, making that person feel like they are, for that time, the most important person in the world. Charismatic Leaders pay a great deal of attention in scanning and reading their environment, and are good at picking up the moods and concerns of both individuals and larger audiences. They then will hone their actions and words to suit the situation. Pulling all of the strings Charismatic Leaders use a wide range of methods to manage their image and, if they are not naturally charismatic, may practice assiduously at developing their skills. They may engender trust through visible self-sacrifice and taking personal risks in the name of their beliefs. They will show great confidence in their followers. They are very persuasive and make very effective use of body language as well as verbal language. Deliberate charisma is played out in a theatrical sense, where the leader is playing to the house to create a desired effect. They also make effective use of storytelling, including the use of symbolism and metaphor. Many politicians use a charismatic style, as they need to gather a large number of followers. If you want to increase your charisma, studying videos of their speeches and the way they interact with others is a great source of learning. Religious leaders, too, may well use charisma, as do cult leaders. Leading the team Charismatic Leaders, who are building a group, whether it is a political party, a cult or a business team, will often focus strongly on making the group very clear and distinct, separating it from other groups. They will then build the image of the group, in particular in the minds of their followers, as being far superior to all others. The Charismatic Leader will typically attach themselves firmly to the identify of the group, such that to join the group is to become one with the leader. In doing so, they create an unchallengeable position for themselves. Key characteristics of charismatic leadership Vision and articulation; Sensitivity to the environment; Sensitivity to member needs; Personal risk taking; Performing unconventional behavior Vision and articulations Has a vision Expressed as an idealized goal The goal proposes a future better than the status quo Is able to clarify the importance of the vision in terms that are understandable to others. Personal risk Willing to take on high personal risk Incur high costs Engage in self sacrifice to achieve the vision Sensitivity to followers needs Perspective of others abilities Responsive to others needs and feelings. Unconventional behavior Engages in behaviors in behaviors that are novel and counter to norms. Personality of charismatic leaders Extraverted Self confident Achievement oriented Articulate an over arching goal Communicate high performance expectations Empathize the needs of their followers Project a powerful confident and dynamic presence Captivating and engaging voice tone Three step process of becoming a charismatic leader An individual needs to develop an aura of charisma by maintaining an optimistic view, using passion as a catalyst for generating enthusiasm and communicating with the whole body, not just with words. .An individual draws others in by creating a bond that inspires others to follows. . An individual brings out the potential in followers by tapping into their emotions. Charismatic Leadership Issues People following these leaders will be exerting extra effort, express greater satisfaction. Charismatic effectiveness and situation Charisma works best when: The followers task has an ideological component There is a lot of stress and uncertainty in the environment The leader is at the upper level of the organization Followers have low self-esteem and self-worth Dark Side of Charisma Ego-driven charismatic allow their self-interest and personal goals to override the organizations goals Very effective leaders who possess the four typical leadership traits: Individual competency Team skills Managerial competence Ability to stimulate others to high performance Plus one critical new trait A blend of personal humility and professional will Personal ego-needs are focused toward building a great company Take responsibility for failures and give credit to others for successes Prided them on developing strong leaders inside the firm who could direct the company to greater heights after they were gone. Transactional and transformational Theories The transactional leader (Burns, 1978) is given power to perform certain tasks and reward or punish for the teams performance. It gives the opportunity to the manager to lead the group and the group agrees to follow his lead to accomplish a predetermined goal in exchange for something else. Power is given to the leader to evaluate, correct and train subordinates when productivity is not up to the desired level and reward effectiveness when expected outcome is reached. The transformational leader (Burns, 1978) motivates its team to be effective and efficient. Communication is the base for goal achievement focusing the group on the final desired outcome or goal attainment. This leader is highly visible and uses chain of command to get the job done. Transformational leaders focus on the big picture, needing to be surrounded by people who take care of the details. The leader is always looking for ideas that move the organization to reach the companys vision. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: Ten Lessons for Leaders and Leadership Developers In the early 1980s we set upon a quest to discover what it took to become a leader. We wanted to know the common practices of ordinary men and women when they were at their leadership bestwhen they were able to take people to places they had never been before. Strategies, tactics, skills, and practices are empty (or worse yet, manipulative and exploitative) unless we understand the fundamental human aspirations that connect leaders and constituents. Leadership is certainly not conveyed in a gene, and its most definitely not a secret code that cant be understood by ordinary folks. Our analysis of thousands of cases and surveys from over a dozen years of research has revealed a consistent pattern of exemplary leader- ship practices and fundamental constituent expectations. But knowing that the portrait emerging from the study of personal-best leadership experiences was only a partial picture, we also explored the expectations that the constituents have of people they would be willing to follow. What weve learned from studies specifically with college student leaders over the past five years has only strengthened our fundamental appreciation that Leadership is not a mysterious, mystical, or ethereal conceptone that is somehow beyond the scope and imagination of the vast majority of people. Our research has shown us that leadership is an observable, learnable set of practices. Indeed, the belief that leadership cant be learned is a far more powerful deterrent to development than is the nature of the leadership. Where Are Our Future Leaders? Who will lead us into the twenty-first century? It is time for us to decide. A generation ago the objective of African-American activists was to destroy racial segregation and integrate mainstream political and economic institutions. Instead we must recognize that one of the root causes of our divisions and social unrest is an absence of creative, dynamic leadership. Oppressed people need leaders to liberate them. Many of us accomplished these goals. But despite examples of individual success, there remains a simmering leadership crisis that can split our community apart. This common experience of racial oppression gave us a sense of solidarity and interdependence. Black physicians depended on Black patients; Black lawyers and accountants served Black clients. With desegregation, many affluent African-Americans moved from the ghetto into integrated suburbs. Graduates of Howard and Spelman now end their children to Harvard and Swarthmore. In the cities, our sense of community has gradually deteriorated. Millions of our young people are trapped in a destructive web of inferior schools, violence, drugs, and unemployment. Historically the social classes in the Black community were bound together by Jim Crow segregation laws. Blacks on welfare and Black Ph.D.s alike were ordered to the back of the bus or denied work because of their race. We cant depend on the political systemthe Democrats or Republicansor the corporate world to solve our problems; all too often their policies have contributed to them. These leaders must be women and men with vision who have the capacity to articulate the common grievances and goals of the community. How Women Can Find Mentors in a World with Few Role Models Do women have a tougher time finding mentors than men? Thats what women managers tell me, time and again. The rest must find their own mentors. Heres some advice. (Minorities and others who have trouble finding role models in upper management can learn about creative ways to build mentoring relationships, as well.) Few women hold positions of power, the story goes. Meanwhile, members of the predominant mentoring classwhite malesare too busy seeking clones of themselves. And this serves as an effective barrier to top-level jobs. So whats to be done? A number of local and even national programs are increasing mentoring opportunities for women, but they only reach a handful of those needing guidance. Wanted: Company Change Agents The most sought-after person in todays workplace is someone known as a change leader, a new breed of middle manager whos in short supply. Very different from your run-of-the-mill general managers, these mavericks get big results when you need them. They are focused, determined, willing to break rules, and great at motivating their troops. But how do you identify these people in your organization? How do you build a cadre of such quirky but essential agents of change? McKinsey Co. director Jon R. Katzenbach has some answers. For the past three years he and a team of six McKinsey partners have been studying middle-manager change agents at organizations from Compaq Computer to Mobil to the New York City Transit. The fruit of this research is the forthcoming book Real Change Leaders. Katzenbach recently sat down with Stratford Sherman, a member of Fortunes board of editors, to discuss what he learned. Why are midlevel change leaders so important to todays organizations? For some time now companies have wanted to change the behaviors and skills of large numbers of their employees. Theyre not, however, very good at that yet. I dont see many victories; I dont think even GE would claim complete victory. You can create a good program-like [former CEO] John Akerss plan in the early 1990s to transform IBMbut it doesnt work. Something goes wrong in the middle ranks of the company, and all the admonitions from the top dont get through. For large-scale transformations, you need a critical mass of change leaders in the middle of the organization. DATA TOOLS: Leadership and emotions Leadership can be perceived as a particularly emotion-laden process, with emotions entwined with the social influence process. In an organization, the leaders mood has some effects on his/her group. These effects can be described in following method: The mood of individual group members. The leaders transmit their moods to other group members through the mechanism of emotional contagion. Mood contagion may be one of the psychological mechanisms by which charismatic leaders influence followers. Group members with leaders in a positive mood experience more positive mood than do group members with leaders in a negative mood. The affective tone of the group. Group affective tone is an aggregate of the moods of the individual members of the group and refers to mood at the group level of analysis. Groups with leaders in a positive mood have a more positive affective tone than do groups with leaders in a negative mood. Group affective tone represents the consistent or homogeneous affective reactions within a group. Group processes like coordination, effort expenditure, and task strategy. Public expressions of mood impact how group members think and act. For example, expressions of positive moods by leaders signal that leaders deem progress toward goals to be good. The group members respond to those signals cognitively and behaviorally in ways that are reflected in the group processes. When people experience and express mood, they send signals to others. Leaders signal their goals, intentions, and attitudes through their expressions of moods. In research about client service, it was found that expressions of positive mood by the leader improve the performance of the group, although in other sectors there were other findings. Beyond the leaders mood, his behavior is a source for employee positive and negative emotions at work. Examples feedback giving, allocating tasks, resource distribution. Since employee behavior and productivity are directly affected by their emotional states, it is imperative to consider employee emotional responses to organizational leaders Emotional intelligence, the ability to understand and manage moods and emotions in the self and others, contributes to effective leadership in organizations. Leadership is about being responsible. The leader creates situations and events that lead to emotional response. Certain leader behaviors displayed during interactions with their employees are the sources of these affective events. Leaders shape workplace affective events. Leadership styles Leadership styles refer to a leaders behavior. It is the result of the philosophy, personality and experience of the leader. Dictator Autocratic Participative Laissez Fair Dictator Leaders A leader who uses fear and threats to get the jobs done. As similar with a leader who uses an autocratic style of leadership, this style of leader also makes all the decisions. Autocratic or Authoritarian Leaders Under the autocratic leadership styles, all decision-making powers are centralized in the leader as shown such leaders are dictators. They do not entertain any suggestions or initiative from subordinates. The autocratic management has been successful as it provides strong motivation to the manger. It permits quick decision-making as only one person decides for the whole group, and keeps it to them until they feel it is needed by the rest of the group. An autocratic leader does not trust anybody. Participative or Democratic Leaders The democratic leadership style favors decision-making by the group as shown, such as leader gives instruction after consulting the group. He can win the cooperation of his group and can motivate them effectively and positively. The decisions of the democratic leader are not unilateral as with the autocrat because they arise from consultation with the group members and participation by them. Laissez Faire or Free Rein Leaders A free rein leader does not lead, but leaves the group entirely to itself as shown; such a leader allows maximum freedom to subordinates. They are given a freehand in deciding their own policies and methods. Free rein leadership style is considered better than the authoritarian style. But it is not as effective as the democratic style. Transactional and Transformational Leadership Transactional Leaders Leaders who guide or motivate their followers in the direction of established goals by clarifying role and task requirements Transformational Leaders Inspire followers to transcend their own self-interests for the good of the organization; they can have a profound and extraordinary effect on followers Not opposing, but complementary, approaches to leadership Great transformational leaders must also be transactional; only one type is not enough for success Characteristics of the Two Types of Leaders Transactional Contingent Reward: Contracts exchange of rewards for effort, promises rewards for good performance, recognizes accomplishments Management by Exception: Active: Watches and searches for deviations from rules and standards, takes corrective action Passive: Intervenes only if standards are not met Laissez-Faire: Abdi