Showing papers in "The journal of applied management and entrepreneurship in 2010"

Strengths Based Leadership

Abstract: Strengths Based Leadership Tom Rath and Barry Conchie Gallup Press, 2009 266 pages, Hardcover, $24.95Today's competitive organizations demand strategic leadership. Leaders believe in change, they energize organizations to innovate continuously, they recognize the need for synergy, and recognize the importance of unity and collaboration. Strengths Based Leadership by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie was passionately and astutely written during a crucial time when strong leadership is needed in all organizations, communities, and countries. The authors provide sound examples to help identify unique strengths that drive success. Rath and Conche discuss the three keys to becoming a more effective leader: knowing your strengths and investing in others', getting the people with the right strengths on your team, and understanding and meeting the four basic needs of those who seek leadership.The authors state, "Organizations are quick to look for leaders who are great communicators, visionary thinkers, and who can also get things done and follow through" (p. 7). They understand that leaders must be able to communicate in order to be effective, must be visionary thinkers in order to prosper, and must be able to get things done in order to be efficient. These characteristics are hard to find in all leaders because most have one or two of these characteristics. Leaders can learn to develop certain skills which can help them become more effective, efficient, and productive. It is important for a leader to know his or her own strengths as a "carpenter knows his tools" (p. 13). A leader must focus on developing each strength and also improving each weakness in order to be able to create success. It is true that some leaders do not know what their strengths are which is why the authors state, "As a part of this book, you will have an opportunity to take a new leadership version of the StrengthsFinder program" (p. 13). The StrenghtsFinder program assessment is a pleasant exercise that can help a person discover what his/her strengths are and more importantly, how the strengths can be used to motivate, lead, and produce higher results. The authors explain the value of "leaders knowing their own strengths and also reveal how important it is for leaders to help others uncover their own strengths as early as possible" (p. 16). It is important to mention that the sooner one learns about their leadership strengths; the more successful he or she will be in all aspects of life.A person's ethos is also very important in leadership because self-confidence can help a leader become more effective. According to the authors, there is a "correlation between awareness of one's strengths and the subsequent increase in self-confidence" (p. 16). If a leader is self-confident, he or she will gain the respect of his or her peers because of being able to make sound decisions that will be in the best interest of the organization. Self-confidence has proven to be a strength that can help a person in numerous ways. As a matter of fact, it is stated that "people who are aware of their strengths and build self-confidence at a young age may reap a cumulative advantage that continues to grow over a lifetime" (p. 16). Those who are aware of their strengths and are able to build self-confidence at a younger age by becoming leaders on sports teams and in extracurricular activities which allow them to develop their leadership skills that will prepare them for when they become leaders in organizations.Particularly strong is that the author includes examples of the four domains of leadership strengths: executing, influencing, relationship building, and strategic thinking. The authors provide sound examples of leaders who have been able to use their strengths to help organizations progress. Wendy Kopp of Teach for America is known for her executing skills and creating an organization from scratch. Simon Cooper of The Ritz Carlton is recognized for his influencing skills and transforming the organization to a new level of excellence. …

HELPING: How to Offer, Give, and Receive Help

Abstract: HELPING: How to Offer, Give, and Receive Help Edgar C. Schein Berrett-Koehler, 2009 167 pages, Hardcover, $22.95Before we embark on this noble inquest, it is important to explain how we came to complete this review of Edgar Schein' s latest influential contribution to the management literature. While we had the distinct pleasure of meeting Edgar Schein at the editorial board meeting for this journal at the 2009 Academy of Management Meeting in Chicago, we also attended his distinguished guest lecture. Specifically, Edgar Schein graciously accepted an invitation to participate in the distinguished lecture series in congruence with the Management History Division where several hundred members of the Academy had the opportunity to listen to and learn from one of the foremost organizational scholars. In Schein's well-respected, unostentatious style, he provided an eloquent speech that simultaneously addressed the most significant concepts from his latest book and represented the culmination of 60 years of organizational scholarship and consulting experiences. In his most recent writing endeavor, Schein has combined his many years of personal experiences with theoretical support from counseling psychology, economics, fine arts, organizational behavior, and social psychology to create a masterpiece in Helping.During his lecture at the Academy of Management Meeting, Schein emphasized the value of utilizing artistic forms as a common, intercultural language through which the essence of problems could be better understood and more effective help could subsequently be offered. He mentioned that academics could see issues more clearly by becoming more artistic. In the writing of his book, Schein practiced the main points conveyed during his lecture. The rhetoric streaming throughout the composition, with metaphors and analogies regarding social economics and theater, paints a clear picture through which readers from various backgrounds can more thoroughly understand the nature of the helping relationship.We believe that one of the most fascinating aspects of this book is that it appears as if the author attempts to build an intimate relationship with his audience. By telling personal stories about emotionally taxing experiences in his own life, Schein appears to make himself vulnerable and earns the trust of the audience by sharing these experiences. By creating this bond, readers can be better helped by the author's words, advice, and suggestions. While numerous books have been written for the purpose of understanding self-help, authors have rarely focused on the delicate nuances of the helping relationship. Of those authors that have offered help in their books, few have shared the types of stories and personal experiences necessary to establish an atmosphere conducive to Schein's conceptualization of effective helping. Whether it was his deliberate intention to build trust by disclosing such personal information, or whether he subconsciously built the trusting relationship as a result of his inherent skill regarding the nature of helping, ultimately the reader is more effectively helped. …

Entrepreneurship and Differences in Locus of Control

Abstract: IntroductionFor several decades, researchers have attempted to identify individual differences that distinguish entrepreneurs from their less entrepreneurial counterparts in the population so as to classify and understand the nature of the "entrepreneurial personality". Constructs in the psychological and cognitive domains have been most often invoked in the quest to find correlates with entrepreneurial behavior (Chen, Greene, & Crick, 1998; Gatewood, Shaver, & Gartner, 1995; Mitchell, Smith, Morse, & Seawright, 2002; Shaver, Gartner, Crosby, Bakalarova, & Gatewood, 2001). In addition, there has been an attempt to study other common characteristics of entrepreneurs such as certain demographic variables in pursuit of the idea that higher frequency of such variables among entrepreneurs might lead to identifying a profile of those most likely to engage in entrepreneurial activity (Littunen, 2000; Reynolds, Carter, Gartner, Greene, & Cox, 2002). Demographic characteristics such as gender and ethnicity that might be more common among nascent entrepreneurs than what would be expected in the general population are examples of such characteristics that have been considered in the attempt to better understand entrepreneurial propensity.Nevertheless, the notion seems intuitively evident that entrepreneurial individuals should be distinguishable by virtue of certain psycho-social characteristics. Most notably, the locus of control construct is based on the presumption that a cognitive continuum exists such that some individuals have a strong belief in personal control of their own destiny (i.e. internal locus of control) while others tend to have greater belief in the power of luck or fate in impacting the events that shape their lives (Rotter, 1966).The purpose of this study is to provide greater insight with regard to the relevance to the locus of control construct in understanding individual differences in entrepreneurial behavior. Due to disparities in the literature regarding locus of control, we reanalyzed the PSED dataset and offer an alternative view of the locus variable in order to determine whether domain specific beliefs about personal control of outcomes predicts entrepreneurial behavior. If locus of control can explain some of the variance in entrepreneurial behavior, it has value for the development of potential entrepreneurs with regards to their expectations about their personal ability to successfully exact entrepreneurial outcomes and enables us to better understand one of the cognitive components of personality that impacts the tendency to engage in new ventures (i.e. Kickul, Gundry, Barbosa, & Whitcanack, 2009). Further this study considers other individual differences (i.e. gender and ethnicity) which may interact with locus of control in predicting entrepreneurial behavior. If in fact gender differences and ethnicity differences in the importance of strong belief in personal control of outcomes is found among female and minority entrepreneurs, results might explain differences in entrepreneurial activity among members of these groups as compared to males and non-minority entrepreneurs. Further, such results would indicate an even greater need to assist potential female and minority entrepreneurs in gaining a sense of self efficacy within the entrepreneurial domain. Finally, the importance of locus construct within the field of entrepreneurship is valuable in that it may lend to a better understanding of the continuation of firms in early years of the start-up process when most nascent entrepreneurs face the biggest challenges. If an internal disposition toward entrepreneurial outcomes is characteristic of successful entrepreneurs, the usefulness of the locus construct becomes all the more apparent.Locus of Control & EntrepreneursIn prior studies examining locus of control in the workplace, internal locus has been reported to be positively related to favorable work outcomes, such as positive task and social experiences, greater job motivation (Ng, Eby, & Sorensen, 2006), decision making (Hendricks, Vlek, & Calje, 1992; Kaplan, Reneau, & Whitecotton, 2001), satisfaction (Judge & Bono, 2001; Kimmons & Greenhaus, 1976), goaldifficulty and self-ratings of performance (Bigoness, Keef, & duBose, 1988), and to have a significant impact on venture growth rate (Lee & Tsang, 2001). …

The Way We're Working Isn't Working

Abstract: The Way We're Working Isn't Working Tony Schwartz, Jean Jones, and Catherine McCarthy Free Press, 2010 332 pages, Hardcover, $28.00As organizations evolve, the human resources of an organization are expected to be more efficient, effective, and productive. The Way We 're Working Isn 't Working by authors Tony Schwartz, Jean Jones, and Catherine McCarthy addresses organizational behavior, development, and change. The authors are quick to point out that organizations are robust and must be able to compete in this global 24/7 society. The authors state, "The defining ethic in the modern workplace is more, bigger, faster. More information than ever is available to us, and the speed of every transaction has increased exponentially, prompting a sense of permanent urgency and endless distraction" (p. 3). With a focus on efficacy and efficiency, most organizations have neglected to realize that top managers are never satisfied. Schwartz, Jones, & McCarty explain, "No matter how much value we produce today - whether it's measured in dollars or sales or goods or widgets - it's never enough" (p. 3).The "never enough" mentality has resulted in organizations investing more in their technology. These technologies "make instant communication possible anywhere, at any time, speed up decision making, create efficiencies, and fuel a truly global marketplace" (p. 3). This dependency on technology can be detrimental to an organization's culture, morale, and mission. If the human resources of an organization are trained, educated, and motivated, they can be more effective than a technological advancement that can easily become obsolete. The authors explain that, "Unlike computers, human beings have the potential to grow and develop, to increase our depth, complexity and capacity over time" (p. 5). Thus, managers and leaders should focus on investing and developing their human resources who have the capacity to make significant contributions to the organization's overall mission. Many organizations have noticed the importance of continuously training their employees and offering educational incentive programs to help keep employees up-to-date in their fields because "in a significant number of cases, people actually get worse at their jobs over time" (p. 8). Performance can be enhanced if an employee is able to learn new ways of conceptualizing complex situations and deciphering abstract information. "In some cases, diminished performance is simply the result of a failure to keep up with advances in a given field" (p. 8). The authors further state that, "A growing body of research suggests that we're most productive when we move between periods of high focus and intermittent rest" (p. 5). By performing at higher levels and being productive, an employee starts creating value for an organization because "The ultimate measure of our effectiveness is the value we create" (p. 8). Top managers seek leaders who can bring value to an organization.The authors of the book explain, "Many organizations build leadership programs around competency models, a list of core skills they expect all leaders to cultivate" (p. 29). Organizations need employees who can be molded into leaders that can influence others to complete tasks and follow the mission of the organization. Leaders are also able to empower followers by "making key behaviors automatic" (p. 37). Leadership programs have become the norm for many organizations who value strategic leaders. Many employees can be developed into effective leaders. "By embracing our own opposites and getting comfortable with our contradictions, we build richer, deeper lives. This is especially crucial for leaders, who must weigh multiple points of view, balance conflicting priorities, serve numerous constituencies, and make decisions about issues with no easy answers" (p. 29). Effective leaders must understand how organizations can function more efficiently by thinking outside of the box.The authors are able to illuminate unique strategies that have the potential to enhance productivity and performance levels in many organizations. …

Transforming Your Leadership Culture

Abstract: Transforming Your Leadership Culture John B. McGuire and Gary B. Rhodes Jossey-Bass, 2009 336 pages, Hardcover, $42.00Are you a considering a major change in your organization? Do you need to transform your organizational culture? If this is the case, John B. McGuire and Gary B. Rhodes propose in Transforming your Leadership Culture that if you want to succeed in this endeavor "you," the leader, must become the first subject of change. The authors bring their years of experience in executive leadership training to propose a schedule of organizational change that begins wither?, and your leadership culture. This book does not give you recipes on how to be an external actor, an outsider, or a mere implementer of change; rather, here you are required to be the catalyst of that change from within. If you want your organization to change you must change first.The book begins with a brief introduction of the main leadership cultures over the last hundred years. During most of the 20th century, organizations endorsed a command and control culture that firmly rooted the military experience of World War II into the post war organizations. The 1970's brought the vital influence of W. Edwards Deming's work on quality. With quality, the sole-hero emphasis of command and control surrendered in favor of an achievement based culture that emphasized competitiveness and achievement through cooperation, and through an alignment of everyone towards a common direction.This new century has brought some major paradigm shifts, and the achievement culture of the past is not sufficient to meet the new challenges ahead. To cope and succeed within this new environment, the authors introduce a new leadership culture, the interdependentcollaborative organization. A key purpose of the book is to help leaders achieve this interdependence-collaboration in their organization. McGuire and Rhoades propose that interdependence-collaboration can be accomplished through the following steps: (a) executives must do the change first because they must lead by example and cannot delegate the transformation of culture to others. Leaders can achieve this if they keep in mind the principles of not having others do what you are not willing to do yourself and "if you want something different you should become something different." (b) A critical mass of leadership culture at the senior level becomes the catalyst for change throughout the organization. This strategy proposes that once you and your senior team change first, and then commit to that change, you can act as a channel that initiates leadership growth. This growth then permeates into the middle level and eventually into all levels of the organization, (c) Everyone gets bigger minds. A keyword here is everyone. The concept of bigger minds is developed further in one of the chapters.Performers evolve into bigger minds through the stages in their leadership culture. At a lesser stage, the mindset in a command and control organization is similar to that of a dependentconformer. As dependent conformers, individual needs are highly determined by the needs and reactions of others. Dependent-conformers typically see education as teaching and training in specific skills (usually technical) that they need to have in order to carry out their duties. In an achievement based culture, however, the usual mindset is that of an independent achiever (also called freethinker). These individuals become independent self possessed persons that create their own values and standards. They are usually highly adaptive, with high technical skills, and their drivers are often achievement, success and individual competence. Freethinkers often work hard to reach their interests (first) and the interest of their organizations (second).The interdependent-collaborator (also called Collaborator, Transformer) is the latest stage in the development of "bigger minds" and it is the typical mindset in an interdependentcollaborative organization. …

Why We Need a Service Logic: A Comparative Review

Abstract: IntroductionWhat is a service? Are service businesses different from non-service businesses? In particular, is the management of service businesses fundamentally different from the management of non-service businesses? These important questions are the motivation of this article, and are answered by a "service logic." As indicated by Kingman-Brundage et al. (1995, p. 21):"A service logic describes how and why a unified service system works. It is a set of organizing principles which govern the service experiences of customers and employees. Only after the logic of a service system has been made explicit does the system become amenable to management control, mainly through the activities of service system design."In this article, we discuss the managerial importance of adopting and deploying a service logic and critically review two legitimate service logic candidates. The first is the increasingly popular Service-Dominant Logic of marketing (SDL) proposed by Vargo and Lusch (2004a). SDL provides many useful insights, but also has some practical limitations. These limitations continue in subsequent SDL iterations (e.g. Lusch and Vargo 2006; Vargo and Lusch 2008). We then review an alternate service logic known as the Unified Service Theory (UST) and show how the UST addresses shortcomings of SDL. We demonstrate strategic application of the UST by presenting a model of "Process DNA." A final section summarizes.The Service Difference - An IllustrationAn entrepreneur in a nearby community opened an Italian restaurant that was relatively successful. The manager designed his restaurant venture to offer patrons an authentic Italian dining experience. The value proposition was based not only on quality food products but also on pleasant interactions between customers and employees (Smith and Colgate 2007). Subsequently, he developed a prepackaged Italian soup that was marketed through a national retail chain. That soup offering also proved to be relatively successful. The manager designed the soup offering and even did his own production, but outsourced the product's sales and distribution. Recently, the manager decided to close the restaurant and focus his attention on the soup offering (Leong 2009). Why? What are possible reasons underlying such a decision? And, as we will get to later, how do SDL and UST service logics inform such a decision?The restaurant venture was structured so that soup and food production were contingent upon customer specifications. Even though portions of food items were prepared in advance, the final production and assembly of food items were contingent on customer orders. Allowing customers to specify food preparation preferences increased service provision complexity but allowed for increased value realization for and from patrons through customization. Further, the restaurant offering included a facility, or "servicescape" (Bitner 1992), with authentic Italian decor, which was an important part of the service offering. Customers did not just buy Italian food; they also bought an Italian experience. Customers were at times passive participants in the process (e.g., being served food) and at other time active participants (e.g., ordering and eating) during the restaurant consumption journey.The second venture, in contrast, involved standardized offerings of soups. The manager believed he had superior recipes, which, when branded, were his primary source of competitive advantage. He produced his own soup in a facility near where he lived, which worked fine during the startup phase. However, as the popularity of his soup products increased, he might likely have outsourced the soup production or moved it to a location with lower labor costs and easier access to key ingrethents such as tomatoes. He had already outsourced the sales and distribution, and it would be costly for him to attempt to develop his own proprietary distribution channel.The manager decided to close the restaurant and focus on the soup manufacturing venture largely due to the particular challenges of the restaurant venture manifested during a slow economy (Leong 2009). …

Virtually Speaking-Customer to Customer Communication in Blogs

Abstract: IntroductionDespite the heterogeneous nature of customer to customer communication online, the ever increasing passive and active customer participation in online conversations has afforded service marketing researchers and companies access to a rich reservoir of customer experiences which provide useful insights for service innovation and development (Ouwersloot & Odekerken-Schroder, 2008). Prahalad (2004) indicated that customers communicating online are an integral part of the value-creation process and concluded that what is co-created is customer experience. However, there is a paucity of research on the impact of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) shared in online customer communities such as blogs on the choice of service and subsequent customer experience (Pitta & Fowler, 2005^sub a^; Pitta & Fowler, 2005^sub b^).Starting from the perspective of service-dominant (S-D) logic's tenth foundational premise, namely that "value is always uniquely and phenomenologically" (i.e. experientially) "determined by the beneficiary" Vargo & Lusch (2008^sub a^, p. 7), the purpose of this paper is to examine customers' experiences as revealed through electronic word of mouth, eWOM, in blogs and to discuss the resulting implications for service innovation.We commence by outlining how individually and socially constructed experiences (Vargo & Lusch, 2008^sub b^; Vargo, 2008) revealed through eWOM might be more holistically understood by both researchers and practitioners as potential insights for service innovation. Then, a narrative analysis using critical incident technique of blogs is presented of the experiences of Nokia Navigator mobile phone service customers in the social context of the online customer communities within which they participate.The research findings revealed rich documented archives of customers' experiences of the digital narratives of Nokia Navigator mobile phone customers. The discussion and conclusions contribute to service innovation research by revealing customer participation in individually and socially constructed service innovation as an ongoing phenomenon, where customers adopt different roles depending on their experiences. Traditionally, service providers have performed the dominant role in deciding and determining what constitutes a service innovation (cf. Toivonen, Tuominen & Brax, 2007). In contrast to this prevailing perspective, the research findings revealed that some customers preferred to adopt advisory expert roles when blogging whilst others tended to adopt the roles of novice and sought advice and assistance from other customers who blog. An important implication of these findings is that, as service innovation is individually and socially constructed and phenomenologically determined by individual customer experiences, it is customers alone who determine what is or is not a service innovation. Service providers can merely propose what may result service innovations through their value propositions.Customer experience of service innovationIndividual and social experience can be related to different phenomena, such as service and innovation. While the locus of discontinuous innovation in goods-dominant (G-D) logic was embedded in product and service attributes, seroice-dominant (S-D) logic gives priority to beneficiaries', including customers', experiences of service (Lusch & Vargo, 2006; Vargo & Lusch, 2008^sub a^). S-D logic emphasises the notion that value is a dynamic phenomenon that is experienced by beneficiaries in specific contexts (Vargo, 2008; Vargo & Lusch, 2008^sub a^. 2008^sub b^). Vargo & Lusch's use of the term 'valuein-context' as part of the continuing move from the more G-D logic focused term 'value-in-use' in order to emphasize the notion that beneficiaries can experience value even if they do not use or have direct experience of the service or service provider in question i.e. they can imagine such an experience or relate to the value-in-context experiences of other beneficiaries (Vargo, 2008; Helkkula, 2010). …

Design for Industrial Product-Services Combinations-A Literature Review

Abstract: IntroductionDuring the last decade, a shift in many manufacturing industries has occurred; equipment suppliers are turning into solution providers to stay competitive. Especially when competing with low-cost competitors (Baines et al., 2007), they are changing from merely selling customers their capital goods products in favor of offering them a combination of products and services. This combination of products with services is commonly termed a product-services system. In theory and practice, the basic principles of this transition to providing services along with industrial products (e.g. Wise & Baumgartner, 1999; Mont, 2004) have been discussed intensively. This transition has necessitated corresponding organizational changes (e.g. Oliva & Kallenberg, 2003) as well as rethinking pricing and controlling issues (e.g. Reichwald & Wegner, 2008).The newly arising technological requirements to accommodate the services aspects of the industrial equipment have been largely disregarded. "Companies often lack knowledge and experience in actually developing solutions that are economically feasible" (Tan & McAloone, 2006, p. 1). One reason might be that up to now no comprehensive set of design rules for the products used in productservices combinations has been developed. Although a large variety of design guidelines exist, with only a few exceptions (Sundin & Bras, 2005; Doultsinou, Roy, Baxter, Gao & Mann, 2009; Sundin, Lindahl & Ijomah, 2009), these have not been related to the combination of industrial products with services. The developments of new services and of new products are not independent but, in product-services combinations, these must be considered together as inter-dependent (Kindstrom & Kowalkowski, 2009).Adapting products to the emerging requirements for services is necessary to tap the full potential of industrial services. In industrial senices, some risks are shifted from customer to the producer or supplier (Aurich, Fuchs & Wagenknecht, 2006) of the industrial good. Property rights of the physical assets used are retained by the producer in use-oriented and result-oriented product-services combinations. An industrial services provider will seek to reduce the costs of the services performed as they represent extra costs that producers not providing such services do not have (Toffel, 2008). Design adaptations and innovations are means of cutting the costs of the combined product and services. Yet, neither design for sale-principles nor mere design-to-cost are sufficient any longer to ensure the competitiveness of the industrial companies that also offer services as part of their product.The need for an integrated development of products and services in the first stages of the development of industrial services offerings has been recognized by several authors (e.g. WeIp, Meier, Sadek & Sadek, 2008; Tan & McAloone, 2006; Doultsinou et al., 2009). Modeling approaches to integrate services and products were used. Baines and his colleagues (2007) in their literature review of product-services system research found a range of tools and methodologies for the development of these concepts exist. They conclude, however, that these modeling tools lack completeness (Baines et al., 2007, p. 1550) and their performance in practice needs to be evaluated. In a more recent literature review on servitization, Baines and other colleagues (Baines, Lightfoot, Benedettini & Kay, 2009) repeat the earlier view by stating, "there is little work to date that can be used by practitioners (p. 547)."On the other hand, there are a multitude of practice-oriented publications and compilations of design principles which support designers in the process of developing capital goods optimized for maintenance and servicing (e.g. Bralla, 1996). The services component of industrial services is more than these activities, however and detailed engineering guidelines and design notes for the technical equipment used in industrial product-services combinations are still lacking. …

Stress at Work in a Slowing Economy

Abstract: Stress and its Leading CausesStress is a normal part of life and it pushes people to learn and grow. At the same time, too much of it can cause significant problems (Huang and Mujtaba, 2009). The most damaging types of stress are extended, unexpected, and unmanageable stress. If one does not take the necessary action to manage these kinds of stress, then it can lead to health problems (Romas & Sharma, 2007).Stress is experienced in two forms: eustress and distress (Mujtaba & McCartney, 2010, p. 75). Eus tress is motivating and can initiate creativity and positive mental attitudes. It is short-term stress that motivates and focuses energy, is perceived as within one's coping ability, feels exciting, and improves performance. It prepares your mind and body with the strength needed to handle specific tasks and life events. People often experience eustress. When professionals are facing project deadlines, eustress is what helps them focus and find the energy needed to complete the project to the best of their ability. Overall, eustress is the type of stress that gives one the strength to fight for what he/she needs to succeed in almost anything he/she does.Distress is a negative de-motivating stress that can often place an individual in a situation of inactivity or inertia (Selye, 1974; Mujtaba & McCartney, 2010, p. 75, Mujtaba et al., 2009). According to Mujtaba and McCartney (2010, p. 77), "distress, especially chronic distress, tends to make your immune system more susceptible to colds, infections, inflammations, [etc.]." Distress is caused by many different stressors at home, work, or anywhere else. Examples of work and employment concerns that can cause distress are excessive job demands, job insecurity, conflicts with coworkers and supervisors, and insufficient authority necessary to carry out tasks.Hans Selye (1974) studied the science of stress and determined that stress occurs in three stages: alarm, resistance and exhaustion (as cited by Mujtaba and McCartney, 2010). Alarm, the first stage, describes the point at which the threat or stressor is recognized by the body. At this stage adrenaline is produced and the fight-or-flight response kicks in. Resistance, the second stage, is when the body attempts to cope with the stressor. The body realizes that it can't keep up with the changes and begins to slowly deplete its resources. Exhaustion, the third stage, is when the body has depleted its resources and acute side affects begin to occur. If this stage is extended, then the body can experience chronic physical and emotional affects.Stress is a physical and emotional experience that the human body is exposed to daily (Selye, 1956). Stressors at work, at home, within society, and within the environment are several examples that expose one to the consequences involved in dealing with stress. The three kinds of stress are acute stress, episodic acute stress, and chronic stress (Miller, 2004). Acute stress is the most common form of stress. It comes from demands and pressures of the recent past and anticipated demands and pressures of the near future. It is thrilling and exciting in small doses, but too much is exhausting. Miller (2004) says, "Overdoing on short-term stress can lead to psychological distress, tension headaches, upset stomach, and other symptoms (para. 2)." Acute stress is short-term in nature and coincides with specific physical side effects, such as clammy hands, rapid heartbeat, dry mouth, etc. Situations that may lead to acute stress are everyday situations such as a job interview, deadline for school or work, an exam, being pulled over by a police officer, or a conflict with someone you love. Acute stress can become a part of anyone's life and is highly treatable and easily managed. Episodic acute stress is when one suffers from acute stress frequently, and is always in a rush, but always late. If something can go wrong, it does. According to Miller (2004), the cardiac prone or 'Type A' personality is similar to an extreme case of episodic acute stress. …

Transforming Toxic Leaders

Abstract: Transforming Toxic Leaders Alan Goldman Stanford University Press, 2009 184 pages, Hardcover, WE NEED THE PRICE HEREAt the heart of this book is the idea that destructive leadership carries a huge cost in terms of human- and economic health, and by early detection it must be prevented from destroying value. The term 'toxic' in the title refers to destructive and dysfunctional leadership styles infecting an entire organization. The word 'transformation' implies remedies for turning value destruction into opportunities. To that extent, the book meets its goal.Seven anecdotes from the author's personal experience illustrate the points and give lessons on the management of anger, grievance, coaching, revolt, recovery and insubordination. The audiences for whom this book is appropriate are human resources department personnel, MBA students taking HR courses could benefit from the case studies, and corporate board members and corporate officers could use the cases to contemplate their own behavior and to detect early warning signs among their peers. The anecdote dealing with anger describes a brilliant heart surgeon who has no tolerance for any person less accomplished than himself, and who is a perfectionist with an abrasive personality on top ofthat. His medical specialty put this person into a position of leadership by definition. The hospital administrators can't afford to fire him without undermining the reputation of the institution on one hand, and they can't put up with him without risking revolt among the ranks and lawyers waiting in the wings with legal action. This scenario can occur in any other industry or setting with the same consequence. The intervention that brought this case to closure included giving the man a lighter leadership role in people terms, and a greater leadership role in his professional specialty. Parallels can be found in industry where brilliant engineers may be paid as much as corporate officers, receive the same perks, but have little or no administrative responsibility. Another example relative to the filing of grievances involves an organization traumatized by dictatorial managers pushing work schedules to the limit of human endurance. Here the top managers are driven by correcting declining earnings at the expense of employees, some of whom comply to secure their own survival. One hatchet man quits and subsequently reinvents himself. The remedies involved leadership coaching and system-wide healing.Transforming Toxic Leaders starts with a useful matrix of symptoms and remedies preparing the reader on what to expect in the seven chapters that follow. Seven anecdotes give the book a story line and report on the author's personal experience as a coach and psychiatrist. These stories cover different industries and all presumably refer to large organizations. Given the current government intervention into the free market on the notion of "too large to fail", it occurred to the reviewer that such symptoms may be a case of "too large to manage", which could be the focus of another book. With each chapter having a summary at the end, the reader walks away with a good understanding of the issues at hand. After the identification of so called "toxins", the author provides 125 strategies for overcoming such issues as demagoguery, emotions, life and death leadership, and the re-invention of the leader; all of which are very useful. In one case bankruptcy ends a dysfunctional corporation. But was the cause of death entirely dysfunction, or was it old age, or both? Corporations are human-made structures and appear to have lifecycles similar to that of their creators, i.e., birth, adolescence, maturity, and decline. Toxin removal at the maturity stage can probably prolong corporate life, but it most likely can't prolong corporate life forever. Most useful for the casual reader, however, are the suggested remedies, or detoxifications, that apply to general situations. …

Authentic Personal Branding: A New Blueprint for Building and Aligning a Powerful Leadership Brand

Abstract: Authentic Personal Branding: A New Blueprint for Building and Aligning a Powerful Leadership Brand Hubert K. Rampersad Information Age Publishing Inc., 2009 261 pages, Softcover, $45.99We are all exposed to the importance and value of brands. Coca Cola's brand is worth over 70 billion dollars. McDonald's brand is worth more than 25 billion dollars. Oprah Winfrey's value is estimated at 2.5 billion dollars. The values of these brands did not happen merely by chance but by a conscious and deliberate effort to grow them. Everyone has a personal brand. It includes what one thinks it is and what others perceive it to be.This book, Authentic Personal Branding, is an excellent addition to the literature in that it provides a discussion of personal branding and it provides a framework for individuals to develop their personal brand, with a focus on powerful leadership branding. Rampersad stated that, "Personal Branding has become more important than Company/Corporate Branding, because we trust people more than companies and people are more accountable than companies, especially in this post-Enron era." He continues to say, "Your Personal Brand should emerge from your search for your identity and meaning in life, and it is about getting very clear on what you want, accepting it, fixing it in your mind, giving it all your positive energy, doing what you love and improving yourself continuously."The first chapter provides a strong motivation for the need for authentic personal branding. It includes examples of global leaders including: Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, JK Rowling, Donald Trump, Michael Jordon, Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Barack Obama (putting the pictures of these leaders on the front cover page was strategic). Every chapter starts with a quote from a renowned leader who has developed his/her authentic personal brand. He quoted Oprah Winfrey saying, "I've come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that's as unique as a fingerprint - and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you." The author is helping the reader to find that fingerprint.Chapters 2 through 7 develop the concept of authentic personal branding. Chapter 2 provides an authentic personal branding model. His model includes four parts: 1) defining and formulating your personal ambitions; 2) defining and formulating your personal brand; 3) formulating your personal balanced scorecard (PBSC); and 4) implementing and cultivating your personal ambition, personal brand, and PBSC Each part is further developed in subsequent chapters for the reader to make sense of the model and to develop an authentic personal brand.Chapter 3 helps the reader to define and formulate his/her personal ambition. …

Emotional attachment to a hospital: bringing employees and customers into the engagement zone

Abstract: IntroductionA central idea of the service profit chain is the so-called satisfaction mirror (Heskett, Sasser and Schlesinger, 1997). The satisfaction mirror refers to a strong positive correlation between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction in service organizations. Service organizations only achieve employee retention and customer loyalty by having very satisfied employees and customers, i.e. employees and customers with affective feelings toward the organization (Heskett et al., 1997). This is in accordance with a large and growing number of case studies making a distinction between rational and emotional satisfaction. Emotional satisfaction requires a strong emotional attachment to the organization, which is also labeled as 'engagement' (Fleming and Asplund, 2007). Based on these insights, employee and customer engagement or emotional attachment to the organization deserve particular attention.In this study, the concept of emotional attachment of employees and customers is investigated in a hospital setting. To what extent do nurses, physicians and other employees of a hospital have affective feelings toward their organization? And is it reasonable to expect that a patient becomes 'emotionally attached to the hospital'? And finally, what impact does employees' and customers' emotional attachment have on their loyalty toward the hospital? The paper first explores the employee-organization linkage and the customer-organization linkage with an emphasis on the role of emotions, including a discussion involving the importance of loyalty. Next, an overview of the results of an empirical study of the emotional attachment of employees and customers to a large hospital is given. The findings, limitations and managerial implications are discussed in the last section.Literature ReviewThe Customer-Organization LinkageCustomer loyalty can be defined as "customer behavior characterized by a positive buying pattern during an extended period (measured by means of repeat purchases, frequency of purchase, wallet share or other indicators) and driven by a positive attitude towards the company and its products and services" (De Wulf, 2003). Customer loyalty is considered as important because it brings several benefits for organizations. Benefits of customer loyalty include reduction of marketing costs, growth of per-customer revenue, decrease in operating costs, increase in switching barriers among loyal customers, and the opportunity to build long-term and profitable relationships with the customers e.g. Morgan and Hunt, 1994; Yi and La, 2004; Kuenzel and Krolikowska, 2008; Raimondo, Miceli and Costabile, 2008; Zhang and Bloemer, 2008). Otani, Waterman, Faulkner, Boslaugh, Burroughs and Dunagan (2009) investigated customer loyalty in the hospital sector and found similar results: repeat customers and customers who recommend the hospital to others are crucial for hospitals to survive. Regarding the benefits of customer loyalty, many organizations strive toward enhancing customer loyalty (Yi and La, 2004). Customer loyalty, however, can only be improved by understanding its detenninants. Several researchers considered satisfaction and trust as important determinants of customer loyalty (Morgan and Hunt, 1994; Ferguson, Paulin and Leiriao, 2006; Zhang and Bloemer, 2008; Raimondo et al., 2008). Recent research, however, demonstrated that (affective) commitment also is an important determinant of customer loyalty (e.g. Ferguson et al., 2006; Zhang and Bloemer, 2008).According to Morgan and Hunt (1994), customer commitment can be defined as "an exchange partner believing that an ongoing relationship with another is so important as to warrant maximum efforts at maintaining it". Raimondo et al. (2008) argue that there is considerable overlap between customer commitment and attitudinal loyalty. The attitudinal approach of loyalty is more recent and focuses on the cognitive, affective, and conative aspects of loyalty, such as a positive attitude toward the organization, repeat purchase intentions, and commitment to rebuy a preferred product or service in the future (Yi and La, 2004). …

Legitimacy of HRM Practices: Managerial Perceptions of Economic and Normative Value

Abstract: In 2007 Circuit City, a well-known retailer, laid off all salespersons with earnings 51 cents or more above industry average. This "people-as-liabilities" view resulted in approximately 3400 employees, many of whom were top performers, being fired ("Good job", 2008; "TV troubles", 2007). A year earlier this same company had espoused the "people-as-assets" view claiming that their "associates represented the best source for finding solutions to our customer's needs" (Circuit City, 2006, p. 7). This example illustrates how strong pressures for profits in the short-term often trump the long-term benefits of investing in employees. While business executives regularly profess the importance of and their commitment to employees, they often abandon this position in times of organizational distress when they no longer view employees as critical resources but as a variable cost to be managed. Most CFOs know that about 40% of revenues are allocated to pay employee expenses, yet 84% of CFOs are unsure how to document the benefits associated with human capital investment (Hansen, 2003). On one hand, the saliency of shareholders and their associated financial demands often dominate managerial decision making (AgIe, Mitchell, & Sonnefeld, 1999), which makes reconciling economic pressures for financial return and normative pressures for employee well-being challenging. On the other hand, the importance of employees is increasing in today's knowledge- and serviceintensive economy, pressuring organizational decision makers to examine which Human Resource Management (HRM) practices are essential to balance the demands of providing both economic and normative value.The purpose of this manuscript is to provide a conceptual framework for understanding how organizational decision makers reconcile economic pressures and normative pressures affecting HRM practices. These pressures fall upon managers who are responsible for shareholder returns and the treatment of the workforce. Specifically, we examine how managers, as organizational decision makers, perceive and evaluate the legitimacy of justice-based and work-family conflict HRM practices. These HRM practices, which reflect employee and other stakeholder perceptions of fairness and balance of work and family obligations, are the programs, processes, and techniques of workforce management that have been implemented, and that affect not only organizational performance but also employee behaviors and feelings (Ostroff & Bowen, 2000; Wright & Boswell, 2002). Legitimacy concerning the HRM practices of an organization reflects whether these practices are likely to be perceived as desirable, proper, and appropriate in the eyes of its stakeholders (Suchman, 1995). While the overall legitimacy of these practices can be referred to as a generalized perception, specific legitimacy is granted by individual stakeholders or interest groups that have varied criteria for evaluating legitimacy of the organization's specific actions. Legitimacy is herein examined as a psychological property (Tyler, 2006) at the individual level because our focus is limited to examining the legitimacy of specific HRM practices evaluated from the perspective of managers. In the current study, we focus specifically on the intersection of multiple HRM practices and individuals because this area has historically received little scrutiny. This area has even been described as having "dearth of research" (Wright & Boswell, 2002, p. 262), despite recognition that the use of multiple HRM practices is likely to affect employee perceptions.In making decisions related to organizational procedures, programs, and resource allocations, managers are at a central junction where economic pressures and normative pressures must be reconciled. We examine the related managerial perceptions concerning specific HRM practices that promote organizational justice and work-family conflict balance using the multidimensional legitimacy framework comprised of pragmatic, moral, and cognitive legitimacy by Suchman (1995). …

Great Expectations: The Influence of Human and Relational Capital on the Magnitude of Early Venture Goals

Abstract: IntroductionOrganizational goals play a fundamental role in strategy formation (Andrews, 1980). Organizational goals are particularly important in young ventures as early goals create pathdependent trajectories of strategic intent and actions (Beckman & Burton, 2008; Boeker, 1989), and influence prospective investors who prefer firms with aggressive yet realistic growth goals (Barringer & Ireland, 2009). Furthermore, new venture growth goals influence actual firm growth (Davidsson, 1991; Wiklund & Shepherd, 2003).Although scholars recognize the importance of organizational goals to new firms, we still know little about what shapes entrepreneurs' goals in these young firms (Wiklund & Shepherd, 2003). In established firms, goals typically are created by senior leaders based on previous performance (Cyert & March, 1963). However, in the early years of most young ventures, little consistent sales and performance data are typically available, and, that fact, combined with the novelty of the market, the team, and the management needs of the young venture create uncertainty about future performance (Blatt, 2009). The purpose of our study is to provide insight into organizational goal-setting in young firms. Understanding the antecedents to early firm goal levels is an important area of study to support the emerging field of entrepreneurial strategy and to provide guidance to entrepreneurs who wish to sustain high growth. We suggest that due to the many uncertainties present in the environment of young ventures, that quality of the management team plays a central role in leaders' organizational goal setting in young ventures (Aldrich & Ruef, 2006). In this sense, our research follows a growing trend in the entrepreneurship literature focusing on the importance of the entrepreneurial team in predicting early firm behaviors and outcomes (Ensley, Pearson, & Amason, 2002, Shrader & Seigel, 2007). However, as part of leading the management team, the role of the chief executive is to "lead the continuous process of determining the nature of the enterprise and setting, revising, and achieving its goals" (Andrews, 1980, p. iii). The basic role of the executive is to establish purpose and direction (Wageman, Hackman, Nunes, & Burruss, 2008). Thus, due to the authority dynamics usually found in a top management team - even if the chief executive involves the management team in evaluating strategic alternatives - the chief executive's vision for the firm strongly influences, if not completely determines, the goals formed (Wageman et al., 2008). Therefore, we develop our theory from the point of view of the chief executive, with the management team as a resource for him to consider when shaping the goals of the firm. It is our contention that, due to the uncertainty in interpreting firm performance, indicators of valuable resources such as human capital and relational capital will be particularly influential to the early goals of a venture. In young ventures, specific human capital embodied in the management team such as abilities and experience, can dramatically influence the performance of small firms (Wiklund & Shepherd, 2003). In addition to human capital, relational capital based on team-embedded assets of effective communication and coordination, also affects performance of young ventures (Chowdhury, 2005). Additionally, we expect the value the chief executive puts on the human capital and relational capital of the team to increase her assessment of the efficacy of the team, and this increased confidence in the capabilities of the team is the mechanism resulting in higher firm goals.Theory and HypothesesThe key premise underlying our study is that new firm chief executives bear the main responsibility for setting and attaining firm goals. Goals can include target levels of market share, profitability, employment, and sales or growth goals (Cyert & March, 1963) as well as the performance desired in the firm's technology and/or products (Wiklund & Shepherd, 2003). …

The Behavioral Consequences of Outsourcing: Looking through the Lens of Paradox

Abstract: Outsourcing has become common practice over the last ten years (Hoecht & Trott, 2006), and firms have embraced it for a variety of reasons, including cost reduction (Hormozi, Hostetler, & Middleton, 2003; Kakumanu & Portano va, 2006), conversion of fixed costs to variable costs (Alexander & Young, 1996), access to advanced expertise and technology (Harland, Knight, Lamming, & Walker, 2005; Hormozi, et al., 2003; Kakabadse & Kakabadse, 2002; Quinn, 2000), flexibility (Jennings, 2002), and the ability to focus on core competencies (Quinn & Hilmer, 1994). However, there are downsides to outsourcing. These include the risk of overdependence on a supplier (Adler, 2003; Barthelemy & Geyer, 2004), information leakage (Hoecht & Trott, 2006; Jennings, 2002; Kakumanu & Portanova, 2006; Mahnke, 2001), failure to estimate hidden costs properly (Barthelemy, 2001; Tadelis, 2007), and loss of competitive capability (Adler, 2003; Barwise & Meehan, 2005; Willcocks & Feeny, 2006).The implications of outsourcing have been considered using a number of competing theoretical perspectives, most namely transaction cost economics and the resource-based view of the firm. The transaction cost perspective offers a clear set of guidelines that the firm can use to determine when and how to outsource, especially because an "economic organization is shaped by transaction cost economizing considerations" (Williamson, 1985, p. xii). Transaction cost theory can even anticipate the impact of "ex post misalignments", at least to the extent that the "difference between rather than the absolute magnitude of transactions costs" (Williamson, 1985, pp. 21-22) can accurately be assessed. As a result, this orientation makes it convenient to model the consequences of outsourcing as a set of economic trade-offs and styles of contracting (Williamson, 2008). The resource-based view offers insights into ways in which a firm's distinctive capabilities and resources relative to those of its rivals can become the basis for competitive advantage if matched appropriately to environmental opportunities (Peteraf, 1993). As a result, numerous researchers have discussed the role of core competency in determining which functions should and should not be outsourced (Jennings, 2002; Mclvor, 2003; Quinn & Hilmer, 1994). Hence, the resource-based view has been an important perspective from which to assess the outsourcing decision process (Espino-Rodriguez & Padron-Robaina, 2006; Holcomb & Hitt, 2007).The efficacy of using these two approaches is less clear when it comes to understanding the behavioral and organizational requirements which follow from the outsourcing decision, however. A stream of research has shown that outsourcing increases the operational expethency of the firm, either by transferring activities to external providers (Bailey, Masson, & Raeside, 2002; Greaver, 1999; McCarthy & Anagnostou, 2004; Quelin & Duhamel, 2003; Sharpe, 1997) or through the utilization of third party capabilities (Gilley & Rasheed, 2000; Lei & Hitt, 1995; Mol, Van Tulder, & Beije, 2005; Quinn & Hilmer, 1994). While it may be possible to assess the cost implications and benefits of a decision that reduces the size of the firm, it is less clear that transaction cost economics can readily categorize the extent of the behavioral and organizational changes that will occur in this now-smaller firm, especially given that researchers have suggested that outsourcing actually increases - rather than reduces - organizational complexity, costs and effort (Barthelemy, 2001; Harland, et al., 2005; Rothaermel, Hitt, & Jobe, 2006). Similarly,' the resource-based view helps define the capabilities that a firm might use to gain advantage, but efforts to explain how firms develop such capabilities have been minimal (e.g., Helfat & Peteraf, 2003). Moreover, the causal ambiguity and path-dependent elements of the resource-based view make it difficult for managers to consciously build or create capabilities (Lado, Boyd, Wright, & Kroll, 2006). …

Conducting a Feasability Analysis and Assessing Success of a Business Incubator: An Applied Study

Abstract: IntroductionThe deep economic recession of 2008 and 2009 and the long, slow recovery that is projected to take another four years have created many economic challenges for communities across the U.S. Although people have compared our current economic conditions to the Great Depression, many feel that the challenges that communities face today mirror the economic restructuring of the 1970s when formerly prosperous communities searched for responses to high unemployment. Faced with bleak economic prospects, federal devolution (budgetary and policy), and mounting constituent pressure, many states transitioned their economic development policies toward more "entrepreneurial" education and support strategies (Hatch, 2010).Although there are a number of programs to assist new businesses and create jobs in the economy, business incubators have been used since the 1970s as a way to develop and educate new businesses and stimulate entrepreneurship and innovation in the U.S. and throughout the world. Business incubation started when heavy equipment manufacturer Massey Ferguson pulled out of Batavia, New York, in 1959, leaving behind a gigantic 850,000-square-foot facility (NBIA, 2002; and Atkins, 2002). This catastrophic economic event seemed like a potentially devastating blow for the town. As it turned out, it was only the beginning of a new entrepreneurial training and support method, not just for Batavia, but adopted initially in the U.S. and expanded worldwide.The key objectives of business incubators are to promote entrepreneurial activity, encourage technology transfer, and stimulate economic development in the local community (NBIA, 2003; and Meeder, 1993). As Hackett and Dilts (2004) note,A business incubator is a shared office-space facility that seeks to provide its incitbatees (i.e. "porfolio-" or "client-" or "tenant-companies") with a strategic, value-adding intervention system (i.e. business incubation) of monitoring and business assistance. This system controls The incubator can control and links resources with the objective of facilitating the successful new venture development of the incubatees while its clients ' new ventures and simultaneously containing the cost of potential failure. Additionally, we offer the following corollary: .... When discussing the incubator, it is important to keep in mind the totality of the incubator. Specifically, much as a firm is not just an office building, infrastructure and articles of incorporation, the incubator is not simply a shared-space office facility, infrastructure and mission statement. Rather, the incubator is also a network of individuals and organizations including the incubator manager and staff incubator advisoiy board, incubatee client companies and employees, local universities and university community members, industry contacts, and professional services providers such as lawyers, accountants, consultants, marketing specialists, venture capitalists, angel investors, and volunteers (pg 57).The business incubation industry in the United States grew substantially between the 1980s and the 1990s growing from fewer than 15 incubators in 1980 to more than 500 in 1993 (NBIA, 2005). Currently, there are approximately 1,100 business incubators in the United States and approximately 7,000 business incubators worldwide (Knopp, 2007). In the U.S., business incubators have about 16,000 resident client companies which employ approximately 80,000 workers (Knopp, 2007).The purpose of this paper is to present the unique approach used by a university faculty research team to conduct a feasibility study for a local business incubator. The approach used incorporated the elements of a feasibility study with a comprehensive strategic business plan including a sensitivity analysis that highlighted key indicators of the success for the local business incubator to move to a sustainable operation in the future. The paper further shows how the incubator has survived and operated from 2004 to the present when the incubator continues to work toward sustainability in an economic environment that went from being in the center of an economic boom with low unemployment to our current environment of an economic downturn with very high unemployment that has not be seen since the Great Depression. …

Resource Acceleration: Extending Resource-Based Theory in Entrepreneurial Ventures

Abstract: IntroductionIn recent years entrepreneurial firms have been examined from a variety of interesting perspectives concerning resources related to the firm. Some examples include: resource alignment (Edelman, Brush, & Manolova, 2005), ethical perspectives with stakeholders (Kuratko, Goldsby, & Hornsby, 2004), external ownership (Roengpitya, Dalton, Dalton & Certo, 2007), employee retention (Wager & Rondeau, 2006), constructing a resource base (Brush, Greene & Hart, 2001), and outsourcing (Stauss & Jedrassczyk, 2008). More specifically, Brush and Chaganti (1998) suggest that resources in small firms can play a greater role than strategy in explaining performance.However, entrepreneurial firms typically experience a significant gap between their resources and aspirations, especially in a venture's early stages. Hamel and Prahalad (1994, p. 128) note that "starting resource positions are a very poor predictor of future industry leadership." This position leads to the argument that the gap between the entrepreneur's resource pool and the envisioned enterprise can only be closed through strategic leveraging of resources. Arguably, limited resources represent one of the greatest challenges confronting entrepreneurs, and are both a cause and effect of the liabilities of newness and smallness (Morris and Zahra, 2000).Resource-based theory conceptualizes the firm as a portfolio of resources, where the quality and amount of resources in this portfolio are a major determinant of organizational performance (Barney, 1986; Makadok, 2001; Sirmon, Hitt and Ireland, 2007). Drawing from this theory, we introduce the concept of 'resource acceleration,' which we define as the rate at which resources are brought to bear on an entrepreneurial venture over time that exceeds the venture's set of resources at the time of founding. Through resource acceleration, initial resource endowments are accelerated as the entrepreneur and his or her team augment the resource pool with additional resources. In this context, acceleration can be conceptualized as a ratio of the value of these augmenting resources to the value of the resources initially contributed by the entrepreneurial team. The question of interest that we examine is whether the rate at which entrepreneurs grow their resource pool strongly influences venture performance over time.A conceptual model of antecedents and outcomes of resource acceleration is the foundation through which we explore the question that interests us. Analysis of resource-based theory within the context of our question led us to ground our model in four resource-related antecedent variables: the entrepreneur's resource-related experience, resource awareness, resource self-efficacy, and growth aspirations. Financial performance and realized growth are the relevant outcomes variables. Resource acceleration is a function of the interrelations of the resource gap at the outset of the venture and resource acquisition strategies employed by the entrepreneur. A moderation model of the effects of resource acceleration on these antecedents of performance is tested with a cross-sectional survey of fiveyear old firms in the Eastern United States. A number of implications are drawn from the findings, and suggestions made for theory building and managerial practice.Theory DevelopmentWithin the context of our research question, the resource-based view of the firm is concerned with the relationship between a venture's resources and its performance where resources are defined as assets, capabilities, routines, and knowledge that are tied to or controlled by an organization (Borch, Huse and Senneseth, 1999). Discovering, acquiring, and combining resources create the unique identity of a firm, while also placing limits on the scale and scope of company operations and delimiting the strategic direction of the organization (Alvarez and Barney, 2005; Chandler and Hanks, 1994; Peteraf, 1993). …

Windows of Opportunity for a Canadian Family Business: An Interview with Charles Loewen

Abstract: Executive SummaryIn 2005, the Loewen company celebrated a century of business success. Over that century, wars, depression, automation, mass production and globalization of the economy have challenged even the most resilient businesses. For Loewen, these challenges were windows of opportunity. Grounded by an unwavering commitment to exceptional wood artisanship and motivated by a tradition of entrepreneurship, three generations of the Loewen family have successfully pursued local, national and international markets to become a global leader in premium wood windows and doors. A fourth generation is poised to continue this powerful legacy. The Loewen business began in 1905, led by Cornelius T. Loewen, also known as "CT." or "Cornie", a first-generation Canadian who learned wood working skills from his immigrant father.The manufacturing of beekeeping equipment was among the initial entries into the marketplace as a logical response to war-era sugar rations. Times changed, and the company continued to adapt. Loewen won a contract to supply the thousands of wood cross-members needed to string power lines in rural Manitoba to create the electrical grid in the 1940s. In the post-war years, it was common for carpenters to manufacture windows at the building site. As the industry struggled to meet a growing demand for housing, Loewen jumped on board a new residential construction concept, and in 1948, began to build pre-assembled frames and sashes, selling the finished product through local lumberyards. CT. ' s sons - Edward, George and Cornelius Paul - became company leaders in the 1950s with Ed and George focused on making the CT. Loewen lumberyard one of the largest in Manitoba. They sold building materials, readybuilt homes and Loewen-Bilt windows and doors created under the supervision of brother Cornie (also known as CP.) at Loewen Millwork. Eventually, the three brothers agreed that Ed and George would continue with the lumber business while CP. created a new company: CP. Loewen Enterprises (formerly Loewen Millwork), located in Steinbach, Manitoba.By the 1980s, a third generation of Loewens - CP's sons, Paul, Charles and Clyde - entered the business. With the untimely death of their father in 1985, all three were thrust into positions of major responsibility. Strategic repositioning continued in the 80s into the 90s. As many window manufacturers moved to plastics, Loewen opted for a road less travelled and insisted on premium wood-based materials instead. Loewen windows and doors continue to be manufactured with the highest quality wood material: Douglas Fir, a tightly-grained species, naturally tough and resilient, with a warm, rich texture.In the late 1980s, an important decision was made: Loewen would focus exclusively on the "luxury" market. The company opened their first U.S. branch in 1990. This expansion provided American homeowners, builders and architects greater access to the premium Loewen line of windows and doors. Under the leadership of Charles Loewen, the company's current CEO, Loewen has grown into an international success. Significant and highly strategic investments in management, distribution, advertising and product development followed and helped to reinforce the company's position as a leading North American premium brand. A century after it began, Loewen occupies a distinctive niche atop the wood window and door industry. The Loewen family's dedication to the original values of faith, hard work and entrepreneurship resulted in an extraordinary journey that promises to continue well into the future. This conversation with Charles Loewen regarding the Loewen brand and culture, the Loewen family and the firm's economic outlook is part of a continuing series of interviews with family business leaders.Authors: We would like to begin with the Loewen brand. If you could only use three words to describe the brand identity of Loewen, what would they be?Loewen: That's a very difficult question. …

Alternative Dispute Resolution: A Conflict Diagnosis Approach

Abstract: Alternative Dispute Resolution: A Conflict Diagnosis Approach Laurie S. Coltri Prentice Hall, 2010 336 pages, Softcover, $100.00Author Laurie S. Coltri is a faculty, an attorney, and also holds a doctoral degree in Human Development. This book is clearly written, well organized, substantive, quite practical in approach and content, and contains an integrating as well as efficacious "conflict diagnosis" theme and "hands on skills" method for spotting, comprehending, managing, and resolving conflicts.Each chapter commences with a series of learning objectives and concludes with a series of exercises, projects, and "thought experiments." This reviewer found the initial objectives to be clear, concise, and accurate statements of the goals of each chapter. This reviewer also found the end-of-chapter work to be not only very practical learning tools but also very thought-provoking intellectual exercises. Also, throughout the chapters, in clear and concise left margin paragraph notes are the definitions of key terms used throughout the chapter. Combined, these margin notations form a "running" and chapter-by-chapter glossary of critical terms and concepts, and one that is very readable and informative and integrated to the chapter text material. The book also includes a very useful appendix for ADR websites and a very substantive appendix consisting of online material for the author's conflict diagnosis model.There are seven chapters to the book. The first is "Defining Terms," which naturally defines key terms, focusing on the definition of types of conflicts and the "players" in conflict. The second chapter is called "Understanding the Foundations of ADR." This chapter, although of course setting forth basic constructs to ADR, also takes a bit of a philosophical and psychological approach to conflict, for example, but examining the concept of "distorted perception." The third chapter deals with "Mediation," and covers the fundamental approaches and aspects to mediation, as well as providing some very practical and useful advice to mediators, such as the section on "Handling Emotions." The next related topic, Chapter 4, is called "The Law and Ethics of Mediation," which covers the legal aspects of mediation, such as confidentiality, mandating this form of ADR, and the enforceability of mediated agreements. Ethical issues in mediation are addressed, though briefly as the bulk of this chapter deals with legal issues in mediation. The fifth chapter examines the other major type of ADR, namely "arbitration." Again, the fundamentals to arbitration are well covered, with particular attention being paid to the different types of arbitration and the process of arbitration. Also, in this chapter is found a major section on the law of arbitration. Surprisingly, for some reason the author did not think that the law of arbitration did not merit a separate chapter as did the mediation material, but nevertheless the legal section to the arbitration chapter is a very substantive one indeed, and one in which the author very effectively divides the legal analysis into the before, during, and after arbitration stages. There is also a section, critical in the "real-world," as to the law and the "choice of law" for arbitration. The sixth chapter has a long title: "Nonbinding Evaluation, Mixed (hybrid), and Multimodal Dispute Resolution Processes." This chapter covers neutral evaluation methods, mediation and arbitration combinations, "ombuds," as called by the author, and, significantly, the rapidly developing field of online dispute resolution. …

The Talent Advantage: How to Attract and Retain the Best and the Brightest

Abstract: The Talent Advantage: How to Attract and Retain the Best and the Brightest Ian Weiss and Nancy MacKay John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2009 192 pages, Hardcover, $24.95In a competitive corporate culture, the task of recruiting, retaining and developing top talent has never been easier. In a time of global economic meltdown, America's competitive edge is more than ever at risk of a colossal relapse due largely to a series of poor decisions, mismanagement, and ineffective corporate leadership in our financial and economic sectors. From Enron, A.I.G. to Wall Street the problem of a corrosive, unabated and unchecked corporate malfeasance has proven to be of national and international politi cal -economic consequence. In addressing the imperative of exploiting top talent as a means of 'staying ahead of the game ' MacKay and Weiss (2009) have furnished a masterpiece for ensuring that organizations recruit the best, provide the nurturing environment for excellence, and produce the type of bottom-line that meets optimum expectations of important stakeholders.Based on the work of two individuals who have had over two decades of professional experience as consultants to CEO's from over 500 leading organizations, The Talent Advantage provides readers with practical examples from the authors' work experience with industry leaders like Merck, Hewlett-Packard, PricewaterhouseCoopers, The New York Times Company, and The Federal Reserve. The book is an easy read with eleven short chapters that highlight and suggests Why Leaders Must Fight the Battle; The Five Failings of Non-Extraordinary Leaders (and their cures); The Three Priorities of the Talent-Seeking Leader; Talent is More Than Pure Performance; The Semi-Renewable Resource; Talent is Attracted, Not Recruited; Competitive Advantage is AU Around You; The Process of Retaining Talent; The Aerodynamics of Leadership; Counterintuitive Development; and the Six Strategies to Win the War for Talent.In their analysis of the six strategies to win the war for talent, the authors suggests that the successful organization [organizational leader(s)] must: (1) Create a leadership style that is consistent and transparent - underscoring the fact that leaders who are able to clearly define goals and expectations and are consistent in their enforcement and reinforcement mechanisms are characteristically successful in their roles as corporate leaders. (2) Create accountabilities for talent creation and retention down the line to attract, retain, and develop talent - highlighting the fact that it is not to be left to HR to do the work of securing and maintaining top talent and the assertion that successful leaders make it an organizational imperative for the function of talent recruitment, retention and development to be a part of the assessment and evaluative scheme of the organizations leadership team. (3) Marry career development and succession planning - suggesting that even though career development is a bottom-up strategy and succession planning a top-down strategy, the hallmark of successful organizations is the ability to align and converge both as complementary strategies for important corporate outcomes. …

Thinking Strategically about Workplace Bullying in Organizations

Abstract: IntroductionExtensive research across many industries and countries has been conducted on the prevalence of workplace bullying. A survey conducted by the employment site CareerOne in Australia found that 74 per cent of respondents have been bullied (CareerOne, 2007). A recent U.S. survey of more than 7,700 employees found that 49 per cent of working people have suffered or witnessed bullying. The most frequently reported bullying behaviours were verbal abuse (53 percent), intimidation and humiliation (53 per cent), abuse of authority (47 per cent) and sabotage and undermining (45 per cent). A significant amount of turnover in organization is due to bullying. 21-28 million workers, or 40 per cent of victims, voluntarily leave their organizations annually because of bullying (Workplace Bullying Institute and Zogby International, 2007).Consistent with the resource-based view of the firm (Barney, 1986; Wernerfelt, 1984), it has been argued that human resources and human resource practices can yield sustained competitive advantage to the organization (Chan, Shaffer and Snape 2004; Collins and Clark 2003; Kamoche 1996; Michie and Sheehan 2005; Roepke, Agarwal and Ferrati 2000; SanzValle, Sabater-Sanchez and Aragon-Sanchez 1999; Schuler and MacMillan 1984; Subba 2000; Treven and Mulej 2005; Ulrich 1991; Wright, McMahan and McWilliams 1994). This paper makes a unique contribution to the literature, in that it situates a specific outcome of human resource efforts, the bully-free environment (BFE), in a strategic context. Thinking strategically about bullying involves integrating it in the core values, mission and vision of the organization, addressing it in a proactive manner and exemplifying it through management behaviour.Creating a BFE becomes an intangible resource which adds value, is rare, inimitable and nonsubstitutable and thus generates a sustained competitive advantage to organizations, especially those facing chronic difficulties in recruiting and retention of employees.We first define bullying and examine its scope as a worldwide phenomenon. Next, we examine the impact that bullying, if not controlled, will have on individuals and organizations. To illustrate, we discuss two case examples of bullying in organizations: public school teaching and law enforcement. These case examples illustrate the 'casual' approach to bullying and its detrimental effects for organizations that face chronic difficulties in recruitment and retention of employees. Next, we bring theoretical concepts from the resource-based view of the firm to illustrate how a BFE can generate sustained competitive advantage for the organization. Then, we provide an overview of what we consider a strategic approach to addressing workplace bullying and contrast this approach to the existing, casual approach towards bullying. The last section provides conclusions and final thoughts.Workplace BullyingA DefinitionNamie (2003: ppl-2) defines workplace bullying as "interpersonal hostility that is deliberate, repeated and sufficiently severe as to harm the targeted person's health or economic status. It is driven by perpetrators' need to control another individual, often undermining legitimate business interests in the process." It is driven by a perpetrators' need to control another individual, often undermining legitimate business interests in the process. There is a fine line of distinction between bullying and harassment. Harassment can be viewed as a subset of bullying or at the extreme end of the bullying continuum. While both types of behaviour involve degrading, intimidating and insulting the victim, harassment is discriminatory behaviour that targets demographics such as gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion or disability. While bullying sometimes is conducted on such demographic grounds, bullying is primarily aimed at intimidating victims on the basis of the latter 's workplace abilities but it may include discriminatory behaviour. …

Womenomics: 1. Write Your Own Rules for Success

Abstract: Womenomics: 1. Write Your Own Rules for Success Claire Shipman (Good Morning America) and Katty K (BBC News) Harper Collins Publishers, 2009 256 pages, Hardcover, $22.99It is hard to be a woman, especially a working woman. In the past it was not as difficult; women had the role of "housewives" and the household was the main duty. But in modern times it has changed due to economical and sociological changes within our societies. Now a woman is a "housewife" and also "a career person" and balancing these two needs is a struggle.Womenomics- Write Your Own Rules for Success by Claire Shipman and Katty Kay was written to share their thoughts and experiences on balancing work with success issues for women and their roles within society. This wonderful book explains how to be successful by balancing work and personal lives without creating any stress. Womenomics gives you ideas that will lead to getting all you want without any problem. The definition of Womenomics is given as "1Power. 2- A movement that will get you the work life you really want. 3- The powerful collision of two simple realities: a majority of women are demanding new rules of engagement at the very moment we've become the hot commodity in today's workplace" (p. XVIII).The book talks about all the recent news and daily happenings, especially the global economic crisis and recession. Chapter 1 is Womenomics 101 and it describes the place of women in business life. The given numbers of educated women and the demand in business are very interesting topics. It also describes how women are different than men, and this difference gives another opportunity and is a plus point for an organization.Chapter 2 is about What We Really Want and deals with how women are ending up losing or quitting their jobs and the reason that leads them to give up their careers. Examples are given to show how women are desperate for balancing their home and career lives. The desire for taking more responsibility in the workplace is declining. Because of the lack of having sufficient quality time for their personal life, most women focus more on balancing their work and personal lives.The following Chapter covers Redefining Success - It 's All in Your Mind. This particular chapter gives you a moment to think about where you stand now. Especially the "Gut Check" on pages 53-55, which has some questions that need to be considered very wisely. When you are done with the questions you will be able to see your preferences in your personal and career life. This ranks the priorities of your life too, so that you know what is really important for your life. In this chapter there is also a "What-If Exercise". It is about scenarios of some possible situations that one may confront at the workplace. For example; "Imagine the face your boss will make if you take yourself out of the running for that big job. Will he look at you like you are speaking Swahili, as he wonders to himself why he ever invested in you? " These questions lead you to examine your own situation. This way the authors point out that at the end of the questioning and imagining, you will be able to realize nothing is as bad as is originally feared.Chapter 4 is Good-Bye Guilt (and Hello No) and it starts with the first creation of human beings. It talks about Eve being blamed for biting the apple from the forbidden tree. The authors try to show here how women are feeling guilty at all stages of their lives. Actually women want to be the best in everything; a best mom, a best friend, a best wife, a best employee. The problem is women feeling guilty if they fail at any one of them. So the authors try to point out that this guilt is an unnecessary emotional feeling, which women should stop suffering from. The most attractive part of this chapter was 'Wo- Just Say It. " Human beings, especially women are having a difficult time saying "no" to an asked favor. They are scared to disappoint others. At the beginning saying "no" is very difficult, but after a certain time it gets easier. …

Creative Destruction and Creative Combination

Abstract: IntroductionThe literature on business longevity has repeatedly documented the disappearance of half of a population of businesses within a decade or less of their formation (Cardozo & Borchert, 2003; Shane, 2008). Yet management and entrepreneurship scholars lack suggestions for business owners with respect to the best time and process for dissolving their businesses. Causes of failure are well documented, typically based on conflicts among stakeholders (Baden-Fuller, 1989) or lack of human, financial or intellectual resources (Baldwin, Bian, Dupuy & Gellatly, 2000; DeCastro, Alvarez, Blasick, & Ortiz, 1998; Singh, 1997). However, little is known about firms that disappear not through failure, but rather by combining with another firm - is merger an intentional act to keep strategic assets intact, or is it a last-ditch effort to salvage an underperforming firm?In this paper we explore business combination (merger) as an exit route for young firms. We ask whether firms exiting through merger constitute a subset of startups different from those that explicitly dissolve, based on population level dissimilarities in lifespan, timing of disappearance and prevalence of exit route. Based on the results of our analysis, we hope to add to the literature on forms of dissolution and expected longevity, with suggestions for business owners on the most prevalent ages of firms for each type of exit. This will help entrepreneurs understand exit behaviors and hopefully act appropriately as they choose whether or not the time is optimal for merging rather than continuing to persevere on their own.Previous ResearchAlthough prior research has identified exit routes for new businesses (Cochran, 1981; DeCastro, et al., 1997), almost all of the research on business closures has focused on liquidations; merger as an exit (disappearance) route has received little attention. A review of routes and reasons for disappearance of new firms in Cardozo and Borchert (2003) found no published peer-reviewed studies that explicitly analyzed merger as an exit route. Further, relationships between age at disappearance and route of exit have not been systematically explored. We do not know, for example, whether firms suffering from "liability of newness" (Stinchcombe, 1965; Carroll & Hannan, 2000) are equally likely to exit through merger or other routes, or whether one exit route occurs more frequently for startups of different ages.Because businesses disappear continuously in market-driven economies (Kirchhoff, 1994), and more than half of new businesses use resources from exiting businesses in their formation (Cardozo, Bailey, Reynolds & Miller, 1991), expanding knowledge regarding business disappearance is central to understanding the continuous process of business turnover and entrepreneurship at a macro level. At the business level, knowledge of and planning for the exit of the business may be of significant help to entrepreneurs and other stakeholders, as half or more of all new businesses disappear within less than a decade of their formation (Reynolds & Miller, 1989; Cardozo & Borchert, 2003; Shane, 2008).Merger likely represents a more profitable exit route for a business than does liquidation. Involuntary liquidation - when the business is insolvent and typically in debt ~ leaves no profits to the owners. Voluntary liquidation implies that the particular combination of resources that comprises a specific firm does not possess synergistic value, i.e., that the particular combination of resources does not create value greater than that of the component resources themselves (Hill, Hitt, & Hoskisson, 1992). Voluntary liquidation may also imply that the combination of resources in the firm is not sufficiently robust to withstand transfer and integration into another entity. Since individual resources lose value in liquidation (Cardozo, Bailey, Reynolds & Miller, 1991), the value of the voluntarily closed business is likely less than the value obtained if the resources could be merged with those of another firm. …

The Impact of 9/11on Afghan-American Leaders

Abstract: The Impact of 9/11on Afghan-American Leaders Belai Kaifi Xlibris Publishers, 2009 111 pages, Hardcover, $29.99The Impact of 9/11 on Afghan-American Leaders is written with the intent of uncovering and understanding the experiences of Afghan- Americans and how the attacks of September 1 1, 2001 (9/11) has impacted their work lives during a time when many organizations are full of people of different ethnic backgrounds. The author's goal is to bring awareness and increase the knowledge of those who have been misinformed about Afghan- Americans. The book explains the necessity of cultural competence, especially when considering one's identity it is important to take into account one's cultural background(s), tradition(s), religion, and history. Throughout this book it is evident that the author feels the urge to educate others on an issue that will contribute to understanding all minorities in the workforce. In this fast paced society, it is imperative to be knowledgeable about various cultures and religions; cultural competence can come a long way in many fields of study such as organizational management.The author became interested in researching this topic in 2007 when Afghan-American community members asked for his help in publishing a book that could be used as a medium to help stop discrimination, educate the public, and unite people. His research is a stepping stone in explaining how the events of 9/1 1 turned into a tragic experience for Afghan and non- Afghans alike. The author feels that in order to have unity among all, there has to be mutual respect for differences. Also, it is essential for Muslims to educate the general public about Islam and what the religion encompasses in order to have mutual respect and understanding for differences. This phenomenon can help organizations enhance efficiency levels by embracing synergy, teamwork, and innovation.The research within this book is significant and has shown the harsh impact 9/11 has had on minorities. Since there is little research on understanding the lives of Afghan- Americans, the author conducted interview conversations with ten willing participants from various communities in the United States. His general research questions were: 1) What does it mean to be a minority living and working in the American society post-9/11?, 2) Have Afghan- Americans been used as scapegoats in the workforce post-9/11?, 3) Have Afghan-Americans altered their identities to better fit in with the majority of society?, and 4) Is the Afghan identity endangered? The conversations evidently show how Afghan- Americans have been used as scapegoats post-9/1 1 in the workforce.The book illustrated the devastating and unfortunate tragedies that Afghans have experienced. For example, an Afghan- American physician was threatened by his patient during a routine check-up. An Afghan- American business owner was accused of being affiliated with the terrorist acts by his non-Afghan subordinates. An Afghan- American pharmacist explained how several of her patients stopped coming to her pharmacy after they found out she was ethically from Afghanistan. Many other leaders shared their devastating stories. It becomes apparent that Afghans have been treated as second-class citizens because of the actions of the extremist involved in the acts of 9/1 1. Research shows that it is normal for people to want to have someone to blame during times of chaos (scapegoat theory). This is not the first case where a group of minorities are blamed for the actions of a few. The author describes in detail how not only Afghans, but Muslim-Americans have been used as scapegoats post-9/11. Furthermore, Kaifi mentions how Japanese-Americans and African-Americans were also used as scapegoats in the past and questions who will be next (Kaifi, 2009, p.70)? He also notes that there is no justification for why Afghan-Americans or Muslims in general are discriminated against, just as all the Japanese-Americans are not to be blamed for the attacks on Pearl Harbor. …

The Limits of Effort in Understanding Performance: What Employees "Do" and What Might Be Done about It

Abstract: IntroductionEmployee effort has been a major concern for the study and practice of management. Researchers have spent years determining the personal traits, attitudes and contextual factors that drive employees working alone and in groups to provide effort (e.g., McClelland, 1973; Terborg, 1977; Blau, 1993; Brown & Leigh, 1996; Sackett, Gruys & Ellingson, 1998; Athey & Orth, 1999; Viswesvaran & Ones, 2000; Yeo & Neal, 2004; Wright, Cropanzano & Meyer, 2004). Effort has received much attention because it is presumed to mediate relationships between antecedent variables and higher productivity and job performance. A similarly robust stream of research across disciplines concentrates on studying employee motivation to withhold job effort (cf. social loafing, free riding, shirking, job neglect) (e.g., Alchian & Demsetz, 1972; Latane, Williams & Harkins, 1979; Albanese & Van Fleet, 1985; Leek & Saunders 1992; Karau & Williams, 1993; Kidwell & Bennett, 1993; Kidwell & Robie, 2003; Kidwell & Valentine, 2009). In all, managers and researchers have strived to better understand factors leading employees to provide more or less effort at work.To the extent academic research is effectively translated to practice, managers design recruiting, selection, compensation and performance management systems to attract, motivate and retain people who provide the knowledge, skills, ability, and - theoretically - the effort that will lead to better individual, group, and company performance. One exemplar is "Management by Objectives," a coordinated attempt to focus efforts of managers and employees throughout the organization on attaining agreed-upon performance goals.This article briefly examines the nature of the effort-performance relationship, and then describes one results-oriented approach to performance management currently in use. We then consider how ongoing changes in the 21st Century workplace related to advanced technology, service work, work teams and careers potentially affect the connection between employee effort and job performance and make results-oriented approaches to performance management increasingly relevant. Finally, we propose a conceptualization of job performance that focuses on the results of employee behaviors rather than perceptions of employee effort, and discuss its implications.What is the Relationship Between Job Effort and Job Performance?Job effort, an important component of motivation, has been defined in terms of direction of effort (what types of behaviors are involved), effort level (intensity) and duration (persistence or time commitment) (Campbell & Pritchard, 1976; Naylor, Pritchard & Ilgen, 1980; Kanfer, 1990; Blau, 1993; Brown & Leigh, 1996). Most research on the provision or withholding of effort has been conducted in controlled conditions of the lab or, when done in the field, has focused on employees engaged in tasks where performance was relatively easy to understand and gauge: number of units produced, number of defects observed, number of customer complaints, and so on.Some questionnaire measures of employee effort have focused on employees working long and hard as a way to achieve task success; for example, Brown and Leigh's (1996:367) assessment considered time commitment ("Other people know me by the long hours I keep") and work intensity ("I work at my full capacity in all of my job duties"). Based on many years of published research, three general conclusions can be drawn about the effort-performance relationship: it is positive, it is illusory and it is equivocal. We briefly elaborate on each conclusion.The Effort-Performance Relationship is PositiveSeveral studies of effort and job performance have indicated a positive correlation between the two. For example, in an analysis of sales representatives in three different companies, Brown and Leigh (1996) found a positive fit between effort levels and performance. …

Service business in manufacturing companies - Identifying misconceptions and directing further research

Abstract: Despite increasing interest in service business in manufacturing companies, the arguments for the transition from selling products to providing services still lacks theoretical robustness. By using eight focus groups with 45 participating companies, the following five misconceptions related to the economic and strategic arguments could be identified: the share of service revenue is an indicator for moving toward services, services are more profitable than products, service business is less volatile than product business, services are used for differentiating the total offering and service strategy creates sustainable competitive advantages. The reflection on these misconceptions guides further research and enriches the conceptualization of services in a manufacturing context.

You Believe in What? an Examination of Religious Differences in the Workplace

Abstract: IntroductionIn the last several years there has been an increase in the interest of religion and spirituality in the workforce (Mitroff & Denton, 1999; Konz & Ryan, 1999; Mohamed et. al, 2004; Marques, Dihman, & King, 2005). A number of reasons for this interest, such as an increase in religious fundamentalism resulting from the terrorist attacks on the world trade centers, the graying of the workforce, increased distrust of upper management, an increase in demand for longer work hours and higher profits, recent reductions in employee retirement and health care benefits, and high profile corporate scandals have been theorized as some of the causes (Burack, 1999; Bell & Taylor, 2001; Mohamed et al, 2004; Pearce, Kuhn, & DiLullo, 2005; King, 2006).Although the religious beliefs of individuals may be quite diverse, affiliation with an organized religion may be one of the largest common threads shared by approximately 270-million Americans which may influence some aspect of their professional lives. According to the World Fact Book (2009), over 90% of the United States population affiliates with an organized religion. So, it should come as no surprise that religion plays a major role in the lives of most Americans. As a result, the study of religion in the workplace is of paramount importance given the overwhelming number of individuals who may be affected and the numerous factors involved in the increase in importance and exposure this topic has received. Therefore, the focus of this research is on adding to our understanding of how diverse religious beliefs might affect work relationships.Relevant LiteratureSpirituality and ReligionAlthough there has been an explosion of interest in the subject of spiritually and religion in the workplace, especially among academics, a major debate still rages in the academic community. Interestingly, many researchers draw a major division between religion and spirituality as two distinct and minimally related concepts (Mitroff & Denton 1999). Garcia-Zamor and Jean-Claude (2003, p. 5) boldly proclaim, "Spirituality is definitely not about religion". Gotsis and Kortezi, (2008, p. 578) contend that "spirituality is an all encompassing reality, inherent in our lives, that transcends individual involvement in a particular religion." Lynn, Naughton, and VanderVeen (2009, p. 228) state that in the academic study of spirituality and religion in the workplace, the research supports the notion that "spirituality may be conceptually distinguished from religion." They continue on to refute this notion and also state that "spirituality morphs into religion or philosophy when belief and practice are coupled with quest" (Naughton et. al, 2009, p. 229). Similarly, Hicks' (2002, p. 380) boldly proclaims that the purpose of his manuscript is to "argue the mantra 'spirituality unites, but religion divides'." In addition, Mohamed et. al, (2004) contend that religion is full of spiritual dimensions and these two concepts cannot be divided.As a result of this continuing debate in the research literature, the focus of this paper is on individual differences associated with attitudes about one's religious beliefs and paradigms associated with religious fundamentalism. Future research may one day extinguish the debate over what spirituality and or religion is, or is not. Currently, however, there is still a lack of intersubjectively certified research claims needed to reconcile the incommensurate research paradigms of many academics studying spirituality and religion in the workplace.Religion Defined"Formidable though it may be, definition is an obstacle that must be overcome in order to devise a coherent research stream" (King, 2006). Though the previous statement is very true, some research streams have had greater definitional problems than others. Research regarding religion is one such research stream that has struggled with definition. …

Reflections on Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., Evolution of Firms: Strategy and Structure of Enterprise in a Developing Country

Abstract: IntroductionThis paper reports on the first work that examined the Chandlerian strategy-structure thesis in the context of developing countries. Until this study the work that extended Chandler's thesis focused on Western countries without consideration of the numerous differing contexts throughout the world that might give rise to very different strategy-structure development processes. The work reported herein considered the effects of moving from colonial domination to indigenous and modem forms of strategy and structure within the country's business organizations. The sharp departure from colonial domination to indigenous governance remains a signal demarcation in the history of many countries in the world. In this instance, we focus on Nigeria as an example of the developing country phenomena and consider the Chanderlian strategy and structure thesis within its context. Appropriate within the context, we explore the social anthropological effect of family structure on company development. In so doing the work extends Chandler's thesis and draws attention to some of its shortcomings.The paper first considers Chandler's strategy-structure work and the extension ofthat work into other developed nations by Scott and others. The paper next covers, in order, the purpose of the research, the research problem, site and scope of the work, research approach, sample selection, data collection, findings and discussion. The paper concludes with observations about the implications of the work and its limitations as well as the challenges it provides for current researchers as we move into the Twenty-First Century.Literature OverviewEver since Rostow's (1960) book on the stages of economic growth, several authors including Chandler (1962), Wrigley (1970), and Scott (1971), have developed themes regarding the ideal type of organizations and stages of organizational development. These studies and many other works on stages of organizational development (including Chandler, 1977; Thompson, 1967; Lawrence and Lorsch, 1969; Scott, 1971; Channon, 1971; Pavan, 1972; Thanheiser, 1972; Dias, 1972; Greiner, 1972; Rumelt, 1974; Williamson, 1975; Filley and Aldag, 1978; Churchill and Lewis, 1980; and Ouchi, 1981) suggest that many environmental factors have influence on patterns of organizational development.Chandler's investigation into the changing strategy and structure of the large industrial enterprise in the United States was his first in the writing of comparative business history. The preliminary study for this work included over one hundred of America's largest industrial enterprises. Information for this preliminary examination was readily obtained from public documentation, i.e., the companies' annual reports, government publications, articles in periodicals, and business biographies. Utilizing in depth detailed information drawn from internal documentation from four of these large corporations. Chandler introduced the developmental stages of enterprises. These stages were as follows:1. Very small firm (little or no fulltime management) and involving expansion of volume2. One function, one area with the strategy focusing on geographical expansion3. Departmental structure with headquarters and field units while the firm pursued vertical integration (new functions)4. Central office and multi-departmental structure developing as the firm pursued the path of diversification5. Multi-divisional structure developing as the firm pursued continuing diversificationChandler summarized his findings in the following statement:Strategic growth resulted from an awareness of the opportunities and needs - created by changing population, income and technology - to employ existing or expanding resources more profitably. A new strategy required a new or at least refashioned structure if the enlarged enterprise was to be operated efficiently. The failure to develop a new internal structure, like the failure to respond to new external opportunities and needs, was a consequence of over concentration on operational activities by the executives responsible for the destiny of their enterprise, or from their inability, because of past training and education and present position, to develop an entrepreneurial outlook. …

The Franchise Player: An Interview with Don Larose

Abstract: Executive SummaryDonald R (Don) Larose was born and raised in Rochester, NY After high school, Don studied economics at the State University of New York in Cortland, where he also played football Don earned a master's degree in management from Baker University in 1994, and a Certified Franchise Executive designation from the International Franchise Association in 2003Over the course of his career, Don has served in leadership roles at companies ranging from large "blue chip" consumer products corporations to small start up restaurant franchise concepts In 1985, Don joined Hallmark Cards, Inc as a Sales Manager By 1996, he was responsible for retail store development within Hallmark's New England region From 1998 to 2006, Don worked for Dunkin' Brands In 2002, he became directly responsible for building the Dunkin' Donuts brand in his role as director of franchising One of Don's major accomplishments as director of franchising was creating nine area development agreements with franchisees that each involved between 25 and 100 storesIn 2007, Don became president of Gumbo Development In this position, Don worked with the founders of the J Gumbo's restaurant concept to advance the concept from its original, nascent model into a polished restaurant brand that offered a fully developed franchising system In 2009, Don became senior vice president of franchise development for Express Oil Change, LLC In this position, Don is responsible for expanding the company's size and profits through creating franchised outlets Don and his wife Colleen currently reside in Boston, MA, and they have three grown children (Jennifer, Brian and Robert) The interview with Don Larose is the first in a continuing series of interviews with successful franchisors and franchiseesAuthors: Was there anything in your background that made being around franchising appealing?Larose: I've always been involved in team sports, and successful franchising is very much like a team sport in that everybody wins together or can lose together, and it takes everyone to do their part to help compete in the market The franchisor needs to do its part by providing the concept, training, support, marketing ideas, and continued leadership around the brand initiatives The franchisees need to be focused on delivering a great experience and value to the customer and making the brand promise a reality every day When all players are pulling in the same direction, everybody winsAuthors: The auto repair and maintenance business is a pretty competitive space How is Express Oil Change being positioned relative to other firms, such as Super Lube, American LubeFast, and Jiffy Lube?Larose: Every good business sector is competitive The key to our success is to be more convenient and provide a better overall experience for the customer Express Oil Change and Service Centers outperform the industry significantly in terms of customer transactions per day and store sales, for a host of reasonsIn terms of customer convenience, Express Oil Change is faster than most of our competitors - we do a 10-minute oil change while the customer stays in the car Mothers with kids in car seats especially enjoy this feature We also do mechanical work that other quick lube businesses don't do We change and rotate tires, do brake repairs, air conditioning, tune ups, and others There is no appointment necessary for many mechanical services like tire rotation and balancing, and checking brakes So, overall, we are more convenient than most of our competitorsIn terms of staffing our stores, full-time workers are all that we employ Full-time workers are better trained and typically have less turnover They therefore have more experience and do better quality workWe think incentives are very important We use a payroll system that provides incentives to the store staff on how many cars are serviced each day and on the total sales of the store, rather than on increasing the average transactions by selling the customer items they did not come in for, which is what most of the industry does …