King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz as a Leader - Essay Example

King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz as a leader A Project Report Submitted to [Faculty] [School] [College] by [your name here] [Date] Table of Contents Executive Summary Introduction Aim Discussion Conclusion References Executive Summary King Fah’d qualities as a leader may be identified using the general theories of leadership. The basis of his methods in dealing with internal and external affairs of the country may be held in the light of these theories to make a structure of the type of leader he was. Although many monarchs in history may not have been able to be justifiably labelled as a the form of leader that they were, but the vision of Saudi Arabia and its recent escapades may be moulded to see the true essence of the qualities of King Fahd. Introduction King Fahd succeeded to the throne of Saudi Arabia in 1982, when his predecessor King Khalid died of a heart attack. However, even before his succession to the throne, Fahd bin Abdul Aziz was already working as an official spokesman for the government of Saudi Arabia. In his time as a the official spokesman in King Khalid’s time, he had continuously played an important role to execute many of the government policies. As the health of King Khalid deteriorated, Fahd bin Abdul Aziz assumed more and more responsibilities and was seen to become more and more active in performing his function in the government (Farsy, 2001). King Fahd’s succession to being King of Saudi Arabia maybe narrated as a trait that he inherited but his leadership styles may be explained by the leadership theories that have been categorised as Great man, Trait, contingency, relational, situational, behavioural, participative and management. In order to study and apply the correct leadership style bases on a theory that King Fahd practiced in developing the system of Saudi Arabia and the focused international relations, it is necessary to study the style of his responses to different situations. These responses will help us develop a coherent approach in judging whether his dictation was natural or formed in a more democratic way (Farsy, 2001). Aim This report draws together a range of materials detailing approaches to leadership, leadership development and leadership/management competency frameworks in from a wide range of examples. The purpose of the report is not to propose a framework of standards for providing direction in governance, but to draw together a diverse yet comprehensive set of information to act as a reference for those charged with this task (Northouse, 2006). The material provided is intended to contribute towards the “Providing direction” part of the framework, including “Developing a vision for the future”, “Gaining commitment and providing leadership” and “Providing governance” and as such, some other core activities and responsibilities of leaders may be omitted. Leadership is a complex process and we have serious reservations over the extent to which a set of standards, qualities or competencies can ever fully capture the nature of what makes some leaders successful and others unsuccessful (Northouse, 2006). Discussion Fahd bin Abdul Aziz’s extreme dynamic attitude towards execution of his role in the government was the foundation of his command over the processes of the total government control that eventually came to him at the death of King Khalid. His experience and visibility in taking up more and more responsibilities made gave him the ease and convenience in making his formal place as the new King of Saudi Arabia while reteaining the full support of the elite family of Saudi Arabia that gave him the power to gain confidence in his vision for the country as its head. His qualities as a leader may be seen in the economic and social developments along with his vision as a monarch in relation to the people of his state and the International community (Simon, 1996). One of the first concerns of King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz as he became the monarch of Saudi Arabia was to initiate stronger security and stanbility of the country and the region surrounding it. This may be the major concern of any head of the state but the political position of Saudi Arabia in the middle east had given it greater importance for the new king. Furthermore, as Saudi Arabia was the place for the Muslim Holy cities of Makkah and Medina, security and stability issues became of immense importance as the country was subjected to immense tourism for religious purposes for Muslims all over the world (Simon, 1996). For the region of Saudi Arabia, the matter of security and stability has always had major concerns due to internal and external political and economic factors. The structure of the internal society had been set up to be conservative especially with the infusion of Wahhabi movement in the religious and cultural system of the country. The move to globalisation that had made its way for a more modernised approach to the setup of the society had been the root for many tensions in the region (Harris, 2004). In the early stages of King Fahd’s regime, it was one of the most demanding challenges to balance out the need for a more globalised modernistic society and setup against the conventional and traditional existing conservative operation of the country. For many in the support of the traditional systems presenting Saudi Arabia, the newer trend towards modernisation was considered as a threat to the unique traditions of the country as they had developed over the long struggles in the region over political control. King Fahd used his skills to develop a system in which he fostered a concept of consultation with all the channels in the form of heads of elite families and ministers of departments to allow him to develop a more comprehensive opinion of the nature of fears that the people and his government officials had towards change (Harris, 2004). King Fahd’s diplomacy was not centred just within the state of Saudi Arabia. He successfully used all diplomatic channels to ensure that he the state was always negotiating for peace and justice. King Fahd had been a strong advocate in finding diplomatic and political solutions over intractable conflicts and had practiced his support for the more instable regions and events such as the Iran-Iraq war, Lebanon, gulf War, Bosnia and Palestine. In all these circumstances, king Fahd had used all his resources to try to find a non-hostile and diplomatic solution to overcome any possibility of a conflict. Among his many arbitrated efforts, the agreement with Yemen is of the major importance over the delineation of the Saudi-Yemen border (Reich, 1990). However, even though King Fahd had been a strong supporter of peace but he had limited his vision of peaceful solutions of instable solutions at many times as well. when it came to Kuwait, King Fahd had placed all of the resources made available to the state to lead a war against the Iraqi troops and had even placed the Saudi army at the forefront to facilitate the release of Kuwait form the Iraqi occupation. Apaprt form Kuwait, Saudi Arabia had extended great support for the Palestine cause to sustain their efforts against the neighbors and move towards national supremacy (Reich, 1990). King Fahd had been as proactive towards the internal development of the country as he had been for the international community. In the twenty five years of developmental planning and infrastructure deployment in Saudi Arabia, the country has seen major development in roads, buildings, education, health, agriculture and other industries. However, the strength of his leadership and vision is not directly related to the development of infrastructure, but has come around through exceptional reforms in education. His regime established educational reforms and built systems all over Saudi Arabia in such a way that people evolved in this educational reforms to bring development and modernisation and globalisation for Saudi Arabia (Al-Rasheed, 2002). Form the many examples above of the way King Fahd has been able to tackle problems in the Saudi Arabia there is one theory of leadership that may shadow all others in the structure of leadership. King Fahd in all his policies and stands as a monarch has been able to adapt his personality and role according to the situation. On one hand, he portrays peace as the only way to live while in many other cases he is at the forefront of waging war. In building different industries, he is catering to the globalisation of Saudi Arabia while still promoting many conservative setups of the society. His way of thought makes him more of a situational leader, where he adapts to the needs of every situation that arises to mould the way his response will be (Reich, 1990). Situational leadership theories have been defined through the leadership style and model that is said to be receptive to the individual environment of every situation that demands a solution. The core of this type of leadership is based on the functioning and vision of the leader and may only exist if the leader is flexible to adapt his/her style in understanding the needs of a situation or problem. Furthermore, the leader may be looked as having different leadership styles in different situations and not having one specific way of handling situations and solving the problems (Northouse, 2006). King Fahd may be seen as a good situational leader as he has been seen to change his leadership style as the situation changes. On one hand he is a Monarch and can make all the decisions without consultation and still get away with most of his endeavours- which he does enjoy to empower many situations in his regime. On the other hand he consistently advocates democratic consultancy and advisory systems where he takes public opinion and consent of his ministers before judging a situation and making a decision on the system (Al-Rasheed, 2002). Situational leadership is the most practical type of leadership that may be looked for not just in politicians and statesmen but also in many private organisations. In a globalized environment, the dynamics of change are of such magnitude that local cultural and ethnic layouts of lifestyles have to be over run by the needs of a global environmental change and responses. Whether the industry be marketing, consulting, retail, fashion or production- the need of this century is dynamic responses to dynamic situation and adapting to the changes in environment to control situations in a productive fashion (Northouse, 2006). The same leadership style may also be applied in the core of engineering. All the fields of engineering including civil, mechanical, chemical and textile have dynamic needs in today’s global environment. Especially for multinational or companies that have operations in many regions, the human capital must be developed to respond to the situations and problems in the correct dynamic fashion. The ever changing needs of the multi cultural role of systems needs to be adjusted in the human capital to foster a control structure where a regional response may be consistant with the global needs of the company (Northouse, 2006). In the process of engineering, whether its construction of roads or railways, or development in the methods of production of textiles, or promotion of standards in the chemical manufacturing- engineering requires leadership style that may advance the skills of all human capital to be more proactive than reactive. Construction sites have their own specific needs. To be able to understand the environment and how it will affect the needs of a specific project is as important as deciding the right material to use to support and sustain a structure (Northouse, 2006). In engineering, a situational leadership style may be very helpful as different projects have different needs and even in one same project, the needs of understanding the environment may be diverse and different. One correct way of understanding the needs and environment of making a bridge may not be the correct way of handling a railroad structure. Furthermore, situational changes related to resources and laws need the timely adjustments in the factors of production to retain the goals that have been set as guiding principles (Northouse, 2006). Conclusions Situational leadership style may be the most effective form of governance and management in politics, government and all private commercial organisations. It especially suits the working of monarchs and helps them deliver their promises through making a second in command and executing many of their functions through a mentor relationship with the next successor and other ministers. King Fahd probably learned this being the spokesman of Saudi Arabia, before his succession to the throne, and came to know of the benefits of such a leadership as he was being run in the same fashion. Many of his policies have reflected situational leadership and his way of executing the policies have been, in many cases, in relation to the structure of situational leadership. References Simon, R. S. et al., 1996. Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East, Simon & Schuster Macmillan. Reich, B. 1990. Political Leaders of the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa: A Biographical Dictionary, Greenwood Press Harris, P. R. et al., 2004. Managing Cultural Differences: Global Leadership Strategies for the 21st Century, Butterworth-Heinemann. Farsy, F. 2001. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques: King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz, Knight Communications. Al-Rasheed, M. 2002. A History of Saudi Arabia, Cambridge University Press Northouse, P. G. 2006. Leadership: Theory and Practice, Sage. Read More