Deconstruction of Leadership Paper on Guts - Article Example

DECONSCRUCTING LEADERSHIP A REVIEW OF GUTS TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 3 2 Introduction 4 3 The Realm of a Gutsy Leader 4 4 Critique 5 5 Transactional – Transformational Leadership 7 6 Characteristics of a Transformational Leader 8 7 Traditional Leadership 9 8 Conclusions 10 9 Bibliography 11 1 Abstract A new approach to work and productivity is to upend traditional ideas. This will give rise to questions about the leadership that is appropriate in the networking age. It also raises questions about the power centre in organisations. These issues are answered in the article Guts, written by the duo Kevin and Jackie Freiberg, and have been discussed and critiqued in the essay. Their rendition is corroborated in academic literature and has been explained with reference to the context. It has been well established that true leadership has the courage and conviction to transform organisations using unconventional methods and by introducing hope, love, service, freedom, communication, fun, and trust throughout the organisation. 2 Introduction A great amount of writing is available about management techniques, strategies, change management and competitive advantage by a variety of authors but it has been acknowledged that the central role in all these theories is that of a leader. In turn the leader has been described as one who leads from the front, has a vision and a plan, believes in teamwork and someone who is a great believer in the power of the people and has the ability to harness this power into generating a successful organisation. Environments have a great impact on companies. In current thinking organisations are socially constructed systems that share values and meanings (Burrell & Morgan, 1979; Pfeffer, 1981; Weick, 1979), and the mission of the management is to promote and develop these shared meanings in order to achieve their objectives of fitting the organisation in its environment. It is this fitting act that is strategy, and it is the leader that formulates the strategy that will result in his organisation becoming both fit and competitive in the current environment. 3 The Realm of a Gutsy Leader One such contribution as an ode to leadership is the article “GUTS! Companies that blow the doors off business-as-usual”. The authors, Kevin and Jackie Freiberg have portrayed the leader as a person with Guts. They have analysed this to be the result of some exceptional qualities of those successful leaders who have said a go-by to conventional wisdom and pursued different methods to achieve their vision and goal. They have shown remarkable versatility and have produced startling but effective results and they have managed to make their organisations role models of excellence. Amongst the outstanding qualities mentioned by the authors are that Gutsy Leaders have a firm conviction of their belief. But this does not make them arrogant. Their flexibility is not a show of weakness and their ability to accept opinions of smarter people is a fine example of their humbleness. They are capable of overriding the opposition while they have the guts to admit their mistake and to make remedies. The leader described by the authors is an individual who believes in confiding with his subordinates to earn their loyalty and offers recognition of their performance as the paradigm of their deep commitment to the organisation’s, and the leader’s, cause. He will encourage the employees to take pride of ownership of the result of their efforts to sustain their motivation. He aspires to build an organisation that offers hope, love, service, freedom, communication, fun, and trust. He believes that these are the fundamentals to build great and sustainable organisations. He is steadfast in his belief that this is the way to attract the best talent for his company. More than anything else, the Gutsy leader believes that it is “love” that binds the organisation together. For him it is of supreme importance to offer his subordinates a worthwhile cause to work for which makes them proud of doing what they are required to do. During the discourse the authors have given examples of leaders who have performed outstandingly in various industries by applying the above principles 4 Critique The authors have aspired to describe leadership in a more dynamic and humane way. An analysis from the available academic literature varyingly supports the authors. The heart of strategy lies in its competitive advantage (Porter M.E. 1980). Strategies are made by leaders who have a vision and a mission to accomplish. For achieving this they need to change the organization’s focus to the future that is more profitable, productive and provides a better quality of life to its stakeholders. All this points towards, and calls for, changes. These changes are often met with resistance through clash with the existing culture of the organization that is under threat from these changes. The current beliefs, values and customs form the ingredients of organisational culture. The first two are difficult to break but easier to mould. Changes are therefore required to be introduced in an adaptive mode through existing cultures. Here is where leaders show Guts in their ability to do the same thing in a different way. They are capable of converting their radical thoughts during this transition. But this is not easy as there are barriers to the effort exercised through powerful individuals and groups who resist change. There is also a negative perception of change that has to be removed through effective communications. Power politics of vested interests has to be identified and either manipulated or eliminated for change to proceed smoothly. The balance of power has to be redistributed amongst the constituents to facilitate change. At the end of the day most people are not motivated by being pushed. The motivation comes out of the desire to meet their own needs, to achieve something that holds value for them, to be in control, to be recognized, to have self esteem and the satisfaction of having achieved their personal objectives. A successful leader connects with these human values and excites people with his vision that will help them achieve their personal objectives through his visionary strategies. This involvement must be real and for this the leader has to formulate a vision that takes these aspirations into account. The results of this vision come out in the shape of recognition and reward for the people. There are some typical leadership behaviour patterns that are very critical. Jerry Porras and Susan Hoffer (1986) opine that open communication meaning sharing of intentions, listening and collaborating through making team decisions were most relevant for success in organisational development efforts. Similar conclusion was drawn by Teresa Covin and Ralph Kilmann (1990) when they surveyed several individuals. They noted two more traits of leaders. One, that they demonstrated discernible and unfailing support for the change programs, and secondly, they related the change to business needs. This calls for building of teams towards the effort and communicating the expected results in terms of profits, productivity, quality, performance, quality of work life etc. 5 Transactional - Transformational Leadership In a different approach to leadership an interesting proposition was made by Burns (1978) and was further developed by Bass (1985). He made a distinction between transactional and transformational types of leadership. He stated that transactional leadership was the traditional leadership which involves the leadership-subordinate roles where the subordinate is rewarded for compliance with the leader’s wishes (Doherty and Danylchuk, 1996). As against it in case of transformational leadership the subordinate is encouraged or motivated by the leader to improve him, raise his bar in order to serve the organisation better. (Doherty and Danylchuk, 1996; Soucie, 1994; Yukl, 1989). Bass (1985) offered a differentiation between transactional and transformational leadership. The transformational leader influences the sub-ordinate to do more than they were originally expected to do, whereas the case of transactional leadership this influence does not exist. These are two different dimensions and cannot be said to be at the two extreme ends of the same continuum. (Doherty and Danylchuk, 1996). But Bass maintained that leaders have both qualities at the same time as some rewards are given to sub-ordinates even by transformational leaders. Obviously transformational leadership is what can bring about changes in the organisation as it is the dynamism of the leader that will both motivate and reward the employees to adapt to changes. 6 Characteristics of Transformational Leaders According to Armstrong (2001) the four main characteristics are ethical behavior, sharing a vision and goals, improving performance through charismatic leadership, and leading by example. However, Bass (1990) had a more comprehensive description, his four Characteristics are: Intellectual stimulation which refers to the leaders capability to inspire followers to be more inquisitive and inventive in thinking and problem solving Individual consideration revolves around interaction between leaders and followers on two dimensions. First is developmental orientation wherein tasks are assigned to enhance an individuals potential, abilities, and motivation; second is individual orientation where the leader accentuates shared understanding and experience through one-on-one dealings and two-way communications. Inspirational leadership, refers to the idea that leaders inspire and encourage subordinates to create greater emotional attachments to leaders and greater identification with leaders visions of organisational goals Idealized influence refers to the fact that the charismatic traits of a leader will be idealized by followers through their commitment and will tap their full potential. In yet another description the four characteristics have been referred to as the four "Is" by Avolio, et al 1991 with which transformational leaders stimulate and engage their followers. Individualized Consideration: The leader gives personal attention to others, making each person feel outstandingly valued. Intellectual Stimulation: Encouraging a new look to old methods, inspiring creativity, encouraging others to look at problems and issues from a different angle. Inspirational Motivation: By increases optimism and enthusiasm the leader communicates higher expectations and points out new possibilities. Idealized Influence: The leader provides a vision and a meaningful role thereby gets respect, trust, and confidence from followers. 7 Traditional Leadership Against the above background, traditional Leadership roles have been fearsome and ruled by diktat rather than reasoning. The maximum a leader would do was to provide for training and would consider it to be his benign gesture and would expect a far higher value for this investment. The humane feeling was to the extent of providing some extrinsic rewards. Recognition was a remote concept and the employee was expected to keep improving by experience and to offer his loyalty in return for wages alone. To the credit of the authors, they have shown and proved that leadership has to come out of this traditional mould if the company is to succeed in the competitive environment. The leader also has to think out of the box. 8 Conclusions Kevin and Jackie Freiberg have depicted successful leaders who have the guts to say goodbye to conventional wisdom and adopt radical policies to turn their organisations into successful models. All their chosen leaders have displayed exceptional human management qualities that have rendered their organisations truly productive, competitive and efficient workplaces. The most remarkable change is the fact that employees love to work for such companies and are attached to them in more than just a professional way. This is a new concept that has revolutionised business today. Work is no longer drudgery, it is fun, it is like an extended family where individually and collectively they feel for the welfare of the company and are willing to go beyond their obligations to see that the image of the company not only stays intact, but is actually improved. 9 Bibliography Armstrong, S. (2001). Are you a "transformational" coach? Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 72(3), 44-47. Avolio, B. J., Waldman, D. A., & Yammarino, F. J. (1991). Leading in the 1990s: The four Is of transformational leadership. Journal of European Industrial Training, 15(4), 9-16. Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. New York: Free. Bass, B. M. (1990). Bass and Stogdills Handbook of Leadership: Theory, Research and Managerial Applications. New York: Free Press. Burns, J.M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper & Row. Burrell, Gibson & Morgan, Gareth. 1979. Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis.London: Heinemann. Covin T.J.and Kilmann, R.H. "Participant Perceptions of Positive and Negative Influences on Large-Scale Change," Group and Organization Studies, 15 (1990): 233-248. Doherty, A. J., & Danylchuk, K.E. (1996). Transformational and transactional leadership in interuniversity athletics management. Journal of Sport Management, 10(3), 292-309. Kumar K. and Thibodeaux, M.S., "Organizational Politics and Planned Organizational Change," Group and Organization Studies, 15 (1990): 357-365. Pfeffer, J., Power in organizations, (Marshfield, MA: Pitman Publishing Inc., 1981). Porter, M. E., Competitive Advantage. New York: Free Press: 1980 Porras J.I. and Hoffer, S.J.,"Common Behavior Changes in Successful Organization Development Efforts," Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 22 (1986): 477-494. Sourcie, D. (1994). Effective managerial leadership in sport organizations. Journal of Sport Management, 8(1), 1-13. Weick, K. B. The Social Psychology of Organizing. Keadlng, MA: Addlson-Wesley. 1979 Yukl, G. (1989b). Managerial leadership: a review of theory and research. Journal of Management, 15(2), 251-289. Read More