A Case Study Of Telenor Management Essay

A Case Study Of Telenor Management Essay 1. Introduction This study endeavors to develop comprehension of how transformational leadership style of top management affects innovation at the organizational level. The topic is of paramount importance because of the ever increasing pressures of modernization and innovation on todays global economy. It has become indispensable to practice a leadership style that makes firms innovative and adaptive to change. Firms are shifting their focus from knowledge economy to creative economy, where corporations will compete on the basis of imagination, innovation and creativity (Oke, Munshi Walumbwa, 2009) Boston Consulting Group Inc surveyed over 900 senior executives and identified innovation as the key driver of top-line revenue. Analysis of firms transforming due to innovation provides evidence for this statement. For example, the highly successful iPod of Apple Inc.s, that earned devastating revenues for the company; the role of Blackberrys success in the transformation and emergence of Research in Motion; process innovation at Southwest Airlines Co. that transformed it as an economical and triumphant airline; and Procter Gamble Co. outperforming its competitors by focusing on design innovation. Innovation aims at bringing about change in the status quo. It can be defined as discovering (creative thinking ideas) and commercializing those discoveries (implementing the creative ideas). Creativity new idea generation alone are insufficient for innovation; implementation is also a cornerstone of the innovation process. (Oke, Munshi, Walumbwa, 2009) Plentiful studies have led to the identification of factors that can stimulate innovation at the organizational level. In broad terms, innovation is the adoption or execution of unaccustomed and convenient ideas by individuals in organizations (Amabile Conti 1999) p.360). Factors that are known to have an influence on innovation include leadership (Mumford Gustafson, 1998; Amabile, 1998), a work environment that is conducive for innovation (Amabile, 1998; Oke, Munshi Walumbwa, 2009), CEO salary (Markman, Balkin and Gomez-Mejia, 2000), organizational culture and climate (Mumford Gustafson, 1998; Jung, Wu Chow, 2008; Oke, Munshi Walumbwa, 2009), environmental attributes (Jung, Wu Chow, 2008), learning capability and intra-organizational networks (Tsai, 2001) and job complexity type of supervision (Oldham Cummings, 1996). Among these abundant factors, the leadership behavior of managers has been spotted as one of the most important of all (Amabile, 1998; Jung, 2001; Mumford, Sc ott, Gaddis Strange, 2002). Leadership was merely a concept before the 19th century and it was in the start of the 19th century that it emerged as a word in English language (Davis Cushing). Over the years, leaders and leadership have been distinctly defined by various scholars. Leadership is a process whereby a leader changes the course of action of another group, due to the interaction of his personality characteristics and those of the group (Bogardus, 1934). Leadership is the direction of human collaborators for the accomplishment of a goal. A leader successfully guides his human assistants for the achievement of particular ends. (Prentice, W.C.H. 1961). Leadership is a goal directed endeavor with the aim to influence the activities of followers through communication process. (Donelly, J.H. Ivancevich, J. M. Gibson, J.L. 1985 Leadership is the situational effort towards goal achievement by the process of influencing the individual or group activities. (Hersey, P. Blanchard, K, 1988). Leadership is the f ormulation of a transparent and complete system of expectations for the purpose of identification, arousal and utilization of strengths of all the resources of an organization, the most important of which is human resource (Batten, J.D. 1989). Leadership is the art of influencing individuals to yield their best output/ performance for the accomplishment of a goal, project or objective. (Cohen, W.A. 1990). Leaders are the people who obtain commitment from a working group of individuals and then motivate them to accomplish the outcomes of a pre-planned direction. (Conger, J.A.1992). Leadership is a process in which a leader sets the goal for an individual or group of individuals and takes all of them together with him or her with proficiency and devotion (Jacques E. Clement, S.D. 1994). Leadership is an unrealizable trait that cannot be distinctly defined. This in fact is a good phenomenon, because if the followers were aware of the definition of leadership, they would probably overr un their leaders. (Scott Adams, 1996). Effective leadership is about enabling ordinary people to deliver extraordinary results in the face of challenge and change and to constantly turn in superior performance to the long-term benefit of all concerned (Charlton, 1993). The more recent definitions conceive leadership in terms of influence relationships, power differentials, persuasion, influence on goal achievement, reinforcement, role differentiation, initiation of structure, and perceived attributions of behavior that are consistent with what the perceivers spotted leadership to be. Recently, many management scholars and gurus have identified adaptive leadership as the key enabler to cope with the ever increasing challenges of the corporate world. (Bass, Avolio, Jung Berson, 2003). So the adaptive leadership behaviors that have proved to be more effective than other leadership styles in organizational innovation have been labeled as transformational. (Lowe, Kroek, Sivasubramaniam, 1996; Gardner Avolio, 1998; Howell Avolio, 1993). Transformational leadership capabilities continue to be the hallmark of innovative firms. Successful leaders like J.R. Immelt, CEO of General Electric; A.G.Lafley, CEO of P&G; Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Motors Tata Group and Steve Jobs of Apple are the prominent figures who have fostered innovation by their adaptive behaviors. Transformational leadership holds four theoretically discrete dimensions: charisma or idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individual consideration. Idealized influence reflects the degree to which followers admire and hold their leaders as role models. Leaders exhibiting idealized influence are ethical, consistent, share risks with followers and prefer the needs of their followers above their own needs. Inspirational motivation points to the degree motivation of followers by delineating new opportunities, providing meaning and challenge to followers work and articulating a strong, realistic and shared vision of the future. Intellectual stimulation refers to the ability of a leader to question the assumptions and thinking of followers, reframe problems, stimulate intellectual curiosity, approaching problems in new ways, soliciting creativity and innovation from followers through novel approaches and avoiding open criticism for individual errors. Finally, leaders who provide individualized consideration pay attention to individual needs for growth, development, support and achievement. They act as coaches or mentors and establish a favorable environment for innovation; where values are diversified and learning opportunities are created (Bass Avolio, 1993) (Some versions of Bass Full-Range Leadership Theory identify 5 components of transformational leadership by breaking down idealized influence/ charisma into idealized influence or attributed charisma. For the sake of simplifying this research, idealized influence and charisma have been grouped together in this study). 2. Research Design 2.1 Main Objectives The aim of this study is to probe the following objectives: To discuss the philosophy, attributes and elements of transformational leadership and innovation To spot the existence of transformational leadership style at Telenor Pakistan To the asses the level of organizational innovation Telenor Pakistan To identify the effect transformational leadership style on organizational innovation 2.2 Hypotheses to be tested The objective of this study is to spot the presence of attributes of transformational leadership i.e. idealized influence, inspirational motivation, individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation, estimate the level of organizational innovation and examine the effect of transformational leadership on organizational innovation. The working hypothesis within this context will be as under: H0: Transformational leadership has no effect on organizational innovation. H1: Transformational leadership has strong effect on organizational innovation. 2.3 Scope of the study The range of application of this study is limited to the telecommunication sector in Pakistan with specific focus on Telenor (Peshawar). Transformational leadership style will be judged on the basis of four dimensions, that is, charisma or idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration. Furthermore, the effect of transformational leadership on organizational innovation will be analyzed. 3. Review of Literature (Burns, 1978) stated that transformational leaders stand above the common place. They indulge in a mutual interaction with their followers that raises the understanding, goals and mission that results in the ultimate arousal and transformation of both the leader and the followers. (Bass, 1985) At the other end to transformational leadership lies transactional leadership; where the leaders try to maintain the status quo. Followers are motivated on the base of extrinsic rewards, such as promotion and monetary benefits. It is an everyday terrestrial transaction of value, where leaders only provide needed value to individuals in exchange for their services. (Jane. M. Howell, Christopher A. Higgins, 1990) The most successful leaders are gifted with qualities of transformational leadership and charisma. They are far more influential and innovative than the leaders having style other than transformational. (David A. Waldman, Bernard M. Bass, 1991) linked the themes of nurturant and persistent leadership with transformational leadership theory. Furthermore, the role of transformational leadership behavior in various stages of successful innovations was clarified and implications were presented regarding the proposed model. (Dougherty Hardy, 1996) Transformational leaders intellectually stimulate their followers. This fosters unaccustomed and creative thinking and working processes that pave the way for new technology and knowledge, which are necessary for organizational innovation. Amabile, Conti, Coon, Lazenby, and Herron (1996) have spotted the damaging effects of transactional leadership on creativity. Bono Judge (2004) have supported this proposition in their recent meta-analysis. (Sosik, Avolio Kahali, 1997) Transformational leaders easily adapt to exploitative and exploratory thinking processes which in turn yield creative ideas and effective solutions to problems. The effectiveness of transformational leadership at stimulating unconventional and innovative thinking of followers is far greater than that of other leadership styles. (Bass, 1985; Gardner Avolio, 1998) proposed that transformational leaders have the ability to create personal and professional commitment from their followers towards satisfying upper-level needs like self-actualization and self esteem. (Oldham Cummings, 1996; Amabile, 1998; Zhou, 2003) added to this research finding by suggesting that this commitment boosts the inherent motivation of followers, which is considered to be an essential driver of individual creativity and organizational innovation. (House Shamir, 1993; Jung Avolio, 2000; Mumford et.al, 2000) Leaders possessing transformational attributes have the ability to regroup the values and norms of their followers in a better way. They encourage the progress of personal and organizational changes and facilitate their followers to go beyond their initial performance expectations. (A.Oke, 2002) was part of a study carried out on the organizational innovation of AXA insurance, Ireland. It was revealed that due to the transformational leadership style of John. ONeil, the CEO, a non-innovative firm was transmuted into an innovative one. To achieve this level of creativity, the physical spaces were decorated with eye catching colors and employees from all levels and functions were made to work together in order to stimulate creativity. The results of this transformational behavior were soon evident in the form of 150 new business ideas during 6 months. (Shin Zhou 2003) found that positive relation was discovered between transformational leadership and creativity of subordinates on the basis of a study conducted on 290 employees and their supervisors belonging to 46 Korean companies. (Jung, Wu, Chow, 2008) concluded in their research that a positive relation has existence between the transformational leadership of CEO and organizational innovation. This effect is moderated by variables such as organizational structure, culture and external environment. These results are agreed upon after testing multi-sourced data from 50 Taiwanese electronics and telecommunications companies. (Oke, Munshi, Walumbwa, 2009) found that transformational style of leadership strongly enhances creativity and innovation regarding exploratory (creating something of a totally new and radical nature) and exploitative innovation activities (incremental improvements and refinements to something that already exists). These leaders have the ability to transform or change, which makes them the main drivers for innovative processes. (Lale Gumusluoglu, Arzu IIsev, 2009) suggested that transformational leadership style has strong influence on both the individual and organizational innovation. Individually, transformational leadership is positively related to the creativity of employees. Furthermore, transformational leadership and organizational innovation are spotted to have a positive association between them. These results are the outcome of a study conducted on 163 managers and RD personnel from 43 Micro and small sized software development companies from Turkey. (Khan, Rehman and Fatima, 2009) studied managers from telecommunication sector in Pakistan and explored the positive effects of transformational leadership on organizational innovation. (Mariana Makri, Terri A.Scandura, 2010) identified the strong relation of operational leadership (the dimension of leadership which reflects the ability of a CEO to refine the existing paths to growth or tapping new paths by reframing and extending the boundaries of the firm to products and markets) and creative leadership (the ability of a leader to contribute to the social, human and knowledge capital of his firm) with the quantity and resonance of innovation. The hypothesis was tested over a sample of 77 high technology firms. 4. Research Methodology 4.1 Sources of data This research will make use of both primary and secondary data. Transformational leadership style will be judged on the basis of primary data obtained through interview and questionnaire. The level of organizational innovation will be assessed by primary data obtained through questionnaire and secondary data gathered from the companys publicly disclosed financial statements. 4.2 Research instruments Questionnaires and structured interviews will serve as instruments of this research. The extent of transformational leadership will be measured using Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Bass and Avolio, 1995) (Annexure-A). MLQ is a well validated measure of transformational leadership and has been used extensively in prior research (Awamleh and Gardner, 1999). Each respondent will be asked to rate five aspects of his/her leaders/ top-managers behavior related to each of the four dimensions of transformational leadership (idealized influence/charisma, inspirational motivation, individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation). The responses will be anchored by a 5-point response scale (1-not at all, 2-once in a while, 3-sometimes, 4-fairly often, 5-frequently, if not always). While measuring organizational innovation, a composite measure will be used to capture the broad aspects of innovative activities (Balkin et als, 2000). Two measures will be used to tap into different aspects of innovation. First is the annual RD expenditure as a percentage of sales revenue over three years prior to this study (i.e.2008-2010). This ratio indicates a firms emphasis on innovation (Hitt, Hoskisson and Kim, 1997; Balkin et al, 2000). These figures will be obtained from the companys publicly disclosed financial statements. Second, different respondents actively following the telecommunication industry will be contacted. The reason is to include different fruits of innovation such as process and service improvements. Each respondent will be offered two sets of questions about the sample firm. The first set includes a single question regarding his/her familiarity with the company. The possible answers will be 1-not familiar with the company at all, 2-somewhat familiar with the company, 3-very familiar with the company. Only the respondents with responses 2 and 3 will be considered. The second set comprises of 20 questions (4 questions each for scanning five types of innovative activities i.e. product innovation, process innovation, marketing innovation, strategic innovation and organizational climate innovation) in order to rate the level of organizational innovation (Annexure B). The 5-point Likerts Scale (1-strongly disagree, 2-disagree, 3-neither agree nor disagree, 4-agree, 5-strongly agree) will be used to anchor the responses. 4.3 Sampling design (a) Universe / population There are many national and multinational telecommunication companies operating in Pakistan. All these national and multinational firms collectively form the population/ universe of this research. Results will be generalized and recommendations will be forwarded considering all these firms. (b) Sample size and selection This research will adopt a case study approach by focusing on Telenor (Peshawar) as the sample firm. A simple random sample of 30 employees of low, middle and top-management of the company will be selected with the aim of assessing transformational leadership. Furthermore, organizational innovation will be judged by studying a random sample of 30 respondents that are directly or indirectly associated with the telecommunication industry in Pakistan.

Compare and Contrast Lennie and Crooks Essay

Don’t judge a book for its cover. In the book â€Å"Of Mice and Men†, the people in the bunkhouse had their differences and similarities. Crooks and Lennie had their own differences and similarities, Crooks suffered from racism while Lennie didn’t, Crooks was a lonely man while Lennie had George, and both of them were outside of society. Crooks suffer from racism. He lives alone in his own bunkhouse. Curley’s wife treats him like if he was her slave, one time she entered his room and started denigrating him because of his color. He also doesn’t goes to the â€Å"saloon† to play cards or hang out with the other guys. Lennie has George; they have someone to count on. Tough George sometimes makes fun of Lennie they still know someone is there. On the other hand, Crooks has nobody to rely on. Also, they don’t go further their relationship. They both remain outside of society. Crooks started being a hostile; he wanted to be alone and didn’t let anyone get into his room. Lennie is mentally retarded; this is what makes other people make fun of him or he’s unable to do things. At last, they both rest in Crooks room because they don’t fit in the group of men. As they weren’t the same they still had their own differences and similarities, which made them, get together. Lennie had George but Lennie didn’t fit in the group that made him lonely and that’s one part that brings them together, by loneliness. People are not meant to be alone, everyone is meant to have someone in their lives.

Death Essay

Death, to many who believe in reincarnation is passing into another life. The quality of this life could be well dependent on the, â€Å"karma† or the deeds that one has carried out in previous birth. Death thus need not be the end of life but just a new beginning. Reincarnation is generally thought to be an Eastern belief predominantly prevalent in Buddhism. Karma, some believe is an ancient Hindu cliche increasingly picked up by Buddhist scriptures which provide a cause – effect link to our actions. Reincarnation takes these links further and seeks to provide a relation between our actions and its outcomes in this birth to our karma in the previous birth. Karma is generally said to be unseen to the common man but ancient Hindu mythology believes that it is evident to the wise and knowledgeable sage. There are many such believers of this phenomenon in the West as well. Stevenson (1980) has even supported it with extensive scientific reasoning and examples. The instances quoted are of children who are said to have taken to speaking about their earlier life immediately after they had started talking. There are some studies which link birth marks or defects with past lives. These defects are seen as the wounds on a person of previous birth, who is remembered in the embryo, wounds which could possibly have been fatal. (Stevenson, 1997). Rationalists and particularly rational biologists would not believe that the biological deformities which are found at birth such as defective speech, hearing or blindness could have been a cause of an accident in previous life rather than defective growth of the embryo in its formative stage. There has thus been extensive skepticism about reincarnation particularly amongst the rationalist of the West. However there are numerous believers of incarnation who quote a number of examples which are there in the Bible including the teachings of Jesus where John the Baptist is considered as a reincarnate of Elijah the prophet. What then is the reality?

Diabetes A Important For A Public Health Issue Essay

From a historical standpoint, diabetes was not always considered to be a public health issue. As with many of our modern disease, there was little known about the mechanism of diabetes when it was first discovered. The Greek physician Aretaeus first coined the term â€Å"diabetes mellitus† to refer to the sweet taste of urine that diabetics were noted to have and it wasn’t actually until 1776 when scientists measured the glucose content in a diabetic’s urine and found it to be elevated (Polonsky, 2012). Ironically, Aretaeus also wrote, that â€Å"diabetes is a remarkable affliction, one not very common among men (Laios, Karamanou, Saridaki, Androutsos, 2012). Throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries, diabetes was still considered to be a rare condition and because so little was known, it was almost always fatal within a short time period. Advances in the 20th century such as the discovery of the pancreas and its role in insulin production along helped eluc idate the mechanism behind type 1 diabetes- a lack of insulin leading to the inability to utilize glucose as energy stores. Once the mechanism was known, researchers developed methods to provide Type 1 diabetics with the insulin their pancreas was not providing. This led to reduced mortality rates and improved quality of life for Type 1 diabetics. Though they would never be cured, the disease was not fatal as it once was. However, while Type 1 diabetes was the pre-dominant form of diabetes some 200 years ago, it is type 2Show MoreRelatedDiabetes Case Study1337 Words   |  6 Pagesare not more effective than injections at helping people with type 1 diabetes control their blood sugar levels and people with type 2 diabetes can control their glucose level by following a healthy meal plan and losing excess weight and by taking medications. The medications will often change during the course of the disease for each person. Insulin also is usually used with type 2 diabetes to control gly caemia (National Diabetes statistics report, 2014). The people have sufficient training couldRead MoreDiabetes Research1436 Words   |  6 PagesMississippi Diabetes Research Proposal This research proposal creates programs for children living with diabetes so that education and management of diabetes will continue during school hours. Mississippi State uses programs like these to address the incidence of diabetes in the state. The incidence and measurement of diabetes in the state, and at the county level, is completed yearly and quarterly and the state research agencies collaborate with the federal government both in the reporting requirementsRead MoreA Short Note On Type II Diabetes Among Aboriginal Adults994 Words   |  4 PagesRunning Head: Type II Diabetes among Aboriginal Adults Type II diabetics and its complications is one of the rising public health issues among the Canadian population especially the aboriginal communities of Canada. Aboriginal people are indigenousness people of Canada before the arrival of European explorers. The aboriginal people include three groups; the first nation, Inuit, and Mà ©tis with their own unique culture, history and spiritual practices (Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, 2014)Read MoreEssay about Evolution of Community and Public Health Nursing1093 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿ Evolution of Community and Public Health Nursing NUR/405 University of Phoenix Material Evolution of Community and Public Health Nursing Event or Influence: 2001 No Child Left Behind Act Key health issues This law was signed into law by George W. Bush on January 8, 2002 (Frontline, 2013). This law is a check point or educational average that measures improvement or decline in student ability through grades 3-8 annually in math and readingRead MoreAdult Obesity : Is The Biggest Public Health Challenges Facing Adult?1449 Words   |  6 Pages Adult Obesity in America Amat Arop Holistic Health Assessment/ NS3321D October 01, 2015 Professor, Jada Adult Obesity in America Obesity is one of the biggest public health challenges facing adult in the United State of America today. Excess weight can lead to a number of debilitating conditions including Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke. Obesity is a rapidly increasing problem. According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention Fact sheet In the last ten years obesityRead MoreDiabetes Is A Serious Health Problem Gaining Increasing Global Attention From Governments Public Health Organizations1446 Words   |  6 PagesDiabetes is a serious health problem gaining increasing global attention from governments public health organisations. This global attention can be attributed to the increasing implications diabetes has on public health (CDC, 2016). Every six seconds a person dies from diabetes (IDF, 2016). Despite the measures to prevent and treat this disease, its prevalence is still on the increase, especially in middle- and low-income countries; more so, health professionals envisage it will rise drasticallyRead MoreDiabetes in the Latino Community1648 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction Diabetes is a prevalent health disparity among the Latino population. Diabetes is listed as the fifth leading cause of death among the Latino population in the website for Center for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, in 2009. According to McBean, â€Å"the 2001 prevalence among Hispanics was significantly higher than among blacks.† (2317) In other words among the Hispanic or Latino community, there is a higher occurrence of diabetes as compared to other racial/ethnic groups such as BlacksRead MoreThe Beauty Of Health Promotion798 Words   |  4 PagesHealth promotion is pretty essential in the modern age, especially when many diseases affecting the general public can be addressed through this approach. The beauty of health promotion is that it equips people with the necessary knowledge on how to go about self-efficacy and primary prevention of illnesses-something that helps in keeping people away from the hospital. One of the clinical problems currently facing the 21st ce ntury society and subsequently the healthcare sector is the rise of lifestyleRead MoreArgument 1917 Words   |  4 Pages†¢ Quadrant I (More changeable/ More important) For my quadrant 1 I placed those behaviors there based off of the data that was found on Rhode Island’s issue with childhood obesity, same with the rest of the quadrants. Being exposed to lead has displayed a negative effect towards the performance of children in Rhode Island academically. Even the past experience of having lead exposure has revealed to have reduced a child’s reading readiness upon entering kindergarten, as well as, lessened the efficiencyRead MoreDiabetes Is A Chronic Disease Essay1560 Words   |  7 PagesDiabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces or both (WHO definition). TYPES Type 1 diabetes It is characterized by deficient insulin production and requires daily administration of insulin. The cause of type 1 diabetes is not known and it is not preventable with current knowledge. Type 2 diabetes It results from the body’s ineffective use of insulin. Type 2 diabetes comprises 90%