Operationalisation of Management and Leadership Development Into Practice - Essay Example

Operationalisation of Management and Leadership Development Into Practice 1. Introduction The methods used by the strategic planners for the achievement of various organizational targets are not standardized. Usually appropriately customized strategic tools are used every time that specific organizational issues need to be addressed. In any case, it is necessary that organizational practices are periodically reviewed, ensuring that they respond to the needs of the organization but also to the trends of the market. Current paper focuses on the examination of the management and leadership development, as parts of every organization’s strategic planning process. Emphasis is given on the operationalisation of management and leadership development into practice. Appropriate literature is used for highlighting the key issues of the study’s subject. At the next level, the article of the Emerald Group Publishing Limited (2010) ‘Changing Face of Leadership’ is used in order to show the key aspects of the operationalisation of leadership management in practice, as derived through the approach used by the article’s authors. It is concluded that the operationalization of leadership management into practice can be a challenging task – not just because of the requirements of these plans but also because of their implications for the leaders and the organizations. 2. Management and Leadership Development – operationalisation of management and leadership development into practice Leadership development is a multi-dimensional plan. When such plan is to be developed within a particular organization, it is important that its implications and its expected benefits are estimated and evaluated. The requirements of the specific plan need also to be taken into account, aiming to reduce the chances of failures when initiating such project. The leadership development affects the organizational life, in terms of the organization’s daily operational activities but also in terms of the context of its strategic choices. These issues are highlighted in the literature. Different approaches have been used for explaining the aspects of operationalisation of leadership development in organizations of different structural and operational characteristics. In accordance with Ryan (2007) the leadership development can lead to the establishment of inequality within the organization; it is explained that leadership is not equally developed across the departments of a particular organization. In certain teams of the organization, leadership plays a key role; in those teams, a significant amount of resources is likely to be invested on leadership development; in other organizational teams – referring to groups of individuals in different departments of the organization – leadership is not adequately supported. As a result, certain people in the organization ‘are not developed in line with where the organization is heading’ (Ryan 2007, p.234). In the above case, leadership is considered to be a generic term, representing not just the leader of the organization as a unique role, but also the leader in every organizational department and group of employees. In the context of the issues highlighted above, one of the key requirements for the successful completion of leadership plans is that these plans are feasible, in terms of the resources required, but also effective, leading to the establishment of a unique leadership style that can provide to the organization a competitive advantage. On the other hand, leaders in all organizations are likely to be affected by the changes introduced in their organization, especially those changes that refer to existing management and leadership practices. The specific issue is highlighted in the study of Carter et al. (2005); in the above study emphasis is given on the implications of leadership management for leaders. Reference is made, as an example, to the case of a merger. When having to deal with such task, a leader has to take into consideration a wide range of organizational elements and activities which are expected to be affected by the specific organizational decision: for instance:’ financial, legal, emotional, motivational effects and so on’ (Carter et al. 2005, 24). From a similar point of view, the leadership development could make clear the unwillingness of the leader to change his leadership practice for responding to the needs of the organization (Derr et al. 2002). In general, it could be noted that the leadership development in organizations of various characteristics, can indicate the level of commitment of the leaders; reference is made to the willingness of the leader to act in accordance with the organizational rules and ethics. For the organization also, the operationalisation of leadership development can have a series of implications: a) the organizations that emphasize on leadership development need to be appropriately structured in order to be able to develop relevant plans. This means that the organizational environment needs to be formatted in such way, that the leadership development to be easily initiated – every time it is considered as necessary. In accordance with Van Velsor et al. (2010) the organizations which aim to develop an environment supportive to the leadership development should emphasize on the following areas: ‘a) the establishment of their social identity, b) constantly reviewing the systemic influences that would be able to affect the leadership development – if such plans were introduced in the particular organization and c) taking into consideration the soft side of the organization, i.e. identify the level at which the organization has an inclusive culture and shared identity’ (Van Velsor et al. 2010, p. 171-172). On the other hand, London (2002, p.87) noted that the leadership development can highly affect organizational structure and performance and this influence is reflected to all organizational decisions – emphasis is given on the potential continuation of these effects in the long term. In this context, when the operationalisation of the leadership development is attempted, there are certain parts of the business operations that are expected to be influenced by the relevant activities: a) The needs analysis plan of the organization; each organization has to identify in advance the resources required for the achievement of organizational targets; the skills of the leaders who will be required for the development of the various organizational plans need also to be determined in advance. From this point of view, the leadership development affects the strategic decisions of the organization; in the above case, the decisions of the organization’s strategic planners need to ensure that all organizational activities will be closely monitored, meaning that leaders will be appointed in all organizational departments, minimizing the risks of failures of the relevant activities; b) The skill gap analysis; each organization need to define the skills of employees who will be involved in the organization’s operations; the skills of the organization’s leaders need also to be set in advance – the term leader in this case refer not to the CEO but rather to the individuals controlling each department of the organization or those monitoring the activities of groups of employees in various departments of the organization; the succession planning of the organization should be incorporated in the skill gap analysis, as analyzed above, c) Support planning; organizations need to define in advance the areas in which they will have to be supported – a relevant plan should cover an average period of 5-8 years ahead; reference is made not just to the requirement of the organization for additional resources but also to the need for development of existing resources; training and other personal development schemes necessary for the development of the firm’s employees – including leaders – should be included in the organization’s strategic planning; the needs of the organization in terms of leadership development would be estimated, as possible, in advance, taking into consideration the continuous change of the market trends and conditions. From a similar point of view, Gold et al. (2010) noted that the leadership development programmes need to be carefully designed in advanced having in the mind that the internal and the external organizational environment are likely to change continuously. Therefore, any estimation on the needs of a specific organizational plan could be proved inaccurate; reference is made especially to the plan’s cost/ time needs (Gold et al. 2010, p.538). In any case, it is quite possible that the leadership development scheme initiated within a particular organization is not aligned with the organizational culture; in this case, the leadership development would have the following implication: it would cause loss of important organizational resources (in case that the realization of the plan would be cancelled as opposed to the organizational culture) or delays in the progress of other organizational plans – at the level that organizational resources already used in other organizational plans would be also used in leadership development (Derr et al. 2002). In the above case, the operationalisation of leadership development in practice would be significantly delayed. 3. The operationalisation of leadership management into practice as described in the article of the Emerald Group Publishing Limited (2010) ‘Changing Face of Leadership’. One of the key issues highlighted in the specific article is the fact that leadership development can be highly differentiated across organizations mostly because of the differences in the conditions of the internal organizational environment. For this reason, it is noted that the changes in ‘healthcare, politics and industry’ (Emerald Group Publishing 2010, p.21) are likely to influence the leadership style of modern organizations. Thus, when having to proceed with the operationalisation of leadership development the managers of each particular organization need to focus primarily on the style of leadership, which would be most appropriate for their organization. The above assumption is verified through the particular article – where emphasis is given on the need for the existence of various leadership styles, so that the relevant needs of organizations with different structural and operational characteristics are addressed. The specific article focuses on three particular leadership styles – as alternative options instead of the traditional leadership style: the transactional, the transformational and the charismatic leadership styles can effectively replace the traditional leadership in modern organizations. In terms of their operationalisation, the above leadership styles have certain implications: a) the charismatic leadership should not be based only on the ‘impressive rhetoric’ (Emerald Group Publishing 2010, p.22) of the leader but also on various elements of the organizational environment; in the article under evaluation, the success of Obama has been explained referring to his practice to ‘his willingness to trust campaign workers at local levels’ (Emerald Group Publishing 2010, p.22), b) the transformational leadership style should be preferred ‘during periods of creative planning and development’ (Emerald Group Publishing 2010, p.22); in accordance with the particular article, the transformational leadership should be used in organizations focusing on innovation; moreover, because the requirements of the particular leadership style are many, including ‘charisma, inspirational motivation and intellectual stimulation’ (Emerald Group Publishing 2010, p.22) its introduction in a particular organization would be carefully planned giving emphasis on the charisma of the leader involved but also on the potentials of the organization (in terms of the resources available) for promoting innovation; c) the operationalisation of the transactional leadership would be easier since the specific leadership style does not require a charismatic leader or focusing on innovation; rather it just requires the existence of rewards in order to motivate employees to follow the organizational leader (Emerald Group Publishing 2010, p.21). 4. Conclusion The operationalisation of leadership development has many risks. However, the careful preparation of these plans can increase the chances for their success, in the context discussed above. On the other hand, it has been made clear that under certain circumstances the operationalisation of leadership development in practice cannot be easily controlled – in terms of the relevant plans’ effects. In accordance with the literature published in the particular subject, all organizations are likely to refer to leadership development when planning their key strategies; however, because of the needs and the implications of these plans, as analysed above, their success is often difficult to be secured. The fact that leadership development is related both to the organization, as the environment in which it operates, and the leader, as the individual who has the relevant role, increases the risks of leadership development as part of the strategic planning of modern organizations. In any case, the expected benefits of leadership development overcome the risks involved in its operationalisation, a fact that justifies the continuous expansion of the leadership development as a strategic tool for supporting the growth of the organization. Bibliography Byrne, J., Rees, R. (2006) The successful leadership development program: how to build it and how to keep it going. John Wiley and Sons Carter, L., Ulrich, D., Goldsmith, M. (2005) Best practices in leadership development and organization change: how the best companies ensure meaningful change and sustainable leadership. John Wiley and Sons Derr, C., Roussillon, S., Bournois, F. (2002) Cross-cultural approaches to leadership development. Greenwood Publishing Group Emerald Group Publishing Limited (2010) The changing face of leadership - Different styles of leadership facilitate changing needs in healthcare, politics and industry. Strategic Direction, Vol. 26 No. 1, pp. 21-23 Fisher-Yoshida, B., Dee Geller, K. 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