Business in Japan and the United States of America; some implications for management science and operations research

Significant differences exist between United States-managed and Japanese-managed organizations.

• •• U.S. firms are epitomized by surplus behaviors (emphasis on profits and returns on assets, investments and equity).
• •• Japanese firms are characterized by scarcity behaviors (emphasis on husbanding resources and reduction of waste).
• •• Management Science has been used in the generally surplus-oriented Western-world. Western values drive its application, or the decision not to apply it.
• •• Management Science can work effectively within a scarce-resource framework, as well as within a surplus-resource framework.
• •• Management Science has been barely used by the Japanese, although they might use it effectively. A possible explanation is that the Japanese culture is pervasive and consistent in dealing with scarcity.
• •• Management Science, when combined with a severe distaste for waste, may enable Western-world management to develop better strategies to achieve Global Competitiveness.
• •• The scarcity-oriented value system elevates the importance of people as resources. Management Science, to be effective, must do the same.

     

Strategic benchmarking at ICI Fibres

Learning from comparison has two generic forms in business, at the strategic or business level, and at the level of individual processess. Most literature has discussed the ‘micro’ form—focused on specific practices or processes. The case of ICI Fibres shows that:

• 1.1. business performance benchmarks are just as measurable as those for processes,
• 2.2. there is a clear hierarchy of strategic/operating/ micro-process benchmarks which managers need to understand,
• 3.3. effective strategic management brings together benchmarks for business strengths and benchmarks for process capabilities,
• 4.4. you cannot benchmark your way to profit with the wrong strategy.

     

OB and entrepreneurship: The reciprocal benefits of closer conceptual links

One widely accepted definition of the field entrepreneurship (Venkataraman, 1997, p. 6) suggests that it is “A scholarly field that seeks to understand how opportunities to bring into existence ‘future’ goods and services are discovered, created, and exploited, by whom, and with what consequences.” This definition indicates that entrepreneurship involves a complex process in which specific individuals recognize opportunities and then act to convert them into tangible economic benefits (e.g. by creating new ventures). It is the central thesis of this paper that entrepreneurs play a key role in this process and that because they do, OB — the branch of management science that focuses on human behavior — can contribute much to understanding the entrepreneurial process. More specifically, OB can help answer questions long addressed by entrepreneurship researchers such as these:

• 1.(1) Why do some persons but not others choose to become entrepreneurs?
• 2.(2) What factors influence entrepreneurs' success? and
• 3.(3) Why do some persons, but not others, recognize economically advantageous opportunities?

     

The effects of crisis,cynicism about change,and value congruence on perceptions of authentic leadership and attributed charisma in the 2008 presidential election

The current study examines leadership in the context of the 2008 presidential election. Longitudinal data were collected across three regions of the United States to yield 414 responses. Perceptions of crisis were positively related to attributed charisma but not perceptions of authentic leadership. Value congruence moderated the relationship between cynicism and attributed charisma for Obama (but not for McCain) and between cynicism and perceptions of authentic leadership for McCain (but not for Obama). Attributed charisma was found to have augmenting effects over authenticity in predicting voting behavior. The contributions made to the charismatic, authentic, and crisis leadership literatures are discussed and directions for future research presented.     

Reciprocal interactions between group perceptions of leader charisma and group mood through mood contagion

Departing from the static perspective of leader charisma that prevails in the literature, we propose a dynamic perspective of charismatic leadership in which group perceptions of leader charisma influence and are influenced by group mood. Based on a longitudinal experimental study conducted for 3 weeks involving 116 intact, self-managing student groups, we found that T1 group perceptions of leader charisma mediate the effect of leader trait expressivity on T2 positive and negative group moods. T2 positive and negative group moods influence T3 distal charisma perceptions by affecting T2 proximal perceptions of leader effectiveness. The current findings offer critical insights into (a) the reciprocal relationship between group perceptions of leader charisma and group mood, (b) the dynamic and transient nature of group perceptions of leader charisma, (c) the importance of understanding negative mood in charismatic leadership, and (d) the mechanism through which charismatic leadership perceptions can be formed and sustained over time.     

Taming and promoting charisma to change organizations

Taking a sociological perspective on the accumulated literature on charisma reveals how theories and ways of operationalizing charisma depart from Weber's original conception. These departures tend to blur the distinctiveness of the charismatic form of leadership by ignoring or downplaying integral aspects of charisma, especially the precipitating crisis, the radical vision, and subsequent systemic change.     

Total business strategy—the missing link

‘Total Business Strategy’ is the missing link between the aloof ‘Mission Statement’ and the particular ‘Functional Strategies’, that will make strategy formulation more implementation oriented. Total Business Strategy addresses five strategic questions:

• 1. 

  1.|What are our markets? What are the needs (existing or to be developed) of the markets and customers that our firm wants to satisfy?

• 2. 

  2.|What should be our ‘generic’ competitive advantage?

• 3. 

  3.|Are we going to be technology leaders or followers?

• 4. 

  4.|What is our attitute to risk? What risks, and to what extent are we willing to take?

• 5. 

  5.|What are our long range quantitative targets?

     

Charismatic leadership in resistance to change

In Weber's writing and in leadership theory, charismatic leadership is associated with social change. However, the importance and desirability of charismatic leaders in change processes can be questioned, as well as the notion that charismatic leaders are invariably proponents of change. There are documented cases of charismatic leaders in religious and political contexts who have opposed ongoing change and proposed restoring tradition. This paper reports on two historical, qualitative case studies of charismatic leadership in an organizational setting, studies that demonstrate that charismatic leadership can also act in resistance to change and in defense of the status quo. The analysis indicates that the influence processes involved are basically the same as in charismatic leadership in general. It suggests that impending change can challenge the interests and values of established groups and thus create a crisis that stimulates the formation of charisma in opposition to change.     

The effect of charismatic leaders on followers’ memory,error detection,persuasion and prosocial behavior: A cognitive science approach

Adopting a cognitive and follower-centric approach to charismatic leadership, we hypothesized that followers show lower levels of cognitive effort, reflected in superficial processing of factually correct information when listening to and viewing a charismatic leader. We conducted two experiments, using a 2 (charismatic versus neutral) × 2 (female versus male leader) between-subjects design and videos of trained actors delivering a speech. We examined the effects of leader charisma on (1a) followers’ ability to detect factually false information, (1b) accuracy to remember information from the leader (study 1, N = 100), (2a) the persuasiveness of factual messages, (2b) followers’ prosocial behavior and (2c) the mediating effect of the leader’s persuasiveness on followers’ prosocial behavior (study 2, N = 140). We did not find support for the effect of leader charisma on detecting false information, the persuasiveness of messages, or increased prosocial behavior among followers. We found an effect of leader charisma on memory. Participants recognized fewer messages in the charismatic compared to the neutral leader conditions. Exploratory analyses provided mixed results for an interaction effect of leader charisma and sex on detecting and remembering false information. Our studies offer first insights into the cognitive outcomes of the charismatic signaling process.     

The enduring allure of charisma: How Barack Obama won the historic 2008 presidential election

We apply charismatic leadership theory to the historic 2008 United States presidential election, in hopes of inspiring dialogue around how leadership theory can inform the critical process of evaluating and electing public leaders. While numerous leadership theories are relevant to understanding the 2008 election, charismatic leadership theory highlights aspects of the leader, followers, and the unfolding economic crisis that are particularly relevant in helping us to understand how a relatively inexperienced political outsider ascended to the US Presidency. Given the potential perils and challenges newly elected President Barack Obama faces in the months and years ahead, we also suggest four core strategies rooted in charismatic leadership theory that may help him capitalize on his early charismatic appeal, as well as avoid the pitfalls of charisma that have plagued some of his predecessors.     

Self-sacrificial behavior in crisis situations: The competing roles of behavioral and situational factors

As charismatic and transformational leadership theories have broadened their perspective to include situational factors (i.e., crisis), it is important to understand how specific leader behaviors might interact with such situations. Recently, Choi and Mai-Dalton [Leadersh. Q. 10 (1999) 397; Leadersh. Q. 9 (1998) 475] have given both empirical and theoretical attention to the behavior of self-sacrifice, which is an important facet of both Transformational [Organ. Dyn. 13 (1985) 26] and Charismatic Leadership Theories [Acad. Manage. Rev. 12 (1987) 637; House, R. J. (1977). A 1976 theory of charismatic leadership. In J. G. Hunt & L. L. Larson (Eds.), Leadership: The cutting edge (pp. 189–207). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press]. The present experimental study investigates the effects of self-sacrificial behavior, along with the effects of situational crisis on followers' perceptions of their leader's charisma and organizational commitment. Leaders are perceived particularly well when exhibiting self-sacrificial behavior in times of crisis.     

New media economics are transforming consumer relations

The introduction of new IT-based technologies is often said to revolutionize media and retail competition, change the power of brands, and make ‘smart shopping’ or ‘e-commerce’ the future of consumer relations. Other sources, however, caution that the underlying ideas are neither new nor likely to significantly change the market environment. It is the purpose of this article to present a brief perspective on:

• 1. 

  1.|Why current changes in media will alter consumer relations;

• 2. 

  2.|Which means of consumer access is likely to dominate;

• 3. 

  3.|How the result affects the case for e-commerce; and

• 4. 

  4.|How this shapes the evaluation of commercial opportunities for established players as well as newcomers.

     

A longitudinal study of the effects of charismatic leadership and organizational culture on objective and perceived corporate performance

We investigated the combined effects of charismatic leadership and organizational culture on perceived and objective company performance using a longitudinal design. Employees (N = 1214) in 46 branches of a large Dutch bank rated branch management on charismatic leadership, organizational culture in terms of work practices, as well as perceived organizational performance. Objective performance data were collected twice, two years apart. The split sample technique attenuated common source bias. Results of structural equation modeling, in which Time 1 financial performance measures were controlled, revealed that charisma increased financial performance; however culture did not do so. Culture and charisma were significantly related to perceived performance, and culture and charisma were interrelated. A longer time interval may be necessary before the effects of culture on financial performance become apparent. The findings are discussed against the backdrop of the value of intangible resources.     

Minimum degree, edge-connectivity and radius

Let G be a connected graph on n≥4 vertices with minimum degree δ and radius r. Then $\delta r\leq4\lfloor\frac{n}{2}\rfloor-4$ , with equality if and only if one of the following holds:

1. G is K ₅,
2. G?K _n ?M, where M is a perfect matching, if n is even,
3. δ=n?3 and Δ≤n?2, if n is odd.

This solves a conjecture on the product of the edge-connectivity and radius of a graph, which was posed by Sedlar, Vuki?evi?, Aouchice, and Hansen.     

Quality in K-12 education: Parameters for world class achievement

It is widely believed by the American public that quality education is an unattainable goal in American elementary and secondary schools. A recent survey of twelfth grade students in the thirteen leading developed countries showed that American students ranked thirteenth. Another recent survey concluded that 25 million of our citizens are functionally illiterate and that an additional 25 million have to update their skills and/or knowledge to remain competitive in today's marketplace. The federal government and some state governments have finally recognized the relatively poor condition of our present educational system and have set initiatives to corect the educational crisis that exists. The authors describe former President Bush's “America 2000: An Educational Strategy” and President Clinton's “GOALS 2000: Educate America”, both of which have desirable goals but lack an approach for reaching the target and fail to specify any type of accountability for non-achievement. The authors then compare the American education system to an industrial or service organization and attempt to define the “customer”. Once the “customer” is identified, Deming's principles for management are shown to apply to education as well as to manufacturing and other service organizations. In developing this paper, the authors focus on:

1. government, initiatives to improve the educational environment,
2. the views of leading experts on the applicability of total quality management concepts to education, and
3. the strides that have been made toward educational quality improvement by some schools.

A case study describing the benefits which have resulted from implementation of a total quality system at an inner-city suburban New York City K-12 school is then presented.     

An $$O(n\log n)$$ algorithm for finding edge span of cacti

Let \(G=(V,E)\) be a nonempty graph and \(\xi :E\rightarrow \mathbb {N}\) be a function. In the paper we study the computational complexity of the problem of finding vertex colorings \(c\) of \(G\) such that:

1. (1)
   \(|c(u)-c(v)|\ge \xi (uv)\) for each edge \(uv\in E\);
    
2. (2)
   the edge span of \(c\), i.e. \(\max \{|c(u)-c(v)|:uv\in E\}\), is minimal.
    

We show that the problem is NP-hard for subcubic outerplanar graphs of a very simple structure (similar to cycles) and polynomially solvable for cycles and bipartite graphs. Next, we use the last two results to construct an algorithm that solves the problem for a given cactus \(G\) in \(O(n\log n)\) time, where \(n\) is the number of vertices of \(G\).

     

Weber's social history and Etzioni's structural theory of charisma in organizations: Implications for thinking about charismatic leadership

The article argues that the new theories of leadership which give primary attention to the concept of charisma have insufficiently used insights from the work of Max Weber and Amitai Etzioni. Three points are made: (1) the concepts of charisma most referenced in the work of Weber, Etzioni, and the new leadership theories address different levels of analysis which should be considered together; (2) for both Weber and Etzioni, charisma is about wisdom, but this conception is missing in the new theories of leadership; and (3) both Weber and Etzioni gave primary attention to the tensions in the emergence and development of charisma, whereas this is not a concern discussed in the new leadership theories. Each of these points are important for a fuller understanding of charismatic leadership in organizations.     

Dynamics of charismatic leadership: a process theory,simulation model,and tests

The recently revived interest in charisma as an element of transformational leadership has led students of organizational behavior and management to study the psychological bases of this phenomenon. By integrating these studies with the traditional sociological approach to charisma, we present a more comprehensive account of the process of charismatic leadership. This newly formulated theory of charismatic leadership dynamics was transposed into a simulation model with which to test its empirical adequacy. Six clearly charismatic leaders of the past were then chosen to test the model's ability to reproduce the time series of data found in documented evidence. Sixteen data sets relevant to these leaders' careers were successfully reproduced, averaging 76.7% of the variance in the data and attesting to the empirical adequacy of the theoretical integration.     

Charismatic leadership: Eliciting and channeling follower emotions

Research on charismatic leadership has been criticized for the ambiguity of its central construct. Attempts to define and measure charisma have frequently treated it as a complex construct consisting of multiple components. However, little work has been done to develop a theoretical model that offers a parsimonious rationale explaining why certain leadership attributes are considered “charismatic” while others are not, or how these attributes combine to produce charismatic effects. Addressing these issues, we present a model that situates emotion as the primary variable in the charismatic process. We use recent research on the moral emotions to frame a theory of followership-relevant emotions (FREs) that describes how leaders use emotions such as compassion, admiration, and anger to compel their followers to act. We then discuss the Elicit-Channel (EC) model of charismatic leadership, positing that the charismatic relationship is a five-step, cyclical process. In the EC model, leaders elicit highly motivating emotions from their followers and then channel those emotions to produce action that, if successful, results in outcomes such as positive affect and trust. These outcomes then enable the leader to continue the cycle, eliciting emotion once more. We conclude by offering a research agenda, addressing potential methodological concerns, and discussing future directions.     

L(p,q)-labeling of sparse graphs

Let p and q be positive integers. An L(p,q)-labeling of a graph G with a span s is a labeling of its vertices by integers between 0 and s such that adjacent vertices of G are labeled using colors at least p apart, and vertices having a common neighbor are labeled using colors at least q apart. We denote by λ _p,q (G) the least integer k such that G has an L(p,q)-labeling with span k. The maximum average degree of a graph G, denoted by $\operatorname {Mad}(G)$ , is the maximum among the average degrees of its subgraphs (i.e. $\operatorname {Mad}(G) = \max\{\frac{2|E(H)|}{|V(H)|} ; H \subseteq G \}$ ). We consider graphs G with $\operatorname {Mad}(G) < \frac{10}{3}$ , 3 and $\frac{14}{5}$ . These sets of graphs contain planar graphs with girth 5, 6 and 7 respectively. We prove in this paper that every graph G with maximum average degree m and maximum degree Δ has:

λ _p,q (G)≤(2q?1)Δ+6p+10q?8 if $m < \frac{10}{3}$ and p≥2q.

λ _p,q (G)≤(2q?1)Δ+4p+14q?9 if $m < \frac{10}{3}$ and 2q>p.

λ _p,q (G)≤(2q?1)Δ+4p+6q?5 if m<3.

λ _p,q (G)≤(2q?1)Δ+4p+4q?4 if $m < \frac{14}{5}$ .

We give also some refined bounds for specific values of p, q, or Δ. By the way we improve results of Lih and Wang (SIAM J. Discrete Math. 17(2):264–275, 2003).