In recent decades, scholars have conducted more than a thousand studies to determine the styles, qualities or personality traits of great leaders and identify situations in which each style or approach would be more appropriate. None of these studies has provided a clear profile of the leader or leadership definitions generally agreed, not a dominant paradigm for study. In addition, there is little agreement among experts on the best strategies to develop and exercise leadership in organizations.

Many studies have generated useful but, unfortunately, approaches or theories resulting empirical problems too, with mixed results measurement and definition, creating a highly complex, both analytically and the practical application, which grew in a geometric-exponential.

Currently, the problem of how to align teams with the definition of objectives and strategy is one manifestation of the difficulty of the directors in the exercise of leadership. The lack of alignment is often reflected in the daily work and that doubts began to emerge of how to act, what style to use, how to adapt the style to the situation, the context and the needs of followers.

Hopefully, in these times of uncertainty and turbulence, was so easy to analyze the leadership styles as outlined in the two-dimensional matrix of Blake and Mouton (1964). Or that the leader’s charisma was the decisive element for the followers actually follow him. On this point as Max Weber said that charisma arises from the relationship between the leader and his followers, and is not an exclusive feature of the leader. He also said that only lasts personal charisma “while receiving recognition and can satisfy their followers or disciples.”

These are just some examples of the many variables that come into play in an equation that, ideally, should determine the leadership style to use in certain situations, more or less charismatic, more people-oriented or task, the transformation – change through persuasion and soft power – or the transaction – trading based on particular interests or hard power.

This equation is only solvable through the introduction of strategic logic takes into account all these factors, goal-oriented, considering the uniqueness of each context and modes of communication to use to get the commitment through the agreement between the parties involved in each process. Joseph Nye can glimpse these logics and proposals for action in the concept of “Smart Power Leadership” and applied technology are a response in the model of “Strategic Problem Solving” by Giorgio Nardone.

It is not put into question the validity of studies and theories arising from previous approaches, which provide valuable contributions to theoretical and applied, but it seems prudent and necessary to evolve into strategic models of goal-oriented leadership, shared and measurable, to the detriment normative theoretical models, which are oriented mainly to the strong confirmation of the theories that tend to guarantee the existence of a self-referential way.

As Hegel quipped: “If the facts do not fit the theory, much the worse for the facts.”

Those who are called to exercise the responsibility of leading organization, either from the top or from the middle, as changing circumstances as we are living, deserve to have a work of empirical research work and experimental continuous from specialists for the development of flexible working patterns, to provide methodological rigor, reduce the complexity of the analysis and providing high levels of efficiency and effectiveness in operational terms.

For quite some time been discussing what should be the best profile Community Manager. In fact, if you take part in the group of the Spanish Association of Online Communities (AERC) Linkedin (which I recommend), you will find an open discussion about the need for the Community Manager have been training in journalism.

I had raised the need for this figure must have a specific university training. It is clear that there is no legal requirement for that to happen, but yes it is true that it is recommended that, given the role it plays-have certain skills when carrying out its function.

I do not come now to speak of the virtues that should have a good Community Manager, but how you begin to see this figure from an institutional standpoint. In particular, since the legislative institutions of the European Union.

He called me a lot of attention the recent publication of a document prepared by the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection of the European Parliament, entitled “Draft Ponds effects of advertising on consumer behavior,” which among other things is revealed to the European Commission a series of problems generated by the development of Internet and new technologies.

Among these concerns, and we have already addressed in old posts, there is the concern of developing an undercover internet advertising, usually through the dissemination of comments on social networks, forums and blogs, hardly distinguished by its simple view content the issuing user.

Indeed, the Internet gives voice to anyone, which opens the possibility of carrying out bad practices, such as the secretly sponsored posts, or comments clearly promotional or advertising done by companies that act like individual users .

Well, in the Draft Report that indicated (and whose vote is scheduled for October 27, 2010), it is suggested that Member States “to promote the establishment in the forums as observers or facilitators trained on the risks involves surreptitious advertising. ” That is, the proposal aims at encouraging them to join in the internet forums, observers and moderators sensitized to the risks of surreptitious advertising, they can react quickly if a comment seems suspicious.

Obviously, this is no easy task. Move to that party’s responsibility to find a balance between protecting the online consumer and freedom of expression is extremely complex in practice.

In any case, if the proposal contained in the draft report is successful, it will be time to consider whether the figure of the moderator to which it refers, may be in the Community Manager. If so, AERCO must play an important role to support and train professionals who perform the duties of moderation, which we have been referring.

I personally have had the opportunity to see live work that association and I have no doubt that amply fulfilled in that role.

Now it is awaiting the outcome of the vote and sees what the position adopted from the European Commission in this regard. You can be the first step towards official recognition of the post of Community Manager.

In most cases you need to have the majority of the signatures of a group in order for the petition to be recognized as valid. State governments, for example, require that the number of petition signatures you have be a percentage of the voters in the region. Since this varies from one state to another, you should make sure you check it out before you submit the petition to ensure that you have the required number.

The more petition signatures you gather, the better the petition will be. You should not stop when you have the required number. In the case of a petition, more is better, so you should collect as many signatures as you can. The signatures must also be valid stating that those who did sign their names do believe in this cause.

How do you gather the petition signatures that you need? In a conventional citizen petition, you have to ask all the people to whom you speak to sign the petition after they read your petition statement. You can accomplish this in several ways, one of which is to physically canvas an area going door to door and speaking to all the homeowners.

The people who sign your petition must be of voting age, which means that in one home you can collect more than one signature if there are several adults living at this address. Another method of gathering signatures for a traditional petition is to set up a table in an area where you have access to a large number of people. As they pass along, ask them to sign your petition.

If you have an online petition, you have the ability to collect a very large list of petition signatures. When people visit your site and decide to sign the petition, they do so by typing in their name and giving their email address. You can only have one signature for one email address. When you have this type of petition, you have to be very cognizant of checking the email addresses to ensure they are legitimate.

There is no easy work to collecting petition signatures. Online petitions are easier because you do not have to go outdoors or actually speak to anyone. However, you do have to promote the petition in order to get the support that you need.

This means emailing the link to everyone you know and asking them to forward the link to their contacts. You have to check on the petition on a regular basis to make sure that the emails are valid and that an unscrupulous person is not trying to thwart your efforts.

When you feel you have enough petition signatures, then you can submit it to the appropriate person whom you hope will take a good look at the changes you suggest and take action on them.

The cardinal rule of handling problems between employees is doing ignore the issue. Any conflict that lasts more than a day or two must be dealt with head-on. Allowing inter-employee conflicts to fester results in reduced productivity, lower morale, and can strongly influence the level of respect the workers have for you, the owner.

Employer as Mediator

The role of a mediator is to hear both sides of a conflict and recommend the best resolution based on logical, non-emotional consideration. Your best bet is to listen to each side separately. Allow each involved employee to vent without judgment. Try to listen for any underlying issues — does the worker feel disrespected? Underappreciated? Is there some other issue between these two workers? Understanding any ongoing, unrelated issues will help you find a more lasting solution to help the employees return to productivity.

Ask each involved party how they think the problem should be resolved, including what they could do differently the next time to avoid conflict. Encourage ideas that reflect cooperation. Once you arrive at a solution, again speak with each employee. Be very clear about what you expect of them, and consider ways to hold them accountable for following your directions.

If either party behaved in a particularly unacceptable manner, be sure to address that immediately. While it is important to be fair, it is even more important to maintain control over your business. You set policies for a reason, and the emotional outbursts of conflict are not justification to violate those policies. Follow the established code of conduct, then deal with the underlying issues that are forcing you to play the role of mediator.

An Ounce of Prevention for Employee Conflicts

Dealing with internal conflict is never easy, but there are a few things you can do before problems start to reduce their frequency and intensity. As you are building your business, you are also building the overall company culture. Be cognizant of how you deal with conflict, because your leadership will guide the behavior of your staff — for better or worse. Encourage a culture of cooperation, integrity, and open communication. By making these traits standard from the beginning, you will be able to eliminate many employee issues before they start. Standard management principles advise that you get what you give, as well as what you expect, reward, and put up with from your staff.

As your venture grows, your key personnel will need strong conflict resolution skills to manage lower-level employees. Build these skills into your training program, and look for these skills before you hire through the use of targeted interview questions. When conflicts arise and are resolved, share the outcomes with your management team — actual lessons-learned tend to have a stronger impact than simplistic how-to manuals.

The role of employer can be a difficult one for entrepreneurs to embrace. Just remember that your employees cannot be just like you — if they were, they’d be running their own business instead of yours. Be as empathetic as possible without becoming everyone’s personal counselor. Develop a strong foundation of the culture you want your company to have, then reward those that strengthen the culture and handle those that don’t.

It leaves a good impression – When you get in touch with people on a professional level, it’s almost expected that you will coordinate with them on a professional note. Every good gesture is seen as a logical process in conducting good business. But giving out corporate giveaways sort of breaks that because you end up giving them a functional item that can also serve as a symbolic present or a token of appreciation for the time they have spent with you.

It is a subconscious way of marketing your business – People nowadays have become more clever when it comes to identifying if something is being marketed to them or not. The best way to get customers who believe in what your business can do is through giving them corporate giveaways that actually leave a mark. Just make sure that the items you choose will be very useful for the people to whom you plan to give it to.

It creates recall – This is also the reason why you need to be creative enough in coming up with concepts for your corporate giveaways. You also need to make sure that apart from making it actually functional for the recipients, it should also be something that would really represent your business as a whole. So take time to create a concept that would tie in all the corporate giveaways that you are going to send out with what your business is all about in the first place. Simple concepts can actually go a long way in terms of creating strategic partnerships.

These days, it’s also more affordable to spend for corporate giveaways because all you need to do is buy them in bulk so that you no longer have to worry about incurring too much overhead expenses. You can also do some sort of canvassing first so that you can effectively compare and contrast prices according to the budget that you have.

Aside from prices, you also have to check out the quality of your corporate giveaways. You need to be able to mix in the right price with good quality. Keep in mind that your corporate giveaways would serve as your company’s representation so you need to make a good impression with the type of items that you are going to send out. To be able to assure good quality it would be ideal to check for the credibility of the supplier based from reviews, comments, and actual experience from people you know who have already coordinated with the said company. You can also choose to do your research online.