Is Economic Growth On The Horizon?

Senior Leaders Respond To First Monthly Leadership Pulse in University of Michigan Business School/eePulse Research Study

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (PRWEB) July 9, 2003 -- In conjunction with eePulse, Inc., the University of Michigan Business School is sponsoring a new research project, the Leadership Pulse, to measure the effects of key resources and confidence levels on overall business growth and performance. On a monthly basis via the Web-based Pulse Survey, hundreds of worldwide executives respond to five short questions that measure Resource Movement. In the studys first month of results, the majority of the 800 respondents indicated that during the following month they plan to grow the number of customers more than sales, employees, net profit, and products/services. The results also show high confidence in leadership and lowest confidence in the economy, that high growth and confidence contribute to overall company performance, and higher employee growth is expected in smaller firms, and the service, government/non-profit, and technology sectors.

In the Leadership Pulse study, respondents rate Resource Movement, or the degree to which various key business resources will be reduced, remain stable or grow during the next month. The Confidence Scale goes out every other month and consists of questions that ask respondents to rate their confidence in leadership, their companys vision, ability to change, economic conditions, and their people. During the months that the Confidence Scale is not asked, the research team provides drill-down questions that are designed to obtain more information about the prior months findings. In addition to the metrics, open-ended comment data are collected and analyzed every month.

Highlights from the studys first month, June 2003, include the following:

- The overall Resource Movement scale score was 4.54. The scale ranges from 1 to 7 with 1 = plan to substantially reduce this resource" and 7 = plan to substantially grow this resource."

- The highest rated resource was Customers", with a score of 4.77, and the lowest rated resource was Number of Employees", at 4.07. The score for growth in sales was 4.68.

-The overall score on leadership confidence was 3.74 (using a 1 to 5 scale, with 1 = not at all confident," and 5 = very confident"). The highest-ranking question within this scale was leadership", at 3.97, and the economy" was rated lowest at 3.34.

-Breaking out the results for different sub-populations, more growth in number of employees is expected in smaller firms and in the service, government/non-profit, and technology sectors.

-The high resource growth, high confidence group performance scores were higher than the low resource, low confidence group, and results indicated that confidence outranked growth as a key to better organizational performance.

We will be sending Leadership Pulse surveys out the first week of every month, and the results will be released first to respondents and then to the general public," states Theresa Welbourne, Ph.D., Adjunct Associate Professor, Samuel Zell & Robert Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Michigan Business School, and eePulse, Inc. CEO.

Individual leaders who wish to be included in the Leadership Pulse study can contact Dr. Welbourne or the research team at eePulse (the technology partner in the project), at 734.996.2321. A website is available for those organizations that would like to have up to 50 senior leaders participate in the study. If a company participates with multiple executives, they will receive a personalized company report each month and be able to compare their results to those of the overall sample and various public sub-samples.

About Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies

The Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies was formed in October 1999. The Institute actively engages the nations most successful entrepreneurs and offers an outstanding faculty composed of both academic researchers and practitioners in entrepreneurship. The Institutes mission is to focus the capabilities and resources of the University of Michigan Business School to provide education, experience and opportunities in entrepreneurship; serve as a catalyst for new venture development; and contribute important research in the field of entrepreneurship. Members of the Institutes Advisory Board include Samuel Zell, Chairman of Equity Group Investments; Michael Hallman, former COO of Microsoft Corporation; and Eugene Applebaum, Founder of Arbor Drugs.

About eePulse, Inc.

eePulse, Inc. transforms surveys into leadership tools. Using eePulses proprietary web-based enterprise-wide software suite called Measurecom (measurement and communication), organizations and leaders immediately improve their performance. Productivity enhancement comes from action taken in response to real-time stakeholder information. Using Pulse Survey and Pulse Reporting engines, data are provided as frequently as weekly so that immediate action can be taken to confront breaking news." Managers solve problems and pursue opportunities today, improving quality, enhancing customer service, realigning strategy, and improving organizational agility, learning, and performance at all levels. The complete Measurecom product suite includes Pulse surveys, Pulse Reports, Communicate-back tools, Issue tracking, Action planning, Learning modules, Proprietary metrics such as Energy Pulse, Valour Pulse, and Culture Pulse, and ROI reporting.

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