A role-based perspective on leadership as a network of relationships.

The research described in this article seeks to address the question of the extent to which a role-based perspective can provide insight into the distributed and networked form of leadership

Behind the boardroom's door: the role and contribution of corporate boards

So far, academicians have not been able to empirically confirm that boardroom reforms will lead to more effective boards and ultimately positively affect corporate performance. As social actors we all have biased views, as do boardroom members, thus it is necessary to analyse directors’ perceptions about their role in order to understand if they are aligned and acting accordingly. The research goal is then to understand what is, in fact, directors’ role and contribution. Through a survey-based method board members from Portuguese listed firms were requested to rate the Chairman, the Board, the Senior Independent Director and the CEO performance, through their own perceptions. The survey draws three key conclusions: first, there are, generally, many inconsistencies around the board role boundaries between the chairman and the CEO and, particularly, around their strategic involvement. Second, tensions arise from the way this relationship evolves affecting both teams (the executive and non-executive directors) and third, there is an absence of a clear picture of the board’s role regarding its strategic involvement. This study, whilst exploring and understanding directors and their interactions inside the boardroom in a non-Anglo-American context, contributes to opening the ‘black-box’ of board dynamics, thus ‘dismantling the fortress’ in boards studies

Governance tools for board members : adapting strategy maps and balanced scorecards for directorial action

The accountability of members of the board of directors of publicly traded companies has increased over years. Corresponding to these developments, there has been an inadequate advancement of tools and frameworks to help directorial functioning. This paper provides an argument for design of the Balanced Scorecard and Strategy Maps made available to the directors as a means of influencing, monitoring, controlling and assisting managerial action. This paper examines how the Balanced Scorecard and Strategy Maps could be modified and used for this purpose. The paper suggests incorporating Balanced Scorecards in the Internal Process perspective, ‘internal’ implying here not just ‘internal to the firm’, but also ‘internal to the inter-organizational system’. We recommend that other such factors be introduced separately under a new ‘perspective’ depending upon what the board wants to emphasize without creating any unwieldy proliferation of measures. Tracking the Strategy Map over time by the board of directors is a way for the board to take responsibility for the firm’s performance. The paper makes a distinction between action variables and monitoring variables. Monitoring variables are further divided on the basis of two considerations: a) whether results have been met or not and b) whether causative factors have met the expected levels of performance or not. Based on directorial responsibilities and accountability, we take another look at how the variables could be specified more completely and accurately with directorial recommendations for executives

Existential Communication and Leadership

The aim of this article is to introduce and explain a number of important existentialist philosophers and concepts that we believe can contribute to a critical approach to leadership theory. Emphasis is placed on understanding the nature of communication from an existentialist perspective and so Jaspers' conceptualization of existential communication is introduced along with important related concepts that may be regarded as important facets of leader communication including Being-in-the-world, the Other, intersubjectivity, dialogue and indirect communication. Particular attention is paid to Buber's ideas on communication as relationship and dialogue. Throughout, reference is made to contemporary, and what is often regarded as orthodox, thinking regarding the centrality of communication to leadership practice as a means by which to highlight the salience of an existentialist analysis

Gender, age and the MBA: An analysis of extrinsic and intrinsic career benefits

Against the background of an earlier UK study, this paper presents the findings of a Canadian based survey of career benefits from the MBA. Results indicate firstly that gender and age interact to influence perceptions of career outcomes (young men gain most in terms of extrinsic benefits of career change and pay), and secondly that both men and women gain intrinsic benefits from the MBA. However, intrinsic benefits vary by gender: men in the study were more likely to say they gained confidence from having a fuller skill set while women were more likely to say they gained confidence from feelings of self worth; men emphasised how they had learned to give up control while women argued that they had gained a ‘voice’ in the organization. The role of the MBA in career self- management and the acquisition of key skills are examined as well as the implications for the design of programmes in meeting the varied need of men and women in different age groups

Altered gut microbiota activate and expand insulin B15-23-Reactive CD8+ T-Cells

Insulin is a major autoantigen in type 1 diabetes, targeted by both CD8 and CD4 T-cells. We studied an insulin-reactive T-cell receptor (TCR) alpha-chain transgenic non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse on a TCRCα and proinsulin2 (PI2)-deficient background, designated as A22Cα-/-PI2-/-NOD mice. These mice develop a low incidence of autoimmune diabetes. To test the role of gut microbiota on diabetes development in this model system, we treated the A22Cα-/-PI2-/-NOD mice with enrofloxacin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic. The treatment led to male mice developing accelerated diabetes. We found that enrofloxacin increased the frequency of the insulin-reactive CD8+ T-cells and activated the cells in the Peyer’s patches (PP) and pancreatic lymph nodes (PLNs), together with induction of immunological effects on the antigen-presenting cell populations. The composition of gut microbiota differed between the enrofloxacin-treated and untreated mice and also between the enrofloxacin-treated mice that developed diabetes, compared with those that remained normoglycemic. Our results provide evidence that the composition of the gut microbiota is important for determining the expansion and activation of insulin-reactive CD8+ T-cells

Beyond altruism: British football and charity, 1877-1914

Football charity matches and tournaments played a significant part in the development of the sport in Britain, overlapping the era of friendly games and the advent of competitive leagues. The football community prided itself on its contributions to charity, raising more money than any other sport before 1914, and stakeholders within the game – associations, clubs, players and patrons – gained considerable kudos for this perceived altruism. However, this paper will demonstrate that amounts donated, though welcome, were relatively minor sources of revenue for both institutions and individuals, and that the charity match became less important to clubs in a professional, and increasingly commercial, era

Proinsulin expression shapes the TCR repertoire but fails to control the development of low-avidity insulin-reactive CD8+ T cells

NOD mice, a model strain for human type 1 diabetes, express proinsulin (PI) in the thymus. However, insulin-reactive T cells escape negative selection, and subsequent activation of the CD8+ T-cell clonotype G9C8, which recognizes insulin B15-23 via an αβ T-cell receptor (TCR) incorporating TRAV8-1/TRAJ9 and TRBV19/TRBJ2-3 gene rearrangements, contributes to the development of diabetes. In this study, we used fixed TRAV8-1/TRAJ9 TCRα-chain transgenic mice to assess the impact of PI isoform expression on the insulin-reactive CD8+ T-cell repertoire. The key findings were: 1) PI2 deficiency increases the frequency of insulin B15-23–reactive TRBV19+CD8+ T cells and causes diabetes; 2) insulin B15-23–reactive TRBV19+CD8+ T cells are more abundant in the pancreatic lymph nodes of mice lacking PI1 and/or PI2; 3) overexpression of PI2 decreases TRBV19 usage in the global CD8+ T-cell compartment; 4) a biased repertoire of insulin-reactive CD8+ T cells emerges in the periphery regardless of antigen exposure; and 5) low-avidity insulin-reactive CD8+ T cells are less affected by antigen exposure in the thymus than in the periphery. These findings inform our understanding of the diabetogenic process and reveal new avenues for therapeutic exploitation in type 1 diabetes