Digital Commons Network^™

The Multifaceted Leadership Of R. J. Chambers: A Personal Reflection, Michael J. Gaffikin

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

I was working in a fairly insignificant accounting department of a (then) small university when I was charged with the responsibility of accompanying Ray Chambers and his wife Margaret to dinner.
He had accepted an invitation to the University from its Accounting Student Society and for us it was an important occasion to have such a distinguished visitor. During our conversation that evening Ray suggested I come to Sydney University as he thought I would find it (intellectually) stimulating. I took upu his suggestion and did not live to regret it. Working with Chambers was indeed an intellectually stimulating expewrience …

Leadership Styles And Company Performance: The Experience Of Owner-Managers Of Smes, Palli Mulla K A Chandrakumara, Anura De Zoysa, Athula S. Manawaduge

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Leadership styles of owner-managers were explored in the context of a developingcountry in South Asia with a view to examining their impact on financial performanceof SMEs. It was justified that the study has both theoretical and contextualsignificance. Data were collected from 204 companies in Sri Lanka by adopting mixedmethodologies that consisted of both qualitative and qualitative approaches.Descriptive statistics and correlation coefficient were used in the analysis. The findingsrevealed that the existence of three main leadership styles in the sample, namely;entrepreneurial, managerial, and mix of both entrepreneurial and managerialleaderships. The analysis indicated that 60 percent of firms had increased financialperformance, while …

Fostering Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership In Family Firms: Ten Lessons, Mary Barrett, Ken Moores

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Women's potential to lead a firm - whether one started by a family member or a new venture of their own - is still not often enough acknowledged. With family firms acknowledged as the seeding grounds for the next generation of entrepreneurs, and with increasing attention in research and public policy to women's entrepreneurship, it is important to understand the factors in family firms which help and hinder their women members' leadership and entrepreneurship potential. This article, based on the authors' book Women in Family Business Leadership Roles: Daughters on the Stage (Edward Elgar, 2009), presents ten lessons for family …

Spotlights And Shadows: Preliminary Findings About The Experiences Of Women In Family Business Leadership Roles, Mary Barrett, Ken Moores

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

In an earlier study (Moores & Barrett 2002) we found successful CEOs had learned leadership of family controlled businesses (FCBs) in a series of distinct learning phases. Because that study's sample did not include many women, our present study focuses on women in FCBs to better understand how they exercise leadership and entrepreneurship in the family firm context. Case study analysis of an international sample of women FCB leaders, using frameworks which avoid essentialist assumptions about women's and men's approach to leadership, suggests there are some characteristic ways women leaders learn FCB leadership and entrepreneurship roles. We have tentatively labelled …

Leaders Can Learn To Change; Some Do: A Qualitative Study, George K. Kriflik, R. Jones

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The behaviour of organisational subordinates is significantly affected by the attitudes and actions of their supervisor. By changing themselves, leaders can therefore have a crucial impact not only on the behaviour of their subordinates but also on the extent to which those subordinates perceive that they are achieving their organisational potential. This paper presents a conceptual model of the process through which organisational leaders can attempt to change themselves with the objective of changing the behaviour of their subordinates. Using a grounded methodology, data has been collected and analysed from a large Australian public sector bureaucracy by means of participant …

A World Of Flux Requires Information Literacies In The Community And Workplace, Lynda S. Kriflik, George K. Kriflik

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper outlines two studies that explored alternative methodologies that assisted individuals to identify and critically reflect on their preferred way of being. Central to both studies is the importance of critical reflection as the pathway to fully informed decisions. In one study the researcher explored how managers considered information issues that influenced their leadership style, including the risks that stem from individual attitudes and actions. The other explored consumer reactions to food system risk and the information desired to reduce such risk. Both studies highlight the need to facilitate the enhancement of information literacies in the workplace and in …

The Environment. You! Me?: A Leadership Theory, George K. Kriflik

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper refers to the concept of Minimising Attainment Deficit (MAD). This is a leadership process whereby leaders help workers fulfil their expectations of achieving their potential in their work. A qualitative approach to the collection and analysis of data was adopted through the use of orthodox grounded theory. Its aim was to generate rather than to test theory. This research has contributed knowledge relevant to practitioners in the area of leadership by presenting this concept as a processual theory, along with three sets of strategies employed by supervisors(leaders). These strategies aim to help subordinates(followers) minimise the gap between the …

Leadership Learning: Building On Grounded Theory To Explore The Role Of Critical Reflection In Leadership Learning, George K. Kriflik, Lynda S. Kriflik

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

A study of eight senior managers from different organisations has combined Critical Theory and Grounded Theory approaches. This study builds on the findings of a previous substantive study (Kriflik 2002) which identified the most successful leadership strategies, as perceived by participants. The most successful strategies are those in which leaders focussed on their own behaviours, attitudes and actions. Building on these findings this study explores leadership competencies and the mechanisms which enhance, or enable, leaders’ ability to learn such competencies. Interviews were conducted and transcribed, then analysed, and became the basis for the choice of subsequent participants. The study identified …

Women's Leadership Journeys In Family Firms: Preliminary Results From A Qualitative Study, Mary Barrett, Ken Moores

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The family business literature has thus far not devoted much attention to understanding female vantage points in family firms (e.g. Dumas, 1998; Sharma, 2004). Poza and Messer (2001) and Curimbaba (2002) describe the varying roles that women adopt, but without explaining why they adopt such roles. Our research examines the career progression of women leaders in family businesses, specifically how various roles allow them to progressively learn skills and competencies.In an earlier book (Moores and Barrett, 2002) we found that successful family firm CEOs encountered a series of unique paradoxes. Exploring, understanding and perhaps managing these paradoxes took them on …

A Test Of Transformational And Transactional Leadership Styles On Employees' Satisfaction And Performance In The Uae Banking Sector, Raed Awamleh, John Evans, Ashraf Mahate

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study tested the transformational leadership theory among managers at functional levels in United Arab Emirates (UAE) banks. The UAE banking sector was chosen due to its importance in the U.A.E. economy and its significant contribution to the Emirates GDP. The paper examines the effects of both transformational and transactional leadership styles of bank managers/supervisors on employees’ satisfaction and self-perceived performance. Self-esteem and leadership disposition (Romance of Leadership) of employees were hypothesized to act as moderators. Data was collected from employees working in national and international banks operating in the UAE. A multiple regression analysis indicated that transformational leadership style …

A Test Of The Transformational Leadership Model: The Case Of Iran, Raed Awamleh, Sohrab Khalili

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study tested the transformational leadership theory among managers at functional levels in Iranian oil companies. It examined the effects of transformational and transactional leadership styles satisfaction and self-perceived performance of followers. Self-esteem and leadership disposition (Romance of Leadership) of employees were hypothesized to act as moderators. Data was collected from employees working in the oil industry in Iran. A multiple regression analysis indicated that transformational leadership style and self-esteem were related to job satisfaction and performance. In contrast, transactional leadership and romance of leadership did not show any impact on dependent variables. Proposed moderating variables were also insignificant. Results …

A Grounded Theory Of The Leadership Process In A Large Government Bureaucracy, George K. Kriflik, R. Jones

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper presents a theory of the leadership process within the particular substantive setting of a large government bureaucracy. The study organisation (labelled AGRO) possesses a dominant engineering culture and has a history characterised by non- tumultuous change. The research methodology of orthodox grounded theory was employed. The main concern of the participants was found to be a desire to close the gap between their current work reality and that level they perceived themselves to be capable of achieving. This was resolved through the basic social process of Minimising Attainment Deficit. Leadership aspects of charisma and vision where not evident …

Minimising Attainment Deficit: A Leadership Process Theory, George K. Kriflik, Robert Jones

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Leadership as a process was found by RTA workers to fulfill their need for attaining their potential in their jobs. This article presents an overview of this substantive theory which emerged during a Grounded Theory study. Minimising Attainment Deficit, the process, comprises a number of Leader Strategies which aim to modify workplace conditions and so alter workers’ behaviours. The fundamental premise of this theory is the workers’ perceptions of their own potential and their perception of what they are currently achieving, and that any shortfall in achievement results in an Attainment Deficit. Minimising Attainment Deficit Unleashes workers to achieve higher …

The Nature And Structure Of Trade-Financial Networks: Evidence From The New Zealand Pastoral Sector, 1860-1939, Simon Ville, G. Fleming

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study applies modern network theory to trade and finance networks in the New Zealand pastoral sector before World War Two It particularly examines the manner in which networks can include trading and financial business transactions simultaneously. In addition, it provides evidence of the role of leadership in such networks, in this case played by the stock and station agents as intermediaries bringing farmers into contact with a wide range of service providers.

The Steel Leadership Program: Telling The Stories, Karin H. Garrety, Viviane Morrigan, Richard Badham, Michael Zanko

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Introduction

• Between October 1999 and June 2000 fifteen interviews were conducted with Springhill employees who had participated in the SLP course.
• The OD Team at Port Kembla intends using these stories to help build a new culture.

An analysis and representation of participants' stories of their experiences arising out of the BHP Steel Leadership Program (SLP) does not lend itself readily to executive summary and bullet points. However, we have been able to discern a number of key themes from the process of gathering these stories and, of course, from the stories themselves.