Business Commons^™

Relational Leadership Theory: Exploring The Social Processes Of Leadership And Organizing, Mary Uhl-Bien

Leadership Institute: Faculty Publications

Relational leadership is a relatively new term in the leadership literature, and because of this, its meaning is open to interpretation. In the present article I describe two perspectives of relational leadership: an entity perspective that focuses on identifying attributes of individuals as they engage in interpersonal relationships, and a relational perspective that views leadership as a process of social construction through which certain understandings of leadership come about and are given privileged ontology. These approaches can be complementary, but their implications for study and practice are quite different. After reviewing leadership research relative to these two perspectives I offer …

Complexity Leadership Theory: An Interactive Perspective On Leading In Complex Adaptive Systems, Benyamin B. Lichtenstein, Mary Uhl-Bien, Russ Marion, Anson Seers, James Douglas Orton, Craig Schreiber

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Traditional, hierarchical views of leadership are less and less useful given the complexities of our modern world. Leadership theory must transition to new perspectives that account for the complex adaptive needs of organizations. In this paper, we propose that leadership (as opposed to leaders) can be seen as a complex dynamic process that emerges in the interactive “spaces between” people and ideas. That is, leadership is a dynamic that transcends the capabilities of individuals alone; it is the product of interaction, tension, and exchange rules governing changes in perceptions and understanding. We label this a dynamic of adaptive leadership, and …

Perceptions Of Leadership In Undergraduate Fraternal Organizations, Peter D. Harms, Dustin Woods, Brent W. Roberts, Dan Bureau, A. Michelle Green

Leadership Institute: Faculty Publications

An essential component of the culture and stated purpose of fraternities and sororities is their commitment to leadership. This is highly espoused as a prerequisite to joining and an outcome of membership. With this in mind, it is important to evaluate what leadership means in the context of a fraternity or sorority. This article concludes that leadership can be perceived as exercising power, holding formal positions, and serving as a positive role model for other members. Through understanding the multiple approaches to leadership, the culture and effectiveness of undergraduate fraternal organizations can be evaluated to verify the authenticity of claims …

Use Of A Classroom Response System To Enhance Classroom Interactivity, Keng Siau, Hong Sheng, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Classroom interactivity is a critical component of teaching and learning. This paper reports on the use of a classroom response system to enhance classroom interactivity in a systems analysis and design course. The success of the project was assessed using both quantitative and qualitative data. A pretest/posttest design was used to examine the effects of a classroom response system on interactivity. The results show that a classroom response system can significantly improve classroom interactivity. Qualitative data was also collected to identify the strengths and weaknesses of using a classroom response system to enhance classroom interaction. Based on the quantitative and …

Becoming The Harvard Man: Person-Environment Fit, Personality Development, And Academic Success, Peter D. Harms, Brent W. Roberts, David Winter

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

The continuity and change of the needs and evaluations of the college environment and person-environment fit (PE fit) with the college environment were studied in a 4-year longitudinal study of students (N = 191). Perceptions of the environment changed more dramatically than corresponding self-perceived needs. PE fit demonstrated moderate levels of consistency over the 4-year span, but no significant increases in mean levels were found over time. Antecedents to PE fit in the college environment included both intelligence and openness to experience. Outcomes associated with PE fit included changes in personality traits linked to openness to experience and higher academic …

Psychological Capital Development: Toward A Micro-Intervention, Fred Luthans, James Avey, Bruce Avolio, Steven M. Norman, Gwendolyn Combs

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

After first providing the meaning of psychological capital (PsyCap), we present a micro-intervention to develop it. Drawn from hope, optimism, efficacy, and resiliency development, this PsyCap Intervention (PCI) is shown to have preliminary support for not only increasing participants’ PsyCap, but also financial impact and high return on investment.

Subordinates’ Resistance And Managers’ Evaluations Of Subordinates’ Performance, Bennett J. Tepper, Mary Uhl-Bien, Gary F. Kohut, Steven G. Rogelberg, Daniel E. Lockhart, Michael D. Ensley

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

The authors explored the validity of two perspectives as to how managers evaluate subordinates who resist downward influence attempts: a uniformly dysfunctional perspective (i.e., managers regard all manifestations of resistance as indicators of ineffective influence and rate subordinates unfavorably when they resist) and a multifunctional perspective (i.e., managers regard some manifestations of resistance as more constructive than others and rate subordinates more favorably when they employ constructive resistance tactics). The results of two studies provided support for an interactive model, which predicts that the uniformly dysfunctional perspective is characteristic of lower quality leader-member exchange (LMX) relationships and that the multifunctional …

The “Moments That Matter” For Fred Luthans’S Academic Career, Steven M. Sommer, Fred Luthans

Leadership Institute: Faculty Publications

Fred Luthans is the George Holmes University Distinguished Professor of Management at the University of Nebraska– Lincoln. He was president of the Academy of Management in 1986, received the Academy’s Distinguished Educator Award in 1997, was named in 2000 as a member of the Academy’s Hall of Fame for his numerous publications in AMJ and Academy of Management Review, and received an honorary doctorate from DePaul University and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Iowa, from which he received all of his degrees. Currently, with John Slocum, he is coeditor-in-chief of the Journal of World Business, editor of …

Using Multiple Methods In Personality Psychology, Brent W. Roberts, Peter D. Harms, Jennifer L. Smith, Dustin Wood, Michelle Webb

Leadership Institute: Faculty Publications

In many ways, Campbell and Fiske’s (1959) article on multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) approaches to construct validity has stood like a Platonic ideal for personality psychologists since its publication. In the ideal study, and scientific world, our constructs should converge in a robust and coherent fashion across diverse methods. Moreover, we should all aspire to use multiple methods in both validating our measures and in investigating our ideas. Interestingly, that Platonic ideal is not realized as often as expected. If one looks closely at the empirical literature in personality psychology, the expectation that abstract constructs should converge across methods is seldom met …

Estimation Of Large Insurance Losses: A Case Study, Tine Buch-Kromann

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993-2006)

This paper demonstrates an approach to analyzing liability data recently developed by a Danish insurance company. The approach is based on a Champernowne distribution, which is corrected with a non-parametric estimator. The correction estimator is obtained by transforming the data set with the estimated modified Champernowne cdf and then estimating the density of the transformed data set by using the classical kernel density estimator. Our approach is illustrated by applying it to an actual data set.

Solvency Of Life Insurance Companies: Methodological Issues, Rosa Cocozza, Emilia Di Lorenzo

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993-2006)

The paper deals with solvency assessment for life insurance business; some methodological issues concerning the solvency of life insurance companies, particularly connected to the investment risk, are suggested. Considerations about the technical equilibrium of an insurance portfolio and the financial regulation lead to a dynamic system involving risk measure and solvency assessment. The formal model is applied to a life annuity cohort in a stochastic context in order to exemplify the potential of the model, especially referred to the need to frame solvency assessment in a dynamic perspective.

A Note On The Instability Of The Unprojected Individual Level Premium Cost Method, Pierre Devolder, Valerie Goffin

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993-2006)

We compare the unit credit and the unprojected individual level premium cost methods in a continuous time environment and show that the latter may produce unstable contribution rates in a dynamic environment. Specifically, assuming there are no unfunded liabilities, we prove that the unprojected individual premium cost method may produce non-bounded contributions if benefits change too close to the normal retirement age.

Consistent Assumptions For Modeling Credit Loss Correlations, Jan Dhaene, Marc J. Goovaerts, Robert Koch, Ruben Olieslagers, Olivier Romijn, Steven Vanduffel

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993-2006)

We consider a single period portfolio of n dependent credit risks that are subject to default during the period. We show that using stochastic loss given default random variables in conjunction with default correlations can give rise to an inconsistent set of assumptions for estimating the variance of the portfolio loss. Two sets of consistent assumptions are provided, which it turns out, also provide bounds on the variance of the portfolio's loss. An example of an inconsistent set of assumptions is given.

On Some Risk-Adjusted Tail-Based Premium Calculation Principles, Edward Furman, Zinoviy Landsman

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993-2006)

This paper explores two tail-based premium calculation principles, the tail standard deviation (TSD) premium and the tail conditional expectation (TCE) premium, in their risk-adjusted and unadjusted forms. They are risk-adjusted using so-called distortion functions. We prove that the proportional hazard (PH) risk-adjusted TCE premium is larger than the unadjusted TCE premium. Additionally, given a risk distribution with location and scale parameters, we prove that the PH risk-adjusted TCE premium reduces to the unadjusted TSD premium.

Bayesian Analysis Of A Health Insurance Model, Helio S. Migon, Edison M.O. Penna

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993-2006)

We consider the problem of determining health insurance premiums based on past information on size of loss, number of losses, and size of population at risk. The size of loss and the number of losses are treated as mutually independent random variables. The number of losses is assumed to follow a Poisson process, and the loss sizes are independent and identically distributed non-negative random variables, and the population at risk is assumed to follow a non-linear growth model. An expression for the premium is obtained through maximization of the insurer's expected utility under a Bayesian model. The parameter estimation process …

Bayesian Analysis Of Insurance Losses Using The Buhlmann-Straub Credibility Model, Abraham J. Van Der Merwe, Kobus N. Bekker

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993-2006)

We propose a Bayesian analysis to develop credibility estimates of the well known Biihlmann-Straub model. We describe simple numerical methods to obtain exact posterior distributions and predictive densities under this model. These distributions are obtained through Monte Carlo simulations that generate independent samples from the joint posterior distribution. Our methods are therefore preferable to methods such as Gibbs sampling, which generates dependent samples from the joint distribution. The methods discussed also can be extended to more complicated credibility models.

Journal Of Actuarial Practice, Volume 13, 2006, Colin Ramsay , Editor

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993-2006)

ARTICLES

Bivariate Archimedean Copula Models for Censored Data in Non-Life Insurance • Michel Denuit, Dana Purcaru, and Ingrid Van Keilegom 5

Bayesian Analysis of Insurance Losses Using the Biihlmann-Straub Credibility Model • Abraham J. van der Merwe and Kobus N Bekker . 33

Bayesian Analysis of a Health Insurance Model • Helio S. Migon and Edison M. O. Penna 61

Solvency of Life Insurance Companies: Methodological Issues • Rosa Cocozza and Emilia Di Lorenzo . 81

Pricing Insurance Policies with a Distribution-Free Financial Pricing Model • Min-Ming Wen . 103

A Note on the Instability of the Unprojected Individual Level …

Analysis Of An Insurance Risk Model With Thinning Dependence And Common Shock, Lai Mei Wan, Kam Chuen Yuen, Wai Keung Li

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993-2006)

We consider a continuous-time insurance risk model with m dependent classes of business with dependent claim number processes due to thinning dependence and a common shock. The impact of the dependence is studied via the adjustment coefficient. The case m = 2 is investigated analytically for exponential claim distributions and via simulation for non-exponential claim distributions.

Journal Of Actuarial Practice - Volume 13 (2006) - Contents And Masthead

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993-2006)

Contents

Editorial Policy: Topics suitable for this journal include AIDS, annuity products, asset-liability matching, cash-flow testing, casualty rate making, credibility theory, credit insurance, disability insurance, expense analysis, experience studies, FASB issues, financial reporting, group insurance, health insurance, individual risk taking, insurance regulations, international issues, investments, liability insurance, loss reserves, marketing, pensions, pricing issues, product development, reinsurance, reserving issues, risk-based capital, risk theory, social insurance, solvency issues, taxation, valuation issues, and workers' compensation

Review Process

Editor - Colin Ramsay, University of Nebraska

Associate Editors: Robert Brown, University of Waterloo ○ Cecil Bykerk, Mutual of Omaha ○ Ruy Cardoso, Actuarial Frameworks ○ …

Spatial Distribution Of Frequency And Severity Of Water Claims In California, Gurbhag Singh, Max Tang, Don Mcneill, Lyn Hunstad

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993-2006)

We examine the frequency and severity of water loss claims for homeowners insurance across the state of California for the experience years 2000, 2001, and 2002. The spatial distribution patterns of frequencies and severities are mapped and analyzed at the zip code level. The maps reveal the pockets of high frequencies and severities. The information provided in this paper will assist actuaries and policy makers in their quest to set accurate rates for homeowners insurance.

Pricing Insurance Policies With A Distribution-Free Financial Pricing Model, Min-Ming Wen

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993-2006)

The highly skewed and heavy tailed distributions used to model insurance losses (claims) raise a concern about the validity of the applications of the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) to insurance pricing when market risks are essential. This paper provides an alternative pricing model, called the Rubinstein-Leland model, which can be used to price insurance contracts. The Rubinstein-Leland model has a distribution-free feature that can fully capture the asymmetry embedded in insurance losses. Thus, this model is better able to derive fair prices for insurance policies than is the CAPM.

Bivariate Archimedean Copula Models For Censored Data In Non-Life Insurance, Michel Denuit, Oana Purcaru, Ingrid Van Keilegom

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993-2006)

We describe a methodology based on Archimedean copulas for analyzing nonlife insurance data with censoring present. Specifically, we propose a graphical selection procedure for the nonparametric estimation of the generator. An actual loss-ALAE data set is used for the numerical illustrations and for comparisons of our approach to a few others.

Virtuous Leadership: A Theoretical Model And Research Agenda, Craig L. Pearce, David A. Waldman, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

In this manuscript we attempt to shed light on the concept of virtuous leadership. We first attempt to identify the nature of virtuous leadership. Next, we specify two potential antecedents of virtuous vertical leadership. Specifically, we identify the personal characteristic of responsibility disposition as well as environmental cues as potential predictors of subsequent virtuous leadership. Moreover. we articulate how virtuous vertical leadership might result in virtuous shared leadership. We also demonstrate how both vertical and shared virtuous leadership can act as key factors in the creation of organizational learning. Importantly. we specify several important research implications of our theoretical model. …

Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy In Central Asian Transition Economies: Quantitative And Qualitative Analyses, Fred Luthans, Elina Sharlezdvna Ibrayeva

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

In both quantitative and qualitative field studies, the self-efficacy of entrepreneurs in the transition economies of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan is examined. Using a social cognitive framework, the complex interaction among these entrepreneurs’ (N=133) personal characteristics, environment, and self-efficacy is analyzed by structural equation modeling. Their self-efficacy was found to have a direct and mediating impact on performance. Another sample of entrepreneurs from these countries (N=239) qualitatively assessed what they actually do in their day-to-day activities. The findings from these two studies contribute to better understanding and have implications for successful entrepreneurial practice in countries undergoing the difficult process of transition …

The Importance Of Vertical And Shared Leadership Within New Venture Top Management Teams: Implications For The Performance Of Startups, Michael D. Ensley, Keith M. Hmieleski, Craig L. Pearce

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

The current study investigated the relative influence of vertical versus shared leadership within new venture top management teams on the performance of startups using two different samples. Vertical leadership stems from an appointed or formal leader of a team (e.g., the CEO), whereas shared leadership is a form of distributed leadership stemming from within a team. Transformational, transactional, empowering, and directive dimensions of both vertical and shared leadership were examined. New venture performance was considered in terms of revenue growth and employee growth. The first sample was comprised of 66 top management teams of firms drawn from Inc. Magazine’s …

The Impact Of Efficacy On Work Attitudes Across Cultures, Fred Luthans, Weichun Zhu, Bruce Avolio

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

To answer the call for more cross-cultural research, this study analyzed the efficacy and work attitudes of employee samples from the U.S. and Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand). The results showed that across these two samples, general efficacy had a significant positive relationship with organizational commitment and a significant negative relationship with intention to turnover. Further analysis also indicated that job satisfaction mediated the relationship between general efficacy and organizational commitment and intention to quit in the U.S. sample. The relationship between general efficacy and organizational commitment was stronger in the U.S. than in the three combined countries sampled …

Potential Added Value Of Psychological Capital In Predicting Work Attitudes, Milan Larson, Fred Luthans

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Meeting the challenge of effectively managing human resources requires new thinking and approaches. To extend the traditional perspective of economic capital, increasing recognition is being given to human capital and more recently social capital, this article proposes and empirically tests the potential added value that psychological capital may have for employee attitudes of satisfaction and commitment. After first providing the background and theory of PsyCap, this article reports a study of manufacturing employees (N = 74) that found a significant relationship between PsyCap and job satisfaction (r=.373) and organization commitment (r=.313). Importantly, the employees’ PsyCap had a significant added impact …

Developing The Psychological Capital Of Resiliency, Fred Luthans, Gretchen R Vogelgesang, Paul B. Lester

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

In these turbulent times, we propose the importance of developing the psychological capital dimension of resiliency. After providing the theoretical background and meaning of psychological capital in general and resiliency in particular, the authors present proactive and reactive human resource development (HRD) strategies for its development. The proactive HRD includes increasing psychological assets, decreasing risk factors, and facilitating processes that allow human resources to enhance their resilience. The reactive HRD largely draws from a broaden-and-build model of positive emotions and self-enhancement, external attribution, and hardiness. The article includes specific guidelines for HRD applications and an agenda for future needed research.