Tag: Characteristics

Best Characteristics and Qualities of a Good Leader
What are Best Characteristics and Qualities of a Good Leader?

Good leadership (What is a Leadership?) is essential to business, to government and to the numerous groups and organizations that shape the way we live, work and play. Having a great idea, and assembling a team to bring that concept to life is the first step in creating a successful business venture. While finding a new and unique idea is rare enough; the ability to successfully execute this idea is what separates the dreamers from the entrepreneurs. And this is where leadership transforms potential into reality.

Leaders are a key human resource in any organization. We generally think of companies competing by means of their products, but they probably compete more by means of their leaders than their products.Better leaders develop better employees and the two together develop better products. The importance of leadership in management cannot be overemphasized. To get things done by people, management must supply leadership in the organization.

Team-work is essential for realizing organizational goals. Managers must influence the team for work accomplishment through leadership. Secondly, leadership aids authority. To gain a further insight into the importance of leadership in business success I recently had the privilege of speaking to Mark Bilton, founder of Thought Patrol and one of Australia’s leading authorities on the subject matter. Mark has journeyed from Sales Assistant to multi-national CEO and led transformational change across many industries.

His last turnaround was as Group Managing Director of Gloria Jean’s Coffees, leading forty countries. He is now on a mission to hack leadership and humanize the workplace. Mark’s impressive track record of taking broken businesses in diverse industries and turning them around seems to make his case. Whilst he speaks to seemingly ‘soft’ principals they drive hard commercial results. Importance of Leadership!

Below he shares his thoughts on what he believes to be the Best Eight most common characteristics of great leaders.

Collaborative: Transparency build’s trust; if you are connected to your team and genuinely interested in their participation and welfare, they will join you in your quest. People own what they help to create.

Visionary: Hoffer said that “The leader has to be practical and a realist yet must talk the language of the visionary and the idealist.” Therein lies the balance. Leaders must live in the future state and carry the vision yet engage in the purposeful motivation and practical realities of the present.

Influential: The key to successful leadership today is influence, and not in ‘command and control authority. We live in a new day, a digital age with a new set of rules. Influence comes from listening not talking, from taking time to earn respect and in being gracious and yet persuasive.

Empathetic: We are all flawed human beings; we all have our bad days. Leaders, who recognize that he or she is leading complete people and not just managing for an outcome, will engender a huge amount of loyalty, engagement and productivity. Treating others, as we would like to treat, is a universal principal that’s worked well for over 2000 years!

Innovative: ‘Innovate or die’ is a truism that is probably more relevant now then in anytime since the industrial revolution. As Dr. Gary Hamel so rightly says; Management innovation is going to be the most enduring source of competitive advantage. There will be lots of rewards for firms in the vanguard.

Grounded: Leaders need to be centered and balanced if they are to effective and resilient. We need to be mindful to look after ourselves so that we can effectively serve others. We are Body, Soul and Spirit and each leader will need to tend to their own foundational well being, in order to be sustainable in the cauldron of the modern workplace.

Ethical: Dispassionately choosing your moral framework sounds like an odd business success driver. Very few choose to go off the path to corruption or excess, it is usually an incremental slide. Making a stand early may save you, and others, a world of hurt and is a more sustainable life and business choice. Often it’s as simple as doing what you say you will do.

Passionate: The stony face leader that shows no emotion is a relic of the Industrial Age. Genuine passion for your people and purpose is a great motivator that builds momentum. An engaged and empowered team led with clear vision and purpose by a passionate leader is a force to reckon with.

Whilst these seem like soft words they resonate with me at a human level. Listening to Mark talk reminded me of the culture I like to work in; of the leaders I know who are worth working for. Maybe he is onto something, his impressive track record of saving businesses in ‘mission impossible ‘ scenarios would indicate he is. I think he has a message that leaders need to hear and one very relevant for our fast moving business world.

Best Qualities of a Good Leader

A successful leader secures desired behavior from his followers. It depends upon the quality of leadership he is able to provide. A leader to be effective must possess certain basic qualities. A number of authors have mentioned different qualities which a person should possess to be a good leader. Why To Be a Best Leader become First Be a Great Follower?

Some of the qualities of a good leader are as follows:
- Good personality.
- Emotional stability.
- Sound education and professional competence.
- Initiatives and creative thinking.
- Sense of purpose and responsibility.
- Ability to guide and teach.
- Good understanding and sound judgment.
- Communicating skill.
- Sociable.
- Objective and flexible approach.
- Honesty and integrity of character.
- Self confidence, diligence and industry.
- Courage to accept responsibility.
December 5, 2017
What are Nature and Characteristics of Leadership?
Here are Following Characteristics of Leadership

What is a Leadership? Leadership is a process by which an executive can direct, guide and influence the behavior and work of others towards accomplishment of specific goals in a given situation. The ability of a manager to induce the subordinates to work with confidence and zeal. Leader is the potential to influence behavior of others. It is also define as the capacity to influence a group towards the realization of a goal. Leaders are require to develop future visions, and to motivate the organizational members to want to achieve the visions. Meaning and Essence of Leadership in the Business.

Good Characteristics of Leadership
- It is a inter-personal process in which a manager is into influencing and guiding workers towards attainment of goals.
- Denotes a few qualities to be present in a person which includes intelligence, maturity and personality.
- A group process. It involves two or more people interacting with each other.
- A leader is involve in shaping and molding the behavior of the group towards accomplishment of organizational goals.
- Leadership is situation bound. There is no best style of leadership.
- It all depends upon tackling with the situations.
Nature and Characteristics of Leadership

An analysis of the definitions cited above reveals the following important characteristics of leadership:

1. Leadership is a personal quality.

2. It exists only with followers. If there are no followers, there is no leadership?

3. It is the willingness of people to follow that makes person a leader.

4. Leadership is a process of influence. A leader must be able to influence the behaviour, attitude and beliefs of his subordinates.

5. It exists only for the realization of common goals.

6. It involves readiness to accept complete responsibility in all situations.

7. Leadership is the function of stimulating the followers to strive willingly to attain organizational objectives.

8. Leadership styles do change under different circumstances.

9. Leadership is neither bossism nor synonymous with; management.
December 5, 2017
In Business World Best Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs

Best Common Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs in Business World

All of these world famous entrepreneurs are unique in that they believed in themselves mostly since they were kids and worked towards that goal to success and fame. All successful entrepreneurs take their work very seriously. Have you ever thought about striking out on your own? After all, being your own boss can be an exciting prospect. However, owning a business isn’t for everyone. To be a successful entrepreneur, you must have or develop certain personality traits. Entrepreneurship is itself a process through which the entrepreneur allocate the resources available to the business in a way or in other words in a systematic manner that the entrepreneur can meet the requisites of the business and achieve the objectives of the business as well as of his own.

Now a days businesses are being done on large scale or more businesses are being run in one organization therefore, the executive management or the entrepreneurs has to adopt the ways and system through which they can not even secure their time but to save their resources from drain. How Do You Know Your Company Wants Help From The Outside?

Entrepreneurship is the process of innovation that reallocates resources to new opportunities, often creating new opportunities through unusual combination of resources and skills of risk taking. The entrepreneurs some time has to face the problems because they prepare their plans personally and create innovations and believe that they are doing the best and when the problem in the market has to be faced by them, then they suffer losses and face the rejection of their self develop ideas, innovations, inventions or creations on the basis of incomplete information and evaluation of the factors because they personally believe in strategies and plans.

The success is behind the criticism because when the entrepreneur of such kind prepare plans for business before going to other persons, he himself cities his ideas, innovations, creations and plans which he develop and get the answer to check his satisfaction. Why are the Need Entrepreneurship for Small Business?

The entrepreneurs of successful type take and evaluate constructive and realistic criticism of their business on the basis of past and previous plan/strategies being adopted by them and others and before adoptions to any of them constructively consider the positive and negative possibility of such adoptions.

In summary, entrepreneurs are the persons who develop ideas of the business, invest their saving in the business, fulfill the demands of the customers, helps the government in developing the economic stability or satisfying of economic crisis, paid taxes to the government and finally perform all sort of activities in lieu of their business primarily for earning profits and secondly to satisfy the demand so the customers.

Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs

As we know the most important person for every business is the entrepreneur who develops the idea of the business, start it by using his resources of all kinds and run the business activities to achieve his personal objectives by achieving the organization objectives. Entrepreneurship is the such process which helps the entrepreneur in all respect of the business through which he can assess his plans possibilities and predict on the basis of collected information and plan for future if he possess the following characteristics;

1. Creative Mind

Creativity is the major characteristic of a successful entrepreneur. He should have the ability to create more value for their product and services. The business opportunity, creative imagination is regarded a unique asset in the business world.

2. Confidence to Take Initiatives

The business world of today is moving at a very fast speed and require timely and more effective decisions, planning and controlling to overcome the sudden challenges therefore, a successful entrepreneur should have the ability to take initiatives by producing new things, new methods of marketing the product and service as per expectation of the target customer.

3. Ethical Standard

The ethical standard of the business is that there should not be cheating, fraud and other commercial bribery in business. A good entrepreneur has the social, moral, and religious responsibility to follow the ethical standard of the business to earn profit and stay long in the market.

4. Conceptual Skill

Effective entrepreneur are characterized by their conceptual skills. Conceptual skills are specific abilities to analyze a situation, decision making, determine the root of any problem or opportunities and devise an appropriate plan. What are Managerial Skills?

5. Versatile Knowledge

A successful entrepreneur should have a versatile knowledge of his business as well as adequate knowledge of trade, finance, marketing, legal management issues, technical management concern, and other business areas.

6. Knowledge of Market

A successful entrepreneur should have sufficient knowledge of market as well as finding new market for expand their business. He should know the geographic, demographic, psycho-graphics and behavioral changes in the market. Entrepreneur should be honest in dealing with others. He should provide qualitative product and services to their customer. He doesn’t make any anti-social practices such as black marketing, smuggling, overcharging to earn profit.

7. Energetic and Diligent

A successful entrepreneur should be energetic and diligent person. He should complete their work in time. He must believe in this phrase “Don’t put of till tomorrow what you can do today”. They are hardworking person and complete their all task as soon as possible.

8. Responsive To Criticism and Suggestions

A successful entrepreneur should response to criticism intelligently. He should concentrate on customer criticism or complaints. He accepts criticism for their product and services and responds positively to overcome these complaints. An entrepreneur should have the aptitude for research and adaptability to apply scientific findings to complete and stay in business. He should be able to adopt the new technologies for producing the product or services and new method of marketing the product & services. Entrepreneur pays their attention toward suggestion from their co-workers, customer, suppliers, or venture distributes. If he collects any best idea from these resources, he should be carefully tried to implement these suggestion.

9. Eligible to Evaluate Risks

Although every business has some internal and external risk. But entrepreneur carefully evaluate these risks and implement their plan. Although there is no guaranty for success but the chances of success are more due to calculated venture planning.

10. Self-Confident and Optimistic

Effective entrepreneur are characterizable by self-confident and optimism quality. He is confident about their plans for their venture. Sometime he may due to some critical situation in their venture. But he faces these situations confidently.

The major characteristics of the entrepreneur are the commitment toward organization goals. He is willing to do anything and respond positively to venture challenges. Demanding challenge motivate entrepreneurs to achieve results and developing their own managerial skills and capabilities. An entrepreneur maintains a professional relation with their staff. He believes that business activity is carry on by the workers. Should be aware of the temperament, aptitude and belief of the staff working with him. Also know the limitation and feelings of the individual. The ability to solve any misunderstanding or conflict between the staff.

November 18, 2017
Factors Influencing with Characteristics of Organizational Climate
Features and Characteristics of Organizational Climate: Organization climate is a relatively enduring quality of the internal environment that is experienced by its members, influences their behavior, and can be described in terms of the values of a particular set of characteristics of the organization. It is the manifestation of the attitudes of the organizational member towards the organization itself.

Explain are Factors Influencing with Characteristics of Organizational Climate!

The nature of organizational climate will be clear from the following characteristics:

General Perception:

Organizational climate is a general expression of what the organization is. It is the summary perception which people have about the organization. It conveys the impressions people have of the organizational internal environment within which they work.

Abstract and Intangible Concept:

Organizational climate is a qualitative concept. It is very difficult to explain the components of organizational climate in quantitative or measurable units.

Unique and District Identity:

Organizational climate gives a distinct identity to the organization. It explains how one organization is different from other organizations.

Enduring Quality:

Organizational climate built up over a period of time. It represents a relatively enduring quality of the internal environment that is experienced by the organizational members.

Multi-Dimensional Concept:

Organizational climate is a multidimensional concept. The various dimensions of the organizational climate are individual autonomy, authority structure, leadership style, the pattern of communication, a degree of conflicts and cooperation, etc.

Factors Influencing Organizational Climate.

Organizational climate is a manifestation of the attitudes of organizational members towards the organization. Researchers have used the data relating to individual perception of organizational properties in identifying organizational climate. Even in this context, there is a great amount of diversity. Also learn, Definition of Organizational Climate.

Litwin and Stringer have included six factors which affect organizational climate. These factors are:
1. Organizational Structure: Perceptions of the extent of organizational constraints, rules, regulations, red tape,
2. Individual Responsibility: Feeling of autonomy of being one’s own boss,
3. Rewards: Feelings related to being confident of adequate and appropriate rewards,
4. Risk and Risk Taking: Perceptions of the degree of challenge and risk in the work situation,
5. Warmth and Support: Feeling of general good fellowship and helpfulness prevailing in the work setting.
6. Tolerance and Conflict: Degree of confidence that the climate can tolerate, differing opinions.
Schneider AND Barlett give a broader and systematic study of climate dimensions. Also Read it, Dimensions of Organizational Climate.

Factors Influencing with Characteristics of Organizational Climate!
November 16, 2017
What are the Characteristics of the Troposphere?
The characteristics of the Troposphere: The atmosphere has a multi-layered structure consisting of the following basic layers. Troposphere, Stratosphere, Mesosphere, Ionosphere, and Exosphere. The word troposphere derives from the Greek word Tropo and it means turbulence or mixing. This is the lowermost layer of the atmosphere and is known as the troposphere and is the most important lowest layer of earth surface because almost all the weather events ( e.g fog, cloud, due, frost, hailstorm, storms, cloud-thunder, lightning, etc.) occur in this lowest layer. Thus the troposphere is of the utmost significance for all life forms including man because these are concentrated in the lowermost portion of the atmosphere.

Here explains; What are the Characteristics of the Troposphere? Read and learn.

Temperature decreases with increasing height at the average rate of 6.50 C per 1000m (1 kilometer) Which is called a normal lapse rate. The height of the troposphere changes from the equator towards the poles (decreases) and from one season of a year to the other season(increases during summer while decreases during winter). The average height of the troposphere is about 16km over the equator and 6km over the poles. The upper limits of the troposphere are called TROPOPAUSE.

What is the Importance of the Troposphere?

The troposphere provides several important benefits: it holds nearly all of the water vapor in the Earth’s atmosphere, regulates temperature, and produces weather. The troposphere forms the lowest level of the Earth’s atmosphere, extending down to the surface of the Earth. This lowest layer also features the heaviest weight of all earth surface atmosphere layers, comprising approximately 75 percent of the total atmospheric weight.

The troposphere varies in thickness and height around the world. At its highest point, the troposphere extends 12 miles into the air. At its lowest point, this layer reaches 4 miles above sea level. Regardless of height, the troposphere facilitates temperature regulation and cloud formation. It contains the highest temperatures closer to its base; these warm temperatures help the troposphere retain water vapor, which releases in the form of precipitation.

The troposphere also serves as the starting point for the Earth’s water cycle. This process begins when the sun pulls water into the atmosphere through evaporation. Water then cools and condenses, forming clouds. Clouds store water particles, which are released in the form of rain, sleet, or snow depending on the time of year and region. The troposphere also traps gases, such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Excess accumulation of these substances creates environmental problems, such as smog and air pollution.

Characteristics of the Troposphere:

The following Characteristics below are:
- Most of the weather phenomena take place in this lowest layer. The troposphere contains almost all the water vapor and most of the dust.
- This layer subject to intense mixing due to both horizontal and vertical mixing.
- Temperature decreases with height at an average rate of 10C per 167m of height above sea level. This calls the normal lapse rate.
- The troposphere extends up to a height of about 18km at the equator and declines gradually to a height of 8km at the poles.
- The upper limit of the troposphere calls the tropopause. The temperature stops decreasing in it. It may be as low as -580C.
All-weather changes occur in the troposphere. Since it contains most of the water vapor, clouds form in this layer of earth surface.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the troposphere?

The troposphere is the lowest layer of earth’s surface atmosphere, where almost all weather events occur, including clouds, rain, and storms. It extends from the Earth’s surface to an average height of about 16 km over the equator and about 6 km over the poles.

Why is the troposphere important?

The troposphere is vital for life on earth surface as it holds nearly all the water vapor in the atmosphere, regulates temperature, and is the primary site for weather formation. It also plays a crucial role in the water cycle.

How does temperature change in the troposphere?

In the troposphere, temperature decreases with increasing height at an average rate of 6.5°C for every 1000 meters (1 kilometer) of elevation. This phenomenon is known as the normal lapse rate.

What is the upper limit of the troposphere called?

The upper boundary of the troposphere is known as the tropopause. At this boundary, the temperature stops decreasing, and it may reach temperatures as low as -58°C.

What gases are found in the troposphere?

The troposphere contains essential gases such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide. However, an excess accumulation of these gases can lead to environmental issues, including smog and air pollution.

How thick is the troposphere?

The troposphere varies in thickness globally; it can reach up to 18 km at the equator and as low as 8 km at the poles.
August 4, 2017
Successful Characteristics of Entrepreneur

Successful Characteristics of Entrepreneur

Have you ever thought about striking out on your own? After all, being your own boss can be an exciting prospect. However, owning a business isn’t for everyone. To be a successful entrepreneur, you must have or develop certain personality traits. Here are nine characteristics you should ideally possess to start and run your own business:

I. Motivation: Entrepreneurs are enthusiastic, optimistic and future-oriented. They believe they’ll be successful and are willing to risk their resources in pursuit of profit. They have high energy levels and are sometimes impatient. They are always thinking about their business and how to increase their market share. Are you self-motivated enough to do this, and can you stay motivated for extended periods of time? Can you bounce back in the face of challenges?

Meaning of Motivation is a theoretical construct used to explain behavior. It gives the reason for people’s actions, desires, and needs. Motivation can also be defined as one’s direction to behavior, or what causes a person to want to repeat a behavior and vice versa. A motive is what prompts the person to act in a certain way, or at least develop an inclination for specific behavior. According to Maehr and Meyer, “Motivation is a word that is part of the popular culture as few other psychological concepts are.”

II. Creativity and Persuasiveness: Successful entrepreneurs have the creative capacity to recognize and pursue opportunities. They possess strong selling skills and are both persuasive and persistent. Are you willing to promote your business tirelessly and look for new ways to get the word out about your product or service? Meaning of Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a literary work, or a painting).

III. Versatility: Company workers can usually rely on a staff or colleagues to provide service or support. As an entrepreneur, you’ll typically start out as a “Solo-entrepreneur,” meaning you will be on your own for a while. You may not have the luxury of hiring a support staff initially. Therefore, you will end up wearing several different hats, including secretary, bookkeeper and so on. You need to be mentally prepared to take on all these tasks at the beginning. Can you do that? Meaning of Versatility; ability to adapt or be adapted to many different functions or activities.

IV. Superb Business Skills: Entrepreneurs are naturally capable of setting up the internal systems, procedures and processes necessary to operate a business. They are focused on cash flow, sales and revenue at all times. Successful entrepreneurs rely on their business skills, know-how and contacts. Evaluate your current talents and professional network. Will your skills, contacts and experience readily transfer to the business idea you want to pursue?

V. Risk Tolerance: Launching any entrepreneurial venture is risky. Are you willing to assume that risk? You can reduce your risk by thoroughly researching your business concept, industry and market. You can also test your concept on a small scale. Can you get a letter of intent from prospective customers to purchase? If so, do you think customers would actually go through with their transaction?

VI. Drive: As an entrepreneur, you are in the driver’s seat, so you must be proactive in your approaches to everything. Are you a doer — someone willing to take the reins — or would you rather someone else do things for you? Meaning of Drive; operate and control the direction and speed of a motor vehicle. Propel or carry along by force in a specified direction.

VII. Vision: One of your responsibilities as founder and head of your company is deciding where your business should go. That requires vision. Without it, your boat will be lost at sea. Are you the type of person who looks ahead and can see the big picture? Meaning of Vision; the faculty or state of being able to see. The ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom. An experience of seeing someone or something in a dream or trance, or as a supernatural apparition.

VIII. Flexibility and Open-Mindedness: While entrepreneurs need a steadfast vision and direction, they will face a lot of unknowns. You will need to be ready to tweak any initial plans and strategies. New and better ways of doing things may come along as well. Can you be open-minded and flexible in the face of change? Definition of Flexibility; The quality of bending easily without breaking.

IX. Decisiveness: As an entrepreneur, you won’t have room for procrastination or indecision. Not only will these traits stall progress, but they can also cause you to miss crucial opportunities that could move you toward success. Can you make decisions quickly and seize the moment? Definition of Decisiveness; The ability to make decisions quickly and effectively. the conclusive nature of an issue that has been settled or a result that has been produced.

April 10, 2017
Personal Characteristics of the Entrepreneur

Personal Characteristics of the Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is typically in control of a commercial undertaking, directing the factors of production – the human, financial and material resources that are required to exploit a business opportunity. They act as the manager and oversee the launch and growth of an enterprise. Entrepreneurship is the process by which an individual (or team) identifies a business opportunity and acquires and deploys the necessary resources required for its exploitation. The exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities may include actions such as developing a business plan, hiring the human resources, acquiring financial and material resources, providing leadership, and being responsible for the venture’s success or failure.

How did Michael Dell come up with the idea of a “build it yourself” computer company? How did Dave Roberts, the founder of Pop Cap Games, figure out that there is a large and growing market for “casual” electronic games?

Researchers have identified several characteristics that tend to make some people better at recognizing opportunities than others. Before we talk about them, there is an important yet subtle difference between two key terms pertaining to this topic. We’ve already defined an opportunity as a favorable set of circumstances that create the need for a new product, service, or business. But, the term opportunity recognition refers to the process of perceiving the possibility of a profitable new business or a new product or service. That is, an opportunity cannot be pursued until it’s recognized. Now let’s look at some Personal or specific characteristics shared by those who excel at recognizing an opportunity.

Prior Experience

Several studies show that prior experience in an industry helps entrepreneurs recognize business opportunities. For example, evidence over time about the founders of firms appearing on the Inc. 500 list shows that well over 40 percent of those studied got the idea for their new businesses while working as employees for companies in the same industries. This finding is consistent with the findings of research studies the National Federation of Independent Businesses’ group has completed over time. There are several explanations for these findings. By working in an industry, an individual may spot a market niche that is under-served. It is also possible that while working in a particular area, an individual builds a network of social contacts in that industry that may provide insights that lead to opportunities.

Once an entrepreneur starts a firm, new venture opportunities become apparent. This is called the corridor principle, which states that once an entrepreneur starts a firm, he or she begins a journey down a path where “corridors” leading to new venture opportunities become apparent. The insight provided by this principle is simply that once someone starts a firm and becomes immersed in an industry, it’s much easier for that person to see new opportunities in the industry than it is for someone looking in from the outside.

Cognitive Factors

Opportunity recognition may be an innate skill or a cognitive process. There are some who think that entrepreneurs have a “sixth sense” that allows them to see opportunities that others miss. This sixth sense is called entrepreneurial alertness, which is formally defined as the ability to notice things without engaging in the deliberate search. Most entrepreneurs see themselves in this light, believing they are more “alert” than others. Alertness is largely a learned skill, and people who have more knowledge of an area tend to be more alert to opportunities in that area than others? A computer engineer, for example, would be more alert to needs and opportunities within the computer industry than a lawyer would be.

The research findings on entrepreneurial alertness are mixed. Some researchers conclude that alertness goes beyond noticing things and involves a more purposeful effort. For example, one scholar believes that the crucial difference between opportunity finders (i.e., Entrepreneurs) and non-finders is their relative assessments of the marketplace. In other words, entrepreneurs may be better than others at sizing up the marketplace and inferring the likely implications.

Social Networks

The extent and depth of an individual’s social network affects opportunity recognition. People who build a substantial network of social and professional contacts will be exposed to more opportunities and ideas than people with sparse networks. This exposure can lead to new business

starts. Research results over time consistently suggest that somewhere between 40 percent and 50 percent of those who start businesses got their ideas through social contacts. In a related study, the differences between solo entrepreneurs (those who identified their business ideas on their own) and network entrepreneurs (those who identified their ideas through social contacts) were examined. The researchers found that network entrepreneurs identified significantly more opportunities than solo entrepreneurs but were less likely to describe themselves as being particularly alert or creative.

An important concept that sheds light on the importance of social networks to opportunity recognition is the differential impact of strong-tie versus weak-tie relationships. Relationships with other people are called “ties.” We all have ties. Strong-tie relationships are characterized by frequent interaction and ties between coworkers, friends, and spouses. Weak-tie relationships are characterized by infrequent interaction and ties between casual acquaintances. According to research in this area, it is more likely that an entrepreneur will get a new business idea through a weak-tie than a strong-tie relationship because strong-tie relationships, which typically form between like-minded individuals, tend to reinforce insights and ideas the individuals already have. Weak-tie relationships, on the other hand, which form between casual acquaintances, are not as apt to be between like-minded individuals, so one person may say something to another that sparks a completely new idea. An example might be an electrician explaining to a restaurant owner how he solved a business problem. After hearing the solution, the restaurant owner might say, “I would never have heard that solution from someone in my company or industry. That insight is completely new to me and just might help me solve my problem.”

Creativity

Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is formed. The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition, or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a literary work, or a painting).

Scholarly interest in creativity involves many definitions and concepts pertaining to a number of disciplines: engineering, psychology, cognitive science, education, philosophy (particularly philosophy of science), technology, theology, sociology, linguistics, business studies, songwriting, and economics, covering the relations between creativity and general intelligence, mental and neurological processes, personality type and creative ability, creativity and mental health; the potential for fostering creativity through education and training, especially as augmented by technology; the maximization of creativity for national economic benefit, and the application of creative resources to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning.

Creativity is the process of generating a novel or useful idea. Opportunity recognition may be, at least in part, a creative process. On an anecdotal basis, it is easy to see the creativity involved in forming many products, services, and businesses. Increasingly, teams of entrepreneurs working within a company are sources of creativity for their firm.

April 10, 2017
Help Seeking
What do you understand by Help Seeking?

Help seeking theory postulates that people follow a series of predictable steps to seek help for their inadequacies, it is a series of well-ordered and purposeful cognitive and behavioral steps, each leading to specific types of solutions.

Help seeking theory falls into two categories where some consider similarity in the process’ (e.g. Cepeda-Benito & Short, 1998) while others consider it as dependent upon the problem (e.g. Di Fabio & Bernaud, 2008). In general help seeking behaviors are dependent upon three categories, attitudes (beliefs and willingness) towards help-seeking, intention to seek help, and actual help-seeking behavior.

Do you ask for help when you need it or do you have the view, “I have to do it myself, no one can do it except me?” From a motivational perspective, help seeking is an adaptive cognitive strategy that indicates a striving for mastery and achievement (R. Ames, 1983; Karabenick, 1998; Newman, 1998) and a general problem-solving strategy (Nelson-Le Gall, 1985). If help seeking is an adaptive strategy, why do teachers observe that students

who are most in need of help are often the most reluctant to seek help? We have learned from research that seeking help from others can have negative connotations (Newman, 1990, 1991).

Help seeking may be seen as threatening if the student thinks it is a sign of low ability. In this case, there is a personal cost to seeking help: Students may feel incompetent. Help seeking is positive when students seek assistance in order to make a change in their learning. The attributional process is an important factor in whether help seeking is seen as positive or negative and consequently whether students attend academic help sessions. R. Ames and Lau (1982) identified factors that affected the extent that college students attend help sessions:
- Low-performing students were more likely to attend help sessions if they were given specific positive information about the effects of the sessions (e.g., “students who attended improved their performance”).
- Students who attributed success to effort were more likely to attend.
- Students who did not seek help used more external attributions for failure, such as “tricky test questions,” and used these external reasons as excuses.
Newman’s (1990, 1991) investigations of help seeking among children in Grades 3, 5, and 7 provided a fuller understanding of help seeking. For example, who seeks help, individuals with high or low self-esteem? For all grades, the higher the perceived competence of the children, the less they felt there were personal costs to help seeking (e.g., being thought of as low ability). Students with low self-esteem were especially unlikely to seek help, whereas those with high self-esteem were more likely to seek help. Similar results were obtained by Nelson-Le Gall and Jones (1990) for average-achieving African-American children. Newman (1991) also found differences between younger and older students in views about help seeking. Seventh graders were more aware than younger children that negative fallout might result from help seeking (e.g., embarrassment). However, older children were also more likely than younger ones to believe that smart classmates rather than “dumb” ones ask questions of the teacher. Help seeking by college students showed a pattern similar to that of children. Karabenick and Knapp (1991) found that students with low self-esteem were more threatened by seeking help.

One important and perhaps surprising finding was that students who use more learning strategies are more likely to seek help when needed, whereas students who use fewer strategies are less likely to seek help when needed. This attitude presents a double bind for those needing help. Not only do they lack the necessary strategies for success, but they do not seek the needed study assistance. The authors concluded that students need to learn to judge when they need help and that help seeking should be included in learning strategy and motivation programs. These findings on help seeking are important for teachers and counselors so that they can plan ways to get students to attend help sessions or seek help in counseling when needed. Nelson-Le Gall (1985) emphasized the need to think of help seeking as an adaptive coping strategy rather than as a self-threatening activity. Some ways to accomplish this are listed in Strategy.

Types of Help Seeking

Help seeking behavior is divided into two types, adaptive behavior and non-adaptive behavior. It is adaptive when exercised to overcome a difficulty and it depends upon the person’s recognition, insight and dimension of the problem and resources for solving the same, this is valued as an active strategy. It is non-adaptive when the behavior persists even after understanding and experiencing the problem solving mechanism and when used for avoidance. Dynamic barriers in seeking help can also affect active process (e.g.: culture, ego, classism, etc.). Nelson-Le Gall (1981) distinguished between instrumental help-seeking, which she regarded as being essential for learning, and passive dependency.

Strategy of Help Seeking
- The overriding task is to have students view help seeking, when needed, as a smart move instead of a dumb one.
- Establish a classroom climate where students are encouraged to ask questions.
- Document attendance and improved performance as a result of the help sessions and show this to students.
- Be sure students who have improved after attending help sessions attribute the improvement to the help sessions.
- Teach students a self-talk script to practice asking teachers for help in classes where they were having problems, as one middle school teacher did.
March 31, 2017
Helpless
What is a meaning of Helpless?

Meaning of helpless: “Unable to defend oneself or to act without help.” A student who has a history of failure and does not expect this to change will attribute failure to ability an internal and stable factor. This pattern is characteristic of students classified as having learned helplessness. These individuals expect that their actions will be futile in affecting future outcomes. Consequently, they give up. Learned helplessness was first investigated in young animals who had been presented with inescapable electric shocks in one situation; when placed in a different situation, they failed to try to escape or avoid the shock (Seligman & Maier, 1967). Animals that demonstrated no connection between their activity and avoiding the shock had learned to be helpless. It was further hypothesized that humans responded the same way: they were passive in situations where they believed their actions would have no effect on what happens to them. In this original explanation, helplessness was viewed as global affecting all domains of one’s life. Later research found that people may experience helplessness in one situation and not in others (Alloy, Abramson, Peterson, & Seligman, 1984). This means that a student may feel helpless in learning math but not in learning history.

Helplessness exists in achievement situations when students do not see a connection between their actions and their performance and grades. The important aspect of learned helplessness is how it affects the motivational behavior of students in the face of failure. The attributions a student makes for failure act as a bridge between a student’s willingness to try again and the student’s tendency to give up.

Helpless and Mastery Orientation

In a now-classic study, Diener and Dweck (1978) identified two patterns of responses to failure following success in problem-solving tasks: a maladaptive-helpless orientation and an adaptive-mastery orientation. Children showed different response patterns to failure in their thinking, self-talk, affect, and actions. Keep in mind that the students in the study had the same failure experience while performing the tasks, but there were two different patterns of response to the failure outcome. The thinking, self-talk, and actions of the helpless-oriented children formed a self-defeating pattern. When failure is attributed to lack of ability, there is a decline in performance. Attribution to lack of effort does not show this decline (Dweck & Goetz, 1978).

Are there ability differences in learned helplessness? Butkowsky and Willows (1980) compared good, average, and poor readers. They found that poor readers had lower expectancies of success on a reading task. Poor readers overwhelmingly attributed their failures to lack of ability (68% compared with 13% for average readers and 12% for good readers). They took less responsibility for success, attributing success more to task ease an external cause than did the good and average readers. In the face of difficulty, poor readers became less persistent a self-defeating behavior. Helplessness was also found when children studied new material that required them to read passages with confusing concepts.

In a study by Licht and Dweck (1984), half the children received material with a clear passage, and the other half received a confusing passage. There were no differences between mastery orientation and helpless orientation when the passage was clearly written. In contrast, when the passage was not clear, most of the mastery children reached the learning criterion, whereas only one third of the helpless children did. This investigation is important because some academic subjects, like math, are characterized by constant new learning, which may be initially confusing to students. Mastery students will not be discouraged by the initial difficulty, whereas helpless students immediately lose confidence although they may be equally competent. When teaching new material, teachers can be especially alert for this pattern of helplessness in the face of initial difficulty.

Learned Helplessness and Students with Learning Disabilities

Are some students more prone to experience a sense of helplessness? Students particularly susceptible to the pattern of learned helplessness are those students who are identified as having learning disabilities (LD) (Licht, 1983). Children with LD experience much failure over a long period of time on a variety of school tasks. As a result, these children come to doubt their academic abilities, with the accompanying belief that nothing they can do will help them be successful. This is followed by the self-defeating response of decreasing effort. Children with LD have been found to exhibit the following characteristics of the learned helplessness pattern (Licht, 1983):
- Score lower than non-LD children on measures of self-esteem and perceptions of ability,
- Are more likely to attribute difficulty with tasks to lack of ability,
- Are less likely to attribute failure to insufficient effort, and
- Lower their expectations for future success and display greater decline in expectation following failure.
It is important for teachers to be aware of the characteristics of helplessness because learned helplessness may explain the students’ apparent lack of motivation. How can a teacher identify a helpless pattern? What can a teacher do to lessen the likelihood of helplessness and help students who have this tendency? Butkowsky and Willows (1980) suggested that educators must begin to rethink failure as a necessary component of the learning process and not as a damaging experience to be avoided.

Does the pattern of learned helplessness show up in young children? Dweck and Sorich (1999) concluded that there is clear evidence of a helplessness pattern in children younger than age 8. After experiencing failure or criticism, they show signs of helplessness like self-blame, lowered persistence, and lack of constructive strategies. Mastery-oriented children, in contrast, assumed they were still good even when their work had errors, and believed they could improve through effort. An important implication for parents and teachers, according to the authors, is to be very cautious when giving feedback to children. Extremely positive or negative feedback can be detrimental to children’s beliefs about their competence.
March 30, 2017
Attribution and Motivation Among Ethnicity

Understanding of Attribution and Motivation Among Ethnicity?

What is Ethnicity? Meaning of Ethnicity “The fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.” Some about of Ethnic; Relating to a population subgroup (within a larger or dominant national or cultural group) with a common national or cultural tradition. Relating to national and cultural origins. Denoting origin by birth or descent rather than by present nationality. Characteristic of or belonging to a non-Western cultural tradition.

An ethnic group or ethnicity is a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities, such as common ancestral, language, social, cultural or national experiences. Unlike other social groups (wealth, age, hobbies), ethnicity is often an inherited status based on the society in which one lives. In some cases, it can be adopted if a person moves into another society. Membership of an ethnic group tends to be defined by a shared cultural heritage, ancestry, origin myth, history, homeland, language or dialect, symbolic systems such as religion, mythology and ritual, cuisine, dressing style, art, and physical appearance.

Ethnic groups, derived from the same historical founder population, often continue to speak related languages and share a similar gene pool. By way of language shift, acculturation, adoption and religious conversion, it is sometimes possible for individuals or groups to leave one ethnic group and become part of another (except for ethnic groups emphasizing racial purity as a key membership criterion).

Ethnicity is often used synonymously with ambiguous terms such as nation or people. In English, it can also have the connotation of something exotic (cf. “White ethnic”, “ethnic restaurant”, etc.), generally related to cultures of more recent immigrants, who arrived after the founding population of an area was established.

Now reading – Attribution and Motivation Among Ethnicity; Do attributional explanations for success and failure act as an important motivational force in different ethnic groups? According to Graham (1989,1994), because attributional theory considers the role of thought in determining behavior, it is particularly fruitful in examining motivation in different cultures and ethnic groups.

Beliefs About Effort and Ability

Are attributional belief patterns similar among different ethnic groups? A comparison of poor African-American, Hispanic, Indo-Chinese, and White fifth- and sixth-grade students found similar attribution patterns for all groups (Bempechat, Nakkula, Wu, & Ginsberg, 1996). All groups rated ability as the most important factor for success in math. In a subsequent study comparing African-American, Hispanic, Indo-Chinese, and White fifthand sixth-graders, Bempechat, Graham, and Jimenez (1999) found cultural similarities as well as cultural specifics. For all ethnic groups, failure was attributed to lack of ability and success to external factors. In contrast, Indo-Chinese students had stronger beliefs that failure was due to lack of effort. Attribution for failure due to lack of ability is a problem for all students because it is believed to be uncontrollable.

Graham (1984) compared middle- and low-SES African-American and White students on attributions for failure following a problem-solving task. The middle-class children in both ethnic groups were more likely to attribute failure to lack of effort and maintained consistently higher expectancies for success after experiencing failure. For both groups, this is indicative of an adaptive attributional pattern following failure, similar to that found in research by Diener and Dweck (1978). The findings of this research are important because they demonstrate the positive motivation pattern of African-American students—a pattern that has received little attention.

Stevenson and Lee (1990) compared beliefs of American and Asian students concerning the role of effort and ability for success in mathematics. They asked mothers in Minnesota, Japan, and Taiwan to assign 10 points among ability, effort, task difficulty, and luck to rank their importance in academic success and school performance. All the mothers assigned the points in the same rank order: (1) effort, (2) ability, (3) task, and (4) luck. American mothers scored ability and effort as about equal. In contrast, Taiwanese and Japanese mothers assigned effort a higher value than ability. Peak (1993) noted that, in Japanese elementary schools, ability is rarely mentioned, whereas effort is consistently portrayed as key to success. In contrast, in the United States, students who try very hard are often labeled nerd or grind.

These perceptions of effort and ability take on increased importance when homework is considered in the context of effort. Japanese and Chinese students spend at least twice the amount of time and effort on homework than do American students (Stevenson & Lee, 1990). American teachers assign less and consider it less valuable. Peak (1993) pointed out that homework reflects teachers’ beliefs on whether extra practice makes a difference and whether students are willing to engage in extra effort on behalf of their studies. American parents do not appear to consider good study habits as critical to academic success as do Asian parents.

Implications for Teachers

What can teachers draw from the attributional beliefs among different ethnic groups in terms of classroom practice? The important issue is to understand the motivational processes, such as attribution, operating within a particular ethnic group (Bempechat et al., 1996; Graham, 1994). When similarities are found across ethnic groups, educational interventions do not necessarily have to be targeted to children differentially based on their ethnic group membership.

Graham (1989) emphasized the importance of teacher feedback in influencing concepts of ability and expectations of minority, low-SES students. Recall the previous discussion of indirect attributional cues. It is important to be aware of feedback that may indirectly convey to students that they have low ability. Graham (1994) suggested that in view of the number of African- American children in negative educational situations, it is especially important to be sensitive to how minorities feel, think, and act in response to non-attainment of goals.

March 30, 2017