Organizational Culture,Leadership Behaviors,and Employee Attitude in Chinese SMEs＂ Empirical Evidence

This study examines the impact of organizational culture on leadership behaviors, as well as the influence of leadership behaviors on employee attitude in Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises （SMEs）. Based on previous researches, this study establishes a conceptual model that indicates the two types of influential relationship. Data are collected from 515 subordinates of 23 SMEs in Chengdu of Sichuan province. By using statistical methods, findings of this study are concluded. Directions for future research are also discussed.     

Crisis Management Competencies

Since public networks became widespread, doubts have arisen over how to make them succeed. Scholars have traditionally addressed the issue in different ways, thus variously shedding light on the network structure, mechanisms, or managers as predictors of the network performance. The aim of our article is to explore the possibility of an interaction effect between the abovementioned factors. Our results show that there may be a relationship between network structure, mechanisms, and managers that jointly affects network performance. Therefore, important suggestions can be made about how to manage public networks successfully: (1) ensure that your network mechanisms and managerial abilities are coherent with the structure of your network; and (2) if you are in a well-established and integrated network, allow yourself some flexibility. Data were collected through a multiple case study that focused on collaboration for joint provision of home care services in Switzerland.     

Managing Risks in Complex Projects

Dealing effectively with risks in complex projects is difficult and requires management interventions that go beyond simple analytical approaches. This is one finding of a major field study into risk management practices and business processes of 35 major product developments in 17 high‐technology companies. Almost one‐half of the contingencies that occur are not being detected before they impact project performance. Yet, the risk‐impact model presented in this article shows that risk does not affect all projects equally but depends on the effectiveness of collective managerial actions dealing with specific contingencies. The results of this study discuss why some organizations are more successful in detecting risks early in the project life cycle, and in decoupling risk factors from work processes before they impact project performance. The field data suggest that effective project risk management involves an intricately linked set of variables, related to work process, organizational environment, and people. Some of the best success scenarios point to the critical importance of recognizing and dealing with risks early in their development. This requires broad involvement and collaboration across all segments of the project team and its environment, and sophisticated methods for assessing feasibilities and usability early and frequently during the project life cycle. Specific managerial actions, organizational conditions, and work processes are suggested for fostering a project environment most conducive to effective cross‐functional communication and collaboration among all stakeholders, a condition important to early risk detection and effective risk management in complex project situations.     

Expatriate or local bosses? HCN subordinates' preferences in leadership behaviour

This article explores host-country national subordinates’ preferences in leadership behaviour comparing expatriate bosses and local bosses. From a sample of 240 middle managers in Hong Kong with experience with both local Chinese bosses and expatriate bosses from a broad spectrum of Western and Asian countries, it was found that the subordinate managers assessed the leadership behaviour of their expatriate bosses to be significantly closer to that of their perceived ideal boss. American leadership behaviour was the most preferred and Japanese leader style was the least preferred, with British leadership style comprising a middle group. Implications of these findings for international business firms and future academic research are discussed.     

Community leadership cycles and the consolidation of neighbourhood coalitions in the new local governance

The success of the new patterns of local governance depends on engaging communities in a range of partnerships at various geographic scales and administrative levels. In practice, this usually falls to a handful of community leaders in any given locality. Our research on area regeneration partnerships in the UK reveals a community leadership cycle, which proceeds through five phases. The first phase consists of the emergence of a first generation of leaders early on in a partnership, in the second phase their position in the partnership is consolidated and loyalty to the partnership developed, followed by a third phase of the cultivation of a second generation of leaders. Then comes a fourth phase in which the new generation of leaders raise their voices to challenge the established patterns of representation in the partnership. In the final phase, individual leaders exit from the partnership. This community leadership cycle is part of building multi-sector leadership coalitions in the neighbourhoods through strategies combining loyalty, voice and exit.     

Exploring the Impact of Cultural Value Orientations on Market Mavenism and Opinion Leadership

Market mavens and opinion leaders are two key types of consumer influentials. The focus of this research is to extend their predictor characteristics by drawing on the four-way horizontal and vertical individualism-collectivism typology. The theoretical and practical contributions of this study are established by the findings based on the survey data collected from 313 online consumer panelists in the United States. Market mavenism and opinion leadership were independent yet moderately related concepts. Vertical individualism and horizontal collectivism were significant predictors of both market mavenism and opinion leadership while horizontal individualism affected only market mavenism. Vertical collectivism did not predict either type of consumer influentials. Interaction with service employees moderated the relationships between horizontal collectivism and market mavenism and between vertical individualism and opinion leadership.     

Socio‐demographic factors and shared leadership behaviors in dispersed teams: Implications for human resource management

Companies increasingly make use of geographically dispersed teams to capture knowledge residing at different locations. In this context, shared leadership is considered a key enabler of team performance. Taking a functional perspective on shared leadership, we thus investigate the relationship between shared leadership behaviors and team performance in dispersed teams. Furthermore, we analyze how socio‐demographic factors that are characteristic for dispersed teams (i.e., high female‐to‐male ratio, high mean age, and high levels of national diversity) affect shared leadership behaviors. Based on data from 96 dispersed teams, we show that shared leadership behavior fosters team performance. Further, we find the socio‐demographic characteristics typical for dispersed teams to foster shared leadership. Theoretical and managerial implications for human resource management are discussed. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

如何成为一个卓越的领导者

一个优秀的领导具有很多的能力和品质,才能发挥巨大的影响作用,引导和吸引下属为实现组织目标而共同努力。本文从领导哲学的角度,探索如何培养卓越领导者。     

A critique of Porter＇s cost leadership and differentiation strategies

Porter identifies high market share with cost leadership, citing GM as a successful practitioner of this strategy. However, GM became a market share leader in the American automobile industry due to a strategy of market segmentation, differentiation and a broad scope shaped during the 1920s. Porter argues that cost leadership and differentiation offer an equally viable path to competitive success. Nevertheless, a differentiation strategy based on superior quality compared to competition is more profitable than cost leadership strategy. It can lead a business to become a market share leader, and consequently even a low-cost leader. Research indicates that differentiation and cost leadership can co-exist. However, Porter insists that each generic strategy requires a different culture and a totally different philosophy. The problem is that Porter＇s generic strategies are too broad. It is not his logic that is flawed, but his basic premise that prescribes cost leadership strategy as the only route to market share leadership, and presents a narrow view of differentiation with a unique product--sold at a premium price--on the one hand, and a ＂standard, or no-frills＂ product on the other. Mintzburg （1988） says Porter＇s cost leadership strategy should be called ＂price differentiation＂： a strategy that is based on a lower price than that of the competition. He suggests that business strategy has two dimensions： differentiation and scope. Thus, setting scope aside, competitive strategy has only one component： differentiation. So, the key question is not whether to differentiate, but how？ First, make customer-perceived quality as the foundation of competitive strategy because it is far more critical to long-term success than any other factor. Second, serve the middle class by competing in the mid-price segment, offering better quality than the competition at a somewhat higher price. It is this path that can lead to market share leadership--a strategy that can be both profitable--and sustainable.     

Political Opinion Leadership and Electoral Behavior

SUMMARY

A micro-model that focuses on political opinion leadership within an extended nomological network is developed and tested. Data were gathered from a sample of voters in an election. The results indicate that political opinion leadership played a central role in the voting behavior. Key antecedents to opinion leadership were voter involvement, subjective knowledge, and indirectly, information seeking behavior. Important consequences were voting stability, perceived risk and political satisfaction.