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Essays

What is so remarkable about BLINK: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (Gladwell) is that common assumptions and perceptions of how decisions are best made, from thorough empirical analysis to the use of large yet…

South Africa the Technology Divide: Economic & Cultural Disparity"

The Order of the Companions of Honour is a United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations Order. It was founded by George V of the United Kingdom in June 1917, as a reward for outstanding achievements in the arts,…

XML has emerged as the globally adopted standard for Internet-based integration of systems and processes and has made the development of knowledge-sharing networks possible (Choi, Wong, 2009)(Ives, Halevy, Weld, 2009).

Why are some fruits sour, and other fruits sweet?

Ho Chi Minh, which means 'He Who Enlightens', represents a leader whose early background is a mystery. His exact date of birth and birth name cannot be verified and changes depending on the research site.

Student retention is an important area of concern for modern educational theory and praxis and can be described as, "...the area of research concerned with determining the forces that shape student persistence in…

In this paper, we are going to be looking at the impact of juvenile crime and education. This will be accomplished by focusing on: this relationship and proposing alternative strategies for educating young adults. Once this takes place, is when we provide specific ideas educators can use to address these challenges in the future.

Physical anthropology deals with the twin questions of how we became human and what it means to be human. To understand these questions, we need to turn to evolution and so evolution describes how synthesis of adaption to environment and mutation of genes, that transpired over the cause of millions of years, shaped the human race in a virtually all ways from physical, to psychological, to social and so forth. Seeing our relatedness to the animal race makes us realize that we are not a distinct, or rather, separate species but that we are linked in relationship to all other genera in the world and it is these roots that shape our particular humanoid characteristics

Leadership theories continue to evolve as the complexity, nature and scope of organizations shift from command-and-control structures to more agile frameworks for managing change. The pace of disruptive innovation is accelerating, forcing reliance on the latest theories of leadership to keep organizations competitive in rapidly changing markets. The intent of this analysis is to evaluate the traditional, contemporary and emerging leadership theories and interpersonal forms of power. Unifying these factors by defining the profile of the ideal leader is also completed in this analysis, highlighting the most effective leadership characteristics and patterns in their specific roles. An organization has been selected, Cisco Systems, to evaluate these theories against. In addition, organizational stressors are also discussed in addition to strategies to managing them so an organization can still attain optimal performance. The five conflict management styles are also discussed in addition to potential barriers to communication, with recommendations on how to overcome them. Analysis of Traditional, Contemporary and Emerging Leadership Theories Traditional leadership theories stressed the concept of the "great man" or leader who was given the role based on behavioral traits and their ability to create and sustain teams' progress towards goals. These "great man" theories also relied on external observation of traits; there was little advanced screening of personality traits or the innate perceptions of highly effective leaders (Fitzgerald, Schutte, 2010). Traditional leadership theories progressed rapidly beyond only the observable traits of a leader and seeing them as innate to the belief that leadership could be mastered as a skill (Buffinton, Jablokow, Martin, 2002). This shift in leadership theories marked the transition of this field from traditional to contemporary research. With contemporary theories, leadership is seen as a skill that can be taught (Purvanova, Bono, 2009). The research of Dr. Max Weber on the traits of charismatic leaders and the contingency theories of Dr. Fred Fielder (Maslanka, 2004) are the foundation of contemporary theories of leadership. These foundational concepts set the foundation for the rapidly emerging leadership theories that are in use today. The inclusion of Emotional Intelligence (EI) and charismatic leadership into a common framework was first completed by researchers James McGregor Burns and Bernard Bass, who created the transformational leadership theory (Maslanka, 2004). One of the most powerful aspects of this theory is that it includes both the behavioral and cognitive aspects of leadership behavior, while also showing how adoption of the five factor model created can also increase leadership effectiveness (Judge, Joyce, 2000). Of the many emerging leadership theorists adding knowledge to this field, Dr. Bruce Avolio and Fred Luthans continued to expand on these leadership theories and show the potential for EI-based leadership models to positively impact corporate financial performance (Fitzgerald, Schutte, 2010). Defining the Ideal Leader The ideal leader at Cisco Systems is one that combines communication and collaboration skills with the ability to create and sustain team progress towards challenging goals. The best leaders at Cisco systems also have the ability to create self-efficacy in their subordinates along with accountability both to each other and to results. In this respect, Cisco's top leaders have strong transformational leadership skills combined with EI-based insights into hwo best to modify their own leadership approaches to meet the directional needs of their group (Purvanova, Bono, 2009). Combining the attributes or qualities of individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation and idealized influence, Cisco's top leaders have a strong foundation of transformational leadership skills (Judge, Joyce, 2000). What makes these leaders different than many others in the high technology industry is their ability to also combine interpersonal forms of power as well. These include coercive power, reward power, legitimate power, referent power and expert power (French, Raven, 1959). Of these, Cisco's top leaders are most effective when they use expert power and referent power, two elements often found in high technology companies given the nature of their business models. Both of these types of power are highly effective in moving new product ideas along to fruition and financial profitability. For Cisco, the pace of new product introductions must continually improve if they are to stay up with their global competitors. Cisco's leaders are given the responsibility for making new product launches contribute a large percentage of profits in any given financial quarter. This is how Cisco ties transformational leadership skills, expert and referent power to financial results. All of these activites revolve around innovation adn new product development.