Instrumental leadership: An extension of the Full-Range Leadership Theory

From a theoretical perspective, an extension to the Full Range leadership Theory (FRLT) seems needed. In this paper, we explain why instrumental leadership--a class of leadership includes leader behaviors focusing on task and strategic aspects that are neither values nor exchange oriented--can fulfill this extension. Instrument leadership is composed of four factors: environmental monitoring, strategy formulation and implementation, path-goal facilitation and outcome monitoring; these aspects of leadership are currently not included in any of the FRLT's nine leadership scales (as measured by the MLQ--Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire). We present results from two empirical studies using very large samples from a wide array of countries (N > 3,000) to examine the factorial, discriminant and criterion-related validity of the instrumental leadership scales. We find support for a four-factor instrumental leadership model, which explains incremental variance in leader outcomes in over and above transactional and transformational leadership.

Leadership Development Opportunities, January 2010

This Guide summarizes some of the many opportunities and experiences available to Iowa youth to enhance their leadership potential and to exercise their leadership abilities. This information was compiled at the request of the Youth Planning Committee for the Governor’s Youth Leadership and Mentoring Conference in 1999 and has continued through the Iowa Collaboration for Youth Development. Although not an exhaustive listing, the Guide provides information on many of the state and national leadership development opportunities for middle and high school youth throughout Iowa. Contact information for each program is provided for those wanting to learn more about the opportunities summarized in the Guide. Recommendations for program additions for future publication of this Guide are welcome.

Working in a digital world: new leadership practices for the development of a digital library workforce

Digital library developments are part of a global move in many sectors of society toward virtual work and electronic services made possible by the advances in information technology. This environment requires new attitudes and skills in the workforce and therefore leaders who understand the global changes underlying the new information economy and how to lead and develop such a workforce. This article explores ways to develop human resources and stimulate creativity to capitalize on the immense potential of digital libraries to educate and empower social change. There is a shortage of technically skilled workers and even more so of innovators. Retention and recruitment is one of the greatest obstacles to developing digital library services and information products.

La família multicultural: un espai educatiu per la conviència plural. El cas de les famílies adoptives i les famílies acollidores

L'article s'inicia relflexionant sobre la concepció actual de la familia i de com les seves activitats socioeducatives poden potenciar el desenvolupament de la convivència i la promoció de l'acceptació de la diferència. Continuem presentant a les famílies multiculturals que s'han format a partir de l'adopció i de l'acolliment i analitzant alguns dels grans interrogants que plantejen aquestes pràctiques socioeducatives per a que aquestes famílies puguin atendre a les necessitats dels nens i nenes i formin ciutadans i ciutadanes capaços de conviure en una societat plural. Per últim, obrim alguns aspectes a la discussió.

Educación multicultural. Líneas de investigación del Grupo de Investigación en Educación Intercultural (GREDI)

El estudio presenta dos investigaciones paralelas. La primera pretende caracterizar el medio familiar de las minorías estudiadas; conocer la percepción del profesorado sobre su práctica educativa en aulas con diferentes minorías culturales; diagnosticar los valores del alumnado de las minorías y conocer su nivel de integración en el aula, por último analizar las actitudes hacia la educación multicultural del profesorado en general. La segunda investigación pretende comprender la diversidad cultural en la escuela; analizar el tratamiento de la realidad multicultural desde la exploración de la vida en el aula: organización del ambiente de aprendizaje; procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje; estilos de comunicación; relaciones existentes; tipos de disciplina; estimar el nivel de integración de las minorías y descubrir los modelos educativos empleados, dentro y fuera del aula, para abordar la realidad multicultural. A partir de las dos investigaciones se busca identificar las necesidades formativas de los profesores para llevar a cabo una propuesta educativa multicultural.

Patient expectations at a multicultural out-patient clinic in Switzerland.

BACKGROUND: Recognizing patient expectation is considered as an important objective for primary care physicians. A number of studies suggest that failure to identify patient expectations can lead to patient dissatisfaction with care, lack of compliance and inappropriate use of medical resources. It has been suggested that identifying patient expectations in multicultural contexts can be especially challenging. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to compare health care expectations of Swiss and immigrant patients attending the out-patient clinic of a Swiss university hospital and to assess physicians' ability to identify their patients' expectations. METHODS: Over a 3-month period, all patients attending the out-patient clinic at a Swiss university hospital were requested to complete pre-consultation surveys. Their physicians were requested to complete post-consultation surveys. Outcome measures were patients' self-rated health, resort to prior home treatment, patients' expectations of the consultation, physicians' perception of their patients' expectations and agreement between patients and physicians. RESULTS: We analysed 343 questionnaires completed by patients prior to their consultation (> 50% immigrants) and 333 questionnaires completed by their physicians after the consultation. Most expectations were shared by all patients. Physicians had inaccurate perceptions of their patients' expectations, regardless of patients' origin. CONCLUSIONS: Our study found no evidence that immigrant patients' expectations differed from those of Swiss patients, nor that physicians had more difficulty identifying expectations of immigrant patients. However, physicians in our study were generally poor at identifying patients' expectations, and therefore inter-group differences may be difficult to detect. Our results point to the need to strengthen physicians' general communication skills which should then serve as a foundation for more specific, cross-cultural communication training.

El professorat d'Educació Física a l'escola multicultural. Percepcions del context i necessitats de formació

El present article se centra en la situació del professorat d'Educació Física i les seves necessitats formatives per actuar adequadament en entorns d'escola multicultural. Amb aquesta finalitat es presenta la importància de l'educació física com a agent socialitzador per a l'alumnat immigrant, les diferents tendències de les investigacions específiques sobre formació del professorat d'Educació Física en temes d'immigració, i les dades obtingudes a través d'una investigació específica realitzada amb una mostra de 230 centres escolars de tot Catalunya. Com a aspectes més remarcables, cal assenyalar que encara que l'educació física i l'esport poden representar un espai de trobada molt valuós per a la interculturalitat, és important no deixar de banda una educació orientada cap a la convivència, i que la formació del professorat sigui coherent amb les necessitats reals que s'observen en i des dels centres escolars.

The future of leadership

The good news with regard to this (or any) chapter on the future of leadership is that there is one. There was a time when researchers called for a moratorium on new leadership theory and research (e.g., Miner, 1975) citing the uncertain future of the field. Then for a time there was a popular academic perspective that leadership did not really matter when it came to shaping organizational outcomes (Meindl & Ehrlich, 1987; Meindl, Ehrlich, & Dukerich, 1985; Pfeffer, 1977). That perspective was laid to rest by "realists" in the field (Day & Antonakis, 2012a) by means of empirical re-interpretation of the results used to support the position that leadership does not matter (Lieberson & O'Connor, 1972; Salancik & Pfeffer, 1977). Specifically, Day and Lord (1988) showed that when proper methodological concerns were addressed (e.g., controlling for industry and company size effects; incorporating appropriate time lags) that the impact of top-level leadership was considerable - explaining as much as 45% of the variance in measures of organizational performance. Despite some recent pessimistic sentiments about the "curiously unformed" state of leadership research and theory (Hackman & Wageman, 2007), others have argued that the field has continued to evolve and is potentially on the threshold of some significant breakthroughs (Day & Antonakis, 2012a). Leadership scholars have been re-energized by new directions in the field and research efforts have revitalized areas previously abandoned for apparent lack of consistency in findings (e.g., leadership trait theory). Our accumulated knowledge now allows us to explain the nature of leadership including its biological bases and other antecedents, and consequences with some degree of confidence. There are other comprehensive sources that review the extensive theoretical and empirical foundation of leadership (Bass, 2008; Day & Antonakis, 2012b) so that will not be the focus of the present chapter. Instead, we will take a future-oriented perspective in identifying particular areas within the leadership field that we believe offer promising perspectives on the future of leadership. Nonetheless, it is worthwhile as background to first provide an overview of how we see the leadership field changing over the past decade or so. This short chronicle will set the stage for a keener understanding of where the future contributions are likely to emerge. Overall, across nine major schools of leadership - trait, behavioural, contingency, contextual, relational, sceptics, information processing, New Leadership, biological and evolutionary - researchers have seen a resurgence in interest in one area, a high level of activity in at least four other areas, inactivity in three areas, and one that was modestly active in the previous decade but we think holds strong promise for the future (Gardner, Lowe, Moss, Mahoney, & Cogliser, 2010). We will next provide brief overviews of these nine schools and their respective levels of research activity (see Figure 1).

Hospital antibiotic consumption in Switzerland: comparison of a multicultural country with Europe.

The consumption of antibiotics in the inpatient setting of Switzerland was assessed to determine possible differences between linguistic regions, and to compare these results with European results. Data on antibiotic consumption were obtained from a sentinel network representing 54% of the national acute care hospitals, and from a private drug market monitoring company. Aggregated data were converted into defined daily doses (DDD). The total consumption density in Switzerland was close to the median consumption reported in European surveys. Between 2004 and 2008, the total consumption of systemic antibiotics rose from 46.1 to 54.0 DDD per 100 occupied bed-days in the entire hospitals, and from 101.6 to 114.3 DDD per 100 occupied bed-days in the intensive care units. Regional differences were observed for total consumption and among antibiotic classes. Hospitals in the Italian-speaking region showed a significantly higher consumption density, followed by the French- and German-speaking regions. Hospitals in the Italian-speaking region also had a higher consumption of fluoroquinolones, in line with the reported differences between Italy, Germany and France. Antibiotic consumption in acute care hospitals in Switzerland is close to the European median with a relatively low consumption in intensive care units. Some of the patterns of variation in consumption levels noticed among European countries are also observed among the cultural regions of Switzerland.

El professorat d'Educació Física a l'escola multicultural. Percepcions del context i necessitats de formació

El present article se centra en la situació del professorat d'Educació Física i les seves necessitats formatives per actuar adequadament en entorns d'escola multicultural. Amb aquesta finalitat es presenta la importància de l'educació física com a agent socialitzador per a l'alumnat immigrant, les diferents tendències de les investigacions específiques sobre formació del professorat d'Educació Física en temes d'immigració, i les dades obtingudes a través d'una investigació específica realitzada amb una mostra de 230 centres escolars de tot Catalunya. Com a aspectes més remarcables, cal assenyalar que encara que l'educació física i l'esport poden representar un espai de trobada molt valuós per a la interculturalitat, és important no deixar de banda una educació orientada cap a la convivència, i que la formació del professorat sigui coherent amb les necessitats reals que s'observen en i des dels centres escolars.