Papers by Tim Lowder, PhD
This paper introduces the historical development of concepts and techniques in managerial account... more This paper introduces the historical development of concepts and techniques in managerial accounting that have shifted management paradigms toward alternative methods of costs allocation. In addition, the paper evaluates past, current, and future trends in managerial accounting techniques and their influence on companies throughout the United States. The objective of this analysis is to provide activity based cost accounting users with a better, more focused perspective on how to transition their current accounting systems into the future based upon these paradigm shifts. Activity Based Costing (ABC) has demonstrated positive results for the companies that made it through the implementation process. As will be demonstrated, newly developed paradigms in cost accounting methodologies are adding to the complexity as to which system provides the best information for decision-making purposes. Within the context of these new cost accounting paradigm shifts, a critical issue is arising for current users of ABC. The issue addressed in this paper is the need for a hybrid methodology of costs allocation that provides better information for all strategic planning time horizons.
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This paper addresses the transformation of a young man named Bernie. Bernie learned a great deal ... more This paper addresses the transformation of a young man named Bernie. Bernie learned a great deal during his dysfunctional childhood and eventually became a transformational teacher.
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The dynamic leader must have a basic understanding of their organization's affirmative moral obli... more The dynamic leader must have a basic understanding of their organization's affirmative moral obligation and operate from a humanistic paradigmatic perspective. Every organization has a positive moral obligation to do "good" for its stakeholders and not harm them in any way.
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Throughout the past 2.5 decades, General Electric (GE) has consistently attained high levels of g... more Throughout the past 2.5 decades, General Electric (GE) has consistently attained high levels of growth and profitability. GE's astonishing accomplishments were the result of several brilliant organizational transformations, a metamorphosis of sorts; from a slow industrial-based, giant elephant into a technology-based, efficient and swift cheetah. These amazing transformations are not the result of circumstance but are calculated, coordinated, and driven efforts carried out by excellent leadership, strategy, and execution. In the new millennium, GE is in the process of a transformation while continuing its rapid expansion into the global marketplace.
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A majority of entrepreneurial success factors are directly related to the entrepreneur's human ex... more A majority of entrepreneurial success factors are directly related to the entrepreneur's human experiences. Thus, research in the field of entrepreneurial success factors is relatively new. The paper analyzes and selects one of the three operative paradigms to study entrepreneurial success factors including analytical, actors, and systems approaches. Most entrepreneurial success factors discussed in the analysis relate to human experience and thus, the best paradigmatic approach is the actors operative paradigm grounded in systems theory. The qualitative phenomenological methodology is best suited for the researcher who chooses the actors operative paradigm because it affords the researcher potential to generate the richest and most viable data set and offers the greatest potential to produce significant research outcomes. Moreover, the qualitative phenomenological method provides the researcher with greater flexibility in attaining rich data and provides a better opportunity for the researcher to develop substantial research conclusions based on real world entrepreneurial experiences (Clarkqualitative, phenomenological methodology combined with an actors paradigmatic approach grounded in systems theory is the best research plan for studying entrepreneurial success factors.
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In today's multi-cultural business organizations, management paradigms must be shifted and expand... more In today's multi-cultural business organizations, management paradigms must be shifted and expanded to include a broader spectrum of variables, particularly when these paradigms affect decisions that significantly impact the organization's culture. As research has demonstrated, the sum total of all employee's perceptions and behaviors constitute the organization's culture.
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The differences between the transformational and servant leadership models have significant impli... more The differences between the transformational and servant leadership models have significant implications concerning organizational change management. First, transformational leaders have a stronger focus on intellectual stimulation than servant leaders. Servant leader emphasize developing their followers' personal potential and facilitating their personal growth whereas, transformational leaders emphasize enhancing employees' innovation and creativity. This concept is important because it illustrates the servant leader's focus on individual development and the transformational leader's focus on organizational development. Second, servant leaders place greater emphasis on behaviors associated with valuing individuals at an emotional level and learning from others. Third, transformational leader are more willing to take risks to attain organizational success and eliminate ineffective processes and systems. The servant leader is willing to take initiative but only in the sense of initial strategic planning, new programs for added efficiency, and ultimate responsibility for the company's success. The transformational leader's focus on risk taking as an essential component of leadership is significantly greater than that of the servant leader. Fourth, the servant leader is more will to forsake self-advancement and rewards toward the betterment of followers. These differing attributes are analyzed in this paper to determine which model promises to be more effective in implementing organizational change management.
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Great marketing strategy is essential to the success of an entrepreneurial firm. However, choosin... more Great marketing strategy is essential to the success of an entrepreneurial firm. However, choosing effective marketing strategies is a very difficult task for most entrepreneurs. This is because entrepreneurial firms operate in a complex, open systems environment where entropic forces cause the its systems to deteriorate, disorganize, and progress toward maximum disorder and chaos . Hawking (2001) describes entropy as "nothing more than a measure of the total information contained in a system" (p. 64). Entropic forces resulting from this information can cause excess energy within the firm to be used inefficiently. This unused energy, or resources, typically result in additional slack and/or decay within the firm's structure ). Many resource surpluses and deficiencies are the result of poor marketing strategies. Inadequate marketing strategies leave the firm with excess resources as a result of diminished sales while excessive marketing strategies leave the firm with insufficient resources to adequately meet demand. Thus, the marketing strategies employed by an entrepreneurial firm have the potential to significantly impact the organization's structural integrity and must be an integral part of the company's strategic planning process. The quantum model developed in this paper can be used as both a performance measurement tool and/or as a tool for developing marketing strategies that mitigate structural entropy and enhance structural integrity.
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The topics of corporate ethics and workplace spirituality have become increasingly important mana... more The topics of corporate ethics and workplace spirituality have become increasingly important management issues throughout businesses in the United States during the past several years.
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An organization's strategy consists of many factors that form a formula or roadmap to provide gui... more An organization's strategy consists of many factors that form a formula or roadmap to provide guidance concerning the organization's goals, how it will go about attaining these goals, and the tactics and policies that are needed to attain those goals . Thus, one can ascertain that there are many components of strategy. Management's understanding and use of strategy as a tool to ensure business success has been an important issue for many decades. This paper's purpose is to determine establish the critical components of strategic management. To accomplish this purpose, the analysis first compares and contrasts the relationship between strategic planning and strategic thinking and their relationship to strategic management. Second, the paper evaluates the strategic management process within the framework of its strategic planning and strategic thinking components. Third and last, the analysis makes conclusions as to the critical role of strategic management in organizational success.
The differences between the transformational and servant leadership models have significant impli... more The differences between the transformational and servant leadership models have significant implications concerning organizational change management. First, transformational leaders have a stronger focus on intellectual stimulation than servant leaders. Servant leader emphasize developing their followers' personal potential and facilitating their personal growth whereas, transformational leaders emphasize enhancing employees' innovation and creativity. This concept is important because it illustrates the servant leader's focus on individual development and the transformational leader's focus on organizational development. Second, servant leaders place greater emphasis on behaviors associated with valuing individuals at an emotional level and learning from others. Third, transformational leader are more willing to take risks to attain organizational success and eliminate ineffective processes and systems. The servant leader is willing to take initiative but only in the sense of initial strategic planning, new programs for added efficiency, and ultimate responsibility for the company's success. The transformational leader's focus on risk taking as an essential component of leadership is significantly greater than that of the servant leader. Fourth, the servant leader is more will to forsake self-advancement and rewards toward the betterment of followers. These differing attributes are analyzed in this paper to determine which model promises to be more effective in implementing organizational change management.
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This paper analyzes the many constructs of the total quality movement from an analytical, systems... more This paper analyzes the many constructs of the total quality movement from an analytical, systems, and actors paradigmatic perspective and synthesizes the various total quality movement constructs into an effective change management planning framework. The change management planning framework developed by the author is called the Dynamic Continuous Improvement Model which synthesizes the total quality movement's elements into two specific open systems processes called morphostasis and morphogenesis. The first process called morphostasis is defined as a process that allows the organization to maintain its given form, structure, and state in an open systems environment (
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This paper addresses the various leadership styles, attributes, skills, and behaviors that are re... more This paper addresses the various leadership styles, attributes, skills, and behaviors that are representative of an effective leader. Within the construct of this paper, transformational and servant leadership models are first analyzed and evaluated. The transformational and servant leadership models were chosen because of their interrelated styles, attributes, skills and behaviors which are thoroughly addressed in this paper. Then an optimal mix of leadership styles, attributes, skills, and behaviors are established. This optimal mix of leadership styles, attributes, skills, and behaviors are then synthesized within a five-dimensional construct which was developed by the author to create a Dynamic Leadership Model (DLM). A thorough understanding of the DLM enhances a leader's capability to establish, implement, and control organizational change strategies in a cultural-cognitive institutional environment. New Dimensions 3 New Dimensions of Leadership toward a Dynamic Model: A
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This paper performs a meta-analysis of research on leadership excellence and develops a construct... more This paper performs a meta-analysis of research on leadership excellence and develops a construct for positive leadership development within an organization. First, the analysis presents two perspectives of positive leadership attributes and behaviors. Second, the open systems and actors operative paradigm is presented within the framework of the paper's analysis of leadership. In addition, the analysis demonstrates why the rational and open systems perspective is an effective tool for the analysis of leadership. Third, a dichotomous framework involving vice and virtue attributes are developed for understanding both positive and negative "dark" leadership. Fourth, the meta-analysis presents five dimensions of leadership attributes and behaviors. Fifth, a leadership evaluation construct is created that consists of positive leadership attributes and behaviors. Lastly, a methodology is presented for implementing the leadership construct developed in this paper within an organization.
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The paper evaluates change management as an imperative for success for the individual leader and ... more The paper evaluates change management as an imperative for success for the individual leader and his or her organization. Change management is first analyzed from an individual perspective and then from an organizational perspective.
Great strategic management is essential to an entrepreneurial firm's success. However, choosing e... more Great strategic management is essential to an entrepreneurial firm's success. However, choosing effective strategy and aligning the organization's structure to this strategy is a very difficult task. This paper addresses how specific strategic processual elements that are chosen at the initial strategic planning level can cause an organization's sub-systems to interact and influence entropy at the super-system level. These strategic processual elements are identified and classified based upon their strategic focus and then evaluated and analyzed in the model to determine their entropic impact on the firm's organizational structure. The quantum model developed in this paper has the potential to serve as both a tool for performance measurement and a tool for enhancing strategy development. The model's primary use is to assist management in the mitigation of structural entropy and the enhancement of firm value. 2
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Papers by Tim Lowder, PhD