Identifying Sustaining and Disruptive Innovations

1. BIOTumen is a new type of roof covering which has been developed as a sustaining innovation to normal roofing material, for example, bitumen and mabati. In performance and appearance, BIOTumen resembles the normal bitumen. However, BIOTumen has been made from pyrolysis oil made from clean wood residues, as compared to bitumen which is made from fossil oil (Piselli, Castaldo & Pisello 2018 p. 59). Pyrolysis oil is easily made from sustainable biomass and is a form of renewable fossil oil. Professional 3D printing is another sustaining innovation which has been made accessible to provide accurate and consistent highly-complex 3D prints tailored to an organization. The 3D prints are made from industrial-grade materials to ensure maximum performance with ultimate accessibility. Lastly, Intel has been developing chips which have faster speeds than their predecessors hence creating a sustaining innovation which perpetuates the current levels of chip performance (Koen, Bertels & Elsum 2011 p. 56).

2. The Chinese electric vehicle market well-elaborates an example of a disruptive innovation and how it influenced the former industry (Bergek, Berggren, Magnusson & Hobday 2013 p. 1213). The electric vehicle differed from traditional cars which use fuel and has a simple structure, simple maintenance and production, less workload of design, and less moving and driving parts. The disruptive innovation brings a chance for the encroachment of the realm of old technology. The increasing emission of pollutants and the rise in the price of oil results in more attention being paid to more fuel-efficient users. A second example is the steel minimills who initially produced steel of low quality but improved their technology over time to produce more competitive sheet steel and rebar. According to Sultan (2013 p. 163), the disruption of the mainframe computers by the Personal Computers was beneficial and convenient for businesspersons, organizations, and students. The PCs are more efficient, convenient, and are portable thus can be used at any location of preference.

3. Cultural relative defines a principle by which human being is perceived in accordance to their own cultures (Snopkowski and Kaplan 2014 p.322). All HRM practices are cultural relative as they are implemented in an organizational context with similar results and different cultures. For example, in Africa, there had been many controversial debates on whether there is crossvergence, divergence, and convergence of people management practices.

Predominant leadership style is a cultural relative as in diverse organization leaders employ different styles, which are based on their backgrounds and morals. For example, if a leader is born and raised in a community of dictatorship, there is a possibility of leader practicing dictatorship style of management in the organization.

Cultural Relativity of Organizational Behavior

Conflicts management and organizational structure are culturally relative different organization has its own culture of running the organization and solving conflicts that occur in an organization (Joy and Kolb 2009 p.69). For example, the different organization may solve work conflict in different ways others may opt to sack employees on some incidences while other may retain and give time for improvement.

Group behaviors and interpersonal skills are also cultural relatives. People in the organization may develop different attitudes depending on their ethnic and domestic cultures. For example, an organization employees from the same race may develop a certain behavior in the way they handle tasks. Furthermore, employees in employees may develop patterns in accordance with interpersonal skills.

Motivation and training are culturally relatives. Many employees feel motivated in the organization when they see their values especially in an organization with employees of diverse ethnicity and races.

4. The companies create a mission-driven organization and conducive environment that fits all employees from diverse cultures, beliefs and ethnic. Furthermore, the companies inspire people with clear purposes with missions and values well made to all managers and employees. Therefore, employees view their daily duties as pushing business to attain its financial goals. According to Seo, Bartunek, and Barrett (2010 p. 951) when employees are bounded by the higher common purpose they feel motivated as they are working to hit their daily targets. The companies also have clear goals that measure the organizational progress. Sandhya and Kumar (2011 p.1778) stated that “motivation and morale in the workplace result from the company having worthwhile and meaningful goals. These companies successfully communicate objectives and goals the entire workforce and empower employees to work toward them. Therefore, plan, visibility and vision cleat at both individual and corporate level is a key motivator.

Companies also motivate employees by providing various benefits packages like medical insurance, house allowances, and sick leaves and compensation benefits like bonuses, increase salaries, overtimes, and incentives. Some of the companies also offer recognition programs like rewarding hardworking employees and promoting the most qualified employees in terms of skills and experience. For example, some companies offer “employees of year” awards.

Companies also motivate employees by listening to employee ideas, comments, and ideas. According to Han, Chiang and Chang ( 2010 p. 2218)  communication is a dedicated key that makes employees feel they are part of the company and included in the decision-making process. All employees in the companies encouraged employees to speak their minds in a beneficial manner. The comments of employees are taken seriously whether in casual conversation or meetings. For employees who are, shy companies create internet forums and suggestion boxes so employees can submit suggestion anonymously. Therefore, employees feel motivated when they see valued, appreciated and needed in the organization.

Motivating Factors of UK’s Best Places to Work

5.i. In the trait theory of leadership, a leader is believed to have specific characteristics that make them an effective leader (Dinh et al. 2014 p.36). The theory focuses on personal characteristics and personal qualities with a strong base on the big 5-personality model. Through keen observation of traits, it is easier to predict the future appearance and emergency of leader although effective and ineffective leader cannot be determined. According to Germain (2012 p.32) “if a person exhibits leadership traits and other people in the workforce or community considers him a leader does not a leader has an ability to work with groups and achieving the group goals. On the other hand, the behavioral theory of leadership is believed that an effective leader behaves in one of several ways. Furthermore, the theory emphasis that particular behavior separate nonreaders from leaders and therefore if people are well trained they can become a leader. Additionally, there is two dimensions of leadership behavior including consideration and initiation of structures. Consideration is defined when a successful leader good job relationship which are characterized by respect, trust and understanding of subordinated feelings and ideas. Initial structuring is extended at which a successful leader structures the subordinate duties and his or her own. Therefore, the theories are valid.

ii. Organization select leaders basing selection criteria of previous performances and good traits that can influence others and improve their performance. For example, if a leader had been working with an organization that has good performances they are a possibility of a leader being selected in an organization. Furthermore, brainstorming and seminars help an organization to develop an effective leader

6. Past experience was one of our differences in perception. The expectation of what we were expected to see was a reason why a friend hated the film while I find it interesting as this was my first time. Pellicano and Burr (2012 p.504) once stated that “individual past experiences may mound the way she or perceived the current situations. Therefore, it is clear that my friend was annoyed by the first film and end up distrusting all films of that kind.

Interest was also the perception difference between us. The film focused on a fashion show. My friend disliked anything to do with fashion by keep on talking about football. The moment the video is being displayed he losses interest simply because he is his not a fun of fashions. Researchers have shown that what a person can notice in a particular situation can differ from the perception of others.

Difference Between Trait and Behavior Theories of Leadership

Background, cultures, values, and beliefs also perceived our differences. My friend’s background is not in fashion so much as both traditional and religious background hold them from full adoption of western style. Furthermore, in our discussion, he stated that “It is better for one to walk naked than dress in those pieces of clothes people are calling fashion and if this kind of dressing was practiced in my village belief me the could be stripped.” Therefore, it is clear my friend developed a negative attitude concerning a film because the background and cultures are very keen on dressing and therefore he ends up hating film that addresses.

References

Bergek, A., Berggren, C., Magnusson, T. and Hobday, M., 2013. Technological discontinuities and the challenge for incumbent firms: Destruction, disruption or creative accumulation?. Research Policy. 6^th ed. United States: Elsevier, pp.1210-1224.

Dinh, J.E., Lord, R.G., Gardner, W.L., Meuser, J.D., Liden, R.C. and Hu, J., 2014. Leadership theory and research in the new millennium: Current theoretical trends and changing perspectives. The Leadership Quarterly.1^st ed. U.S.A: Elsevier pp.36-62.

Germain, M.L., 2012. Traits and skills theories as the nexus between leadership and expertise: Reality or fallacy?. Performance Improvement .5^th ed. pp.32-39.

Han, T.S., Chiang, H.H. and Chang, A., 2010. Employee participation in decision-making, psychological ownership, and knowledge sharing: mediating role of organizational commitment in Taiwanese high-tech organizations. The International Journal of Human Resource Management.12^th ed. U.S. A: Taylor and Francis pp.2218-2233.

Joy, S. and Kolb, D.A., 2009. Are there cultural differences in learning style?. International Journal of intercultural relations. 1^st ed. U.S.A :Elsevier pp.69-85.

Koen, P.A., Bertels, H.M. and Elsum, I.R., 2011. The three faces of business model innovation: Challenges for established firms. Research-Technology Management. 3^rd ed. USA: Taylor&Francis, pp.52-59.

Pellicano, E. and Burr, D., 2012. When the world becomes ‘too real’: a Bayesian explanation of autistic perception. Trends in cognitive sciences .10^th ed. U.S.A Elsevier pp.504-510.

Piselli, C., Castaldo, V.L. and Pisello, A.L., 2018. How to enhance thermal energy storage effect of PCM in roofs with varying solar reflectance: Experimental and numerical assessment of a new roof system for passive cooling in different climate conditions. Solar Energy. United States: Elsevier, pp.160-165.

Sandhya, K. and Kumar, D.P., 2011. Employee retention by motivation. Indian Journal of science and technology.12^th ed. U.S. A: Elsevier pp.1778-1782.

Seo, M.G., Bartunek, J.M. and Barrett, L.F., 2010. The role of affective experience in work motivation: Test of a conceptual model. Journal of Organizational Behavior.7^th ed. U.S. A: Wiley Online Library pp.951-968.

Snopkowski, K. and Kaplan, H., 2014. A synthetic biosocial model of fertility transition: testing the relative contribution of embodied capital theory, changing cultural norms, and women’s labor force participation. American journal of physical anthropology .3^rd ed. U.S.A: Wiley Online Library pp.322-333.

Sultan, N., 2013. Knowledge management in the age of cloud computing and Web 2.0: Experiencing the power of disruptive innovations. International journal of information management. 1^st ed. United Kingdom: emeraldinsight publishers,