Employee relations in the public sector have generally been conflict Essay

Employee relations in the public sector have generally been conflict ridden for some time. Discuss the reasons for this and what - Essay Example Privatization, organizational changes, and subsequent withdrawal of trade unions from the public sector further complicate the situation. Conflicts between employees and public sector employers reflect the growing complexity of their relations and reduced role of the trade union support in collective bargaining issues. Given that relatively little is known about public sector employee behaviors and their decisions, a deeper analysis of their conflicts and situations needs to be performed. The development of partnerships between public sector employees and trade unions, and the use of integrative management approaches to organizational change must guarantee active involvement of the public sector employees in the processes and decisions that influence the terms and conditions of their workplace performance. Employment relations in the public sector: Conflicts and underlying reasons That employee relations in public sector have been conflict ridden for some time is a well-known fact. C averley, Cunningham and Mitchell (2006) are correct in that any conflicts in employee relations illustrate and expose a wide range of difficulties, many of which reflect employee resistance to organizational and other changes in work. Such resistance is relevant for all public sector employees, irrespective of the issues and conflicts that affect their performance. The latter may range from a disagreement over benefits and pays to the issues in scheduling in the workplace (Caverley, Cunningham & Mitchell 2006). In these situations, different parties take different positions and argue, make concessions, and reach a consensus (Caverley, Cunningham & Mitchell 2006). Unfortunately, public sector employees often fail to achieve such an agreement with their employees and external parties. For this reason, conflicts are becoming a definitive feature of employment relations in the public sector. The reasons of such conflicts are numerous and varied. Objectively, that the relations between e mployees and employers in the public sector are characterized by a number of peculiar features. First, the state is no longer a silent, neutral representative of the public employee interest but exemplifies a self-interested party in the employee relations field (Beaumont 1992). Second, the state is no longer a mechanism of reacting to the civil society pressures but an autonomous organism, which becomes even more autonomous during the major economic shakes (Beaumont 1992). Third, the growing autonomy of the state is directly associated with increased probability of inter-role conflicts in the public sector, when employees and employers either fail to understand or are not willing to accept the distribution of functions proposed by the state (Beaumont 1992). Ultimately, these are governments’ macroeconomic decisions and policies that usually lead to the growing discontent in public sector employees – therefore, political environment has far-reaching implications for th e quality and stability of industrial relationships in the public sector (Beaumont 1992). In the 20th century, the state in Great Britain used to be the principal provider and, simultaneously, the key employer in numerous public sectors, including health, education, and social services (Prowse & Prowse 2007). As a result, the state was also the key player in the development of

Trends in Workplace Essay Example for Free

Trends in Workplace Essay The ancient Chinese saying May you live in interesting times has perhaps never been more relevant. As the 1990s draw to a close and the new millennium fast approaches, life is phenomenally interestingand demanding. Professionals who are responsible for workplace learning and performance improvement are squarely in the center of the swirl of exciting possibilitiesand requirementsthat are emerging. The inextricable link between rapid technological change and the emergence of the global economy has created the necessity for profound change in the way people and organizations work. As a result, workplace learning is arguably more strategic to the competitive advantage of both individuals and employers than at any point in all of recorded history. So its a great time to be in this profession. But along with the tremendous opportunity that this period of economic history has brought come unprecedented requirements and responsibilities. The same technological advances that are behind the rapid emergence of a truly global economy are forever changing both the demand for and supply of workplace learning opportunities. This article is the third of ASTDs annual reports that identify major trends that are affecting the field of workplace learning and performance improvement. The underlying trends that were identified in the first two of these articles (see the November 1996 and 1997 issues of Training Development) are longstanding and not likely to change in the near term. Four particularly noteworthy demand-side developments are the growing effort given to managing knowledge, the integration of learning and communication functions, a resurgence of interest in leadership development and executive coaching, and the intensifying requirement among employees that career development become an integral part of their employment relationship. The supply-side developments to follow are those that hold the potential for revolutionizing the way in which work and learning occur: the Internet, intelligent tutoring systems, learning objects, and voice recognition. Two important developments in the marketplace for workplace learning, where supply meets demand, are the ongoing consolidation within the supplier community and the creation of an electronic marketplace where buyers and sellers of learning products and tools can meet virtually. Demand and supplypowerful, global forces that  cannot be escaped but that can be harnessed to your advantage. So read on for a glimpse of what the world holds in store for you as the new year and the new millennium unfold. And as you read, keep in mind another old sayingforewarned is forearmed. The demand for workplace learning and performance improvement Periods of rapid change create a premium on learningfor both individuals and organizations. Prosperity and growth are the rewards for those who are the fastest at learning and putting their learning into action; stagnation and decline are the penalties for delay. In an era when it is knowledge rather than physical assets that increasingly defines competitive advantage, the process of managing knowledge becomes a central part of the learning process. Knowledge management. According to some observers, the industrial eras successorthe information age, in which white-collar jobs exceeded blue-collar jobs and entire industries arose just to help companies manage and process informationis already at or past the midpoint of its life cycle. The ever-declining cost of processing information has made it universally available. Indeed, information has become a commodity that is readily bought and sold. As a result, it is no longer enough to define competitive advantage. Gone are the days, for example, when banks could compete exclusively on the basis of which had the fastest information technology or which could slice and dice their account information in more ways than anyone else. Hence, the rapidly growing interest in knowledge as the new source of competitive advantage and the realization that we have now entered a new erathe knowledge era. In many ways, this is nothing new at all. A firms knowledgethe brains of its employees, their know-how, the processes a nd customer knowledge that they createhas always been a source of competitive advantage. And by extension, so too has been knowledge managementthe processes by which a firm creates and leverages knowledge. Whatis unique about the knowledge era is that knowledge is becoming the primary source of competitive advantage within a growing number of industries. Organizations from industrial-era industries, such as automobile manufacturing, to information-age industries such as consulting are recognizing that they each have a unique storehouse  of knowledge, and that the future belongs to those that can grow their knowledge fastest and then apply and use it best. With the benefit of hindsight, it is apparent that in the knowledge era, creating and leveraging knowledge is the business of business. By all available measures, the stock market is already providing handsome rewards to companies that successfully leverage their knowledgea phenomenon that will almost surely grow in significance as knowledge-based organizations increase in size and number. A number of firms are anticipating this and looking to knowledge management to enhance, measure, and manage the knowledge of their employees and organizations more effectively. Why manage knowledge? There are a variety of reasons for the emergence of knowledge management as a real business concern. Among them is the messy transition from industrial-based production and work systems to information-based systems, which rendered many functions and people obsolete. Though downsizing seemed to be the answer of the 1980s, this butchers knife approach often resulted in the loss of valuable knowledge rather than the financial gains that firms expected. Knowledge management offers, instead, a surgeons scalpel that sharpens and refines the value of people and what they know. Certainly, the exponential growth of information technology and the plummeting cost of information processing also helped by laying the technological foundation for the emergence of knowledge management. A necessary, but in no way sufficient, part of most knowledge management efforts is a set of technologies for capturing and synthesizing information from which knowledge can be created and sharedtechnologies such as intranets, Lotus Notes, electronic performance support systems, and specialized software. These technologies provide not only wide and instantaneous access to information by people inside and outside firms who previously lacked such access, but also to the contextual cues that transform information into knowledge. Results from one of the first benchmarking studies on knowledge management, by the American Productivity and Quality Center, suggest several other reasons for its rise, including †¢ the need to capture what employees learn through customer contact. Empowered employees who had no way of sharing new solutions or innovations. †¢ internal and external benchmarking as a way of finding best practices  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ increasingly global and geographically dispersed operations †¢ customers seeking firms who leverage knowledge to meet their needs †¢ the rise of knowledge work and increased need for collaboration †¢ the need for increased responsiveness and shorter cycle times. What exactly is knowledge management? Like the fable of the blind men and the elephant, what knowledge management means to people depends on which part they are touching. For many, knowledge management is simply a more contemporary label for what they have already been doing under the rubric of information management, total quality management, training, the learning organization, electronic libraries, and so on. Adding further confusion is that some cast the knowledge management net more widely than others. Karl Erik Sveiby, an early advocate of knowledge management, views it as the art of creating value from an organizations intangible assets. For others, knowledge management is confined to the management of the codified, formalized, explicit forms of knowledge such as repositories of lessons learned, documents, databases, and company yellow pages, rather than all intangible assets. In their book Creating the Knowledge-Based Business, David Skyrme and Debra Amidon define knowledge management as the explicit and systematic management of vital knowledge and its associated processes of creating, gathering, organizing, diffusion, use, and exploitation. Perhaps the best way to understand knowledge management is to take a closer look at some examples of what companies actually do when they make knowledge management a priority. In a now classic study, Tom Davenport, along with Mike Beers and Dave DeLong, of Ernst Young found that knowledge management initiatives tend to fall into one of several categories, including †¢ creating and storing knowledge in repositories †¢ measuring the financial value of knowledge †¢ facilitating the transfer of knowledge †¢ creating a knowledge-sharing environment. The most common initiativebuilding knowledge repositoriesis intended to take some form of knowledge that has been extracted from peoples heads and store it in an information system for later access. For example, Hewlett Packard and Sequent Computer both have systems that store sales-oriented documentswhite papers, presentations, marketing collateralfor access by  their field salesforces in selling computers. Other knowledge repositories are less structured, consisting of the insights and observations of employees, sometimes called discussion databases or lessons-learned systems. Some repositories do not hold the knowledge itself, but point to those who have knowledge. Hewlett Packard, for instance, has expert repositories for researchers in its HP Laboratories and Corporate Education groups. A number of firms have undertaken initiatives to measure and manage the economic value of their knowledge. Two of the most widely known firms that have focused on value are Skandia and Dow Chemical. Skandia, the Swedish insurance company whose focus on intellectual capital is perhaps the most widely known, primarily addresses the measurement of value. Dow focuses more on the management of value by harvesting little-used patent and license assets. Many firms have knowledge transfer, the third type of initiative, as their primary objectiveeither through technology or human means. BP Exploration has built a desktop videoconferencing system to enable workers at remote exploration sites to exchange their knowledge with each other. UNISYS relies upon virtual team rooms to allow members of a particular project team to share files and communicate on a regular basis. Yet, other initiatives do not address any specific knowledge domain, but rather try to improve the overall knowledge environment by fostering an appreciation for knowledge and a culture of sharing. These projects may focus specifically on the reward systems for evaluating knowledge generation, sharing, or use. Given the fact that much of the interest in knowledge management has come about because of advances in information technology, it should come as no surprise that most of the initiatives falling into the just-described categories are centered around the introduction or use of information technology. A survey by the Ernst Young Center for Business Innovation found, for instance, that technology-centered efforts dominated the specific knowledge management projects of the 431 U.S. and European organizations that participated (see the table). The same survey found that information technology (IT) departments were twice as likely to lead knowledge management projects as any other pa rt of the organization. Knowledge management roles. Companies going down the knowledge management road, even after just a few timid steps, find that it wont happen on its own. Sure, knowledge has been gathered and shared as long as people have been able to communicate, but leveraging knowledge for business success requires that someone have explicit responsibility for making sure it happens and happens well. Hence the rise of the chief knowledge officer (CKO), director of intellectual capital, and chief learning officer (CLO). Though responsibilities may vary from firm to firm, this new executive-level position is typically charged with organizing, capturing, and distributing the organizations knowledge. Some of the most widely known people with titles such as these include CLO Steve Kerr of General Electric (GE), CKOs John Peetz of Ernst Young and Judith Rosenblum of Coca-Cola, and Leif Edvinsson, director of intellectual capital for Skandia. One estimate suggests there may be more than 250 firms in the United States with positions such as these. However, the jury is still out on the value of CKOs, CLOs, and the like. Though slightly more than half of the participants in Ernst Youngs survey said that a CKO could be valuable for their organization, only about 28 percent said that establishing new knowledge roles would make sense for their organization. Regardless of whether knowledge management is given a seat of its own in the boardroom, large firms especially discover quickly a need for a host of knowledge managers. The knowledge management roles for managing Pricewaterhouse Cooperss intranet KnowledgeCurve and its 150 Lotus Notes servers in the United States is an excellent example. More than 100 people in the firms knowledge management organization report to Ellen Knapp, its CKO. This number does not include the owner, moderator, and administrator of each discussion group or her power user council of more than 200 KnowledgeCurve champions in PricewaterhouseCoopers. These positions are critical for capturing the best knowledge in the organization, ensuring the quality of knowledge, and supporting the smooth operation of the entire system. No one said it would be easy No matter what knowledge management projects organizations undertake or how they support them, we already know that road is paved with obstacles and  fraught with complexity. Ernst Youngs survey reveals that the top four difficulties most organizations are likely to face fall into the areas of culture, measurement, quality, and money (see the table below). Overcoming technological limitations, by contrast, came in nearly last (15 percent). Larry Prusak of the IBM Consulting Group warns, When it comes to successfully managing knowledge, culture trumps all other factors. Some organizations are fortunate to have had a knowledge-sharing culture before beginning to formalize their knowledge management. These firms, typically high-tech or knowledge-driven organizations, according to Davenport and Prusak in their book Working Knowledge, have the advantage that they already attract and hire employees who sought and applied knowledge while in school. Other organizations, however, must cultivate such a culture by providing an  environment that encourages and rewards the sharing and use of knowledge. People must be given the time and opportunity to share and then be reassured that their contributions will be recognized. Perhaps the most critical condition for overcoming a culture in which knowledge is seen as power is senior management support for knowledge management. Robert Buckman, CEO of Buckman Laboratories, puts it moresuccinctly: Frankly, I do not think you can have a successful knowledge project without that proactive entrepreneurial support from the top. Other firms find success by building their knowledge management efforts off of groups or parts of the organization that already share knowledge. Is knowledge management a passing fad? Today, it does seem that there is more talk than action. Thomas Stewart, the Fortune magazine writer who first called the business worlds attention to the importance of peoples brainpower, warns that knowledge management has the potential for becoming a fad solely because of the money to be made from the information technology tools that frequently support it. But the forces behind its emergence are real and fundamental, and likely to continue. One thing is certain: Managing knowledge is not a well-defined process. There are many questions that remain unanswered. What knowledge should you keep and what should you toss away? How do you capture the knowledge of chance hallway conversations? How do you avoid the perception that having the latest, best hardware or software equates to managing knowledge? How do you make tacit knowledge explicit? On the other hand, the potential benefits are enormous. Those firms who answer those questions will benefit from knowledge management by †¢ increasing the amount of learning that takes place †¢ making work less frustrating and onerous †¢ making the promise of the learning organization a reality †¢ creating knowledge, insight, and understanding that can help people in their lives outside of work. All of which will be essential to competing in the knowledge era. Learning and employee communications The business imperative to accelerate organizational learning has created new functions within organizations to speed up the process of creating, capturing, and disseminating information and knowledge. The same forces that are creating a focus on knowledge management are causing firms to combine their learning and communications strategies. As training moves to learning, more and more organizations are looking to foster a learning environment to piggyback on training or to create an architecture in which learning, both formal and informal, is ongoing and consistent. As a relatively young company, Qualcomm (founded in 1985), a San Diego-based wireless communications company, did not have an internal communications department. So when the director of the learning department, Tamar Elkeles, decided she needed to better communicate Qualcomms learning and training initiatives to employees, she created a subdepartment within the learning department, called employee communications. Different from corporate communications, which is located at the headquarters facility and focuses on external public  relations, employee communications informs employees about more than just training events; this group has assumed responsibility for communicating the companys training and learning philosophy, as well as its culture and values. The use of the companys intranet Website for information exchange, as well as for more formal distance learning, has been an essential tool in Qualcomms employee communications efforts. Employee communications has been a part of Silicon Graphicss learning and development department for some time. Drew Banks, manager of integrated performance support at SGI, believes that intranet-based distribution of information was the catalyst that made combining learning and development with employee communications work. But he thinks that the underpinning philosophy that drives it is the view that organizational communication and learning are both on t he same continuum. Lars Thykier, director of training at Scandinavian Airlines System, agrees: The border between training/learning and internal communications is increasingly difficult to draw. And, he continues, There is increasing awareness that internal communications are also learning activities, meaning that there is a need for closer ties between the two strategies. If a corporate learning department is set up for broad-based corporate learning (not just skill-based training), says Banks, then this combination can make sense. In fact, he says, it is one of the four logical placements of an employee communications department (as shown in table). The placement of employee communications within an organization should depend on which goal is more difficult to achieve without an organizational linkage. For example, in a command-and-control culture, the first option in the table is best. Additionally, says Banks, any one of these goals could be more critical than the others depending on where the comp any is in its life cycle. This would mean that the organizational placement of employee communications could change over time. The increasing overlap of learning and employee communications within organizations originates from the need of an organization to link its functional silos, says Michele Miller, director of knowledge, strategy, and facilitation at Arthur Andersen. Much like the trend toward combining learning and performance consulting, organizations are melding learning and internal employee communications. Although many organizations have recognized this need, says Miller, they are taking different approaches to address it. Some organizations, for instance, have  located the employee communications department under the training department umbrella. Other organizations, like Arthur Andersen, are looking at creating stronger partnerships with broad-based groups that may have organizational responsibility for the knowledge and communications areas. This has resulted from the blurring of distinctions among communications, knowledge, and learning and from the increased importance of a holistic approach to address their different dimensions. The desire to move learning from discrete interventions to a complete learning environment appears to be pushing the integration of the learning and employee communications departments. Knowledge management, formal and informal learning, performance improvement, and intellectual capital enhancement appear to form the basis for this push, as well as a desire to help employees better understand their organizations vision, mission, culture, and values. No longer content to work within the constraints of functional silos, learning directors have begun to take a more systemic view of informing and developing employees through the creation of their own, or integration with existing, employee communications departments.

Project Managers Are They Born Or Made Management Essay

Project Managers Are They Born Or Made Management Essay Can a person be born to undertake a specific role in life or are they moulded by both training and their experiences in life. This paper examines whether Project Managers have the innate skills to be a success or if they like many other professionals require training to become proficient in their chosen career. This paper will also examine whether there are particular personality traits that are required in order to be a successful Project Manager. With this information, organisations would then be in a better position to ascertain whether particular individuals are either suited or not to the role of a Project Manager and thereby ensuring that their Project Managers can bring projects to a successful conclusion. Introduction Dittman et al.,2004 use the Apollo 13 incident to illustrate the skills of a Project Manager. Gene Krantz, was the flight director of the Apollo 13 mission to the moon. With systems failing, a lack of power and a dwindling supply of oxygen he led his team to discover solutions against almost impossible odds. Krantz exhibited the characteristics and personality traits of a superstar Project Manager by leading his team to achieve a common goal of ensuring the safe return of the aircraft and the lives of the astronauts and in this instance the team could easily have resigned themselves to their fate or made an error in judgement (Dittman et al.,2004). However the team and its project leader relied on both their training and their instincts to ensure the safe return of the aircraft. It can be seen from this instance that the team leader instilled the thought into all of his team members that failure was not an option. This is an extreme example of the skills required of a Project Manager , but it asks the question were Gene Krantzs actions the product of training and experience or were they innate in his personality. With the rapid advances currently being made in information technology there has now become an increased need for Project Managers within the IT industry. The scale and number of projects has increased thereby increasing the risk associated with these projects. With this in mind the choosing of project managers with the required skills to ensure the successful completion of projects has become critical and organisations have recognized that the choosing of the right individual to lead a project can have a significant bearing on the success of the organisation. As can be seen above in the Apollo 13 example the role of the project leader was crucial to the success of the project. This paper will look at the necessary skills required to be an effective manager and whether these skills are inherent or whether they can be taught (Dittman et al.,2004). 1.0 Leadership Styles Studies have shown that there are primarily six main schools of leadership theory (Dulewicz Higgs, 2003;Handy, 1982; Partington, 2003) and these are as follows: 1. The Trait school 2. The Behavioural or Style school 3. The Contingency school 4. The Visionary or Charismatic school 5. The Emotional Intelligence School 6. The Competency school. 1.1 The Trait School This approach was popular up to the 1940s with the main idea being that effective leaders share common traits. This school of thought assumes that leaders are born, not made. The supporters of this school in attempting to identify the traits of effective leaders have focused on the following three main areas: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Abilities: hard management skills such as Time Management, Forecasting and Procurement à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Personality: such as self-confidence and emotional variables à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Physical appearance: Project Managers appearance and physical size Through his work at Henley Management College, Turner (1999) identified seven traits of effective project managers: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Problem-solving ability à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Results orientation à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Energy and initiative à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Self-confidence à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Perspective à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Communication à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Negotiating ability. Turners identification of the above traits concentrate on the softer skills of Project Management with only the trait of Problem Solving being one that could possibly be taught and the others being skills of a nature more specific to an individual. 1.2 The Behavioural or Style School The behavioural or style school became popular from the 1940s to the 1960s. This school assumed that effective leaders would adopt certain styles or behaviours. This schools theory assumed, that effective leaders can be made and that the parameters include the following: 1. Concern for people or relationships 2. Concern for production 3. Use of authority 4. Involvement of the team in decision-making (formulating decisions) 5. Involvement of the team in decision-taking (choosing options) 6. Flexibility versus the application of rules. Parameter Blake and 1.3 The Contingency School The contingency school came into being during the 1960s and 1970s (Fiedler, 1967; House, 1971; Krech, et al., 1962; Robbins, 1997). Rather than seeking all encompassing theories of leadership that would apply in all situations, contingency theories suggested that what made an effective leader would depend on the situation that the leaders found themselves in. The supporters of this school had a tendency to follow similar patterns: 1. An assessment of the characteristics of the leader 2. An evaluation of the situation in terms of certain key contingency variables 3. The seeking of a match between the leader and the situation. One contingency theory that has proven popular is path-goal theory (House, 1971). The idea is the leader must help the team find the path to their goals and help them in that process. This theory identifies four distinct leadership behaviours: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Directive leaders à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Supportive leaders à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Participative leaders à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Achievement-oriented leaders. These must then be matched to environmental and subordinate contingency factors: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Environmental factors: Task structure Formal authority system Work group. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Subordinate factors: Locus of control Experience Perceived ability. 1.4 The Visionary or Charismatic School During the 1980s and 1990s, the visionary or charismatic school arose from the study of successful business leaders who were leading their organizations through change. Bass (1990) identified two types of leadership, transactional and transformational: Transactional leadership: This form of leadership rewards followers for meeting performance targets and managing by exception by taking action when tasks have not been undertaken in accordance with what was predicted 1.4.2 Transformational leadership: A Project Manager who displays this form of leadership would be charismatic, visionary and would engender pride, respect and trust. They would also provide motivation by creating high expectations, providing intellectual stimulation and challenging their team members with fresh ideas and approaches. They would also give consideration to individuals by showing them respect and paying personal attention to them. From a project management perspective, Keegan and den Hartog (2004) believed that a project managers leadership style needed to be more transformational than transactional, but did not find any evidence to confirm this. What they were able to conclude was that although there is a significant correlation between the managers leadership style and employees commitment and motivation, there does not exist a similar correlation for project managers. 1.4 The Emotional Intelligence School The emotional intelligence school has flourished since the late 1990s, and espouses the view that the leaders emotional intelligence has a greater impact on his or her success and the performance of his or her team than does the leaders intellectual capability (Goleman, Boyatzis, McKee, 2002). They identified six leadership styles: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Visionary à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Democratic à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Coaching à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Pacesetting à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Affiliative à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Commanding. Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee (2002) say that the first four of these styles will engender a sense of teamwork, and usually lead to better performance in appropriate circumstances. They also stated that the last two styles can encourage dissonance, so these last two styles need to be used with care. Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee, as well as other authors, have shown a clear correlation between the emotional intelligence and leadership style of managers and the performance of their organizations. 1.5 The Competency School The competency school of the 1990s has placed an emphasis on the competencies of effective leaders and seeks to identify them. This according to Turner et al. 2005 when taken at face value may appear to be a return to the trait approach. However, they also state that competencies can be learned, so leaders can be made, not just born. Further, different combinations of competencies can lead to different styles of leadership which can be appropriate in different circumstances thereby producing transactional leaders in situations of low complexity and transformational leaders in situations of high complexity (Turner et al., 2005). 2.0 Skills of a Project Manager A good project manager should have the knowledge and skills necessary to perform their job. A project manager can be defined as the person responsible for working with the project sponsor, the project team, and the other people involved in a project to meet project goals (Schwalbe, 2004). To become an IT project manager requires knowledge in the core skills such as time management, risk management, scope management, cost budgeting, and knowledge of IT systems (Dittman et al., 2004). They also stated that a project manager must have skills in addition to the basics of project management to succeed and that the skills required are the soft skills that have to do with getting things that you want done and adjudicating issues between people, managers, egos and agendas. Its basically how to get a job done without annoying people (Melymuka, 2000). These soft skills can include basic leadership and team building abilities that are needed for the team to complete the designated project and t he basic business skills that are necessary for a project manager to be successful in the IT world (Dittman et al., 2004). They also concluded that these could include the ability to communicate into measurable results, utilize financial skills to keep the project cost effective, and identify and predict trends in the project. The ability to communicate effectively is a pre-requisite in project management and it is essential for project managers to have the capacity to listen and understand the people on their project team as well as the customers of their project and by doing so, expectations and feedback can be easily passed on to the team and it will be easier to solve problems and complete tasks within the project (Dittman et al., 2004).. Dennis Johnson, an Assistant vice President at USAA stated that A project manager needs the ability to question without alienating to listen and watch peoples body language and really see whats happening (Melymuka, 2000) and this skill will enable a project manager to step away from a project and view issues from a different perspective. This subsequently enables a project manager to better communicate his ideas and plans with the team and also with his superiors within the organization. Relationship management is a skill that is important to have While managing projects a project manager should be capable of working with all levels within the organization and relationship management is an important skill to either inherently have or to learn. Relationship management can also include identifying the unique characteristics and abilities of each individual on the team and determine the most effective way to utilize them throughout the project (Dittman et al., 2004). A project manager will also need to know how to mobilize and coach the people on their team and establish trust within the project team. The project manager and the team must develop a level of trust and comfort with each other in single-minded pursuit of project goals (Kharbanda, 2003). This is based on the premise that project managers should be able to build and sustain relationships within their project team and throughout all levels of their organization. There are many skills a project manager may have that are argued to be ingrained in the human spirit, the largest of these being the ability to influence others (Dittman et al., 2004). Linda Pittinger, CEO of People3, states Its hard to find people who can influence others and create win-win situations (Melymuka, 2000). The project manager needs to have the ability to sell the value of the project to other people within the organization and must be able to persuade and influence team members to get their job done well and on time must also have the confidence, credibility, and commitment to overcome the obstacles when faced with the task of running an IT project (Dittman et al., 2004). Without the ability to influence people particularly those who may not be in full support of the project, a project manager will be more likely to fail. The ability to make decisions can be either learned or innate and it has been said that the best decision makers are the most experienced decision makers (Dittman et al., 2004).. As a manager and leader, every step you take required decision making skills. What makes it more challenging is the pressure to make the right decision is often very high (Canterucci, 2003). When faced with having to make the correct decision a Project Manager may often have to base this decision on past experience or pure instinct. Should a project manager be new to the field of project management they will not have accrued sufficient experience to make the correct decision but they will have the ability to judge based on their instinct if those instincts are of a project manager with those innate skills. As can be seen above many of the skills required to be an effective project manager are the softer skills of management and that to a large extent these skills can not generally be taught as they rely on the individuals personality. These softer skills however can be honed through time and experience so to some extent there is a degree of learning. 3.0 Personalities of a Project Manager In order to be an effective project manager a persons character and personality traits will play a key role. Dittman et al. 2004 asked the question Within an IT project management program, can people be really prepared for the trials and tribulations of dealing with people while managing a project? The use of personality tests, such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, can assess whether an individual will make a good project manager. By undertaking these assessments, an individual can analyze their personality and connect their personality type with a particular type of career. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment is incredibly popular for doing just this. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is an assessment technique that gives the participant 4 individual letters that are designed to match their personality type. This classification is set out below: Extrovert v. Introvert, Sensing v. Intuitive, Thinking v. Feeling, and Judging v. Perceiving. The research database shows that leaders mostly fall into the ENTJ category (extrovert, intuitive, thinking, and judging). ENTJs are especially well-suited to be leaders and organization builders. They have the ability to clearly identify problems and innovative solutions for the short and long term well-being of an organization(BSM Consulting, 2000). A project manager would generally fall into the category of ESTJ. They are good at a lot of different things, because they put forth a tremendous amount of effort towards doing things the right way. They will be happiest in leadership positions, however, because they have a natural drive to be in charge. They are best suited for jobs which require creating order and structure (BSM Consulting, 2000). The Keirsey Temperament Sorter is another technique that can also be used to determine personal characteristics and aid people gain new understanding of their traits, motivations, and behaviours (AdvisorTeam, 2003). The temperament sorter is an assessment to analyze one specific aspect of ones personality: temperament. Temperament is a set of inclinations that each of us is born with, its a predisposition to certain attitudes and actions (AdvisorTeam, 2003). The four temperaments that people will fall into are artisans, guardians, idealists, and rationals. These groupings have the following characteristics: 1 Artisans value freedom and spontaneity. They want to be without constraint, at liberty to act on their impulses, play and create. Guardians value belonging to a group or community. They maintain stability through responsible, conservative, traditional behaviour. Idealists value personal growth, authenticity, and integrity. They yearn to develop themselves fully as individuals and to facilitate growth in others. Rationals value competence and intelligence. They strive to learn, know, predict, and control the resources in their environment. It has been shown through research that project managers and leaders will most likely fall into the category of either Rational or Guardian (Dittman et al., 2004). A Rational tends to be pragmatic and organized. Their organizational and coordinating skills tends to be highly developed, which means that they are likely to be good at systematizing, ordering priorities, generalizing, summarizing, and at demonstrating their ideas (Prometheus Nemesis, 1998). Guardians tend to be very specific in their communication and reliable when it comes to completing tasks. They also are very cooperative with implementing goals and good at supervision and protecting their subordinates. The Supervisor Guardian is the type of that most fits the personality of the project manager. Supervisor Guardians go by experience, not speculation and experimentation, and certainly not fantasy. They keep their feet firmly on the ground and make sure that those under their supervision do the same (Prometheus Nemesis, 1998). The personality assessments described above are good tools to examine an individuals personality type and compare it to that of the typical project manager career. Each assessment can be used separately or they can be used in conjunction to get the best results. Using these evaluations, it can be shown whether a person has the requisite skills to be a good project manager, and decisions can be made whether to put them in that role, whether they would need further training to be successful in the project manager role, or whether they would be best placed in a different career altogether. 4.0 Conclusion As can be seen an individuals personality can be measured or assessed using the techniques detailed above. These techniques enable organisations to eliminate individuals rather than select individuals as project managers. The methodology behind these techniques would indicate that project managers are born rather than made as the characteristics used to describe individuals are those of an innate nature rather than a derived or coached one. However on the other side of the equation the technical skills required by a Project Manager can be learned and need not necessarily be inherent in the individual. So it could also be concluded that a project manager can be made through learning alone. The leadership style theories above look at the science or art of project management depending on the school to which an individual ascribes to. If an individual is of the viewpoint that Project Managers are born with the innate capabilities to be a project manager then Project Managers have to be viewed as artists. However if the conclusion is that project managers can be taught and trained then they should possibly be viewed as scientists. These can be viewed as two conflicting views with those of a scientific inclination believing that project managers are made and those of a more artistic inclination believing that they are born. From the research undertaken above there is no definitive answer to this question. In the case of Project Management, where there are so many human variables there can be no comprehensive training course that will detail a case study for every given scenario. This would indicate that Project Managers can be and are made but that the best and most effective Project Managers are born.

Computer Crime In The 1990s :: essays research papers

Computer Crime In The 1990's We're being ushered into the digital frontier. It's a cyberland with incredible promise and untold dangers. Are we prepared ? It's a battle between modern day computer cops and digital hackers. Essentially just think what is controlled by computer systems, virtually everything. By programming a telephone voice mail to repeat the word yes over and over again a hacker has beaten the system. The hacker of the 1990's is increasingly becoming more organized very clear in what they're looking for and very, very sophisticated in their methods of attack.. As hackers have become more sophisticated and more destructive, governments, phone companies and businesses are struggling to defend themselves. Phone Fraud In North America the telecommunications industry estimates long distance fraud costs five hundred million perhaps up to a billion every year, the exact the exact figures are hard to be sure of but in North America alone phone fraud committed by computer hackers costs three, four maybe even up to five billion dollars every year. Making an unwitting company pay for long distance calls is the most popular form of phone fraud today. The first step is to gain access to a private automated branch exchange known as a "PABX" or "PBX". One of these can be found in any company with twenty or more employees. A "PABX" is a computer that manages the phone system including it's voice mail. Once inside a "PABX" a hacker looks for a phone whose voice mail has not yet been programmed, then the hacker cracks it's access code and programs it's voice mail account to accept charges for long distance calls, until the authorities catch on, not for a few days, hackers can use voice mail accounts to make free and untraceablecalls to all over the world. The hackers that commit this type of crime are becoming increasingly organized. Known as "call cell operators" they setup flyby night storefronts were people off the street can come in and make long distance calls at a large discount, for the call cell operators of course the calls cost nothing, by hacking into a PABX system they can put all the charges on the victimized companies tab. With a set of stolen voice mail access codes known as "good numbers" hackers can crack into any phone whenever a company disables the phone they're using. In some cases call cell operators have run up hundreds of thousands of dollars in long distance charges, driving businesses and companies straight into bankruptcy. Hacking into a PABX is not as complicated as some people seem to think.

Cenralistaion vs Decentalisation

The main decisions are made by senior management, where little authority is passed down the organisation. advantages †¢ decisions are made by experienced people with an overview of the company. †¢ ensures policies are consistent throughout the company. †¢ ensures quick decisions can be made without consultation. †¢ procedures such as ordering and purchasing can be standardised throughout the company, leading to economies of scale. †¢ in times of crisis the firm may need strong leadership by a central group of senior managers. disadvantages (mainly advantages of decentralisation) centralisation reduces the input of the day to day experts, e. g. , the shop floor staff, into the firms decision making. †¢ it risks demoralising branch managers who may feel mistrusted or powerless. Decentralisation Decisions are made by junior management as authority is passed down the organisation, thereby accepting less uniformity in how things are down. There has been a trend in the 1980s and 1990s is to decentralise to provide greater flexibility. advantages †¢ reduces the stress and burdens of senior management †¢ it can empower local managers encouraging them to be more innovated and motivated. it reduces the volume of day to day communication between head office and the branches, therefore giving senior managers the time to consider long term strategy. †¢ subordinates may have a better knowledge of local conditions affecting their areas of work. This should allow them to make more informed well judged choices, e. g. , salespersons have detailed knowledge of customers. †¢ management at middle and junior levels are groomed to take over higher positions. They are given the experience of decision making when carrying out delegated tasks (management development). could allow greater flexibility and a quicker response to changes. If problems do not have to referred to senior management decision making will be quicker. Since decisions are quicker, they are easier to change in the light of unforeseen circumstances. disadvantages †¢ reduction in uniformity may unsettle customers who expect every Sainsbury’s to look the same or for every McDonald’s hamburger to contain just one slice of gherkin. †¢ head office is in a position to measure the success of every aspect of the product and sales mix, therefore its instructions may prove more profitable than local manager’s intuition. Conclusion It is unlikely there will ever be complete centralisation or decentralisation. Certain functions within a business will always be centralised because of their importance, e. g. , decisions about budget allocation are likely to be centralised as they affect the whole economy. The decision to distribute profits is also taken only by a few. Some delegation is necessary in all firms because the limits to the amount of work senior management can carry out. Even if authority is delegated to a subordinate it is usual for the manager to retain responsibility.

Race and Racism Essay

In comparison to the almighty universe in which people all live in, human beings are merely a speck of dust at the size of it all. Then here are these beings on planet earth, with all 7 billion people under the same moon, divided. No longer are human equals as beings, but separate because of the system of ignorance, exploitation, and power used to oppress people on the basis of ethnicity, culture, mannerisms, and culture (Marable 1). Racism is the issue Americans have swept under the rug; the problem is being ignored, leaving cultures in the dark of their own history causing blame to be shifted on to all sorts of hosts, and it’s time to pick up the rug to dust. Society as a whole seems to have broken down what makes a person unique, dehumanizing them and leaving them susceptible to oppression (Marable 2). One must not be so quick to forget that every single human being is made up of the same genetic material, to forget something so broad is to undermine the gift of thinking itself. Manning Marable writes in Racism and Sexism that stereotypes are at the heart of every form of racism today. Racism is not a topic that sits around at the front of everybody’s brain. Racism does not twist on the tip of your tongue begging to be talked about. Racism is something that is ignored and denied. Shocking statistics from Tim Wise’s On White Privilege were discussed, stating that in 1962, 80% of white folk believed that racism was not even a problem. In the same year, 90% of white folk believed that colored children had equal education opportunities as white children. To believe that racism was not even a problem would be to say that over the 750 race riots 228 people were not actually killed, 12,741 people were not critically injured, and that the 15,000 acts of arson did not leave black urban neighborhoods in ruins, in the same year of 1962 (Postrel). White people are completely unburdened by race; where as colored people constantly feel their capabilities are always being second guessed. However, Charles M. Blow, author of Escaping Slavery, explains to the reader that apparently white people think their actions are justified! And Blow goes as far as to say that â€Å"the idea that progress toward radical harmony would or should be steady and continuous is fraying† (Blow 1). In On White Privilege, the speaker Tim Wise pointed out that white people were asked in 2009 if they believed that racial discrimination is still a problem and only 6% said ‘yes. ’ To put that into perspective: more people would believe that Elvis is still alive than to believe that racial discrimination is still a problem (Wise). Perhaps the density of the universe compromised the carrying capacity of the human brain causing a malfunction making it so the only thing people can think about is them self. Definitely not progress (Blow 2). The white system of ignorance and exploitations is causing the cultures of color to completely lose track of their own histories (Marable). People who are oppressed themselves begin to lose touch with their own traditions of history, community, love, celebrations, struggle, and change (Marable). Tim Wise reminds viewers whose history we are truly learning in school- text books are filled only with white history; people of color are forced to regurgitate white history, white literature, white art, white theater, etc. , while if a white person does not know an ounce of black history, it can go virtually unnoticed in this country (Wise). Actions speak louder than words and people seem to continue to prove their ignorance. As part of the Civil Rights Movement and an effort to create a solution to unlawful discrimination in housing based on race, color, sex, nation origin, or religion, the Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968 (Russell). Fast forward 38 years later where 2006 showed the highest level of discriminating housing complaints based on race (Wise). 38 whole years later and the only thing society can show on terms of progress is the lack of acceptance being distributed around the country. There is not enough change taking place as a country in order to move forward into truly being the United States of America; home of the Brave but we still fear what we do not know. It is always easier to accuse other forces for a problem than to admit that you are actually making the mess yourself. It has been said that if one is not a part of the solution then one is a part of the problem; however, some people are purely unburdened by race, they don’t know racism because they have never had to experience it- people are completely surrounded by and completely oblivious of the problem. Failure to talk about racism feeds the denial (Wise). The finger can be pointed in any direction, and instead of calling it â€Å"blame† the word â€Å"cause† is used instead because that is more constructive, and let’s face it, we need as much progress as we can get. However, progress seems to be unbearably intangible when Blow points out that the pillars of the institution- the fundamental devaluation of dark skin and stained justifications are for the unconscionable- have proved surprisingly resilient (Blow). The ignorance and lack of education only feeds the pillars’ strength. Completely blinded by utter fear, America seems to be in a standstill of progress towards the issue on racism. Starting with Charles Blow’s work in Escaping Slavery, down to Manning Marable’s Racism and Sexism, and what Tim Wise said in On White Privilege, it can be assumed that progress will always need to be made to bring this country closer to unity. Breaking down racial barriers and stereotypes have proven to be an especially lengthy process, however that does not justify the slothfulness of it all. Open minds and hearts is what it is going to take to shatter the structure that leaves this country divided. Word Count: 1,100 Works Cited Blow, Charles. â€Å"Escaping Slavery. † New York Times 4 January 2013. Marable, Manning. â€Å"Racism and Sexism. † Race, Class, and Gender in the United States, 5th ed. Ed. Paul Rothenberg. New York: Worth Publishers, 2001. 124-129. Pring. Wise, Tim. On White Privilege: Racism, White Denial, and the Costs of Inequality. The Media Education Foundation, 2008. DVD. Postrel, Virginia. â€Å"The Consequences of the 1960’s Race Riots Come Into View. † The New York Times. N. p. , 30 Dec. 2004. Web. 18 Feb. 2013.

Free Essays on The Bride Come to Yellow Sky

In â€Å"The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky† by Stephen Crane, you see the changing of Scratchy Wilson. When he first comes into the story he is depicted as someone who is the village drunk, he is calm most of the time, but every once in a while he gets drunk, and goes looking for a fight, mainly with Jack Potter. At the end of the story he is then greeted by Jack and his new bride and seeing this Scratchy calls off his fights. This goes to show that fulfilling your own life can affect more people then you know, and you have to act accordingly. At the start Scratchy’s fights disrupt the town, and he has a regular bought with Jack. He sees this as alright, and does not seem to be effected by what he does. But at the end when he is trying to pick a fight, he learns that Jack just got married, and he then comes to the realization that he is now going to be ruining his life with her, and calls off their rivalry. As a married man Jack is no longer the town sheriff, he is now a husband, he was no less of a person before this, but it took the marriage to make Scratchy realize it. At the beginning of the story we also see that Jack also has a conflict. He thinks that by bringing his new bride home he is going to ruin his life in the town for a short while. He almost feels ashamed for not getting prior approval of the townsfolk before running off and marrying. But at the end it is actually his wife that gets him approval. By brining her along, Scratchy â€Å"approves† of him, and therefore does not carry out with his intention of a gun fight. So Jack’s fear of acceptance was unfounded at the beginning, but plays a role at the end.... Free Essays on The Bride Come to Yellow Sky Free Essays on The Bride Come to Yellow Sky In â€Å"The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky† by Stephen Crane, you see the changing of Scratchy Wilson. When he first comes into the story he is depicted as someone who is the village drunk, he is calm most of the time, but every once in a while he gets drunk, and goes looking for a fight, mainly with Jack Potter. At the end of the story he is then greeted by Jack and his new bride and seeing this Scratchy calls off his fights. This goes to show that fulfilling your own life can affect more people then you know, and you have to act accordingly. At the start Scratchy’s fights disrupt the town, and he has a regular bought with Jack. He sees this as alright, and does not seem to be effected by what he does. But at the end when he is trying to pick a fight, he learns that Jack just got married, and he then comes to the realization that he is now going to be ruining his life with her, and calls off their rivalry. As a married man Jack is no longer the town sheriff, he is now a husband, he was no less of a person before this, but it took the marriage to make Scratchy realize it. At the beginning of the story we also see that Jack also has a conflict. He thinks that by bringing his new bride home he is going to ruin his life in the town for a short while. He almost feels ashamed for not getting prior approval of the townsfolk before running off and marrying. But at the end it is actually his wife that gets him approval. By brining her along, Scratchy â€Å"approves† of him, and therefore does not carry out with his intention of a gun fight. So Jack’s fear of acceptance was unfounded at the beginning, but plays a role at the end....