Four Components of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence was first described by Daniel Goleman, PhD, in the Harvard Business Review.  Dr. Goleman has described many important scientific discoveries about emotions and human behavior in his book, “Emotional Intelligence.” The book organizes the information into a description of how emotion drives behavior, and describes intelligent ways of managing both. According to Goleman, people who know and monitor their own feelings and recognize and deal with the feelings of others, have advantages in all areas of life, but those who cannot get a control over their emotional lives battle constantly and this prevent them to produce continued work and clear thoughts. He has  identified a set of competencies that differentiate individuals with Emotional Intelligence. Goleman’s Model:  Four Components of Emotional Intelligence Emotional Intelligence consists of two kinds of abilities. The vertical axis describes awareness vs. behavior. “What You See” (left column) is the ability to recognize and understand Continue reading

Involvement and Participation in Organizational Change

Involvement and participation are perhaps the most powerful techniques management can use to gain acceptance of change. Commitment to carry out these decisions is intensified. Personal satisfaction derived from the job is increased. The extent of personal involvement can range from merely being informed, to discussing problems and voicing opinions and feelings to actually making and implementing decision. At the most superficial level, some participation occurs when one is designated to receive information either written via distribution lists or in face-to-face briefings. At a slightly more intensive level, participation can be gained through individual or group consultations. This process is no more than an extension of the face-to-face discussion. In the process of soliciting inputs, the managers carry this approach to step further. Those present are asked to make suggestions about how the change might be accomplished. Alternately a problem might be assigned to a group for analysis and recommended Continue reading

Knowledge Management Value Chain

Knowledge management refers to the set of business processes developed in an organization to create, store, transfer, and apply knowledge. Knowledge management increases the ability of the organization to learn from its environment and to incorporate knowledge into its business processes. Following figure illustrates the five value-adding steps in the knowledge management value chain. Each stage in the value chain adds value to raw data and information as they are transformed into usable knowledge. In the figure, information systems activities are separated from related  management and organizational activities, with information systems activities on the top of the graphic and organizational and management activities below. One apt slogan of the knowledge management field is, “Effective knowledge management is 80 percent managerial and organizational, and 20 percent technology.”  In the case of knowledge management, as with other information systems investments, supportive values, structures, and behavior patterns must be built to maximize the Continue reading

Responsibility Accounting

Responsibility accounting is a system under which managers are given decision-making authority and responsibility for each activity occurring within a specific area of the company. Under this system managers are made responsible for the activities of segments. These segments may be called departments or divisions. Responsibility accounting is a system of control where responsibility is assigned for the control of costs. The persons are made responsible for the control of costs. Responsibility accounting implies a system of accounting whereby the performance of various people is judged by assessing how far they have achieved the predetermined targets set for the divisions, departments or sections for which they are responsible. Each person is responsible for his area of operation. Responsibility accounting is similar to any other system of cost such as standard costing or budgetary control but with greater emphasis towards fixing of the responsibility of the persons entrusted with the execution Continue reading

Blue Ocean Strategy – Summary and Examples

Strategy involves standing out from the competition and making choices that give the company a unique and valuable position by offering distinctive products and services. Competitive advantage and profitability can be achieved simultaneously by approaches that create consistent internal synergies and combine a company’s operational activities efficiently. Strategies are formed at various levels of the organization. However, a typical organizational structure incorporates strategies at 3 specific levels: corporate, business and functional. Corporate strategy defines a company’s holistic growth and management direction pertaining to its various businesses, products and services. Business strategies, on the other hand, are established at the divisional levels and typically focus on enhancing the strategic business unit’s competitive position in its industry. Functional strategies aim to maximize resource productivity and are typically set by functional departments within each SBU to improve competencies and performance. The profitability of a company depends on three primary factors which include the Continue reading

Role of Organizational Climate in Facilitating Innovation

One of the most important roles that the leaders play within organization settings is to create the climate for innovation. Organizational climate is a key factor in innovation implementation. Building up an innovative culture in an organisation is one of the important tasks of an innovative leadership. At the same time, creative organizational climate is one of fundamental elements that leads to success of innovation. Doing so successfully will certainly further secure and strengthen the leadership, which initiates innovative climate in the first place. This success will also bind more followers to the leadership because of its respective contributions for innovation, or in another word future success. A leadership should have a quality and skills to manoeuvre the internal environment of an organisation to create a favorable climate for innovation. Although there is no direct influence between organizational climate and innovation, a favorable climate can naturally drive people to seek Continue reading