Leadership Communication Abilities Leads to Trust and Performance

Communication between employee and employers can have a compelling impact on the nature of business and the overall success of employee trust. Through these positive relationships between managers and employees higher levels of shared interest and commitment to organizational principles can be formed. The development of such benefits rests in how managers communicate their expectations and the openness of the employee to hearing those messages.

Managerial communication can take the form of downward, horizontal, or upward momentum through both formal and informal communication methods (Bell and Martin, 2008). The openness to share ideas, needs, and values allows for a stronger depth of mutual experiences. It is through these relationships and shared experiences that organizations can develop higher levels of positive affectivity toward the business imperatives.

Such concepts are set in the underlining premises of the employee and management group understandings.  Communication is the lifeblood of employee and organizational performance. According to Katz and Kahn (1966) it is communication that is fundamental to the forming of any group, organization, or society. A group is based upon the trust of shared understandings that define collective action and its benefits to the organization.

Before effective communication can be developed it should be understood that the authority to communicate does not necessarily rely in the person doing the talking. According to Barnard (1968) the authority of the communication doesn’t lay in with the person of authority but with the person who is being addressed.  People make the fundamental choice to give or take the authority away from their manager (Drucker, 1974). Testy labor issues are often a result of internal noise that blocks alternative and positive messages of managers.

It is the personal management style of the person in authority that can help limit the distracting aspects of this internal noise and variance of perspective. The success or failure of transferring attitudes and values is a byproduct of the leadership style that seeks the ability to foster the change (Appelbaum, Berke, Taylor & Vazquez, 2008). Such leaders are seen as positive, humanistic, empathetic, and have a wider range of concern beyond oneself. It is through this genuine positive approach that employee begin to see the managers issues, concerns, and messages as worth listening to, interpreting, and implementing.

The advantages of creating trust through positive communication approaches cannot be underestimated. The loyalty that can be fostered through open communication has been known to increase productivity across an organization by 11% (Mayfield, 2002). This financial incentive should prompt organizational leaders to consider the positive benefits of training their management team in developing positive relationships that further strengthen underlining premises of positive group behavior that leads to higher overall performance.

Appelbaum, S., Berke, J., Taylor, J., & Vazquez, A. (2008). The role of leadership during large scale organizational transitions: Lessons from six empirical studies. Journal of American Academy of Business, 13(1), 16-24.

Barnard, C. (1968). The functions of the executive. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

Bell, R. & Martin, J. (2008). The promise of managerial communication as a field of research. International Journal of Business and Public Administration, 5(2), 125-142.

Drucker, P. (1974). Management: Tasks, responsibilities and practices. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers.

Katz, D. & Kahn, R. (1966). The social psychology of organizations. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Mayfield, J., & Mayfield, M. (2002). Leader Communication Strategies Critical Paths to Improving Employee Commitment. American Business Review, 20(2), 89-93.

Wine Review: Merlot by Berenda Road

Seeking out the perfect but affordable wine is never an easy task.  The trail in the woods is never easy to find and seems to be covered in the leaves of many alternatives. Occasionally kicking up these leaves an opportunity to find one or two, which are worth trying, come around. Some are generic and offered in every cheap liquor store while others may be more specialized and home grown.  However, finding an affordable Merlot that does not make your mouth pucker is worth it-especially if it is under $12 a bottle.

In my life I have tried both expensive and cheap wine and have been pleasantly surprised by both. However, as the economy drags in its passive growth many might appreciated some advice on some everyday table wine. Berenda Road Merlot 13.8% Alc. has a fruity and wet taste with enough spice to make it interesting. It may take you a while to feel light headed but it still offers a reasonable taste for an over-the-counter price.

The Berenda Road wine was processed using grapes from Temecula Valley and was aged 14 months in small oak barrels before being bottled. The use of oak barrels is said to improve the sweetness of the wine through the unique oxidization process. Commercial wine will often be stored in such barrels from a year to two years to create a more vanilla flavor. American oak work best with red wines. 

Merlot is a medium dark wine made with dark berries. It is believed to come from an old French word meaning black bird. Such wines come from grapes that have high sugar content and low levels of acid. California wine has come of professional age since the 1980's and ranges from the more generic types to deep barrel curing. The depth and quality of the wine ranges with a general focus of price. Merlot by Berenda Road is no different.

Berenda Road Merlot comes is bottled at South Coast Winery in Temecula, California. The South Coast Winery and Spa creates an inviting atmosphere for visitors with a hotel, wine club, spa, and other amenities. The nightly price is around $180+ per night and is ranked four out of five stars by many visitors. You may find more information at http://southcoastwinery.com/

This wine appeared to be worth the price. It has a medium heaviness, a grape and spice body, and a little sweetness. There is just a touch of graininess. In general such a wine might work well on the dinner table or for a reasonable choice during the weekdays. It certainly isn't going to impress anyone unless you don't tell them about the price. It is an everyday wine with no thrills. 

Book Review: Goal Setting: A Motivational Technique that Works!

Goal Setting: A Motivational Technique that Works! by Edwin Locke and Gary Latham discusses in great detail the nature of employee goal setting and how this can improve performance within organizations. The book elaborates on how to set goals in a manner as to produce motivation, implement goals within organizations, and how to design goals that further corporate strategies.

It discusses how goal setting has become supported by science as a plausible method of developing higher forms of activity within organizations. Such concepts as laboratory testing as well as real world validity have been assessed to lend credibility to the overall work. Through these studies the advantages of goal setting include productivity, performance, clear expectations, thwarting of boredom, task satisfaction, performance satisfaction, recognition options, competition, and self-confidence.

There is also some practical advice on how to set goals. The book suggests:

1.) Specify the general objective or tasks to be completed.
2.) Specify how the performance in question will be measured.
3.) Specify the standard or target to be achieved.
4.) Specify the time span.
5.) Rate goals as to difficulty and importance.

The work offers root explanations on how to successfully set goals and encourage both productivity and motivation in the workplace. It is a must read for any person who desires to work in business. Through understanding such basic concepts one can understand a greater method organizational improvement. The work is written at a college degree level and is fairly easy to read and understand. It is an important book to put in your library. Lots of references for expanded reading are included.

Locke, E. & Latham, G. (1984). Goal Setting: A Motivational Technique that Works! Prentice Hall: New Jersey. ISBN 0-13-357467-9

Pages: 171
Blog Ranking: 4.8/5 (no age penalty as it is a root theory book).
Cost: $104 New $20 Used

Transformational Leadership Encourages Innovative Workplaces

Leadership requires the ability to not only develop new organizational functions to meet market needs but also develop employee empowerment to create higher levels of synergistic energy. When leadership creates innovation, an organization continues to develop, invent, produce, and overcome market challenges. Transformational leadership are seen as influential, inspirational, motivational and humanistic (Avolio & Bass, 2002) and have the highest chance of create great levels of change. The article below will highlight the nature of transformational leadership and its impact on innovation within the modern workplace.

It is beneficial to understand what innovation looks like within the workplace. Innovative work consists of 1.) Recognition of the problem, 2.) idea generation, 3.) promotion, and 4.) realization (Janseen, 2000). Solving problems in the organization creates higher levels of performance. The larger the problem the more difficult it is people to become “tuned in” to the issues. Thus, the components are often recognized in idea generation, the concept is then promoted through concerted effort and finally a realization of the solution is found once all the components have been understood and connected.

In terms of leadership, such activities and behaviors are promoted within the workplace. This includes the ability to think freely about concepts, experiment and fail. Yet before employees will be able to use their intellectual capacities, they should be prepared through higher skill development (Janssen, 2000). When skills meet tacit and implicit management approval, the atmosphere can become more conducive to change. Such change has the ability to create internal corporate entrepreneurship that seeks to promote the self through organizational achievement (Sharma & Chrisman, 1999). 

The transformational leadership style appears to be one of the most advantageous management styles to encourage innovative work behavior among subordinates (Janssen, 2002). As a runner up to the transformation style in developing an innovative workplace is the transactional leadership style. Such leaders focus on setting objectives, monitoring and controlling outcomes (Avolio & Bass, 2002). Each style promotes a level of accountability of results but does not overly control the work process.

The best leaders are like farmers who sprinkle their workers with inspiration and motivation through self-development. They assist their subordinates through their performance, abilities, and individual qualities by using motivational inspiration that seeks improvement (Bass & Avio, 1990).  When leaders take the preferred transformational leadership style, they have been found through research to increase work unit effectiveness by using innovation development (Judge and Piccolo, 2004). This encouraging style furthers the development of higher levels of personal achievement. 

Modern companies are not the only place that transformational leadership and innovation are helpful. Governmental agencies, colleges, and schools are also in need of change and hedging of human capital. Such transformational leadership have been found to improve innovative work behavior in school, colleges and universities (Abbas, 2010). At a time when universities have become expensive and under the spotlight it is the transformational style and the employees’ abilities that make a difference in their continued viability. 

To highlight the point of transformational leaderships strength over other leadership styles a study conducted of 100 bank managers in Pakistan found how effective the leadership styles of transformational, transactional, and Laissez fair styles were in developing workplace innovation. The study used the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire at both public and private financial institutions. It was found that transformational leadership was the strongest in fostering innovation while transactional leadership ran a distant second place (Khan, Aslam,& Rias, 2012. The laissez faire style was not correlated strongly with innovation. Thus, transformational leadership was better suited to fostering new ideas and problem solving on an organizational (Bass & Avolio, 2000). 

There are many components that work to create the most effective and innovative workplaces. However, leadership sets the tone of the workforce by encouraging the development of human capacities. Other leadership styles have some limitations through their behavioral modeling and control mechanisms that limit the potential of employees. Innovation requires a level of free thinking, environmental scanning, and experimentation that is difficult to achieve if strict procedures or control based mechanisms are used heavily. 

Abbas, G. (2010). Relationship between transformational leadership and innovative work behavior in educational institutions (Unpublished MS Thesis). Department of Psychology, International Islamic University, Islamabad.

Avolio, B., & Bass, B.(2002). Developing potential across a full range of leadership: Cases on transactional and transformational leadership. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Bass, B., & Avolio, B. (1990). Multifactor leadership development: Manual for the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologist Press.

Janssen, O. (2002). Transformationeel leiderschap en innovatief werkgedrag van medewerkers: een kwestie van benaderbaarheid van de leider. Gedrag and Organisatie, 15, 275-293.

Judge, T., & Piccolo, R. (2004). Transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analytic test of their relative validity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 755-768.

Khan, M., Aslam, N. & Rias, M. (2012). Leadership Styles as Predictors of Innovative Work Behavior. Pakistan Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 9 (2). 

Sharma, P., & Chrisman, J. (1999). Toward a reconciliation of the definitional issues in the field of corporate entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 23(3), 11-27.

The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeers (1665)

Girl with a Pearl Earring-1653

The Girl with a Pearl Earring is a beautiful Dutch painting by Johannes Vermeers that tells a tale of every girls dream-earings! The painting was originally entitled Girl with a Turban (1665) but was renamed in the second part of the Twentieth Century. It is believed that the painting was of Maria a 13-year old daughter of Vermeer. Others have argued that is was a 16 year old maid Vermeer took a liking to. Some have referred to the picture as the Mona Lisa of the North that represents purity.

Vermeer is somewhat of a mystery to the world as no pictures or detailed records can be found. We do know that he was born as a son to an inn keeper and had his earliest experiences serving spirits. He lived most of his life in the Delft which has a population of about 25,000 people. In 1653 he married the wealthy Catharina Bolnes and converted to Catholicism. As the town was predominately Protestant they attended two hidden churches near their home. Due to war between France and the Netherlands it is believed he died at 43 due to stress and piling debt which he could not overcome due to dropping business opportunities.

Like the girl in the picture the pearl has been associated with something rate, precious and beautiful. The real pearls at the time of the painting came from the shelled molluscs and not the modern pearl farms that exist today. The gem is made of calcium carbonate and conchiolin and was considered so rare that hundreds of thousands of molluscs were killed before even one was found. Its scarcity made it more valuable.

Around 2,300 BC there have been accounts of pearls as gifts in ancient Chinese text and society. The pearls were so popular and associated with one's status that wearing them as an undeserving person in the ancient Roman world would get one into trouble. To the Greeks pears were perfect for weddings and thought to bring love. Pearls in the Arabic culture were associated with paradise and achievement of bliss.

There is little doubt that the girl in the picture is young. She is about the age where marriage is likely to take place. Her fascination with the pearl appears to coincide with a feeling of her being special. The charms still attracts ladies of all ages today. She is seen as flirting with the picture with her gaze long and drawn out. It is a picture where the charms of youthful innocence are about to be given into the adult path. One must wonder if she or the pearl itself is priceless?

Social Capital Theory and Four Factors of Organizational Improvement

Interesting research entitled Social Capital in Human Service/Child Welfare Organizations: Implications for Work Motivation, Job Satisfaction, Innovation, and Quality by Salvador Montana helps shed light on how Social Capital Theory explains organizational performance through the factors of innovation, satisfaction, motivation and quality. Such research is limited in its causality and accurate terms of measurement but does create higher levels of understanding that focuses on how group values can generate higher levels of performance.

Four thousand and six participant surveys were retrieved from human service industry workers in Texas. The age of participants varied and the education level of the workers ranged from high school to graduate degrees. The work environment was considered bureaucratic with clear lines of authority and top-to-bottom type management. The environment didn't appear to offer clear opportunities for employee based environmental improvement.

"The purpose of this study is to explore ways public human service organization can improve the provision of services they provide to the public (Montana, 2006, pg. 7)." The study creates a backdrop explanation of how even in large governmental organizations there is the possibility of improving the services offered through proper socialization efforts. Furthermore, it lends credibility to the factors of innovation, motivation and satisfaction having significant influence on performance improvement as postulated by me-conomics (the socialized self within an economic system).

According to the theoretical model proposed by the researcher there are four dimensions of social capital: 

Social Capital

1.) Structural Dimension: Network Ties, Network Configuration, Appropriable Organization

2.) Rational Dimension: Trust, Norms, Values, Identification

3.) Cognitive Dimension: Shared language, codes and narratives.

4.) Social Knowledge: Exchange and Recombination, Explicit and Implicit Knowledge.

Each of these dimensions is theorized to lead to innovation, satisfaction, motivation, and quality. The eventual result of these four factors would theoretically result in improved organizational performance within the bureaucratic human service industry. The study attempted to see if these four characteristics lent support to the model. The study did not seek to find causality between the characteristics but instead attempted to find significant associations.

The results of the study indicated that there was a strong correlation between normative factors linked to social capital which include information, knowledge, networks, trust, goal setting, group cohesion and coordination toward group goals. These social and normative factors had influence on innovation and satisfaction to a stronger degree and a weaker association with motivation and quality. The weakest association was with quality leaving this as a possible extra variable without strong influence and a minimal connection to the other three.

The researcher concludes that findings of the multiple regression analysis indicated that social capital has the greatest predictive strength on innovation, motivation and satisfaction. In essence when the culture and conditions of the organization are set to the right tone an organization can improve upon these four variables. It is the social group that reinforces these expectations and behaviors and leads to higher levels of performance. It is through this socialized and organizational learning process that companies can improve overall performance even in bureaucratic institutions such as child welfare organizations.

The author contends that even though Social Capital Theory has been around for some time it has limited research because it is strongly conceptual and abstract without strong ability to measure multiple factors for correlation. Minimal research has been associated with larger populations but not strongly focused in the organization. Valid measures have been difficult to find and that such concepts will need to be conducted over a larger spread of time through multiple researchers. The author further indicates that the highly conceptual nature of the variables will need to be better defined before significant measurements can be taken to improve organizational performance through such a lens.

Montana, S. (2006). Social Capital in Human Service/Child Welfare Organizations: Implications forWork Motivation, Job Satisfaction, Innovation, and Quality (Doctoral Dissertation). The University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved January 23, 2013 from ProQuest.

Fostering Cultural Innovation Through Employee Satisfaction

Are satisfied employees more innovative? Research helps to show how fostering the right organization culture leads to both satisfaction and innovation. Such concepts are embedded in social dynamics of a company and create subtle expectations on employees. Those organizations that foster positive interaction and recognition also set the right tone within their populations to overcome market challenges.

Organizational culture can be envisioned as the totality of beliefs, values, knowledge, ideas, and habits that defines the very nature of an organization. Such culture impacts how employees make meaning of their environment and their chosen methods of needs attainment (Olivier, 2008). Through culture an organization can define how it is going to view, understand, approach, and overcome organizational challenges through innovative behavior.

When culture has encouraged beneficial premises that are focused on innovation and problem solving the entire organization can achieve rewards reinforcing additional employee commitment and the financial benefits to the organization. However, before such culture can be appropriately fostered employees should have a minimal level of satisfaction with both the organization and the social structures that exist within the workplace. It is this satisfaction that can lay the framework for expectation and innovation on an organizational socio-cultural scale.

Employee satisfaction can be defined in terms of commitment to the organizations values, the nature of the work, and to other employees. Through this satisfaction and commitment employee will begin to change their perceptions and behaviors to match the needs of their new social group (Adeyinka, Ayeni and Popoola, 2007). Positive social group interactions furthers a sense of unity and similarity in perception and expectations. This can be positive when the workplace fosters constructive ideas or it can be negative when such ideas draw away from self-efficacy.

Employee commitment is further defined through employees complaints, identification with the organization/social group, and overall employee values (Charles, 1986). It is this commitment of values that help employees define their expectations and understanding of the work environment. When commitment to the group entails the ability to produce solutions to problems then innovation becomes a social expectation.

Employee satisfaction also impacts the openness of employees to workplace innovation and its process. Those employees who were satisfied with their jobs also were adaptable, fulfilled and productive which further sets the framework for organizational innovation (Sexena & Vyas, 201). Such employee were open to new concepts as well as the changing roles needed for organizational adjustment. In today's world it is this level of satisfaction and flexibility that creates the commitment to organizational innovative needs and allows companies to adjust to environmental problems.

If one fits within the organization, accepts their social group, and has at least a minimum agreement with the organizational values the employee is likely to be socialized and integrated into the larger cultural network. It is this alignment of values, perceptions and beliefs that create lower organizational costs and can lead to higher levels of motivation and innovation. When signals coming from managers and the organizational structure are  not congruent and confusing the overall socialization process that leads to commitment and satisfaction breaks down.

Positive relationships with management as well as praise and recognition influences both motivation  and satisfaction. A study of 339 employees in ten different wire and cable companies on the Taiwan stock exchange indicated that employees who are innovative, have positive relationships, and receive recognition are more satisfied (Yuan-Duen & Huan-Ming, 2008). The concepts of innovation and satisfaction were based deeply in the environment and its motivational potentials.

The development of higher levels of organizational innovation requires the building of appropriate cultural expectations. Such cultural expectations are based within the social group and the satisfaction the employee feels with his coworkers and managers. By fostering higher levels of positive interaction with organizational members and management, employee satisfaction can raise the level of innovative expectations embedded within the culture. Through solving problems for the self, the social group, and the company an employee can find and make positive meaning out of his/her working life.



Adeyinka, T., Ayeni, C., &  Popoola, O. (2007). Work Motivation, Job Satisfaction, and Organizational Commitment of Library Personnel in Academic and Research Libraries in Oyo State, Nigeria, Library Philosophy and Practice.

Charles-O, R. (1986). Organizational commitment and psychological attachment: The effect of
compliance, identification and internalization on pro-social behavior. Journal of Applied
Psychology , 71 (3), 492-499

Olivier, S. (2008). Culture Theory. Knowledge Solutions, 22.

Saxena, N. & Vyas, J. (2011). Employees' job satisfaction in power back-up industry: an analytical approach. SIES Journal of Management, 7 (2). 

Yuan-Duen, L. & Huan-Ming, C. (2008). Relations between team work and innovation in organizations and job satisfaction of employees: a factor analytic study. International Journal of Management, 25 (4).