Role of Leadership and Culture in Promoting Innovation and Creativity

Organizational culture is a very important factor that affects the innovation and the creativity of an organization. Google for example, wouldn’t be so successful in technological innovation without its excellent organizational culture that gives the opportunity to its employees to work hard and innovate. Leadership has also a strong effect on the organizational culture of a company. A good leader must encourage, motivate and inspire his employees to be more creative and innovative. When Steve Jobs left from Apple, the organizational culture of the company was no longer the same and Apple failed to maintain its great success. Leadership and The Example of Apple Leadership is defined as a persons ability to anticipate, envision, maintain flexibility, think strategically and work with others to initiate changes that will create a viable future for the organization. The role of an organizational leader is to define the organizational goals, formulate plans and organize Continue reading

Rangarajan Committee on Balance of Payments

Dr. C. Rangarajan, former Governor, Reserve Bank of India who headed the high level Committee on balance of payments submitted its report on June 4, 1993. The Committee made the following findings and recommendations for correcting balance of payments: 1. The Committee stressed the fact that a realistic exchange rate and a gradual relaxation of restrictions on current account transactions have to go hand in hand. 2. In the medium-term care has to be taken to ensure that there is no capital flight through liberalized windows of transactions under invisibles. At the same time there is no escape from a very close control overall capital transactions so that future liabilities are kept under control. 3. The Committed suggested that Current account deficit of 1.6 per cent of GDP should be treated as ceiling rather than as target. 4. The Committee had given number of recommendations regarding to foreign borrowings, foreign Continue reading

The Concept of Hybrid Managers

A hybrid manager can defined as a person who possesses strong technical skills and adequate business knowledge or vice versa. He should have the required skills needed in the technical as well as the management aspect. Along with that, he should also possess the management competences like communication skills, negotiation skills and also he should be able to motivate others working under him. A Hybrid manager should be able to reduce the gap between the business and technical aspects of the organization and build it with his expertise. Any organisation which has business and technical department working in tandom with each other has an advantage over other organisations whose technical and business department is not integrated. And this role of integration of the business and technical department is performed by the Hybrid managers. Characteristics of a successful Hybrid Manager Self-motivated/like being challenged – A successful hybrid manager is self-motivated person. Continue reading

Ultimate Guide to Cause & Effect Diagram

The cause & effect diagram is the brainchild of Kaoru Ishikawa, who pioneered quality management processes in the Kawasaki shipyards, and in the process became one of the founding fathers of modern management. The cause and effect diagram is used to explore all the potential or real causes (or inputs) that result in a single effect (or output). Causes are arranged according to their level of importance or detail, resulting in a depiction of relationships and hierarchy of events. This can help you search for root causes, identify areas where there may be problems, and compare the relative importance of different causes. Causes in a cause & effect diagram are frequently arranged into four major categories. While these categories can be anything, you will often see: manpower, methods, materials, and machinery (recommended for manufacturing) equipment, policies, procedures, and people (recommended for administration and service). These guidelines can be helpful but Continue reading

Case study- “Merger of HDFC Bank and Times Bank”

In November 1999, when Deepak Parekh and S M Data, Chairman of new private sector banks shook hands, they created a history of sorts. It is the first ever mega merger of Indian banks.  It signaled that Indian banking sector has finally joined the MBA bandwagon. There is no denying the fact that there have been mergers in the Indian banking sector before, but they were essentially attempts by the government to bailout the weak public sector banks that made the stronger partners feeble.   Now, the paradigm shifts lies in the fact that while the earlier mergers took place at the behest of the government, the market forces drove the merger of HDFC BANK and Times Bank. Any talk of M&A in the Indian banking sector would have been pointless a few years ago.   And any suggestion of merger of banks would be regarded as nothing short of Continue reading

Five Sources of Power Used by a Leader

A leader is a person who can influence the behavior of others without using force. Leadership also means that the process of influencing a group to achieve goals. There are three main types of leadership style, they are autocratic, democratic and laissez faire. Besides the three main types of leadership styles, there are also five sources of power that used by a leader, they are coercive, reward, legitimate, expert and referent. First, the autocratic style of leadership, it is also called the leader centered style. This type of style described a leader who tended to centralize authority, make unilateral decisions and limit employee participation. An autocratic leader always tells the people that what should be done, the employees have to perform the work without changing any of the orders. There are three main characteristics of autocratic leadership style, they are formal relations, centralized authorities and single man decision. Formal relations Continue reading