Locus of Control

August 1, 2011 2 Comments

Locus of control is an indicator of the individual’s sense of control over their successes and failures (Navahandi, 2006). Individuals’ beliefs that events they are experiences are due to luck, fate, or their own behavior (Scott et al., 2010). Individuals with strong internal locus of control believe that their success and failures are caused their actions. Individuals’ with strong external locus of control believe that what is happening to them is the result of chance, luck, or fate (Navahandi, 2006; Scott et al., 2010). Navahandi (2006) stated that leaders with strong internal locus of control are more likely to lead their teams better than leaders with internal locus of control. Managers and leaders with external locus of control believe that external threats are unmanageable, but the ones with internal locus of control believe they can cope with stress and handle their future (Scott et al., 2010).

References:

Navahandi, A. (2006). The art and science of leadership (4 ed.). New York: Prentice Hall.

Scott, S. L., Carper, T. M., Middleton, M., White, R., Renk, K., & Grills-Taquechel, A. (2010). Relationships among locus of control, coping behaviors, and levels of worry following exposure to hurricanes. Journal of Loss & Trauma, 15(2), 123-137. doi: 10.1080/15325020902925985

Wood, A. M., Saylor, C., & Cohen, J. (2009). Locus of control and academic success among ethnically diverse baccalaureate nursing students. Nursing Education Perspectives, 30(5), 290-294.

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The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

August 16, 2010 2 Comments

The foreign corrupt practices act (FCPA) is as an anti-bribery regulation. The act is prohibiting direct and indirect valuables (monetary or physical) offering to foreign officials to influence their decisions in favor of the giver. The act has consist of two parts to control the international corruption, the first would be an anti-bribery provision and the second is books and records internal controls that enforce a good accounting provisions (Darrough, 2010). International corruption prevention is difficult and a single act like FCPA would only result in limited success if not fully embraced by the international organizations and the countries these organizations work in. the bookkeeping, disclosure and maintenance of internal controls systems are effective measures to prevent unlawful acts by the multinational organizations according to Darrough (2010), but the so-called “facilitating payments” are allowed by the act and these payments can be considered as another form of bribery. U. S. Companies would be would be disadvantaged by this act if they chose to implement it without any deviations. Bribes and “facilitating payments” were common before the act and were practiced by the U. S. companies and other international companies. The U. S. Companies should act ethically (before acting legally) and withhold these payments, but foreign officials would most probably be influenced by the bribes they received from non U. S. companies (or U. S. companies that chose to pay facilitating payments).

Darrough, M. (2010). The FCPA and the OECD convention: Some lessons from the U.S. experience. [Article]. Journal of Business Ethics, 93(2), 255-276. doi: 10.1007/s10551-009-0219-5

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Quite time to think

July 20, 2010 4 Comments

Listen to this postI was fortunate to visit Versailles Palace in France many years ago. After the guided tour we were given free time to walk through the place gardens. The gardens were beautiful and a simple walk through them would reduce your blood pressed by at least 10 mmHg. At the start of my walk I noticed an elderly couple setting on a long chair watching the beautiful view in front of them. They were about one meter a part (3 feet) from each other. I continued my walk around and came back to the same spot after 20 minutes and set down on a single chair and notice that the couple still at their same silence and still looking at the beautiful view ahead. I thought that what they were doing was boring and they might have reached the age were nothing matters anymore. So I sat and started enjoying the view and get lost in my thoughts. Before I knew it, I spent more than an hour of complete silence, similar to what the elderly couple were doing, and it was wonderful!

A distant family member in his 70’s used to set in his wheelchair for hours watching the sea. When we pass-by and greet him he sometimes replay to us and sometimes he just ignore us as if we do not exist. He seems lost in his thoughts and living his past by just watching the sea. Few years after that gentleman pass away I went to the Maldives islands. I use to set in the balcony of my bungalow after the tiresome deep water dives. Each time I set I get lost in my thoughts and spend hours relaxing and enjoying the ocean’s calm waters.
Lately, I do not have the luxury of traveling to these nice places but I still set alone in quite places for at least 30 minutes 3 times every week. I lay down or set without watching TV, listening to music or reading a book. I just relax and let my thoughts flow slowly and reflect on the things I have done or the problems I face. After about 30 minutes I would have good thoughts and practical solutions to whatever challenges I have. Just by simply setting alone and thinking. No TV, no music, no reading or writing, just plain simple thinking. My best ideas and most important decisions were the results of those quite sessions. The sad thing that many people live their lives without setting once in a quite session like that, and they miss the opportunity to clear up their minds and generate wonderful ideas. Go ahead, please try it for half an hour and you will start generating wonderful thoughts and ideas after you pass the 30 minutes mark, trust me!

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Don’t Complain, It is only Hot!

July 11, 2010 3 Comments

Weather forecast Listen to this postThe weather in Kuwait is intolerable, I hear complains about the weather from everybody and from every direction. The complains are coming from Kuwaitis and ex-patriots who lived in Kuwait for at least 15 year. So, what is new? If you are wondering what is the temperature like in Kuwait then you have to understand that at midnight the temperature was 31oC (87oF). The expected highs for the next few days is above 50oC (122oF). OK, so the temperature is high and the weather is intolerable but we should look at the bright side of living in Kuwait. With the hot weather, Kuwait never had a natural disaster. Kuwait never experience an earthquake that registered more than 3 on Richter scale. Kuwait never experience tsunami, floods, hurricanes or volcanic eruption. On top of that, Kuwait is blessed with oil and a lot of it. the natural resource is enough to tolerate the hot weather. So we can afford air conditioning and nice cars to drive around in the hot afternoons. Nest time you sweet go ahead and take a cold shower and enjoy life.

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How Long Should We Stay

May 28, 2010 6 Comments

Listen to this postI was asked how could I work for the same employer for a long time. I have worked with the same employer for about 30 years now. I joined the current employer in November 1980 when I had enough black hear on top of my head and a slim waist that I can only wish for now. I have gain a lot of weight which mostly not muscles.  Back then, I was eager and happy to work in an unforgiving environment like the refining industry. My start was with a team ten years older than me. They started bullying and pressuring me to quit. They asked me many times why would I work in such harsh conditions while I am still young and able to join less demanding and more prestige’s job. My answer would always be in the a derivative of the following question “…. and why are you still working in this environment if it is not good as you said!” usually they could not give a good answer. I knew then that I had a good job because they were trying to push me out of it.
The number one reason for me to stay with the same employer is the good salary and the frequent promotions I got. I was promoted relatively fast from one position to the other when I was a high school graduate and also when I got my engineering degree.  I should say that I got the degree by a generous  scholarship from the same employer.
The working team and the culture in the refinery is the second reason for me to stay with the same employer. The refinery is full of people who would help me when I ask them to, and they are always supportive when I needed support. They are more like a family to me than coworkers.  The daily challenges keep me busy and innovative constantly. These challenge are my third reason for staying with the same employer because routine or repetitive work is does not suit me. I would say that good salary, good benefits combined with daily challenges in a supportive environment would be a good combination for somebody like me to stay forever with a single employer.

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Mediating the Negotiation … Ouch!

May 11, 2010 4 Comments

Listen to this postThe negotiating parties might not have a conflict of interest but the emotional involvement and the negotiators’ ego may cause the conflict (Noll, 2009). The mediator will face a challenge to control the personal differences during the negotiation because some of the reasons for the conflict is the readiness to meet and discuss. The mediator’s job is to listen to both sided of the discussion. Noll (2009) state that “many disputes end up in litigation because someone feels that he or she has not been heard.” (p. 45). The mediator should use his authority as a mediator to stop the repeated interruption and give equal and fair chance for both sides to state their views. The mediator might offer encouragements or threaten to take away benefits to help steer the negotiation in the right direction (Favretto, 2009).

The mediator has to be neutral with good negotiation leadership to be able to end the discussion. Mediation as stated by Fridl (2009) is a form of intervention to resolve  a conflict by negotiating an acceptable settlement. The definition of “acceptable” would vary from one person to another. The mediator should lead the negotiation by his or her communication skills to reach a compromising solution (Fridl, 2009) that both parties could not reach by themselves. Fridl (2009) state that the negotiation would not reach an acceptable solution for three main reasons. First reason would be the readiness of the negotiating parties to accept a compromise. Sometimes the parties would not compromise their demands because they feel that what they have asked for is their right to have and the other party should compromise.  The second reason would be the mediator’s failure to lead the negotiation toward a compromising solution. The third reason would be the benefactors readiness to seek out a constructive alternatives. The benefactors could be the shareholders or board of directors of the negotiating parties.
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References:

Favretto, K. (2009). Should peacemakers take sides? Major power mediation, coercion, and bias. [Article]. American Political Science Review, 103(2), 248-263.

Fridl, D. D. (2009). Kosovo negotiations: Re-visiting the role of mediation. [Article]. International Negotiation, 14(1), 71-93. doi: 10.1163/157180609×406526

Noll, D. E. (2009). The myth of the mediator as settlement broker. [Article]. Dispute Resolution Journal, 64(2), 42-48.

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Sexual Harassment or Office Relationship?

April 25, 2010 9 Comments

Listen to this postWhat would you do if a co-worker was sexually harassed? You may not accept sexual harassment and you would report it right away to the right person for immediate action. But before reporting the harassment, you should make sure that you know the difference between office relationship and sexual harassment. The result of surveyed workers in the US stated that 40% of the surveyed workers admitted they dated a co-worker and 18% of them had dated more than one co-worker (Pearce II, 2010). The age group between 35 to 44 are most active group in the office relationship group because 44% of them admitted a relationship (Pearce II, 2010). Pearce II (2010) state that the age group of 55 and older are also participating in the office relations activity with lesser percentage of 34%. Office relationship is defined as “relationship between two individuals employed by the same company that advances beyond the socially acceptable employer-employee association and the work-related duties” (Pearce II, 2010, p. 38). Office relationship might be desirable by large number of employees but sexual harassment can lead to “employee turnover, absenteeism, insurance costs and lost productivity” (Popovich & Warren, 2010, p. 45). If you have been sexually harassed by a co-worker then you should:

  • Remain calm and do not start blaming yourself.
  • Tell the offender that you do not like what was done and it should be stopped immediately.
  • Report the harassment to the right person. Fill the forms or write a litter of complain to you superior.
  • Follow up on the investigation and disciplinary action. Make sure it will not happen to you or other co-worker.

But before you file a complain for your co-worker, make sure that they have been harassed.

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References:

Pearce II, J. A. (2010). What execs don’t get about office romance. [Article]. MIT Sloan Management Review, 51(3), 39-40.

Popovich, P. M., & Warren, M. A. (2010). The role of power in sexual harassment as a counterproductive behavior in organizations. [Article]. Human Resource Management Review, 20(1), 45-53. doi: 10.1016/j.hrmr.2009.05.003

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High Hanging Fruits

March 7, 2010 4 Comments

كنار السدره
Image by Sami Malallah via Flickr

Listen to this postThe tree in the picture is known in Kuwait by the name of “Sedrah”. It produces small fruit called “Kinar” which has sweet and refreshing taste. This tree can grow up to 10 meters tall and have nice diameter of cool shade with a diameter of 6 meters. The sweet Kinar will fall down when it is ripe and ready for eating. All we need to do is collect it for the ground when the breeze blow it off. However most of the people are impatient and would like to eat the high hanging fruits at their convenient time, so they would hit the branches with a stick or through rocks to the top of the tree to drop the fruit. The aggressiveness would break the branches and damage the tree.

This strange human behavior always amaze me. Volunteers suffer form this phenomena the most. When they do a good job, people would ask for more. Volunteers receive complains or at least criticism when they exert their average effort. We live in a time where everybody wants everything, and they want it now. Anything less than that would be unacceptable. The tree in the picture is more than 25 years old and has given without complains. It has been hardly beaten, thrown at by sticks, rocks, shoes and once I saw car windshield wiper hanging on one side of the tree! But still the tree keep on growing and giving without complains.

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Motivation and Leadership

January 17, 2010 Leave a comment

Diagram of w:Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

AudioMotivation is defined as the processes that provoke and direct human behavior towards winning the organizational goal (Kini & Hobson, 2003). Motivation is raised and directed by a set of characteristics that exist within the person. These characteristics are similar to Maslow’s needs in the Hierarchy of Needs Theory. At the top of the need’s pyramid sets Self-Actualization which is for the person to become everything that he or she is capable of becoming. In other words, self actualization is reached when the person realize his or her potentialities. However, at The base of the pyramid sets the basic needs for food and water to survive.

In the core of motivation resides self-esteem to guide the human behavior (Greenberg, 2008). The expectancy theory state that motivation is the product of expectancy, instrumentality and value of rewards (Kini & Hobson, 2003). The individual’s self-steam is strengthened by his/her expectation for rewards or appreciations. An organization should motivate its employees by fostering moral behavior and ethical practices to reach its goals, then reward these practices to strengthen such behaviors and decision-making practices.

Flower

Words can be beautiful and motivating

The right training and good leadership is a key success factor in motivating the followers. A study done by Ling et al. (2008) on CEO’s from 152 firms and their Top Management Team (TMT) confirmed the transformational leadership effect of these CEO’s on their TMT’s. The CEO’s shaped four significant characteristic in their TMT’s. The characteristics are behavior integration, decentralization of responsibilities, risk-taking propensity and long-term compensation (Ling et al, 2008, 557). The study also found that the CEO’s transformational leadership was able to enhance their direct followers’ motivation, morality and empowerment (Ling et al, 2008, 569).

Dvir et al, (2002) sampled 54 military leaders, their 90 direct followers and 724 indirect followers. Transformational leadership training was given to the military leaders and then they measured their leadership effect on followers. The study found positive impact on the direct followers and indirect followers performance. The same effect was not seen on the controlled group. A study by Waldman et al. (2001) found a significant correlation between charismatic leaders and their organization’s financial performance during difficult times. The mentioned studies demonstrated the leaders positive impact on their direct and indirect followers and their organizations’ financial performance.

References:

Dvir, T., Eden, D., Avolio, B., & Shamir, B. (2002). Impact of transformational leadership on follower development and performance: a field experiment. Academy of Management Journal, 45(4), 735-744.

Greenberg, J. (2008). Understanding the vital human quest for self-esteem. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3(1), 48-55.

Kini, R., & Hobson, C. (2003). Making total quality initiatives successful in Thailand- the motivation theory effect. Journal of Transnational Management, 9(1), 21-37.

Ling, Y., Simsek, Z., Lubatkin, M., & Veiga, J. (2008). Transformational leadership’s role in promoting corporate entrepreneurship: examining the CEO-TMT interface. Academy of Management Journal, 51(3), 557-576.

Waldman, D., Ramirez, G., House, R., & Puranam, P. (2001). Does leadership matter? CEO leadership attributes and profitability under conditions of perceived environmental uncertainty. Academy of Management Journal, 44(1), 134-143.

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