Business Leadership Essay

3. Introduction Leadership has long been a major field of interest among the organization and businesses in the world. It is an issue that affects us all, be in the corporate world or at home. Not only we influenced and affected by it, we are also called upon to exercise it. Whether we are involved in leading government or business, guiding young minds or leading a family, everyone has a leadership role to play. Morse and Buss (2007) defines leadership as a process of influence where a person or group influences others to work towards a common goal. Good leaders inspire others to do their best. They help others to work together to accomplish their goals. Leadership is also about being a good role model. According to Stashevsky and Burke (2006) leadership is about coping with change. Leaders set up direction by developing a vision of the future, aligning others by communication the vision and inspiring their people to overcome problems. According to McKinney (2000), American newspaper commentator Wal ter Lippmann defined leaders as â€Å"the custodians of a nation’s ideals, the beliefs it cherishes, of its permanent hopes, of the faith which makes a nation out of a mere aggregation of individuals.† In other words, leaders have the ability to affect human behavior to accomplish a mission or to achieve a specific goal. Leadership is subjected to close research from the theoretical and practical viewpoints. In the early days, leadership theories mainly focused on the characteristics or behaviors of successful leaders. Today, leadership theories have expanded to consider the role of the followers and contextual natural of leadership. Adair (2003, page 7-38) described a leader as a person (with leadership qualities) who has the appropriate knowledge and skill to lead a group to achieve their goals and objectives willingly. However, personality and character cannot be left out of the leadership. Their personal qualities, their reaction to the demands of the situation, or a combination of these, attract followers to their leadership style. An individual who is appointed to a leadership position (manager), must possess adequate personal attitude and skills to lead the team. They need to continuously improve their attitude, skills and knowledge to achieve higher levels of excellence. According to Coate (2007, p.304) leaders and managers need to see beyond the next quarterly returns or the immediate production deadline. They need to look at the big pictures, peep into the future, and set the organization’s mission and vision firmly in place. An effective leader is a good planner, instructor and organizer. Leader needs to be good at evaluating performance, judging people (customers or crews) and to be able to foresee the outcome of an action (or inaction). The visionary leader leads the team to stay focused on their targets and objectives. Leaders can push a team to achieve things they didn’t know were possible. Visionary leadership is an indispensable guide leaders at all levels, from top executives to head of divisions and departments, from large corporations to small business, from manufacturing and service organizations to government and non-profit institutions (Bass, 1995). Leadership style models help to achieve effective leaders which include the involvement of the employees in discussions with their supervisors from time to time and decision making. The leadership style will have great impact on others. Effective leaders provide motivation, inspiration and are well connected with their team members. Effective leadership style will bring proper accomplishment of goals and objectives. It also helps to understand human behaviour in wider perspective and helps in developing positive self-awareness. They providing mentorship and guidance, and rallying the team to achieve bigger and better things. Motivation is another important aspect of good leadership (Curry, 1998). Motivation can improve morale and productivity, resulting in overall improvement in efficiency and team productivity. Every organization needs leaders at every level. Leadership in business is important because it is about building teams and communicating so that everyone works to crate synergy. This is a key ingredient to successful businesses and championship teams. Although thousands of research studies have been conducted to prove which leadership style is best applicable in the organization, but still there are no conclusions. The â€Å"best† leadership seems to occur when the leaders’ style matches to the actual situation. Each of the leadership styles can be effective in the right situation. The most effective leadership styles depend on the interaction among people, characteristics of the situation, and the leader (manager) personality. 4. The analysis of Steve Jobs personality and leadership with leadership theories Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO and the man who almost single handed-ly made Apple one of the key players in advance technologies. I disagree that Steve Jobs’ leadership style does not match the theories of leadership. Although he had his fair share of unconventional ways, Steve did indeed practice numerous leadership styles that are aligned to theories presented in textbooks and business journals. In fact, there is a general consensus that Steve Jobs is a wilful and driven leader and he is the leader of one of the most outstanding companies in the history of business. Visionary and Transformational Leadership Steve Jobs once said â€Å"I want to put a ding in the universe.†-Steve Jobs (Kahney, 2011. p.150). This statement gives us some insight into his leadership characteristics and the focus on ideation that led Apple to where it is today under his leadership. Indeed, Steve was driven by passion and a powerful vision. Steve’s visionary leadership articulate his people with great inspiration, thus transforming it in same way. The strength of Steve’s vision and passion, coupled with innovation culture that was already in place made the generation of group passion, and eventually the task, and ultimately the sale, much easier (Sander, 2012 p.52). He was able to combine his great ideas with his strong perception of consumer desires, marketing strategy and management skills. Steve had planned for the products; he provided the visions, the tools and the solid working environment for his people. He transmitted energy to his people, giving them a new sense of confidence in a chieving the vision. He was a follower of Zen (Sander, 2012), honed by Zen’s training and ideology. Focus was ingrained in Steve’s personality. A leader needs to love what he or she does (Graves, 2011). Steve focuses his attention on his products, believes in his ideas and never gives in to failure. These are perhaps the keys to his success as a transformational leader. Cherry (2012) defined transformational leadership as a type of leadership style that leaders to positive changes in those who follow. Transformational leaders are generally energetic, enthusiastic, visionary and passionate. Not only are these leaders concerned and involved in the process; they are also focused on helping every member of the group succeed. Steve Jobs has created the whole culture within his company, a culture that pursues innovation, devotion to creating great â€Å"killer† products, motivation and promotion of self-interest among his people, marketing vision and concentration on quality. Transformational leaders encourages promotes values, belief, and sense of responsibilities (Bass & Ringgio, 2006). Steve Jobs has all the necessary at tributes to be considered on. In 1997, Steve returned to Apple when the company was in the crisis. He took the reins and made sweeping changes, re-structuring and resizing the organization. He reviewed the situation and concluded that a small team of talents is more useful and productive than crowds of less talented people. From there, he delegated and gave full support to the team. One of the recurring themes was Jobs’ â€Å"reality distortion field,† his ability to convince those around him that his version of reality was true, his ability to impose his will upon others in a way that made the seemingly impossible become possible. Jobs felt that if he could make Apple’s products attractive, stylish and appealing, people would ultimately flock to them. Jobs was convinces that he knew the best, eschewing market research in lieu of the belief that consumers would want what he tells them to want, insisting on a closed system of end –to-end control by Apple because he didn’t want outsiders screwing up what he was creating. â€Å"The more you saw him as having mystique, the more it went hand in hand with him being a visionary.† (Dailey, 2011) Steve Jobs’ carefully constructed web secrecy, peppered with some hints of vulnerability and accessibility-he was famous for answering customer emails-only added to the looming legend that grew with each Apple innovation. Jobs had received numbers of honors and recognition for his influence in the mobile technology and music industries. He has widely been referred as visionary leader. Charismatic Leadership Steve Jobs also classified as charismatic and visionary leader. Charismatic leadership results when a leader uses the force of personal abilities and talents to create profound and extraordinary effect on followers (Nelson, 2012). Many people who worked for Jobs experienced burnout and describes him as an intimidators, but on hindsight they appreciate and relish the experience. Research shows that people who work for the intimidator (Steve Jobs) were often find the experience â€Å"profoundly educational, even transformational.† (Kahney, 2011 p.172) Steve often insists on things that are seemingly impossible. He believes that eventually even the thorniest problem is solvable. He works people hard and heaps on stress. But, the end result is usually a great piece of work. He believes in his decisions for the company; and his self-confidence led him to success. True leaders are always looking over the horizon for the next opportunity. It is this quest that keeps them going and so metimes they find their true mission along the way, as Steve did (Elliot & Simon, 2011). Innovative Leadership Sander (2012) defined innovation in a way that made sense to Steve Jobs â€Å"Innovation is an invention with customer and a marketable vision in mind† Innovation is to introduce something new. A combination of two processes: generating new ideas and implementation the new idea. Innovation calls for good leadership and management at all levels of the organization. Good leaders will stimulate their team to be more ‘hands on’ and to have greater interest in their work, which in turn, leads to the generation of more great ideas (Adair and Thomas, 2004). An innovative leader faces two key challenges. Firstly, to strike the right balance between running the current business and growing the new business. Secondly, in sensing untapped market needs and choosing a promising area to purse (Deschamps, 2008). In Steve’s innovation model has six important components: Customer, Vision, Culture, Product, Message and Brand (Sander, 2012). Steve Jobs inspired his people, he is deeply involved at almost every level with almost every critical projects. He injects energy and guides his people towards developing a solution. His deep involvement makes them feel important and as a result, eager to beat expectation. â€Å"There’s not an ounce of democracy at Apple. That’s what makes it a paragon of such traditional corporate values as top-down leadership, sharply hierarchical organisation and centralised control. It’s Steve’s company — pursuing his vision, at his pace, with his team, making his products. Without Steve Jobs’ authoritarian leadership, Apple would be just another Silicon Valley outfit†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Chaudhury, 2012). When Steve return to Apple, he was described as practising tyrannical leadership style — fire and forced at will â⠂¬â€ to ensure that his employees delivered products that consumers lusted for, in an ever-evolving digital world. It certainly worked. Steve is the follower of Zen. Maslin (2001) researched that â€Å"His Zen awareness was not accompanied by an excess of calm, peace of mind or interpersonal mellowness,† and â€Å"He could stun an unsuspecting victim with an emotional towel-snap, perfectly aimed.† As an autocratic leader, Steve Jobs is forceful and demands nothing less than total control. He makes the decisions, announces them and expecting others to carry them out without a question. â€Å"One of the things that Mr Jobs did, which was very unlike anyone else, was he did it his way,† (Dailey, 2011). Steve Jobs choose to lead his team from the front, spearheading the innovation and constantly renewed products of the company. The autocratic nature of his leadership also bears some transactional traits, such as using verbal lashings at employees (Lin, 2011). In meetings, Jobs was infamous for creating an atmosphere of fear. He had been described by some as being harsh, petulant and even boorish at times. Although it was not easy working for Jobs, those who can weather it tend to be loyal (Kahney, 2011. p.108). Steve gained respect from both inside and outside the company by maintaining his focus despite his fame and fortune. He was certainly one of the most influential business leaders of his time. â€Å"There’s not an ounce of democracy at Apple. That’s what makes it a paragon of such traditional corporate values as top-down leadership, sharply hierarchical organisation and centralised control. It’s Steve’s company — pursuing his vision, at his pace, with his team, making his products. Without Steve Jobs’ authoritarian leadership, Apple would be just another Silicon Valley outfit†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Chaudhury, 2012). When Steve return to Apple, he was described as practising tyrannical leadership style — fire and forced at will — to ensure that his employees delivered products that consumers lusted for, in an ever-evolving digital world. It certainly worked. Steve is the follower of Zen. Maslin (2001) researched that â€Å"His Zen awareness was not accompanied by an excess of calm, peace of mind or interpersonal mellowness,† and â€Å"He could stun an unsuspecting victim with an emotional towel-snap, perfectly aimed.â €  As an autocratic leader, Steve Jobs is forceful and demands nothing less than total control. He makes the decisions, announces them and expecting others to carry them out without a question. â€Å"One of the things that Mr Jobs did, which was very unlike anyone else, was he did it his way,† (Dailey, 2011). Steve Jobs choose to lead his team from the front, spearheading the innovation and constantly renewed products of the company. The autocratic nature of his leadership also bears some transactional traits, such as using verbal lashings at employees (Lin, 2011). In meetings, Jobs was infamous for creating an atmosphere of fear. He had been described by some as being harsh, petulant and even boorish at times. Although it was not easy working for Jobs, those who can weather it tend to be loyal (Kahney, 2011. p.108). Steve gained respect from both inside and outside the company by maintaining his focus despite his fame and fortune. He was certainly one of the most influential business leaders of his time. â€Å"There’s not an ounce of democracy at Apple. That’s what makes it a paragon of such traditional corporate values as top-down leadership, sharply hierarchical organisation and centralised control. It’s Steve’s company — pursuing his vision, at his pace, with his team, making his products. Without Steve Jobs’ authoritarian leadership, Apple would be just another Silicon Valley outfit†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Chaudhury, 2012). When Steve return to Apple, he was described as practising tyrannical leadership style — fire and forced at will — to ensure that his employees delivered products that consumers lusted for, in an ever-evolving digital world. It certainly worked. Steve is the follower of Zen. Maslin (2001) researched that â€Å"His Zen awareness was not accompanied by an excess of calm, peace of mind or interpersonal mellowness,† and â€Å"He could stun an unsuspecting victim with an emotional towel-snap, perfectly aimed.â €  As an autocratic leader, Steve Jobs is forceful and demands nothing less than total control. He makes the decisions, announces them and expecting others to carry them out without a question. â€Å"One of the things that Mr Jobs did, which was very unlike anyone else, was he did it his way,† (Dailey, 2011). Steve Jobs choose to lead his team from the front, spearheading the innovation and constantly renewed products of the company. The autocratic nature of his leadership also bears some transactional traits, such as using verbal lashings at employees (Lin, 2011). In meetings, Jobs was infamous for creating an atmosphere of fear. He had been described by some as being harsh, petulant and even boorish at times. Although it was not easy working for Jobs, those who can weather it tend to be loyal (Kahney, 2011. p.108). Steve gained respect from both inside and outside the company by maintaining his focus despite his fame and fortune. He was certainly one of the most influential business leaders of his time. â€Å"There’s not an ounce of democracy at Apple. That’s what makes it a paragon of such traditional corporate values as top-down leadership, sharply hierarchical organisation and centralised control. It’s Steve’s company — pursuing his vision, at his pace, with his team, making his products. Without Steve Jobs’ authoritarian leadership, Apple would be just another Silicon Valley outfit†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Chaudhury, 2012). When Steve return to Apple, he was described as practising tyrannical leadership style — fire and forced at will — to ensure that his employees delivered products that consumers lusted for, in an ever-evolving digital world. It certainly worked. Steve is the follower of Zen. Maslin (2001) researched that â€Å"His Zen awareness was not accompanied by an excess of calm, peace of mind or interpersonal mellowness,† and â€Å"He could stun an unsuspecting victim with an emotional towel-snap, perfectly aimed.† As an autocratic leader, Steve Jobs is forceful and demands nothing less than total control. He makes the decisions, announces them and expecting others to carry them out without a question. â€Å"One of the things that Mr Jobs did, which was very unlike anyone else, was he did it his way,† (Dailey, 2011). Steve Jobs choose to lead his team from the front, spearheading the innovation and constantly renewed products of the company. The autocratic nature of his leadership also bears some transactional traits, such as using verbal lashings at employees (Lin, 2011). In meetings, Jobs was infamous for creating an atmosphere of fear. He had been described by some as being harsh, petulant and even boorish at times. Although it was not easy working for Jobs, those who can weather it tend to be loyal (Kahney, 2011. p.108). Steve gained respect from both inside and outside the company by maintaining his focus despite his fame and fortune. He was certainly one of the most influential business leaders of his time. In reality, Steve truly appreciates and cherishes his people. Free products are the norm, with every employee receiving an iPhone at the product’s launch. According to Elliot and Simon (2011, p.73-83), the most memorable example is Steve’s decision that the signature of the original engineer would be etched on the inside of the cases of Macs. Such rewards created much staff satisfaction and motivation, as they felt that they are part of the product. People become more connected to their work. Indeed, he finds ways to assure his employees that he appreciates their contribution and that they are essential to the product’s success. Steve Jobs’ leadership style was complex. He was intensely focused when committed, confident to take risky leaps, and charismatic enough to enlist corps of employees and customers in the incessant pursuit of his aspirations. Steve was firm when he stepped back into Apple and began his drastic reorganization. He was clear and knew what had to be done. He is passionate of what he did, believing that he is pursuing a higher cause in the processes. The result is an Apple culture that borders brand fanaticism and radical customer devotion. Although Jobs was highly criticized for his autocratic leadership style, he has successfully revolutionized the Apple Company. 5. Steve Jobs’ leadership style within contemporary leader Steve Jobs will likely be remembered as one of the most successful and iconic leaders of the last half century. He is admired for his vision, innovation and passion on products yet often hated for his autocratic and intimidating leadership style. In comparison, William (Bill) H. Gates III, co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft Corporation has also been described as one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world. Despite their similar ambitions in the technology and business arena, they have very different personality and leadership style. The competition and rivalry between Gates and Jobs has become one of the most enduring and fascinating subject in the American business industry. Both of them had important impacts on the world. Both young men were born in the same year (1955), they set out from the same beginning point, but with radically different personalities. Both dropped out of college and launched their own businesses. Apple ushered in the era of personal mobile computing in many respects. Microsoft’s had made it possible for a generation of computer scientists to learn and thrive. Apple has perfected the art of delivering fantastic consumer products. Microsoft has worked diligently to make the enterprise more efficient. It is impossible to deny each corporation’s contribution. Each has his own unique strengths. Nevertheless, both are well-known and idolized by many. Comparing their business philosophy, Microsoft’s â€Å"A computer on every desk in every house, running Microsoft software† (Livingston, 1994) is concerned about running their software in every computer. Apple’s â€Å"Make computers accessible to everyone and make it easy to use† (Gruman, 2011) is more about making their computers easy to use and easily accessible to everyone. â€Å"He was every bit as intense, believed in revoluti onary way of using computers. But not in engineer approach, (but rather) a design approach, and that had huge strength, particularly the last where he ran Apple. He was able to do incredible work.† (Parrish, 2012) Steve Jobs was more intuitive and had a greater instinct to make â€Å"impossible† happen and design delightful. He had passion for perfection, which make him demanding. In Steve Jobs organization, there are only two categories, thought: If you weren’t brilliant, you were that other thing, a bozo. But with Steve, no matter how brilliant he knew you were, one remark that didn’t, by his standard, measure up, and he’d immediately label you a bozo. Even in front of other people (Elliot and Simon, 2011). Steve Jobs relies on forcing to resolve conflict such as in questions about design issues (DuBrin, 2008). According to Kahney (2011), Steve is forceful, intimidating, brutal, and ruthless, and tyrants were words used to describe Steve’s autocratic leadership style. He was obsessively controlling, throwing tantrums and yelling at employees and board members. â€Å"A bunch of amateurs† or â⠂¬Å"well, you’re a bunch of idiots.† (Kahney, 2011) He could tear down someone’s ideas or the person in public if they not able to achieve what he wanted. Bill is known to project a more democratic leadership style. Although he does not address anyone by name, hand out praise or stroke any egos, he does listens intently and has his temper mostly in check. He is good in computer technology knowledge and coding. His thinks more practically. His mind is more practical, disciplines and abundant in analytic processing power. Even when he disagreed with a staff’s analysis of certain issue, his response was â€Å"Educate me on that†. After a minute or so, he cuts off the discussion by saying, â€Å"Send me the specs† (Isaacson, 1997). In Apple, there is much secrecy in corporate decision making, which often led to sudden and unanticipated changes. According to Elliot and Simon (2011), Steve will gather the people in separate teams, kept isolated from the distractions and interferences of the rest of the company. Each team knew only of the parts they need to create, without any discussion or knowledge of the big picture. In contrast, Gates spends much of his time communicating with his team and consulting his IT specialist about how new products can be woven into industry standard products. He involved his subordinate in decision making. Bill Gates’ democratic leadership style is a reflection of his more practical and disciplined mind set (Isaacson, 1997). Under Gates’ leadership, Microsoft Corporation flourished, consistently landing in Fortune’s â€Å"100 Best Companies to Work For† (Lussier, 2008). Both leaders are practising different leadership style: Democratic and Autocratic. The leadership styles are extreme, whereas in practice the behaviour of many, perhaps most, leaders in business will be somewhere between the two. Jobs and Gates believe in recruiting and retaining the best talents. However, Apple does not offer relevant formal training or development opportunities for its employees. Rather, employees are expected to gain new knowledge on their own (Muller, 2010). One of the Steve’s principal is to hire the best-â€Å"A-people† (Elliot and Simon, 2011). Steve wants only real talent people in the company. There are no training or knowledge sharing in projects or pr oducts. He expects excellent ideas and results from his people. In Microsoft, on the other hand, believes in staff training and development. â€Å"We’ve had technology a long time. We had some very sophisticated staff members. What Gates really allowed us to do is to roll it out further to more locations and people and give our staff the training and support to make that happen. (Greiner, 2003) They believe training is the most basic and sometimes most overlooked from knowledge sharing that need to go in a company. Despite the past decade of U.S. economic stagnation, Apple have grown continuously, and the stock price has advanced to the point where Apple is now the world’s most valuable firm, with a market cap of $391 billion, followed by Exxon-Mobil ($380 billion), IBM ($230 billion), and Microsoft ($228 billion) (Salsman, 2011). Steve Jobs had owned the wealthy company. Nevertheless, Steve Jobs is not known to be a philanthropist. Neither is he active in the charity work as compare to Bill Gates. Steve only concentrated on his products and company. He only public face his visions and products. He does not have the sense of â€Å"giving back† to the community. As a charity leader, Bill Gates frequently encourages his staff to contribute to charity, both in terms of money and time. Giving is large part of Microsoft’s corporate culture. Bill Gates and his wife started The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; take up issues such as poverty, famine, and disease around the world (Lesinski, 2009). This foundation focus on finding cures of diseases which are common in poor nations, also global development in farming and education. Bill Gates’ contribution to the community is a reflection of his character and moral. Bill Gates has shown a good example that other leaders should practice and imitate his humanity towards other nations who need helps. Steve Jobs is respected for his products, but Bill Gates is respected for both his products and philanthropic leadership. A well-rounded organization is not unlike a well-rounded individual, they should balance the prio rity of work, family, charity and personal interest (Brown, 2006). Gates’ visionary leadership style did not stop at product creation but extended to the creation of a dynasty. Microsoft has sales offices in nearly 60 countries and an international staff of 6200. Almost all of the employees are natives of the country in which they work. It is estimated that each overseas employees generates more than $1million in annual revenues. Gates tries to make certain that his foreign partners are in charge and that they share in the wealth (Lowe and Gates, 1998 p.74). He had acquired great wealth, something which he gladly shared with stockholders and employees. From his caring nature, Bill Gates had created â€Å"Microsoft Millionaires† from his programmers, managers and even secretaries. Gates’ vision of wealthy sharing has resulted in lifestyle improvement for every level of his employees. Although, Apple staff are well paid, their rewards for success are vastly and nowhere near that of Microsoft’s. According to Yourdon (2004), Steve commented that Macintosh projects â€Å"The journey is the reward.† Rewards in Apple are different. Steve allowed each designer to personally sign a placard that was reproduced and placed inside each Mac case (Sander, 2012). Rewards are nice and this is the way Steve reward and recognize his people. As a charismatic and autocratic leader, Steve’s vision ended at creating the most iconic and desired technological products in history, building the most valuable and renowned brand of his time. There is no doubt that Steve’s influence and vision will live on in the products and company he created. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are the visionary leader who always think creatively and have great insight to expect the future, which eventually transform the IT technology and changed the world greatly. 6. Conclusion The purpose of this paper is to discuss of the relevant leadership idea and to explore the leadership styles and to explore the Steve Jobs’s leadership approach. Considering his influence and success at Apple, it is clear that a study of his leadership can provide valuable lessons for current and aspiring leaders. Steve has often been names one of the most prominent leaders in the US business circles. Despite his early demise, Steve Jobs has and is still touching the lives of people all around the world today. His life makes an amazing story because despite all the hardships he faced and against all odds he achieved what he said he set out to achieve: become a millionaire. He had dream and he would not stop until it was lived out. Despite the fact that Steve’s leadership style is sometimes considered overly authoritative and that his company as being too personality-centered, he was able to achieve unprecedented success. Some of his styles and principals can be considered universal and applicable to other business, but others should be applied with caution or adapted to the actual business situation. This brings to mind, one of the essential characteristics of the true leader-to be able to adopt and adapt as well as to accept differing opinion. There is much that we can learn from Steve-his passion, focus and influential nature. Influence does not stem from a set of management rules and techniques. Leaders who are passionate about their work, who are able to focus on things that matter most, and exercise unwavering resolve in their decision tend to have a greater influence on people around them. Only with such influence, can a leader create positive impact on their followers, their organization and even on themselves. 7. Reference : Adair, John (2003) Concise Adair on Leadership. Olympia Elibrary (Online) Available at : http://library.olympia.edu.my:2051/lib/olympia/docDetail.action?docID=10071301&p00=good%20leader (Accessed : 21 May 2012). Adair, John and Thomas, Neil (2004) Concise Adair on Creativity and Innovation. London, GBR: Thorogood Publishing. Bass, Bernard M and Riggio, Ronald E (2008) Transformational Leadership, 2ndEdition. United States: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Bass, Jossey (1995) Visionary Leadership: creating a compelling sense of direction for your organization. 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HRM Consultancy Report †BancRoyale Amsterdam Essay

In a survey undertaken by PWC of customers and outsourcing service providers cut across different advanced countries, over 80% customers noted that outsourcing activities delivered targeted gains provided for in the original business case. By implication therefore, it can be said that outsourcing and offshoring in the case of Bancroyale is a basic part of organizational strategy in a bid to maintain competitive advantage and staying ahead of other organizations. The need to outsource certain business processes by organizations over the years have been attributed to the recession that hit hard on world economies and businesses, it is also borne out of the need to reduce and contain costs while maximizing benefits and increased efficiency. As we speak and in coming years, process enhancement and productivity as well as governance, risk and security are other needs to be met by business process outsourcing. It is a trend that continues to emerge over time. Business processes such as IT and payroll management is of the essence to be outsourced due to their dynamic nature for the former and better efficiency in management by 3rd parties for the latter. Studies have shown that about 50% of clients are discouraged from outsourcing due to a lack of experience by service providers and their inability to justify the costs against benefits and therefore provided a justification for preference for in-house employees over 3rd parties while some companies do not have the skills to manage outsourcing activities and the service providers. Some are of the opinion that they require to put their house in order before outsourcing certain business processes. Banc Royale Amsterdam known and popular for superior and friendly customer service has taken steps to outsource its online customer service unit to a small South American company to handle due to increasing costs of maintaining this department. It is pertinent to take note of issues that may arise due to this change and its effect on the bank and also its customers. Majority of organizational change management systems fails as proven by research because employees who are at the core of these programs are not carried along and feel left out, this leads to low morale which results in demotivation and its consequences. Dawson and Jones (n.d), said that it is the people/employees that are subject to change and must adapt to change as against the organization adapting to change therefore human capital is the most important and critical element when instituting any form of change. People/employee and customer issues would arise and worthy of note is the language barriers already raised by the firm saddled with the responsibility of handling this unit. It is expected that most customers of Banroyale would speak Dutch or French and this should have been put into consideration while contracting this unit out to a South American firm. From the onset, management ought to have determined if this firm has Dutch speaking customer service consultants that would be able to communicate with their customers and also keep up with the standard of superior customer service set by the bank. The entire reason to outsource this unit is completed defeated if the bank cannot maximize benefits from this exercise as customers that are not pleased with services via the online customer service window are either completely lost or aggrieved thereby making the bank lose more money than it planned to save. The decision to outsource a key unit of the bank by the management is also likely to cause collective distrust amongst employees in spite of the fact that the decision is a strategic performance management decision that is expected to make the bank cut down on its increasing costs. According to Shawn 2008, the decision to outsource creates uncertainty for existing employees and it could make them to look elsewhere for employment, in cases where they do not leave, they most times do not cooperate with the new service providers to provide them with adequate information that would make the task easier to handle thereby causing also decreased efficiency in service delivery and bring in operational risk. Another major people management issue of outsourcing of this unit has to do with the customers to be attended to. In most cases, the service provider, that is the South American firm even though based on recommendation are highly professional most often than not would not be able to provide 100% banking services customers have always enjoyed because they have limited access to the bank’s customer database and hence, all they would be able to do while trying to serve the bank customers is to only take down messages and tell the customers someone would get back to them, these are customers that probably want to know their bank balance, ask questions regarding interest rates, cancel standing orders immediately etc. Only staff of the bank that has access to specific customer data base would be able to provide services to these customers. There is a very high likelihood that there would be a wide gap between management goals and eventual performance. One of the bank’s strategic capabilities and strengths is embedded in this unit that is customer service which is a major selling point for the organization; therefore it ought not be toyed or experimented with. In its quest to maintain a competitive advantage other areas should be looked at to reduce costs and expenses. HRM should seek to look at better ways to maximize the performance of this unit by determining unnecessary overheads are proposing to bank management to reduce, it could also develop more work challenges and deliverables to the managers of this unit in order to justify the increasing costs. Increasing costs accruable from this unit should provide increasing bottom lines for the entire bank, therefore performance management systems should be adopted to determine if these increasing expenses are justifiable and are actually increasing the bank’s bottom line. HRM could also propose to the service provider to hire some of the laid off bank customer service consultants and have them on their payroll on their own terms, this would ensure that these people are not so aggrieved for being laid off but also be able to still provide their services to the bank indirectly through the service provider. Lastly, if it is of great necessity that management outsource this unit then it is advised that it be done gradually and strategically in order to integrate the service providers into the system instead of a sudden transfer of this function thereby causing avoidable people management issues. SECTION 2- Organisational Solutions OB-HR Matrix Relationships The study of organizational behavior covers basically how knowledge about people, individuals, and groups are applied within an organization; and covers topics bordering on leadership behavior and power & politics, communication, group structure and process, learning & attitude development and perception, change process, conflict, negotiation and resolution, job design and motivation etc. Organizational behavior (OB) is a field of study devoted to understanding, explaining and ultimately improving the attitudes and behaviors of individual and groups in organizations. Therefore, the findings of this report are meant to be applied by managers to see how relevant they are to real world practical organizational challenges. The managers or HR professionals apply these organizational behavior theories and principles in solving problems that relate to human capital. For instance, while OB would explore the relationship between social recognition or employee motivation and job performance, human resource management would be examining the best ways to structure a perfect rewards system and performance management. In other words, the study of organizational behavior provides significant insights to human resource management when the principle and theories are effectively applied by HR professionals. Motivation and Diversity being very key and relevant organizational behavior concepts relevant to the change process being embarked upon by the organization would be the subject of analysis in this section. MOTIVATION – By making reference to the book ‘’Good to Great’’ by Jim Collins where he analyzed how Fortune 500 companies such as Wells Fargo, Walgreens etc transformed from just good companies to great companies. These companies were reported to have transformed into great companies basically by their commitment to hire the right people with emphasis on character, work ethics, intelligence, values and commitment and refusing to hire when such people were unavailable. This model was also adopted by Apple when they embarked on opening retail stores to serve their customers, they focused on hiring only very highly passionate individuals for their products i.e. highly enthusiastic about Apple products and this would only mean that, employees are first hand self motivated because they are passionate about what they are doing and so whether they are rewarded using the traditional reward systems or not, they are still happy doing what they are doing. However, Apple did not just stop at hiring passionate people, they created very unusual reward systems worthy of note is by not placing sales people on commission so as to ensure tension is completely eroded and employees maintain a very calm mien in dealing with customers. These hired sales people also go through rigorous trainings to acquaint them with the skills and knowledge to succeed in the Retail stores. Career growth opportunities for these sets of employees to grow through different opportunities are provided within the organization. Motivation in this context is therefore defined as an employee’s willingness to put in his maximum effort into his job to achieve organizational objectives while also being able to meet his personal needs and objectives. Motivation was defined by Baron, 1983 as a set of processes concerned with the force that energizes behavior and directs it towards attaining some goals. Simply put, motivation is the reasons why individuals behave the way they behave or do what they do, which implies in a workplace that an employee is said to be motivated on the job when he enjoys doing what he is doing and totally involved in it as against doing it for the sake of only remuneration to be received. A self-motivated employee implies that personal goals align with organizational goals most often than not therefore, employee satisfaction & retention, customer satisfaction & retention and accomplishment of organizational goals are guaranteed even in the long run. Human behavior is goal directed and it is motivation that drives an individual to behave in a particular way he does. Motivated employees are more self driven and autonomy-oriented than those who are less motivated ( Ryan and Deci, 2000), they also show interest in colleagues work more than less motivated employees which makes them more open to challenges and developmental opportunities. Motivation and HRM approaches for BancRoyale. Research and studies have shown and proven that motivation is positively related to employee performance and therefore HRM has a major role in this regard by implementing the concept of performance and reward management. Gungor, 2011 conducted a research on the relationship between reward management systems and employee performance with a major focus on motivation as a critical and intervening factor, he concluded that reward management systems application is significantly and positively related to motivation and employee performance which implies that financial rewards have great impact on employee performance and motivation (be it intrinsic and extrinsic). HRM has the duty to identify employee needs and goals through employee audit and other means that target employees’ individuality. The implementation of performance management systems by BancRoyale would make it benefit greatly from all its positive outcomes such as customer and employee satisfaction and retention and other additional benefits. Individuals have different needs as analyzed by Abraham Maslow in his ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ and theory of motivation where he stated that individual needs are arranged in a hierarchy of importance, he also added that all these needs are insatiable, however as one level of need is satisfied it no longer motivates behavior and therefore the next level is activated. HRM must be able to determine the level on which each employee is on to be able to strategically position the organization to meet such needs. It is important that HRM understands that unmet needs and expectations of employees over time leads to certain behavioral patterns that manifest in absenteeism, frustration, work stress and conflicts with its attendant effect on performance. DIVERSITY – Meanings According to the US Department of Interior, diversity refers to many demographic variables including but not limited to race, religion, color, gender, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, age, education, geographic origin and skill characteristics. The Law Society of Scotland says that diversity is about recognizing that everyone is different in a variety of visible and non visible ways; and about creating a culture that respects and value uniqueness and difference in people in order to harness their potential in creating a more productive working environment. Diversity encompasses acceptance and respect of individual uniqueness and differences, exploration of these differences in a safe, positive and nurturing work environment, moving beyond mere tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity within each individual (University of Oregon, www.gladstone.uoregon.edu/) Diversity and HRM approaches for BancRoyale HRM is saddled with the responsibility of managing diversity, ensuring the organization conforms to the legal requirements related to equal opportunity. This process is managed with HR functions ranging from recruitment, selection,evaluation, job design, training, people management to workforce management in terms of placing the right people in the right location and position. Due to seeming economic and business realities in addition to demographic changes taking place within the organization, diversity management is an all-new challenge for HR and the entire bank. If HR performs its functions related in this context, it would save the organization from avoidable litigation, reduced employee costs and better bottomlines. In order to make diversity a strong point of the bank, the following HR processes should be considered: Recruitment and selection: HR must look to assembling teams of diverse backgrounds that would stimulate creativity and innovation with skill sets that complement each other. Technology: diverse workforce often includes virtual teams therefore the need for technological support. HR policy: need to take into cognizance cultural and ethical aspects in addressing equality standards prevalent in each location they are present. Training: Managers and employees need to be trained on leadership and teamwork as it applies in a diverse workplace. KEY HRM ISSUES WITH GREAT IMPACT ON THE TRANSITION FROM IN-HOUSE ONLINE CUSTOMER SERVICE TO 3RD PARTY SERVICE MANAGEMENT IN BANCROYALE Diversity Management Diversity Management – â€Å"Diversity management is the ability of an organization to maximize the advantages of organizational employee diversity and minimize the inherent problems. I.e maximize the benefits and minimize the costs of implementing diversity policy in the workplace† Benefits to Banc Royale Creating a competitive advantage (the business case for diversity) Better understanding of diverse customers. Increased productivity on complex tasks. Better problem solving as a result of inputs of diverse members. Increased innovation Potential issues that may arise in diversity management (Knouse 2008) Diversity members may show loyalty to background groups rather than the team. Potential for increased conflicts amongst employees with diverse background. Potential for exclusion of people different and more cohesion amongst similar groups within networks. Potential for non-cooperation when group members have different values. High potential for miscommunication among diverse organizations Proposed solutions HRM practices must be fair and equitable and take responsibility for the effective delivery of the policy Work groups and teams must be allowed to grow and develop in stages and be given time to fully develop Diversity plan must be well thought out and communicated to be effectively implemented. Change focus from social cohesion to task cohesion Reinforce a culture of diversity through continued management commitment Institute mentoring systems with bias for the diversity cause. Employing the right people to deliver best quality service based on equality of opportunity. Ensuring employees are able to contribute a diverse range of skills and experience. Ensuring Banc Royale harnesses and realises full potentials and performance of employees. Building and encouraging a culture of intolerance to discrimination. Eliminating barriers leading to discrimination and prejudice. Building a culture that fosters cooperation and respect amongst employees. Board of Directors is overall lead. All directors and line managers are responsible for full implementation of the policy. Employees are responsible for adhering and complying with the policies. Trainings, sensitization seminars and workshops are conducted and organized by HRM for employees to learn about the policy. Emergence of virtual teams Virtual teams came to the fore as evolving organizations saw the increasing need to go global and this was characterized by technological advancement. Organizations whose goals are to maintain a competitive advantage believe that creating effective virtual teams are necessary to achieve this goal. Global brands such as Coca cola, Microsoft, Citigroup, Ford, Toyota and even non-profit organizations have been able to lead the pack of their various industries as they have seen ahead that they require to be present across all parts of the world using people as their major resource. Symons et al (2007) have this to say about virtual teams being teams where its members are geographically dispersed and unified by one project. Which invariably means that there are 2 teams: physical teams and virtual teams unified by one organizational goal. While the physical team adopt face to face communication, the virtual team communicate using technology such as telephones, emails, conference calls, or other computer-mediated communication. The foregoing pre-supposes that in building or creating virtual/global teams, there would be a large involvement of a diverse workforce scattered all over the globe which comes with its attendant challenges and even more benefits if systematically harnessed. MIT Sloan School conducted a study in 2009 and concluded that virtual teams could outperform physical teams and provided a justification for their creation which amongst others include: Productivity day in day out due to time zone differences, Sharing of best practices, Reducing costs, Innovation and increased creativity as a result of highly diversed workforce. Bergiel et al (2008) said that such teams as virtual teams allow organizations to attract and retain top talents because workplace flexibility is seen as a crucial aspect of job satisfaction for many employees; for many companies, the use of virtual teams reduces costs and time of employee travel. However, inspite of all the benefits accruable from virtual teams, without proper structures and strategic planning, these benefits may not be harnessed. Trust is a crucial component required in building a cohesive and effective team and it even becomes more complicated when this trust needs to be built where distance is a barrier. In building trust, it is important for team members to have face to face interactions, this allows them to develop rapport, build friendship and relationships and also have a better understanding of the team goals. Frequent communication electronically between members also has a way of fostering relationships. Team training from time to time on technology that has to do with team interaction would also go a long way to promoting the understanding of team goals and objectives Virtual teams are very much likely to fail when organizations do not make appropriate investment in technology and training of team members. Team leaders must be taught how to provide leadership and direction with giving feedbacks effectively through unconventional methods while members should be trained and given guidelines on how to communicate with other team members to encourage team building. At the helm of all of these is the support and trust of company CEO and other management staff in promoting and deepening the activities of the virtual team without which it is bound to fail. The decision to create virtual teams is usually the idea of management and therefore they must be seen to support it by building the appropriate structures that would ensure goals are achieved. Symons et al (2008) concluded and postulated some key points that should be followed by virtual managers which is hereby recommended to the Customer Service Departmental Head in alliance with the South American company that is in charge of it and they are as follows: Communication is a critical component of virtual teams enhanced by the support and the introduction of technology, therefore virtual teams succeed when value are placed on the people than the technology. It implies that the manager must create a definite purpose in cooperation with his team members and effectively communicate it to them. Leadership style advised for virtual teams is democratic in order to get the best out people and promote creativity and innovation. This is the benefit obtainable from having a diverse workforce and it must be adequately harnessed by the leadership approach used. In this kind of work environment, each team member is able to voice his opinion irrespective of his background, language, status etc. The virtual manager is able to create a very high level of trust when conscious efforts are made from the outset to address trust issues and conflicts that might arise as a result of diversity. He therefore should employ essentially face to face interactions in conflict resolutions and better still create an environment of friendship where conflicts are minimal. In addition to these key points, virtual teams are disadvantaged by problems or challenges characterized by difficulties in communication caused by the absence of face to face interactions, lack of employee engagement to get the best out of team members, major trust and integrity issues etc all caused by inability to go through physical interactions. This is responsible for the slow pace of trust building in virtual teams however all of these disadvantages and more can be mitigated to have our dream ideal virtual team or better put, the ideal Customer Service Department by employing tested strategies. The Banc Royale virtual manager is hereby advised to adopt the following strategies in building a cohesive and effective team: Communication All team members must be kept closely via communication. Effective communication is essential from top to bottom and bottom to top ensuring free flow of information. Communication must also be frequent and the manager’s responsiveness to communication or information is also key to effective communication. Communication does not start or end with passing information, listening and being very attentive is also critical. He must be able to create awareness from time to time so that the team can achieve expected outcomes and results. His ability to make use of the technology resource provided also enhance communication and also train team members on how to optimize the benefits available in the resource. The team leader must seek to understand his members through and through including their cultures and background, this would help him in deepening his relationship and develop trust. Collaboration The virtual manager must be able to create a collaborative mindset in the entire team which harmonises the best of competition and fostering trust and respect amongst team members. Collaboration can only be achieved when divergent views are welcome are analysed to take decisions that would allow for goals to be achieved and eventually create a win-win situation. Defined team objectives The virtual manager must be able to make his team members know the reason for their existence. This reason must be well clarified and communicated, team members must understand the role and contribution of their team to the entire bank, what is expected from each team member, results that are expected from the team etc. This clarity of purpose ensures that employees are properly engaged. Success celebration Milestones and successes must be celebrated to motivate star performers and encourage other team members to do better. Finally, the Customer Service department head could also adopt an account/customer classification approach to structuring the new online customer service just outsourced. The Team lead is advised to divide his team across the types of clients that patronize the unit such as new customers, existing customers broken down into retail, commercial, borrowing and non-borrowing customers. It is also necessary to ensure multi-lingual Customer Service Consultants are hired to avoid complaints as a result of language barriers. Influence of Power and Politics Power is the capacity or ability to influence another and it is drawn from various sources such as formal authority, control of scarce resources, control of decision processes, control of knowledge and information etc Politics is the tactical use of power or practical exercise of power to retain or obtain control of real or symbolic resources† according to Bacharach et al (1980 p. 1). Politics in the workplace or organization is usually driven by personal interests and therefore tantamount to the achievement of organizational goals and objectives. This determines productivity within the organization. The influence of power and politics on Banc Royale Amsterdam as a result of the changes being made can be both positive and negative. Scholars such as Eisendhart et al (1988) believes that politics is linked with poor organizational performance creating inflexibilities, communication barrier, restricting information flow etc. while some scholars are of the opinion that politics is necessary for innovation, creativity and organizational change that are brought about by disagreements and conflicts. This decision as taken by the management has some political undertones to it due to the fact that this unit is a very key unit in the organization, it can be noted that other units also exist within the organization that could also have been outsourced to cut down on expenses. This decision definitely would have caused collective distrust amongst employees not affected by this decision and could lead them to seek for employment in other organizations. According to Shawn 2008, the decision to outsource creates uncertainty for existing employees and it could make them to look elsewhere for employment, in cases where they do not leave, they most times do not cooperate with the new service providers to provide them with adequate information that would make the task easier to handle thereby causing also decreased efficiency in service delivery and bring in operational risk. It would also bring about a situation whereby other existing employees of the entire department would lose confidence in the Manager of the department for allowing such a decision to be taken. They would lose confidence in his ability to provide leadership and therefore bring about a decline the department’s productivity and his ability to be in control. If an individual is perceived by others to have influence then such person holds power and such is arrogated to him. When his employees believe in his ability to control the distribution of rewards valued by others such as promotion, money or even his ability to influence management to retain the â€Å"online customer service unit†, then they believe he has power and influence and would respect his leadership. Power requires one person’s perception of dependence on another person and in this situation, existing employees of this department are beginning to think otherwise. In order to minimize power and politics which is not bad entirely except it is engendering an unethical culture within the organization, it is of necessity that HRM takes a very strong stand to tackle it and I would recommend that they look at HR processes that include Recruitment and Performance Management. In whatever HR process we want to look at, the sole aim is to ensure that negative power and politics is downplayed and HR plays a major role in ensuring that. It is important that structures are built that do align with the objectives of the organization based solely on Corporate Governance policies in order to have management buy in. Section 3: Conclusion ‘Human capital represents one of the last and the best sources of competitive advantage’ (Kaufman, 2010: 292). The strategic objective of Banc Royale is to provide â€Å"helpful banking† to its numerous customers who are mostly retail customers, therefore cannot afford to get customer service wrong so that customers would not lose confidence in the brand. Quick steps need be taken immediately to first address the language barrier issues that are existent between both customers-service providers-bank employees. It is recommended and advised that management should change the focus of this exercise from cost reduction alone to enhanced and improved productivity with greater emphasis on collaboration between the bank officials and the service providers to ensure seamless integration. We all know change is difficult, however, if we consider what we stand to gain as an organization we would be glad to embrace change. Globalization, the need to maintain competitive advantage and churn out good bottom lines at minimal expenses, economic downturn are amongst other justifications for the creation of virtual teams and the need to outsource certain units of an organization. Banc Royale intends to be at the forefront of this, therefore all employees are enjoined to understand the workings and the concept of virtual teams in order to give support as required. Virtual managers have the responsibility to acquaint themselves with the roles required of them which include and are not limited to: Providing strategic direction in alignment with corporate goals Motivating and empowering team members to achieve team goals Identifying and providing required resources to achieve team goals Developing and communicating a clear vision to team members Giving effective employee feedbacks etc. Performance management as it affects human resources is to ensure organizational goals are met by training, motivating and rewarding employees by adopting best practices to achieve competitive advantage. As it applies to Banc Royale at this point in time, there is a need for management to have meetings and round table discussions with existing employees that the organization require to retain and get them to understand the reasons for the decision taken and make them see reason, in addition to this, appraisal could be done for the existing employees so that promotion exercise can be undertaken or probably an increase in compensation so as to win their hearts. The human resource management department of any organization is charged with the responsibility of managing employees, employee welfare and employee performance in alignment to the organizational goals and objectives, it is however in the purview of HRM to direct and guide employees and management to behave in such a manner that would ensure both personal and organizational goals are aligned and delivered. This describes the link between organizational behavior and human resource approaches and concept all described in this report. Human resource management can be used as a tool by management for shaping organizational behavior. The relationship between organizational behavior and human resource management stems from the fact that human resource management can be used as a tool for shaping organizational behavior. The practice of performance management also helps in the integration of other HR practices such as talent management, training and development, reward system management that have been discussed in this report to ensure they are all interrelated and be able to complement each other to achieving overall organizational health goals and objectives. Performance management systems aid the integration and enmeshment of HR policies with overall business organizational goals. REFERENCES Aguinis, H. (2009),†Performance Management (2nd ed.)† Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Aguinis H. & Pierce Charles A (2007), â€Å"Enhancing the relevance of organizational behavior by embracing performance management research†, Journal of Organisational Behavior Bacharach, S. B. & Lawler, E. J. (1980),†Power and politics in organizations†, San Francisco: JosseyBass. Baron, R.A. (1983), â€Å" Behaviour in Organizations†,. New York: Allyn & Bacon, Inc. Bergiel B. J., Bergiel, E. B., & Balsmeier, P. W. (2008),†Nature of virtual teams: A summary of their advantages and disadvantages†, Management Research News, 31(2), 99-110. Centre for Strategy & Evaluation Services (October 2003) – INDICATORS TO MEASURE THE COSTS EFFECTIVENESS OF DIVERSITY POLICIES IN ENTREPRISES- FINAL REPORT Dawson Mark J. & Mark L. Jones(n.d), â€Å"Herding Cats- Human Change Management† Eisenhardt, K. M. And L. J. Bourgeois (1988), â€Å"Politics of strategic decision making in high-velocity environments: Towards a midrange theory†,Academy of Management Journal, Eidson C., (2009) ,†The benefits and liabilities of virtual teams†, Available from ( http://expertaccess.cincom.com) Accessed on 31st July 2013 Equality and Diversity – Policy and Procedures http://www.grundon.com/PDFs/dutyOfCare/Equality%20Diversity%20Policy%20Procedure%20-%20Jun09.pdf (Accessed 1st July 2013) Gandz J. 2001, â€Å"A Business Case For Diversity† Copyright Queen’s Printer of Ontario Gà ¼ngà ¶r P. (2011),†The Relationship between Reward Management System and Employee Performance with the Mediating Role of Motivation: A Quantitative Study on Global Banks’’, 7th International Strategic Management Conference Greenberg J.(2005), â€Å"Diversity in the workplace† http://diversity.sdce.edu/content/diversity-workplace-benefits-challenges-and-solutions (Accessed 2nd July 2013) Heller R, A. Laurito, Kurt J., M.Martin, Fitzpatrick R. & K. Sundin(2010), â€Å"Global Teams: Trends, Challenges and Solutions†, Cornell Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies, New York. Kaufman, B. (2010), ‘‘SHRM Theory in the Post-Huselid Era: Why It is Fundamentally Mis-Specified’, Industrial Relations, 49 (2): 292. Knouse Stephen B. (2008),†Issues in Diversity Management†, DEFENSE EQUAL OPPORTUNITY MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE DIRECTORATE OF RESEARCH, Internal Report No 05-08, pp 10-13 Maslow, A (1954). Motivation and personality. New York, NY:

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Various - Coursework Example The founder of Keep a Child Alive Organization, Leigh Blake was inspired to initiate the organization in 2003 after a life changing encounter at an AIDS Research and Family Care Clinic, an institution which she funds, located in Mombasa, a coastal town in Kenya. A single mother named Anne brought her three-year-old son for medicinal care, and she refused to leave the institution until she got â€Å"drugs that you have in the States for your children.† Blake, who had been previously involved in several AIDS campaigns through her musical career background and film career, agreed to pay for the drugs that Anne’s son needed. By so doing this, the Keep a Child Alive idea was cultivated (KCA, 2014). The medications that Anne’s son needed were valued at 12000 dollars a year from New York University AIDS Research Department. It did not take long before word of Blake’s work inspired other artists, film stars, and even medical practitioners. Peter Edge became the fi rst donor and soon after music sensation; Alicia Keys joined the foundation as the Keep a Child Alive Organization (KCA) global Ambassador. In 2003, KCA- Keep a Child Alive foundation was founded officially. The Kenyan clinic that marked Blake`s turning point became a model facility to inspire other facilities in the African continent and the developing third world countries. Keep a Child Alive Foundation focuses on bringing attention of the great AIDS epidemic that threatens and shreds the population of sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of third world developing countries. Keep a Child Alive Foundation`s efforts focus primarily on sub-Saharan Africa since it is the most affected region in the world. The sub-Saharan region of Africa host`s sixty-four percent of all HIV-infected persons. The foundation facilitates access to ARV - Anti-Retroviral Virus- medicines, a wide series of support services which

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An investigation into the use of Six Sigma within the Irish construction industry - Dissertation Example .8 Ethical Considerations 40 3.9 Method of Data Analysis 41 3.10 Conclusion 41 Chapter 4: Results and Discussion 42 4.1 Introduction 42 4.2 Results 42 4.3 Discussion 71 Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations 77 5.1 Conclusions 77 5.2 Recommendations 79 References 82 Appendix A – Survey Questionnaire 87 List of Tables Table 1. Frequencies: Intent of the company to adopt Six Sigma in the near future. 43 Table 2. Frequencies: Number of years of existence of the company within the industry 43 Table 3. Frequencies: Company size in terms of number of employees. 44 Table 4. Descriptive statistics: Improvement of company metrics: Financial Aspect. 44 Table 5. Descriptive statistics: Improvement of company metrics: Customer Aspect. 45 Table 6. Descriptive statistics: Improvement of company metrics: Operations Aspect. 46 Table 7. Descriptive statistics: Assessment of leadership ability. 48 Table 8. Descriptive statistics: Assessment of leaders’ passion. 49 Table 9. Descriptiv e statistics: Management interest in quality improvement. 50 Table 10. Descriptive statistics: Customer focus. 51 Table 11. Descriptive statistics: Management of information. 53 Table 12. Descriptive statistics: Strategic management. 54 Table 13. Descriptive statistics: Assessment of the leader’s capacity to execute strategy. 55 Table 14. Descriptive statistics: Assessment of process management competence. 58 Table 15. Descriptive statistics: System of measurement. 59 Table 16. Descriptive statistics: Problem solving capacity. 60 Table 17. Descriptive statistics: Assessment of infrastructure, management system and resources. 61 Table 18. Descriptive statistics: Independent and dependent variables overall. 63 Table 19. Coefficient of determination: Predictors of Six Sigma adoption and use. 64 Table... The objective of the study aims to establish if key / top management ability influences the readiness of adoption and use of Six Sigma in the said industry. This factor was found to positively and significantly predict the readiness for adoption and use of Six Sigma within the Irish construction industry. The next objective is meant to establish if organisational ability influences the readiness of adoption and use of Six Sigma in the said industry. This variable did not significantly predict the dependent variable. Given the Six Sigma scheme’s propensity for facilitating business processes, it is applicable in a whole host of industries besides the manufacturing industry, the construction sector included. While traditional quality improvement initiatives focus heavily on detecting errors and then correcting them, a company operating under the Six Sigma scheme would be able to ensure that such errors never occur in the first place by establishing and then strictly adhering to a set of standards. The construction sector is the largest labour-intensive industry that makes significant contributions to the Irish economy (Duffy, Graham, and Thomas 2007). The process of planning in Ireland has brought about numerous regulations that emphasize the design, manufacturing and construction of buildings, particularly the need to adhere to quality standards and ensure that the expectations of owners or occupiers are met.

Response Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Response Paper - Essay Example The readings by Colin H. Kahl, gives a clear definition of conflicts that can lead to physical aggression. It is also suggests reasons why political concepts such as ecologic security are unable to deal with problems resulting from transformation. The paper tries to explore the evidence and arguments expresses in other articles to propose as well as oppose the notion. Since the year 1990, Kenya as a country has gone through an obvious decay in security human condition from the mushrooming insignificant transgression to the start of ethnic cleansing. The local and the worldwide press frequently discuss the incident of the ever rising cases of criminal offenses and insecurity. The reading disaggregates the different forms and localities that bloodshed took place and the dynamics that binds them. Problematizing the relations between the state and the society transcends beyond the state incapability to uphold security in the country. At times this plays a role in encouraging and at times aggressively incites violence. Environmental degradation relates directly to political stability in a country. In the past civil and over the past several decades, civil and tribal wars have destabilized the chances for economical advancement as well as political development in the developing countries. This resulted to loss of lives of many citizens while some were left homeless as in the case in Kenya during ethnic violence in 1991(Foucault et al 2009). Statistics shows that demographic and ecological challenges coupled with interactions between the population increase, ecological degradation and rising scarcities of fundamental natural aspects of survival signify the cause of wars in the present world. Kahl suggests that the situation leads to tension in the work places thus leading to massive pressure on the societal groupings and the government. This issue has resulted to increase in occurrence of armed conflict in the developing countries. He

Assessment of physical workload in boiler operations Assignment - 1

Assessment of physical workload in boiler operations - Assignment Example These were used as indicators for quantifying physical labour that such operators experienced. In this case, Justino et al (4) had to use a number of instruments to measure the heart rate, places of higher overload, pain in certain parts of the operators’ body, and physical workload. These instruments included heart rate monitor, which was utilised to measure the heart rate, the tape measure for marking the key points where operators of the boiler remained during the process of boiler operation, the Infrared digital camera for showing the areas that experienced higher incidence of thermal radiations within the body of operators, the heart rate meter for recording the operator’s heartbeat, the painful Areas Diagram and Nordic questionnaire for collecting information regarding pain experienced by operators, and the wet-bulb globe thermometer (WBGT) for recording thermal temperatures, which in turn helped ascertain places of higher thermal overload. To measure pain, a diagram, in this case, human body was divided into 24 segments. Was followed was to evaluate these body parts to ascertain areas that the operators experienced pain. This was done by evaluating subjectively, with the use of a scale ranging from zero to seven, the level of discomfort experienced in each of the 24 segments. In measuring the heart beats, the heart rate meter, which consisted of three parts: transmitter, digital pulse receiver, and an electrode elastic strap, was used. This way, a transmitter was fixed in the chest of the operator to enable the heart beats to be captured and stored within the wrist receiver. In order to ascertain which parts of the body experienced higher thermal overload, a tape measure was used to mark key areas that an operator remained while carrying out the boiling operations. The wet-bulb globe thermometer (WBGT) was then used to

What is European Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

What is European Security - Essay Example One of the most important difficulties when trying to develop effective security schemes has been the identification of the conditions under which these schemes will operate; another issue in regard to the above initiative is the understanding of the needs that these schemes will serve. Current paper focuses on the examination of the various aspects of European Security; it has been proved that the concept of security can refer to a variety of issues aiming to address different needs. These needs are identified in the literature presented in the sections that follow. It is revealed that the identification of the characteristics and the role of the European Security is related with the environment – mostly political and social – in which this concept is developed. In this context, European Security has been found to be related with specific factors, like the following ones: a) the practices adopted by other similar Frameworks, for example the US Security Framework, and organizations, like the NATO, b) the rules of international authorities, especially those referring to the defense of a state’s rights and existence, c) the political systems in countries across the European Union; these political systems can strongly affect the form and the eleme nts of the European Security Framework at the level that the rules included in this framework may not be fully accepted by a specific member state and d) the cultural and other conflicts that are developed in European Union; usually, these conflicts are expected to be handled using the rules included in the European Security Framework; however, in many cases the above Framework has been ignored – referring especially to the cases that US or NATO military forces has entered a country in Europe aiming to define the terms under which the regional conflicts will be ended. The above fact, which is strongly emphasized in the literature, indicates the failure of the European Security

The Indian Copyright Act Essay Example for Free

The Indian Copyright Act Essay Copyright accrues by virtue of authorship, which means that regardless of whether there is a public indication of copyright or the copyright has been registered, the exclusive rights of the author exists. Certain acts are not considered to be infringement of copyright. 1. A fair dealing with a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work not being a computer programme for the purposes of- -private use including research; -criticism or review, whether of that work or any other work 2. The making of copies or adaptation of a computer programme by the lawful possessor of a copy of such computer programme from such copy- -in order to utilize the computer programme for the purpose for which it was supplied; or -to make backup copies purely as a temporary protection against loss, destruction or damage in order only to utilize the computer programme for the purpose for which it was supplied. Fair dealing The doctrine of fair use seeks to balance out societal interests against the exclusive rights of the copyright holder. They allow for fair dealing for research, study, criticism, review and news reporting, wherein copyrighted material can be used without permission. The Act has a widely-worded clause for fair use, yet it is important to note that the rationale behind the clause is that society benefits more from the copyright infringement than from the grant of the exclusive right to the author in that situation; this implies that your use of copyrighted material must be a provable social benefit and it must credit the copyright holder. Further, the degree to which copyrighted content is used is also material to a fair use defence; large swathes of unaltered content being quoted would probably invite scrutiny. The Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2012, widens the scope of fair use by including all material (except computer programmes) as opposed to only â€Å"literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works† which were covered before. This implies that videos and sound recordings too, will now be covered by the fair-use exception.

Facial Trauma Among Patients With Head Injuries

Facial Trauma Among Patients With Head Injuries Facial Trauma among patients with head injuries Dr. Shazia Yasir*, Dr. Faisal Moin, Dr. Muneer Sadiq ABSTRACT Introduction: Facial trauma is without a doubt a most challenging area for any emergency physician. Despite many researches and advances in the understanding of multiple techniques; initial assessment and management of facial injuries in emergency and early stages remained a complex area for patient care. Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence of facial trauma among patients with head injuries that may help emergency department physicians to deliver accurate and quick diagnosis and decision. Trauma to this region is often associated with mortality and morbidity and varying degree of physical and functional damage. Study Design: Prospective Cross-sectional Descriptive Study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Emergency Medicine, Ziauddin University Hospital, Karachi from four months from Feb 2014 to May 2014. Methodology: This study was conducted at Ziauddin university hospital emergence medicine department. It is a prospective cross sectional descriptive hospital based study. 115 patients who were diagnosed of having head injuries were included in this study. Information on age, sex and cause of injury was taken for each case. Each patient was then examined for the presence of facial trauma using the CT 3D face. Data was analyzed using the SPSS program. Result: Out of 115 patients, 85 (74%) were males and 30 (26%) were females. A total of 59 (51%) patients were between 15 – 30 years of age; 26 (23%) were aged between 31 – 50; and 30 (26%) were above 51 years of age. 76% patients had facial trauma where head injuries were evident. 63% female and 80% male had facial trauma where head injuries were found in patients. Out of these 115 patients majority were involved in road traffic accidents and are from the age group 15 – 30 and predominantly male. Conclusion: Based on the study conducted; it is safe to conclude that patients who have facial trauma associate with head injuries are young males and is mainly caused by road traffic accident. The result might vary by governmental, culture or social differences. Key words: Facial Trauma; Head Injuries; emergency department _____________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Trauma is a type of injury where external force is being applied suddenly and violently at the body which causes a serious injury [1]. A head injury in human body is any trauma that can cause injury of scalps, brain or skull. The injury could be a minor bruise or serious injury on the head and brain injury [2]. Some injuries can result in prolonged or unrecoverable brain damage. The injury can cause bleeding inside the brain or forces that damages the brain directly. The most common cause of head injuries are road traffic accidents, fall, physical assault or others. These accidents can occur at home, work, outdoors, sports or many other places. Head injuries are commonly associated with facial trauma; often result from high energy blunt force injury to facial skeleton. Typical mechanisms of trauma include motor vehicle accidents, altercation and fall [3]. - PG Emergency Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Ziauddin University Hospital, North Campus, Karachi * Correspondence Email: [emailprotected] The face is vital to human appearance and function. Facial injuries can impair a patients ability to eat, speak, interact with others, and perform other important functions. Facial injuries may be caused by a direct blow, penetrating injury, or fall. Pain may be sudden and severe. Bruising and swelling may develop soon after the injury [11]. METHODOLOGY This study was carried out at the department of emergency medicine, Ziauddin University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. Patients of either gender with more than 15 years of age presenting to Ziauddin Hospital Karachi who were diagnosed of having head injuries were selected. Patients who gave the history of previous head trauma were not included in this study, this aimed at avoiding some ambiguity during examination as to whether the encountered trauma was the result of the recent head injury or previous underlying trauma. Each patient was then examined for the presence of facial trauma, using 3D CT scan. A 3D CT scan, or a three-dimensional computerized tomography scan, is a type of x-ray that allows high quality images of organs, blood vessels, and bones to be recorded in a very short amount of time. The individual CT images are then layered together to form a virtual model of the body. It is able to reveal the functionality of many of the anatomical structures in the body, in addition to structural defects, tumors, and lesions [12]. The obtained data was checked for completeness and clarity then entered into the computer and analysis was performed using Statistical package for social sciences program (SPSS). Chi –square test (X2) will be carried out and significant level p RESULT A Total of 115 patients with head trauma were included in the study. The gender distribution of the study population is as shown in Table 1 below. Table 1:- There were 85 (74%) males and 30 (26%) females. The age distribution of the study population is as shown in Table 2 below. Table 2:- There were 59 (51%) cases between ages 15 – 30, 26 (23%) cases with ages from 31 – 50 years males and 30 (26%) with age over 51 years old. The presence of facial trauma according to gender is shows in table 3. Out of 115 patients monitored, 19 female have facial trauma out of 30 which consist of 63% female, while 68 male patients have facial trauma with head injuries out of 85 which make 80% of male population. The total of 76% patients has facial injuries where head injuries were evident. Table 3:- Presence of facial trauma according to gender The presence of facial trauma according to age is shows in table 4 along with graphical representation. Out of 115 patients monitored, 59 patients were between ages 15 – 30. From these 59 patients 51 have facial trauma where head injuries were evident, this make 86% of the population. The patients between 31 – 50 years of ages were 26, where only 14 were found to have facial trauma which makes 54% of the population. The patients over 51 years of age were 30 where 22 were found to have facial trauma which makes 73% of the population. Table 4:- Presence of facial trauma according to age Table 5 shows prevalence of facial trauma by gender according to the causes of injuries. Out of 87 patients where facial trauma was also observed 11% female had it because of road traffic accident comparing to 39% male. Fall in female was 9% comparing to 17% male; no assault in female was observed while 14% male had facial trauma during assault. Table 6 below shows the details of prevalence of facial trauma by age according to cause of injury. The detail shows higher number of road traffic accident, followed by fall, assault and other causes of injuries. DISCUSSION Head injuries causes hospitalization of 200 – 300 patients per 100,000 population per year worldwide. A head injury associated with facial trauma comprises a number of complications, such as sequestrum formation, sinusitis, nasolacrimal duct injuries, facial deformity and injury to or entrapment of the globe. Trauma is very well known to be the main cause of death in first forty years of life. Facial trauma can be very dangerous as this could impact the essential parts of the body like speech, respiration, vision or smell so special attentions and importance should be given to facial trauma patients [13]. An international study was done in France to determine the types of facial injuries; 25.4% of the injuries were aged between 21 – 30 years. Sex ratio was 2.7M/1F. The most frequent cause was sports injuries (25.8%); followed in decreased order by traffic injuries (23.1%); home injuries (17.6%); fight injuries (3.4%); work injuries (3.4%) and dog bite (3.2%) [4]. Multiple studies conducted that amongst facial trauma the most common sites are nose (50%) [6] and maxillofacial trauma (5%) [5]. In this study 115 patients with head trauma were included with sex ration of 2.8M / 1F which seems to be consistent with previous studies done in different part of the globe [8, 10, 7]. The findings in this study also revealed the most common involving age group was 15 – 30 years of age; which constituted 51% as compared to other age groups. This finding is the same as that done in Nigeria and others in 2010 [42]. The reason for high prevalence of head and facial trauma to this age group (15 – 30 years) as compared to other age group could be related to activities of this age group in economic and social activities which lead to increase in accidents and violence. In this study it was also found that male are slightly more involved as compared to females where by 74% were male patients and 26% were female patients. The most common cause of facial trauma is to be road traffic accidents which involve motor cycle; car and pedestrian while the second most is fall from height. This was similar to previous findings in other studies which shows most common etiologies of injuries were car crash (39%); followed by assaults (28%) with majority are male with age group 15 – 30 years [9]. Observations from multiple studies of different part of the world shows that leading cause of facial trauma associated with head injuries is road traffic accident followed by fall and assault. Based on the study design and area; each study has its precise section of dominance. CONCLUSION This study concludes the prevalence of facial trauma associated with head injuries was 76% and higher age group is 15 – 30 years with 51% than other age group and prevalence of male 59% than female 16% had facial trauma where head injuries were eminent. The common cause is road traffic accident 50% followed by fall 26%, assault 13.7% and others were 9%. CONSENT FOR THE STUDY All patients or relatives were given a necessary explanation about the study before they asked to participate. For those patients who were unconscious, consents were obtained from their relatives. For patients under ages 18 years, informed consents were obtained from their parents/ guardians. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We would like to acknowledge faculty of Ziauddin Hospital, North Campus for helping us during the study, staff for helping in data collection and all others who have given their input. The study was self funded. REFERENCE Anderson T ,Heitger M, and Macleod AD (2006). Concussion and Mild Head Injury. Practical Neurology : 342–357. Heegaard WG, Biros MH. Head. In: Marx J. Rosen’s Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 7th ed. St. Louis, Mo: Mosby; 2009:chap. 38 Aksoy E, Unlu E, Sensoz O. A retrospective study on epidemiology and treatment of maxillofacial fractures. J Craniofac Surg. 2002:772-5 Lebeau J, Kanku V, Duroure F, Morand B, Sadek H, Raphaà «l B. Facial injuries treated in the Grenoble University Hospital. 2006;107:23-9 Goodisson, D, MacFarlane, M, Snape, L. Darwish, B, Head injury and associated maxillofacial injuries New Zealand Med J 2004,vol.117 Khan, A. R.,Arif, S., ,J Ayub Med Coll Abbottabad 2005 Vol.17 Hashim H, Iqbal S. Motorcycle accident is the main cause of maxillofacial injuries in the Penang Mainland, Malaysia. 2011;27:19-22. Madubueze CC, Chukwu CO, Omoke NI, Oyakhilome OP. Head and neck injuries as seen in a Nigerian teaching hospital. Ozo CInt Orthop. 2010. Bouguila J, Zairi I, Khonsari RH, Jablaoui Y, Hellali M, Adouani A.Epidemiology of maxillofacial traumatology in Tunis. Rev Stomatol Chir Maxillofac. 2008 Khan AA. A retrospective study of injuries to the maxillofacial skeleton in Harare, Zimbabwe. Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg 1988; 26:435-439. Rankin M, Borah GL. Perceived functional impact of abnormal facial appearance. Plast Reconstr Surg 2003; 111:2140. Saigal K, Winokur RS, Finden S, et al. Use of three-dimensional computerized tomography reconstruction in complex facial trauma. Facial Plast Surg 2005; 21:214. Motamedi MH: An assessment of maxillofacial fractures: a 5-year study of 237 patients. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 2003, 61(1):61–64