[Type text] Page 0€¦ · them in her article called, “The Ten Commandments to Customer...

[Type text] Page 0

2011

Cumorah Publishing Page 1

TABLE OF CONTENT Put a Customer in the Board……..……….3 Top-down or Bottom-up management…..14 Social Media............................….............21

Evolution of Leadership…………………..30

The

Spori Business

Review

Is published and printed

By

Cumorah Publishing

Group

525 S Center Street Rexburg, Idaho 83460

Phone: (208) 206-1428

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.sbr.org

Editor-in-Chief

Sylvester P. Brown

Editors

Katie Fikes

Bruce Drennan

Copyright (c) 2011 – Cumorah

Publishing

2011


SBR

FEATURES

3. CUSTOMER SERVICE Article by: JOE MOSHER & CHRIS FARMER If you provide better value to customers, naturally they will want to purchase from you. When you provide the same product, quality, and price, the key differentiation then becomes the customer experience. There are numerous reasons why the customer experience matters, after which we will explore the new-comer to the 21st century boardroom: The Chief Customer Officer.

14. TOP-DOWN or BOTTOM-UP MANAGEMENT Article by: Tallon Shreeve & Lane Judy This article will discuss different management techniques that are involved in a generalized business area. It will help the reader understand the differences between top-down management and bottom-up management, including the pros and cons of each. One generally is better than the other, and this article will discuss the reasons why in the pages that follow.

21. SOCIAL MEDIA Article by: Katie Fikes and Brent Carver In today’s world social media has completely revolutionized how people interact with everything around them. Being able to communicate and keep in touch with anyone anywhere in the world at any time with minimal cost has allowed people to keep and develop deeper more personal relationships at a distance. Social media has also allowed for consumers to find and explore new products that others have recommended that would not have been discovered otherwise.

30. EVOLUTION OF LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS

Article by: Sylvester Peter Brown & Shane Jones In this report we have presented theories that are general in nature and cuts across many organizational boarders. There are a few observations that we do recognize and these include the fact that these theories have evolved according to the trends in business world. This includes colonization of other nations, organizations across nations, organizations that go on the international market and the fact that in recent times everyone is thinking of globalization.

2011


PUT A CUSTOMER IN THE BOARDROOM1

JOE MOSHER & CHRIS FARMER

The world is globalizing. Products

and services are being imported, exported,

outsourced, in-sourced and off-shored. People

around the world enjoy far greater selection

for goods and services than at any time in

world history. With the increase of

globalization, the business environment of the

21st century is changing rapidly.

Globalization is a force “so ubiquitous that it

will substantially shape all other major

trends” (Brandon, 2005). Competitors are no

longer coming from the same city, state, or

country. “Drops in the cost of transportation

as well as increases in technology have led to

increased global trade, competition, and more

products being available to local consumers”

(Kreuger, 2011). Now, competition comes

from any country in the world that has an

internet connection. With increased

competition, prices naturally drop until we

1 Image from:

http://www.avispl.com/SLIS/AVI/ProjectImages/74_lg.jpg

achieve perfect competition where everyone‟s

price is nearly identical. With better

technology, developing countries are now

able to produce at the same quality as other

countries. While that may not be entirely true

today, it will be true in the very near future.

Will companies only be able to compete on

price in the future? With the increase in

foreign competition, it would be reasonable to

fear that customers will simply purchase the

lowest price. We‟ve seen this start to happen

already with customers purchasing their

electronics from Wal-Mart instead of Best

Buy, merely to save a few dollars.

CUSTOMER SERVICE IS THE KEY

Without being able to compete on

price, the customer experience will become

more and more important in the 21st century

business environment. If customers can get



2011


the same product from somebody else for the

same quality and the same price, why should

they buy it from you? If you provide better

value to customers, naturally they will want

to purchase from you. When you provide the

same product, quality, and price, the key

differentiator then becomes the customer

experience. There are numerous reasons why

the customer experience matters, after which

we will explore the new-comer to the 21st

century boardroom: The Chief Customer

Officer.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Customer service in a vital part of

a company’s job and should not just be

seen as an extension of the company

(Friedmann). Customers are a

company’s most vital asset. Without

consumer businesses would and could

not exist. When a customer is satisfied a

business grows. This happens when the

customer recommends the business to

family and friends and the customer

continues doing business with the

company.

There are many key traits to great customer

service. Susan Friedmann discusses some of

them in her article called, “The Ten

Commandments to Customer Service.”

THE 10 COMMANDMENTS OF

CUSTOMER SERVICE

1) Know who the boss is. Businesses are

designed to fulfill the needs of

customers and that can only be

accomplished if the customer‟s needs

are understood. Listening to

customers is the best way to provide

them with good service and let them

know they are boss.

2) Be an effective listener. As

mentioned above listening is how

customers feel validated. Listening

requires asking thought provoking

questions. Listen to the responses of

the customer. What is their attitude?

Asking effective questions and

listening well will help to notice

trends and assumptions customers

have. This will allow a business

model to change with the changing

demands of consumers.

3) Anticipate needs and trends. Rarely to

consumers want products or services.

They want peace of mind and

solutions to problems. Customers

2011


shop to meet an emotional need rather

than a logical need. It is a business‟s

responsibility to see these needs and

take care of them.

4) Make customers feel appreciated.

Customers need to be treated as

people not statistics. Learn their

names and use it regularly. When

appropriate, find ways to compliment

them. This will create trust. Make

sure employee body language conveys

appreciation and gratitude. Thank

customers as often as possible.

5) Teach customer the systems. Each

business organization is different.

These differences make it tough for

consumers to learn all of them.

Explain the system to customers.

When customers don‟t understand

they get frustrated, confused,

impatient, and angry. They harbor

negative feelings towards unclear

businesses.

6) There is power in saying “Yes.” It is

important for businesses to look for

ways to help customers. When

customers have questions businesses

need to let them know they can help.

Once the customer is at ease with their

problem find the best solution to their

problem. Always perform any tasks

agreed to.

7) Know how to apologize. Mistakes

and accidents happen. When

something goes wrong, apologize. It's

easy and customers appreciate it.

Customers are not always right, but

they must always win. Deal with

issues immediately before the

customer has left or made a negative

scene. View complaints and criticism

as a way to improve business

practices. Don‟t take complaints

personally.

8) Go above customer expectations. The

future of a business goes hand in hand

with the happiness of customers. It is

important for a business to constantly

evaluate how it sits compared to the

competition. A business should ask:

What can I give my customers

that they cannot get elsewhere?

What can I do to follow-up

and thank customers?

2011


What can I do for or give a

customer that is unexpected?

9) Get feedback. Businesses should

always look for ways they can

improve. Customer feedback a great

way to find out what can be improved.

Feedback can be obtain by:

Carefully listening to what

customer say.

Regularly checking back to see

how things are going.

Provide a method that invites

constructive criticism, comments

and suggestions.

10) Treat employees well. Employees are

the face of the company. A happy

employee will be more likely to treat

customers well. Employees need a

regular dose of appreciation. Find

ways to thanks them and let them

know how important they are to the

business operations. Appreciation

starts with the chief officers. If they

do not show appreciation for those

around them it is unlikely that attitude

will flow to the entry position

employees.

By performing these ten simple tasks,

businesses can create brand loyalty and

lifetime customers. This happens are

customers understand the benefits that a

business can offer them. When these benefits

are difficult to see customer go elsewhere to

have their needs satisfied. It is important for

businesses to take care of needs correctly the

first time. Failure to perform these ten steps

will lead to the failure of businesses.

THE FUTURE OF CUSTOMER

SERVICE

Scott Schwartsman, COO of

Serviceware, recently shared his insight

regarding the future of business and customer

service. He said, “As the economy continues

to rebound, today‟s dynamic and competitive

business environment requires a new way of

approaching customer service and support. Of

course, modern customers still want to be

reassured that they are buying a quality

product or service; however, they also want to

feel valued, respected and important. Many of

today‟s customers are also quite tech-savvy.

Therefore, they want to be able to access

quality customer service quickly, anytime of

day or night.”

2011


A continually globalizing society

leads to a more complex environment. The

rapid increases in technology and the way we

communicate make staying in touch with

consumers easier. However, this increase

also makes competition just a click away.

What is the future for quality customer

service?

In order for businesses to progress,

they must adapt and change with their

customers. The era of customer loyalty is

coming to a close (Schwartsman). Customer

can quickly pick and choose the product that

meets his or her needs at a more affordable

price. Adaptive, knowledge powered

technology support is the solution that allows

businesses to keep pace with changing

conditions for the information technology

department (Schwartsman).

Being able to adapt the technological

support is vital to these fast changing times.

If it can‟t adapt quickly then the technology is

worth purchasing. Things are changing too

quickly (Schwartsman). Social media is a

great example of an adaptive technology that

can quickly change and adapt to meet the

needs of both business and customer alike.

As the social media industry expands it will

be a more powerful way to reach out to many

customers (Fisher, 2010).

THE CHIEF CUSTOMER OFFICER

The corporate environment in recent

years has been focused on the word “no.”

Author Jeanne Bliss wrote about her

experiences in corporate America:

The most important skill required for

the job: pushing back on the answer „no.‟ No

we can‟t change that policy. It makes too

much money. No, customers don‟t need us to

resolve their problems on the first call. No,

no, no. There is no reason that we should talk

to customers to understand why they left!

(Bliss, 2006 p. 3)

This illustrates the attitude that has

permeated corporate America during much of

the 20th century. Customers weren‟t able to

get your products anywhere else, so they were

stuck with you. You didn‟t have to treat them

nicely, what other options did they have?

However, in the 21st century business

environment, things have changed. Now

customers can get your product anywhere and

probably for a cheaper price. The key to

customer retention now is the customer

experience. But who is going to focus on the

customer experience? The CEO has to ensure

profitability to shareholders, the COO has to

2011


make sure operations is running smoothly, the

CFO has to make sure the company is in

sound financial condition, and the CMO is

focusing on making people aware of the latest

products. Who is watching out for the

customer? Who is watching the company to

make sure the customer is getting a consistent

and positive experience? Fortune 500

companies have only just begun to realize the

value of the key executive needed to weather

the coming storm: The Chief Customer

Officer (CCO).

WHAT THE CCO IS

The Chief Customer Officer is a new

and developing member of the executive

board whose primary role is to act on the

customer‟s behalf (CCO Council, 2011). The

CCO is given the responsibility to act as the

customer advocate in all decisions the

company makes that can have a potential

impact on the customer experience. The

CCO is the proxy for the customer in the

boardroom. This allows companies to

consider the impact of all decisions in relation

to how it will be viewed by existing

customers. The last thing you want to do as a

business is alienate your customers. Consider

how you plan on selling products if you have

no one to sell them to?

WHAT THE CCO DOES

The CCO Council is a newly formed

professional networking group for Chief

Customer Officers. On their website, they

provide valuable insight into what the CCO

does. The website states, “The chief

customer officer is responsible for the entire

relationship experienced by a customer.

Anytime a customer uses anything produced

by a company, the CCO needs to know about

it and be involved” (Chief Customer Officer,

2011). Because of this responsibility, the

CCO participates in strategic decisions,

development of a customer strategy, and the

retention / expansion of customers. In all

decisions, the CCO must look through the

eyes of the customer and consider the reaction

to a business decision.

STRATEGIC DECISIONS

When making strategic business

decisions, the CCO will advocate the

customers‟ perspective and articulate their

potential response. It may make financial

sense to move a production facility to another

state in order to take advantage of a more

favorable tax code. However, customers may

be alienated by the resulting increase in

shipping times to acquire their products.

2011


Companies may want to send their call-center

divisions to India to take advantage of cheap

labor. However, customers may be fiercely

opposed to outsourcing and defect to the

competition. From a normal CFO or CCO

perspective, these strategies make complete

sense and should be pursued. However, the

CCO can provide valuable insight into the

resulting consequences of these decisions.

The CCO provides the insight that a customer

would provide if the customer was in the

boardroom during the decision making

period.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE

CUSTOMER STRATEGY

The CCO‟s role is to understand the

customer inside and out. The CCO must

understand a customer‟s buying motives,

price sensitivity, and customer support

requirements. By understanding these things,

the CCO is thus responsible for creating and

integrating a customer strategy. A customer

strategy is the plan of attack for meeting

customer needs. The strategy guides

management and employees when

determining how to meet customer demands.

One customer strategy would be to provide

the fastest response to any negative

experience. This would then lead the CCO to

develop teams designed to instantly respond

when customers are displeased or are

considering leaving the company. The

responding team would work with the

unhappy customer to resolve concerns,

provide solutions, and retain their important

business. The plan of attack from the

customer strategy can increase brand loyalty,

increase revenues, and drive profitability.

RETENTION / EXPANSION OF

CUSTOMERS

A main function of the CCO is to

retain customers and locate more.

Interestingly, the CCO should also find

customers within the existing base that

need to be dropped. Some customers

are actually worth less than the trouble

that they cause and should be

abandoned to focus on valuable

customers whose needs can be met.

The CCO should also meet with key

customers in person in order to build

stronger relationships with them. The

customers 5-10 year plans can provide

valuable insight to how the company can

meet their needs now and in the future.

The personalized CCO meeting

demonstrates to the customer that the

2011


company is committed to taking care of

them.

CONCLUSION

The era of globalization is far from

being over. Companies will continue to

face intense price competition from

foreign competitors. However, the

customer experience matters.

Companies that can utilize the 10

commandments of customer experience

focus their efforts on meeting customers’

needs, and make strategic decisions with

the customer in mind will be able to

emerge profitable and strong in the 21st

century business environment. The Chief

Customer Officer will become the key

player in this strategic approach to the

challenges that lie ahead.

2011

Cumorah publishing Page 11

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"American customer satisfaction index - Home." American Customer Satisfaction Index - Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://www.theacsi.org/>.

"bit.ly | Basic | a simple URL shortener." bit.ly | Basic | a simple URL shortener. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://bit.ly>.

Bliss, Jeanne. "Machine of mediocrity." Chief customer officer: getting past lip service to passionate action. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2006. 3. Print.

Brandon, Hembree. "The world ahead: more competition, globalization | Import and Export content from Delta Farm Press." Delta Farm Press Home Page | . N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://deltafarmpress.com/markets/world-ahead-more-competition-globalization>.

"CCO Council ." CCO Council . N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://www.ccocouncil.org/site/Default.aspx>.

"CUSTOMER SATISFACTION - The prime concern of your business and the critical component of its profitability." Ten3 BUSINESS e-COACH - Inspiration and Innovation Unlimited! 1000 Ventures, Your 360 Achievement Catalyst! Happiness, Success, Entrepreneurial Creatiivty, Leadership, Self-Improvement, People Skills, Business Success, Kaizen, Lean Manufacturing, Ve. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/customer_satisfaction.html>.

"Chief customer officer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_customer_officer>.

Coyne, Kevin P.. "The customer satisfaction survey snag - BusinessWeek." BusinessWeek - Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/jun2009/ca20090619_272945.htm>.

"ECIS resources." LSE Department of Information Systems. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2011. <http://www.is2.lse.ac.uk/asp/aspecis>.

"Excellence in financial management." Excellence in Financial Management. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://www.exinfm.com/>.

Fisher, L. (2010). The future of customer service. The Next Web. Retrieved March 2, 2011, from http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2010/10/21/the-future-of-customer-service/

"Forbes.com Video Network | Business: How salesforce trains its sales force." Forbes.com Video Network | SportsMoney: The Sexiest Man On The Court. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://video.forbes.com/fvn/sales-leadership/how-salesforce-trains-its-sales-force>.

Friedmann, S. (n.d.). The ten commandments of great customer service. Marketing Strategy. Retrieved March 2, 2011, from http://marketing.about.com/od/rela

http://www.theacsi.org/

http://bit.ly/

http://deltafarmpress.com/markets/world-ahead-more-competition-globalization



http://www.ccocouncil.org/site/Default.aspx

http://www.ccocouncil.org/site/Default.aspx

http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/crosscuttings/customer_satisfaction.html



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_customer_officer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_customer_officer

http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/jun2009/ca20090619_272945.htm



http://www.is2.lse.ac.uk/asp/aspecis

http://www.is2.lse.ac.uk/asp/aspecis

http://www.exinfm.com/

http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2010/10/21/the-future-of-customer-service/



http://video.forbes.com/fvn/sales-leadership/how-salesforce-trains-its-sales-force



http://marketing.about.com/od/relationshipmarketing/a/crmtopten.htm

2011


tionshipmarketing/a/crmtopten.htm

Glassdoor.com “ an inside look at jobs & companies." Glassdoor.com â€“ an inside look at jobs & companies. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2011. <http://www.glassdoor.com>.

Hampshire, Stephen. "Customer satisfaction, loyalty and profit - understanding the links ." Customer service consultant - Eric Fraterman Consulting. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://www.customerfocusconsult.com/articles/articles_template.asp?ID=3>.

Henning, Jeffrey. "The chief customer officer: put customers in the boardroom ." Survey Research & Enterprise Feedback Management | Voice of Vovici Blog . N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://blog.vovici.com/blog/bid/28173/The-Chief-Customer-Officer-Put-Customers-in-the-Boardroom>.

Krueger, Anne O.. "Globalization and international locational competition, lecture by Anne O. Krueger, First Deputy Managing Director, IMF." International Monetary Fund Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://www.imf.org/external/np/speeches/2006/051106.htm>.

Manring, Audrey Y.. "Profiling the chief customer officer." The leading resource for Customer Relationship Management - from the editors of CRM Magazine . N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/Editorial/Magazine-

Features/Profiling-the-Chief-Customer-Officer-46706.aspx>.

McKee, Steve. "Customers your company doesn't want." BusinessWeek - Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Mar. 2011. <http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jun2009/sb20090612_217280.htm>.

Passaris, Constantine E.. "The Business of Globalization and the Globalization of Business | Company Activities & Management > Company Strategy from AllBusiness.com." Small Business Advice and Resources from AllBusiness.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://www.allbusiness.com/management-companies-enterprises/3958028-1.html>.

Ramirez, Courtney. "Importance of customer satisfaction - Life123." Articles and Answers about Life - Life123. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://www.life123.com/career-money/small-business/customer-retention/importance-of-customer-satisfaction.shtml>.

Schwartzman, S. (n.d.). CRM Today: the future of customer service: adaptive knowledge. CRM Systems. Retrieved March 2, 2011, from http://www.crm2day.com/highlights/

Smith, Lisa. "The globalization debate." Investopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://bit.ly/fG1why>.

Temkin, Bruce. "Customer experience was born In 1994 - customer experience matters." Business Exchange. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://bit.ly/fqsLjd>.

http://www.glassdoor.com/

http://www.customerfocusconsult.com/articles/articles_template.asp?ID=3



http://blog.vovici.com/blog/bid/28173/The-Chief-Customer-Officer-Put-Customers-in-the-Boardroom




http://www.imf.org/external/np/speeches/2006/051106.htm

http://www.imf.org/external/np/speeches/2006/051106.htm

http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/Editorial/Magazine-Features/Profiling-the-Chief-Customer-Officer-46706.aspx




http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jun2009/sb20090612_217280.htm



http://www.allbusiness.com/management-companies-enterprises/3958028-1.html



http://www.life123.com/career-money/small-business/customer-retention/importance-of-customer-satisfaction.shtml




http://bit.ly/fG1why

2011


Temkin, Bruce. "Chief customer officer - customer experience matters." Customer Experience Matters. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://experiencematters.wordpress.com/category/chief-customer-officer/>.

"The ten top business trends for the new future." Welcome to the Institute for Global Futures. N.P., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://www.globalfuturist.com/about-igf/top-ten-trends.html>.

"U.S. population living in urban vs. rural areas - Census 2000 Population Statistics - Census Issues - Planning - HEP - FHWA." Federal Highway Administration: Home. N.P., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2011. <http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/census/cps2k.htm>.

"Voice of the customer." Business Exchange. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://bx.businessweek.com/voice-of-the-customer/>.

WANG, HELEN H... “Think again: America’s best days are still ahead - Helen H. Wang - The Chinese Dream - Forbes."Forbes. N.P., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://blogs.forbes.com/helenwang/2011/01/19/think-again-americas-best-days-are-still-ahead/>.

"What is the future outlook for small business?." Small Business News, Tips, Advice - Small Business Trends. N.P., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2011. <http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/11/future-outlook-small-business.html>.

http://experiencematters.wordpress.com/category/chief-customer-officer/



http://www.globalfuturist.com/about-igf/top-ten-trends.html

http://www.globalfuturist.com/about-igf/top-ten-trends.html

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/census/cps2k.htm

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/census/cps2k.htm

http://bx.businessweek.com/voice-of-the-customer/

http://bx.businessweek.com/voice-of-the-customer/

http://blogs.forbes.com/helenwang/2011/01/19/think-again-americas-best-days-are-still-ahead/




http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/11/future-outlook-small-business.html



2011


Top-down or

Bottom-up

Management Tallon Shreeve & Lane Judy

Businesses around the world

operate in a somewhat similar fashion, but no

two companies are the same. There are those

that would have you think that the way they

run a business is streamlined with no

mistakes. It would be a misconception to rest

upon the idea that a company couldn‟t

improve in some aspect on the way managers

manage their company. This article will

discuss different management techniques that

are involved in a generalized business area. It

will help the reader understand the

differences between top-down management

and bottom-up management, including the

pros and cons of each. One generally is better

than the other, and this article will discuss the

reasons why in the pages that follow.

Top-down Management

Top-down management has been

around for a very long time. It is a form of

managing that continues to be widely

accepted to this day. There are many

companies that implement this style of

leadership. In essence, what it entails is the

leading of a company, or department, from

those that are in charge, or at the top of the

organizational chart, to those at the bottom, or

the average employee. The person in charge

typically will have the idea and then tell those

under him to execute the idea, whether or not

it is the best decision for the company, which

will be discussed later on.

The CEO of wrike.com explains it this

way: The top-down approach remains

extremely popular in contemporary project

management. The phrase “top-down” means

that all the directions come from the top.

Project objectives are established by the top

management. Top managers provide

guidelines, information, plans and fund

processes. All of the project manager‟s

expectations are clearly communicated to

each project participant. Following this

approach, ambiguity opens the door for

potential failure, and the managers should be

as specific as possible when communicating

their expectations. Process formality is very

important for this approach. (Filev)

2011


The effects on a company

Companies have been able to adopt

this style of management and have been

successful and continue to grow.

Unfortunately, this growth is limited. There

are many great leaders with great ideas all

over the world. The opened door for potential

failure can come when these leaders become

selfish or arrogant. Many feel like they have

all the answers for the company‟s success.

They may see the benefits of their ideas, but

if implemented incorrectly, or not as

appropriately as possible, then there is

potential for disaster.

There are leaders that make all the

decisions for their company, and they need to

take special care in order to ensure proper

execution. Imagine a manager that isn‟t able

to communicate his ideas carefully. This idea

can potentially be misinterpreted or carried

out in a way that is not up to company

standards. The company in turn can come

across dramatic effects, all because one

person wasn‟t clear in their communicating

skills.

On the other side, if a leader is good at

what he does, then the company can succeed.

One of the advantages of top-down leadership

is that those who are at the top don‟t have to

jump through management hoops in order to

accomplish things. The process of getting

things done is therefore accomplished in a

much more timely manner, and the manager

will get due credit. One person‟s emotions

and opinions will influence all those that are

under him. Hopefully that one person is

energetic and full of good opinions. In such a

case, one will see why it can be so beneficial.

The effects on an Employee

Almost everyone at different stages in

their lives has undergone some form of top-

down management, whether at the top or at

the bottom. In either case, one can see the

benefits and the drawbacks. The effects that

this type of management can have on the

company have been discussed. The effects

that it can have on an employee is a different

matter altogether. The primary point on how

it affects employees depends largely upon

what type of personality that employee has.

Everyone knows the type of employee

that is good at his job. He shows up on time

and does what he is told. He doesn‟t

complain and then he goes home. This type

of person is largely dependent on top-down

management. They enjoy being told what to

do. It is easier and safer for them. They are

not full of innovation or change. They enjoy

2011


being managed and not having to contribute

largely or make important decisions.

On the other hand, there are those

employees that are full of good ideas, but

never get to express them. These employees

have a hard time seeing their good idea get

ignored or talked down. When upper

management makes a decision, these

employees feel like they could have helped

make that decision better. They tend to not

be as happy with their job and don‟t share

what‟s on their mind. In the end, the

company hurts from not letting these people

share great ideas, and the employees move on

to bigger and better careers. It is difficult to

find that balance where both the company and

the employee are happy and successful.

Bottom-up Management

Bottom-up management is all about

getting the individuals in running the

company. It helps the employees to be

interested in the company by showing them

that their participation and feedback is

important.

One thing that bottom-up management

really focuses on is being creative in all

positions in a business. Every person, from

the CEO to the part time people, could have a

great idea that would help the business to

grow.

With this way of management, you

look for passionate people that will help the

company to become a bigger and innovative

company.

The Effects on a Company

The following quote talks about how

the company can be affected by bottom-up

management.

“Some people resist assuming

responsibility for their actions

and prefer to have someone

else tell them what to do;

thereby when something goes

awry, they can blame the other

person for the snafu. This type

of person is more suited for a

dictator type of organization

where they can continue to

grouse about management, yet

do nothing to help correct the

problem. Aside from this, the

benefits of the bottom-up

approach far outweigh the

negatives. It is simple and it

works.” (Expert)

Even though there are some

2011


downsides, the upsides tend to be much more

rewarding in this system.

How Bottom-up

Management Works

As a manager in a company your best

alias are your employees. If you as

management treat your employees as equals,

they will help you to go up the corporate

ladder. They will give great ideas if they feel

like they are going to be going somewhere.

There is still some guidance that is needed in

bottom-up management, but for the most part

you can give your employees a task and let

them find the most productive way to

accomplish the task at hand. In the article

“Management Theories X Y and Z –

Managing from the Bottom-Up”, it gives

three management tips to managing

employees:

1. Delegate - prioritize and assign tasks

to qualified employees.

2. Control work environment - minimize

staff interferences and provide a

suitable workplace to operate with the

proper tools to perform the work.

3. Review progress - study employee

reports and take corrective action

where necessary. (Expert)

Management must be willing to listen

to all ideas that all management and

employees have. Management needs to

respect the good ideas that the employees

have. If they make employees feel like they

have something to offer they will be willing

to come up with great ideas that can help the

business out.

The effects on an Employee

Employees play a big role in bottom-

up management. They are given

responsibility to help management build up

and grow a business. In the article

“Management Theories X Y and Z –

Managing from the Bottom-Up”, it gives

three responsibilities that employees have.

“Individual employees have bottom-

up responsibilities to management:

1. Participate in the planning process -

review work specifications and give

feedback; estimate amount of time to

perform an assignment; assist in the

calculation of work schedules with

management.

2. Perform work within time and costs

constraints.

3. Report activities to management -

including the use of time,

interferences, and possible delays.”

2011


(Expert)

With this approach employees are

treated as if they could be a manager and they

are expected to act as such.

If employees do not show there

managers that they have what it takes to put

input in, then they will not take you seriously.

When an employee shows that they have the

company‟s wealth at heart, the management

will give that employee much more freedom

then they could ever want.

Why is Bottom-up

Management Better?

The reason the bottom-up manager is

so successful is because everyone has a stake

in the company. The managers do not have to

always be watching the workers. They can

focus on the important things in the business.

Managers can leave the employees to

themselves to get the job done in the fastest

way possible.

Employees feel empowered to

actually take more responsibility in the

business that they are a part of. With the new

responsibilities for the employees, they are

able to really focus on the task that they are

given then expound upon them if it is going

to help the company to grow.

How Companies have grown

With the implementation of bottom-up

management becoming more and more

common in the workplace, companies

continually are experiencing greater

quantities of growth. Companies are finding

the value that the bottom employees can add.

There are countless ways that these

companies are finding the advantages.

Google, for example, has a culture with all its

employees that is unheard of in most

organizations. They allow twenty percent of

their employee‟s time to be dedicated to

projects that they want. This allows

innovation by hundreds of individuals,

instead of just the leadership. Many new and

exciting ideas that become multimillion dollar

success come from the employee, not the

manager. If companies can catch the essence

of what is happening here, they will have

large potential for invaluable success.

Employees help the company to grow

a lot more then in top-down management.

They are given the opportunity to show the

managers new ideas that will help the

company to save money, become more

innovative, and much more efficient.

Managers do not have to worry about

if the employees are going to be able to

handle the position that they are hired for.

2011


How Employees are

empowered

Employees that are allowed to share

and express their ideas freely are much more

likely to enjoy what they do, which in turn

will increase their work outflow and increase

revenues. There are two key benefits that you

don‟t get with top-down assignments

according to the Behence Team. If you

assign a team to execute a project without

first gauging their interest and gathering their

feedback, you may miss a valuable

opportunity to refine the idea behind the

project or to understand why it shouldn‟t be

executed on at all. (Team) Employees will

work harder and more ideas will come forth.

Employees have more freedom to be

creative in this business model. Unlike top

down management were you are given a

project and then that is what you do. It is like

working on an assembly line put your nut and

bolt together. In bottom up management the

employee is given more responsibility to be

innovative. This really helps a company to be

able to get into the small areas of the business

to find ways to save money for the company.

How everyone is a Leader

Ultimately every company gets to

make the decision as to which management

style they will implement and why. There is

no set rule or guidelines that they have to

follow. Hopefully this article has helped

show how everyone can be a leader in their

own area of expertise and hopefully add some

sort of value to their company. The

possibilities are limitless. The constant battle

for success will continue. In this business

model everyone can become a leader in their

own area of their position.

Conclusion

As shown in the research, both of these styles

of leadership are important for all companies

and even individual people. Finding the best

solution for your business is important to the

success of your company as well as the

employees that are part of the organization.

For the majority of businesses, bottom-up

management is more efficient then top-down

management. Top-down is effective in

factory type jobs where there is set positions

that don‟t have much change to them. With

bottom-up management, this is where the

employees are able to help management to

make the business more productive. These

are more of the service based business. Find

2011


the type of management that is right for you

and go with it.

Bibliography

Expert, T. (2010, October 21). Management

Theories X Y And Z. Retrieved

February 14, 2011, from

http://www.articlesbase.com/time-

management-articles

Filev, A. (2009, September 16). Top-Down

and Bottom-Up Project Management.

Retrieved February 15, 2011, from

Project Shrink:

http://www.basdebaar.com/top-down-

and-bottom-up-1936.html

Team, B. (2009, May 13). A Bottom-Up

Approach to Staffing. Retrieved

February 15, 2011, from Open Forum:

http://www.openforum.com/idea-

hub/topics/managing/article/a-bottom-

up-approach-to-staffing-jocelyn-k-glei

http://www.basdebaar.com/top-down-and-bottom-up-1936.html

http://www.basdebaar.com/top-down-and-bottom-up-1936.html

2011


Social

Media Katie Fikes and Brent Carver

Social media is defined by Wikipedia

as, “the use of web-based and mobile

technologies to turn communication into

interactive dialogue.” (social media, 2011)

In the 21st century social media has become a

major competitor to the once dominating

forms of media such as newspapers,

television, and magazines. The main

difference between

traditional media and social

media is the ability of social

media to allow the majority

of people to publish with

little to no cost or

specialized skill that can be

easily altered; whereas,

traditional media is generally

privately or government owned, takes training

to create a product, and once it is printed it is

final. The main forms of social media include

blogs, social networking (such as Facebook,

My Space, and Twitter), content communities

(You Tube, Skype, Photo Bucket), and review

and opinion sites (ask, yelp, Ehow.)The ease

and low cost of has allowed the general

public to share their ideas, and connect with

people across the world. On the business side

social media has created a low cost platform

for companies to ad campaigns and a new

avenue for gathering information about their

customers that allows companies to target

them directly. This new method of

communication has completely revolutionized

the way in which business is done today and

as new technologies are developed social

media will be taken to the next level.

How social media has revolutionized modern

business

Over the past two

years one can see the

impact that social media

has had on companies

and business throughout

the world. The main

ways that doing business

has changed are more

efficient customer service, altered marketing

techniques, and new methods of acquiring

information about the customer. By taking a

look at some business dealings with social

media one can see the affect it has had on

their business.

2011


Care One Debt Relief is a prime

example of how social media has

revolutionized customer service. Care one

opened an online community in 2006 which

allowed people to register with the site and

ask questions about consolidation, budgeting,

and debt relief. In 2009, the company

decided to become active in social media such

as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. The

original reason for this was to spread the

word about the

online community

and to interact with

existing customers.

However, Care One soon discovered after

those who frequented their social media sites

were actually prospects with questions.

These questions gave Care One the

opportunity to demonstrate to their value by

helping these individuals and connect to their

prospects on a different level. Through study

of where conversions to the online

community came from Care One was able to

determine that having the person connection

through social media led to a 25-28 day

buying cycle instead of a buying cycle as

short as 30 minutes. Prospects that used Care

One‟s social media sites filled out the initial

consultation form at a 179% higher rate than

the average customer. As for sales, those

brought in by social media were over twice as

likely to make their first payment. Care

One‟s experience with using social media as a

platform for customer

service is a great

example of how social

media can create a personal connection with

the customer which in turn helped to generate

a large amount of business for the company.

(Falls, 2011)

In 2010, Wheat Thins started integrated their

social media with their ad campaigns which

not only brought a connection straight to the

customers, but also has created enthusiasm

with the Wheat Thin

brand. Currently,

Wheat Thins has a

series of commercials

that originally aired on

YouTube, after going

viral then where put

on television. These commercials involve

people who have had positive tweets about

Wheat Thins and then are ambushed in

various manners by a team of Wheat Thin

spokespeople who give some type of Wheat

Thin gift in return. With these commercials

and updated Facebook and Twitter accounts

the company has repositioned the brand

perfectly for the young adult age group, with

a fairly reduced cost considering that

2011


YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter are all free

forms of publicity. (Lukovitz, 2010)

Oreo by Nabisco has recently launched a

international campaign due to studying the

customers

visiting the

social

media

websites

and tailoring their campaigns to them. Until

August 2009 Oreo had their social media sites

geared specifically toward American

customers. However, upon further research it

was discovered that over 2.5 million fans of

the Oreo Facebook site were from outside the

United States. Oreo then took this

information and recreated their social media

sites to reflect a more global market, which

includes having a world fan of the week and

what is happening in other countries with the

Oreo brand. Without social media sites it

would have been very costly to target such a

large audience across the globe, and it also

would have been hard to gauge just how

many people across the world were Oreo

customers. However, with social media it

costs very little to reach a large audience and

the company was able to quickly change their

site to reflect changes in the customer base.

(Elliot, 2010)

How consumers connect with

social media

In today‟s world social media has

completely revolutionized how people

interact with everything around them. Being

able to communicate and keep in touch with

anyone anywhere in the world at any time

with minimal cost has allowed people to keep

and develop deeper more personal

relationships at a distance. Social media has

also allowed for consumers to find and

explore new products that others have

recommended that would not have been

discovered otherwise. In a recent study done

by OTX Research it was determined that 70%

of consumers use social media sites as a

resource for finding data on companies,

businesses, and products. Also, just by

having a representative of the product or

company reach out and contact the potential

customer on social media sites is said to be

much more effective in influencing consumer

behavior than advertisements. (Swain, 2009)

Social Media and

Globalization

2011


Social media has claimed its presence

in the world today and is not going away

anytime soon. With the development of

popular social sites many different countries

and types of people can communicate one

with another. We can see in many ways how

the U.S economy is striving to make

international

business more

effective and

easy, and it all

starts with the

internet. The internet, as a

whole, is not a new idea, but when coupled

with a place where people can meet online

and socialize, it takes on a whole new

meaning. Taylor says: „the question isn‟t

whether or not it makes sense to

delve into social networks, it is

more if you are going to pay

attention to a medium that

messages now have a life of their

own…. if you want to help your

client/customers succeed in this new 21st

century then you must embrace social media

because that is the trend…‟ (Taylor, 2011).

Here Taylor blogs about the change that is

taking place with internet based social media

and how we as business owners and online

customers can accept the change and use it to

our advantage, or to have someone else take

advantage. It is important to look at this

technological change as possibly the quickest

way to reach customers. There is an important

statistic that gives depth to this idea, “There

are 9 million blogs out there, with 40,000 new

ones popping up each day” (S.B. 2008, pg. 1).

Many people are somewhat familiar with

popular social media vehicles like Facebook

or Twitter, but that doesn‟t count the millions

of blogs that are written by many different

people. Blogs are written by businesses,

customers, and family to perhaps explain

product development, product usage, or

simply everyday life. Blogging is quickly

becoming one of the best ways to spread

detailed information without the added

pressure of signing up for something or fear

of clicking the wrong button.

Blogging can be done by anyone

in the world and as internet users

find material online that they can

trust they will keep going back to

that blogger making this a very

effective way of communication. Businesses

will sometimes hire popular bloggers (that

have a trustworthy reputation) to write about

products and pay them for their services.

Slideshare.net says, “Social network users are

three times more likely to trust peer opinions

over advertising when making purchase

decisions (Slideshare, 2011, pg. 1). This

2011


statistic puts a number and a figure to exactly

how useful social media vehicles are. If using

social networks helps link the gaps of worry

and anxiety, then we can only expect to see

more people join networks to link with those

people they can trust. The time has now come

where spreading technology can be done on a

global scale and makes it easier than ever to

be a customer or business associate.

Negative Affects of Social Media

on Business

It is very clear and obvious how we

can add value to customers and businesses by

using internet social media vehicles to spread

information online, but how did we survive

before it all began? Before the cutting edge of

social media we still had the internet, and

users would search online for popular sites

that they saw advertisements for or heard

from word of mouth. One of the benefits of

previously not having social media vehicles

has been privacy. Now days when we sign up

for Facebook or Twitter we add information

about ourselves like our age, location,

interest, etc. As internet social media vehicles

continue to develop, so does our privacy

become more visible and vulnerable. Privacy

is not the only thing to worry about, Cathers

says: „If you throw all types of social media

icons on your page (Facebook, twitter,

YouTube) and you promote that your

company/business is social, then you can look

a little irresponsible or unreliable if you don‟t

update your pages often…..Also if you put

lots of information on your pages, then you

reveal too much to your

competitors who then

can plan ahead from

that information‟

(Cathers, 2007).

Businesses and bloggers

are sometimes so quick to put the

symbols for Facebook (F) or Twitter (T) on

their social media sites thereby giving the

impression that they are up-to-date with the

trends. One of the negative aspects of doing

this as mentioned before is if internet site

information is kept up-to-date. It can really

hurt the impression and break the trust of

customers if they see information online that

is obsolete. In addition, what types of

problems arise if businesses are putting too

much information about their company on

2011


social sites? Businesses have a great strategy

at times to try to put trust into customers‟

minds and hearts by putting information

about businesses or products, but they are

making themselves vulnerable to the power of

competitors. Competitors can then take their

competitions‟ information and plan ahead by

taking the necessary steps to create a

competitive edge. There are many reasons

why the creation of internet social media

vehicles has a negative impact on the future

of internet business, and some will continue

to believe it is unsafe or premature to stay

with the trends.

Future of Social Media

We started off hearing from

businesses and products from television

advertisements. Next, the internet came

around and we saw flashy

advertisements that you could

click on to see further information.

Now we are in the trend of social

sites like Facebook and Twitter

which seems to be the focal point

for advertisers to advertise anything and

everything, but where is the next step? Some

believe the key to the next step is in mobile

devices in association with social media.

Wikipedia says: „There are really two basic

ways to categorize the future of mobile social

media networks: the first is those companies

that try to partner with mobile phone carriers,

and the second refers to those companies that

are not paired with such carriers and find

other ways to attract users‟ ( Wikipedia, 2011,

pg. 1). Foursquare has recently been

developed for the purpose of letting your

friends know where you are. Foursquare

works with the GPS idea and has created a

way to socialize by allowing your friends to

know what businesses you‟ve gone to or what

activity you are doing. It is an incentive based

mobile application that allows you to collect

points that you can later redeem for prizes or

coupons. Currently the benefit of using

Facebook or Twitter is to be in a place that all

of your friends are at; to make it easier and

more convenient. But the future of social

networks goes one step further by trying to

keep attention with such programs as the

foursquare incentive program. The key to

the future of social media is to create a need

for people to use services, and the best way

Foursquare has done that is to offer

collateral for its services. Another similar

technology is called Juicecaster. Juicecaster is

also a mobile based application that makes it

easier to send images and information from

mobile phone to mobile phone. We can

expect to see similar programs that try to

create needs and benefits for customers to use

2011


services. It seems like those companies and

social media vehicles that are first on the

scene are the most successful. The best way

to be the first on the scene is to create a

unique business idea and pair with a popular

company; in this context trying to pair with a

popular mobile phone provider like Apple.

The future of social networks will probably

be more and more visible as mobile phone

technology advances and more services are

provided to make life easier.

In conclusion, we all may have our

own opinions on the effectiveness or use of

social media vehicles, but one thing we can‟t

deny is that social media trends do exist. We

are in a world where maybe the most popular

thing to do is to go on social media sites or

vehicles and communicate with our friends.

Some people utilize social media to find

business information, business deals, or

consumer information; and others may choose

to be an independent worker that blogs about

the newest things in life. The history of

advertisement and communication leads us to

believe that we will continue to see social

media sites that are free to sign up for, but

that are supported by advertisers. There are

both upsides and downsides of the usefulness

of social media in relationship to business

usage, but since the creation of popular social

media sites, we will likely see more

businesses and

consumers

trying to

connect. As

social media

expands more

in the mobile

area we will likely see more and more

interaction between friends, colleagues, and

partners. The idea behind

successful business strategies is based on

improving the quality of life, and social

media are developing better and better ideas

in order to do that.

2011


Bibliography Baer, J. (2010, September 21 ). Content lessons

learned from 25 populare blog posts. Retrieved

January 26, 2011, from Convince and Convert:

www.convinceandconvert.com

Baker, S., & Green, H. (2008, Feburary 20). Social

media will change your business. Retrieved

January 26, 2011, from Businessweek:

www.businessweek.com

Bullas, J. (n.d.). 12 key findings of social media's

impact on business and decision making by ceo's

and managers. Retrieved January 26, 2011, from

Jeffbullas.com: www.jeffbullas.com

Cathers, B. (2007, June 7). Negative Effects of

Social Media on Business. Retrieved 2010, from

www.bencathers.com:

http://www.bencathers.com/2010/06/negative-

effects-of-social-media-in-business/

Chen, A. (2010, September 10). The value of

social media for businesses stats. Retrieved

January 26, 2011, from Penn Olson: www.penn-

olson.com

Dave Taylor. (2010).

http://www.intuitive.com/blog/impact_of_social

_media_twitter_facebook_business_growth.html

. Retrieved 2010, from www.intuitive.com:

http://www.intuitive.com/blog/impact_of_social

_media_twitter_facebook_business_growth.html

Davis, L. (2008, October 2). Social media for

business- who is doing it well. Retrieved January

26, 2011, from Read Write Web:

www.readwriteweb.com

Elliot, S. (2010, June 30). Food brands get

sociable on Facebook and Twitter. Retrieved

Feburary 8, 2011, from Nytimes:

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/0

6/30/food-brands-get-sociable-on-facebook-and-

twitter/

Falls, J. (2011, February 8). case study: social

media customers are more valuable customers.

Retrieved February 8, 2011, from Social Media

Explorer:

http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-

media-marketing/social-media-customer-value/

Green, S. B. (2008). Social Media Will Change

Your Business. Retrieved from

www.businessweek.com:

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/

content/feb2008/db20080219_908252.htm

Jantsch, J. (n.d.). Let's talk social media for small

business. Retrieved January 26, 2011, from Duct

Tape Marketing: www.ducttapemarketing.com

Lukovitz, K. (2010, July 26). Tweeters star in

Wheat Thins TV ads. Retrieved February 8, 2011,

from Mediapost:

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Art

icles.showArticle&art_aid=132547

Moir, S. (2010, March 2). Facebook vs. Twitter For

Business: Social Media Marketing Strategy Study.

Retrieved 2010, from www.onlineprnews.com:

http://www.onlineprnews.com/news/23990-

1267552388-facebook-vs-twitter-for-business-

social-media-marketing-strategy-study.html

Pettigrew, G. (2010, January 13). Social

Networking's Impact on Modern Business .

Retrieved from www.blogs.cisco.com:

http://blogs.cisco.com/news/social_networkings

_impact_on_modern_business/

SlideShare. (2011). Measuring the Influence of

Social Media. Retrieved 2008, from

www.slideshare.net:

http://www.slideshare.net/DigitalInfluence/busi

ness-impact-of-social-media

2011


social media. (2011, February 8). Retrieved

February 8, 2011, from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

Swain, S. (2009, Jan 1). Impact of social media on

consumer behavior. Retrieved February 8, 2011,

from sampadswain:

http://sampadswain.com/2009/01/impact-of-

social-media-on-consumer-behavior/

Unknown. (2010, May 3). 21 Tips for Using

Twitter and Facebook for Business. Retrieved

2010, from www.briansolis.com:

http://www.briansolis.com/2010/05/21-tips-for-

using-twitter-for-business/

Unknown. (2010, January 31). Social Media

Marketing Can Put the Trust Back Into Business.

Retrieved from

www.socialmediamarketinguk.com:

http://www.socialmediamarketinguk.com/social-

media-marketing-can-put-the-trust-back-into-

business

Unknown. (n.d.). The Power of Social Media and

Its Potential for Negative Effects on Your

Corporate Brand. Retrieved from

www.greenhostit.com:

http://www.greenhostit.com/social-

networking/158-social-media-power-negative-

effect-on-corporate-brand.html

Unknown. (2010, September 15). facebook

marketing: a comprehensive guide for beginners.

Retrieved January 26, 2011, from Kissmeterics:

blog.kissmetrics.com

Unknown. (n.d.). Press room. Retrieved January

26, 2011, from Facebook:

www.facebook.com/press/info

Unknown. (2009, September 23). Social media

statistics video-growth & impact. Retrieved

January 26, 2011, from Clean Cut Media:

www.cleancutmedia.com

Wee, W. (2010, June 22). Twitter, facebook, and

consumers study. Retrieved January 26, 2011,

from Penn Olson: www.penn-olson.com

Welford, B. (2008, February 25). The Effects of

Social Media on Business. Retrieved from

www.smallbusinessnewz.com:

http://www.smallbusinessnewz.com/expertarticl

es/2008/02/25/the-effects-of-social-media-on-

business

Wikipedia (2011, January 1). Mobile Social

Network. Retrieved from www.wikipedia.org:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_social_netwo

rk

2011


Evolution

of

Leadership

in Business Sylvester Peter Brown & Shane Jones

One of the most multifaceted and

complex phenomena to which organizational

and psychological research have been applied

to is leadership. The techniques and power of

a leader in the business environment is still

somewhat of a new topic of research. The

term “leader” has been in use since the early

1300‟s; however, the term “leadership” has

only been in existence since the late 1700‟s.

In our society it is hard to picture a world

without effective leadership which makes it

hard to believe that scientific research on the

topic did not begin until the 20th

century.

Since that time intensive research has been

done addressing leadership and its value

towards companies and organizations. There

has been a long history of evolution in

leadership. There have been many leadership

era‟s which have helped shape the importance

of great leaders in our world. After reviewing

past era‟s and their effect on leadership

perspectives we will then observe the current

state of leadership in our society. Also, we

will introduce some research geared towards

shaping the future of leadership.

“Of all the hazy and confounding

areas in social psychology, leadership theory

undoubtedly contends for the top nomination.

And, ironically, probably more has been

written and less known about leadership than

about any other topic in the behavior

sciences.” This quote by Warren Bennis in

1959 implies how psychologically involved

leadership is. The effects a great leader can

have on an employee are immeasurable which

can make it a difficult value to put a price on.

In our effort to characterize leadership eras

we have decided not to list the historical lines

of leadership in chronological order. This is

because breakthroughs in leadership research

have occurred within short time periods and

many ideas have subsided simultaneously.

Also, it is tough to say that the different eras

of leadership theory have been always been

moving in a positive direction. Instead, we

will address in order relevance; therefore,

each new era will contain a higher stage of

development in leadership. While discussing

past leadership eras we must note that the

emphasis will be on the thought process

behind the transformation form era to era.

Leadership Theory in the Past

1. Personality Era. The first formal

leadership theories took place during the

personality era of leadership advancements.

The idea behind this era is that current

researchers would focus on great men, and

some women, during the course of world

history. By using research directed toward the

successful traits of these successful people,

2011


researchers would categorize great leaders as

those who copied their personalities and

behaviors. During this period linked great

leadership with personalities, some even

linked great leadership qualities to values of

inheritance. It did not take long however to

see that great historical leaders had differing

personalities, such as Alma, Hitler, and

Gandhi. After failures in imitating

personalities the personality era focused on

specific traits, which if adopted would result

in enhanced leadership capabilities.

Researchers quickly acknowledged that group

of traits directly affected leadership qualities.

Due to their simplistic approach on

leadership, the personality era has basically

become extinct. It is important to keep in

mind however that this era, as well as each

additional era, has set the stage for the next

through process of trial and error.

2. Influence Era. This era recognized

that leadership actually deals with

relationships between individuals. The

concentrated aspects of this era are power and

influence. The influence era attempted to link

leadership effectiveness to the source of one‟s

power and how it was used to command.

Dictatorial leaders used succeeded using this

method of leadership in a controlling nature.

Of course, in our day we do not consider this

approach to leadership effective. Especially in

today‟s business world, the exertion of top to

bottom influence is very inappropriate due to

the lack of consideration towards the wants

and needs of your followers. As the influence

era evolved coercion was removed from

possible traits needed for successful

leadership. The great leader tag was still

closely related to personal dominance. The

dominant leader approach is still widely used

in contemporary management despite

growing realization of the limitations that are

attached, such as the power of lower

participants.

3. Behavior Era. The behavior era

was the first era that began to emphasize the

actions of leaders opposed to the inheritance

of power or their personality traits. This

major advancement in leadership theory is

easily defined as a subset of human behavior.

This breakthrough was the first move toward

improving business environment due to

advancements in leaders within the business.

This era helped provide practicing managers

to improve their leadership effectiveness.

Finally, in this era it has been noticed that any

person has the potential to become a great

leader. Researchers in this are studied the

different behaviors of bad and great leaders;

also, researchers would study the typical

patterns of great leaders.

4. Factor Era. The situation advanced

leadership theory by acknowledging the

importance of factor beyond the leader and

the subordinate. Some examples of these new

found leadership factors are the types of

tasks, the social status of the leader and

subordinates, the relative position of power of

the leader and subordinates, and the external

surroundings. These situational aspects play a

very large role in determining different

leadership traits, such as: leader traits, skills,

influence, and behaviors. In this period

researchers noticed that leaders and

subordinates roles are defined by mutually

confirmed expectations concerning one

another. The main contributing concept of

this era is that it essentially combined

environmental and social parameters. The

combination of these parameters advanced

2011


leadership theory because it helped shape the

importance of group influences.

5. Contingency Era. This era

recognized that great leadership qualities

were not found in any of the traits mentioned

earlier particularly, but rather contained

elements of them all. Therefore, great

leadership is dependent on one or more of the

factors of behavior, personality, influence,

and situation. This breakthrough excited

research and created a large buzz of

contingency theories. Researchers in this era

started to link great leaders with the situation

they were put in. They found that different

traits suited certain industries much better.

This era also started to show the added value

to leadership that occurred when change in

your behavioral approach to an issue widened

the degree of influence.

6. Transactional Era. Differentiation

and social interaction helped shape the

following era known as the transactional era.

This era revitalized the importance of

influence between a leader and the

subordinate. This era also focused on the

transactions exchanged between the leader

and subordinate which shaped their

relationship. A breakthrough within this era

was acknowledging that different

subordinates responded differently from

previous transactions. New traits of great

leaders also become known, such as:

accepting diverse personalities and adapting

to them, the ability to increase participation

from less able members, and also they are

more tolerable of deviants. This era helped

shape how leaders emerge from the field of

other employees. Researchers found that the

leaders will act as role models to those equal

to or below their position. They found that

great leaders create positive expectations for

the future and have the ability to influence

others to hop on board with your ideas. A

great leader showed the ability to adjust their

behavior to subordinates various maturities,

interpersonal skills, and competence.

7. Anti-Leadership Era. The anti-

leadership era started to really look outside

the box. Due to research results of great

leaders not having a constant underlying

variable, researchers started to believe that

perhaps there was no articulate concept called

leadership. Many researchers thought it may

be necessary to stop research of the leadership

position. It was then argued that leadership

was only a perceptual phenomenon that took

place in the mind of the subordinate. Within

this era however, there came advancements

that resurrected the leadership importance

within a business. It became evident that

characteristics of the subordinate and the

organization can prevent a productive leader

from affecting subordinate performance. This

point of view helped researchers see that in

cases of substitutes and neutralizers of

leadership needs have been previously shaped

by leaders during an earlier stage.

8. Culture Era. This era realized that

leadership is not a phenomenon that tied in

only with individuals or small groups but

within the entire organization. This era also

touched base with an important

acknowledgment; leadership not only could

affect the quantity of work completed but also

could increase the value of quality work.

Researchers discovered that if a leader can

create strong culture within an organization,

then employees will react by leading

themselves. This breakthrough is common in

managerial practices today. If this culture is

2011


established correctly it will result in the

creation of next generation leaders. Therefore,

formal leadership is really in need when there

is a culture change within a company. This

founded the concept that improved leadership

can start at the bottom of the company and

impact its way up to top officials. This made

researchers aware of the vast needs of

leadership at every level of a business. It is

still important however to set the standard

early so that followers will be fueled to lead

themselves.

9. Transformational era. This is the

latest and most promising phase in the

evolution of leadership theory. Its

improvements focus on creating intrinsic,

opposed from extrinsic, motivations.

Researchers found that leaders needed to be

more proactive rather than reactive in their

thinking. Great leaders showed trends of

being more radical rather than conservative

which helped them stick out more than their

fellow employees. Great leaders were also

found to be more innovative and creative;

also, they were not afraid to share their ideas

for improvement and act on them. This new

definition of a leader was better able to

produce enthusiastic commitment from

subordinates. These newfound great leaders

created visions of potential opportunities to

help motivate others. Leaders were found to

be very important in the transition of a

business by creating employee commitment

to change. The perceptions of the employee in

these transitions were very important in their

success. Successful leaders were able to

provide a new and stronger sense of purpose

and meaning. Leadership became a state of

consciousness, rather than a personality trait

or set of skills. The ability to alter your

leadership approach became very important in

day to day leadership techniques. The

phenomenon of the self fulfilling prophecy

helped shape this ere. This phenomenon

showed the importance of prideful work done

by employees. Leaders found out that a good

way to increase motivation is to make the

workers feel as if their work is a very

important factor in the success of the

company. The task of leadership then became

one of building, monitoring, and reinforcing a

culture full of high expectations from

individual performances. Good leaders are

now known as those who ensure completion

of tasks, maintain strategic focus, and

facilitate group discussion; also, subordinates

have been from concerns regarding affiliation

and security to concerns of self actualization,

recognition, and achievement. Sales

compensations to get the most out of sales

representatives are an example of the

transformational era at play.

Leadership Theory Today

As companies and businesses grow

and evolve throughout the years so is it

necessary for leadership styles to also grow

and evolve. As we have seen from the

foregoing arguments and facts, Leadership

has indeed changed faces and styles of

administering. In this section, we are going to

explore and analyze some research findings

about what the new trend of leadership is that

is causing companies and businesses to grow

or match up to the market.

Although this article is geared toward

analyzing the new trends in leadership it

would soon be noticed that under this

segment leadership is not the only thing that

drives the success of the company any more.

2011


Leadership is just one of the tools or vehicles

by which success is achieved.

Magretta argued that, “the discipline

of leaderhip in business is still quite new.

This process is, however, an unfolding event

in our lifetime. Complexity and specialization

has been the onging trend of business

innovations. During the last several decades,

leadership qualities and skills has lead the

way in making these transitions possible by

getting the most out of their respected

departments”

In a Harvard Business Review,

published in July 2003 titled The Evergreen

Project: Our Research, they discovered that

besides identifying management practices that

can significantly affect a company‟s

performance, they can develop a list of

behaviors that support excellence in each

practice. They came up with four Primary

management practices and four secondary

management practices. The four primary

management practices are: Strategy,

Execution, Culture, and Structure. The four

secondary management practices are: Talent,

Innovation, Leadership, Mergers and

partnerships.

According to the above paragraph on

the findings through research on management

practices that affect a company‟s

performance, we can see that leadership is

actually grouped with the secondary

management practices. In the research there

was a segment on „making 4 + 2 work for

you‟ This simply means that every company

they included in their research always had

those four primary management practices as a

common feature with all of them. When it

came to the secondary management practices

it was different depending on what company

or industry or organization that you are

looking at. In that case they only had at least

2 of the secondary management practices. In

other words, completely focusing on

leadership today is not one of the primary or

key practices that will actually make or break

your company (well having said that it could

be argued that it depends very much on what

kind of business or organization or company

is in question.

Talent

Innovation Leadership Merge

& Partnerships

In the book What Management is, Magretta

said: “These days, there is so much talk about

customer focus that it‟s easy to think that this

perspective is axiomatic, that no one could

conceive of a business working any other

way. In fact, the insight that customers, not

producers, determine what constitutes value is

relatively recent.”

Today, leaders have to have the skill

of thinking outside “the box”. “Merely

knowing the material doesn‟t get you out of

the box. Living it does. And we are not living

2011


it if we‟re using it to diagnose others. Rather

we‟re living it when were using it to learn

how we can be more helpful to others”

(Leadership and self-deception: Getting out

of the box)

Some attributes of just knowing the material

Self betrayal leads to self-

deception and “the box”

When you are in the box, you

can‟t focus on results

Your influence and success will

depend on being out of the box

“You get out of the box as you cease resisting

other people” (Leadership and self-deception:

Getting out of the box)

Leadership today is more of teamwork ,

supervising and delegation. Anyone with

these skills or qualities will surely succed in

todays market.

Leadership Theory in the Future

“ I beleive here s one principle that

shold be embrasses by all organizations as

they move into the future, and that is

sustainabiliy. How can we endure over

time?”(leader to leader: enduring insights on

leadership from the Drucker Foundation‟s

award winning Journal)

As we go through different faces of

leadership over the years, it is only inspiring

to think what will become of leadership skills

or styles in the future. In a Harvard Business

Review titled “The Walt Disney Company:

The Entertainment King” which was

published January 2009 said, “the Disney

brothers ran their company as a flat,

nonhierarchiacal organization, in which

everyone, including Walt, used their first

names and no one had titles… Although a

taskmaster driven ti achieve creativity and

quality, Walt emphasized teamwork,

communication and cooperation.” Today

Disney has a whole new outlook on

leadership. They have a board of directors

and people go by their respective department

titles. You may ask “why is that?”. Well the

answers may vary a lot but for the purpose of

this article we will bring it down to just one

thing – growth in numbers.

As a company grows there is a lot of things

that come into play. One thing that is going to

be at its peek in the nearest future, which will

surely revolutionize the way leadership

operates in the business fields,is

Globalization.

Globalization is sweeping the whole earth.

Businesses are moving out of their homes and

outsorcing in other nations to cut down

prices, be closer to both capital and other

resources, and bring employment and other

growth opportunities to some developing

countries. The kind of leadership that comes

with globalization is a challenging on. It is

challenging because of the many issues that

needs to be dealt with. Some of these issues

will include the fact that businesses and other

companies will have to know their market.

They will have to know the culture of the

2011


people. A kowledge about some of the norm

will be very helpful. Some countries by

nature don‟t allow women to be incharge in a

society. This means that for certain

companies who believe in equal rights for

both men and women will face the challenge

of either promoting or sending a qualified and

experienced woman to that region to help

with the growth of that company. Another

issue that can easily be identified is the fact

that leaders will now have to be able to up to

date with the latest news around the world

because what happens in one country could

and would affect another country even if you

have a company there or not.

We need to prepare now for the future of

leaderhip in the globalized economy. This

preparation will have to start on the academic

level where students get to be more exposed

to the world throughcourses that teach about

international business. Students could also be

encourage to learn another language and if

possible participate in internship somewhere

other than their homes. This will help them

get used to the cultures and norms of other

people so that they could compete in this new

realm. Another means of preparation will be

to get familiar with the ways of leadership in

other countries so that you don‟t necessarily

impose your own style of leadership on that

contry when they are not used to it and this

may cause problems for your oragnization.

Conclusion

We believe that leadership theories

have „evolved‟ over the years. As

organizations and business grow there has

been a need for a new look at how roles and

leadership structures should go and look. At

the same time we do recognize that leadership

styles will differ from organization to

organization. This will depend on the fact that

the company is a service organization or a

manufacturing organization. In this report we

have presented theories that are general in

nature and cuts across many organizational

boarders. There are a few observations that

we do recognize and these include the fact

that these theories have evolved according to

the trends in business world. This includes

colonization of other nations, organizations

across nations, organizations that go on the

international market and the fact that in recent

times everyone is thinking of globalization.

Bibliography

Evolution.PDF (application/pdf object) Retrieved

2/24/2011, 2011, from

http://apps.business.ualberta.ca/rfield/p

apers/evolution.PDF

Institute, T. A. (2002). Leadership and self-

deception: Getting out of the box. San

Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.

Magretta, ( 2002). What managemnet is. New

York: The Free Press.

Rukstad, M. G., & Collis, D. (2009). The Walt

Disney Company: The Entertainment

King. Massachusetts: Harvard Business

Publishing.

School, H. B. (2003). Making 4+2 work for you.

Massachusetts: Harvard Business

Publishing.

http://apps.business.ualberta.ca/rfield/papers/evolution.PDF

http://apps.business.ualberta.ca/rfield/papers/evolution.PDF

[Type text] Page 0€¦ · them in her article called, “The Ten Commandments to Customer...

Documents

Transcript of [Type text] Page 0€¦ · them in her article called, “The Ten Commandments to Customer...