The Qualifications of a Good Leader - Research Paper Example

Table of Contents: Sl. No. Particulars Page No Introduction 2 2. ment of Problem 2-3 3. Purpose 3 4. Literature Review 3-11 5. Characteristics of a qualified leader 11-13 6. Model of a Leader 13 7. Conclusion 14 8. Exhibits 1-5 14-17 9. References 18-19 10. Appendix 19-20 Introduction: Even in the most turbulent of times, when organizations just tumble selling away their remaining assets at the price of peanuts, some organizations dramatically rise to grab such opportunities that they can acquire value in such downtrends which when the economy makes a turn around, prove to be unforgettable achievements for the organization for many years to come later. The fact that the organizations manage to pull out the strength when all the others are breaking, is a mystery, the answer for which mainly lies in the actions of the people driving those organizations. These people are the ones whom the world is always in the search of that they can turn around companies and create an undeterred determination in the minds of their subordinates to succeed against any adversities. They create a world worth living with unflinching objectives clearly communicated to their followers that their followers just blindly walk into their path, regardless of any hardship they have to face, that they have the confidence that their leader will never let them down. This confidence when utilized righteously by the leaders would help those organizations to achieve in all circumstances. Statement of Problem: In this journey to achieve against all odds, how would anyone, given a combination of chances, choose to stick on to some course of action arbitrarily? How anyone could be sure that they are pursuing the right course of action either for themselves or for their organization? To what extent can they be sure that the course of action which they have taken up is the right one? These answers could be easily answered by a leader who guides those people into the opportunities and ensure that they reap the benefit of results. But, how could one identify that the person who is guiding him/her is a leader to follow their path? Why couldn’t they themselves become leaders? Finding answers to such questions are though very tedious, could reap in better results for any employee working in the present day organizations. This paper tries to identify, the qualifications of a good leader, the way they act, they pursue their goals and the way they put in their ideas into action. Purpose: The purpose of taking up this study is to explain the qualifications of a good leader so that the people who are led by such leaders could identify the goodness of their leader and follow him to achieve organizational excellence which is the ultimate goal of every leader. On the other hand, people who aspire to become leaders also could understand the basic criteria of a qualified leader and put those actions into practice for achieving excellence in their career and organizational performance also. If suppose, one does not come across such good leaders or he himself is not well-equipped to be a good leader, it is still worthwhile to go through this presentation that by going through this, he may identify such leader in future or he himself, by believing the opinions laid down in this study, build in those opinions into his life style to mould himself into an aspiring leader thus leading his organization into phenomenal success. Literature review: From times immemorial, even the most talented of the people tend to fall into the dogmas of poor performance if not led by a powerful leader. Be it in sports, organizational performance, or any other area, the gimmick here lies in the honesty of a leader to be brutally truthful to explain his followers about their shortcomings. He needs to demand leadership and set clear in every one’s mind his objectives that they need to listen to him, they need to achieve or they need not belong there. He should not wait but has to impose leadership sometimes even by applying pressure. Avoiding confrontations with his fellow subordinates just to avoid conflicts only aggravates the problem of non-performance making the followers lethargic. Instead, positive one-one conversations, even if they offend the followers out right, by putting the required goals in front of them, will suffice that they will willingly give their best of their efforts. Human perception is that they work to some extent and if things don’t go their way, they just give away. At that point, if they have a leader who explains to them that they have the capacity to excel, then, the same losers will make a winning stroke in the next battle. For this purpose, the leader should first set small goals that they break their habit of losing and get into the mode of winning that the followers should enjoy the fruits of success so that in future, they would sacrifice anything for the sole purpose of achieving even if they are not well adjusted with each other in other matters. This is easier said than done. For attaining such achievements, the leader has to: 1. Be brutally truthful. 2. Engage in healthy confrontation 3. Set small goals and hit them. 4. Develop the want to win attitude, forget about well adjustment.(Parcells. B., 2000). A real life story in this context is about the Los Angeles Lakers who won the NBA championship in 1984-85 seasons. In the next series, they were put to suffering because of the complacency they developed. Their coach Pat Riley after identifying the major factors contributing to that loss challenged the players to improve 1% in every five key areas where the players found themselves to be non-performing. With a dozen champions improving 1% in five key areas implies 5% each for 12 players which amounted to 60% of the improvement. However, as the players were committed champions, they improved to the extent of 50 – 67% each that they won 67 matches in the next season including the NBA championship. (Kersey, 2003). Thus leaders have to strive to get results which are the sole aim of leading others and the sole want of the people who are led. A research in this connection was conducted among 3,871 executives selected from a sample of 20,000 executives to identify the distinct styles which the leaders have to possess to act in the above said manner. The research has not come up with anything new, as these qualities are easily found in combinations of two or more in many executives whom we happen to meet on a daily basis. These styles and mode of action are: 1. Coercive Leadership: demanding immediate compliance from their subordinates. 2. Authoritative Leadership: Trying to mobilize towards a mission. 3. Affiliative Leadership: Developing emotional bonds and harmony between the team mates. 4. Democratic Leadership: Build consensus through participation. 5. Pace-setting leadership: Expect self direction from the followers towards excellence. 6. Coaching Leadership: Develop people for future. These leadership styles create a distinct climate in the organization for which the subordinates respond and the best results are attained when these responses, if measured, are highly positive in nature. For instance, for any organization, if Flexibility, Responsibility, Standards, Rewards, Clarity and Commitment are the six factors driving the climate of the organization, Exhibit-1 explains the responses for such factors under the different leadership styles and also the overall impact of such style on the organization in achieving the results. By going through the Exhibit, it is observed that while Authoritative and Affiliative leadership styles create some good climate in the organization, if practiced solely are not effective in achieving 100% success. To achieve organizational success, a combination of these styles has to be performed by the leaders in consonance to the situation’s demand and the climate of the organization should foster that flexibility to nurture the change naturally. Now, which style would be appropriate in a particular situation has to be judged by the leader. Depending on the accuracy of his decisions, organizations tend to achieve results. These decisions are more influenced by the Emotional intelligence of the leader. In this connection, a research was conducted laying emphasis on the Emotional Intelligence of the leaders which is dependent on qualities of Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness and Social Skill which are in turn composed by specific competencies as shown in the Exhibit – 2. (Goleman. D., 2000). Now that it is well established that Emotional Intelligence is important for leaders and groups to perform well, the question arises as to how to build it! Emotional Intelligence can only be built by developing norms of awareness at the Individual, Group and Cross-Boundary level. The 360 degree feedback, performance appraisal forms etc. may be measures which suggest the understanding at all the above mentioned levels. Naturally, these appraisals should be in line to the norms that regulate emotions and as such should include questionnaire regarding Confronting, Caring, and Creating Resource for Working with Emotions, Creating an Affirmative Environment, Solving Problems Proactively and Building External Relationships. These appraisals should be designed at all the three levels mentioned above to examine whether a person with Average Emotional Intelligence is able to perform equitably even in team efforts or not. Such efforts are to be compared on a Cross-Boundary team levels to set standards so that the individual becomes of what is expected to be achieved or what is expected to be controlled of him. Inevitably, even if a team member crosses a line in the due course, the other team members should not feel uncomfortable to pin point the mistake, but, that should be done in the most subtle manner perhaps including humor. (Druskat V.U. et al, 2001). Exhibit-3 shows how the functions of the three areas viz. Individual, Team and Task overlap each other that the more the decisions are shared between those teams or individuals, the more they are motivated. Time and knowledge levels of the members affect the extent of the decisions to be shared but the job of a wise leader is to press for the maximum possible involvement between them (Adair. J, 2003). For the teams to develop emotional Intelligence, in addition of all the performance appraisals and 360 degree forms, the most essential ingredient for success would be the leader himself. The leader should be of Level 5 Category that he possesses, along with capability, competence, effective influence on the team, should be contributing for the team’s success with utmost humility with a combination of Professional Will. This fact was discovered when 1,435 companies which appeared in the Fortune 500 Companies list were researched to find out which of them outperformed the markets in their results by a great margin and even sustained those levels in the future. Of all these companies, only 11 of them survived to all the tests of good-to-great criteria in the transition era regardless of the circumstances or size or any other differences in the company methodologies. The main point which emanated from such a research was that in all these 11 companies, the drivers to the good-to-great transformations was Level 5 leadership in the top rung of those companies in consonance to other multiple factors like: 1. Putting the human aspect first in comparison to strategy 2. Maintain absolute faith in what they perceive, beyond obstacles. An interesting story in this context was published wherein an accountant who transformed himself into CIO of VST, Hyderabad, had chosen to go against outsourcing just to maintain the timeliness of his projects and earn credentials to his company. (Goswami. K, 2008). 3. Build-up a breakthrough fly wheel and avoiding painful exercises like reactionary moves and restructurings. 4. The hedgehog concept of knowing perfectly what they know the best. 5. To understand the abilities of the company as a whole, derive the best of it and ignite passions of the people working in it. 6. Technology accelerators who can provide innovative solutions in the markets. Here it is worthwhile to explain the classic cases of two companies viz. Walmart and Boeing Plc. While Walmart has recently gone to install the IPTV technology in its stores to accelerate supply chain logistics, the trick worked and it helped the organization in boosting its sales and thereby revenues also.(Anon., 2008). Boeing company to sustain competition has embarked on the new Dream liner project which was considered to highly fuel efficient than its competitor Airbus’s flights and as such received many orders for the same. The test run of the flight was scheduled to be conducted in November of this year. However, owing to the machinists strike, the test run was indefinitely postponed due to which, the company may lose some of its existing orders also, forget about the new ones. This is an example of sheer failure of the management to fix up the problems even before they become highly problematic in nature. (Maynard. M., 2008). The above examples reveal that even though the company can afford to take up new technological accelerators if they are not backed by level 5 leaders, the expenditure towards such an exercise would be a total waste and in fact a negative goodwill creator in the markets. 7. Culture of Discipline: They foster disciplined thought, action without exhibiting any bureaucracy and do away with excessive controls. 8. Setting up of successors who can take their companies to even greater heights that the success of their companies gives them a feeling of achievement. They are not bothered about their self-achievements. (Collins. J., 2001). If companies cannot search for such Level 5 executives in the top rung, the results may be disastrous. Even the best of the companies may turn out to be great examples of utmost failure. It so happens that these companies which once worked hard to achieve, once they reach a level freeze themselves into those boxes so rigidly that when they are further confronted with another major problem, they act in the same way as they have done earlier little knowing that the things have changed and the actions have to be done in response to the circumstances. In a way, they fall into the habit of Active Inertia wherein they act but in a way which is not result driven. An apt example in this case is the financial collapse of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to whom the Fed had to bail out $700 million dollars as their fall meant fall of the American housing market as a whole. Being in such a pivotal position, even when alarming bells were ringing some 5 years back, the companies could not just heed to the hour of the need just because of their Active Inertia. It all started with the unethical behavior of the leaders in that organization who passed on a hollow cashless institution to their successors least bothered to at least care for appointing a turnaround specialist and the result is well-known to the whole world today. (Alford, R, 2003). Instead, if they happen to have a Level 5 leader, he can diagnose that the earlier established patterns of behavior are themselves the enemy and as such look deeply into the assumptions driving the problems. Here, Exhibit – 4 explains how innovation at Procter & Gamble has delivered profits and growth to the organization by putting the Customer-Centric approach as the main solution to their problems and inter connecting the eight drivers viz. Inspirational Leadership, Motivation of Values and Purpose, Stretched Goals, Choice of Strategies, Uniqueness of Competency, Organizational design and structure, Reliability and Consistency of systems, Connected courage and culture to that solution to change the game. (Charan. R et al, 2008). Similarly, Samsung, India has developed an advantage over its rivals by identifying the after sales service as its core competency by putting the profit motive into the second place. As more after sales calls are attended satisfactorily, the goodwill of the company is helping it drive revenues. (Bansal. S. et al,2008). In place of age-old dogmatism, leader should arouse the commitment of his subordinates to reach up to the company goals. He may at times selectively show weaknesses to explain that he is also a human being and accept his failures before his subordinates. He can reveal tangential flaws that his followers get diverted into his less important flaws and thereby he can get away with the serious ones. This vulnerability creates a sense of support in the hearts of the subordinates. Once this support is achieved, the leaders should sense the appropriate course of action and manage employees with tough empathy. Humor can be used at times but with appropriateness. At times, toughness can be taken up for people to learn but at the same time, make it a point to show the care and passion which he feels for his subordinates at other times. (Goffee. R. et al, 2000). Here, an interesting fact to be noticed is that how much ever inspirational leaders draw their subordinates close to them; they demonstrate their separateness on the whole. They act and communicate naturally in their own personal skill, style and those actions radiate passion towards work that they are sometimes least bothered about the feelings of the subordinates. This drawback has to be cut short. Otherwise, they may lose contact with their followers and that passion which they have towards their work cannot be transmitted to their followers to achieve the end results. Once they lose their contact, they turn into successful but not effective leaders that they are leading their subordinates only because of their power and the attitudes of their subordinates are not impacted by his personal power to lead. (Prasad. L.M, 2006). Keeping this point in view, Ford Motor Company has broken this vacuum between the employers and employees by engaging the top notch to continuously coach their subordinates through meetings, mails and other communicating means to keep the corporate mission effectively communicated and at the same time maintaining empathic relations with their subordinates that they do not feel left out ultimately. They have started teaching the employees to understand from the shareholders point of view so that they understand financial measures like P/E ratio and EPS which are to be well maintained for the company to be considered to be successful. (Wetlaufer. S., 2000). In leadership acceptance, gender differences however, have had their influence till date that very few women entrepreneurs are able to make the mark of team excellence as they are plagued with the connotations of seductress, unethical qualities. To avoid theses blames, they try to dress themselves not very charmingly and try to mingle with the men entrepreneurs by dressing very ordinarily thereby sacrificing the chance of attracting the opportunities had they been given a chance to explore to the maximum of their potential. They however, capitalize on their vision sustaining energy to stick to the change they have initiated in the organization which may or may not attract everyone’s attention at the first instance but in the long run, proves their personality. (Lundin, Christensen & Paul, 2003). Characteristics of a qualified leader: A personal interview regarding the qualities of the leader whom they perceive to be the best to their judgment was taken up with 5 persons to understand the reasons why a person is accredited to be a leader amongst others. The study revealed the following facts. First and foremost, leaders strive for a purpose and try to reach their goals in the most strategic manner. Leaders may make fast decisions but not in haste. They are empathetic to their customers and ask their subordinates to follow suit. They always are committed and develop the same culture in their organization also. They juggle the existing work force, if required, to put the right person for the right job. At testing times, and even in normal times, they cut costs but not the value. Develop a competitively advantageous position in the market in comparison to their rivals. They stir, if they are put in a tough situation but never get shaken of the end results. They can cut through the noise and identify virtually timid workers who may become assets to the organization. They are accountable for whatever the end result whether good or bad. They do not reason or blame others. Their charisma as leaders is not because of their physical appearance but because of their character of righteousness. They are always ready for an innovative change if such change can bring in an advantage to the organization. They are not hesitant to form alliances. if they perceive them to be healthy, attitude wise. They usually have good communication skills. However, if they are shy and humility is their nature, still, they manage to put forth their objectives very strongly by their actions. They may be harsh, ready to offend, brutally truthful that they may hurt people at times. However, they balance these acts by revealing some of their tangential flaws to their subordinates and trying to mingle with them. They always set their vision into the long-range planning mode. Integrity to the organization in which they work lies in them till their last day in the organization. More than using power, they influence people to get their work done by their acts of encouragement and affection. They prioritize their work in accordance to the deadlines and strategic flows. They are unattached to any one person or any one solution and strive to ultimately solve the problem rather than groping for attention. They have a passion towards their work which is undeterred irrespective of whether they receive any benefit or not from such work. In order to influence their subordinates in the right manner, they maintain an ethically disciplined life to foster good culture in the organization. They are knowledgeable that they exhibit leadership styles as required for those situations. For example, at times of crisis, if the subordinates are not ready to take up a call, they change into a pacesetting leader expecting them to deal with the confrontation. At times when one of his subordinate is suffering from some illness or grief, they undertake the form of Affiliative leadership etc. They are masters in managing stress by planning the accomplishable jobs and leaving away the non-accomplishable ones. In due course, when situations change, the non-accomplishable ones may also fall in line. They take extra care in building their teams with great coaching techniques just as a mother would nourish her children. While building such a team, they install their values, vision and wisdom into their team members so that given any situation; the subordinates are able to guess what their superiors want from them. Last but not the least, they are masters in time management that they can handle many things at one time and still concentrate on all of them. This quality can be developed only by their experience and efficiency in their job. Model of a Leader: After understanding the exhaustive list of qualities of leadership, it becomes very easy to develop a model about leadership based on these assumptions: Exhibit -5 depicts the qualities of an efficient leader in a synchronized model. First of all, the leader should have a right purpose in mind which is derived of the organizational goals like customer centric approach, financial requirements of the organization, the stake holders perspectives etc. Once the purpose is established, he has to have a focus on the achievement of that purpose through flexibility in changing his leadership styles according to the situation. In this journey, he has to depict an undaunted picture of his character and values in consonance to humility for minor flaws, so that the subordinates should be convinced of his righteousness. This convincing capacity of the leader is the main thing which can influence his subordinates to give their utmost best to the organization. In the course of his job, he should also plan to train his successors with a plan to foster his company even when he quits his position. Conclusion: The above analysis establishes that leaders can be made if they have the will and purpose for which they strive all through their life so that all the fellow beings around them understand their perspective regarding the purpose for which they are serving and are motivated to help those people in their endeavor. It is only the right purpose served with righteousness which can bring in the change which the leaders want to install in their subordinates. Hence, though persons may be of ordinary origin if they perspire to achieve something, they can in that journey of reaching goal, become leaders. Exhibit – 1. Styles --> Coercive Authoritative Affiliative Democratic Pacesetting Coaching Climate : Flexibility -0.28 0.32 0.27 0.28 -0.07 0.17 Responsibility -0.37 0.21 0.16 0.23 0.04 0.08 Standards 0.02 0.38 0.31 0.22 -0.27 0.39 Rewards -0.18 0.54 0.48 0.42 -0.29 0.43 Clarity -0.11 0.44 0.37 0.35 -0.28 0.38 Commitment -0.13 0.35 0.34 0.26 -0.2 0.27 Overall impact -0.26 0.54 0.46 0.43 -0.25 0.42 Exhibit - 1 Exhibit: 2 Self-Awareness Self-Management Social Awareness Social Skill Emotional Self Awareness Self-Control Empathy Visionary Leadership Accurate Self-assessment Trustworthiness Organizational Awareness Influence Self-Confidence Conscientiousness Service Orientation Developing Others Adaptability Communication Achievement Change Catalyst Initiative Conflict Management Building Bonds Teamwork and Collaboration Exhibit – 3. Exhibit – 4. Exhibit – 5. References: ADAIR. J., 2003. The Inspirational Leader. Great Britain. Biddles Ltd. CHARAN, R and LAFLEY, A.G., 2008. The Game Changer. United States of America. Crown Publishing Group. COLLINS. J., 2001. Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Fierce Resolve. Harvard Business Review. DRUSKAT. V. U. and WOLFF. S.B. 2001. Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups. Harvard Business Review. GOFFEE. R. and JONES. G., 2000. Why should anyone be led by you? Harvard Business Review. GOLEMAN. D., 2000. Leadership that gets results. Harvard Business Review. GOSWAMI, K., 2008. Against the Grain. CIO. October issue. Pgs. 30-35. Available from: http://www.cio.in/magazines/listMagazine?magCount=1&intPage=1&fromPI=yes KERSEY. C., 2003. Unstoppable. Mumbai. Magna Publishing Co. Ltd. LUNDIN. S.C., CHRISTENSEN. J., and PAUL. H., 2003. Fish! Sticks Great Britain. Hodder and Stoughton Publishers. PARCELLS. B., 2000. The Tough Work of Turning Around a Team. Harvard Business Review. PRASAD. L.M., 2006. Organizational Behaviour. 6th Edition. New Delhi. Sultan Chand & Sons. SULL. D.N., 1999. Why Good Companies Go Bad. Harvard Business Review. VRIES. M. K. D., 2001. The Leadership Mystique: a user’s manual for the human enterprise. Great Britain. Pearson Education Publications Ltd. WETLAUFER. S., 2000. Driving Change: An Interview with Ford Motor Company’s Jacques Nasser. Harvard Business Review. Internet References: ALFORD. R., 2003. What Are The Origins of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae? Washington. History News Network. Available from: http://hnn.us/articles/1849.html (24th November, 2008). Anonymous. , 2008. Walmart To Bring New “Walmart Smart Network” to 2700 Stores. Yahoo Finance, News and opinion, Available from: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080903/law515.html?.v=19 24th November, 2008. Maynard. M. 2008. Boeing postpones test flight of the 787 . NY times, Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/business/05boeing.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 24th November, 2008. Newspaper References: BANSAL. S. AND DOGRA. S., 2008. Happy to Help. The Strategist. Available from: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/happy-to-help/16/57/339734/ Pg. No. 1. Appendix: Questionnaire How long you have been working with your leader? What qualities in him do you admire? What qualities in him do you dislike? Did he ever confront with you? What is his work attitude or approach towards work? What qualities in him inspire you? Is he target and dead-line conscious? How well qualified is he to his work requirements? What are his professional competencies? Does he know the whole of the job or does he manage with the experts who know the job? Have you gone any outsourcing? If so, how does he deal with your outsourced partners? Is he boss-fearing and throws the blame of negative results on his subordinates? Did you ever find a change in his perceptions? How does he solve the problems? In a haste or after analysis? How does he manage his stress? What are his efforts in team building? Is he accountable? What are his reactions towards change and innovations? Does he exert power or authority? How does he manage conflicts? Does he care for justice while making any judgements? What is his dressing style? How do you find him as a person? Is he very understanding or very distant from others? Does he go against established concepts? How committed is he in his preparedness to work and to grab opportunities? Any features? Kindly explain? Read More