Leadership

Leadership

In a previous post (Culture an Innovation), David Kester talked about how a culture has to be defined from ‘the top’ of organization. So this brings forward the idea of a company having to have effective leadership to manage innovation.

So what is leadership?

A manager can be described as “a leader of an organization”. Leadership dates back thousands of years, so to identify the core qualities of a manager we need to start by observing the earliest leaders we are aware of (Boyett, J et al: 1998: 1).

One of the earliest theories of leadership can be extracted from the bible. Matt 15:14 says, “If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch”. This puts forward the basic principle that we need leadership (Boyett, J et al: 1998: 1).

Today we consider other famous leaders to be Julius Caesar (100BC-44BC). He is considered a leader because he led the Roman Empire; he made monumental decisions on war, life and death thus why he is considered a successful leader. These qualities can be related to modern society. For example, a leader needs to be a decision maker, reek with confidence and to accept responsibility for his actions (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2010). Others who showed these qualities as leaders of countries and war are; ruler of the French Napoleon (1769-1821) or British leader during World War II Winston Churchill (1874-1965), (BBC: 2010).

As well as confidence and the ability to make decisions at ease, other attributes have been shown to prove effective leadership. It is a popular myth that there is a direct correlation between physical characteristics and good leadership. “Natural leaders are tall and stand above the crowd like Charles de Gaulle and Abraham Lincoln” (Hannagan, T: 2005: 38). This depicts the idea that leadership/management can only be obtained through genetics and you are simply born to be a leader.

The opposite popular theory is that leadership is met through an individual’s intellect and assertiveness. Ghandi is classed as one of these individuals, because he makes bold generalizations with great confidence and self belief (Hannagan, T: 2005: 39). This theory can be backed up with modern day relevance. It is true that if you wanted to be a leader for the UK, you would have to be a highly educated individual to even be considered to parliament or to be elected.

But it’s not nearly this simple to base leadership on these qualities of intellect, physical attributes, confidence and assertiveness, to be a success manager, because there are exceptions.

Leadership in Organizational Management

Richard Branson is an obvious example for a modern day pioneer of the business world. He never got a degree; instead he went out into the business world and made a name for himself by setting up his own businesses. So it is the experience of doing things and taking risks, which will lead to success. But the question lies in “how was he able to make these right decisions?” He wasn’t educated to make the most logical choices, yes he may have debated decisions of what might be a good or bad decision but I believe that his element of being a successful manager comes from a much deeper aspect, the idea that he was born to be a manager. Malcolm Gladwell is a writer who considers the psychological view of decision-making, he focus’ on how good judgement can be made within a glance. He talks of the unexplained phenomenon of the human minds unconscious and how it reflects our beliefs. Some people are born with the ability of good decision-making. “The adaptive unconscious does an excellent job of sizing up the world, warning people of danger, setting goals, and initiating action in a sophisticated and efficient manner” (Gladwell, M: 2005: 12). This gives the idea that good leadership is down to effective decision making.

Taking into account all these theories of historic leadership and modern day thinking. Business pioneers have generalized 4 categories of management theory that are highly valued and practised in today’s business environment.

The first of these are classical theories, which include scientific management and bureaucracy. The classic theory is an early theory, which exercised the act of discipline in the workplace. It values hierarchy and sees its employees as machines/assets that can only be motivated by money. Taylor (1856-1917) was a major contributor and acclaimed father to scientific management, so discipline and authority can be extracted as necessary factors for successful scientific management practise. (Cole, G: 2004: 3).

The opposite style of management described in Mullins is Human Relations Management. The Hawthorne experiments (1924-1932) paid attention to social factors. Considering if employees were not thought of as machines, but seen as human beings then productivity would improve. Qualities of managers following this style will be; more people related skills, take an interest in the social factors and well being of the employees, they will have good communication/listening skills and follow a more soft style. (Mullins, L: 2010: 53).

Mullins (2010: 57) outlines that there are other management approaches a business can follow; social which is the integration of classic and human relation tactics. Contingency management is another style, a combination of situational variables.

To summarise, leadership is considered differently when though of in business terms or thought of generally. Leaders in a business setting are expected to make good decisions, with successful outcomes, at the end of the day if a CEO doesn’t produce the results he/say will seize to stay in charge at that company. And thus this is what we expect of good leaders in management. We expect our managers to produce results, be supportive in decision making, have a general direction for themselves and the business and develop a strong work ethic for employees and consumers to relate to.

Reference List

David Kester. 2009. Creating a Culture of Innovation. Available from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyqHGdIMcas&feature=BFa&list=FL_Ytrb6CZeR0ysQuPenJaeg&lf=plpp_video
Accessed on 22/12/2011

Boyett, J (1998) The Guru Guide – The best ideas of the top management thinkers
Published by: John Wiley and Sons

Toynbee, A (2010) Julius Caesar, Encyclopaedia Britannica [Online]
Available from: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/88114/Julius-Caesar
Assessed: 24/10/2010

BBC (2010) Historic Figures – Winston Churchill, BBC [Online]
Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/churchill_winston.shtml
Assessed: 24/10/2010

BBC (2010) Historic Figures – Napoleon Bonaparte, BBC [Online]
Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bonaparte_napoleon.shtml
Assessed: 24/10/2010

Image Available from:
http://www.bushywood.com/winston_churchill.htm
Accessed on 22/12/2011

Hannagan, T (2005) Management – Concepts & Practices
Fourth Edition
Published by: Prentice Hall

Image available from:
http://gandhifoundation.org/
Accessed on 22/12/2011

Gladwell, M (2005) Blink – The power of thinking without thinking
Published by: The Penguin Group

Image available from:
http://www.ecosherpa.com/news/branson-to-fight-global-warming/
Accessed on 22/12/2011

Cole, G (2004b) Management Theory and Practise
Sixth Edition
Published by: Thomson

Mullins, L (2010) Management & Organisational Behaviour
Ninth Edition
Published by: Prentice Hall