Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Hypothesis Testing
determine the probability that a given hypothesis is true. The usual process of hypothesis testing consists of four steps.
1. Formulate the null hypothesis (commonly, that the observations are the result of pure chance) and the alternative hypothesis (commonly, that the observations show a real effect combined with a component of chance variation).
2. Identify a test statistic that can be used to assess the truth of the null hypothesis.
3. Compute the P-value, which is the probability that a test statistic at least as significant as the one observed would be obtained assuming that the null hypothesis were true. The smaller the -value, the stronger the evidence against the null hypothesis.
4. Compare the -value to an acceptable significance value (sometimes called an alpha value). If , that the observed effect is statistically significant, the null hypothesis is ruled out, and the alternative hypothesis is valid.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
How to Change Your Culture: Organizational Culture Change
Changing your organizational culture is the toughest task you will ever take on. Your organizational culture was formed over years of interaction between the participants in the organization. Changing the accepted organizational culture can feel like rolling rocks uphill.
Organizational cultures form for a reason. Perhaps the current organizational culture matches the style and comfort zone of the company founder. Culture frequently echoes the prevailing management style. Since managers tend to hire people just like themselves, the established organizational culture is reinforced by new hires.
Organizational culture grows over time. People are comfortable with the current organizational culture. For people to consider culture change, usually a significant event must occur. An event that rocks their world such as flirting with bankruptcy, a significant loss of sales and customers, or losing a million dollars, might get people's attention.
Even then, to recognize that the organizational culture is the culprit and to take steps to change it, is a tough journey. In no way do I mean to trivialize the difficulty of the experience of organizational culture change by summarizing it in this article, but here are my best ideas about culture change that can help your organization grow and transform.
When people in an organization realize and recognize that their current organizational culture needs to transform to support the organization's success and progress, change can occur. But change is not pretty and change is not easy.
The good news? Organizational culture change is possible. Culture change requires understanding, commitment, and tools.
Steps in Organizational Culture Change
There are three major steps involved in changing an organization's culture.
1.My earlier article discusses How to Understand Your Current Culture. Before an organization can change its culture, it must first understand the current culture, or the way things are now. Do take the time to pursue the activities in this article before moving on to the next steps.
2.Once you understand your current organizational culture, your organization must then decide where it wants to go, define its strategic direction, and decide what the organizational culture should look like to support success. What vision does the organization have for its future and how must the culture change to support the accomplishment of that vision?
3.Finally, the individuals in the organization must decide to change their behavior to create the desired organizational culture. This is the hardest step in culture change.
Plan the Desired Organizational Culture
The organization must plan where it wants to go before trying to make any changes in the organizational culture. With a clear picture of where the organization is currently, the organization can plan where it wants to be next.
Mission, vision, and values: to provide a framework for the assessment and evaluation of the current organizational culture, your organization needs to develop a picture of its desired future. What does the organization want to create for the future? Mission, vision, and values should be examined for both the strategic and the value based components of the organization. Your management team needs to answer questions such as:
•What are the five most important values you would like to see represented in your organizational culture?
•Are these values compatible with your current organizational culture? Do they exist now? If not, why not? If they are so important, why are you not attaining these values?
Organizational cultures form for a reason. Perhaps the current organizational culture matches the style and comfort zone of the company founder. Culture frequently echoes the prevailing management style. Since managers tend to hire people just like themselves, the established organizational culture is reinforced by new hires.
Organizational culture grows over time. People are comfortable with the current organizational culture. For people to consider culture change, usually a significant event must occur. An event that rocks their world such as flirting with bankruptcy, a significant loss of sales and customers, or losing a million dollars, might get people's attention.
Even then, to recognize that the organizational culture is the culprit and to take steps to change it, is a tough journey. In no way do I mean to trivialize the difficulty of the experience of organizational culture change by summarizing it in this article, but here are my best ideas about culture change that can help your organization grow and transform.
When people in an organization realize and recognize that their current organizational culture needs to transform to support the organization's success and progress, change can occur. But change is not pretty and change is not easy.
The good news? Organizational culture change is possible. Culture change requires understanding, commitment, and tools.
Steps in Organizational Culture Change
There are three major steps involved in changing an organization's culture.
1.My earlier article discusses How to Understand Your Current Culture. Before an organization can change its culture, it must first understand the current culture, or the way things are now. Do take the time to pursue the activities in this article before moving on to the next steps.
2.Once you understand your current organizational culture, your organization must then decide where it wants to go, define its strategic direction, and decide what the organizational culture should look like to support success. What vision does the organization have for its future and how must the culture change to support the accomplishment of that vision?
3.Finally, the individuals in the organization must decide to change their behavior to create the desired organizational culture. This is the hardest step in culture change.
Plan the Desired Organizational Culture
The organization must plan where it wants to go before trying to make any changes in the organizational culture. With a clear picture of where the organization is currently, the organization can plan where it wants to be next.
Mission, vision, and values: to provide a framework for the assessment and evaluation of the current organizational culture, your organization needs to develop a picture of its desired future. What does the organization want to create for the future? Mission, vision, and values should be examined for both the strategic and the value based components of the organization. Your management team needs to answer questions such as:
•What are the five most important values you would like to see represented in your organizational culture?
•Are these values compatible with your current organizational culture? Do they exist now? If not, why not? If they are so important, why are you not attaining these values?
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
How To Be a Good Leader | Improve Your Leadership Skills
What Makes A Great Leader!
There might be a lot of leaders in your area, but there are only a few who know exactly what makes a good leader. As a leader, you're expected to bring you and your team to success. As a leader, your team looks up to you for guidance and support.
Wanting to know what makes a good leader is already the first step to achieving your goal. However, there is always room for improvement. Read on and find out how you can become an effective leader.
1) Teamwork
A leader might be the head of the organization or team, but he or she cannot function well without teamwork. Unfortunately, a lot of leaders let their position get into their heads. They move without consulting the rest of the team.
What makes a good leader is a sense of teamwork. Although you might be the one calling the shots, you can't completely disregard the people you're responsible for.
2) Strength
Another important factor of what makes a good leader is strength. Whether it's strength in making a decision, or strength in overcoming challenges, a good leaders knows not to show weakness.
A great leader doesn't cower from the enemy. He or she doesn't fear challenges or obstacles; but instead, he or she deals with them head-on.
3) Good Example
A great leader sets a good example for his or her subordinates. If you're very particular about tardiness, then you have to make sure that you're always on time, if not earlier than the others.
If you have strong feelings against cheating, then you yourself should not be tempted to cheat. Set a good example for the people in your team. Actions speak louder than words.
4) Responsibility
An effective leader takes responsibility. He or she doesn't try to figure out a way to escape the mess that might have been created. Instead, a great leader faces the issue and deals with the problems as they come.
Being responsible also means avoiding disaster and making the right decisions. Keep in mind that you're accountable for the rest of your team.
5) Quick Thinking
Quick thinking is an essential leadership skill. Most of the time, this is what saves the day. A good leader must know how to act swiftly and must encourage quick thinking among his or her people.
The success of a group has a lot to do with both the leader and the team. It's never just about one person only. As long as you remember what your goal is, you'll be alright. And these additional tips on what makes a good leader will only help you become a better person.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
How to use Wiki?
The following link can help you know more about wiki:
What is Wiki?
Wiki is in Ward's original description:
The simplest online database that could possibly work.
Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly.
Wiki is unusual among group communication mechanisms in that it allows the organization of contributions to be edited in addition to the content itself.
Like many simple concepts, "open editing" has some profound and subtle effects on Wiki usage. Allowing everyday users to create and edit any page in a Web site is exciting in that it encourages democratic use of the Web and promotes content composition by nontechnical users.
The simplest online database that could possibly work.
Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly.
Wiki is unusual among group communication mechanisms in that it allows the organization of contributions to be edited in addition to the content itself.
Like many simple concepts, "open editing" has some profound and subtle effects on Wiki usage. Allowing everyday users to create and edit any page in a Web site is exciting in that it encourages democratic use of the Web and promotes content composition by nontechnical users.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Homework, Homework and Homework....
I thought taking four graduate classes won't be so busy, but i think i'm worry... Finally the fall break is coming, actually we just got one extra day because we originally have threee days off each week. The sad thing is there are projects due and exam coming after fall break....OMG, is it will be study time again?!
Anyway, we are students, so......studying is our main job.....
Friday, September 17, 2010
Getting InStudy: CEOs with MBAs Deliver So-So Performance
Posted by: Louis Lavelle on September 16, 2010
Do MBAs make better CEOs? When a team of researchers from INSEAD posed this question last year, the answer they arrived at was a resounding yes! CEOs with the degree delivered better long-term shareholder value than those without one. Now comes some new research that calls that conclusion into question.
Researchers Sanjai Bhagat, University of Colorado at Boulder; Brian Bolton, University of New Hampshire; and Ajay Subramanian, Georgia State University, found that “hiring new CEOs with MBA degrees leads to short-term improvements in operating performance. We, however, do not find a significant systematic relationship between CEO education and long-term firm performance. CEO education does not seem to be an appropriate proxy for CEO ability.”
The study examined 1,500 companies from 1992 to 2007 and used several performance metrics including return on assets and stock returns. Among the CEOs for whom educational information was available, about 39 percent had MBAs, and of that group, 63 percent attended a “top 20” program. While MBAs overall did little to improve firm performance, the researchers found a “weak positive relationship” between CEOs with MBAs from top schools and company operating performance. So which school you attend does matter, just not a whole lot as far as your company is concerned.
As interesting as that is, the researchers also found something that had them scratching their collective heads. While a CEO's MBA had little or no impact on their company's long-term performance, it was a key factor in whether the CEO was hired in the first place. Even when a CEO with an MBA is fired, the researchers found that companies tend to hire another MBA to replace him. That's not a typo. From the study:
"These results suggest that CEO education does not play a distinguishing role in determining a CEO's ability related to enhancing firm performance. It is certainly possible that the CEO's education does have a critical influence in determining whether or not the individual becomes a CEO (or, even earlier, whether or not the individual gets hired into positions that may lead to becoming a CEO). Nevertheless, it is still rather puzzling (at least to us) that education affects CEO hiring decisions even though it has little effect on long-term firm performance."
The researchers aren't the only ones that are baffled by that finding. I'm a little dumbfounded too. Even if you view the MBA as some kind of good housekeeping seal of approval, if it does nothing for company performance, as the new research suggests, why would corporate boards keep hiring them?
Do MBAs make better CEOs? When a team of researchers from INSEAD posed this question last year, the answer they arrived at was a resounding yes! CEOs with the degree delivered better long-term shareholder value than those without one. Now comes some new research that calls that conclusion into question.
Researchers Sanjai Bhagat, University of Colorado at Boulder; Brian Bolton, University of New Hampshire; and Ajay Subramanian, Georgia State University, found that “hiring new CEOs with MBA degrees leads to short-term improvements in operating performance. We, however, do not find a significant systematic relationship between CEO education and long-term firm performance. CEO education does not seem to be an appropriate proxy for CEO ability.”
The study examined 1,500 companies from 1992 to 2007 and used several performance metrics including return on assets and stock returns. Among the CEOs for whom educational information was available, about 39 percent had MBAs, and of that group, 63 percent attended a “top 20” program. While MBAs overall did little to improve firm performance, the researchers found a “weak positive relationship” between CEOs with MBAs from top schools and company operating performance. So which school you attend does matter, just not a whole lot as far as your company is concerned.
As interesting as that is, the researchers also found something that had them scratching their collective heads. While a CEO's MBA had little or no impact on their company's long-term performance, it was a key factor in whether the CEO was hired in the first place. Even when a CEO with an MBA is fired, the researchers found that companies tend to hire another MBA to replace him. That's not a typo. From the study:
"These results suggest that CEO education does not play a distinguishing role in determining a CEO's ability related to enhancing firm performance. It is certainly possible that the CEO's education does have a critical influence in determining whether or not the individual becomes a CEO (or, even earlier, whether or not the individual gets hired into positions that may lead to becoming a CEO). Nevertheless, it is still rather puzzling (at least to us) that education affects CEO hiring decisions even though it has little effect on long-term firm performance."
The researchers aren't the only ones that are baffled by that finding. I'm a little dumbfounded too. Even if you view the MBA as some kind of good housekeeping seal of approval, if it does nothing for company performance, as the new research suggests, why would corporate boards keep hiring them?
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Hugs for Friends
A friend never fails to be faithful even when others falter.
A friend will fortify your fragile frame.
A friend is a rare and ready rock you can run to in the rain.
A friend is not impatient or impolite.
A friend is interesting, inspiring, and indispensable.
A friend is a friend till the end.
A friend will embrace you even in the midst of your most embarrassing encounters.
A friend is devoted and dependable.
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