From genes to minds to cultures: Evolutionary approaches to leadership

Evolutionary perspectives are part of any comprehensive explanation of leadership and, more generally, hierarchy formation in groups. This editorial describes contributions to a special issue on the theme of “The evolution and biology of leadership: A new synthesis”, and we reach four main conclusions. First, leadership has been a powerful force in the biological and cultural evolution of human sociality. Humans have evolved a range of cognitive and behavioral mechanisms (adaptations) that facilitate leader-follower relations, including safeguards against overly dominant leaders. Second, how these adaptations interact with local ecological and cultural contexts produces cultural variation in leadership preferences, and in the structure of human organizations more broadly. Third, an evolutionary perspective creates consilience between the social and natural sciences, by integrating leadership theory from diverse fields such as biology, psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, economics, and political science. Fourth, evolutionary approaches – and specifically the collection of articles in this theme issue – produce and test novel hypotheses, such as regards (i) the critical role of leadership in cooperation, (ii) the importance of contextual factors in leader emergence and effectiveness, (iii) interactions between genetic and cultural influences on leadership, and (iv) obstacles and opportunities for women leaders.     

Leadership to Overcome Resistance to Change

Abstract

The thoughtful behavior analysis of organizational leadership and resistance to change by Goltz and Hietapelto (2002) inspired this follow-up article. Goltz and Hietapelto propose that organizational power is determined by the magnitude, frequency, and quantity of consequences under a person's control, and that people resist change when their consequence control is threatened. This presentation extends the Goltz and Hietapelto article by describing 14 distinctions between management and leadership, and offering 16 guidelines for effective leadership that involve more than consequence control. Thus, while managers obtain their influence by controlling other peoples' consequences, leaders go beyond consequence control to benefit the behaviors and attitudes of their colleagues and coworkers. The leadership guidelines are founded on behavioral research and are relevant and practical for any organizational employee, even those who have only minimal influence on the meaningful consequences of their own and others' work life.     

敢给部下压担子

有位同事移居新加坡,不到一年时间就做出了骄人的业绩.说实在的,他在单位时,其文字基础和写作水平并不是最佳的.     

听听下属怎么说

倾听是一项重要而又经常不被人重视的技能。由于领导者的工作特点,通常情况下,他们更善于说,而不善于听。然而,作为一名领导干部,无论他是到基层调查研究还是在机关处理行政事务,都要听取来自不同部门的工作汇报。从一定意义上说,听取下级汇报是领导者的主要工作方式之一。那么,一个领导者怎样才能在大量的工作汇报中辨清真伪、抓住要害,而不致陷入偏听偏信的误区呢?这就需要领导者掌握必要的倾听艺术。一个忙忙碌碌、不善于倾听意见的领导者,很难掌握组织运行的客观状况。领导者不仅要听,而且要认真地听、全神贯注地听,这些都是理解的先决…     

去留街道办

【策划人语】原本低调的铜陵市社区综合体制改革,因为直指街道办事处的撤销,近期骤然升温,并引发诸多讨论:街道办是撤还是留?社区能否去行政化?如何平衡改革中各方利益关系?铜陵模式可否复制……诸如此类问题,促使我们对社区综合体制改革的观察,具有了多维视角。由此,本刊把关注点聚焦在改革源头——铜官山区。作为全国第一个、也是目前唯一的社区管理和服务创新实验区,发端于铜官山区的社区综合体制改革值得关注。     

如何化解下属对自己的不满

作为领导,难免遇到下属对自己不满的情况。这虽然很正常,但是领导者要善于对下属做工作,与之多沟通意见,多交流思想,巧于化解下属对自己的不满。切不可对此熟视无睹、置之不顾,更不能以同样的态度反过来去对待下属,这样既不能体现领导的风度、品格,又不能体现领导应有的水平,更     

制造商应对强势零售商的战略反应及对我国零售业开放的启示

在渠道关系中,制造商与零售商的利益往往是相互冲突的,制造商面对强势零售商时处于弱势,而面对弱势零售商时则处于强势。基于不同时期零售商零售成本对称与不对称, 以及强势零售商向制造商规定供货价格而弱势零售商接受制造商的供货价格这两个前提进行分析,通过图形和数学模型来分析制造商的2种战略行为——定价战略和促销战略,以及制造商如何通过这2种战略使其利润最大化。同时,结合中国零售业完全开放的国情,讨论在零售成本非对称的情况下,制造商的2种战略行为对增加其自身利益的有效性及对中国零售业的启示。     

Siting Samplers to Minimize Expected Time to Detection

We present a probabilistic approach to designing an indoor sampler network for detecting an accidental or intentional chemical or biological release, and demonstrate it for a real building. In an earlier article, Sohn and Lorenzetti developed a proof of concept algorithm that assumed samplers could return measurements only slowly (on the order of hours). This led to optimal “detect to treat” architectures that maximize the probability of detecting a release. This article develops a more general approach and applies it to samplers that can return measurements relatively quickly (in minutes). This leads to optimal “detect to warn” architectures that minimize the expected time to detection. Using a model of a real, large, commercial building, we demonstrate the approach by optimizing networks against uncertain release locations, source terms, and sampler characteristics. Finally, we speculate on rules of thumb for general sampler placement.     

重塑安徽南下大通道

从南京到广州，乘飞机不过90分钟即可抵达，然而对一名货车(载重10吨)司机而言，却不啻于一场异常漫长和艰辛的“马拉松”长跑。春节前夕，一个极其偶然的机会，记者得到了一名司机提供的一份明细账，上面详细地记载了从南京运货抵达广州的两条路径以及沿途收费站点的收费数额。     

韩国吸引中国游客的战略和方案

中国经济的持续增长,使新兴富豪和高收入阶层的人数不断扩大,从而成为对韩国极具吸引力的市场。本研究将就中国市场的潜在旅游需求进行评价,对中国游客对韩国的印象进行调查,并提出韩国吸引中国游客的战略和具体方案。     

An Empirical Bayes Approach to Estimating the Relation of Mortality to Exposure to Particulate Matter

As part of its assessment of the health risks associated with exposure to particulate matter (PM), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency analyzed the risks associated with current levels, and the risk reductions that might be achieved by attainment of alternative PM standards, in two locations in the United States, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. The concentration-response function describing the relation between a health endpoint and ambient PM concentrations is an important component, and a source of substantial uncertainty, in such risk analyses. In the absence of location-specific estimates, the concentration-response functions necessary for risk assessments in Philadelphia and Los Angeles must be inferred from the available information in other locations. Although the functional form of the concentration-response relations is assumed to be the same everywhere, the value of the PM coefficient in that function may vary from one location to another. Under this model, a distribution describes the probability that the PM coefficient in a randomly selected location will lie in any range of interest. An empirical Bayes estimation technique was used to improve the estimation of location-specific concentration-response functions relating mortality to short-term exposure to particles of aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 microm (PM-2.5), for which functions have previously been estimated in several locations. The empirical Bayes-adjusted parameter values and their SEs were used to derive an estimate of the distribution of PM-2.5 coefficients for mortality associated with short-term exposures. From this distribution, distributions of relative risks corresponding to different specified changes in PM-2.5 concentrations could be derived.     

Approaches to displaying information to assist decisions under uncertainty

The estimation of the costs of a product or project and the decisions based on these forecasts are subject to much uncertainty relating to factors like unknown future developments. This has been addressed repeatedly in research studies focusing on different aspects of uncertainty; unfortunately, this interest has not yet been adopted in practice. One reason can be found in the inadequate representation of uncertainty. This paper introduces an experiment, which engages different approaches to displaying cost forecasting information to gauge the consideration of uncertainty in the subsequent decision-making process. Three different approaches of displaying cost-forecasting information including the uncertainty involved in the data were tested, namely a three point trend forecast, a bar chart, and a FAN-diagram. Furthermore, the effects of using different levels of contextual information about the decision problem were examined. The results show that decision makers tend to simplify the level of uncertainty from a possible range of future outcomes to the limited form of a point estimate. Furthermore, the contextual information made the participants more aware of uncertainty. In addition, the fan-diagram prompted 75.0% of the participants to consider uncertainty even if they had not used this type of diagram before; it was therefore identified as the most suitable method of graphical information display for encouraging decision makers to consider the uncertainty in cost forecasting.     

Learning how to learn: the key to CQI

All CQI/TQM efforts share a common purpose: to learn something that can correct past mistakes and/or to create better futures. Because learning is a dynamic circular process, the information about a problem or an opportunity will be limited unless four perceptions of the truth--each valid, and each incomplete--are accepted. These four types of learning styles or ways of perceiving are: abstract conceptualizers, active experimenters, concrete experiencers, and reflective observers. Unless all the stages of the learning process have been fully completed, unless all the strokes work in harmony, we cannot be confident that a CQI effort has added its full value. A CQI team's interpersonal process, the tools by which individually limited truths are forged into a consensual holistic truth, must ensure that the group's effort goes "around in circles."