A cross-cultural study into peer evaluations of women\u27s leadership effectiveness

Purpose: The present paper is based on a cross-cultural exploration of middle managers in two diverse cultures and aims to focus on how the leadership styles of managerial women are perceived and evaluated. In particular, female and male peer evaluations of leadership effectiveness in Malaysia and Australia are to be explored.Design/methodology/approach: Surveys from 324 middle managers from Malaysia and Australia were quantitatively analysed. The sample for the study was drawn from organisations in four industry types in both countries.Findings:&nbsp; Findings suggest that evaluations of female managers\u27 leadership styles in general, and within the respondent\u27s own organisations, were strongly culture specific, especially in Malaysia. The results reflected the strongly held values, attitudes and beliefs of each country. While this is not unexpected, it does highlight a need to be cautious when interpreting Western research results and attempting to transplant those into other cultures. In Malaysia, female managers were not seen as effective in the leadership styles they adopted in their roles when compared to the Australian female managers\u27 evaluations. Such an evaluation may have had little to do with an objective appraisal of the female managers\u27 capability, but rather with a strongly held cultural belief about the appropriate role of women in society, and in organisations in particular.Research limitations/implications:&nbsp; It is suggested that national culture manifests itself in the values, attitudes and behaviours of people. Cultural influences are therefore likely to impact on the way women and men behave in the workplace, particularly when roles of authority and power are evident, and the way in which that behaviour will be evaluated by others. Further research using different samples in different cultures are recommended. In addition, the influence of ethnicity, race or religion in plural countries such as Malaysia and Australia is also worthy of investigation.Practical implications:&nbsp; This research suggests that values and attitudes are strongly culture-specific and therefore have the ability to influence evaluations at an organisational level. Such an awareness of cultural influences should guide appropriate human resource practices, particularly within a globalized environment.Originality/value:&nbsp; The inclusion of a gender comparison in the data analysis in this paper is a significant attempt to add to the extant knowledge of the cross-cultural research. This is a unique contribution because of the omission of a gender perspective in the previous two seminal studies in culture literature (i.e. Hofstede and House et al.). In addition, the findings suggest that culture-specific influences are important determinants that impose expectations on the role of women differently from men in society and within organisations hence, making the gender comparison of the findings more significant. <br /

Malaysian and Australian male and female middle managers : a cross-cultural comparison of workplace attitudes, aspirations for promotion, and self-rated leadership styles

This paper outlines the rise of women in management worldwide, and considers why so few women achieve senior or executive management positions. This slow advance of women into senior roles is unexpected given that the changes in organisations today are believed to require more &lsquo;feminine leadership&rsquo;. A decrease in the emphasis on masculine characteristics for managers is reported, and a requirement that more &lsquo;feminine leadership&rsquo; needs to be adopted by organisations in order to ensure their survival in the future (Powell, Butterfield &amp; Parent, 2002, p.189). Recent empirical research reports that there are differences in leadership style between male and female managers, and the findings suggest that women exhibit more transformational leadership than their male counterparts, with this style being strongly equated with effective leadership (Eagly, Johannesen-Schmidt, van Engen, 2003). However, these findings are based on western research, and it may be that cross cultural research will yield a different picture (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, &amp; Gupta, 2004). Leadership and leadership styles may be conceptualised differently in a more paternalistic society. To explore this possibility, a cross cultural study was conducted in Malaysia and Australia. It is hypothesised that countries that are paternalistic in cultural values will exhibit a stronger constraint on women in management roles, which may impact on workplace attitudes, aspirations for promotion and style of leadership exhibited. Therefore, it is possible that the career advancement of women may be more problematic for Malaysian managerial women than their Australian counterparts. Results from an initial pilot study in Malaysia and Australia are outlined, and highlight some interesting similarities and differences to what are reported in the western literature.<br /

Discovery of Blue Luminescence in the Red Rectangle: Possible Fluorescence from Neutral Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Molecules?

Here we report our discovery of a band of blue luminescence (BL) in the Red Rectangle (RR) nebula. This enigmatic proto-planetary nebula is also one of the brightest known sources of extended red emission as well as of unidentified infra-red (UIR) band emissions. The spectrum of this newly discovered BL is most likely fluorescence from small neutral polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules. PAH molecules are thought to be widely present in many interstellar and circumstellar environments in our galaxy as well as in other galaxies, and are considered likely carriers of the UIR-band emission. However, no specific PAH molecule has yet been identified in a source outside the solar system, as the set of mid-infra-red emission features attributed to these molecules between the wavelengths of 3.3 micron and 16.4 micron is largely insensitive to molecular sizes. In contrast, near-UV/blue fluorescence of PAHs is more specific as to size, structure, and charge state of a PAH molecule. If the carriers of this near-UV/blue fluorescence are PAHs, they are most likely neutral PAH molecules consisting of 3-4 aromatic rings such as anthracene (C14H10) and pyrene (C16H10). These small PAHs would then be the largest molecules specifically identified in the interstellar medium.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJL (LaTeX, uses emulateapj.sty

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The scaling of the decoherence factor of a qubit coupled to a spin chain driven across quantum critical points

We study the scaling of the decoherence factor of a qubit (spin-1/2) using the central spin model in which the central spin (qubit) is globally coupled to a transverse XY spin chain. The aim here is to study the non-equilibrium generation of decoherence when the spin chain is driven across (along) quantum critical points (lines) and derive the scaling of the decoherence factor in terms of the driving rate and some of the exponents associated with the quantum critical points. Our studies show that the scaling of logarithm of decoherence factor is identical to that of the defect density in the final state of the spin chain following a quench across isolated quantum critical points for both linear and non-linear variations of a parameter even if the defect density may not satisfy the standard Kibble-Zurek scaling. However, one finds an interesting deviation when the spin chain is driven along a critical line. Our analytical predictions are in complete agreement with numerical results. Our study, though limited to integrable two-level systems, points to the existence of a universality in the scaling of the decoherence factor which is not necessarily identical to the scaling of the defect density.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, Final and accepted versio

Modeling and Simulation of VSI Fed Induction Motor Drive in Matlab/Simulink

The theory of reference frames and switching functions are effective in analyzing the performance of the induction motor fed from VSI (Voltage Source Inverter). In this work, mathematical model of Adjustable Speed Drive (ASD) is developed by taking synchronous reference frame equations for induction motor, switching function concept for VSI and non-switching concept for diode bridge rectifier.  The developed model is implemented using MATLAB/Simulink as it is an important tool for the validation of the proposed model. The performance of induction motor is analysed for different frequencies. The developed model is tested for the steady state behavior of machine drive. The proposed mathematical model is validated by the simulation results

Mixed methods : a research design for management doctoral dissertations

Purpose &ndash; This paper seeks to examine two management doctoral research projects to highlight the advantages in mixed methods as the primary research design.Design/methodology/approach &ndash; This paper summarises the methods of data collection and analysis which were used by two doctoral students in their management research. The researchers used mixed methods approaches (quantitative and qualitative) to explore different areas of management.Findings &ndash; The paper supports the view that triangulation of research methods strengthens the findings and inferences made for understanding social phenomena in more depth, compared to using a single method.Research limitations/implications &ndash; The paper relies excessively on two doctoral research projects which utilise sequential mixed methods. Therefore, arguments made in the paper are specific because other doctoral projects that have used different methods from those employed in the two projects were not considered.Practical implications &ndash; Early researchers, in particular students commencing doctorate studies, should apply mixed methods research because it develops skills in the two most dominant data collection methods used in management research. This paper is a practical guide on how this could be done effectively.Originality/value &ndash; The paper is drawn from two unique doctoral research projects. The paper&rsquo;s originality and value is in providing experiences and practical insights on how mixed methods research is undertaken.<br /

TRACKING OF MOVING OBJECT IN WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK

A Wireless Sensor Network is a collection of sensor nodes distributed into a network to monitor the environmental conditions and send the sensed data to the Base Station. Wireless Sensor Network is one of the rapidly developing area in which energy consumption is the most important aspect to be considered while tracking, monitoring, reporting and visualization of data. An Energy Efficient Prediction-based Clustering algorithm is proposed to track the moving object in wireless sensor network. This algorithm reduces the number of hops between transmitter and receiver nodes and also the number of transmitted packets. In this method, the sensor nodes are statically placed and clustered using LEACH-R algorithm. The Prediction based clustering algorithm is applied where few nodes are selected for tracking which uses the prediction mechanism to predict the next location of the moving object. The Current Location of the target is found using Trilateration algorithm. The Current Location or Predicted Location is sent to active Cluster Head from the leader node or the other node. Based on which node send the message to the Cluster Head, the Predicted or Current Location will be sent to the base station. In real time, the proposed work is applicable in traffic tracking and vehicle tracking. The experiment is carried out using Network Stimulator-2 environment. Simulation result shows that the proposed algorithm gives a better performance and reduces the energy consumption