Economic Wealth

 How Strong is the connection between Democracy and Economic Wealth

The last two decades witnessed the collapse of communism both as an ideology and political system leading to the triumph of liberal democracy across the world. This process has exerted profound influence on redefining the architecture of the global economic and political system (Huntington 1991). As a result, the economic and political landscape of the contemporary world is characterized by democratic revivalism and formation of new states based on democratic ideals. This process has indeed deconstructed the prevailing notions of democracy and economic wealth. Traditionally, it has been argued by political and economic theorist that democracy will thrive only in a society, which enjoys a particular level of economic wealth and prosperity. However, emergence of new democratic nation states in Asia, Latin America and Africa soon after the fall of colonialism and the recent resurgence of democracy in Eastern Europe after the collapse communism inspired some scholars to perceive that economic wealth is not a pre-requisite for democracy.  The newly democratic countries remained economically poor and still continue the path of democracy without higher economic growth and wealth. At the same time, there are authoritarian regimes in Middle East and South Asia that reflect high level of economic wealth even without democratic system.  There are countries like the USA and UK which present the beautiful blend of economic wealth and democracy.  Due to this paradoxical situation across the globe, economics theorists and scholars often find it difficult to reach a consensus regarding the relationship between democracy and economic wealth.

 Given the scenario, this paper is a modest attempt to explore the relationship between democracy and economic wealth. The paper examines various theories and approaches that analyze the relationship between democracy and economic wealth and tries to explore how strong the connection is.  The paper also examines the theories in the context of the contemporary economic and political order. Concluding section provides critical analysis of these approaches and highlights the need for a realistic and contextual perspective towards the relationship between economic wealth and democracy.

Democracy and Economic Wealth: Major Theories

 Democracy, according to Schumpeter (1942) is ‘the institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire the power to decide by means of a competitive struggle for the people’s vote’. Thus democracy implies a political system in which power derives its strength from the people. Robert Dahl (1971) provides seven fundamental attributes to democracy including:

  • Control over governmental decisions about policy constitutionally vested in elected officials
  • Relatively frequent, fair and free elections
  • Universal adult suffrage
  • The right to run for public office
  • Freedom of expression
  • Access to alternative sources of information that are not monopolized by either the government or any other single group
  • Freedom of association (i.e. the right to form and join autonomous associations such as political parties, interest groups, etc).

Ever since the inception of democracy, its relationship with economic growth has been a serious issue of debate.  Broadly speaking, there are three fundamental theories on the relationship between democracy and economic wealth. First of all, there is a prominent school of thought that highlights the positive correlation between democracy and economic growth. Secondly, there is an equally important view that negates this theory and emphasizes that democracy is not a pre-requisite for economic growth and often the relationship is negative in the case of many countries. Apart from these contrasting schools, there is another perspective that considers the relationship between democracy and economic wealth as sceptical. They argue that the relationship is neither positive nor negative and is largely depends on other factors as well. These contrasting yet very important arguments are examined below.

Martin Lipset (1969) is regarded as the pioneer of the approach that highlights a strong correlation between economic wealth and democracy.  This perspective became popular during 1960’s and 1970’s. According to Lipset democracy will emerge and flourish only in affluent societies that are endowed with a high level of economic development and wealth. He further pointed out that economic wealth is an initial condition for democracy.  Lipset stated, ‘the more well-to-do a nation, the greater the chances that it will sustain democracy. Only in a wealthy society in which relatively few citizens lived in real poverty could a situation exist in which the mass of the population could intelligently participate in politics and could develop the self-restraint necessary to avoid succumbing to the appeals of irresponsible demagogues’.

After the seminal theory of Lipset, there emerged many academic studies that empirically investigated the positive relationship between democracy and economic wealth. The proponents of this theory also held the view that democracy lead to greater economic prosperity. After Lipset, the most influential theory on the positive correlation between democracy and economic growth was presented by Adam Przeworski, Michael Alvarez, José Antonio Cheibub, and Fernando Limongi.  On the basis of the empirical study conducted in 141 countries for the period 1950 to 1960, Przeworski reaffirmed the theory of Lipset and concluded that economically developed countries have more chances to sustain democracy. Also the theory pointed out that democracy can better promote economic wealth than authoritarian regimes.

Supporters of this positive correlation view argue that democracy provides a free and transparent political culture and equal allocation of resources among the people. This motivates citizens to invest and maximize benefit of the free market that ultimately lead to economic prosperity of the country. Democracy put restrictions on the power of the government, checks unnecessary expenditure and prevents unresponsive policies that affect economic wellbeing of the people. The theory further states that optimum utilization of resources will be possible only in a democracy that is accountable and transparent. Hence, democracy can best serve as a promoter of economic growth. Therefore these theorists highlight the strong positive co-relation between democracy and economic wealth.  The successful and prosperous economies of the USA, UK and other developed countries of West Europe were considered as the models to substantiate the theory of positive co-relation between democracy and economic wealth. The wealthiest nations of the world are generally matured democracies. On the other hand world’s poorest nation states are autocratic regimes. Sudan, Burma North Korea and Congo are examples.  Even though China shows an impressive growth rate after the globalization process, China’s GDP per capita is still $1000 making it one of the poor nations of the world (Sharma, 2012).

Nevertheless, this was questioned by many scholars who strongly criticized the positive relationship between these two concepts.  Samuel P. Huntington (1968) and others were of the opinion that democracy has weak and unstable institutions that hinders investment and economic growth. Moreover, democratic countries tend to make vulnerable policies and decisions in order to attract popular support whereas authoritarian regimes are able to make strong policies to initiate economic growth.  Economic growth needs hard policy framework that can check growth retarding business environment and factors.  Such an iron hand is not possible within a democratic structure that focuses more on sentiments of the electorate than policy priorities. Thus democracy cannot play a catalytic role in wealth creation unless there is concrete effort from the government.  Galenson (1959), Andreski (1968), Huntington and Dominguez (1975), Rao (1984-5), and Haggard (1990) etc popularized this view further.  There are empirical evidence to show this negative correlation between democracy and economic wealth.

Singapore is a classic example to show the inverse relationship between democracy and economic wealth.  When other countries in Asia heralded a democratic path following British colonialism, Singapore selected a unique single party authoritarian system that provided rich dividend to the country. When other Asian countries faced a chequered history of economic under development, political instability and social unrest, Singapore attempted a brave step towards liberalization, international trade and capitalistic growth strategy which ultimately made the country a ‘brand’ among other countries. Now Singapore serves as a regional headquarters for more than 3000 multinational companies and has world class financial and service sectors and above all a highly efficient physical infrastructure. The country consistently ranks high among ‘most attractive countries for international business’ and has achieved a per capita GDP level comparable to levels of developed western nations. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2006-2007, Singapore edged out Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan to be the most competitive Asian country, while coming in fifth in world rankings. The world’s highest PC penetration among households, the well-networked broadband systems and the high-tech transport system- all symbolize Singapore’s economic achievements (Menon, 2008). All these achievements were made without a democratic government.  Other East Asian countries like South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong also achieved high growth rate without democratic government (Dominguez (2005).  China is another classical example to show that the relationship between democracy and economic growth is not as strong as envisaged.  Within the boundaries of the totalitarian communist rule that hardly allow democratic space to community, China is able to leverage investment, economic growth and overall development (Dominguez 2005).  At the same time, democratic countries in Asia and Africa including India, Ghana, Costa Rica, Nepal and Hungary still struggle to sustain an impressive economic growth and corruption free administration.

Economic Wealth
Economic Wealth

The positive co-relation between democracy and economic wealth is not yet visible in these countries (Dominguez (2005). Also, the emergence of democracy in these countries cannot be related to mature economic development as stated by Lipset.  After the fall of communism, there was democratic resurgence in East Europe even though these countries were not economically affluent.  Hence, there is no direct correlation between democracy and economic wealth.  More specifically, democracy can thrive even without economic wealth and at the same time, economic growth can be achieved without democratic system. This theory perhaps argues that economic wealth is better achievable under authoritarian regime than democracy. Apart from East Asian countries, there are countries of Middle East including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain that reflect consistent economic growth but extremely authoritarian monarchic form of government (Dominguez (2005).  Thus the theory highlights the strong negative relationship between democracy and economic wealth.

Another study conducted by Freedom House shows that ‘during 1991 and 2005, the countries that were economically free but politically repressed grew at 6.28% annually. Comparatively, the countries that were both economically and politically free grew at 2.62%. In other words, dictatorial regimes make better economic decisions for citizens than democratic ones’ (Sharma, 2012).

The third view on the debate argues that there is no consistent relationship between democracy and economic growth as assumed by scholars. Moreover, they assume that institutional structure and approach to governance are more important than the type of regimes per se. Wealth creation and prosperity are possible in both democracy and autocracy if there are proactive policies, good governance, corruption free administration and better management of economy.  As stated by Bardhan (1993) ‘A sound leadership that will resolve collective action problems and be responsive to rapidly changing technical and market conditions is more essential for growth’.  This view was supported by Bhagavati( 1995) as well. According to him, market will bring economic wealth both under authoritarianism and democracy. Nevertheless, the institutional structure should be able to make the’ right policy’ decision without compromise.  Hence, this theory confirms that there is no correlation between democracy and economic wealth and the determining factor is the nature and content of the policy.

 Hristos Doucouliagos and Mehmet Ulubasoglu(2005) studied the connection between democracy and economic growth in 70 selected countries through meta-analysis. They have derived the following conclusions:

  • There is no accumulated evidence to show that democracy is detrimental to economic growth. The findings of the data combined clearly points to a zero direct effect on economic growth.
  • Though there is no direct effect of democracy on economic growth, it has many significant indirect effects on wealth through various channels including human capital formation, economic freedom, transparency etc. Nevertheless, democracy leads to higher government expenditure and restricted international trade.
  • Though the direct co-relation between democracy and economic wealth is not to be validated globally, there still exists strong regional variation on the larger impact of democracy on economic growth. The study shows that democracy has a direct impact on economic growth in Latin America where as the relationship is very low in Asia.
  • Though the study could not establish the direct impact of democracy on economic wealth, there is positive co-relation between economic freedom and wealth creation.

There are other scholars who studied the indirect but important relationship between democracy and economic wealth.  In his paper, Democracy, Governance, and Economic Performance: Theory and Evidence, Yi Feng (2003) established that democracy indeed can make a positive effect on economic wealth and development at least indirectly.  The indirect effects implies policy certainty, political stability, the establishment and enforcement of rules that protect property rights, the promotion of education, the ability to promote private capital, and the reduction of inequality.  All these indirect indicators engender increase in investment and thus pave the way for enhanced economic growth.

In a similar study, Gerring (2005) also perceive that the connection between democracy and economic wealth is relevant, though it is indirect.  According to them, democracy creates four types of capital- human capital, social capital, political capital and physical capital – in a country. Economic growth can be achieved through the effective utilization of these channels.

Kurzman (2003) conducted a study on the relationship between democracy and economic growth using time series analysis and came out with varying findings as mentioned under:

  • Democracy has a significant impact on investment and this will have positive effect on economic growth. Free market economy and economic reforms coupled with transparency would eventually lead to more investment contributing towards economic growth.
  • Democracy increases government expenditure and this will have a negative impact on economic growth.
  • Social unrest and mass movements are intense in democracies. This is negatively co related to economic growth.

He thus concludes that democratic relationship with economic growth is always complex and greatly depends on the domestic situation, political culture, quality of regime and pace of market reforms.

Critical Analysis

While analyzing the diverse arguments on democracy and economic wealth, we can assume that there is no generalized pattern of relationship. The strength of the relationship depends on other related factors like quality of democracy, historical legacy, committed leadership, lack of corruption etc. If these pre-condition are achieved, democracy will definitely lead to economic wealth. At the same time autocratic government may lead to economic wealth but it will not be sustainable unless the government follows less repressive policies. When we examine the case of developed countries like the USA, Britain, France and Germany it is evident that democracy and economic growth exhibits a strong positive relationship in countries that have attained economic growth prior to democratization.  The countries like India, Ghana and Pakistan selected democratic path even before attaining significant level of economic wealth. Hence, the approach that believes that ‘democracy will automatically follow economic wealth’ will not be sustainable whereas the theory that ‘economic growth will follow democracy’ may be more realistic.

Conclusion

Even though empirical studies conducted across the world proved the negative co-relation or zero- effect factor in democracy- wealth paradigm, it is a fact that authoritarian regimes have very low human development indicators unlike democratic countries. In the Middle East and China, economic wealth does not provide corresponding improvement in health, education and other social indicators. Economic growth impacts on human development through different channels like increase in per capita income, poverty reduction and higher public expenditure in education, health and related sectors.

However, while analyzing the success story of non-democratic countries with high economic growth, it is clear that, the desire for appropriate policies to reduce income inequalities and to allocate proportionately to the social sectors is sometimes lacking in these countries. Thus, the important question here is the utility of ‘wealth’ if it is not utilized effectively for the benefit of the people. The record of democratic countries is far better in this case. Amartya Sen (1999) expanded this aspect and focused on enhancing capabilities of the individual than increasing economic wealth. Authoritarian regimes may be good for creating wealth but the proliferation of wealth and equal distribution of resources requires a responsive government. In this context democracy has proved better result than autocratic systems.

Democracy and economic wealth indeed have a strong relationship even though the connection is not always positive. Democracy may lead to both positive and negative effect on economic wealth and prosperity. The real ‘connection’ largely relies on the institutional framework of democracy and its rational decision to initiate bold policies of economic development.  Therefore, we can conclude that democracy is not a magic lamp that automatically provides economic wealth. Thus, the future prospects of democracy as a form of governance will depend on the effectiveness and capability to channelize these high spirit and vibrancy of democratic institutions for harnessing a growth strategy based on economic freedom, transparency, participation and accountability.

References

Almond G. A. and Verba, S. (1963) The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Andreski, S. (1968)  Military Organization and Society. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press.

Bardhan, P. (1993 ‘Democracy and Development: A Complex Relationship’. Berkeley, CA: University of California, Berkeley.

Bhagwati, J. (1995) Democracy and Development: new thinking on an old question. Indian Economic Review

Dahl, R. A. (1971) Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press

Doucouliagos, C.(H.), (2005). Publication Bias in the Economic Freedom and Economic Growth Literature. Journal of Economic Surveys 19, 367-89.

Feng, Y. (2003) Democracy, Governance, and Economic Performance: Theory and Evidence. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press

Galenson, W. (1959). Labor and Economic Development. New York: Wiley

Gerring, J and Rodrigo Alfaro. (2005) “Democracy and Human Development” (Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Washington, D.C., September.

Haggard, S. (1990) Pathways from the Periphery: The Politics of Growth in the Newly Industrializing Countries, Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press

Huntington, S. (1968) Political Order in Changing Societies. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Huntington, S. (1991) The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press

Kurzman, C., R. Werum and R. E. Burkhart.(2003) Democracy’s Effect on Economic Growth: A Pooled Time-Series Analysis: 1951-1980, Studies in International Comparative Development.

Lipset, S. M. (1959) ‘Some Social Requisites of Democracy, Economic Development and Political Legitimacy’. American Political Science Review 53(1):69-105.

Lipset, S. M. (1994) ”The Social Requisites of Democracy Revisited” American Sociological Review, vol. 59 (1): 1-22

Menon, S. (2008) Singapore Economy: The way Ahead, IUP Press, India.

Przeworski, A., M.E. Alvarez, J.A. Cheibub, and F. Limongi (2000) Democracy and  Development: Political Institutions and Well-being in the World 1950-1990. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rao,V.(1984). Democracy and Economic Development. Studies in Comparative International Development, 39, 67-81.

Raudenbush, S. W. 1994. Random

Schumpeter, J. (1942) Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. London: Harper Perennial

Sen, A. (1999b) Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press

Sharma, Dhiraj. (2012) Democracy correlated with Economic Growth?  The Economic Times, February, 28.

Click Here To View Economics Dissertations

Advertising Essays Benefits

The Benefits of Buying Advertising Essays

Advertising

Benefits of Buying Advertising Essays – Advertising is all about face value in a business. Anyone studying marketing knows that advertising is more about brands and what you present to your customers and how you present the products according to their requirements and needs. Advertising has grown into a full blown industry that has become more than guesswork and instinct. With the world turning into a global village in the past two decades and with the world of advertising getting attention around the globe, you’re not just competing against local competitors, you’re competing against the world market.

Changing Trends in Advertising

Advertising has become more about facts and figures as the competition has peaked. There are so many products out there that the customers can easily compare and buy the products that they need at better prices. The one thing that the other product company did better than you was to market their product better. How? You think you did everything that you could to sell your product in an effective way but if you pay attention, you will notice that it has been mentioned that the customer would compare the product and he/she will chose the product that fits his/her needs better. Advertising companies make an effort to know what the customers need and at what price to market their product in such a way that the customers felt like that the product was made for their use. It might seem like an easy thing to do but it is not. The customers’ choice change so rapidly and advertising companies don’t usually have time to conduct extensive studies and keep up with the market trends at the same time.

Advertising Essays
Advertising Essays

Concept of Advertising Essays

There are professionals however, that have ample time to do both of these things in a given period of time. They not only research and record the trends in market but they also find out the preferences and the choices of the customers. And we get their work in form of advertising essays.

Advertising Essays

Advertising essays are a detailed study of different aspects of advertising including consumer behaviour, trends in advertising, trends of earnings by other companies, trends of loss and profit in different advertising agencies, advertising strategies and other topics. These essays are written by professionals and expert analysts who observe the trends in market and do extensive research on the topic. Our advertising essays are easily available for university students and span most elements of marketing.

Benefits of Buying Advertising Essays

  • Any business could benefit from buying these essays for contemplating their market strategies. Advertising essays are written from an advertising point of view completely.
  • The facts and figures that are included in the essays are completely based on the research and survey done on the trends and the consumer behaviour.
  • They are a reliable predictor of the present and the future trends in advertising.
  • Businesses can buy these essays easily from their authors and use the knowledge in the essays to help improve on their own advertising strategy.
  • Advertising essays for local industry and international markets help the businesses and companies get a better idea about their competition and make their product better.

Advertising essays are usually considered and discarded as literature. People mostly believe in theoretical and practical approaches but it is an established fact that calculated risks are better than impulsive risks. Advertising essays are tools in your arsenal that could help you get a hold of the local and international market and move ahead with your advertising strategy.

Advertising Essays | Advertising Dissertations

Marketing Essays for University Students

Marketing Essays for University Students

Marketing Essays Benefits: If you’re a marketing student then you’ve undoubtedly experienced a hectic schedule at university. You have assignments that are due and you know you’re going to be burdened with more academic work before you complete your degree. You could drive yourself insane trying to get everything done or you could buy a marketing essay to help you along.

Marketing is Important

Marketing is of course incredibly important to business. If the marketing of something is bad then people won’t even know it exists. Even companies that don’t sell things require marketing to spread the word. As such marketing is, and will always be, valuable. Let’s look at some more. There many important components of marketing. These include but are not limited to:

Market Research: Segmentation, Positioning, Targeting and The Marketing Mix

Advertising: TV, Print, Website Banner Adverts and Social Media

Sales Promotions: Special Offers, Discounts and Competitions

Public Relations: Customer Relationship, Image and Company Reputation

Sales Retention: Attracting, Capturing, Nurturing, Converting, Delivering and Maintaining Customers

A Deeper Understanding

As you’re already aware, not all marketing textbooks offer too many practical and up-to-date examples. They can only teach you the theory behind marketing. In order to gain a true understanding of marketing you need to look at marketing essays. You need to see legitimate results people and organisations have had with experimentation. Buying a marketing essay offers you an understanding of marketing that you wouldn’t get from just a textbook.

Save Time Writing Marketing Essays

Another advantage of buying a marketing essay is that you can save some time when it comes to writing your own essays. We strongly recommend that you use any marketing essay as a study guide only and to reference all material in accordance with academic guidelines. All the information that you need is already there so you’ve cut down majorly on research time. While you can also attempt to reword the essay so that it sounds like your own work, do be aware that this is plagiarism which is against the rules. If you are caught you could be seriously penalized. It’s best to use these marketing essays as a source of knowledge rather than your own essay. That is our key strength at study-aids.co.uk – We offer pre-written marketing essays, we will not write a marketing essay for you.

Marketing Essays
Marketing Essays

Become a Better Marketer

When you buy a marketing essay and deepen your understanding of marketing you also become a better marketer; often before you’ve even graduated. Marketing is about so much more than just telling people what something is. You need to fully understand your audience, and that’s after you’ve chosen the right audience. A lot goes in to a successful marketing campaign. By reading our collection of marketing essays you not only learn more about marketing as a whole, but you learn more about what does and doesn’t work. You improve your marketing ability by learning from the practical experience of others, without the need to spend much of your own time experimenting.

Better Quality Marketing Essays

While you may find free marketing essays online it’s better to actually buy them. The ones you find for free will generally be outdated, or of a poor quality. If you really want something then it’s better to pay for it. The quality will always be much higher. If you’re interested in obtaining genuine marketing essays to improve your study then paying is always the way to go.

Below is a list of marketing material we hold in our marketing essays archive:

  • Marketing Analysis
  • International Marketing
  • Marketing Planning
  • Online Marketing
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Strategic Marketing
  • Marketing Ethics

Below are some well renowned organisations we have written about:

  • Starbucks
  • Hilton Hotels
  • McDonalds
  • EasyJet
  • Reebok
  • British Airways
  • Xerox
  • TESCO
  • Sainsbury’s
  • Etihad Airlines
  • PUMA
  • Ryanair
  • Ford Motors
  • Adidas
  • Guinness
  • Lenovo
  • Tata Motors
  • Marks & Spencer
  • Waitrose
  • Coca Cola
  • Kraft Foods

These are just some of the advantages of buying university marketing essays for us. They provide you with a deeper understanding of marketing, and you can be sure that you’re getting only the highest quality marketing essays. So if you need a little help with your marketing research don’t hesitate and visit us today.

Other Relevant Links

Example Marketing Dissertations

Dissertation Writing Tips

Best HRM Dissertation Topics For University Students

Steps to Writing Effective Marketing Essays

  1. Choose a marketing essay topic
  2. Brainstorm. Clustering works best for most people. Also, it’s a good idea to talk to other people about the marketing topic.
  3. Organize your ideas into groups of related ideas.
  4. Make an outline with three main ideas which all support your overall main idea.
  5. Start writing the marketing essay at the body of your essay (main point 1, main point 2, and main point 3) with at least one paragraph for each main idea. (Do not write the introduction or conclusion yet)
  6. Summarize the whole body (your three main ideas) in one paragraph with at least one sentence for each main idea. You can add some opinion or suggestions at the end. This is your conclusion.
  7. Summarize your conclusion in one sentence. This is your thesis statement. Put this right before your first main idea. It will be the last sentence of your introduction.
  8. Write a funnel introduction (general to specific) that ends with the essay statement you wrote in the previous step.
  9. Summarize your thesis statement in two to five words. This is your title. Put it at the beginning of your marketing essay, and don’t forget to center it. Now your first draft is finished.
  10. Put your name, class name, professors name, and date at the top left or top right of the essay.
  11. Edit your essay. Most people find it best to print it out on paper and write editing marks by hand and then enter the changes on the computer. This will be your second draft.
  12. Get a friend or professional to edit your second draft (by hand). Enter these changes and print it out again. This is your third or final draft, depending on whether you have time for another draft.

Branding Essays| Advertising Essays

Effective Managers Born or Made

Effective Managers Are Leaders Born or Made?

Research Title: Effective Managers. “It is often believed that effective managers and problem solvers are born rather than made and have a kind of magical power to understand and transform the situations they encounter. If we take a closer look at the processes used, however, we find that this kind of mystique and power is often based on an ability to develop deep appreciation of situations being addressed. Skilled leaders and managers develop the ability of reading situations with various scenarios in mind and of forging actions that seem appropriate to the understandings thus obtained” (Morgan, 2006).

The major task of the leader is to bring their followers from where they are to where they have not been. Acting like a manager and problem solver is an enormous job. The good and worst manager is remembered by the people throughout the history. From many years people are debating whether the effective managers are born or made. Some researchers believe that the effective managers are born with the necessary personality traits that make them successful (Bernard, 1926). On the other side most of the researchers has a firm belief that the effective managers are made. (Bernard, 1926; Blake et al 1964, Drath et al, 1994; Fiedler, 1967; and House et al, 1974) Let us assume that effective managers are the person born with the abilities to inspire and influence others. We can take a simple example on this statement. Sometimes we see a little girl influencing her brother and parents with their inherit abilities to do the things she wants to do.

If we take effective manager as a person who is courageous and willing to speak for the betterment of the people around him than we can say that the effective managers and leaders are born. In our surrounding we can see people who are introvert and are always in followers by nature but sometimes at a particular situation about which he was passionate will prove himself a good leader or effective manager. So by this we can assume that one can become effective manager by continues training and experiences. Saal et al (1988) stated that leadership is not necessarily in born, some skills could be taught to employees to make them an effective leader.

 This issue is still inconclusive although many researchers have found that the effective managers are made not born. In previous years many theories has been given to reach at a specific point. Some of the most known theories on this issue are: Great man theory, Trait theory, and behavioral theories.

Great Man Theory

According to this theory the leaders are different from other human beings. They do not need to develop intellectual brain to lead, but they have the right set of inherited capabilities which is not equally present in all the human beings. The basic assumption of this theory is that effective mangers are born not made and they contain some inherited traits that make them successful. These great people arise with the need.

A lot of research in 19th century was based on this theory. Most of the researchers have developed a link between the Great Man theories and the work of Thomas Carlyle who was a historian. He revealed that the leaders are the person who has naturally gifted capabilities and can capture the imaginations of the masses in a better way.

In earlier times it was considered that the qualities of effective manager is associated with man and this theory is named as a great man theory but in later year when so many great woman emerged as a effective manager that named the theory Great person theory.

According to the great person theory some person born with the necessary qualities that distinguish them with other persons. These inborn traits of a person make him responsible for the position of power and authority. This theory claimed that an effective manager within born attributes can achieve the goals for their followers by facing all the obstacles in his way. This theory implies that those who are at the positions of authority and power are just because of the gifted attributes they have. Moreover this theory also argues that these gifted traits of the effective manager remain stable over the period and in different groups.

Trait Theorists

Trait theory is basically all about the characteristics of the effective manager. This theory relates to the physiological characteristics including appearance, height and weight, demographics i.e. age, income and education, personality, self-confidence, intelligence and social characteristics with management effectiveness. Successful managers have some characteristics and traits that make the manager different from the unsuccessful manager. Researchers in 20th century have identified the set of the traits that are responsible to make an effective manager. These traits are achievement drive, motivation, honesty, self-confidence cognitive ability, knowledge about the practical things, creativity charisma and flexibility. An effective manager with good judgment, strong analytical skills can better solve the problems of any situations.

This theory is a naturally pleasant theory that tells us about the elements that make the effective manager and the leader. Trait theory of leadership has a great implication in all types of organizations and all positions. By utilization of information given in the theory people can evaluate their position and determine how they can make their positions strong.

Stogdill (1974) claimed that the people who are effective managers have right combination of attributes including achievement-orientation, ambitious and determination.

The trait approach gives rise to the issue that the effective manager is born or made or whether it is an art and science. According to the trait theory sometimes we can consider effective manager and leader an art but still there is a need of some skills to be successful. Even if there are some in born characteristics that make the person an effective manager still some kind of development and encouragement is also need to make him a successful leader.

Behavioral Theories

Behavior theory is based on the assumption that the leaders are made rather than born. Effective managers are basically the learnable behavior. Behavioral theories not actually based on the inborn traits and rather this theory focuses on the actions of the managers and leaders. This theory stated that it is easy to learn than to adopt the short-lived traits. Behavioral theory is contrary to the trait theory. Behavioral theory assumes that the effective manger and problem solver capabilities can be learned but trait theory assumes that these capabilities are inherited. This theory has opened the flood gates to the leadership development.

Leaders are born

The idea that leaders are born rather made is given by the two well-known theories great man theory and the trait theory. Robins et al (2006) stated that every person personality is comprised of unique psychological characteristics. This uniqueness make person different from the others in the sense of their reactions towards the certain things and interaction with the people. This can be clearly observed in the person born with the leader characteristics-the certain make the leaders different from the non-leader. The great man theory argues that the great man and heroes are those who born with the abilities of chrism, intelligence and wisdom which they utilized in such a way that make them successful.

Example for the clarification of the Great Man Theory

If you will see an eagle running on the ground you will immediately find that an eagle is not good in running. This is because it is not naturally balanced and usually compensates it by sticking their wings out. The eagle is not appropriate for running, even if someone give him training. The training to improve the eagle running will not bring the improvement.

Leaders are made

According to the behavioral theories leaders are not born. Leaders can be developed by proper training and observations. Behavioral theories depend upon the actions of the manager not on the psychological or physiological characteristics. Cawthon (1996) revealed that the people born with equal abilities and equal traits.

Knowledge and skills person learn directly contribute in the process of leadership, while the other personal characteristics make the leader unique. According to the process leadership theory people can chose to become the effective manager by learning leadership skills. Werren Bennis is a well know researcher of leadership. He believes that every person can become a leader through years of learning and experience.

Dr Carol supports this argument by saying that people can develop leadership skills by their dedications towards work and hard working. Moreover he said that intelligence and brain is the starting point of the leadership development. Powel said that the effective leaders are made not born. Effective leaders learn from the trial and error and from their experiences. They learn from their failure and use this learning in future for solving the problem.

Effective Managers
Effective Managers

What make an effective leader?

An effective leader does not need to be holding some specific attributes. Harry Truman the most effective executive in US do not have even one ounce of charisma. When Truman becomes the president of the US he knew that what he wanted to do. He found that after World War 2 he should focus more on foreign affairs. He started his work by taking tutorials on foreign policy. As a result he becomes the most effective president in the US foreign affairs. Similarly while working in some well-known business firms I found CEO’s who were not the stereo typical leaders. These types of CEO’s are all over the world. They are varying in attitudes, personalities, strength and weaknesses. They ranged from extrovert to introvert from easy going to controlling and from generous to economical in nature. This shows that it’s the inherited attributes that make the person leader but they follow some practices that make them an effecter manager.

Drucker (2004) stated that the Great managers can be charismatic or tedious, kind or miserly, creative thinker or numbers oriented. He stated that effective executives follow eight practices that make them the effective manager. These practices include what need to be done? What will be a write decision for the enterprise? They developed a detailed action plan. They took responsibility of making decisions and communicating to the followers. Their main focus is on the prevailing opportunities rather than problems. They arrange productive meetings and they thought as we rather than I.

Importance of emotional intelligence in leadership development

In our practical life we usually go through such stories that a person who was highly skilled and intelligent promoted to the leadership position and get failed and another person with limited skills and intelligence promoted to the same leadership position remain success full. Such anecdotes make our belief strong on the perception that the leaders are born. The personal styles of the leaders also very and in different situation different types of leaders usually emerge. Studies found that the most effective leader is the one with high degree of emotional intelligence. This argument doesn’t meant that intelligence and technical skills are useless in the leader development. They do matters but as a threshold capabilities. These are the basics requirement of the executive position. Goleman (1998) in his research claimed that without emotional intelligence a person cannot become a leader. He pointed out that a person with extensive trainings, analytical mind and endless supply of smart ideas cannot be a good leader unless he has high level of emotional intelligence.

Skills required for effective manager

Much research has been conducted in previous years to see the relationship between the individual trait and the effective manager. The most of the studies revealed that the individual trait alone does not guarantee a success flu and effective manager, Individual needs to learn certain skills according to the prevailing situations to become and effective leader. Kirkpatrick et al (1999) in their study on the “Leaders: Do traits matter” revealed that the person traits is not the only thing that contribute in the success of the manager. They revealed that besides personal traits they need motivation, cognitive skills and the knowledge of the business. The result of the study is also consistent with the behavioral theory that the skills of the manger matters rather than in born traits. Stogdill also revealed that the any individual cannot become the leader by the virtue of the some traits he possesses. Stogdill research shows that personal or in born trait is universally associated with the effective manager, it the skills that person adopt in certain situations make him effective manger. Some of the skills that individual should learn in order to become an effective manager is discussed below.

Cognitive skills

Cognitive skills are the primary skills that are required for the effective leadership. These are the skills that are related to the basic cognitive capabilities. These are the skills include collecting, processing and disseminating information and learning. Communication skills like speaking are also important to convey the message effectively. Written skills are also important to learn for effective communication. To be an effective leaders need to develop active learning skills this enables leaders to work on new information and to learn its implications. These skills help managers to adopt behavior and strategies to solve non- routine problems effectively. Gilllen et al (1985) stated that the critical thinking is also an important aspect of leadership in order to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches of work. Kirkpatrick et al revealed that the manager must gather and integrate the enormous amount of knowledge about the functions of the business to become an effective manager. By getting detailed knowledge about the business, manager can effectively formulate the strategies, solve problems and make decisions.

Business skills

Business skills include the skills that are related to the functional area of the field of the leader. This includes the knowledge about the contexts in which individual work. Business skills also involve the management of the resources and operational analysis. In addition it also involves management or personnel resources to motivate followers for their work. The skills of managing financial resources also come in business skills. Harvard professor Kotter said that the expertise in business is more important the knowledge.

Interpersonal skills

The term social skills refer to the person’s ability of making relationship at the workplace. People with high social skills are found to be mean-spirit. Socially skilled person has wide connections. They have the ability of finding common ground in people of different types. They work on the assumption that nothing can be done alone. These types of people have a detailed network of the people that they can use at the time of action. In every company social skills is considered to be the key capability of the leaders. To be an effective leader a person should develop its social skills. No leader is the island. After all the work of the leader is to get things done by the people and it is not possible without the required social skills.

Strategic skills

The strategic skills are the highly conceptual skills. These skills are needed for the understanding of complexity, dealing with ambiguities, and influencing the organizations. Strategic skills include planning-related skills of imagining the systems and problems in different situations. The environment scanning skills is also an important skill that individual should learn to become an effective leader. Environmental scanning skills are related to the identification of downstream consequences and identification of key causes of the problem. These strategic skills also contains some problem solving components including problem identification this help in determining the true nature of a problem that is faced in the organization. Effective leaders also need to learn the solution appraisal and objective evaluation skills in order to evaluate the solution of a problem in an appropriate way.

Organizational culture and Leadership development

The role of culture in making of a leader gets overlooked. The culture of the organization also plays an important role in supporting and hindering the development of the leader. Organization culture is basically the values, beliefs, rules and practices of the organization. Most of the managers do not account the role of culture while making a leader in their organization. The most considerable reason of neglecting culture influence in the development of the leader is their wrong understanding about their culture. But failing to understand the role of culture in making the effective manager can be costly.

Some executives have a wrong perception that sending managers in the leader development program can produce better leaders that can handle the challenges in a better way. But there is more to do with the managers to make them an effective lender. To build an effective manager, organizations need to focus on the context in which the development of the leaders takes place. Organizational culture is the more significant part of the context. For making a good leaders organizations needs to assess the drivers and the culture of the organizations.

Role of Work motivation in building effective managers

Motivation is the psychological and physiological urge of the individual. Motivation helps in activating the behavior and drive that helps in achieving some goal and objective. The motivation level of the individuals very situation to situation. The situations in which individuals are working have an influence on the level of motivation. There are certain ways in which the motivation level of individuals can be improved. These factors are important in making the effective manager

Job enrichment

Organizations who want to develop effective manager must design their jobs in such a way that increase achievements, recognition, responsibility and growth. The work assigned to the managers should be compromised of work contents, greater use of skills and increased authority.

Flex time

Organizations should provide employees with flexi time. This flexi time will help the manager in determining their own work schedules. Providing flexi time with the core time will help in developing effective manager.

Quality circles

Some autonomous work groups should be defined that meet on daily basis to solve some problems. By the help of these groups they will exchange their experiences and ideas on problems. This will help the managers in learning from other experiences and skills.

Organizational reward system and effective managers

The organizational reward system has been found strongly related to the development of the effective manager. Fair pay benefits and promotions motivate the managers to learn new things and to develop the skills. Employment recognition system is an effective tool of making the effective manager. When organizations give recognition and rewards for the task they performed they will motivated to repeat their efficiency in the future days.

Problem solving

Middle and senior level management are seems to be more engaged in problem solving. The results of the problem solving are dependent on the allocation of the resources and work results. The situations in which the problem solving activities are take place are often complex, unstructured and non-routine. Sometimes the problems occur are beyond the control of the manager. Managers lacking in sufficient life experiences and training found problems beyond their control. Effective managers normally follow some steps in order to solve a particular problem. In First step manager identify the problem by gathering and evaluating the information. After gathering the information regarding the problem managers makes logical assumption based on their prior experiences. Tentative alternate solutions are developed and each alternative is than considered in depth. On the basis of decision criteria each alternative is evaluated by the manager. Only that alternative is selected which best fit with the criteria. After selection of the best alternative the solution is implemented. The results of the solutions are evaluated with time.

Conclusion

After the thorough review of the theories and literature it is evident that we cannot support a side and negate the other side when it comes about the discussion of whether leaders are born or made. The studies show that the both in born characteristics and the skills adoption is important to become an effective leader. Leadership can be learned by many ways but cannot be taught, Leaders learn 80 percent of things from their job. They learn by monitoring others leaders, by taking feedback, by coping with the multiple situations. Leadership is basically the life time learning.

The insight on the previous literature shows that trait is not alone sufficient for making an effective manager. These are the only preconditions of becoming an effective manager. An individual with certain traits needs to adopt certain skills and knowledge to become an effective manager. Possessing some traits enable the individual that he can also become the effective manger by adopting some required skills.

Leadership can be something an art but application of special skills and techniques are required in order to be successful. Even if there are certain inborn qualities that make one a good leader, these natural talents need encouragement and development. A person is not born with self-confidence. Self-confidence is developed, honesty and integrity are a matter of personal choice, motivation to lead comes from within the individual, and the knowledge of business can be acquired. While cognitive ability has its origin partly in genes, it still needs to be developed. None of these ingredients are acquired overnight.

These executives need to accomplish the importance of the culture in the development of the leaders. They need to factor the organizational culture in a way that helps in building leaders. Organizations need to understand their culture. By thorough understanding of their culture organizations can determine that which factors in their culture can hinder and enhance the development of the organizations.

In a nut shell we can say that in born attributes is the pre-condition of becoming an effective manager but to become successful leader individual should adopt some skills relevant to their business. Although a leader born with set of qualities that make it different from the non-leaders but there is an influence of other environmental factors in making him the one of the successful and effective manager.

References

Bernard, L. L. (1926).  Effective Managers An introduction to social psychology. New York: Holt.

Blake, R. R., Shepard, H. A., and Mouton, J. S. (1964). Managing intergroup conflict in industry. Houston, TX: Gulf Publishing Co

Brungardt, C. (1997). The Making of Leaders and Effective Managers: A Review of the Research in Leadership Development and Education. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 3(3), 81-95.

Behavioral Theory. Changing minds and persuasion — How we change what others think, believe, feel and do.

Cowley, W. H. (1928). Three distinctions in the study of leaders.. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 23(2), 144-157.

Cawthon, D, L, (1996). Effective Managers and Leadership: the great man theory revisited, Business horizon may-June,1-4

Cherry, K. Trait Theory – Trait Theory of Personality. Psychology – Complete Guide to Psychology for Students, Educators & Enthusiasts.

Drath, W. H., and Palus, C. J. (1994). Making common sense: Leadership as meaning-making in a community of practice. Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership.

Day, D. V. (2000). Leadership development: A review in context. The Leadership Quarterly, 11(4), 581-613.

Goleman, D. (1995). Effective Managers and Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantman.

Great Man Theory of Leadership. Management Study Guide – Free Training Guide for Students and Entrepreneurs.

House, R. J., and Mitchell, R. R. (1974, Fall). Path-goal theory of leadership. Journal of Contemporary Business, 3(4), pp. 81-98.

Horner, M. (1997). Leadership theory: past, present and future. Team Performance Management,, 3(4), 270-287.

Johnson, A. M., Vernon, P. A., McCarthy, J. M., Molson,, M., Harris, J. A., & Jang, K. L. (1998). Logo Nature vs. nurture: Are leaders born or made? A behavior genetic investigation of leadership style. Australian Academic Press, 1(4), 216-223.

Kirkpatrick, S. A., & Locke,, E. A. (1991). Leadership: do traits matter? Academy of Management Executive, 5(2), 48-62.

Leadership Theories. North Georgia College and state University.

Robbins’s, Bergman, R, Stagg I& Coulter M, 2006 Management,4th edn Pearson prentice Hall, Australia.

Rowley, J. (1997). Academic leaders: made or born? Industrial and Commercial Training, 29(3), 78-84.

Ruvolo, C. M., Peterson,, S. A., & Le Boeuf,, J. N. (2004). Leaders Are Made, Not Born The Critical Role of a Developmental Framework to. Practice and Research, 56(1), 10-19.

Shelley A, K., & Locke, E. A. (1991) Effective Managers and Leadership: Do Traits Matter? The Executive, 5(2), 48-60.

Stogdill, R.M. (1974). Handbook of leadership: A survey of the literature, New York: Free Press.

Yammarino, F. J. (2000). Leadership skills: introduction and overview. › Management and Strategy Papers, 11(1), 5-9.

View Business Management Dissertations Here

Agile Software Dissertation

How to Best Integrate Agile Software Development Methods (XP and Scrum) By Introducing Usability Practices and Methods

Dissertation Topic: Agile Software. This dissertation aims to investigate how end user involvement can be made possible without disrupting the agile process using ground theory and practical approaches. It will attempt to integrate light-weight usability methods incorporated into the agile processes. It will also describe the key question as to how usability legit-weight methods could be integrated in agile process in order to create efficient and effective usable software in a short span of time.

This dissertation proposes an integrated process model that will ultimately integrate Light-Weight Usability methods In Agile Software Development Processes, light-weight methods (Use case technique, Personas, low-fidelity prototyping and Guerilla testing) in agile different iterations. This would assist the design and development team to produce enhanced product that are aimed at increasing customer satisfaction while simultaneously reducing the risk of incurring additional costs due to ‘redesigns’.

AGILE Software Dissertation
AGILE Software Dissertation

To provide a clearer perspective on the direction of the research questions, the entire research will focus on agile software development or to some extent, at least compatible with agile development methods using SCRUM as a referral point due to the fact that Scrum is both the most widely used agile methodology as well as the system that is applied by the subject company. The researcher has formulated the research questions in a manner that would not only benefit the company in the case study but as well as for other companies that are similar. The proposed research questions are as follows:

  • How to analyze the end user requirements in agile software development processes?
  • How product evaluation with end users might be made possible in agile short iterations?

The research questions are based on the fact that although many software development companies have adopted the agile methodologies over the last decade for a variety of reasons, improving usability is rarely among these reasons. When the ratio of usability increases in importance, software developers with limited knowledge of usability or interactive interface designs are irresolute over making the new priority attuned with their development process principally due to the fact that the agile literature provides little direction. This research hopes to provide answers towards managing this scenario effectively and efficiently.

Dissertation Aims and Objectives

  • To develop a greater understanding about agile software development processes, and to critically evaluate the existing literature to highlight its vital elements, focusing in particular on end-user requirements in context of usability.
  • To provide a mechanism for product evaluation by end users in agile processes, which comprise of short iterations?
  • To analyze the precedence, if any, of integrating usability with agile methods and provide a feasible framework to this hybrid approach.
  • To highlight the benefits of integrating usability techniques with agile methods; and to offer guide-lines that facilitate software development companies that are using agile development processes.
  • To incorporate the findings of this research, to the subject company “Easysport” and provide conclusive evidence as well recommendations, which benefits the organization in terms of efficiency and productivity.

View This Dissertation Here