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China: Transformational Leadership for Policy and Product Innovation

Geib Peter* and Swenson James

In this conceptual study we propose a framework for understanding the importance of transformational leadership regarding policy in the context of China’s historic transition. We propose a model that applies to innovation and entrepreneurship in China and discuss the elements necessary for the successful creation and implementation of new products and services. The core of this research stems from over 350 interviews in China with key influencers, beginning in 1988 and most recently in the summer of 2012.

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The Whole can be worse than the sum of its Parts: Counterintuitive Consequences of Group Facilitation

Amando A. Radomes Jr.

During group facilitation, the dynamics of the group changes a lot. While the facilitator strives to follow scripts as closely as possible, surprises may still arise in the actual session. This paper aims to provide the facilitator with a firm grasp on the different possible controversies that might be encountered during or after process facilitation. The counterintuitive consequences of working in teams are central to this research. Ten pitfalls of group facilitation are discussed in detail, namely: social loafing, boredom, resistance, competi-tion, confrontation, stalemate, groupthink, compromise and counter-productivity. These are classified into affecting group morale, group hostility or group efficiency, with previous experiments and case studies from other disciplines provided as benchmarks. Causal-loop diagrams are provided to explain the structure of group dynamics to improve the mental model of the facilitator. Insights are provided for the facilitator on how these potentially antagonizing situations can be minimized, if not avoided.

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A Study on the Innovative Sales Techniques

Bugdi Venkatesh

The interaction between customers and salesmen often determines the final outcome of a retail transaction. Salesmen often use various cues about potential customers buying intentions in designing their sales presentation strategies. This study is attempted to find out the various skills required by professional sales people and will reveal the different personal selling techniques used by the organizations and to evaluate the potential prospects of personal selling. This study analyzes the extent of success of salesmen’s in converting a prospect into a customer and growth or the promotional pattern of the sales personal in the various organizations.

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Schumacher and Kautilyan Economics from an Integral View: A Sustainable approach

Sharda Nandram

The world today is changing rapidly in many areas. On the macroeconomic level this is occurring in the form of climate change, resource depletion, disparity of wealth and possibilities of global nuclear waste. Several scholars express a need for a new paradigm of economics and management addressing the core issue of responsibility in society and economics. Some scholars have formulated new principles of Buddhist Economics. In his work, Schumacher described the paradigm shift which is required to take this responsibility. He argued that an economy should exist to serve the needs of people. But in the "materialist" economy we live in today, people exist to serve the economics (http://buddhism.about.com/od/basic buddhistteachings/a/schumaker.htm).

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Earned Value Management: A Tool for Project Performance

Sharma V. K.

A manager of an ongoing project has a responsibility to understand how long a project will take to get to its destination and what it will cost. Earned Value Management is a technique to monitor the project plan, actual work and work-completed value to see how much of the budget and time should have been spent with regard to the amount of work done so far and to forecast how the project will do in the future. It is the most common technique used to measure the performance of the project. The various measures viz. Schedule Variance, Cost Variance, Schedule Performance Index, Cost Performance Index, Critical Ratio and To-Complete Performance Index are computed. Taking a uniform example, the various measures have been worked out. Earned Value Management enables managers to identify and control problems before they become insurmountable. It allows projects to be managed better on time and in budget.

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Effect of Occupational Stress on QWL: Amongst the Associates of IT Industry

Mohla Charu

The study consists of a sample of 203 associates of IT industry in the age range of 20- 55 years. The sample was drawn using randomized sampling technique. The associates were tested on Job Satisfaction and Organizational Stress was administered to all the subjects individually. The mean scores of associates were calculated to ascertain their occupational stress and regression analysis was used to see the effect of Occupational Stress on Quality of Work Life (QWL) amongst the associates of the IT sector. The results show that the IT associates feel good group cohesiveness that means people stick together on group decisions and also go along well. Also the associates feel averagely stressed out due to lack of role clarity, fair compensation, consistent role demands, adequate work load, managerial support, context sensitive and comfortable job. This means that the associates are moderately stressed due to contradictory demands on the role incumbent, unjustified compensation, non clarity about the requirement of the job, required to do too much within assigned time and resources, passive and discouraging role of leader at the time he needs help and encouragement in tackling the problems, problems in coping with technological change as well as rigid rule regulations and taxing job. The associates in the IT industry feel moderately stressed due to significantly different abilities from the requirements of the job and lack of adequate amount of authority to discharge his responsibilities.

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Organizational Culture in Hotel Industry: Perceptions and Preferences among Staff

Ahmad Lone Mushtaq1*, Ahmad Fayyaz S. and Ahamd Tanveer2

Research validates that organizational culture provides a base for understanding the differences that may exist between successful firms operating in the same national culture and differentiates truly high performing organizations from others. The present study uses Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument to tap the responses of the staff members working in 20 hotels operating in different parts of the Kashmir valley. The study was conducted in two major tourist destinations of the Kashmir valley including Srinagar and Phalgam. The paper analyses perceptions of staff members’ about the organizational culture.

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The Study on Impacts of Economical Fluctuations on Working Population of Banking Sector

Priya R.* and Rajendran R.

A nation’s prosperity can be evaluated by its economic growth and sustainability. The economic growth of a nation is supplemented by several sectors and variables. In the same line, the economical disorder (fluctuation) cannot be avoided and at the same time can be downsized. The reactions and reflections of economical fluctuation can be seen and influenced in all the sectors. As we knew and understood that banking sector is one of the predominant sector and contributing a plenty towards the economic growth of a nation. In fact, the banking sector is acting as a middleman and mirrors i.e. all the signs of an economy can be seen through the banking sector. The economical fluctua-tions can be monitored and controlled with the help of following two basic controlling mechanisms and they are; 1. Ensure a balanced as well as proportionate growth between demand and supply. 2. Trade- off the bank rates. (Lending and borrowing rates) Among the two mechanisms, the first one requires high amount of energy and consumes lengthy duration however, it will fetch a permanent solution to the economical fluctuations. Whereas, the properties of the second mechanism indicate that it can be a temporary remedy and its outcome would be applicable for a shorter duration alone. However, the second mechanism is commonly used by most of the countries to check the economical fluctuations, especially inflation of their own countries. When a country and its central bank try to deploy the second mechanism, the proper as well as careful strategies must be followed by the apex bank, otherwise the implementation will be put under herculean task and will create abnormal amount of stress. Due to these frequent changes on bank rates, the bankers are struggling to implement the above said changes among their customers.

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