Dilemmas of Leadership - Term Paper Example

1 Dilemmas of Leadership Leading is about setting direction and ensuring that the direction is followed. A person who direct and influence people to follow a common goal or vision is a leader. There are six interdependent characteristics that a visionary leader possesses. They are as follows: 1. “Leader’s power is rooted in vision” 2. “That vision illuminates the ordinary with dramatic significance” 3. “Leader articulates the vision in a compelling way so that it becomes shared” 4. “Leader implants the vision in the structures and processes of the organization” 5. “Day to day decisions are taken in the light of the vision by leader and colleagues” 6. “All members of the organization celebrate the vision in ritual ceremonies and art forms” (Twelves 2011, 3) According to Tudor Richards and Murray Clark (2006), a person is in a dilemma when he does not have any satisfactory choice to solve a problem. They further argue that one of the outcomes has to be accepted despite the fact that both of them contradict previously held principles and their results. Most of the time a leader is in a tight situation when he finds it very difficult to take decisions. The models of leadership are purely theoretical in nature. It has been observed that most of the times; it is not possible to follow the leadership models in practice. This is one of the most common dilemmas faced by leaders. The book is very helpful for future leaders as it tries to put one through a serious of practical experiences that a leader might face and the probable decisions he should take at that point of time. 2 The process of influencing others to attain a goal and also direct an organization in such a way that it becomes more cohesive and coherent is leadership. According toKotter, leadership is how to deal with change. “Leadership focuses on change and innovation; it focuses on the big picture; it focuses on strategies that take calculated risks; and it focuses on people’s values”. (Gardner 1996) The path and goal model of leadership by Robert House expects the leader to encourage and motivate the followers in order to attain the desired objective. According to this model, the leader plays a big role in influencing the performance, satisfaction and motivation of a group. According to Ashim Gupta (2009), when in a dilemma most leaders demonstrate a mix of leadership styles. There are four most commonly used leadership styles namely autocratic, bureaucratic, participative and the laissez - faire style of leadership. In an autocratic leadership style the leader acts as the supreme commander and the followers have to obey him. This kind of leadership is required in factories when the work demands one to adhere to a series of systematic rules to attain the end product. For example; working in a sugar factory requires one to follow a series of methodical process to obtain sugar from sugarcane. One single mistake will result in one to repeat the process again. Hence, the best suited leadership style for this case is autocratic. In bureaucratic leadership style the leader acts as per the rules and regulations laid down by the company. The most commonly used leadership style is the participative leadership style, wherein the leader involves his team members in the decision making process. However the final decision is taken by the leader. In the laissez – faire style of leadership, the leader allows his followers to take all decisions. However the leader is responsible for the outcomes of the decision taken by the followers. Most leaders make a judicious mix of leadership styles depending on the situation at that particular time. Which style of leadership will be opted by a leader depends on the below mentioned factors: 3 1. Personal background of the manager which includes his personality, knowledge, ethics, values and experience 2. The leadership style taken depends on the employees whom the manager supervises 3. The organization tradition, values, philosophy and concerns also influence the leadership style M. Dittman (2005) maintains that military leaders are faced with dilemmas often as they are not clear as to who the enemy is. They are faced with a problem as to whether they should bomb the target area as there may be innocent civilians present. Sometimes they are in a tight spot whether they should torture someone to get information about the enemy’s army. Recently, Rayment (2011) reported that the Libyan rebels bombed a fighter plane and later acknowledged that they had mistakenly bombed their own fighter plane. The current situation of chaos and unrest in Libya, is a typical example of failed leadership. In fact, a Libyan pilot refused to bomb the oil fields in the southwest of Benghazi. We can see this as a failure of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The people are demanding for him to step down. History has time and again witnessed the failure of autocratic leaders like Hitler and Stalin and more recently Saddam Hussain (the slain Iraqi President) and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak. Ouster of President Hosni Mubarak is another case which witnessed the failure of autocratic leadership. In this case there was mass protest and revolution by the Egyptians which made him step down and put an end to Egypt’s autocratic regime. Leaders are the ones who act as a guide and mentor their followers to follow a certain path of action in order to attain pre – determined goals. They are the ones who have tremendous power. Most of the power is attained from the position they enjoy in the company and some also comes from the personal power. Personal power is the power which is earned by the leader’s influence on his followers. The use or the abuse of power 4 is one of the main reasons why a leader strays away from his path. Ethically failed leaders knew perfectly well before committing a task which was morally wrong and yet performed the task willfully. New models on leadership are complex and take into account not only the leadership styles, but also the challenges and changing situation upon which a leader needs to take a decision. Nowadays, a lot of importance is being given to ethics in organizations. This is happening as the world has witnessed a series of ethically failed leaders. Take the example of Enron. The Enron Power Plant scandal, which was revealed in October’2001, is one in which the decision makers sacrificed values and ethics in order to achieve their own selfish goals. Values and ideologies are imbibed in a person and influence the way policies are formulated and outcomes are achieved. It is very important for leaders to be made accountable for their decisions in order to avoid scams and scandals which have become a daily affair in today’s world. In case of an unethical decision taken by a leader to fulfill his own self- interest he or she should be severely penalized so that such practices may not be followed by other leaders. (The Rubicon, 2010). Managers working in the public sectors are prone to ethical dilemmas. Scams and scandals regarding the behaviors of ministers and public servants are very common nowadays. This is mainly due to corruption, fraud and other crimes which happen in both public and private sectors in the organization. Recently, most countries have tried to regulate the behaviors of their public servants by levying a range of policies and processes which they are expected to follow. However, one is still not sure how successful these processes have been in trying to solve ethical dilemmas of leaders. The Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL) is an organization which conducts educational programs for future leaders with special focus on creative leadership. This is an organization which prepares a leader to solve the challenges faced by him in an 5 organization. Another such organization is the Centre for Leadership Development which aims to prepare today’s leaders to face probable challenges which may arise during decision making. In the article, The top ten challenges of a new leader, Mc Carthy (2009) maintains that one of the dilemmas faced by leaders is that his followers may not want to follow him. The previous year, our marketing manager was asked to take the added responsibility of the pre – sales team also. The pre – sales manager was demoted and he was now given the task to set all records straight. In other words, he had no team. This resulted in a conflict between the two managers and the followers refused to follow the new manager arguing that a marketing manager will not have any knowledge on pre – sales. Leadership means coping with change. The new manager was in a dilemma as he himself had to adjust in a new team environment and attain added goals he had been given. This was a case wherein the conflict was solved by constant communication and support and display of knowledge by the new manager and after a span of three months everything was in place. Most leaders do not want to take accountability for mistakes done by the team. Currently I am working as an assistant manager – finance. I lead a team of people and my work is to attend to the salary and reimbursement account of employees. Due to a grave mistake committed by one of the team members, the salaries of at least ten employees were wrongly computed and this was discovered after giving them the wrong salary for a month. As a leader, I was accountable for this problem and reprimanded the team as a whole to rectify the mistake immediately and not to repeat this kind of mistake. This led to tensions between my team members as they knew who was responsible for this error. Again I solved this problem through effective communication and by encouraging and motivating people to work as a team; to consider achievements as the team’s achievements and to view failures as the team’s failure. 6 Most leaders face a problem because they do not listen to their team members. It is very necessary that the opinions of the team members be taken as their active involvement in decision making process will further motivate and encourage them to reach the desired goals. The recent recession which took place in America in 2008 – 2009 saw many leading firms filing for bankruptcy and thousands of people were rendered jobless. During this time, our company was able to maintain a bare minimum profit and the Chairman had decided not to hike up salaries and at the same time none of the employees were fired. Our superior conveyed the same and he was extremely apprehensive as to how the staff would react to this decision. The immediate aftermath was a series of resignations. Subsequently a meeting containing all managers was held and we were advised that we would have to work with the few available team members. There would be no new additions and it was very important that short – term goals were achieved. We were encouraged to motivate the team members and listen to their opinions; asked to keep in constant touch with the members and work as a team to attain goals. That year was tough with an excess of work and very little staff. However we managed to soar above the challenges by working as a team and the next year saw all of our salaries being appraised besides being appreciated by the Chairman. This was a case of leadership challenge where my sole task was to develop a bond between the team leaders and to work in these challenging times to attain the desired objective. The book Dilemmas of Leadership helps future leaders to relate to practical conditions which may arise in the organization and probable outcomes to solve such issues. It gives a series of examples where leaders faced a dilemma and the outcome of the decision taken. It also gives probable situations and with probable outcomes and gives the reader the choice to choose which among the available choices would be the most appropriate outcome best suited to solve the dilemma. All in all, it is an excellent book which gives a thorough insight to the dilemmas which a leader may face and how to go ahead and overcome them. 7 Gardner, Howard and Laskin, Emma, Leading Minds: An Anatomy of Leadership, New York: Basic Books, 1996 Twelves,Jim, “The leadership and management of three successful Australian Christian schools, accessed April 02, 2011. http://www.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/research/resources/student_res/postscriptfiles/vol2_2/vol2_2_twelves.pdf Rickards, Tudor and Clark, Murray, “Dilemmas of leadership”, New York: Routledge, 2006. Gupta, Ashim. “Path Goal Leadership”, Practical Management, last modified on May 13, 2009. http://www.practical-management.com/Leadership-Development/Path-Goal-Leadership.html “Values in Policy Making”. The Rubicon, last modified on January, 2010. http://therubicon.org/2010/03/values-in-policy-making/ Dan McCarthy. “The top ten challenges of the new leader”. Great eadership, last modified on 04 January, 2009. http://www.greatleadershipbydan.com/2009/04/top-ten-challenges-of-new-leader.html Ehrich, Lisa, Catherine, Cranston, Neil C. and Kimber, Megan. “Public Sector Managers and Ethical dilemmas”. Journal of Management & Organization 10, no. 1 (2004): 25 – 37 accessed April 2, 2011. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/1388/1/1388_2.pdf Dittmann, M. “Preach psychologists, military leaders highlight soldiers’ ethical dilemmas”. American Psychological Association 36, no. 6 (2005). 17 accessed April 2, 2011 http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun05/dilemmas.aspx 8 Rayment, Sean. “Libya: moment a rebel jet crashed to earth in flames”. The Telegraph, last modified on 19 March, 2011. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8393237/Libya-moment-a-rebel-jet-crashed-to-earth-in-flames.html Read More