Strongly Recommended Books over my Horizon:

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Chaos: Making A New Science is the best-selling book by James Gleick that first introduced the principles and early development of chaos theory to the public.It was a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize in 1987, and was shortlisted for the Science Book Prize in 1989.
The first popular book about chaos theory, it describes the Mandelbrot set, Julia sets, and Lorenz attractors without resorting to complex mathematics. It portrays the efforts of dozens of scientists whose separate work contributed to the developing field. It remains in print and is used as an introduction to the topic for the mathematical layman. An enhanced ebook edition was released by Open Road Media in 2011 adding embedded video and hyperlinked notes.

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Review:
"Step by step, Mr. Ruelle introduces concepts needed to understand the physical landscape of chance and chaos, explaining the meaning of probability, the ways of turbulent fluids, and the mathematical value of information. . . . Throughout, Chance and Chaos is spiced with the author's dry wit and unsparing judgments about scientists and science. . . . [This is] an expertly guided tour of some of the fundamental issues in the world of physics."--David Voss, The New York Times Book Review
". . . by one of the founders of the rapidly developing field of nonlinear dynamics and chaos. . . . The book is a tour de force."--Malcolm S. Longair, Natural History
"Sets out the basics with precision, concision, and humor. . . . [Some books], perhaps the best books, are to be read for the pleasure of the author's company. Ruelle's book falls into [that] category."--Tony Rothman, The New Republic
"The book is an excellent read, either at one gulp or as chapter-by-chapter snacks."--Robert M. May, Nature
"A deep, thoughtful book, simply written, and a joy to read."--Ian Stewart, The Times Higher Education Supplement

Communication and Conflict Resolution Skills

Communication and Leadership
 Effective leaders are also effective communicators
To be effective, the leader must synchronize verbal and nonverbal behavior
Technology has had a meaningful impact on leaders’ communication and coordination

Inspirational Speaking and Writing
Be credible
Use the persuade package of influence tactics
Gear your message to the listener
Sell group members on the benefits of your suggestions
Use heavy-impact and emotion-provoking words
Use anecdotes to communicate meaning
Back up conclusions with data (to a point)
Minimize language errors, junk words, and vocalized pauses
Write crisp, clear memos, letters, and reports, including a front-loaded message
Use a power-oriented linguistic style

Principles of Persuasion
Liking: People like those who like them
Reciprocity: People repay in kind
Social proof: People follow the lead of similar others
Consistency: People align with their clear commitments
Authority: People defer to experts
Scarcity: People want more of what they can have less of

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/hillaryclintonbeijingspeech.htm

Principles of Supportive Communication
Problem oriented, not person orientedEffective leaders must overcome communication barriers created by dealing with people from different cultures.
A major underlying factor in overcoming cross-cultural communication barriers is to understand attributions

Attributions
*The judgments we make about the behavior and attitudes of others
*Three factors affecting attributions include:
*Perception
*Stereotyping
*Ethnocentrism

Overcoming and Preventing Communication Barriers
-Be sensitive to the fact that cross-cultural communication barriers exist
-Challenge your cultural assumptions
-Show respect for all workers
-Use straightforward language, and speak slowly and clearly
-When the situation is appropriate, speak in the language of the people from another culture
-Observe cross-cultural differences in etiquette
-Do not be diverted by style, accent, grammar, or personal appearance
-Avoid racial or ethnic identification except when it is essential to communication
-Be sensitive to differences in nonverbal communication
-Be attentive to individual differences in appearance

FIGURE: Conflict-Handling Styles According to the Degree of Cooperation and Assertiveness

Conflict Management Styles

The competitive style is a desire to win one’s own concerns at the expense of the other party, or to dominate

The accommodative style favors appeasement, or satisfying the other’s concerns without taking care of one’s own
The sharing style is halfway between domination and appeasement
The collaborative style reflects a desire to fully satisfy the desires of both parties
The avoidant style combines unassertiveness and a lack of cooperation

Negotiating and Bargaining
-Conflicts can be considered situations calling for negotiating and bargaining, or conferring with another  person in order to resolve a problem
-Two approaches to negotiation:
-Distributive bargaining
-Integrative bargaining

Negotiation Techniques
-Begin with a plausible demand or offer
-Focus on interests, not positions
-Search for the value in differences between the two sides
-Be sensitive to international differences in negotiating style
-Descriptive, not evaluative
-Based on congruence, not incongruence
-Focused on validating, rather than invalidating, people
-Specific, not global
-Conjunctive, not disjunctive
-Owned, not disowned
-Requires listening as well as sending messages

UNICEF - News feeds -

UNICEF - News feeds -

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LEADERSHIP

The ability to inspire confidence and support among the people who are needed to achieve organizational goals

May be considered a long-term relationship, or partnership, between leaders and group members

Nature of Managerial Leadership:
*leader who is not a manager, and

*manager who is not a leader.
successful manager must necessarily lead others. Often you will find the terms leaders and managers are used interchangeably.
leadership is the process of...influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how it can be done effectively, and facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives.

Among other things, the effectiveness of leaders, may be defined in terms of...

the consequences of their actions for others,
the attitudes of their subordinates,
their impact on group processes (e.g., decision-making, conflict resolution, etc.), and
their impact on productivity.

LEADERSHIP:
The ability to inspire confidence and support among the people who are needed to achieve organizational goals.

May be considered a long-term relationship, or partnership, between leaders and group members

Partnership:
The power between leader and group members is approximately balanced

Four things necessary in a partnership:
Exchange of purpose
A right to say no
Joint accountability
Absolute honesty

The power between leader and group members is approximately balanced


Four things necessary in a partnership:
Exchange of purpose
A right to say no
Joint accountability
Absolute honesty

Leadership versus Management:

Leadership deals with:

-Change
-Inspiration
-Motivation
-Influence

Management deals with:

-Planning
-Organizing
-Directing
-Controlling

Leadership Matters
The results of one study showed

transactional leadership was not significantly related to performance
charismatic leadership was slightly, positively related to performance
in an uncertain environment, charismatic leadership was more strongly related to performance

Attribution:
Judging what people are like and why they do what they do.

What is someone really like?
What makes a person behave they way s/he does?

One Makes Attributions in Three Major Steps: The Behavior Occurs; the Person Determines if it Was Intentional; if so, the Person Determines its Causes

Correspondent Inferences
Using acts to judge dispositions.

We make judgments about what people are like based on what we are able to observe of their behavior.
Many causes of behavior.
People can conceal some of their traits.

Causal Attribution of Responsibility
*Answering the question of WHY?

*Kelley’s Theory of Causal Attribution

1-Consensus
    Extent to which other people behave the same.
2-Consistency
     Extent to which behavior is same at other times.
3-Distinctiveness
     Extent to which behavior is the same in other contexts.

Attribution Theory
The process of attributing causality to events

To simplify and understand complex social systems of human interaction, people interpret events in human terms
Most organizational successes are attributed to heroic leaders

Leadership Does Not Matter
Three major arguments against the importance of leadership include:

Substitutes for leadership
Leader irrelevance
Complexity theory

Substitutes for Leadership

Leader Irrelevance

Situational factors, outside the leader’s control, have the largest impact on outcomes

High-level leaders have unilateral control over only a few resources, and the control over these resources is limited by obligations to stakeholders
Firms choose new leaders whose values and behaviors are similar to previous leaders

Complexity Theory
Organizations are complex systems that cannot be explained by the usual rules of nature

Leaders and managers can do little to alter the course of the complex organizational system
A company’s fate is determined by factors outside the leader/manager’s control


Leadership Roles
Figurehead

Spokesperson
Negotiator
Coach and motivator
Team builder
Team player

Technical problem solver
Entrepreneur
Strategic planner

Sources of Leader Satisfaction
A feeling of power and prestige

A chance to help others grow and develop
High income
Respect and status
Good opportunities for advancement
A feeling of “being in on” things
An opportunity to control resources

Leader Frustrations
Too much uncompensated overtime

Too many “headaches”
Not enough authority to carry out responsibility
Loneliness
Too many problems involving people
Too much organizational politics

A Framework for Understanding Leadership
Leader characteristics and traits

Leader behavior and style
Group member characteristics
Internal and external environment

Essential Qualities of Effective Followers

Self-management

Commitment
Competence and focus
Courage