Download or read book Unpacking the Upper Echelon s Cognitive Black Box written by Jon M. Hart and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world, senior executives face a myriad of difficult decisions. These decisions are often accompanied by a barrage of stimuli, which can complicate decision-making processes. To traverse these challenges, those in the upper echelons of leadership must manage their selective attention well, make clear sense of unfolding events, and act upon them in ways that maximize organization outcomes. However, there is a gap in research around how the upper echelons of leadership manage their selective attention in high-stimuli decision scenarios. This qualitative grounded theory research addresses this gap by studying the cognitive processes used by senior military executives to manage their limited attentional resources in such environments. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews of a purposive and snowball sampled group of 18 recently retired senior military officers who held key strategic positions during their time in service. Interviews were transcribed, coded using open and axial techniques, and analyzed to develop a grounded theory of how the upper echelons of leadership navigate information-saturated, high-stimuli environments and manage their limited attentional resources when making high-consequence decisions. Findings show that executives rely heavily on the team of people around them while taking steps to create mental space, and then doing the best they can to gather and prioritize information, given time constraints. This model suggests the top management teams play a central role in helping senior executives manage their limited attention, which can shape how senior executives are chosen and developed.

Download or read book Family Businesses Growth written by Laura K.C. Seibold and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-03-10 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Growth is one of the central strategic topics in management science. A growing enterprise embodies success and growth supports the longevity of the business. In her book Laura Seibold provides an overview of the literature on general growth components and different theoretical growth models with a special focus on family enterprises. The author formulates a comprehensive model of how growth can be achieved in family firms. This derived model combines the insights from general growth theory, family specific literature and the insights of top family firm leaders.

Download or read book How We Think They Think written by Maurice E F Bloch and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-02-02 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Maurice Bloch is so ferociously smart that one can always enjoy tangling with his ideas, even when—perhaps especially when—one doesn’t agree with him. This is an important and provocative book.” —Sherry Ortner Columbia University These essays by one of anthropology’s most original theorists consider such fundamental questions as: Is cognition language-based? How reliable a guide to memory are people’s narratives about themselves? What connects the “social recalling” studied by anthropologists to the “autobiographical memory” studied by psychologists? Now gathered in accessible form for the first time and drawing frequently upon the author’s fieldwork among the Zafimaniry of Madagascar for ethnographic examples, the twelve closely linked essays of How We Think They Think pose provocative challenges not only to conventional cognitive models but to the basic assumptions that underlie much of ethnography. This book will be read with interest by those who study culture and cognition, ethnographic theory and practice, and the peoples and cultures of Africa.

Download or read book Storytelling Organizations written by David M Boje and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2008-10-07 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Boje does not reflect trends, he is among those who set them" - Hervé Corvellec, Department of Service Management, Lund University "How can I know what I think until I see what David Boje says? What he says about storytelling will forever change what we thought we knew about stories. With remarkable control over a complex argument, Boje recovers, re-punctuates, and re-animates a world of narrative and sensemaking that we have previously taken for granted!" - Karl E. Weick, Rensis Likert Distinguished University Professor of Organizational Behavior and Psychology,Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan "Few people understand stories and storytelling as well as David Boje. It is a measure of Boje′s success as a theorist that the word story can never reclaim the innocence and simplicity it once enjoyed. Nor, with the benefit of his work, can organizations be viewed as spaces which occasionally or incidentally spawn stories. Boje′s eagerly awaited book forces us to question many of our assumptions about storytelling; it also demands that we revise several of our assumptions about what organizations are" - Yiannis Gabriel, The School of Management, Royal Holloway University of London "Our company is made up of lots of stories. We′ve found that ′stories′ get told and retold and become the fabric of an organization. ′Policies′ lay unread in the company handbook or training manual. David Boje taught me the value of stories in an organization. Stories are the ′oil′ that makes the gears work. How do you get your message heard in an organization with thousands of people? David Boje taught me the value of telling stories at Stew Leonard′s!" - Stew Leonard Jr., Stew Leonard Organization "David Boje is one of the world′s leading authorities on storytelling. His work has influenced a generation of organizational theorists and students. He not only provides new ways of understanding organizations but also provides fresh insights into the way in which stories function to provide meanings" - Heather Höpfl, University of Essex The idea of organizations using `storytelling′ to make sense of themselves and their environment has generated a lot of excitement. Written by the leading scholar in this field, David Boje explores how narrative and storytelling is an important part of an organization′s strategy, development and learning processes. With excellent examples from Nike, McDonald′s and Disney, readers are shown how the theory that underpins organizational storytelling connects with storytelling in everyday organizational life. David Boje′s theories and ideas in relation to the study of storytelling in organizations are highly influential and this book will be a `must have′ for any student or scholar interested in the area.

Download or read book Strategic Leadership written by Sydney Finkelstein and published by Strategic Management. This book was released on 2009 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book integrates and assesses the vast and rapidly growing literature on strategic leadership, which is the study of top executives and their effects on organizations. The basic premise is that in order to understand why organizations do the things they do, or perform the way they do, we need to deeply comprehend the people at the top-- their experiences, abilities, values, social connections, aspirations, and other human features. The actions--or inactions--of a relatively small number of key people at the apex of an organization can dramatically affect organizational outcomes. The scope of strategic leadership includes individual executives, especially chief executive officers (CEOs), groups of executives (top management teams, or TMTs); and governing bodies (particularly boards of directors). Accordingly, the book addresses an array of topics regarding CEOs (e.g., values, personality, motives, demography, succession, and compensation); TMTs (including composition, processes, and dynamics); and boards of directors (why boards look and behave the way they do, and the consequences of board profiles and behaviors). Strategic Leadership synthesizes what is known about strategic leadership and indicates new research directions. The book is meant primarily for scholars who strive to assess and understand the phenomena of strategic leadership. It offers a considerable foundation on which professionals involved in executive search, compensation, appraisal and staffing, as well as board members who evaluate executive performance and potential, might build their tools and perspectives.

Download or read book The Sum of Small Things written by Elizabeth Currid-Halkett and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-05-15 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the leisure class has been replaced by a new elite, and how their consumer habits affect us all In today’s world, the leisure class has been replaced by a new elite. Highly educated and defined by cultural capital rather than income bracket, these individuals earnestly buy organic, carry NPR tote bags, and breast-feed their babies. They care about discreet, inconspicuous consumption—like eating free-range chicken and heirloom tomatoes, wearing organic cotton shirts and TOMS shoes, and listening to the Serial podcast. They use their purchasing power to hire nannies and housekeepers, to cultivate their children’s growth, and to practice yoga and Pilates. In The Sum of Small Things, Elizabeth Currid-Halkett dubs this segment of society “the aspirational class” and discusses how, through deft decisions about education, health, parenting, and retirement, the aspirational class reproduces wealth and upward mobility, deepening the ever-wider class divide. Exploring the rise of the aspirational class, Currid-Halkett considers how much has changed since the 1899 publication of Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class. In that inflammatory classic, which coined the phrase “conspicuous consumption,” Veblen described upper-class frivolities: men who used walking sticks for show, and women who bought silver flatware despite the effectiveness of cheaper aluminum utensils. Now, Currid-Halkett argues, the power of material goods as symbols of social position has diminished due to their accessibility. As a result, the aspirational class has altered its consumer habits away from overt materialism to more subtle expenditures that reveal status and knowledge. And these transformations influence how we all make choices. With a rich narrative and extensive interviews and research, The Sum of Small Things illustrates how cultural capital leads to lifestyle shifts and what this forecasts, not just for the aspirational class but for everyone.

Download or read book Social Sustainability Past and Future written by Sander van der Leeuw and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-02-13 with total page 533 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A novel, integrated approach to understanding long-term human history, viewing it as the long-term evolution of human information-processing. This title is also available as Open Access.

Download or read book Authoritarianism and the Elite Origins of Democracy written by Michael Albertus and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-01-25 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues that - in terms of institutional design, the allocation of power and privilege, and the lived experiences of citizens - democracy often does not restart the political game after displacing authoritarianism. Democratic institutions are frequently designed by the outgoing authoritarian regime to shield incumbent elites from the rule of law and give them an unfair advantage over politics and the economy after democratization. Authoritarianism and the Elite Origins of Democracy systematically documents and analyzes the constitutional tools that outgoing authoritarian elites use to accomplish these ends, such as electoral system design, legislative appointments, federalism, legal immunities, constitutional tribunal design, and supermajority thresholds for change. The study provides wide-ranging evidence for these claims using data that spans the globe and dates from 1800 to the present. Albertus and Menaldo also conduct detailed case studies of Chile and Sweden. In doing so, they explain why some democracies successfully overhaul their elite-biased constitutions for more egalitarian social contracts.

Download or read book Thinking about Deterrence written by Air Univeristy Press and published by Military Bookshop. This book was released on 2014-09-01 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With many scholars and analysts questioning the relevance of deterrence as a valid strategic concept, this volume moves beyond Cold War nuclear deterrence to show the many ways in which deterrence is applicable to contemporary security. It examines the possibility of applying deterrence theory and practice to space, to cyberspace, and against non-state actors. It also examines the role of nuclear deterrence in the twenty-first century and reaches surprising conclusions.

Download or read book Construction Stakeholder Management written by Ezekiel Chinyio and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2009-10-22 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book captures best practice in construction stakeholdermanagement using a range of international case studies. Itdemonstrates stakeholder mapping, presents the power/interestmatrix and analyses a model for the timely engagement ofstakeholders. The increased use of partnering and other relational forms ofcontracting have underlined the need for project participants towork together and also to be aware of all those who can affect orbe affected by a project and its associated developments.Stakeholder management enables them to see this wider picture andprovides guidance for managing the diverse views and interests thatcan manifest in the course of a project’s life. All construction projects have the potential for conflicts ofinterest that can result in costly and damaging legal proceedings.This new book advocates an alternative to dispute resolution thatis proactive, practical and global in its application.Construction Stakeholder Management is therefore anessential text for advanced students, lecturers, researchers andpractitioners in the built environment.

Download or read book Aging in Sub Saharan Africa written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2006-11-10 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In sub-Saharan Africa, older people make up a relatively small fraction of the total population and are supported primarily by family and other kinship networks. They have traditionally been viewed as repositories of information and wisdom, and are critical pillars of the community but as the HIV/AIDS pandemic destroys family systems, the elderly increasingly have to deal with the loss of their own support while absorbing the additional responsibilities of caring for their orphaned grandchildren. Aging in Sub-Saharan Africa explores ways to promote U.S. research interests and to augment the sub-Saharan governments' capacity to address the many challenges posed by population aging. Five major themes are explored in the book such as the need for a basic definition of "older person," the need for national governments to invest more in basic research and the coordination of data collection across countries, and the need for improved dialogue between local researchers and policy makers. This book makes three major recommendations: 1) the development of a research agenda 2) enhancing research opportunity and implementation and 3) the translation of research findings.

Download or read book Enhancing Human Performance written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1988-01-01 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In its evaluation, Enhancing Human Performance reviews the relevant materials, describes each technique, makes recommendations in some cases for further scientific research and investigation, and notes applications in military and industrial settings. The techniques address a wide range of goals, from enhancing classroom learning to improving creativity and motor skills.

Download or read book Strategic Decisions written by Vassilis Papadakis and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past ten years, there has been growing interest in the process of strategic decision-making among both managers and researchers. Strategic decisions are important for five main reasons: They are large-scale, risky and hard to reverse; they are a bridge between deliberate and emerging strategies; they can be a major source of organizational learning; they play an important part in the development of individual managers and they cut accross functions and academic disciplines. Strategic Decisions summarizes the current state of the art in research on strategic decision-making, with chapters prepared by leading strategy researchers. The editors also present implications for current application and proposed directions for future research.

Download or read book Principles of Food Sanitation written by Norman G. Marriott and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-09 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Large volume food processing and preparation operations have increased the need for improved sanitary practices from processing to consumption. This trend presents a challenge to every employee in the food processing and food prepara tion industry. Sanitation is an applied science for the attainment of hygienic conditions. Because of increased emphasis on food safety, sanitation is receiving increased attention from those in the food industry. Traditionally, inexperienced employees with few skills who have received little or no training have been delegated sanitation duties. Yet sanitation employees require intensive training. In the past, these employees, including sanitation program managers, have had only limited access to material on this subject. Technical information has been confined primarily to a limited number of training manuals provided by regulatory agen cies, industry and association manuals, and recommendations from equipment and cleaning compound firms. Most of this material lacks specific information related to the selection of appropriate cleaning methods, equipment, compounds, and sanitizers for maintaining hygienic conditions in food processing and prepara tion facilities. The purpose of this text is to provide sanitation information needed to ensure hygienic practices. Sanitation is a broad subject; thus, principles related to con tamination, cleaning compounds, sanitizers, and cleaning equipment, and specific directions for applying these principles to attain hygienic conditions in food processing and food preparation are discussed. The discussion starts with the importance of sanitation and also includes regulatory requirements and voluntary sanitation programs including additional and updated information on Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP).

Download or read book Space Is the Machine written by Bill Hillier and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-04-12 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since 'The Social Logic of Space' was published in 1984, Bill Hillier and his colleagues at University College London have been conducting research on how space features in the form and functioning of buildings and cities. A key outcome is the concept of 'spatial configuration' meaning relations which take account of other relations in a complex. New techniques have been developed and applied to a wide range of architectural and urban problems. The aim of this book is to assemble some of this work and show how it leads to a new type of theory of architecture, an analytic theory in which understanding and design advance together. The success of configurational ideas in bringing to light the spatial logic of buildings and cities suggests that it might be possible to extend these ideas to other areas of the human sciences where problems of configuration are critical.

Download or read book Measuring National Power in the Postindustrial Age written by Ashley J. Tellis and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2001 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The arrival of postindustrial society has transformed the traditional bases of national power, and thus the methods used to measure the relative power of nations should be reassessed as well. Appreciating the true basis of national power requires not merely a meticulous detailing of visible military assets but also a scrutiny of larger capabilities embodied in such variables as the aptitude for innovation, the soundness of social institutions, and the quality of the knowledge base--all of which may bear upon a country's capacity to produce the one element still fundamental to international politics: effective military power. The authors reconfigure the notion of national power to accommodate a wider understanding of capability, advancing a conceptual framework that measures three distinct areas--national resources, national performance, and military capability--to help the intelligence community develop a better evaluation of a country's national power. The analysis elaborates the rationale for assessing each of these areas and offers ideas on how to measure them in tangible ways. An analyst's handbook, RAND/MR-1110/1-A, is also available.

Download or read book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism written by Shoshana Zuboff and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2019-01-15 with total page 658 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The challenges to humanity posed by the digital future, the first detailed examination of the unprecedented form of power called "surveillance capitalism," and the quest by powerful corporations to predict and control our behavior. In this masterwork of original thinking and research, Shoshana Zuboff provides startling insights into the phenomenon that she has named surveillance capitalism. The stakes could not be higher: a global architecture of behavior modification threatens human nature in the twenty-first century just as industrial capitalism disfigured the natural world in the twentieth. Zuboff vividly brings to life the consequences as surveillance capitalism advances from Silicon Valley into every economic sector. Vast wealth and power are accumulated in ominous new "behavioral futures markets," where predictions about our behavior are bought and sold, and the production of goods and services is subordinated to a new "means of behavioral modification." The threat has shifted from a totalitarian Big Brother state to a ubiquitous digital architecture: a "Big Other" operating in the interests of surveillance capital. Here is the crucible of an unprecedented form of power marked by extreme concentrations of knowledge and free from democratic oversight. Zuboff's comprehensive and moving analysis lays bare the threats to twenty-first century society: a controlled "hive" of total connection that seduces with promises of total certainty for maximum profit -- at the expense of democracy, freedom, and our human future. With little resistance from law or society, surveillance capitalism is on the verge of dominating the social order and shaping the digital future -- if we let it.