How Will Political Instability Impact Yemen's Economy?

Yemen’s investment opportunities were not necessarily strong before the recent ousting of the pro-American president by the Shia faction Houthi. That investment climate is even more uncertain now. As one of the world’s least developed nations the loss of investment could push the country further into poverty which contributes to greater in-fighting and instability making tribal regions open to foreign influence at the expense of a centralized government.

The long-lasting impact of investment opportunities will make themselves more apparent in the future as the nations tribes and factions determine what routes they are going to take in settling disputes. Any long-lasting heated conflict will likely ensure that investors do not put their money into a politically unstable nation heightening local fighting over resources. Land grabs and resource confiscation could lead to civil war.

Yemen has always been seen as a risky place for international businesses investment so recent instability shouldn’t come as a surprise.  According to the State Department there are opportunities for investing in sectors like energy, infrastructure, fishery, and real estate (1). The problem is that the government has been fairly unstable for a long time and officials can be influenced through bribery, clansman, and religious loyalties that raise legal risks.

As additional political instability takes precedence in the country investment opportunities for locals will dry up as businesses keep their distance and take a "wait and see" attitude. A study that reviewed 37 countries from 1979 to 2000 found that economic and social-political instability seriously hampered private investment (Escaleras & Kottaridi, 2014). Such decline in investments naturally threw a wet blanket on growth and prospects of the country.

Investors are unlikely to engage in further short-term investments within the country. Private investment will slow leaving a vacuum politically and economically that will likely be played out over Yemen’s natural resources like oil. Foreign investors may not be willing to wait for a country that will be in a protracted conflict. The end result is that Yemen will miss some opportunities and be added to the list of Middle East economic casualties.

Escaleras, M. & Kottaridi, C. (2014). The joint effect of macroeconomic uncertainty, sociopolitical instability, and public provision on private investment. Journal of Developing Areas, 48 (1).

Is it Time the United States Support Online Learning Institutions?

Denmark's minister for higher education Sofie Carsten Nielsen met with Korean officials in an effort to develop new online learning technology (1). She believes that Korean technology matched with Denmark's education excellence will lead to new platforms and media for online education. Such development at the state level is likely to spur innovation in the online educational field making it more relevant for knowledge hungry youth.

American officials should consider the merits of online education and seek to find ways to foster development in that sector to stay ahead of the curve and ensure their place as educational leaders. Failure to develop and innovate the field for relevance could mean loosing our competitive place in the educational fields as other nations put forward the time and effort to grow.

The U.S. has its own field of online education that has spawned from the for-profit industry. Even though such universities are still in the process of development and growth the traditional sector has come to accept online educational models as a method of lowering their cost and possibly improving their educational reach. What was once disdained in the United States as "Cracker Jack" education is now leading the pack.

This doesn't mean we are doing enough to develop and create stronger platforms. Those nations that are able to develop strong online educational systems are also able to influence world education and thought. In other words, as universities globalize through the use of technology they will naturally impact the collection, analysis, and distribution of new thoughts and ideas. They will become leading sources of international knowledge and logic.

This level of information management is only possible if online education becomes a major focus for U.S. educational development. Innovating the system requires the development of technology and supporting online research that is converted to practical ideas. Instead of finding ways to limit online education it is better to encourage the creation of greater technology, more research, and higher levels of functioning that will someday reach across the globe.

There are many universities out there in the for-profit and non-profit sectors that are trying to develop the industry and raise its educational quality. They are putting forward time, effort, and doctors that are researching astounding concepts such as classroom management, information transference, student retention, online research methods, university operations, intercultural groups, and many other important topics.

Even though online education is relatively new and has been on the scene since somewhere around the 1980s it is now the leading growth factor in the field. Institutions that were shunned just as little as a few years ago may find themselves in the near future the point man for global education. Supporting these institutions through intellectual, social and governmental pathways helps in ensure the U.S. doesn't slip behind other nations less opposed to new educational models.

Designing Your Team for Effectiveness

Teams are a popular method of organizational problem solving. The very design of the team is often ignored in an effort to hastily put together a team of people who can achieve goals in the least amount of time and effort. However, the formation of the team, personalities contained within, and the background of members will have an unyielding influence on whether or not that team will succeed in its endeavors.

Let us consider a problem a department is having in terms of making themselves more efficient and customer focused. The standard approach is to gather together the leadership team of the department and demand that they come up with new solutions. They will certain put their minds together and come up with a laundry list of solutions of which they have already said before.

The problem is that we are not necessarily sure that this will lead to the "right" solution. The right solution is that which is comprehensive and streamlines processes while raising customer satisfaction. Including all of the same people that allowed the department to become less efficient and customer friendly in the first place really isn't that wise.

This doesn't mean all is lost. By swapping out a few of the old guard for some new blood will be helpful. However, if your going to move that far you might as well be a little more strategic. Consider some of the following tips:

Include Different Stakeholders:

Finding new and unique solutions requires including people on the team that have new and unique perspectives. This isn't possible if you continue to include the same members over and over. Try keeping managers who don't dominate the group but do have knowledge of the operations of the department while adding a few managers from other departments.

No department works in isolation and processes & procedures run together and mesh in many ways. When solving problems be sure to include a representative from the departments that will be impacted by the change. They will provide insight into how well, or poor, things worked before and whether or not they can be improved. Good solutions will have a wider group of supporters.

Include Different Personalities:

Personality has an impact not only on the group dynamics but also the way in which people perceive information. Having serious personalities mixed with more artistic personalities may create some friction in the group but ultimately does lead to higher levels of development. Experienced personalities may help steer creative ideas into something more practical while creative personalities will ultimately push innovation.

Each group comes with its own dynamics. Switching around personalities helps to ensure that the dynamics don't become solidified unless it is beneficial. For example, an extremely dominant person may attempt to force their will o  each group but this doesn't necessarily mean that the group dynamics are beneficial for solution creation.

Include Knowledge Based on Goals:

In our example of improving customer service and improving efficiency it is necessary to include those people who have the actual knowledge to contribute meaningfully to the discussion. Operational questions will need someone that can understand operations while customer service will need someone who understands customer service.  Without this knowledge it is likely that results will be off.

Depending on the type of business you are running it is beneficial to include a marketing person in the group. Ideas must have market utility and raise the value of the company. Marketing people have the ability to understand the utility of ideas and whether or not they will achieve certain external expectations. A goal of improving customer service should have the knowledge support from marketing, customer service, or other qualified representatives.

Provide Skills for the Team:

Any serious ideas should be vetted through finance, legal, and others to determine if they are feasible. Even though all of these skills need not be on the team the support to analyze this information should be available to the team. Having someone who can understand and manage the process of analysis is important.

This means someone on the team that will have a basic level of statistical understanding, data metrics, finance, and human relations abilities to understand the feasibility of proposed ideas. Before coming to a final recommendation numbers will need to be run and a SWOT conducted. Without the ability to analyze options the team will not know which are likely to be approved.

Persuasion and Manipulation Among Managers

Persuasion and manipulation are two workplace activities that follow many of the same paths yet have different means of achieving their ends. Some managers will engage in persuasion while others will lean towards manipulation. Those who are engaged in persuasion are more likely to gain the respect of their employees while those who are more manipulative often receive immediate gratification but loose out on long-term effectiveness. Companies should recognize and remove manipulators to ensure a positive work environment.

Persuasion is an attempt to show certain facts in a positive light without hiding or leaving out crucial information. It is generally a positive experience. Ultimately the listener can make a free choice on the issue as all the important information is presented to them. The influencer seeks to create a prevailing logic that both parties can agree with that leads from agreement to performance. Manipulation attempts to leave out particular facts and distort their meaning in an effort to change the perception of events.

When trust and persuasion are high the managers words are highly palatable to the listener. The managers experience and knowledge of the situation can help the employee make a better decisions as to their next course of action. When trust is low, and manipulation is high, the immediate gain takes precedence over long-term solutions. Employees could become resistant to the managers wishes and find ways of thwarting their influence.

The risk manipulators face is that someday they may become discovered. A simple discovery of manipulated facts leads to resentment, destruction of trust, and an active attempt to undermine the manager. Employees often respond to manipulators by avoidance and attempting to hold the perpetrator accountable (Bryand & Sias, 2011). The violation of a persons integrity leads to further conflict.

Workplace do not function well off of manipulative tactics as organizational culture will come to reflect that inherent lack of trust and respect. Organizations that do not seek to gain employee trust through open and honest dialogue will ultimately find themselves lacking in performance, embroiled in workplace conflict, involved in legal suits, and suffering from chronic staff turnover. 

Discerning between those who are persuasive and those who are manipulators can be difficult. According to Robin Dreeke, the head of behavioral analysis at the FBI, trust becomes a central issue in developing positive relationships and manipulators have a hard time creating long-term trust (Nahai, 2013). Manipulators are focused on their own needs and often leave others with buyers remorse through unfulfilled promises and self-seeking behavior. 

Manipulators have an inherent disrespect for the integrity of other people and don't see much point in telling the truth. Manipulators exhibit higher levels of Machiavellianism and lower levels of agreeableness that correspond to personality disorders (Wischniewski & Dipl-Psycho, 2013). They will use whatever means work and seek to punish those who do not agree with their methods leading to a retaliatory environment.

All employment sectors are open to the power of manipulators. Whether you are in business, non-profit work, law enforcement, political positions or any other type of employment manipulators can and do exist. Organizations would do well to screen those who manipulate for self-seeking gain in order to reduce potential risks and raise the trust factor among employees and stakeholders.

The higher the position and the more authority the position has the greater the destructive power of manipulation. People unwittingly give unconditional support to certain societal members based upon positional or institutional status. Those less likely to be manipulated are the ones who can question the decision-making processes regardless of the position of the manipulator. Questioning creates critical thinking beyond simple assumptions.

Manipulators are not only dangerous in their personal relationships but also the organizations where they work. In the business world we have idealized people in movies and popular media who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals without regard to the impact on others. Calm,cool, and collect is immortalized. The ends do not justify the means as manipulators eventually ruin previously positive work environments and do incalculable damage to the organizations where they are employed. Creating cultures where manipulation is thwarted and persuasion is appreciated not only shows a level of respect for employees and co-workers but also leads to stronger corporate cultures.

Bryand, E. & Sias, P. (2011). Sensemaking and relational consequences of peer co-worker deception. Communication Monographs, 78 (1).

Nahai, N. (Sept 21, 2013). Trust, Persuasion, and Manipulation. Psychology Today. Retrieve from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/webs-influence/201309/trust-persuasion-and-manipulation 

Wischniewski, J. & Dipl-Psych, B. (2013). Personality disorder respond to norm violations? Impact of personality factors on economic decision-making. Journal of Personality Disorders, 27 (4).

Can Social Media Marketing Raise Firm Value?

Do social networks have value? Relationship management tools have found to raise the value of 10 luxury hotels through the use of social network marketing (Jung, et. al., 2013). The study focused relationship marketing through social media networks but does help define the advantages that relationship marketing can offer for businesses. Marketing will also have the benefit of influencing behaviors and thoughts in an online world.

Consider how most people view a product or service through the lens of social evaluation. If their friends like a particular product they will likely be open to making a purchase themselves. If the product is extremely popular the value of such products rise and market demand increases. Social marketing is one method of encouraging greater interest in products and services.

In many ways, much of economic behavior is based in social perception of products and services. Most items we purchase on any particular day are not necessities but have social value that raise their economic value. For example, there is value in the trendiness of a particular car beyond simply driving to and from the grocery store.

Social marketing helps create that value. The purpose of social network marketing is to 1.) maintain contact with customers; and, 2.) influence the social perception of products and services. It is typically conducted through the use of social media sites, company websites, forums, and just about any other place where people gather.

Customers who are frequent users of certain products and services naturally want to stay in touch with those companies that help them create their identity. For example, an outdoor enthusiast who is engaged in multiple online outdoor forums may want to stay in touch with a company that produces new outdoor products. Such a person would be interested in the latest and greatest editions.

New products have natural interest among key social circles of heavy users. Providing information that offers a positive perception of products and services can raise their overall status in the minds of consumers. Press releases and focused discussions can help create that perception if the company leads the conversation.

Social marketing is a relatively inexpensive process at its most basic level. For small business it only requires someone to join and engage online communities where such topics are being discussed. Corporations may need to develop their own social circles and provide solutions to existing circles that may be interested in their products and services. Future development and refinement of relationship management tools has the potential to increase sales and raise firm value.

Jung, T., et. al. (2013). Online social networking: relationship marketing in UK hotels. Journal of Marketing Management, 29 (¾).