Admission Essay on "Business Management -- Review of Four Articles"

Admission Essay 4 pages (1232 words) Sources: 10

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Business Management -- Review of Four Articles

Boerner, S., Eisenbeiss, S.A., and Griesser, D. "Follower Behavior and Organizational Performance: The Impact of Transformational Leaders."

Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, Vol. 13, No. 3 (2007): 15 -- 26.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not specific leadership styles in organizational leaders necessarily correspond to attitudes and performance approaches of their subordinates. More particularly, the study proposed two hypotheses: first, that transformational leadership would correspond to higher levels of organizational citizenship among subordinates than transactional leadership; and second, that transformational leadership styles would also correspond to higher levels of innovation and creativity among subordinates than transactional leadership in organizations. Both of those hypotheses were confirmed by the study. This topic is directly applicable and important to the contemporary study of business management in that it suggests specific benefits to transformational leadership, especially within industries and organizations where creativity and innovation are important to success. More generally, the study implies that transformational leadership might be beneficial to all organizations in that organizational citizenship among employees is universally beneficial and desirable.

Methodologically, this study could be questioned because it relied exclusively on interviews with organizational leaders. Its conclusions were based on the characterizations of leaders about the levels of corporate citizenship, innovation, and creativity of their subordinates. Because the study focused on the relationship between leadership styles and corresponding tendencies of subordinates, it might have been more appropriate and more reliable to use alternative sources of data pertaining to the subordinates. Including the subjective characterizations of subordinates would have been preferable to exclusive reliance on the assessments from their leaders and an objective evaluation of subordinates in relation to the dependent variables (i.e. innovation, creativity, and organizational citizenship) would have been optimal.

Cattani, K.D., Dahan, E., and Schmidt, G.M. "Lowest Cost May Not Lower Total Cost: Using "Spackling" to Smooth Mass-Customized Production." Production and Operations Management, (Sep/Oct 2010).

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the traditional approach to mixed production cycles involving mass-produced items and specialty items is necessarily the most cost-effective solution to the limits of production facilities. More specifically, the study considered whether the "spackling" practice of producing specialty items first and then filling in the remaining time in the production schedule with the manufacture of as many mass-produced items as possible is always the best choice. The topic relates directly to the study of operational management because cost-effectiveness in manufacturing and production is a crucial factor in organizational profitability.

The hypothesis was that spackling would not always be the best choice and that a more flexible production schedule that incorporated additional variables (besides unit costs) would be preferable to spackling in all circumstances. The hypothesis was confirmed: the study determined that spackling is not necessarily the most effective approach in certain situations. In particular, the study determined that where the sales volume of mass-produced standard products is less than or equal to the sales volume of mass-produced custom products, profitability is actually increased by production scheduled that are considered more expensive when only unit costs are considered. flexible production facilities actually yield optimal costs compared with relying on cheaper efficient mass-production facilities of the type typically used for mass-produced standard products.

The methodology relied upon by the study appears to have been sound. The study compared the economic efficiency of manufacturing schedules dictated exclusively by unit costs with schedules that also included considered additional objective variables (i.e. missed custom-order sales because of standard-item production runs). That methodology allowed the study to identify situations where traditional spackling is optimal as well as situations where the mixed production schedule is economically preferable in the long run.

Hautala, T.M. "The Relationship between… READ MORE

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