Organizational Challenges and the Role of Leadership

Introduction The global economic recession, which began in 2007, emphasized the importance of leadership in modern organizations. Such scholar as Warren Bennis argues that these challenges can force educators and managers to reconsider their understanding of leadership if they want to better respond to various challenges (2007, p. 1).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Organizational Challenges and the Role of Leadership specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More These individuals will have to change their attitude toward communication, decision-making, and structure of their organizations. There are numerous definitions of this concept; overall, it can be understood as the ability to influence and inspire other people and make them committed to ones ideas and strategies (Northouse 2009, p. 5). Many researchers such as Penny Tamkin and Stephen Overell believe that post-recession leaders will have to meet much higher standards in order to sustain their companies during this recession (2009, p. 1). Furthermore, special attention should be paid to negotiation strategies since they are an integral element of leadership and have to reflect the interest of an entire organization. This paper is aimed at analyzing the impacts of economic recession on leadership theory and practice. In particular, it is necessary to single out those aspects of leadership and negotiations practices which become important during this crisis. Economic crisis and its impact on leadership Overall, the ongoing economic recession prompted many people to reconsider modern definition of leadership and leaders. Many corporate executives as well as educators understood this term as the exercise of power and authority within hierarchical structure of the organization (Tamkin Overell 2009, p. 8). Yet, this strictly functional interpretation of this concept overlooks the responsibilities of leaders and their roles. The fallacy of this defini tion has been eloquently illustrated by numerous corporate scandals which broke out during the recession. It has become apparent that many corporate executives failed to take into account the interest of different stakeholders, especially investors, customers, and employees. This crisis showed that some foundational principles of should be reevaluated. This is one of the reasons why a group of scholars under the guidance of Craig Perrin suggested a new model for evaluating the work of leaders. Their framework singles out several aspects or â€Å"zones† of leadership, namely 1) people; 2) society; 3) business; 4) reflection, and 5) ingenuity (Perrin et al, n.d. p.6).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More There are several peculiarities of this model. First of all, it expands the range of a leader’s responsibility. This person has to be accountable to shareholders, emp loyees, and community. This responsibility and accountability were often overlooked by corporate executives before the recession. The second principle is that he/she should be aware about the incompleteness of his/her knowledge (Perrin et al, n.d. p.8). Although this recommendation may appear to be self-evident, it is particularly relevant in the light of economic crisis which was largely caused by irresponsible managerial policies and complete confidences in ones knowledge and decision-making skills. Additionally, this zonal approach to leadership attaches great importance to ingenuity and innovation. According to Perrin et al, the efforts of corporate executives were focused on the preservation of status quo and gaining short-term profits. As a result, their organizations were unable to respond to challenges such as economic recession. It is worth mentioning that many managers attempted to predict and measure specific risks to which their organizations were exposed. This is why th ese organizations were unable to respond to various economic, social, and technological changes. Thus, the ability of leaders to adapt quickly to changing environment becomes crucial during the time of turmoil. In addition, many practitioners and scholars indicate that a leader should be able to see opportunities for the organization and explore them (Tamkin Overell 2009, p. 18). In other words, this person should have a vision of how the company can grow in the long term (Ihlenfeldt 2011). Unfortunately, this aspect has often been neglected executives. To some degree, the ideas of these scholars are supported by corporate leaders whose companies survived the recession. For instance, one can mention Herbert Henkel who restructured the company Ingersoll Rand, developed contingency plans, and reduced inventory long before the recession (Carey, Patsalos-Fox, Useem 2009, p. 2). His ideas were highly unpopular, and many people believed that he had been almost incompetent. Yet, his poli cies helped the company sustain itself during the crisis. His example indicates that a leader should have the courage to do the unpopular thing. Moreover, he should be able to see the challenges which an organization can face.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Organizational Challenges and the Role of Leadership specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The crisis has shown that autocratic management is not the most effective way of leadership because it essentially slows down the exchange of information and decision-making within the company. A good leader is a person who can empower other people (Tamkin Overell 2009, p. 18). To better illustrate this point, we can mention Eric Foss who is the CEO of Pepsi Bottling Group. This corporate leader emphasized the importance of involving board into decision-making (Carey, Patsalos-Fox, Useem 2009, p.5). This cooperation enabled the company to see the magnitude of oncoming rec ession and work out contingency plans. Responsibility and integrity can also be viewed as an attributes of leadership. They can be the key to the survival of a company. In this case, one can mention Terry Lundgren, the CEO of a retailing company Macy. Inc. He warned both investors and employees about future crisis and this helped him gain the trust of these people (Carey, Patsalos-Fox, Useem 2009, p.6). He preferred to say something very unpopular, but in this way he averted panic among investors and workers. Overall, corporate managers described in this paper preferred democratic style of leadership. Similarly, we can mention the companies which failed during recession. One of them is Lehman Brothers. Its executives lacked the qualities typical of leaders, especially integrity and sense of responsibility toward investors and employees. Moreover, they preferred autocratic style of leadership. There are numerous theories and models of leadership, for instance, one can mention trait theory, transformational leadership, role models approach, style theory, and so forth. They describe the character traits of a leader and his/her behavior (Ephross Vassil 2005, p. 53). It is rather difficult to say that the economic recession called a dramatically new approach. Yet, these challenge demonstrated that leadership should be closely tied to such things as social responsibility, ability to innovate and make organization more agile, empowerment of other people, and understanding of ones limitations. These are the main concepts that were highlighted by the recession.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Negotiations concepts and economic recession Negotiation is one of the most important activities in which leaders participate. Such researchers as Chia-Jung Tsay and Max Bazerman point out that very often corporate executives prove to be extremely egocentric and overconfident (2009, p. 7); as a result, they disregard the interests of other stakeholders. Additionally, these scholars identify another fallacy which leaders should definitely avoid, and it is motivated illusion (Tsay Bazerman 2009, p. 8). The thing is that many senior executives tend to be over-confident in their ability to control events which can hardly be predicted (Tsay Bazerman 2009, p. 8). The recent economic recession highlighted these errors. It demonstrated that many corporate leaders were over-confident and egocentric. Therefore, they endangered their companies. Overall, a person, who takes part in the process of negotiations, must know his/her limitations, especially if we are speaking about knowledge and co ntrol. Otherwise, negotiations will essentially be fruitless. Thus, a leader, who takes part in negotiations, should avoid cognitive biases which prevent him/her from taking irresponsible decisions. On the whole, negotiation is an inseparable component of leadership. Those people, who are responsible for the management of different organizations, can negotiate with their business partners, competitors, colleagues, and so forth (Lewicki Hiam 2006). Additionally, the process of negotiations should certainly reflect the interests of the main stakeholders. Unfortunately, very often it is driven primarily by ambitions of corporate executives, willingness to achieve short-term gains (Silkenat, Aresty Klosek 2009). The leaders should represent the entire organizations. Therefore, they need to think about the effect of negotiations which is dependent on their company. Thus, managers and leaders should focus on intellectual and ethical elements of negotiation since they are equally necessa ry for the success. Again, the significance of ethical and intellectual elements was emphasized by the crisis which was caused by unscrupulous business policies, orientation toward short-term results, and the belief in ones infallibility. These pitfalls have to be overcome by modern leaders. Conclusion Recession is one of those organizational challenges which prompt leaders to display their best qualities in order to sustain their companies. The failure of many executives to cope with their duties calls for a new type of leadership. It is possible to single out several elements of leadership, in particular, vision, social responsibility, empowerment of other people, willingness to improve ones professional qualities. These elements are essential for the sustainability of profit and non-profit organizations. This essay has touched upon negotiations as an important element of leadership. This activity has to reflect the interests of various stakeholders can effect the organization. Th e changes notion of leadership can have significance implication for the training of future business administrators. Moreover, it can affect the policies of different organizations. References Bennis, W. 2007, ‘The Challenges of Leadership in the Modern World’, American Psychologists, vol. 62, no. 1, pp. 2-5. Web. Carey, D., Patsalos-Fox, M. Useem, M. 2009, ‘Leadership lessons for hard times’, McKinsey Quarterly, pp. 1-9. Web. Ephross, P. Vassil, T. 2005, Groups that work: Structure and process, Columbia University Press, NY. Ihlenfeldt, W. 2011, Visionary Leadership: A Proven Pathway to Visionary Change, AuthorHouse, NY. Lewicki, R. Hiam, A 2006, Mastering business negotiation: a working guide to making deals and resolving conflict, John Wiley Sons, NY. Northouse, P. 2009, Leadership: Theory and Practice. SAGE, London. Perrin, C., Blauth, C., Apthorp, E. et al., Developing the 21st-century leader: A multi-level analysis of global trends in leadership c hallenges and practices. Web Silkenat, J., Aresty, J. Klosek, J. 2009, The ABA guide to international business negotiations: A comparison of cross-cultural issues and successful approaches. American Bar Association, NY. Tamkin, P. Overell, S. 2009, After the collapse: Post recession leaders and leadership. Provocation Paper 5, The Good Work Commission. Web. Tsay, C. Bazerman, M. 2009, A decision-making perspective to negotiation: A review of the past and a look into the future. Working Paper, Harvard Business School. Web. This essay on Organizational Challenges and the Role of Leadership was written and submitted by user Cody D. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

History of the 1900 Olympics in Paris

History of the 1900 Olympics in Paris The 1900 Olympic Games (also called the II Olympiad) took place in Paris from May 14 to October 28, 1900. Planned as part of the immense World Exhibition, the 1900 Olympics were  under-publicized and completely disorganized.  The confusion was so great that after competing, many participants did not realize that they had just participated in the Olympics.   It is important to note, however, that it was in the 1900 Olympic Games that women first participated as contestants.   Chaos Although more athletes attended the 1900 Games than in 1896, the conditions that greeted the contestants were abysmal. Scheduling conflicts were so great that many contestants never made it to their events. Even when they did make it to their events, athletes found their areas barely usable. For instance, the areas for the running events were on grass (rather than on cinder track) and uneven. The discus and hammer throwers often found that there wasnt enough room to throw, so their shots landed in the trees. The hurdles were made out of broken telephone poles. And the swimming events were conducted in the Seine River, which had an extremely strong current. Cheating? Runners in the marathon suspected the French participants of cheating since the American runners reached the finish line without having the French athletes pass them, only to find the French runners already at the finish line seemingly refreshed.   Mostly French Participants The concept of the new, modern Olympic Games was still new and travel to other countries was long, hard, tiring, and difficult. This plus the fact that there was very little publicity for the 1900 Olympic Games meant that few countries participated and that a majority of the contestants were actually from France.  The croquet event, for example, not only had just French players, all the players were from Paris. For these very same reasons, attendance was very low. Apparently, for that very same croquet event, only one, single ticket was sold to a man who had traveled from Nice. Mixed Teams Unlike later Olympic Games, teams of the 1900s Olympics were often composed of individuals from more than one country. In some cases, men and women could also be on the same team. One such case was 32-year-old  Hà ©là ¨ne de Pourtalà ¨s, who became the first female Olympic champion. She participated in the 1-2 ton sailing event aboard the  Là ©rina, with her husband and nephew. First Woman to Win a Gold Medal As mentioned above,  Hà ©là ¨ne de Pourtalà ¨s was the first woman to win gold while competing in the 1-2 ton sailing event. The first woman to win gold in an individual event was British Charlotte Cooper, a megastar tennis player, who won both singles and mixed doubles.

Community Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Community - Essay Example My notion of community was confined to this setting and usually my mind wandered to the rural area or the countryside with old folks and relatives doing small jobs at home. Champion swimmers are Olympians who win gold medals. To me that was a fact that was always at the back of my mind. They compete to win but are a rare kind of people and they don’t compose a community. They are single individuals, motivated and driven to win but are never living together, or concentrated in a geographic area. A community is different – it is a group of individuals with a common objective and situated in the same place. This opinion is just an opinion which later turned out to be wrong when I came to love the world of sports, particularly swimming. As I grew older in knowledge and spirit, I came to believe that a community is not confined to a small group in one geographic location. Community and sports can be joined together. Swimmers can be one community, people who connect to each other just like other individuals with the same hobby and likes in life. Chess players socialize and connect with other chess players in far places of the globe. Basketball players play hard to get that championship trophy but they form a community of real athletes who must have the stamina, physical endurance and, above all, teamwork. Swimmers love to talk and be with swimmers. We enjoy reading the lives of Olympian swimmers, their hardships and pains, and their successes. The world of sports is as big as the world itself, and swimmers who come from all walks of life can be a community. In my younger years, few dull thoughts formed in my young mind – that I was not made to win and that I would not belong to a sports community. As I learned to swim, I realized I was part of a community, even if that community is composed of people who do not know each other

Happiness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 5

Happiness - Essay Example According to statistical data, the most successful countries are the unhappiest and the wealthiest people are the unhappiest in the society. Research maintains that the more money an individual has, the unhappier they are. Several reasons have been provided to back this up as well as the main reason why the individuals with lower income are happier. First, the wealthy individuals are always in pursuit of more possessions as they view another individual with more possessions as happier and more successful. This ensures that they have less leisure time, which is the time that they can spend with friends and family to help in reducing stress levels that come from work. Therefore, reduced leisure time and the more disconnected the wealthy people are, more unhappy they become. Second, expectations also determine the stress level, which in turn reflect a person’s happiness. In U.S, expectations are very high and mostly with regard to material possessions. If these expectations fail, these individuals become depressed and bury themselves in work so that they can try to achieve them. On the other hand, if they succeed, they will still see another person who has more possessions and their stress level will increase as they try to achieve what the other person has. Research indicates that concerns of material possessions are deep seated in the human brain to the point that they can be very harmful to one’s health both physically and emotionally This clearly indicates that material possessions, although appear good and satisfying, are the main causes of unhappiness. While the wealthy are considerably poor happiness-wise, the lower level individuals are wealthier in the happiness regard. This is because of several reasons. Firstly, these individual do not have many things to do that keeps them busy. In addition, since they do not have many possessions, they rely on one

Managing Internationally Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Managing Internationally - Essay Example Tomboy can be analyzed as a company that operates internationally due to its system of production, subcontracting and distribution where the entities involved are situation in different locations typical of international companies. Production of a simple mechanical pencil may be simple, but in the case of Tombow, the process seems to be complicated. Tombow was founded by Harunosuke Ogawa in 1913 and operating its main headquarters in Tokyo (Mishina 1993). It has pursued modifications and innovations to make its product line-up competitive and the company profitable. Communication is one of the essential elements in the effective management of an organization. There seems to be a communication problem with Tombow. For instance, Yohei Ogawa (president of Tombow) said, when the stockouts of its products have been increasing, that the company’s subcontracting system had not efficiently performed its functions. He is at a loss on what is happening in the subcontracting level. He is wary on what the problem could be, or how would he know the problem. Late deliveries had also been a perennial problem of the sales department. Keitaro Ogura (head of sales promotion department), expressed dissatisfaction with the way the production people had been doing their work (Mishina 1993). Selling the products is easy he said, but the late deliveries are causing uneasiness in the sales department. As in the case cited above, Mr. Ogura is unaware of what is happening at the production level. In fact, he seems be disgusted with the way the production people had been doing their job. He said that, â€Å". . . we can’t tell if they’re just not trying hard enough,† referring to the production sector (Mishina 1993, p. 4). During meetings, the problem with late deliveries are not discussed and threshed out. Definitely, when problems are presented to the higher level of management and not settled or attempted to be settled, this would affect the morale of the m iddle level managers. Communication is the process of sharing and exchanging information within a common interpretative framework so that the information can be useful and meaningful (Booth 2008). Without the established communication channels and protocols, there will be a breakdown in communication (Patterson 2009). Appropriate communication channels must be formed within the organization and between the organization and the suppliers, vendors, retailers, dealers and sales agents. Regular meetings can help in threshing out business and management issues. However, issuance of memoranda and letters are sufficient to share information. At present, the advanced information technology can help a lot in bridging the gap in information among the different components of the organization. The information system has been contributing much to the changes in the organization (Mills 2005). It is clear in the case study that the use of computers and information technology has not been utilized by Towbow in any of its processes. A computer system must be set up to facilitate communication among the components. IT can also help in one of the main problems of Tombow – inventory control and tracking. As expressed by the head of the sales department, there had been delays in the deliveries and he was not aware of what was happening. The problem of uncertainty can be solved by a global inventory system for all stakeholders of Tombow, each component with specific access to the database. For instance, the orders of retailers, dealers of sales agents will be posted by the sales department in the database. The sales department will inform the main headquarter of the orders through letter or email. The sales department will post in the global inventory

The unsuccesful use of ethanol :: Alternative fuel bio-ethanol

The Unsuccessful Use of Ethanol Current interest in ethanol fuel in the United States mainly lies in bio-ethanol, produced from corn, but there has been considerable debate about how useful bio-ethanol will be in replacing fossil fuels in vehicles. Concerns relate to the large amount of arable land required for crops, as well as the energy and pollution balance of the whole cycle of ethanol production. I don't think the US could implement the use of ethanol or other alternate fuels successfully as Brazil has done for many reasons: firstly, ethanol production in the United States does not benefit the nation's energy security, its agriculture, economy or the environment because ethanol production requires large fossil energy input to produce these fuels than you get out from the combustion of these products. Therefore, it is contributing to oil and natural gas imports and U.S. deficits. The country should instead focus its efforts on producing electrical energy from photovoltaic cells, wind power and burning biomass and producing fuel from hydrogen conversion. Secondly, in Brazil reducing the rate of deforestation seemed likely to be more effective for taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. In the United States, reliance on ethanol to fuel the automobile fleet would require enormous, unachievable areas of corn agriculture, and the environmental impacts would outweigh its benefits, destroying bio-diversity. Ethanol would be mainly made from bio organic material that will be especially grown for this purpose. It also uses a lot of fuel to grow these plants. The same goes for various kinds of vegetable oils that are said to be environmental friendly. Ethanol cannot alleviate the United States? dependence on petroleum, may, however, still be useful in regions or cities with critical pollution problems, and to make use of agricultural wastes. Basically, an increased demand for ethanol would cause land use changes - destroying forests and grasslands to grow corn or other ethanol crops - ethanol and other bio-fuels actually add to global wa rming. Thirdly, as demand for ethanol fuel increases, food crops are replaced by fuel crops, driving food supply down and food prices up. Growing demand for ethanol in the United States has increased corn prices by 50% in Mexico. Average barley prices in the United States rose 17% from January to June 2007 to the highest in 11 years. Prices for all grain crops trend upward, reflecting a progressive increase in farm land devoted to corn for the production of produce ethanol fuel.

Business Plan Essay

We all know that there are already many kinds of perfume that is being  produced by different local manufacturers. Now days, many consumers are becoming conscious on how they smell and they are very choosy of the kind of perfume that they buy and use at a very reasonable price. This kind of perfume is made from various oils that is blended to come up an enchanted perfume that every body will surely love. The plan in putting up this business started, when the proponent compose of the 4 girls of Lumabas-Sibbaluca Family who love to try various perfume scents and they are very fond of using colognes. They cannot go out of their house without spraying cologne so they decided to put up a business which is close to their heart and that is manufacturing perfume. Brief Description of the Project The SCENT of the ORIENT is a company that manufactures perfume which is extracted from various flowers that can be found in our country. This product is chemically proven to be hypo-allergenic so that it can be used by every Filipino and even those who are sensitive to some chemicals. The proponents decide to manufacture this product because every Filipino specially women who love to put perfume whenever they go out or even at home to feel fresh and fragrant all day. Mission The company is drive by its mission by providing competitive, low cost, hypo-allergenic, good quality perfumery products to every Filipino who wanted to have a positive effect to everyone they will encounter by their capturing scent. Objectives The company aims to expand its market not only in the country but other parts of the world. The company wanted to promote their product internationally to prove the ingenuity and talent of every Filipino. The company also aims to give jobs to Filipino to be able to help in the unemployment problem of the country. Brief Profile of the Entrepreneur The Scent of the Orient is a corporation owned by Maria Rosela Aznar, Maureen Marie Doctora, Mary Rose De Leon and Cleta Sibbaluca. The eldest daugther Ms. Rosela Aznar, is a trainor on Perfume making which had initiated to put  up the corporation. The other owners would like to have an additional source of income which will eventually be the major source of income on the success of the business. Project’s Contributions to the Economy The Scent of the Orient deals how the corporation can help uplift the economy of the country by providing income generating activities that will increase number employment as well as the contribution it will do to the government. SECTION 1 MARKETING PLAN 1.1Description of the Product Since the beginning of recorded history, humans have attempted to mask or enhance their own odor by using perfume, which emulates nature’s pleasant smells. Many natural and man-made materials have been used to make perfume to apply to the skin and clothing, to put in cleaners and cosmetics, or to scent the air. Because of differences in body chemistry, temperature, and body odors, no perfume will smell exactly the same on any two people. Natural ingredients flowers, grasses, spices, fruit, wood, roots, resins, balsams, leaves, gums, and animal secretions as well as resources like alcohol, petrochemicals, coal, and coal tars are used in the manufacture of perfumes. Some plants, such as lily of the valley, do not produce oils naturally. In fact, only about 2,000 of the 250,000 known flowering plant species contain these essential oils. Therefore, synthetic chemicals must be used to re-create the smells of non-oily substances. Synthetics also create original scents not found in nature From the name of the product, the consumers will know that this perfume that acquire sweet and mild scent that is very pleasing to the nose. The product label has been design in a creative logo and that is a beautiful sensuous ans care free spirited young lady. This product which is one kind of perfume, is basically made by the proponent as perfumes that can be used even in day time and that it scent last for a long time even if you sweat due to strenuous activities like working out in a gym, doing households chores or just do malling with your friends. 1.2Comparison of the Product with Its Competitors