Life of Alex Sander free essay sample

1) Investigate the 360 feedback system as a performance evaluation tool. List key advantages and problems associated with this method. 360 degree feedback system as a performance evaluation tool as long as the understanding of its intent is understood. â€Å"There are three key steps in the successful implementation of 360 degree feedback systems in an organization. The three steps are that it must fit the organizations culture, make it psychometrically sound, and used with care† (â€Å"Best Practices†, 2012). It is also important to train the feedback providers to be sensitive, respectful and polite.Treating employees in a friendly and respectful manner and offering constructive advice will make them more open to accepting the performance appraisal system. Major advantage to the 360 feedback system is that it provides an opportunity for all the employees associated with the project to offer feedback. All members of the project are to be evaluated on a scale that is defined by the organization to insure fairness and accuracy. We will write a custom essay sample on Life of Alex Sander or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Another advantage of the 360 feedback system is that it is designed with customer focus in mind. The customers can be internal or external.Employees may not understand the impact their daily activities have on other individuals or departments within the company. This provides essential feedback to the employees which may have a positive effect on his/her performance for future projects. The 360 evaluation is particularly strong when coupled with an action plan developed by the person receiving feedback and shared with those who provided the feedback. The main disadvantage to using the 360 feedback system is that management and employees may not be trained correctly on how to effectively use the process.Another problem that occurs with this type of system is with its consistency in using this process. Companies sometimes get overwhelmed with other important issue and forget or do not have time to conduct this evaluation in a proper time frame or not at all. This will provide unreliable information for improvement on the next project. 2) What challenges does Alex face relating to the unity of command principle at Landon Care Products? Alex faces many challenges when relating to the unity of command principle. Working through the chain of command, designated supervisors or managers coordinates the work of their subordinates† (â€Å"Chapter Summary†). Alex shows having problems with authority and is very unconcerned with what his immediate supervisor Sam Glass’s perception of his project management skills are and what Glass has to say. Alex shows a lack of concern about the company’s other responsibilities and projects. This was apparent when meeting other virtual team members. The German team members had concerns over the time line that Alex wanted to get things done in and this was in conflict with other commitments that they had already made.Alex refers to every project that he works as â€Å"my product† and â€Å"my brand† which he should refer to them as Landon’s product and Landon’s brand. Alex should show respect and listen to what Glass has to say. Alex is not only showing disrespect to Glass but to the entire organization by not fully participating in the 360 feedback system. 3) Given Alex’s overall skill set, approach, and personality, will Alex be successful in future projects that are more demanding and require influence over strategic decisions?Alex’s overall skill set, approach, and personality at the present time will have a negative impact on future projects that are more demanding and require influence over strategic decisions. Even though his understanding and willingness to learn is exceptional, when dealing with people Alex expects that team members and peers to understand things the same way he does. This is a problem when communicating tasks and objectives to the team. The approach that he takes to get tasks accomplished is to place â€Å"fear† in the project team. Alex intimidates his team members to work.This form of management promotes resentment and unnecessary stress on the organization, which in many cases causes mistakes. The personality that is portrayed by Alex is that he is the best and no one can do it better. This type of personality causes a problem in communication and has a negative effect on stakeholder and other members of upper-management. Understandably his direct supervisor, Sam Glass wants to keep Alex on his team because of his performance of meeting the project goals and finishing them on time and in budget.Unfortunately Glass is receiving negative comments from his colleagues over Alex’s negative personality when dealing with members of the organization. 4) If you were Alex’s boss, what action would you take based on the 360 feedback and your overall assessment of Alex? As Alex’s immediate supervisor I would schedule a meeting to discuss and review the 360 feedback on this project. By scheduling a meeting this would establish that there is a necessity for changes to be made in his project management skills. After reviewing the 360 feedback system I would make several uggestions to Alex Sanders on the results of the responses made. First I would explain to Alex that this was not a meeting to criticize his work ethic but to give insight on ways to improve his project management skills. I would explain to Alex that the company believes in his ability to accomplish projects and that is why he was given the opportunity to be the project manager over two very important projects simultaneously. I would reiterate Alex’s aggressiveness, intelligent and willingness to work hard is illustrated in the accomplishments he has made for the organization.His ability to multitask and problem solve is a credit to his project management skills. As Alex’s supervisor it is also my job to discuss points of concern and suggest ways of improvement. The first concern is over trust of the employee’s capability to accomplish task on their own. The responsibility of a project manager is to delegate appropriate tasks and ensure project control and adherence to the project plan. This lack of trust was illustrated when Alex Sander showed a lack of interpersonal skill when failing to communicate correctly to Hansen Long over a task that was assigned and effectively taking the task away from Long.I would make Alex aware that fear is not a powerful motivator and this type of environment causes unwarranted stress on the team members. This type of management will manifest into resentment of team members. Another concern that was mentioned in the feedback package was the lack of organizational skills when dealing with other project managers. Even though there is lot of positive comments on Alex’s ability to be a project manager but they do not see him as a leader.As Alex’s supervisor I would like to work with him to ensure his success as a project manager in the organization and discuss better ways to communicate his requirements of others to help eliminate the negative feedback. 5) Is Landon Care Products organized through departmentation by function or departmentation by product? Which departmentation method do you believe would work best for Landon? â€Å"Departmentation by function groups similar tasks within their own function, with sub functions, as appropriate and divisions may also be made by occupational categories† (â€Å"organization structure†, 1994).Departmentation by function has the advantage of specialized areas and a broad base of technical personnel within each functional department. The disadvantage to this type of departmentation is that it has slower results and lack of o wnership which discourages commitment. â€Å"Departmentation by product organizes employees based on which product line or set of services they work with. Each product line has a department of its own, and each department has specialists in all of the functions needed to produce and sell that product, such as marketing, manufacturing, accounting and human resources† (â€Å"Functional Vs.

Essay about Performance Based Task

Essay about Performance Based Task Essay about Performance Based Task Stefanie Hunter 1/22/15 Open ended Responses 21. What the rattlesnake represents in the flag is the American colonist. In the picture, it says â€Å"Don’t Tread on me†. This shows that the American colonist refuses to let Great Britain walk all over them and would be prepared to put up a fight. The flag suggest that the rattlesnake refuses to let anyone bother or trample them by being in a defensive stance. The defensive stance the rattlesnake is in is sticking it's tongue out being prepared for the unexpected. In conclusion, the rattlesnake represents the colonist trying to gain their independence from the British. What I think the flag is trying to say is a warning to Great Britain. Based on my observations on the flag, it's trying to suggest that if Great Britain try to do something to them, don't expect them not to put up a fight. This shows that the American Colonist refuses to be Great Britain's doormat. The flag also demonstrates liberty by trying to gain their independence from Great Britain. In summation, the flag is trying to give a message to Great Britain. 22. According to Washington, the Constitution defend against tyranny by providing more checks and barriers. The text states â€Å" [ This] Constitution†¦.. is provided with more checks and barriers against the introduction of tyranny†¦ than any government [ever] instituted among morals [has] possessed. This quote demonstrates that Washington believed that including checks and balances , and barriers in the Constitution would prevent tyranny since everyone would have the same amount of power in the government. In conclusion, the Constitution defend against

The Ministers Black Veil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Ministers Black Veil - Essay Example Milton Stewart’s comment is remarkable in this regard, â€Å"Evil will forever reign over good, for the peccable, weak souls of todays youth are for more intelligent than any of us will ever be.† Nathaniel Hawthorne has incorporated this theme in some of his works of great significance, for instance, ‘The Scarlet Letter’ and ‘Young Goodman Brown’. Hawthorne through his work ‘The Minister’s Black Veil’ tends to identify individual flaw with universal character of mankind using a symbol, which hides the physical but reveals the abstract. The short story of Hawthorne uses the black veil as a symbol, which gains prominence in the very title of the story. The black veil predominates the very plot and theme of the story. The story initiates in front of the church where the funeral ceremony of a young maiden is being held and the minister appears with a black veil covering more than half of his face. Only his mouth and chin were visible and the onlookers search for the reason behind it. When he bends over the maiden the veil hangs such that if the corpse’s eyes are open she can see his face. This again raises a question about the reason why he is hiding his face and what his â€Å"secret sin† is. He immediately catches the veil with his hand to keep the face covered. Even his wife cannot get a definite answer and the minister declares that he is going to wear the veil throughout his life. Many critics have questioned the purpose of using the veil but according to Carnochan, the black veil serves more as a à ¢â‚¬Å"symbol of symbols† than simply a â€Å"parable of guilt†. The purpose of the veil is to reflect a meaning on one hand and on the other, hide it – â€Å"inviting speculation and resisting it† (Freedman, 354). Once the face is revealed the significance of the veil will be lost. The purpose of using the veil in the story is to initiate emotions of an individual. The plot tactfully reveals the curiosity of the townspeople,

The role of accounting profession in development and regulation of Essay

The role of accounting profession in development and regulation of modern capital markets since 1970s - Essay Example It should be noted that the accounting profession can be divided into two major categories: the public accounting, ‘related to services such as tax and auditing’ (Bailey 1989, p.1), and the internal accounting, which refers to accounting services related to organizational activities (Bailey 1989, p.1). The accounting profession, in both of its forms, can affect the development of capital markets worldwide, as analyzed below. Through the decades, the accounting profession has highly contributed in the development of the capital markets worldwide. The relationship between the accounting profession and the capital markets from 1970 onwards is examined in this paper. The characteristics of the accounting profession and its effects on business performance are also discussed, in order to understand the current challenges of the specific profession but also its role in the achievement of organizational goals. The role of accounting profession in the development and the regulati on of capital markets can be understood only by referring primarily to the characteristics of accounting profession, as they can be made clear through appropriate theories. According to MacIntosh and Hopper (2005, p.263) ‘the sociology of professions literature emphasizes on the social structure on which each profession is based’; at the next level, the particular social structure can be used both for promoting the profession involved and for addressing the needs of the public (MacIntosh and Hopper 2005, p.263). From another point of view, Jeffrey (2010) notes that the accounting profession is more related to the virtue theory. The above theory emphasizes on the value of professional judgment, which is depended on ‘the efforts of the individual to develop good habits, such as wisdom, courage and justice’ (Jeffrey 2010, p.115). In practice, it seems that both these theories can be valuable in the development of accounting profession, promoting the relationsh ip of this profession with the interests of the public, as these are best served with the individual involved has highly developed specific characteristics, such as wisdom and justice (Jeffrey 2010, p.115). At the next level, the relationship between the accounting profession and the development of capital markets should be investigated. The involvement of the accounting profession in capital markets worldwide can be characterized as intensive. This trend is made clear in the following case: accountants in USA, in UK and in Canada have made strong efforts for ‘developing the objectives of financial statements’ (Riahi-Belkaoui 2004, p.164). More specifically, in UK, the Corporate Report, published by the Institute of Chartered Accountants, emphasized on the value of these objectives for ensuring ethical conduct in business transactions (Riahi-Belkaoui 2004, p.164). Kisielnicki – Hubler (2008) also notes that the value of accounting profession in setting ethical st andards in financial reporting is critical; he also explains that the involvement of accounting profession in the development of capital markets is likely to be indirect, through promoting standards, ethics and rules of conduct (Kisielnicki – Hubler 2008). Even in this context, the influence of accounting profession in capital markets seems to be high. The level at which the accounting profession can influence the development and the regulation of capital markets

Associated British Foods plc Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Associated British Foods plc - Case Study Example It grows sugar from beets in the UK and Poland, and owns and operates cane plantations in Zambia and Swaziland in Africa and in Guanxi Province in China. The company also produces bioethanol from wheat and cane production waste, and sells animal feeds and feeds microingredients to farmers in over 40 countries. ABF's revenues increased 13% to 6.8 billion in line with operating profit, which increased by 11% to 622 million in 2007. These accomplishments reflect the company's presence in high-growth markets such as China, India, Latin America, and Africa. Despite the strength of the sterling having an adverse effect on financial figures, the increases reflect good management and operating performance. The company is active in the search for alternative bio-fuels at a time of rising petrol prices, allowing ABF to benefit from and take advantage of the increasing demand for environment-friendly energy sources. The value of the profit margin was calculated from the adjusted profit before tax amounting to 613 million whilst total sales amounted to 6,800 million. The profit margin for the year is slightly lower than the previous year's figure of 9.36% from profits of 561 million on sales of 5,996 million. The profit margin went down slightly because of losses from currency transactions when translating non-sterling revenues to sterling revenues. Since the sterling is stronger than other currencies, most especially the U.S. dollar in which some of the company's revenues are recorded, the amount of sterling that could be earned for each dollar would be slightly lower than if the dollar were strong. Non-UK sales (3,547 million) were over half the total sales. According to the financial statements, operating costs were much higher this year than last year. This was explained in several places of the report as due to the number of acquisitions spent this year, resulting in higher employee expenses for example. The total number of employees in Europe, Middle East, and Africa went up from 4,917 in 2006 to 37,084 in 2007 because of acquisitions in these regions. Asset Turnover = 1.97 times The asset turnover was calculated using the sales figure of 6,800 million and the total capital employed of 3,460 million. This means that every 1 invested in the company's assets returned sales of 1.97 or almost twice the invested capital. This figure gives an indication of how well the company utilised its assets. In the absence of comparative figures with other companies, this figure does not signify much. However, the asset turnover in 2006 was much higher at 2.1 because the company had higher margins and lower assets (valued at 4,579 million) before the company went on an acquisition spree that increased the total capita

The effect of transformational leadership style on organizational Innovation

The effect of transformational leadership style on organizational Innovation 1. Introduction This study endeavors to develop comprehension of how transformational leadership style of top management affects innovation at the organizational level. The topic is of paramount importance because of the ever increasing pressures of modernization and innovation on todays global economy. It has become indispensable to practice a leadership style that makes firms innovative and adaptive to change. Firms are shifting their focus from knowledge economy to creative economy, where corporations will compete on the basis of imagination, innovation and creativity (Oke, Munshi Walumbwa, 2009) Boston Consulting Group Inc surveyed over 900 senior executives and identified innovation as the key driver of top-line revenue. Analysis of firms transforming due to innovation provides evidence for this statement. For example, the highly successful iPod of Apple Inc.s, that earned devastating revenues for the company; the role of Blackberrys success in the transformation and emergence of Research in Motion; process innovation at Southwest Airlines Co. that transformed it as an economical and triumphant airline; and Procter Gamble Co. outperforming its competitors by focusing on design innovation. Innovation aims at bringing about change in the status quo. It can be defined as discovering (creative thinking ideas) and commercializing those discoveries (implementing the creative ideas). Creativity new idea generation alone are insufficient for innovation; implementation is also a cornerstone of the innovation process. (Oke, Munshi, Walumbwa, 2009) Plentiful studies have led to the identification of factors that can stimulate innovation at the organizational level. In broad terms, innovation is the adoption or execution of unaccustomed and convenient ideas by individuals in organizations (Amabile Conti 1999) p.360). Factors that are known to have an influence on innovation include leadership (Mumford Gustafson, 1998; Amabile, 1998), a work environment that is conducive for innovation (Amabile, 1998; Oke, Munshi Walumbwa, 2009), CEO salary (Markman, Balkin and Gomez-Mejia, 2000), organizational culture and climate (Mumford Gustafson, 1998; Jung, Wu Chow, 2008; Oke, Munshi Walumbwa, 2009), environmental attributes (Jung, Wu Chow, 2008), learning capability and intra-organizational networks (Tsai, 2001) and job complexity type of supervision (Oldham Cummings, 1996). Among these abundant factors, the leadership behavior of managers has been spotted as one of the most important of all (Amabile, 1998; Jung, 2001; Mumford, Sc ott, Gaddis Strange, 2002). Leadership was merely a concept before the 19th century and it was in the start of the 19th century that it emerged as a word in English language (Davis Cushing). Over the years, leaders and leadership have been distinctly defined by various scholars. Leadership is a process whereby a leader changes the course of action of another group, due to the interaction of his personality characteristics and those of the group (Bogardus, 1934). Leadership is the direction of human collaborators for the accomplishment of a goal. A leader successfully guides his human assistants for the achievement of particular ends. (Prentice, W.C.H. 1961). Leadership is a goal directed endeavor with the aim to influence the activities of followers through communication process. (Donelly, J.H. Ivancevich, J. M. Gibson, J.L. 1985 Leadership is the situational effort towards goal achievement by the process of influencing the individual or group activities. (Hersey, P. Blanchard, K, 1988). Leadership is the f ormulation of a transparent and complete system of expectations for the purpose of identification, arousal and utilization of strengths of all the resources of an organization, the most important of which is human resource (Batten, J.D. 1989). Leadership is the art of influencing individuals to yield their best output/ performance for the accomplishment of a goal, project or objective. (Cohen, W.A. 1990). Leaders are the people who obtain commitment from a working group of individuals and then motivate them to accomplish the outcomes of a pre-planned direction. (Conger, J.A.1992). Leadership is a process in which a leader sets the goal for an individual or group of individuals and takes all of them together with him or her with proficiency and devotion (Jacques E. Clement, S.D. 1994). Leadership is an unrealizable trait that cannot be distinctly defined. This in fact is a good phenomenon, because if the followers were aware of the definition of leadership, they would probably overr un their leaders. (Scott Adams, 1996). Effective leadership is about enabling ordinary people to deliver extraordinary results in the face of challenge and change and to constantly turn in superior performance to the long-term benefit of all concerned (Charlton, 1993). The more recent definitions conceive leadership in terms of influence relationships, power differentials, persuasion, influence on goal achievement, reinforcement, role differentiation, initiation of structure, and perceived attributions of behavior that are consistent with what the perceivers spotted leadership to be. Recently, many management scholars and gurus have identified adaptive leadership as the key enabler to cope with the ever increasing challenges of the corporate world. (Bass, Avolio, Jung Berson, 2003). So the adaptive leadership behaviors that have proved to be more effective than other leadership styles in organizational innovation have been labeled as transformational. (Lowe, Kroek, Sivasubramaniam, 1996; Gardner Avolio, 1998; Howell Avolio, 1993). Transformational leadership capabilities continue to be the hallmark of innovative firms. Successful leaders like J.R. Immelt, CEO of General Electric; A.G.Lafley, CEO of P&G; Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Motors Tata Group and Steve Jobs of Apple are the prominent figures who have fostered innovation by their adaptive behaviors. Transformational leadership holds four theoretically discrete dimensions: charisma or idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individual consideration. Idealized influence reflects the degree to which followers admire and hold their leaders as role models. Leaders exhibiting idealized influence are ethical, consistent, share risks with followers and prefer the needs of their followers above their own needs. Inspirational motivation points to the degree motivation of followers by delineating new opportunities, providing meaning and challenge to followers work and articulating a strong, realistic and shared vision of the future. Intellectual stimulation refers to the ability of a leader to question the assumptions and thinking of followers, reframe problems, stimulate intellectual curiosity, approaching problems in new ways, soliciting creativity and innovation from followers through novel approaches and avoiding open criticism for individual errors. Finally, leaders who provide individualized consideration pay attention to individual needs for growth, development, support and achievement. They act as coaches or mentors and establish a favorable environment for innovation; where values are diversified and learning opportunities are created (Bass Avolio, 1993) (Some versions of Bass Full-Range Leadership Theory identify 5 components of transformational leadership by breaking down idealized influence/ charisma into idealized influence or attributed charisma. For the sake of simplifying this research, idealized influence and charisma have been grouped together in this study). 2. Research Design 2.1 Main Objectives The aim of this study is to probe the following objectives: To discuss the philosophy, attributes and elements of transformational leadership and innovation To spot the existence of transformational leadership style at Telenor Pakistan To the asses the level of organizational innovation Telenor Pakistan To identify the effect transformational leadership style on organizational innovation 2.2 Hypotheses to be tested The objective of this study is to spot the presence of attributes of transformational leadership i.e. idealized influence, inspirational motivation, individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation, estimate the level of organizational innovation and examine the effect of transformational leadership on organizational innovation. The working hypothesis within this context will be as under: H0: Transformational leadership has no effect on organizational innovation. H1: Transformational leadership has strong effect on organizational innovation. 2.3 Scope of the study The range of application of this study is limited to the telecommunication sector in Pakistan with specific focus on Telenor (Peshawar). Transformational leadership style will be judged on the basis of four dimensions, that is, charisma or idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration. Furthermore, the effect of transformational leadership on organizational innovation will be analyzed. 3. Review of Literature (Burns, 1978) stated that transformational leaders stand above the common place. They indulge in a mutual interaction with their followers that raises the understanding, goals and mission that results in the ultimate arousal and transformation of both the leader and the followers. (Bass, 1985) At the other end to transformational leadership lies transactional leadership; where the leaders try to maintain the status quo. Followers are motivated on the base of extrinsic rewards, such as promotion and monetary benefits. It is an everyday terrestrial transaction of value, where leaders only provide needed value to individuals in exchange for their services. (Jane. M. Howell, Christopher A. Higgins, 1990) The most successful leaders are gifted with qualities of transformational leadership and charisma. They are far more influential and innovative than the leaders having style other than transformational. (David A. Waldman, Bernard M. Bass, 1991) linked the themes of nurturant and persistent leadership with transformational leadership theory. Furthermore, the role of transformational leadership behavior in various stages of successful innovations was clarified and implications were presented regarding the proposed model. (Dougherty Hardy, 1996) Transformational leaders intellectually stimulate their followers. This fosters unaccustomed and creative thinking and working processes that pave the way for new technology and knowledge, which are necessary for organizational innovation. Amabile, Conti, Coon, Lazenby, and Herron (1996) have spotted the damaging effects of transactional leadership on creativity. Bono Judge (2004) have supported this proposition in their recent meta-analysis. (Sosik, Avolio Kahali, 1997) Transformational leaders easily adapt to exploitative and exploratory thinking processes which in turn yield creative ideas and effective solutions to problems. The effectiveness of transformational leadership at stimulating unconventional and innovative thinking of followers is far greater than that of other leadership styles. (Bass, 1985; Gardner Avolio, 1998) proposed that transformational leaders have the ability to create personal and professional commitment from their followers towards satisfying upper-level needs like self-actualization and self esteem. (Oldham Cummings, 1996; Amabile, 1998; Zhou, 2003) added to this research finding by suggesting that this commitment boosts the inherent motivation of followers, which is considered to be an essential driver of individual creativity and organizational innovation. (House Shamir, 1993; Jung Avolio, 2000; Mumford et.al, 2000) Leaders possessing transformational attributes have the ability to regroup the values and norms of their followers in a better way. They encourage the progress of personal and organizational changes and facilitate their followers to go beyond their initial performance expectations. (A.Oke, 2002) was part of a study carried out on the organizational innovation of AXA insurance, Ireland. It was revealed that due to the transformational leadership style of John. ONeil, the CEO, a non-innovative firm was transmuted into an innovative one. To achieve this level of creativity, the physical spaces were decorated with eye catching colors and employees from all levels and functions were made to work together in order to stimulate creativity. The results of this transformational behavior were soon evident in the form of 150 new business ideas during 6 months. (Shin Zhou 2003) found that positive relation was discovered between transformational leadership and creativity of subordinates on the basis of a study conducted on 290 employees and their supervisors belonging to 46 Korean companies. (Jung, Wu, Chow, 2008) concluded in their research that a positive relation has existence between the transformational leadership of CEO and organizational innovation. This effect is moderated by variables such as organizational structure, culture and external environment. These results are agreed upon after testing multi-sourced data from 50 Taiwanese electronics and telecommunications companies. (Oke, Munshi, Walumbwa, 2009) found that transformational style of leadership strongly enhances creativity and innovation regarding exploratory (creating something of a totally new and radical nature) and exploitative innovation activities (incremental improvements and refinements to something that already exists). These leaders have the ability to transform or change, which makes them the main drivers for innovative processes. (Lale Gumusluoglu, Arzu IIsev, 2009) suggested that transformational leadership style has strong influence on both the individual and organizational innovation. Individually, transformational leadership is positively related to the creativity of employees. Furthermore, transformational leadership and organizational innovation are spotted to have a positive association between them. These results are the outcome of a study conducted on 163 managers and RD personnel from 43 Micro and small sized software development companies from Turkey. (Khan, Rehman and Fatima, 2009) studied managers from telecommunication sector in Pakistan and explored the positive effects of transformational leadership on organizational innovation. (Mariana Makri, Terri A.Scandura, 2010) identified the strong relation of operational leadership (the dimension of leadership which reflects the ability of a CEO to refine the existing paths to growth or tapping new paths by reframing and extending the boundaries of the firm to products and markets) and creative leadership (the ability of a leader to contribute to the social, human and knowledge capital of his firm) with the quantity and resonance of innovation. The hypothesis was tested over a sample of 77 high technology firms. 4. Research Methodology 4.1 Sources of data This research will make use of both primary and secondary data. Transformational leadership style will be judged on the basis of primary data obtained through interview and questionnaire. The level of organizational innovation will be assessed by primary data obtained through questionnaire and secondary data gathered from the companys publicly disclosed financial statements. 4.2 Research instruments Questionnaires and structured interviews will serve as instruments of this research. The extent of transformational leadership will be measured using Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Bass and Avolio, 1995) (Annexure-A). MLQ is a well validated measure of transformational leadership and has been used extensively in prior research (Awamleh and Gardner, 1999). Each respondent will be asked to rate five aspects of his/her leaders/ top-managers behavior related to each of the four dimensions of transformational leadership (idealized influence/charisma, inspirational motivation, individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation). The responses will be anchored by a 5-point response scale (1-not at all, 2-once in a while, 3-sometimes, 4-fairly often, 5-frequently, if not always). While measuring organizational innovation, a composite measure will be used to capture the broad aspects of innovative activities (Balkin et als, 2000). Two measures will be used to tap into different aspects of innovation. First is the annual RD expenditure as a percentage of sales revenue over three years prior to this study (i.e.2008-2010). This ratio indicates a firms emphasis on innovation (Hitt, Hoskisson and Kim, 1997; Balkin et al, 2000). These figures will be obtained from the companys publicly disclosed financial statements. Second, different respondents actively following the telecommunication industry will be contacted. The reason is to include different fruits of innovation such as process and service improvements. Each respondent will be offered two sets of questions about the sample firm. The first set includes a single question regarding his/her familiarity with the company. The possible answers will be 1-not familiar with the company at all, 2-somewhat familiar with the company, 3-very familiar with the company. Only the respondents with responses 2 and 3 will be considered. The second set comprises of 20 questions (4 questions each for scanning five types of innovative activities i.e. product innovation, process innovation, marketing innovation, strategic innovation and organizational climate innovation) in order to rate the level of organizational innovation (Annexure B). The 5-point Likerts Scale (1-strongly disagree, 2-disagree, 3-neither agree nor disagree, 4-agree, 5-strongly agree) will be used to anchor the responses. 4.3 Sampling design (a) Universe / population There are many national and multinational telecommunication companies operating in Pakistan. All these national and multinational firms collectively form the population/ universe of this research. Results will be generalized and recommendations will be forwarded considering all these firms. (b) Sample size and selection This research will adopt a case study approach by focusing on Telenor (Peshawar) as the sample firm. A simple random sample of 30 employees of low, middle and top-management of the company will be selected with the aim of assessing transformational leadership. Furthermore, organizational innovation will be judged by studying a random sample of 30 respondents that are directly or indirectly associated with the telecommunication industry in Pakistan.

Dont Concentrate on Camps Essay -- essays research papers

Don’t Concentrate on Camps   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A concentration camp can be defined as a camp were particular people are confined or detained for a period of time, although ironically the term death camp is commonly used as a synonym. Between the years of 1942 and 1945 the German Nazi Party initiated concentration camps for all Jews and other peoples that were considered by Adolf Hitler to be inferior. This is a commonly known fact, although extensive knowledge is limited to most people. The majority of concentration camps established have been used for the containing and eventual extermination of its prisoners. Camps have been located all over the world for many different reasons. Survivors (though rare) do exist and always have gruesome, life altering stories kept away in there souls. Undoubtedly Auschwitz in Poland is the most well known camp, but the future existence of concentration camps in the United States has even been discussed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although one of the first uses of concentration camps was by Britain in 1899 against the Boerevolk people, Adold Hitler took them to extreme during World War II (Berwick 85). The first concentration camps of the 1930’s were simply meant to hold political enemy’s of the Nazi state such as Communists and Socialists, but eventually, bigger camps were created for the extermination of inferior groups and races (Swiebocka 1). The original intention of concentration camps was not specifically to murder mass numbers of people although that was though of as a plus side. In his raging insanity Adolf Hitler molded the concept of concentration camps from containment to extermination. Hitler located his primary concentration extermination camps in Poland focusing on six main camps, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek-Lublin, Sobibor, and Treblinka (Sheehan 6). In these camps alone over 2,700,000 Jews were murdered, along with tens of thousands of Gypsies, Soviet prisoners of war, Poles, and others (Sheehan7). The prisoners in these camps died from many different causes. Some simply died from starvation and illness, others were told to â€Å"dig a hole† and then when they finished were shot only to fall inside there own grave. Most were sent to gas chambers to be chemically destroyed. Nazi guards would give the prisoners a small piece of soap and tell them to go into a designated room and â€Å"s... ...exico border, they would immediately be under containment. Supposedly there intention is strictly precautionary, but could the United States actually be considering using them in the future? After all, the government has showed in the past its ability to imprison a group of peoples. During World War II the United States Government demanded that all Japanese Americans be put into concentration camps for holding until the end of the war. They did not intend to kill anyone, although some did die, the U.S. was simply attempting to protect itself against any further Japanese attacks. Concentration camps were used then, and if necessary they could be used again. The origin of concentration camps was simply to hold a group of dangerous peoples. Adolf Hitler obliterated this idea and created his own version of concentration camps to exterminate the Jews and all other inferior people. Auschwitz will remain in infamy as the most horrifying place on earth, and its survivors will forever be scarred. Unfortunately the future might hold concentration camps for American again if it becomes necessary, but honestly, the world will be a better place when concentration upon camps desists forever.