Robert E. Spekman, Joseph Spear and John Kamauff
Supply chain management has received in recent years a great deal of attention by practitioners and academics alike. The benefits that accrue to firms that effectively manage…
Abstract
Supply chain management has received in recent years a great deal of attention by practitioners and academics alike. The benefits that accrue to firms that effectively manage their supply chain partners range from lower costs to higher return on investment (ROI), to higher returns to stockholders. Yet, effective management of one’s supply chain is not easily accomplished. In this paper, we develop this capability as a core skill that will ultimately separate the winners from the losers. We develop the concept of supply chain competence and use learning as a proxy. We explore the pre‐conditions for learning to emerge and the impact of learning on supply chain performance. A number of factors that affect partner‐like behavior also affect learning. Also, learning appears to have a positive impact on performance measures relating to end‐customer satisfaction and being a more market‐focused supply chain. Learning does not appear to affect supply chain performance related to cost.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to determine whether there is historical support for the proposal of Smith, Montagno and Kuzmenko that the specific cultures associated with…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine whether there is historical support for the proposal of Smith, Montagno and Kuzmenko that the specific cultures associated with transformational and/or servant leadership would be more or less applicable, based on context. Moreover, its purpose is also to demonstrate that a historical approach can be used effectively to examine such constructs.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents a historical examination of the military retreats of Xenophon, a transformational leader, and Chief Joseph, a servant leader, during very similar contextual crises.
Findings
Given similar contexts, the historical record offers support for the proposal of Smith et al.
Research limitations/implications
First, the retreats of Xenophon and Chief Joseph were separated by many hundreds of years and miles. Also inherent with this type of methodology is simple disagreement among readers. Although this author finds great similarity in the retreats of Xenophon and Chief Joseph, there are certainly differences that could be scrutinized as well. Moreover, others might be dissatisfied with the selection of Xenophon and Joseph to represent the leadership styles presented, or with the conclusions regarding their effectiveness. Such debate should be encouraged and could provide additional avenues for future research. Further, the current study considered leader effectiveness only as it related to the achievement of the organizational goal(s). It could be that Joseph's cohorts were more satisfied, committed, etc. than were the followers of Xenophon. This line of inquiry should also be pursued.
Practical implications
This research suggests that transformational leader behavior is likely to be more appropriate during times of significant organizational change.
Originality/value
This is the first study that has examined the speculation of Smith et al. and the first to demonstrate that a historical approach can add to one's understanding of such constructs.
Details
Keywords
John Humphreys, Kendra Ingram, Courtney Kernek and Theresa Sadler
This paper aims to show how industrial thinking has led to a myopic focus on individual leadership styles to the potential detriment of a broader understanding of leadership…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to show how industrial thinking has led to a myopic focus on individual leadership styles to the potential detriment of a broader understanding of leadership. Also, to present the Nez Perce leadership council as an exemplar of post‐industrial leadership. Finally, to demonstrate that a historical approach can be used effectively to elucidate such constructs.
Design/methodology/approach
A historical examination of the popular portrayal versus the actual functioning of the non‐treaty Nez Perce leadership council during the conflict of 1877.
Findings
Although Chief Joseph has often been considered the supreme leader of the Nez Perce during the conflict period (industrial view), the group was actually led by a leadership council, which functioned in the manner described by Rost and Smith as post‐industrial leadership.
Research limitations/implications
Although the paper illuminates Rost and Smith's model, it does not attempt to assess the effectiveness of post‐industrial leadership, as the successes and failures of the Nez Perce during the conflict period could be attributed to other variables beyond the authors' scope. It is to be hoped, however, that future researchers will continue the debate concerning leadership and its peripheral elements.
Practical implications
It is suggested that contemporary organizational leaders should be focused on leadership beyond style and might consider the post‐industrial model for mutually satisfying influence, particularly with the team‐based and flattened structures common to the modern firm.
Originality/value
The use of a historical example and method to exemplify the contemporary model of post‐industrial leadership. Further, to demonstrate how industrial thinking has encouraged many to focus on the periphery of leadership.
Details
Keywords
Sandra Gutierrez-Wirsching, Jacqueline Mayfield, Milton Mayfield and Wei Wang
The purpose of this paper is to propose motivating language as a mediator to increase the positive effects of servant leadership on subordinates’ outcomes. The authors propose…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose motivating language as a mediator to increase the positive effects of servant leadership on subordinates’ outcomes. The authors propose that motivating language acts as a mediator to transmit servant leadership traits and enhances the positive impact that servant leadership verbal behavior has on employees’ performance.
Design/methodology/approach
By developing a conceptual model, the authors propose a connection between servant leadership and motivating language.
Findings
In the proposed model, motivating language acts as a full and a partial mediator. The authors further categorize three distinct outcome sets that should be improved from this relationship. The first set includes improved worker performance, job satisfaction, absenteeism and worker innovation. The second set is composed of self-efficacy, organizational citizenship behavior and employee commitment. Finally, the third set includes trust, satisfaction with the leader and inspiration to become servant leaders.
Research limitations/implications
Empirical research needs to be conducted to test this model.
Practical implications
The positive effects of servant leadership through the use of motivating language could be operationalized in multiple ways. First, potential servant leaders could take the well-established, reliable and valid motivating language scale to diagnostically identify their leader-member communication strengths and weaknesses. Then, tailored motivating language trainings could be implemented which target motivating language weaknesses and key strategic outcomes in the proposed model. Furthermore, motivating language training would be a valuable instrument for transmission of a servant leadership culture.
Social implications
Servant leadership style responds to the demand for positive ethical behavior that is much needed during these times when emphasis is given to profitability and lack of concern for people is the norm rather than the exception. It is also synchronized with the current benefits of organizational citizenship behaviors that have recently emerged in the field of managerial research.
Originality/value
This paper aims at addressing a gap in the literature by developing a model of how leader strategic language, namely, motivating language, mediates between servant leadership and worker outcomes.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to extend the notion of strategic leadership, that which has been primarily applied to for profit organizations, to nonprofits, specifically the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to extend the notion of strategic leadership, that which has been primarily applied to for profit organizations, to nonprofits, specifically the church setting.
Design/methodology/approach
The research employs a case study methodology and draws primarily upon qualitative data collected from interviews and observation.
Findings
The findings reveal that over the past several years, the organization and its members have undergone a number of incremental and more radical changes. Much of this change has been attributed to the vision and leadership style of the current leader. Four key themes illuminate the processes and content of change under this strategic leader, including unsettlingly the status quo, model of shared leadership, shared vision and culture of community and learning.
Research limitations/implications
The findings are based upon one case study site and this limits the generalizability of the research. In addition, exposure to the organization was limited to short periods of time on-site and the sample size was relatively small.
Practical implications
Achieving success in nonprofits requires leaders to have an intimate understanding of the complex nature of stakeholder relations and measuring success needs to be multi-dimensional in nature and linked directly to the mission and context of the organization, rather than based solely on generic measures.
Originality/value
There is limited research to date that examines the applicability of leadership theories that have been traditionally applied to for profit and public sector organizations to nonprofits. The research extends the notion of strategic leadership from the for profit setting to nonprofit organizations generally, and more specifically to the church setting.
Details
Keywords
Corinna Laube and Wouter van den Bos
Teenagers are typically described as impulsive and risk taking. Yet recent research shows that this observation does not hold in all contexts. Rather, adolescents show higher…
Abstract
Teenagers are typically described as impulsive and risk taking. Yet recent research shows that this observation does not hold in all contexts. Rather, adolescents show higher impulsivity and risk taking than children or adults in affective contexts. Motivational and affective processes are therefore of particular interest when trying to understand typical adolescent behavior. Additionally, pubertal hormones are hypothesized to play a special role in adolescents’ motivated decision making. However, evidence for the mechanisms underlying this relationship is sparse. In this chapter, we aim to integrate findings from human and animal studies in order to elucidate the specific impact of pubertal hormones on motivational processes in adolescence. Against this background, we critically discuss and reinterpret recent findings in psychology and neuroscience, speculate about underlying mechanisms, and suggest new approaches for future studies of adolescent behavior.
Details
Keywords
Rynetta R. Washington, Charlotte D. Sutton and Hubert S. Feild
The paper seeks to address the lack of empirical research on servant leadership by investigating relationships between servant leadership and four individual differences – values…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to address the lack of empirical research on servant leadership by investigating relationships between servant leadership and four individual differences – values of empathy, integrity, and competence and the five‐factor model's personality factor of agreeableness.
Design/methodology/approach
Dennis and Winston's servant leadership scale (a revision of Page and Wong's servant leadership instrument), Braithwaite and Law's Goal and Mode Values Inventories, Mayer and Davis' integrity scale, and Costa and McCrae's NEO Five‐Factor Inventory were used with 288 followers and 126 leaders in three organizations in order to measure relationships between followers' ratings of leaders' servant leadership, followers' ratings of leaders' values of empathy, integrity, and competence and leaders' ratings of their own agreeableness.
Findings
Followers' ratings of leaders' servant leadership were positively related to followers' ratings of leaders' values of empathy, integrity, and competence. Followers' ratings of leaders' servant leadership were also positively related to leaders' ratings of their own agreeableness.
Research limitations/implications
Common method bias is a potential limitation due to respondents' tendency toward consistency in responses.
Practical implications
Organizations embracing servant leadership may benefit from selecting leaders partly on the basis of certain personal attributes such as those investigated in the present study. Furthermore, in order to maintain a servant leadership culture and to retain leaders in a servant leadership organization, recruiters and trainers in servant leadership organizations would likely benefit from communicating accurate information about attributes valued in a servant leadership culture – e.g. attributes explored in the present research.
Originality/value
The study extends our understanding of servant leadership research by offering support for individual attributes related to the practice of servant leadership.
Details
Keywords
Nemiraja Jadiyappa, Garima Sisodia, Anto Joseph, Santosh Shrivastsava and Pavana Jyothi
The governing role of bank-appointed directors (BADs) on the boards of non-financial firms has a potential to reduce information asymmetry between the firm and non-bank lenders…
Abstract
Purpose
The governing role of bank-appointed directors (BADs) on the boards of non-financial firms has a potential to reduce information asymmetry between the firm and non-bank lenders. This should increase the confidence of other creditors in firm activities, thus performing the certification role. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the certification role of BADs.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors test their hypotheses by using a panel of Indian non-financial firms. Our approach involves examining whether there is a significant difference in the number of different debt sources, the dispersion of debt among different debt sources, and leverage for BAD and Non_BAD Firms. The authors use univariate analysis and multivariate regression models to test the difference.
Findings
The authors find that firms with BADs on their board have (1) access to a higher number of different debt sources, (2) debt distributed evenly among different sources and (3) a higher debt ratio. Overall, our study provides supporting evidence for the certification role that BADs play on the boards of non-financial firms.
Originality/value
The authors contribute to the literature in two aspects. First, to the best of our knowledge, this is the only study that examines the effect of the governing role of banks on the lending decisions of non-bank lenders. Second, our study is associated with the growing body of the governance literature in the emerging markets context by examining the interaction of financial policies and governance in an institutional framework, which is very different from that of the developed world.