This study investigated the impact of culture on styles of handling personal conflicts. The conflict management styles of competing, collaborating, avoiding, and accommodating…
Abstract
This study investigated the impact of culture on styles of handling personal conflicts. The conflict management styles of competing, collaborating, avoiding, and accommodating were measured using the Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory (ROCI) instrument composed of 28 statements. For the purpose of this study four populations were identified. The analysis were conducted using 1089 responses; 779 from Egypt, 144 from the United States,32 from Africa (Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan, Zaire, Zambia), and 134 from the Gulf States (the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates). The five styles of handling interpersonal conflict were measured in each region. Factor analysis and multivariate analysis of variance were used to analyze the data.
Sayed M. Elsayed‐Elkhouly, Harold Lazarus and Volville Forsythe
Executives in the Caribbean are spending more time planning and attending meetings now than they did five years ago. They will continue to spend a great deal of time in meetings…
Abstract
Executives in the Caribbean are spending more time planning and attending meetings now than they did five years ago. They will continue to spend a great deal of time in meetings five years from now. Yet, in the spring of 1995, our survey of managers in the Caribbean found that approximately 35 per cent of the time spent in meetings is unproductive.
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Sayed M. Elsayed‐Elkhouly and Richard Buda
This study provides an empirical assessment comparing value systems of Egyptians (n=658), Americans (n=132), Africans (n=43), and Arabs (n=101). In addition, it investigates the…
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This study provides an empirical assessment comparing value systems of Egyptians (n=658), Americans (n=132), Africans (n=43), and Arabs (n=101). In addition, it investigates the value patterns of executives of these cultures making cross‐cultural comparisons across these four regions. The results are based on the responses of both terminal and instrumental values as defined by the Rokeach Value Survey. The analysis showed substantial differences exist among all four regions and between paired comparisons among the regions. The values of the Egyptian executives were least similar to American executives and to a lesser degree, African and Arabian executives on both instrumental and terminal values. In addition, African executives were most similar to Arabian and American executives on both instrumental and terminal values. Results as well as implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Proposes ways to improve human‐computer interaction by presentingsystem information to users in ways which conform to their own learningmodels. First, describes problems of novice…
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Proposes ways to improve human‐computer interaction by presenting system information to users in ways which conform to their own learning models. First, describes problems of novice users and makes recommendations for addressing their difficulties, then relates types of computer presentation media to users′ learning styles. Concludes that some problems encountered by novice users can be overcome by presenting information in ways that users easily understand.
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Leadership is basically about influence and ability to cultivate followership. This chapter examined the nature of indigenous socio-political leadership in Africa using Zimbabwe…
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Leadership is basically about influence and ability to cultivate followership. This chapter examined the nature of indigenous socio-political leadership in Africa using Zimbabwe, Sudan and Nigeria as caselets and compared this with the post-colonial or modern-day leadership realities. A survey was conducted among senior executives at Lagos Business School, Nigeria, with a sample size of 200 persons, to find out their perception of the African indigenous leadership system. An overwhelming 90% believe that culture plays a big role in shaping African leadership style. However, two-thirds of the respondents agreed that Africa lacks proper institutional structures to support good leadership, thus encouraging corruption (97% of the respondents) and non-accountability among the leaders. Also, only 5% thought cultural orientation was the reason why the African followers do not hold their leaders accountable. In other words, it is not in the African culture not to hold leaders accountable for their actions. So, what went wrong? We attempted a deeper look at the effect of colonial rule and the attendant militarisation of the African continent. Our conclusion is that the colonisation of the continent by Europe brought significant distortion to the traditional African indigenous leadership institutions and the psyche of the African leader and the followers alike. Post-colonial Africa has witnessed 133 recorded coups d’etat between 1952 and 2016. This chapter is recommended to all those who seek a deeper understanding of the nature of the African indigenous leadership practices and the factors that have shaped these over the years.
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Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock, Joseph A. Allen and Mark van Vugt
Teams in organizations have weekly – or even daily – meetings to exchange information, generate ideas, solve problems, and make decisions. Yet, many team meetings are described as…
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Teams in organizations have weekly – or even daily – meetings to exchange information, generate ideas, solve problems, and make decisions. Yet, many team meetings are described as ineffective by the participants, due to either their design or dysfunctional communication practices within the meeting. To gain new insights into addressing these issues, this chapter goes back deep in history and discusses the origins and functions of group meetings. Building upon evolutionary theories of human behavior, the authors examine the evolutionary significance of meetings and the ways in which they were adaptive for our human ancestors. Drawing from this evolutionary perspective, we then compare meetings in ancestral times with their modern-day counterparts. Using evidence from (a) ethnographic studies of small-scale societies that model ancestral group life and (b) organizational and team science, we contrast the typical workplace meeting with its ancient counterpart. In this review of ancient and modern meetings, we identify meeting characteristics that have been maintained through time as well as those that are unique/new in the modern time. In doing so, we inspect to what extent meeting practices in ancestral environments are aligned or at odds with meeting practices in contemporary organizations (the notion of mismatch). From these similarities and differences, we derive novel theoretical insights for the study of workplace meetings as well as suggestions for improving contemporary meeting practice. We also include a series of testable propositions that can inform future research on team meetings in organizations.
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One of the most valued management skills is the ability to function effectively in such small group decision‐making settings as meetings. Nevertheless, studies admit that little…
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One of the most valued management skills is the ability to function effectively in such small group decision‐making settings as meetings. Nevertheless, studies admit that little is definitely known about what makes meetings effective, so that meeting leaders often have to operate on assumptions or conflicting evidence even as they recognize that the move toward team‐based organizations has created a special need for meeting facilitation skills. Presents techniques for running meetings based on the results of experience gained working as a meeting consultant at the international headquarters of an insurance corporation in the northeastern USA (referred to as Alifo). Covers a 12‐month period during which 58 managers, supervisors, and executives participated in a meeting analysis survey, attended training sessions, and evaluated meeting simulations. Based, in addition, on meeting observations, minutes, and transcripts, communication reports, and interviews with company managers, several conclusions were reached about the meeting process, leadership behaviors, and group participation at Alifo.
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The aim of this chapter is to study individualism and collectivism as two construct indicators of social patterns in Lebanon using Triandis's (1995) framework of individualism and…
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The aim of this chapter is to study individualism and collectivism as two construct indicators of social patterns in Lebanon using Triandis's (1995) framework of individualism and collectivism. This study explores the Lebanese autostereotypes and views of their extreme individualism and collectivism compared to the common opinion held by cross-cultural research. The study sheds light on how social patterns of different Lebanese individuals are distributed across four “cultural syndromes,” namely vertical and horizontal collectivism and vertical and horizontal individualism. These four social patterns will be tested against various contextual factors such as age, gender, and education. The results may provide a better idea for managers and human resources practitioners of how to prepare training and evaluation programs for their employees. Findings from 161 respondents showed that the subjects tested tended to be individualistic in their choices, and this suggests that the classification in the literature of the Lebanese as collectivists was based on the fact that there was no evidence to the contrary. Also, results showed a positive correlation between sociodemographic measures (gender, age, education, income, occupation, and location) and individualism. The author argues that these findings might have been the result of the evolution of the Lebanese family in the past 25 years. Suggestions for the use of these results in management and human resources practices and theory are given.