Corporate Social Responsibility in International companies

bodily well-disposed Responsibility in International companies unified Social Responsibility (CSR) is an aspect of teleph 1 limit ethics that has assumed authoritative spl deathour in the age of orbiculateization and expanding market places. The mor exclusivelyy-influenced attitudes of consumers in markets flip hale many multinational corporations to redefine their definition of br some otherly articulate and rules of their line of products. in that respect is an increasing realization that corporations argon defecated by the society and that they must burst back by serving the society and not merely by making profit from it.New age corporate leaders argon replacing the business philosophy of maximization of loot with optimization of profits by shifting their business focus from cardability to sh beholders to accountability to stakeholders (including employees, nodes, communities, etc.). The maturement focus on Corporate Social Responsibility mandates that thes e stakeholders shake up a right to expect accountability and transp arncy as well as brotherly and environmental investment from corporationsIgnoring Corporate Social Responsibility would rigorous endangering business success in the worldwide marketplace. It is unthe likes ofly that a familiarity can be ethical while not manifesting a t in all told degree of accessible and environmental duty. Corporate Social Responsibility and function to the environment argon themselves large and alpha issues for any company today.Corporate Social Responsibility and Sh bed ValueCorporate Social function as a concept and a part of the business amaze started evolving from 1960s and in the Indian context companies like TCS arrest been employ their hollow out competency to the benefit of communities. But as to a greater extent than and more businesses start paying lip service to CSR a need for a new model which would broaden their view was a great deal involve.In an phrase by Mich ael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer in the Harvard Business Review highborn The Big Idea Creating Shared Value, the authors comment on how companies are widely being perceived to be prospering at the expense of the broader community. They go on to say the more business has begun to embrace corporate creditworthyness, the more it has been blamed for societys failures. Business is caught in a vicious circle. Companies no long-life have a broader view when it comes to value creation as they are foc utilise more on short term profit gains. They have started ignoring the aspects which make them sustainable in the long term. Important issues like customer well being, conservation of immanent resources and community well being are being bothwherelooked which is leading to a disconfirming perception in the minds of people. According to the authors of the articleThe solution to this problem lies in the principle of dual-lane value, which involves creating economic value in a vogue tha t in any case creates value for society by addressing its needs and challenges. Businesses must re consociate company success with social progress. Shared value is not social responsibility, philanthropy, or even sustainability, but a new way to pass economic success. It is not on the margin of what companies do but at the center. We believe that it can bypouring rise to the next major transformation of business thinking somatic SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY NATIONAL COMPANIESITCITC is well k presentlyn for its CSR world-classs in India. Its e-Choupal course which was conceived by its agri-business di reverie has helped farmers to come out of the vicious cycle of debt and fortune and low productivity. It was launched in June 2000 and some of the achievements of this computer programme are derive out to oer 4 billion farmers in over 40,000 villages across 10 verbalises with 6500 kiosks.Choupal Pradarshan khet an initiative which provides Agri-extension services which provide th e knowledge of the beaver artless practices to small and marginal farmers. This initiative subventions over 70,000 hectares and 1.6 cardinal farmersWatershed suppuration schemes which cover 56,951 hectares which are brought under soil and moisture conservation.Primary direction services to 252,329 children through 2,334 Supplementary Learning Centres.Their social and farm forestry efforts have brought 19,100 hectares of wasteland under social forestry helping more than 20,000 households across 525 villages.ITC also indirectly followed the shared value business as they linked their paperboards businesss forest fibre needs to the farmers need for income from their construct of the same.ITC cl locates it is pickings conscious step towards moving away from their Cigarette business and earning more revenues from their other business as many people were skeptical about ITCs CSR activities as they produce cigarettes and that is a major source of their revenues.Infosys Technologi es LimitedInfosys employees actively participate in the welfare of the local community. Their Development Centers in India make a going away through several Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Their employees organize and chair to welfare programs, especially for underprivileged children. Infosys has pledged to make a balance to society by actively participating in community development. Their social contract inspires more than 100,000 employees to contribute to community welfare, environment sustainability and digital literacy.In 2009-10, Infosys organized several programs, enabling employees to channel back to societyVolunteering- A sabbatical policy encourages Infoscions to work for designated Indian Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) on community supports. Employees are paid an allowance by the company for up to a year. Infoscions actively support the mid-day meal program of the Akshaya Patra floor. It is the worlds largest NGO school meal program blendi ng nutrition with teaching method for more than one million children in rural areas across seven states in India, daily.Emergency aid- In 2009, floods in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka caused widespread destruction of life and property. The Infosys Foundation and Infoscions donated 30 crore towards rehabilitation and reconstruction of homes. In 2010, Infosys Australia organized a fund-raiser to support bolshy drag disaster relief efforts in the wake of earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. Infosys USA worked with Red Cross to provide Haitians with nutriment and medical care.Digital empowerment- Infosys initiates children into tuition Technology at a teen age through the coruscate program. In 2009-10, Infoscions touched the lives of more than 70,000 students across India by undertaking IT instruct and mentoring teachers of government-aided schools in rural areas.Shaping policies- Members of the board of directors of Infosys serve on spherical councils and contribute to policy makin g in corporate governance, precept, healthcare, diversity, and the environment. Infosys is partnering with state utilities in India to introduce voluntary green tariff, enabling consumers to offset the cost of renewable energy. Infosys hosted the Climate Roadmap Sub-National figureshop at Mysore, a course of study to share best practices in environment sustainability.Promoting fosterage and research- Infosys is working with more than four hundred engineering colleges in India to enhance their curriculum and enrich the talent puddle through the Campus Connect program. The Infosys Science Foundation promotes research in handsome and applied sciences with an annual prize of 50 lakh for Indian researchers.Tata Consultancy serviceTCS has always recognized the responsibility Corporates should have towards the wider communities they operate in. Be it miss child education in South Asia in collaboration with UNICEF or adult literacy programs in South India, TCS believes in using IT as an performer for social development and change. Other TCS community initiatives have been in areas addressing environmental and civic problems setting up and maintaining understructure for urban beautification, contamination step-d sustain and healthcare waste management in the office environment, tree woodlet and water treatment.Environment policy- TCS provides a healthy work environment to all its employees, and conducts environment friendly business at all its offices. To achieve these goals, TCS has published this Environment Policy. In line with its continuous purifyment serve initiative, TCS allow for continuously enhance its environment policy, which encompasses air, water, natural resources, people and their interrelation.Employees- TCS makes all its employees aware on how work practices affect the environment. For example, wasteful use of electricity or paper at work place depletes natural resources and adds to pollution caused by the generating/manufacturing units. Similarly unhazardous work practices encourage the environment by mitigating health risks and accidents. As members of the TATA family, and trusty citizens of the country, TCS employees should observe environment- friendly behaviour, both in and outside the work place.Management- TCS management defines health, resort and environment goals and objectives, identifies roles and responsibilities for policy implementation, measures performance, and allocates necessary resources. It integrates resource planning with health, synthetic rubber and environment concerns. Two-way chat is ceremonious with employees, clients and vendors to promote and share health, safety and environment initiatives. The Management result also initiate ISO 14001 certification for different locations in a phased manner.Work Place- TCS managers review the work environment and suggest breakments in line with this policy. The policy initiates energy conservation, waste recycling, and paper decrement, in pr iority areas. The measures and initiatives appear as a result of this policy get documented as processes. These processes ensure compliance with applicable health, safety, and environment regulations in all offices of TCS.WIPRO unconnected from being Indias leading IT service company, Wipro has made a mark through their CSR activities. Making education a mission At Wipro, the commitment to education is bafflen by a mission to impart knowledge that helps the young develop holistic skills to address social, economic and environmental issues. Wipro perceives education as a fundamental enabler of sustainable social change.In this context, Wipro has undertaken educational initiatives that cover school reform and the curriculum. These embroilWipro Applying Thought in SchoolsFocused, long-term initiative in school reformInitiative ground on the survey that e actually child must be given the opportunity to net his/her potentialWorked with over 10,500 educators in 1500 schools across 1 7 states in IndiaPartnered over 30 social systems in this endeavorMission 10XA platform for the rapidly growing academic community of educators, learners and innovatorsHelps them impart education that enhances the employability skills of bright engineering graduates in IndiaReached the first milestone and has empowered more than 10,000 stave members across 20 statesAzim Premji FoundationThis is a not-for-profit organization with a vision to contribute to systemic changes in Indian education that facilitates a just, equitable, kind and sustainable society. Operational since 2001, the Foundation has prosecuted with over 2.5 million children in 20,000 schools across 13 resigns through a committed workforce of over 250 professionals and hundreds of paid volunteers.Eco EyeWipros commitment to the ecology round is as buckram as their every endeavour. Their believe is that the future lies in sustainable solutions that will never interfere with our environment, an integral part of o ur social initiatives. With the formation of Eco Eye, Wipro is now a business that incorporates better ecological balance in every project we execute.DaburDabur defines CSR as conducting business in ways that provide social, environmental economic benefits for the communities and geographies where it operates. The greatest value is in making a divagation in lives of people. Daburs CSR initiatives are driven by Sustainable Development party or SUNDESH, which aims to reach out to the weaker and more vulnerable sections of society. SUNDESH operates in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand addressing childrens literacy, up(a) healthcare services, skill development, and environmentHealthcare Providing diagnostic facilities like piss and pregnancy test, haemoglobin, blood sugar and Doppler test to the poor rural cosmos at nominal rates. Reducing infant and maternal mortality rates by promoting and motivating expecting mothers to go in for institutional submities. Holding pump care camps a t its Health Post and in villages. Organizing workhops on legal community of female foeticide and sensitization to make the community aware about the importance of girl child and improve the girl-boy ratio in the region. An awareness drive on human beings immunodeficiency virus/AIDS was undertaken with CARE India Trust and UP State AIDS Control Society to reduce Sexually Transmitted Infections/HIV transmission among high-risk migrantsEducation Literacy The educational initiatives of SUNDESH for underprivileged children include non- baronial education 6-14 years non-school going, special school for working children 8-13 years, remedial education 6-14 years school-going, besides holding classes for women. SUNDESH holds classes for underprivileged children between 6 and 14 years of age. After completing their basic education, these children, who have never had a chance to see a school from inside or are school dropouts, are then encouraged to get enrolled in clump schools.Income Generation broadcastmes Capability enhancement programmes have been introduced offering vocational cooking in cutting tailoring, machine hand embroidery, bee keeping, mushroom farming, mehandi application and vermi-composting.Dabur has started the project on medicinal plants in Nepal to provide the modern technology for nuance of the required medicinal herbs of Himalayas to the farmers.AIRCELThe pursuit of CSR can take some very strange turns as demonstrated by the Aircel lean to save the tiger. Aircel is one of the large-scalegest mobile phone providers in India.In 2010, they launched the Save our Tiger campaign represented by a tiger cub called Stripey with whom the country chop-chop fell in love with. Prime time TV could barely be watched without Stripey and his Im abandoned, please save me eyes. Now abruptly, he has disappeared and taken his much talked about cuteness with him.Every TV-watching, net-savvy person in India now knows that completely 1411 tigers exist in th e wild. We know the company has tied up with WWF to give it some credibility. Some of us wonder if this is an judge at a badly executed CSR effort.What seems specifically unclear to me remains the ultimate aim of the campaign. Was it started to (a) create awareness? or (b) create the impression of corporate responsibility? or (c) give people the impression that Aircel is going to take a lead in manner of speaking the tiger?Since jump out Tiger,which has been the most prospering program in the 70s lost steam tiger conservation in India has always had its lulls and rises. There has never been a concentrated effort to gain numbers by putting a check on track down and habitat destruction. More importantly there has not been much transparency, protagonism or reality interlocking in the process. Every census releases alter numbers regarding tiger population does Aircel formulate how the number 1411 was arrived at?Aircels attempt at gathering public sympathy for the fate of India s national creature is admirable. The campaign regardless of whether it is CSR or not, is not strategically clever. It does really explain what the company itself is doing to save the tiger apart from throwing Stripey on the airwaves. The campaign would have infinitely more credibility if they could explainwhyit is really, truly important to save the tiger along with its habitat. Most unfortunately, the company does not start on the campaign to further its image of CSR. The entire campaign looks like one quick brainstorm session resulting in the words tiger and save put together, how to publicize the issue with as much hindrance as possible and then abruptly stop.Conservation efforts are symbiotic on rate of biodiversity loss which is tied into economic losses. Stripey no field how cute and how much celebrity support he garners, will not stir public sympathies for too long unless a holistic picture is provided. I hope someone from Aircel is reading this more information is nee ded on their campaign objectives, general picture of CSR activities, how they plan on achieving these and where theyre acquiring their tiger numbers from for starters.Hindustan latex LimitedHindustan Latex Limited, a public sector company established more than three decades ago, came to occupy a premier position in the countrys family planning and health care programs. Hindustan Latex Limited ventured into social sector projects aimed at creating a planned social change. It was with this objective that HLL formed the Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust, a non-profit organization promoted by HLL, undertaking the conceptualization and implementation of heterogeneous Social arena exteriorizes and broad based to focus on reproductive and sexual health. dissemination of social market brands of contraceptives through unemployed, educated and mobile rural youth, support by a comprehensive local media based IEC programme, thereby bestow to the reduction of Total Fertilit y Rate (TFR) in the rural areas and proficiency of family health through the promotion of sanitary napkins and oral rehydration salts (ORS). familiarity based distribution of Contraceptives project Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa , Sukha Parivaram is a social marketing programme for the state of Andhra Pradesh and will make available a basket of social marketing goods such as condoms, oral contraceptive pills, iron and folic acid tablets (for expectant women) and ORS.Mobile Health Clinic Project to ensure that the health services are able to reach the remote, inaccessible and underserved areas. In combination with reduced education levels this innovative approach will help to take the health infrastructure at the nearest village of the rural populace specially in those villages which are periodly not served by any PHC and private clinics.Hinduja FoundationIt is an important milestone which began with the philanthropic work of Paramanand Deepchand Hinduja (1901 1971), founder of the Hinduja Group. This legacy is carried ship under the aegis of the Hinduja Foundation which works in tandem with Hinduja Foundations established in the UK and the USA. Together they form an integral part of the Hinduja Group and gain to achieve their goals by creating socially responsible institutions working joinly with other institutions of repute and by supporting deserving NGOs working for similar objectives. outline inspiration from the founder, the Hinduja Foundation believes that philanthropy, a sacred social responsibility of all enterprise, is worthier when it encourages self help and sets an example for the younger generations. Srichand P. Hinduja, Chairman of the Hinduja Group, leads the Foundation. Our aim, he says, is to build bridges between India and the world, between the past and the present, between generations that are and generations to come.The Foundations core objectives areHealthcareEducationArts, Culture and Interfaith netherstandingSocial WelfareSportsCORP ORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY INTERNATIONAL COMPANIESCokecoca plant cola follows corporate social responsibility practices in the following areas crapulence Benefits, Active healthy living, Community, Energy Efficiency and climate Protection, Sustainable Packaging, depart Positively Program, Water Steward Ship. The following are the salient features of their CSR Activities. only these programs are collectively known as the Live Positively Program.Under their Beverage Benefits Program they plan to invest more than $50 million in research by 2015 and aim to have low and no calorie options and smaller portion sizes to be made available in communities where obesity is a significant problem.Their Active Healthy Living Program aims to support the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation in bring down the total annual calories consumed in the U.S by 1.5 Trillion(by the end of 2015)By the end of 2015, Coke wants to ensure that it does not directly market their beverages to children less than 12 years of age following ethics in marketing. through their Community Development Initiatives coke aims to form 1,300 to 2,000 new Micro Distribution Centers (MDCs) in Africa and by the end of 2020 empower 5 million businesswomen in their global business system.Cokes Energy Efficiency and Climate encourageion activities aim to bob up our business but not our system wide carbon emissions from our manufacturing trading operations through 2015, compared with a 2004 baseline.Through their sustainable packaging initiatives they plan to improve packaging material efficiency per liter of product sold by 7%, compared with a 2008 baseline.Through their water stewardship programs coke plans to return to temper and communities the water they use in their beverage productionThey also create diverse and healthy workplaces aligned with international human rights principles.GoogleGoogle developed a separate technological platform called google.org to use its core competency in the area of I nformation Technology to build products and advocate for policies that address global challenges. They have the following projects which fall under their CSR and philanthropic activities.Google Crisis Response Project aims at making critical information more accessible during the natural disasters and humanitarian crises. After the massive Earthquake in Japan they used this project to provide emergency information, maps and missing persons resourcesGoogles Earth Engine enables the depth psychology of raw satellite imagery data and extraction of meaningful information about the worlds forests, such as locations and measurements of deforestationGoogles REGoogle Flu trends Project use Google search data to estimate flu activity.Google Power criterion Project, a free energy monitoring tool helps in saving energy and money. Using energy information provided by utility trendy meters and energy monitoring devices, this software enables you to view ones home energy inhalation from anywhe re online.Googles Philanthropic efforts in the areas of Engineering Awards and Charitable Giving include supporting universities in their Academic research efforts and giving Google Scholarships which help students especially minorities and women with their Computer science and technology studies.They also gave out a $20 million donation in 2010 to charities from around the globe in order to help organizations who have been stretched thin by increasing requests for help at a time of lower donations.NokiaNokia aims to lead in sustainability by taking it into account in everything they do. Over a billion people in the world use a Nokia phone, and Nokia employees are excited about the opportunities this provides for improving peoples livelihoods and encouraging them to embrace a more sustainable life-style. As a market leader, one of the best ways they can contribute to the global community is to conduct their business in a responsible way. They are committed to drive ethically sound policies and practices that guide us in their work. They have a long track record of taking sustainability into account in all their operations, products and services, but their also look beyond their own operations to use their scale for good. Put simply, sustainability is their way of doing business, and their corporate responsibility agenda is framed around the Nokia values of being very human, pleasant everyone, innovation and achieving together.Mobile communications have played a big role in billions of peoples lives. Now that mobile devices are connecting us in many ways beyond calls, Nokia has been leading and encouraging innovation around how to harness this new connectivity to help people solve everyday challenges and connect them to what matters most. New, innovative mobile solutions hold tremendous potential for changing the way the society lives.Their impacts and commitment- Maximising the benefits of mobile communication and minimising potentially negative effects req uires commitment from governments, civil society, and the business sector. As a market leader with global operations they recognise that their potential impact, and therefore their responsibility, is great.From a social growth and economic development perspective, they acknowledge their impact and responsibilities passim their value chain in their sourcing, product design, manufacturing, logistics, recycling, communications, employee well-being, business partnerships, community involvement and social investments. Through their solutions they respond to various environmental and societal needs. Their overall response to their stakeholders is to produce high-quality, safe products and valuable services for a consumer offerings that has a positive influence on the society and the planet.KelloggsBased on their inheritance and business, Kelloggs chooses to focus on three major areasHelping Children and Youth Reach their PotentialImproving Opportunities for Minorities and WomenStrengthen ing CommunitiesIn 2005, Kelloggs contributed more than $8 million in cash and $20 million in product to various charitable organizations around the world. Half of their corporate giving is based on what is important to the employees contributions that are part of Kellogg Care-their matching-grant program, and join Way. The food donations primarily are made through Americas Second Harvest, a nationwide network of food banks and food rescue organizations that feeds hungry children and families across the country.Kelloggs employees make a contrast in their local communities by volunteering and participating in wide-ranging charitable activities. Kellogg companionship provides a dollar-for-dollar match of employee gifts to qualified educational, cultural and environmental organizations.Partnersand Partnerships Kelloggs works with organizations and programs with proven results, improving lives around the country and throughout the world including United Way, Americas Second Harvest , and HOSTS Learning Help One Student to Succeed.Wellness and victuals The Kellogg legacy is based on the philosophy that people can improve their health by eating a balanced diet and gentle in regular physical activity. Living a healthy lifestyle begins with a good understanding of nutrition. Kelloggs believes in providing high-quality, nutritious food and helping educate consumers about the benefits of a healthy diet.Ethics and compliance Through their Global Code of Ethics, Kelloggs employees understand thatThey are firmly committed to the seemly and equitable treatment of all our employees and job applicants.Customers and consumers expect more from Kellogg Company and it is every employees job to make sure Kellogg meets their expectations.Investors count on Kellogg to deliver on its commitments, provide accurate information about its affiliates and to make responsible business decisions based on reliable records.Kellogg believes in doing business with suppliers, contractors, joint venture partners, agents, sales representatives, distributors and consultants who embrace and demonstrate high cadences of ethical behavior.They actively seek opportunities to contribute to the communities in which we do business, and to improve the environment that sustains us all.Diversity and Inclusion At Kellogg Company, Individuals are valued for their diverse backgrounds, experiences, styles, approaches and ideas.They actively promote diversity in work force.This diversity inspires the innovation that drives business and helps enhance competitive advantageWorkplace Health and Safety Employee safety is a value at Kellogg.They are committed to providing a safe and healthy work environment and preventing accidents. Employees are accountable for observing the safety and health rules and practices that apply to their jobs and are expected to take precautions necessary to protect them and their co-workers, including immediately reporting accidents, injuries and unsafe practic es or conditions.Kellogg and the Environment Promoting and maintaining environmentally responsible practices is beneficial for everyone our customers, consumers, employees and the communities in which they operate. Kellogg Company conducts business in ways that protect the environment and demonstrate good stewardship of our worlds natural resources. They work closely and hand in glove with local communities, suppliers and contractors, government agencies, and other organizations engaged in improving the environment.Their current focus is on energy use. While a 10% reduction in the energy used to produce the products has been seen since 1997, the goal is to continue this reduction. The Kelloggs environmental audit program includes periodic and complete evaluations of all our manufacturing practices. Almost all Kellogg cereal cartons are made of 100% recycled fiber, with at least 35% post-consumer material.CitigroupThe Public Affairs Committee of Citis Board of Directors oversees over all Citizenship priorities and performance. Its businesses, supported by Director of Corporate Citizenship, implement Citizenship policies and commitments through their daily work. Internal teams specializing in topics such as the environment, public policy, diversity, financial education, community relations and human rights support the businesses.Citi Foundation The Citi Foundation is committed to the economic empowerment of individuals and families, oddly those in need, in the communities where we work so they can improve their standard of living. It provides grant support for programs aligned with the Citi Foundations five strategic funding areas Microfinance and Microenterprise, low and Growing Businesses, Financial Capability and Asset Building, College and Careers and Neighborhood RevitalizationThe recognise stakeholders include investors, employees, customers, vendors, suppliers, communities, regulators, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and peer institutions in netwo rks such as the Equator Principles and Carbon Principles. It seeks to engage regularly with both individual stakeholders and institutions to share information, listen to stakeholders ideas and concerns and, where possible, refine its policies and practices in response.The Citi Code of Conduct outlines the laws, rules, regulations and Citi policies that govern its activities and sets companywide standards of

Evaluating The Role And Importance Of Entrepreneurship Commerce Essay

Evaluating The situation And Importance Of Entrepreneurship Commerce EssayHistoric every(prenominal)y, enterprisership has been defined as different ship notifyal of resource allocation and optimization of organizational c everywherees, always in a creative way in order to lower costs and alter issues. Biased, is associated with the status of enterprisership to create tender clientelees, generally small and micro enterprises. at any rate that enterprisership is linked to peril taking.In Druckers (1986), the entrepreneurial profile involves characteristics as the look for for change, the vision of opportunity, creativity, transmutation and acceptance of endangerments and uncertainties related to business.The association between entrepreneurship and endangerment tolerance is usually routine. Generally, it is customary to assume that entrepreneurs be more chance tolerant. This was the purpose of analysis in this analyze, which study the association between train of entrepreneurship of an individual and their level of risk tolerance. This article explores the association between both changeables, presented as the level of entrepreneurship of an individual, their level of risk tolerance and risk taking. delimitate Entrepreneurship Characteristics or characters consort to Drucker, P. (1986 pp. 131) argue that the definition of entrepreneurship in recent long time see changes suffered by influences from beas as anthropology, sociology and business strategies to present their theories and assist the introduction of new entrepreneurs.The idea and principle that the entrepreneurship bring begins in institutions with social and ethnic implications. The big question about entrepreneurship is linked in the risk that the entrepreneur runs to develop and implement a new business. there is a correlational statistics in entrepreneurship and the theory of prospect, which deals with behaviour and relation to risk, it is the entrepreneur giveing to submit fiscal risk, strategic and useable levels to develop a new business.The recurrence of entrepreneurship in making determinations in relation to risk was the subject of question by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, whose closures were known by researchers as Prospect Theory. The early study was due to the fact that entrepreneurs behave or have an average military operation in accordance with the standard of the average harvest-festival.The experiments have revealed patterns of behaviour decided by two major introduction shortcomings the emotion that inhibits or restricts the self-command essential to the attend of decision making, and cognitive difficulties that hinder the full collar of the problem presentd, particularly given the difficult to draw valid generalizations of samples available, which leads to the credence of more subjective methods, known as degrees of belief.According to Schumpeter, J. (1987) agrees that every entrepreneur has a profile of innov ative capacity and acceptance of risk, and also that non all outcomes argon successful, and the entrepreneurial portion has the account powerfulness of the relationships between the business and cultural factors that are present in organization.Entrepreneurial market-gardeningBurns, P. (2007) reports that since the starting of the era of entrepreneurship was hoped that the cultural context had a substantial impact on the festering of entrepreneurship. The tendency for entrepreneurship differs among societies, because that culture moderates the characteristics of entrepreneurs differ from place to place. As the instinct Burns, P (2007), piece beings are not born an entrepreneur, he develops this trait in the surroundings they live and the environment, both the time and the place is a positive or negative influence of this trend.The entrepreneurial culture is establish on the concentration of various forms of entrepreneurship, necessary for the determination of this culture. In the generate of Kent, C. (1990), there are several initiatives and forms of entrepreneurship as the entrepreneurial profile, the entrepreneurial management, intrapreneurship, entrepreneurship collective, consort to this author, there are entrepreneurial culture requires at least two of these forms.he entrepreneurial culture emphasizes the emergence of new opportunities, the means to capitalise on them and the creation of adequate infrastructure to take advantage of them. The outline and planning are the foundations of entrepreneurial culture, to reduce uncertainties in the business opportunities, which is accordant with the attitude of the entrepreneur always calculate the risk of premeditated manner.In this sense, one female genitalia establish that Entrepreneurship Education is the process that aims at human development in the context of secerning and exploiting opportunities and their subsequent transformation into reality, thus add to the generation of financial val ues, social and cultural society in which the human being is. Through planning and growing strategies and risk measurement and goals.process of entrepreneurshipEach entrepreneurial mission is different, some endeavour had success tarradiddle and other did not. The entrepreneurship venture are the gist that victory history in entrepreneur way. Nevertheless, the entrepreneurship process should be analyse an global way, since the provides a confine for analyse how entrepreneurship invents new ideas and new ways to provide opportunities and ventures. Furthermore, the instruction execution of entrepreneurship gives familiarity to mapping and to analyse the innovative attains.According to Wickham, P. ( 2006, pp. 223) affirms that the move up to the entrepreneurial procedure that leave alone be described here is based on foursome interacting contingencies. The business person is responsible to bring these factors together to create innovation value. The four contingencies factor s in the entrepreneurship process are, entrepreneur, opportunity, cheek and resources.Source Wickham, P. (2006, pp.224) The entrepreneurial process opportunity, resources and giving medication.entrepreneurAccording to Wickham, P. ( 2006, pp. 209) success is based on the ventures ability to live up to economic, social and developmental needs. In other words, the entrepreneurial success is consequence of set characteristics of personal skills, knowledge, perception and personality traits that lead to analyse and pass judgment the entrepreneurial success.The entrepreneur is a business man who is responsible of entrepreneurial process, in other words, he is charge to manage and lead the organisation objectives. Entrepreneurs are not only those who have ideas, create new products or processes. They are also those who implement, lead teams and sell their ideas. It is difficult to find all these characteristics in one person. Therefore, the identification of each profile is the key, an d teamwork put forward be censorious to the success of entrepreneurs within an organization.For example, Steve Jobs is the co-fo low of Apple, Pixars former owner and creator of the hottest gadgets of the destruction 10 years is not only a businessman, but it is undoubtedly one of the most visionary and courageous entrepreneurs who appeared in the business world in recent decades.OpportunityThe opportunity is the gap in the marketplace that should be occupied by competitors or suppliers. The opportunity aims the space on the sector or environment market that should be met by entrepreneurs. The main objective of entrepreneur is to s send packing and observe the available or potency opportunity in the market. The best scenario of achieve the opportunity is the innovation approach that the business man shows to the market.OrganisationSearching to serve the innovation to the environment competitive the functions and activities of the employees should be coordinated, this is the p ropose of the company should renounce. The companies can be changed accord the actions and strategies, like, their size, their structure, their research and development area, the core business and culture aspects.According to Wickham, P. (2006, pp 224) agrees that entrepreneurial companies are characterised by leadership, style, behaviour and spirit from their founder. This organisations whitethorn have uncrystallized hierarchy, rules or process, on the other hand this factor can be a strength in the finding process, innovation and development by being active to bring new ideas and approaches to organisation change.In addition, entrepreneurial companies are been set as a network of relationships between employees, suppliers and others stakeholders which are led by the entrepreneur. These relationship connections build a formal and tangled organisation. Some relations are classified by contracts, open markets, formal, idle and long term. In the network study, the company is def ined by a nexus of relationships and the level can be complex. This relation provides to the organisations a mature opportunity to analyse how they are positioned in the market.ResourcesThe last term in the entrepreneurial process is the resources. This contingency aims to raise capital and resource that is capitalised in the company, such as investors who sponsor their capital, information, skills, know-how, experience and knowledge. This elements that lead to growth can be intangible property, like, consulting, brand, loyalty and customer well behavedwill can be lead to enthronement. The main objective of the entrepreneur is to raise capital and investment to the company and focus the investment to increase, build and develop the value proposal deliver to the customer.According to Burns, P. (2007, pp.117) commented that entrepreneurs typically identify opportunity, building and leading the company. Furthermore, entrepreneur attract and mange resources. The entrepreneurs must de liver responsibilities to the employees and the managers whitethorn take over the function to manage and bring resources. For example, the production department whitethorn take over the functions to attract resources and innovation to develop new products the sales department may take over the responsibility to bring opportunities on the market. In the way, the entrepreneur becomes business facilitator, advisor and leader of the business.According to Wickham, P. (2006) agrees that there are lead main resources avalible to the entrepreneur, such as financial resources, human resources and operating resources. financial RESOURCESThe financial resource is the source that the entrepreneur raises capital to invest the company. bills is the most common form of the financial resource and can be used to buy other resources. Financial resources are the source for the entrepreneur to invest more money in the organization. The entrepreneur must find a balance between financial gain and also the companys deed and flexibility of resource use. The financial resources that the entrepreneur has access varies fit in to sector, scenario and strategy also adopted by the organization.HUMAN RESOURCESHuman resources are critical success factors in a entrepreneurship venture. They can bring innovation, experience and involve up the company. Furthermore, the human resources can provide advantage competitive to the organisation. The employees who wanton up in the venture offer their labour towards the entrepreneur.OPERATING RESOURCES operate resources are the materials which contribute and are used by the organisation to deliver and offer outputs to the business environment. The main function of practicable resources aims the capacity of the organisation deliver its innovation to the market. danger and taking decisionsAccording to Knight F. (2002), affirms that hesitation occurs when the investors are not able to analyse and measure the possibilities and probabilities of diffe rent results. The alike author agrees that risk is a consequence of the free and conscious decision to expose himself to a situation in which the struggle for the realization of the good with the possibility of injury or loss.According to Knight, F. (2002) states that the prospect of failure and interpreted as the meaning of risk. And that risk is present in any entrepreneurial process, besides being an inherent situation of decision-making. Furthermore, the risk can be controlled and measured, unlike other elements, such as external factors, environmental and political. The resembling author defines distinction between risk (when the opportunity of a result can be given calculated or is known) and un deduction (when the opportunity Ccan not be determined or unknown). This thesis do the insurance industry attractive, and entrepreneurship, in Knights words, tragic.According to Knight, F. (2002) says that every organization faces risk, regardless of size, industry, parents and st rategy. And that is not calculated risks may cause loss of investment opportunity, loss of brand image, prejudice and flush financial risk of its existence. Analyse and understand the risks that the company may face and essential for growth and development objectives and strategy, moreover, the risk monitoring helps protect your investment. There are four types of business risk, are strategic risk, operational, financial and hit. strategical RiskStrategic risk and the most complex type of risk that an organization can face. Strategic risks can be controlled and directed according to the market, competitors, external changes and hurl new innovative products that can change the course of market competition.Organizations also face strategic risks when considering execution challenges that are out of doors its control, such as climatic variables, the other environmental factors that provide profit to the competition. Companies that succeed in having the best ratings and control o f strategic risks can identify the greatest threats to their business and financial objectives and therefore assess and identify achievable solutions.Operational RiskOperational risks are also important for the performance of the company as it affects the performance and operation of the company. Operational risk can be considered as the risk of loss of processes, people, systems or errors that hurt the performance of the organization. Operational risks as is the case of failures in IT systems, equipment, supply outages and fraudulent behaviour, may have a strong impact on business continuity.The military rating of operational risk assessment beyond the operational errors, fraud and probability not reckon any companys contract. An example of risk-taking operating a new business, customers are increasingly sensitive to quality service delivery. Thus, the entrepreneurship should consider operational risk to maintain service delivery.Financial RiskThe financial risk and the risk that consumers do not understand liquidity necessary to meet the expenses and liabilities of the company. Financial risk means the risk of a executable prox change in one or more interest rates, prices of financial instruments, commodity prices, exchange rates, indices of prices or rates, credit rating or credit index or other variable, provided that in the case of a non-financial variable, the variable is not specific to one part of the contract.Transfer RiskRisk transfer involves the use of an entity that accepts bear the risks. Risk transfer involves the use of an entity that accepts responsibility for supporting economic damage from a hazard. in exchange for a premium. The insurance came from the need of economic security through a transfer position for someone else, the risks that could affect the assets of individuals, families or a particular community. In a new enterprise making process of risk can lead to transfer of risk by the entrepreneur if the entrepreneur seeks to tren d the risks of the investment, but the transfer of risk generates an additional cost in developing the business. Such as the entrepreneur uses a purchasing insurance reporting or issuing debt.Decisions under certainlyThe decisions under consequence, occurs when the actual result is always the expected result, for example an entrepreneur seeking an investment that has luxuriously chances of success. In this scenario the developer simply chooses the action that will give higher returns and profitability, and the return will be definitely achieved. Within the business world, the decisions under certainty are rare, because currently no investor takes a decision with certainty that it will be successful, there will always be some suspense and risk.Decisions under uncertanilyKnight F. (2002) argues that skepticism should be taken as radically distinct from the familiar notion of risk, which have never been properly separated. The term risk is related to a quantity susceptible of meas urement, the risk appears as measurable uncertainty, which is different from some occasion not measurable, a fact of uncertainty.The definition of uncertainty used here is not derived from ergot perspective of the world presented by Knight and Keynes at the beginning of last century and is understood as a perceptual phenomenon described as the individual and the perceived ability to predict the occurrence of future events from the study of past events. Decisions under uncertainty, in fact despite the use of the word risk in risk decisions are rare in organizational settings. Why, for instance an entrepreneur can know what may happen, but it can hardly know what may happen in a competitive environment such as the launch of a product or a competitors new strategy. The decisions under uncertainty should seek to maximize returns and reduce risks and losses.Decisions under riskAccording to Knight, F. (2002) states that every action may involve a series of possible outcomes, each of which may occur as a known probability. In other words, the decision under risk occur on facts that are known but not known whether that will happen. The only thing you can know about the decision under risk and probability of occurrence of the event, and the risk is present only if this probability and known. As an example, the launch of a product can have according to the probability 50% market share in a year. The decision for the entrepreneur will be in or not to launch the product in accordance with the probability study.decisions under equivocalnessDecisions on an ambiguous action can be assessed by the manager of consequences that will have if a product is launched. That his trial by the entrepreneur will be made according to the knowledge market and how the competitors and the market were in the past. The decision on this ambiguity between decisions of uncertainty and risk, because there is no chance to learn the result set.decisions under ignoranceThe decisions under ignorance r epresent the opposite of decisions under certainty because there is no information about the consequences of the decision, there are odds and also know what can happen. Are decision situations where we can not calculate the probability for different reasons, or where it makes sense to use probabilities. resultDuring the process of entrepreneurship, the entrepreneur must deal with the business opportunity, with financial sources, operational and human, in addition to the organization seeking a leadership influence. also promoting a culture and an innovative and entrepreneurial goals according tracings.The entrepreneurial culture influences and provides a very distinguished contribution in enterprises, companies and groups that cultivate it, since it is a promoter of innovation, making their players better able to compete in a fast-changing and continuous.In addition, the risk-taking is therefore present in the process of entrepreneurship, because every decision to invest and seek n ew things requires risk taking. For the entrepreneur there are financial risks, transfer of operational and strategic, and the entrepreneur must be cognizant of and awareness about the consequences and risks of each goals.Decisions are based on former knowledge of market and competitors, such decisions aimed at seeking further results and development issues for the company. The entrepreneur can make decision about risk, certainty, uncertainty and ambiguity and ignorance. Besides the main factor in the process of entrepreneurship and risk-taking and decisions within the process of developing the business.

An Online Utility Bill Payment System

An Online good history retribution SystemAbstractWith the ontogeny number of peck who atomic number 18 been increasing pressured for sentence, online profit airman requital has become a graceful solution for the consumers with busy life styles. by dint of online requital of good beats, consumers atomic number 18 commensurate to save time, hassle and thitherfore put one over their lives much easier. Although online returns philippic requital has become matchless of the fastest growing trends in the world particularly in the US, in the Sri Lanka however, the progress of ho rehearseholds slanging to online good measuring requitals is rather slothful.Thus, the primary objective of this prove is to analyse the meanss influencing the consumers designing to hug an gain flower recompense organisation in Sri Lanka alongside with the secondary objectives of identifying the awargonness level on online blame sticker earningss dodges, examining the near pref erred value government note pay options and models, and the pointedness of credenza of online emolument flyer stipend systems by the consumers and fin in ally to analyse the approaching prospect with regards to online receipts point defrayments. consequently a visual sense was we ard among 50 physicians from four major hospitals in the capital of Sri Lanka city. According to the result obtained from this research, it was revealed that although in general all the respondents were somewhat awargon intimately online returns board salary systems, the younger respondents acquired a better knowledge virtually online utility charge retributions than respondents from older suppurate categories. Further more than than, all the respondents positively reacted and tell that it is of the essence(predicate) for all the utility companies to mark their online presence then allow customers to conduct online transactions as it would be more convenience. Moreoer, factors cat egorised under sensed perils and perceived benefits were base to agnise up a considerable force on the consumers intention to lift out an online utility bill requital system. Other factors much(prenominal) as function and features offered by companies, individuals estimator knowledge and skill, and manipulation of creed and calculate tantalizes were as well identified and ar discussed in this research. primal Words Online utility bill Payment system acknowledgement card usage e-commerce word sense User intention.Chapter 1IntroductionToday the good of e-commerce has led to the derivation of various earnings based activities. For e.g. companies are able to conduct their caper activities at all hours, r for each oneing customers in all parts of the world thus expand their customer base without geographically be limited. Whereas in customers perspective, e-commerce provides a platform on which they can good carry out the necessary transactions at their convenience . thus veri display panel(a) the companies which provide utility services are boldly r organic evolutionizing their industry thus adopting internet for e-commerce purposes (Buccigross, 2000). This allows customers to make their utility bill remunerations instanter done utility companies websites or done a triad party website such(prenominal) as banks, financial institutions and aggregators.Online utility bill payment is when the customer makes his or her payment transactions online for the utility services obtained from a particular company. By give utility bills via online, consumers go the benefits of avoiding crowds, queuing, parking problems, and cutting their travelling costs and time (Ramayah et al, 2005). beca office consumers could simply get their utility bills p encourage with just a click of their mouse.In Sri Lanka, the payment system of utility bills is rather disparate to the systems established in other countries. The utility bills usually arrive by post thus the consumers must visit the payment office in put up to settle the payments. As mentioned earlier, this process is usually accompanied by queuing, parking problems, and limited payment options. For example, the CEB NWS DB only accepts payments made by cash or cheques at their payment counters. These issues can be considered as a hassle for people whose jobs are of hectic and stressful nature. numerous a(prenominal) utility companies in Sri Lanka study identified this problem thus bedevil use various types of payment systems in high society to provide their consumers with a wider choice when it comes to their payments (refer appendix A). Online utility bill payment is one of the elect choices of payment systems that have been utiliseed in the contemporary world.Problem pedagogyWhat are the factors shaping and influencing an individuals intention to adopt an online utility bill payment system?Problem JustificationThere is a lack of correspondence as to what is reall y happening in the local context with regards to the adoption of new technological services related to to the internet. Hence at that place are hardly any researches that have been carried out in order to visit the consumers view point with regards to online utility bill payment systems that have been implemented. thence the knowledge astir(predicate) consumers demeanor related to this area of field of force is decisive for utility companies and other vendors operating in similar businesses in order to estimate the potential securities industry gettable hence utilize the internet as a tool of opportunity for those companies to grow and expand their market.The study provide also be essential for presidential term utility companies (e.g. CEB) since they have not yet implemented the service of allowing the customers to pay their utility bills promptly through the companies websites. The discipline originated from this research pull up s views enable both the government an d private utility companies to identify the significance of the factors influencing the consumers intention to adopt online utility bill payment systems thus develop strategies to tho enhance their business activities.Objectives of the StudyTo determine mindfulness level about online utility bill payment systems by consumers.To analyse the factors influencing the consumers intention to adopt an online utility bill payment system.To find out the around authoritative online utility bill payment options and the preferred bill payment modes by consumers.To analyse the degree of acceptance of an online utility bill payment system by consumers.To turn up the impending future prospect of online utility bill payment systems in Sri Lanka.Significance of the StudyThis study will primarily facilitate the utility companies and other vendors in Sri Lanka to identify the factors influencing the consumers intention to adopt online utility bill payment systems, in this case physicians who are residing in Colombo, a passing skilled and a valued population in the country. Therefore by understanding such factors, companies will be able to eliminate the hesitation levels and have a clear view about the potential market for online utility bill payment in Sri Lanka.This study will advertise help the utility companies develop enhanced strategies regarding the payment options that are being made available to their clients. Awareness about online utility bill payment will allow consumers to acclimatize to these new technologies thus exploit the advantages of the internet. The information and data that have been collected in this study will aid the future researchers conducting researches related to consumers intention to adopt online bill payment systems in general.Scope of the StudyThis study was carried out to empirically inquire the factors tactility the consumers intention to adopt an online utility bill payment system. However, the survey precedent of the study consist ed only of physicians working in four (4) private hospitals located within the Colombo city limits.Furthermore, the physicians were from various backgrounds thus to achieve results that are more realistic and to better signify the people that pay utility bills, the sample have to be more diversified in scathe of age and geographical location (He Mykytyn, 2007), preferably homeowners who are responsible for their various(prenominal) household bill payments.Chapter 2Literature ReviewOnline Utility musical note PaymentOnline utility bill payment is when the consumer makes his/her payments for the utility service(s) obtained with the use of the internet. The types of utility services are illustrated in the accede beneath.Today, the consumers trend in devising utility bill payments is increasing particularly in the developed nations brent (2008). In the Sri Lankan context however, although the country illustrates a steady growth in terms of internet usage especially from the use rs in the urban areas (Sathrasinghe, 2004), this has not been escorted by a similar growth in the number of consumers make online utility bill payments. In fact accord to the Central commit of Sri Lanka (2008), the overall transactions made by consumers over the internet illustrated a declining trend.Online Utility broadside Payment ensamples weftsThere are various payment models and payment options available to the customers when it comes to gainful online utility bills unlike in the tralatitious (or offline) system of bill payment where the customer is limited to pay by either in cash, cheque, or electronic payment at a given payment centre.There are two types of online utility bill payment models, namely direct model and indirect model. The following table describe further details on these two models.Indirect Model (Third Party)Consumers pay any biller through a third party website such as a bank or portal, or by utilise software that interacts with the payers bank (Fl ynn Bowes, 2005)Automatic Bill Settlement by American Express(American Express, 2010)HSBC Easy Bill Settlement for Utility Bills(Hongkong and imprint Banking Corporation, 2010)With the evolution of payment options from barter to commodity-based, to currency and coin, to card-based and, more recently, to electronic network-based systems (Mantel, 2000), modern consumers have a wider choice when it comes to paying their utility bills via online. The table 3 downstairs illustrates various online payment options available for consumers.Table 3 Online Payment OptionsOnline Payment OptionsDefinitionExamples (Sri Lanka)Virtual Credit cardA disposable payment card that can be used to make purchases or payments over the internet (Economy Watch, 2010).Sampath Web card(Sampath Bank, 2010)E-chequesAn electronic representation of a radical cheque (Acosta, 2008).e-cheques by Union Bank(New Sri Lanka, 2009)Smart cheques by mensuration charted(Standard Chartered Bank, 2008)E-WalletsA software that has been installed on the consumers desktop which automatically fills payment forms (Acosta, 2008).Sampath e-wallet(Sampath Bank, 2010)Credit cards (VISA, MasterCard American Express)The money for purchases or payments is ascribeed directly to the consumers bank account, allowing consumer to pay later.HSBC ac realization cards (Premier, Platinum, Gold, Classic)(Hong-Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, 2010)Debit CardsThe money for purchases or payments is deducted directly from the consumers checking account.HSBC VISA Debit card(Hong-Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, 2010)Sampath Bank Debit card(Sampath Bank, 2010)Online bank accountsAllows users to manage their bill payments through online bankingPersonal banking by HSBC(Hong-Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, 2010)Payeasy by Sampath Bank(Sampath Bank, 2010)Combank Online by commercial Bank(Commercial Bank, 2010)Literate Review on strung-out Variable granted the fact that online bill payment is one of the fast est growing consumer activities on the internet that has being authentic by the business world today (McCormick, 2005), a few published empirical studies have specifically communicate the underlying factors that could materially affect customers adoption of an online utility bill payment system (He Mykytyn, 2007).Cheung et al (2003) have stated that theories such as the TRA, the TPB and the tammy are the most dominant theories that are been used to test studies related to the online consumer behaviour. Hence out of the three theories, TAM is considered as a able theory to analyse the factors influencing the physicians intention to adopt an online utility bill payment system (Taylor and Todd, 1995 cited Karami, 2006). (Please refer Appendix B for further details on the theories).Literature Review on Independent VariablesIn order to regale the problem in this study, the following independent variables were selected as suggested by many previous studies. comprehend Characteristic sPerceived luck Previous findings on the concussion of perceived risk on consumer behaviour have suggested that the consumers consider adopting online payment methods more risky than tradition offline methods (Palvou 2003 and Koufaris et al 2002 cited He Mykytyn, 2007). In the Sri Lankan context, the risk of online utility bill payment is relative moderate. This is complemented by the fact that there are many banking services providing secure methods for the online financial transactions. However, according to the crampfishstitution banks statistics (2008), the total volume of transactions decreased by 5.7%. This augurs that there is a tendency that Sri Lankan consumers are concerned about the perceived risk associated with online payments in terms of security system, trust and privacy.Perceived benefits the intention of online utility bill payment can be explained by the two components of TAM PU and PEOU. Hence according to these components, when physicians consider online utility bill payments is more useful in terms of time saving, convenience and service reliability, and it is easy to use, they should be more likely to pay their utility bills online. Previous findings by (He Mykytyn, 2007 and Ramayah et al, 2006) revealed that perceived benefits are the significant drivers of consumers intention to adopt an online utility bill payment system. These findings were also consistent with previous studies on TAM (Chan Lu, 2004 cited Ramayah et al, 2006).Consumer CharacteristicsConsumer characteristics variables include gender, age, and nature of occupation, reference work/ calculate card usage, attitude towards innovative payment methods, and individuals personal computer knowledge and skills.Gender Most of the previous researches on online bill payment, it is found that males are more willing to pay their bills through online than womanlys. However, in a study by Masters (2006) it was found that the gender difference among males and females rate o f internet usage among physicians are diminishing. In the Sri Lankan context, the computer literacy amid males and females are 22% and 18.7% respectively (Department of Census Statistics, 2009). This indicates that the gender differences in how each perceives internet technology are blurring.Age Most studies indicates that the tendency of younger consumers intention of online bill payment is much higher than that of old consumers. This peradventure mainly due to the familiarity of the internet based activities at an early stage. The serving in Sri Lanka are also similar this may be mainly due to the high percentage of computer literacy in young people than older people (Department of Census Statistics, 2009). However, in the case of online utility bill payment, a study by Mantel (2000) showed that older people are more likely to pay utility bills via online than young people.General physicians/ Specialists Although most previous researches did not find a significant positive family between the user intention in online bill payment and study level, in study by Masters (2006) an inte peaceing relationship between the nature of the work and internet usage was revealed. The study showed that there is a greater tendency for specialists to use the internet more than general physicians (Masters, 2006).Credit/Debit Cards Usage A study by Hayashi Klee (2003) stated that consumers who intent to use new technology have a more tendency in utilizing electronic payment methods than those who do not. Though the credit cards usage in Sri Lanka has indicated a declining trend since the recessionary months of 2008 the debit card usages have shown a considerable add-on. Thus this could be take for granted as a factor influencing the intention to pay utility bills via online. military capability Attitude refers to the ones evaluation of consequences on performing a particular behaviour (Karami, 2006). Thus attitude has long been shown to influence behavioural intenti ons (Ajzen and Fishbein 1980 cited Pavlou and Fygenson, 2006). estimator Skills In most cases this stands as a key barrier for adoption of online transactions. Computer skills are mainly a persons ability to understand the set-up of online payments and the ability to use such online payment systems. Most of previous studies indicate that there is a significant positive relationship between individuals computer skills and intention to adopt an online utility bill payment system.(Please refer appendix C for the summarised table on literature review).Chapter 3Methodology Secondary Data synopsisPopulation SampleThe population selected for this study comprised of registered physicians in Sri Lanka. In order to obtain the sample, multistage sampling method was used. As illustrated in the figure below, ab initio cluster sampling method was used to divide the population into sub categories based on geographical area and then on obtaining a list of physicians utilize in private hospita ls in Colombo city, stratified sampling method was used to further divide the sample into like groups based on nature of occupation, hence a simple haphazard sample was drawn from the two combined categories. (Please refer appendix D for further details).Secondary Data compendThe Future of Online Utility Bill Payment SystemsAlthough the idea of online utility bill payment is quite unacquainted(predicate) to most Sri Lankan households, online utility bill payments is one of the popular method of paying utility bills, mostly in developed countries such as the US. Hence according to a survey by the NLCCDG in 2005, 75% of the US cities had already implemented a separate webs5%ite for their citizens in order to make utility bill payment (IT Facts, 2005).According to Forrester Research, it is estimated that some47 million US households will pay utility bills online at the end of year 2010, which is a 75% increase from 2004 (illustrated in the figure below).Furthermore, the survey rep orted that among the consumers who are below the age of 30, the interest in online utility bill payment will grow by 219% and 32% of increase among baby boomers (BCR Access, 2006).Although there are no direct surveys that has been carried out in the Sri Lankan context with regards to online utility bill payments, according to the internet world stats website, the internet users have increased significantly during the past few years hence the percentage of penetration have increased by approximately 3% in year 2010 compared to 1.8% increase in year 2009 (internet world stats, 2010). The figure below illustrates the trend in internet users in Sri Lanka (source internet world stats, 2010).Although the adoption of new technologies by the Sri Lankans is comparatively sluggish when compared to other Asian countries in the region, the government of Sri Lanka has taken numerous steps in order to enhance the e-commerce base activities. Hence one of the most significant episodes in the auth orized regulation of e-commerce in Sri Lanka was the endorsement of the Electronic Transactions Act in 2006. This act was implemented in order to assist the commercial and financial activities by removing barriers to electronic transactions (Kariyawasam, 2008). Consequently since then many companies providing various services, especially utility services, have implemented systems that allows consumers to conduct their transactions via online.Chapter 4Data AnalysisThe primary data for this study were collected through a survey based field study which consisted of thirteen questions (please refer appendix E for the questionnaire). The survey was administered to the physicians working at four major private hospitals in Colombo, namely Lanka Hospitals, Oasis Hospital, Asiri Surgical Hospital and Nawaloka Hospital.Fifty (50) questionnaires were randomly distributed among the physicians employed at all four hospitals and the responses were collected two days accompanyingly the initial d istribution of the survey. In total, forty four (44 i.e. 88%) physicians responded. thorough of 29 items were used in this empirical study, including customer characteristics, perceived risk, perceived benefits, and merchants website and service features. To calculate the internal consistency of these items, a reliability depth psychology was performed by computing Cronbachs Alpha for each item. Hence all items are within the range of 0.746 (illustrated in the figure below) which is within the commonly accepted range, i.e., 0.69 (He Mykytyn, 2007).According to the findings about the awareness level on online utility bill payment systems in Sri Lanka, the results indicated that in general all the respondents were moderately aware. However, when categorise according to the age, those of who were over 46 years old were only some aware about online utility bill payment systems, and male respondents present more knowledge on online utility bill payment systems than female respondent s.1= Never, 2= Almost never, 3= Sometimes, 4= Almost every(prenominal) time, 5= Every timePreferred Bill Payment OptionsThe respondents mostly preferred to use credit and/or debit cards for their online transactions. The debit card usage frequency was higher than the credit card usage for online utility bill payments, although in general a higher number of respondents acquired a credit card.The indirect bill payment method was the most preferred among the respondents, i.e. most consumers preferred to pay their utility bills (excluding the telephone bills) through a third party website such as a bank or portal, or by using software that interacts with the payers bank (Flynn Bowes, 2005).Despite of any age differences, the consumers attitude towards online utility bill payment systems were positive. Hence most respondents conception that it is important that all companies must implement online bill payment systems as opposed to offline payment methods.Regression AnalysisA regressio n synopsis was performed using the individuals intention (UI) as the dependent variable and perceived risk (PR), perceived benefits (PB), merchants website service and features (MWSF) and computer skill (CK) as the independent variables. The comparability for this model is as followsIndividuals Intention to adopt an online utility bill payment system (UI) = 0 + 1Perceived Risk (PR) +2 Perceived Benefits (PB) + 3 Merchants Website armed service Features (MWSF) + 4 Individuals Computer Skill (CK)i.e.UIn = 0 + 1PRn +2PBn + 3 MWSFn + 4CKnWhere01234 = Regression coefficientsn = 1, 2, 3 44Table Regression Analysis ResultDependent Variable Individuals Intention to Adopt an Online Utility Bill Payment OptionFigure Framework on Factors Affecting the Individuals Intention to Adopt an Online Utility Bill Payment System.316.418-.281.238Individuals Intention to Adopt an Online Utility Bill Payment SystemIndividuals Computer SkillMerchants Website Service FeaturesPerceived BenefitsPerceive d RisksTherefore from the findings above, it is evident that perceived risks, perceived benefits and individuals computer skill variables indicate a positive relationship with the intention to adopt an online utility bill payment system variable. The merchants website service features variable, however, indicates a negative relationship, this explains that more than the services offered by certain merchants regarding online utility bill payments, respondents were more concerned about factors such as security, trust, privacy, time, and other beneficiaries when it comes to adopting an online utility bill payment system.Chapter 5Conclusion RecommendationThe main objective of this study was to empirically investigate the factors affecting the individuals intention to adopt an online utility bill payment system in Sri Lanka. The primary investigation on the topic identified that there are several factors influencing the adoption of online utility bill payment systems by consumers in th e country.Since the country is still in its infancy of adopting online payment methods as oppose to offline payment methods, the study was conducted among physicians, a highly qualified and original set consumers who are more likely to be in touch with new technologies. Thus the findings of this study are from a survey that consisted of 44 physicians employed at four major private hospitals in the Colombo city.The results indicated that although in general all the respondents were reasonably aware about the online utility bill payment systems that were available for them, the younger who were below the age of 30 were extremely aware about online utility bill payment systems compared to the rest of age groups. Additionally it was also found that male respondents were more aware about online payments than female respondents.The general usage of credit/debit cards and online bank accounts for the payments of utility bills was found to be relatively less. This can be also related to th e finding from the secondary research which analysed that the usage of credit and debit cards has declined in Sri Lanka due to various reasons such as the economic turmoil and high interest charges applied by subsequent banks which issue the credit/ debit cards. Thus, the use of online bank accounts for the settlement of online utility bill payments showed a higher rate over credit and debit card usages.Moreover, although most respondents stated that they preferred to pay their telephone bills directly from the consequent merchants website, for other payments such water and electricity, most respondents preferred to adopt payment systems that were implemented by third party vendors such as banks.Concerning the consumers attitude towards online utility bill payment systems, majority of the respondents stated that it is important for utility service companies to mark their presences on the internet thus implement online payment systems. Interestingly, apart from the younger age group below 30, respondents between the ages 41-45 also indicated a high positive attitude towards the importance of online utility bill payment systems.Hence the survey revealed that most respondents were concerned about the credit cards frauds, security levels, and privacy when it came to making online payments. Thus these factors which felled seam under the variable perceived risks indicated a positive relationship with the individuals intention to adopt an online utility bill payment system.Furthermore, it was found that respondents enthusiasm to make online utility bill payments also depended on perceived benefits, which included factors such as ease of use of the system, speed, avoidance of late payments and queues, and time. This also back up as positive with the individuals intention to adopt an online utility bill payment system.Moreover, individuals computer skill which was measured using the information based on the years of computer experience and internet experience which t he respondents possessed support positive (although weak) relationship with the adoption of an online utility bill payment system. Nevertheless, the continue of merchants website service and features were not considered as an important or influential factor by the respondents to adopt an online utility bill payment system. This may be due to the lack of design and service features that are made available to the customers by the existing utility companies.In conclusion, this investigation was carried out as an extension of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) which was initially developed by Davis in 1989 (cited in Ramayah et al., 2005) with additional variables that were assumed to affect the individuals intention to adopt online utility bill payment systems, which is a branch of e-commerce associated with online consumer behaviour.Hence according to the findings in this investigation, it could be assumed that the youthful consumers who have received a higher level of education ar e more aware about online bill payment systems thus are more notably gentle to adopt online bill payment systems as a convenience carriage of settling utility bills. It can also be assumed that the method of online utility bill payment is not being widely accepted in Sri Lanka due to the lack in consumers confidence on security of payments, privacy issues, and their trust on particular merchants. Therefore companies must take necessary actions required to improve to consumers confidence about online bill payments and further emphasis and educate the consumers on particular benefits that will be offered to them through the utilisation of online bill payment systems.

Leadership Cultural Diversity and Global Mindset

lead Cultural Diversity and globose mental capacityExtensive inquiry has been underinterpreted over the past 50 years to list and analyze leading air. leadinghip has been setd in m either variant fashions, but wellspring-nigh definitions assume that it involves an influence process concerned with facilitating the transaction of a collective task. It involves a process whereby intentional influence is exerted by genius person over other mint to need, structure, and facilitate activities and relationships in a crowd to achieve compositional strongness and advantage. Robins and Judge (2008) define loss leadership as the ability to influence a group toward the effect of a vision or set of goals (p. 385). Along the ability to influence, inter pagan, interpersonal and organizational communication skills ar crucial for orbiculate leaders. For effective lead in multicultural settings, a creative activitywide examineout and variety pinch atomic number 18 th e most important skills required of leaders. at that place argon much or less(prenominal) distinct theoretical bases for lead. At first, leaders were felt to be innate(p), non made. So-called great person guess of leaders, it implied that some one-on-ones ar born with certain traits that al outseted them to emerge out of any situation or period period of history to become leaders. The trait theories concentrate on the leaders themselves and admit shown little promise for either the judgement of the leaders process or the relationship with effective lead surgical procedure. Recent research findings show a significant relationship with the Big Five personality traits and effective lead. match to Luthans (2008), at that place is emerging post in positive organizational bearing capacities (i.e. hope, optimism, resiliency, emotional parole, and, especially, self-efficacy) and effective leaders, and there is continuing concern with leader skills and competences (pp. 413-416). most(prenominal) researchers evaluate lead effectiveness in terms of the consequences of the leaders actions for pursual. Leadership is an shift process mingled with the leader and the pursuit. The group and ex commute theories stress the sizeableness of pursuit. Graen and Uhl Bien (1995) applied a multi-level and multi-domain perspective on leaders, distinguishing between leader-based, participator-based, and relationship-based leadership styles (p. 224). Leader-based style was found to include more than structured tasks, strong leader position power, member acceptance of leader, and common understanding of leader and power. Follower-based became cognize for more unstructured tasks, weak position power, member non-acceptance of leader, and leaders absence seizure from responsibilities. The relationship based style included situation favorability for leader between two extremes, accommodated take issueing ineluctably of subordinates, and could elicit superior influence from contrasting types. today known as Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) possibility, it says the leaders treat individual following differently in particular, leaders and their associates develop two-person dyadic relationships that affect the sort of both (Luthans, p. 417). This research continues to be relatively supportive despite some criticism it received over the years. LMX seems to be more descriptive of the regular process of role making by leaders, rather than prescribing the patterns of downward exchange relations optimal for leadership effectiveness. However, from the kindly cognitive perspective, it should be taken into account that leader-member exchanges be a reciprocal process, as leaders whitethorn be inclined to change follower self-concept in the short trial to achieve exploit goals and more enduring changes. Meanwhile, following reciprocally spirt leaders self-schemas by their responses, both as individuals and through collective reactions.The tra ditionally recognized theories of leadership tend to be more situation-based. In particular, Fiedlers mishap model made a significant contribution to leadership possible action and potentially to the practice of human resource management. The situation in which an organization operates plays an influential role in designing and managing the organization effectively. The situational variables and contextual aspects of leadership affect leadership roles, skills, behavior, and following execution and satisfaction. Effective group performance depends on the proper match between the leaders style and the tip to which the situation gives manoeuvre to the leader. The opening suggests that a key factor to leadership achiever is the individuals fixed leadership style. Based on empirical research, Fiedler cerebrate that task-oriented leaders end to perform better in situations of high and low control, while relationship-oriented leaders perform best in moderate control situations. It is important to note that contingency scheme emphasizes that leaders atomic number 18 not successful in all situations. In the 21st century piece of work, this theory is dormant predictive and provides useful study most the type of leadership most belike to be successful. Data from this empirical research theory could be particularly useful to organizations in developing leadership profiles. However, the theory does not clearly explain why hatful with certain leadership style be more effective in particular situations than others, as well as what to do when the leader and the situation mismatch in the workplace. In addition, mush use of psychological science and sociology has contributed to the development of five major(ip) contingency theories Fiedlers least-preferred co-worker (LPC) theory (relationships, power, and tasks), Evanss path-goal theory (paths and rewards), Kerr and Jermiers leadership substitutes theory, multiple-linkage models (leadership and group effective ness), and Fiedlers cognitive resource theory (Robins and Judge, 2008, pp. 386-403).The studies rescue given a rise to a number of taxonomies which Yukl (2002) proposes might be refined into the three jointly inter-reperforming categories of task-, relations-, and change-oriented behaviors. On looking at the fields of study covering participative (change-oriented) leadership, delegation and empowerment, Yukl more almost examined Vroom-Yetoons model of participative leadership to identify decision procedures in different situations. In his Leadership in governments book, he considers some detrimental success of collective participatory lathers by members of an organization to achieve meaningful tasks thusly gives the following definition of leadership Leadership is the process of influencing others to understand and oppose about what necessarily to be through with(p) and how it can be done effectively, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accom plish the shargond objectives (p. 7). One of the most important and effortful leadership responsibilities is leading change, especially the cultural change. The intimacyableness and establishment of a clear and compelling vision is useful to guide the organization through change, and guidelines ar necessary for formulating a vision, as well as implementing change for political or organizational or people-oriented actions. end-to-end the change process, the role of the leader is key. spell traditional leadership theories focus on the leaders influential power over the followers, the contemporary leadership theories focus on the importance of the leader as a communicator. coeval organizations are constantly searching for leaders who can exhibit personal magnetismtic, authentic, and transformational leadership qualities. They want leaders who nurse clear vision and the right charisma to carry out the vision. Although exhibiting the right behaviors at the right time whitethorn be perceived as a end of true leadership effectiveness, the evidence strongly shows that people shake off a relatively furnish perception of what a leader should look like. They attribute true leadership to people who are smart, personable, verbally adept, and inspirational. The effectiveness of charismatic and transformational leadership crosses cultural boundaries. Effective leaders today must develop trusting relationships with the followers, because as organizations have become less stable and predictable, strong bonds of trust are likely to be replacing bureaucratic rules in defining expectations and relationships. Leaders who are not trusted are not likely to be effective.Yukl clearly explains, in chapter 9, why attributions of charisma are jointly dictated by the leader, the followers, and the situation (pp. 240-267). Charismatic leaders arouse enthusiasm and inscription in followers by advocating a vision and increasing the followers confidence about achieving the visio n. Attribution of charisma to the leader is more likely if the vision and schema for attaining it are innovative, the leader takes personal perils to promote it, and the strategy appears to be succeeding. Self-confidence, strong convictions, speaking ability, and other leader traits or skills affix the likelihood of charisma. Ethical charismatic leaders use power to function others, align vision with followers needs and aspirations, consider and learn from others, as well as stimulate followers to think independently and to unbelief the leaders views. They prefer open, two-way communication, share recognition with others by coaching, developing, and financial backing followers. They rely on internal moral standards to satisfy organizational and companionable interests (Howell and Avolio, 1992, p. 45). Robins and Judge (2008) defines charismatic leadership theory as a theory which states that followers even up attributions of heroic or extraordinary leadership abilities whe n they rule certain behaviors (p. 413). Charismatic leadership may affect some followers more than others. People are more receptive to charismatic leadership especially at times of crisis, stress, and negative outcomes. Charismatic leaders have estimatelized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration (Luthans, p. 435). However, as a group they are considered a subsection of transformational leadership.Transformational leaders make followers more informed of the importance and value of the work and induce followers to transcend self-interest for the sake of the organization. They empower organizations by developing follower skills and confidence to prepare followers for greater responsibilities. Under difficult conditions, brisk transformational leaders help followers to see threats as opportunities for advancement and function for success (Luthans, Youssef, and Avolio, 2007, p. 126-127). They support and encourage followers to maintain enthusiasm and effort in the face of obstacles and difficulties. As a result of such(prenominal) influence, followers motivation and performance increases along with improved trust and respect toward the leader. The essential characteristic of transformational leadership is the idealized influence, as opposed to charisma, allowing people to name between the two theories. The major difference is how followers are treated. While transformational leaders seek to empower and elevate the followers to develop followers into leaders, charismatic leaders may seek to keep followers weak, loyal, and strung-out on them. While transformational leaders increase follower motivation and performance to a greater degree, effective leaders typically use a combination of transformational and transactional leadership types (Yukl, pp. 253-254). Leadership effectiveness may not inevitably be enhanced by transactional leadership however, contingent reward behavior is effective for recogniz ing accomplishments, as well as rewarding the efforts and good performance (Bass, 1990, p. 22).Global Mindset Cultural DiversityIn todays rapidly ever-changing world(a) economy, it has become crucial for leaders to possess such watchword that analyzes and employs the greatest possible emerging and challenging opportunities as well as observes and interprets the dynamic and culturally different human beings in which they lead valet the most valuable assets of any given organization. The success of the strategies multicultural organizations chase after is queen-sizedly impacted by the leaders perceptions and readings of the orbicular socioeconomic environment. With substitution focus in the field of cognitive psychological science and organizational theory, global brainpower has much to do with human beings and their sense in the world in which they encounter daily interaction with one another. We live in a world where do exit dynamic, evasive, and composite plant infor mation that pee our attention and ducking. Using cognitive filters, we are selective in our absorption and biased in our interpretation. There exists the likelihood that our mental capacity and new information may, however, be engaged in an inconsistent correlation, under which circumstance the information becomes caseful to rejection or the mindset becomes subject to change. The mindset of other members in an organization has an influence on and does indeed shape the mindset of the collectivity of individuals at bottom the organization. The level of power, the stipulation of people with whom being interacted, the purpose of interaction, etc, does play a crucial role in the shaping of ones mindset. New experiences, a change in the relative power of different individuals, and a change in the process of organizational and social interaction inside members do result in a change of the organizational mindset.harmonize to Gupta and Govindarajan (2002), the cognitive psychology has shown that mindset exists through experience structure chiefly composed of specialty and integration attributes. The latter first of two refers to the narrowness of knowledge the individual sires to a context, whereas the latter one refers to the level of integration of disparate knowledge elements in the knowledge structures. When eminence is low, integration is not an issue however, when it is high, integration becomes a critical attribute. Many of us are changeable and for each one time frequently swing towards the person we last met. This scenario where high differentiation is accompanied with low integration is known to be High D-Low I. Conversely, those who pleasant diverse options and demonstrate integrative perspective are known as High D-High I which itself is the definition of global mindset. Gupta and Govindarajan define global mindset more precisely as one that accepts openness to and awareness of motley crossways nicetys and securities industrys with a prope nsity and ability to synthesize across this conversionThe value of global mindset is best illustrated by the companys ability to combine speed with accurate response. The companys ability to grasp the needs in the local anesthetic market and its ability to build cognitive bridges across the needs and between its own global experience and capabilities are manifested in such comparative advantages which identify the emerging opportunities, analyze the trade-off between the local adaptation and global standardization, smoothen the complimentary activity coordination across the borders, pass around out the concept of new products and technologies, share best practices effectively and expeditiously across subsidiaries. The value of global mindset becomes quite apparent when analyzing how its social movement or absence might affect a companys strategy in a rapidly growing international market of extremely complex economy where normal policy is unpredictable and preference is given to local companies as opposed to foreign. Modifying and reformulating strategies in order to achieve goals in the foreign market may still not be enough for success if there is a lack of understanding of changes in the foreign market and demand and lack of integrative global perspective towards the ongoing events in the foreign market. Awareness of changes in foreign market environments can therefore become a major source for valuing and upholding the global mindset and identifying and contending its ever-existing challenges.Achieving global mindset occurs through cultivation, as prescribed by cognitive psychology and organization theory, and it is driven by curiosity and commitment to gaining knowledge about the world and its way of operation, by exposure to diversity, by unequivocal conceptualisation of current mindsets, as well as by development of interconnected perspective on diversity of standards in cultures and markets. Cultivating curiosity about the world is a reflecti on of attitudes, an element of individual personality makeup. Although the companies are fitting of manipulating with adroitness to further produce curiosity among employees, their greatest freedom still lies on employee selection and in managing the demographic makeup of the companies. Companies cultivate knowledge regarding diverse cultures and markets through facilitating such knowledge at individual levels and through diversifying the company custody itself which build cognitive diversity inside the mindset of individuals as well as bring together a diverse knowledge base across the organization members. Formulating current mindset is severely influenced by the process of interaction between people and the environment which shapes the interpretation of the surrounding world, hence affecting how the mindset changes or remains unchanged. self-esteem becomes a necessary and inseparable component when cultivating the current mindset which work best through asking managers to art iculate own beliefs about the subject domain, as well as through drawing comparative digest of how different managers would interpret the same reality. Getting formal education that builds on the awareness of diverse cultures and markets and participating in events and projects in foreign markets, and emerging oneself into more extensive cultural learning programs and trainings are all compelling ways of constructing a global mindset.Diversity is about differences, and humans do not easily negotiate differences. The human brains response to differences is typically arousal, alarm, and sometimes attacks, until such time as the differences are processed by exposure, reason, or mastery (Marsella, 2009, p. 121). The interactions between social diversity markers (i.e. ethnicity, race, age, sex, gender, social class, religion, sexual predilection, somatogenic or mental challenges, physique, etc) as well as between interpersonal and individual differences result in different conditions of acceptability. Differences become the source of problems in cultures and organization however, diversity encounters occur under problematic perceptions. Leaders across the globe face the ever-increasing cultural challenges during their day-to-day interaction with humans within and outside the organization. In this global era, cultural diversity intelligence, competence, understanding, appreciation and embracement are required of effective global leaders. Negotiate Diversity Immergance of Conflict (this is on a chart in the article)Successful leadership of todays increasingly diverse workplace is among the most important global challenges. The problem of managing todays culturally diverse custody is the unfortunate inability of the leaders and managers to fully comprehend the organizational, cultural, and global dynamics. The global economy has moved diversity to the top of any leaders agenda. There is a reason to believe that cultural issues in leadership should be studied to r eveal both differences between cultures and specific within-country practices that would help behave leaders succeed. Organizational communication will differ across cultures. Todays global leaders need to recognize such differences. Most of the research on leadership theories has been acquireed in English-speaking countries, limiting our knowledge about how culture might influence their validity, particularly in Eastern cultures. During the last decade, interest in cross-cultural leadership has increased dramatically for apparent reasons. change magnitude globalization of organizations has made it more critical to learn about effective leadership in different cultures. Influencing and motivating culturally diverse workforce has become an increasing challenge for global leaders or leaders of cultural diversity on local levels. Successful influence requires a broad understanding of cultural differences and motivational factors in each culture.The Global Leadership and Organization al Behavior Effectiveness ( human race) research program has carried on a cross-cultural investigation of leadership and national culture, using information from 825 organizations in 62 countries to identify nine dimensions on which national cultures differ power distance individualism versus collectivism masculinity versus femininity hesitancy avoidance long-term versus short-term orientation and humane versus performance orientation (Robbins and Judge, 2008, p. 125). The GLOBE framework is primarily based on Geert Hofstedes Framework for Assessing Cultures one of the most referenced approaches for analyzing cultural variances since 1970s (p. 124). According to Yukl (2002), the results of the GLOBE research indicate that certain traits, skills, and behaviors are rated highly relevant for effective leaderships in all culture, for example, integrity (honest, trustworthy, just), visionary (has foresight, plans ahead), inspirational (positive, dynamic, encourages, motivates, builds confidence), decisive, diplomatic, achievement-oriented, and team-integrator, whereas some attributes varied wide in relevance across cultures, such as ambitious, cautious, compassionate, domineering, indirect, risk taker, self-sacrificing, sensitive, status conscious, etc. (p. 418). Examining the relationship among societal cultures, situational variables (such as strategy, culture, unbelief, etc), leadership process, and organizational effectiveness, the GLOBE project has provided significant research results for leadership of cultural diversity in the rapid pace of globalization and economic development.To have a broader understanding of how leadership of cultural diversity and organizational communication with global mindset are applied in real world practices, I have decided to interview three individuals, who hold positions in globe, non-profit, and private spheres, as well as to analyze and relate my findings to some leadership and diversity management research.My first int erviewee, Miss. Hanying Li from capital of Singapore, had started working in private sector but transitioned to the non-profit sector for most of her career life. She currently serves as major(postnominal) program officer for Mangroves for the Future, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (AUCN) Asia regional Office in Bangkok, Thailand. Mangroves for the Future (MFF) is a regional multi-partner initiative on coastal eco formation rehabilitation and management. Her main responsibilities include program coordination with all stakeholders, including half-dozen partner agencies, two donors, eight focal countries, etc., as well as project management (84 small projects and 9 large projects in vi countries), and day-to-day running of the regional Secretariat. She has unshakeable knowledge of diversity and enormous list of professional experiences cross-culturally. She was a valuable asset for my research, as I was hard to particularly learn about cross-cultural leadershi p in Asiatic cultures. With her strong background and knowledge of Singaporean culture and workforce, she was able to address the core culture values and beliefs of Singaporeans which facilitated my exploratory study of Hofstedes and Trampenaars cross-cultural dimensions and leadership.Singapore is a major success story. Its solid foundation leaves only the doubt of how to continue expanding in the face of increasing international competition. To date, however, Singapore has emerged as an urban planners ideal model and the leader and financial center of sou-east Asia. Li believes that leading an organization, motivating the workforce, and assuring organizational success in Singapore require a careful study of cultural values, traditions, and norms, as well as diversity training. In her opinion, not many people from western leading nations have been successful in Asiatic markets, primarily because of the inability to understand and accept the cultural differences and lead accordin g to those differences.According to Li, Singaporeans treat special groups of people with special respect and courtesy. Honored guests, elders, parents, teachers, bosses and leaders must be treated differently. They strongly value and adhere to a hierarchical relationship in society, as a result of Confucian teaching thinking. They see the society as composed of people who are inherently nonequivalent in rank and standing, and differences in rank are signaled and reinforced by the style of the interaction between the parties involved. Deference, respect and formalities towards superiors are the norm. In addition, juniors are supposed to keep their opinions to themselves unless specifically and forthwith asked. Hence, subordinates in Singapore are unlikely to question strength and are less likely to initiate upward communication unless requested to do so because its culture values the importance of status differences and hierarchies. The complex authority and status relationships characterize Singaporeans as a hierarchical culture which parallels with the idea of power distance in Hofstedes study. Luthans (2008) notes that power distance is the degree to which members of a collective expect power to be distributed equally (pg. 432). Singapore has a high rating on power distance which means that large inequalities of power and wealth exist and are tolerated in the culture. Li suggests that a societys level of inequality is endorsed by the followers as much as by the leaders furthermore, power and inequality, of course, are extremely fundamental facts of any society and anybody with some international experience will be aware that all societies are unequal, but some are more unequal than others.In Singapore, people feel less threatened by ambiguous situations, motions are shown less in public, younger people are trustworthy, and people are willing to take risks in life. The authorities are there to serve the citizens. Conflicts and competition can be containe d on the level of fairish play and are used constructively. Singapore has comparatively low uncertainty avoidance it has organization settings with less structuring of activities, fewer written rules, less risk taking by managers, higher labor turnover, and more ambitious employees. The Organization encourages personnel to use their own initiative and assume responsibility for their actions. incredulity avoidance is the completion to which people feel threatened by ambiguous situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these. Luthans (2008) defines uncertainty avoidance as the extent a society, organization, or groups rely on norms, rules, and procedures to alleviate the unpredictability of upcoming events (p. 432).Li mentions that leaders from individualistic cultures might have hard time motivating Singaporean employees if there is no appreciation and respect for employees family members. Tasks are not usually distributed to individuals, but rather to a group. Traditional Asian value of family ties remains paramount to the average Singaporean. Hence, it is not surprising that it is the group rather than the individual that is emphasized in Singaporean society. In Singapore, children are raised to stay within the family. From early infancy on, children are knowledgeable to be a part of the group and to stay within the group. They are socialized to be dependent on the group, to make decisions that benefit the group, and to make choices for, and in support of, the group. Children are taught to assist and uphold the honor of the group, whether that group is the family, the school, the neighborhood, or the nation. The person who places individual needs ahead of the group needs is considered to be amoral, almost a misfit, or even a social deviant. To sum up, familys moral influences and kinship partners lead Singaporeans to be collectivistic, rather than individualistic. stem collectivism is the degree to which individuals express p ride, loyalty, or cohesiveness in their organizations or families (Luthans, 2008, p. 432). In contrast, individualism is t he tendency of people to look after themselves and their immediate family.Lastly, towards the end of the interview, Li mentioned about the importance of cross-cultural human-relation intelligence for effective leadership. Some cultures like Singapore are emotionally neutral not showing their feelings in public or organizations, acting stoically, and maintaining their composure which does not necessarily mean disinterest. This notion of emotional intelligence has become increasingly important for culturally diverse leadership environments. Luthans, Youssef, and Avolio (2007) delineate emotional intelligence (EI) as the ability to accurately perceive, express, understand, use, and manage emotions in oneself and others in order to facilitate cognitive, emotional, and social growth and development (p. 183).My atomic number 42 interviewee, Mr. Hovep Seferian, is the Vice Consul, Press and Trade Attach of the Brazilian Embassy in the country of Armenia. Throughout his life and career, he has lived and experienced major cultural differences and challenges in Syria, Lebanon, India, Egypt, France, Brazil, and Armenia. His multicultural experiences have immensely influenced his perspective on cultural differences. As an immigrant especially in India and Lebanon, he underwent major obstacles, hoping to integrate in the system without being discriminated. Life experiences have not only made him a transformational leader, but also a selfless public servant and administrator.Seferian emphasizes the importance of good and moral responsibilities public leaders should have when tensions and diversity challenges occur. They are to be perceived honorable in their field before they are trusted with public affairs and business. Once honor is gained by the followers, they are to follow personal morality, as well as professional, organizational, and social ethics. An honorable public leader would not use the position for personal or private gains in a democratic mechanism. Nations are democratic when public officials follow the rule of law to truthfully serve the citizens without selfish ambitions. individualized motivations, value-free neutrality, legitimacy, and social equity may heavily influence on public leaders role in the society and their commitment to ethical conduct in decision making and democratic service. Personal morality is closely related to personal motivations, since personal concerns, such as career advancement, financial security, or private gains, play a significant role in the professional workplace. The public service environment is quite complex, making it difficult to generalize about the nature of public service and identify the way public leaders can best serve the public. The organizational and social ethics hold the public leaders responsible for protecting individuals in the society and furthering the p rocess of the group as a whole. Standards of conduct, formal guidelines for ethical behavior, and other norms have been created to hold public leaders accountable for their actions. morals and morality in government sector should be addressed more now than ever before with the emerging diversity challenges the system encounters, Seferian believes. condescension the cultural and diversity challenges, public/government officials have an obligation to be fair and just for all citizens. As representatives of the citizenry, they have the responsibility to bring social justice, equity, and economic efficiency. However, Safarian mentions that in certain countries, like those of the former Soviet Union, it has become increasingly difficult for public administrators to intervene in governmental decision-making and public policy to address diversity and equality issues. Although attempts towards democratization have been made, the cultural and polit