Wednesday, November 14, 2007, 12:00-5:00 PM
The next Howe School Alliance Roundtable meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 14. Per our custom, the November Roundtable meeting is preceded by a brief HSATM Advisory Board meeting, to which all Roundtable meeting attendees are invited.
The Roundtable meeting is devoted to Selected Research Presentations. Highlights of three research projects underway at the Howe School will be presented and the business implications discussed -- see the abstracts below. This annual meeting with faculty has always been one of our most stimulating and well-received Roundtable meetings of the year. The Roundtable meeting will begin at 2:00 PM
The Advisory Board meeting, from 1:00-2:00 PM, will be devoted to a brief discussion of HSATM activities for 2007 and plans for 2008. All attendees are encouraged to attend the full combined meeting and to partake of a buffet luncheon from 12:00-1:00 PM
The meeting will take place in the Babbio Center for Technology Management, room 104, on the Stevens campus in Hoboken. Please confirm your attendance with Sharen Glennon (sglennon@stevens.edu or 201-216-5381). Dress code is business casual.
Abstracts of Presentations
Creating a Project’s Spirit: What Leaders Can Do
Zvi Aronson
Successful projects are typically characterized by a unique spirit. In such projects one can sense the energy and the excitement. Participants are dedicated to the project’s mission, willing to invest extra effort, support one another, and are proud to be part of the team. Unique project spirits, however, do not emerge out of the blue; they are created by leaders who possess the know-how to inspire and ignite the energy in people. What precisely is project spirit? What can project leaders do to generate gains in spirit? Are there building blocks leaders can use to shape spirit in a structured manner, and do these building blocks serve contrasting spirit-building functions depending on the level of technology uncertainty operating in the project? Our findings will stimulate thinking among leaders concerned with shaping and managing project partakers’ spirit as part of their planning activities.
The Importance of Top Management Support of Strategic Technology Initiatives
Ann Mooney
Research has shown that strategic technology initiatives are more successful when they are supported by the top management of the firm. This talk will review research that examines how top management team support can be encouraged. Factors such as attributes of the project, the project team, top management, and resources will be explored, and implications for management will be discussed.
Transforming Leadership in the Globally Integrated Enterprise
Michael Ryan
The traditional view of the leader as a heroic, charismatic figure is outdated and overrated. Today’s leaders face a landscape in which work is globally distributed and geographic, temporal and cultural differences create a new set of challenges. The much-heralded distance communication technology is only a partial solution to these challenges. Leaders need a new set of skills that can enable them to bridge the boundaries created by differences in geography, culture and time. Our new model of leadership focuses on behaviors that resemble those of an ambassador who has the skill and tact to span these boundaries and to recognize and nurture the potential of others who can serve as attachés with whom leadership can be shared. This talk will describe our research findings, discuss a case study in leadership of a globally distributed team, and present some practical suggestions for selecting and developing ‘Ambassadorial Leaders’.
