Principle-Centered Leadership in Organizations - Book Report/Review Example

Analysis of Principle-centered Leadership Covey (1991) begins his book by outlining the principles that guide an individual. These principles according to him guide an individual both in his professional life and in personal life. The author talks on how these Principles create a balance and one obligation to abide by them hence becoming difficult to go against these principles (p. 19). The author identifies these principles to be security, power, wisdom and guidance. They are what guides Principle- Centered leadership. These principles would guide an individual towards decision-making and fulfilling promises (p. 55). The author also identifies trust to be what defines success and failure in any given environment (p. 31). The author also identifies four environments at which these principles may be applied. He characterizes those successful individual in all the environments become successful based on their initial “greatness of character” (p. 63). The book also states three types of power where and ways in which leadership can be enhances in these types with the focus being on the principle- centered powers. Greatness of any leader may best on the approach he or she deploys while making decision. The book introduces the aspect of family as a unit in leadership. The nature in which the family tackles issues conflict and communicates to each other is what Covey (1991) describes effective and should be emulated in any other leadership scenario. The very detail of leadership is more than power and according t the book it operates on four different levels. These levels include personal, interpersonal, managerial and organizational levels. The setup of each skills exhibited at any level may be driven by action at personal levels and the way people adopt to other environmental settings. An origination’s success is guided by given principles. The very existence of any given organization depends on the amount of resources and type of leadership each organization employs. An organization needs a sense of security through its leaders. Security entails trust by the organization towards the leader. Decision-making needs to b based on the interest of the organization and whoever is entitled the responsible perfume according to expectation. Those leaders intending to offer security needs to develop the aspect on an individual aspect. Primary traits of leadership evolve from a family setup to an educational aspect. The security aspect at its primary stages requires an individual to study a given environmental suspect, to perfect on and use his experience to perfect on the aspect. Leadership traits exhibited at any given scenario ascertain various aspects of life. Leadership tends to exist beyond the business environment. The family and societal organization proves the existence of leadership and roles of every individual in matters leadership. In a social setup, guidance is what defines a leader. A family stays united based on the leadership trait, parents guide their children based on societal expectation. Ethical aspects are natured at a family level and through it; one develops leadership skills in a wider organizational environment. The author states the responsibility of a leader towards its subjects and other staff members in a business environment. Subjects seek guidance from their leaders and through traits portrayed by a leader, the organization would adapt methods and models to enhance communication and offer guidance. The leader is expected to give guidance an event a conflict arises and at the same time use available avenues to avert future conflicts. The leader is required to interact with other leaders in collaborative goals of an organization and give an institution the much-needed external support. Power is an aspect described Covey (1999) as essential and the reason as to why leadership exists. Power creates an environment in which a given leader earns respect and influence over a given organization. The nature in which power is attained and exercised would determine the success of any given leader. Forces that drives these powers include, hunger for success, passion, ambition, pride and environmental aspiration. They tend to nature new leaders and strengthen those existing leaders. Education and training is an aspect that creates avenues in which individuals will pursue power. Upon acquisition of the principle, one needs to exercise them cautiously to avoid conflicts of interest. When greed and appetite rule a leader’s Principles, the essence of good leadership would be undermined. The essence of communication and guidance in a leader become difficult hence failed leadership approaches. Education and training guides a leader on how to control power and enable effective organization control. A leader sets his goals based on existing factors. The course of action would depend on a leader’s intellectual ability and experience. Wisdom is what Covey (1991) describes as fulcrum of principle-centered leadership. Existing laws and organizational cord of conducts create a platform where leaders may exercise their mandate. The author explains the essence of self-development and its benefits while making informed decisions (p. 29). Environmental factors contribute to the growth of intellectual ability. A leader’s ability to convey and communicate to its subjects and other leaders is based on wisdom displayed at different levels of his or her growth. The interaction between a leader and its subjects enabled him prevent a crisis before it escalate and solve it at its initial stages. Decision making on matters related to conflicts and advice depends on the wisdom portrayed by a given leader. Covey (1991) identifies four levels in which principle- centered leadership would work best. An individual at these three levels is guided by different expectations. The first level is the personal level where trust prevails based on personal abilities. The interpersonal level is second level and is based on abilities developed at the initial stages. At the level, the essence of communication and consultation take effect. The third level is what drives the essence of leadership. A leader needs to gather every single aspect to enable him manage a given institution based on their goals and objectives. Attaining these goals is based on the ability of the company to attract external factors. The external factors may mean either financial aids or partnership that will minimize on cost and maximize on output and revenue depending on the nature of the organisation. The managerial stage of the principles may apply to very successful managers who encourage innovation and utilizes existing capacity to achieve a given organization goal. An aspect of alignment in leadership arises from the book. Alignment entails arranging priorities and organizing staff and subjects to execute their duties. The cultural aspect of a given organization would determine a leader’s models of assigning duties. The author introduces the aspect of social cultural practiced towards organizing a given environment. The interpersonal trait achieved at a prior stage would determine the nature of the given environmental leadership. A leader would coordinate functions to ensure unity at the given environment. Leaders determine models in which when applied the organization become effective. In the political scene leaders arrange their strategies based on available resources and capitalize on the weakness of other leaders to emerge victorious. Every detail is kept into considerations while making final decisions. Poor skills and uninformed strategies may prove the difference between success and failure. Failure by leaders to organize their environment base on current issue and acquired knowledge may be disastrous. The consequences that follow would be; low self- esteem, lack of self- integrity and mistrust among other leaders and subjects. When a leader becomes enlightened, he overcomes these challenges and designs strategies that would prevent the recurrence of the same. Recovery after undergoing challenges is what describes a leader under the principle- centered philosophy (p. 173) Principle- centered leadership entails working on different models to achieve “total quality objectives” (p. 263). There needs to be equilibrium between family leadership and organizational leadership. The nature at which a leader performs both responsibilities at different intervals would describe his or her success. The aspect of moral expectation and responsible emerges from the book. The author describes a leader as one who is influential at different levels. Choices are essential in determining priorities and all objectives must be set according to different objectives. The leadership traits portrayed at a family setup would determine the success of each leader in a business or any other given environment. Executing tasks at any level should bear in mind the existence of rules and regulation and should follow a given code of ethics. Separating times at which a given task needs to be formed would ensure an individual performs two tasks at a given interval. The author describes principle- centered leadership to be based on cultural aspects and that each leader is entitled to follow given guidelines. The abilities acquired though experience or learned skills are essential while leading a given organization. The author identifies the moral aspect of leadership. However, the author fails to link the leadership to changing traits. He assumes that current environmental factors could remain constant. The aspect of technology and changing business environments may affects the existence of the principle. Contemporary leadership is all about communication and decision making based on researched opinions. This means that individuals ranked the lowest have an opportunity to contribute to leadership. The effect of this approach would mean that leaders are the final decision makers and any suggestion by the subjects or staff members may be supplementary and not count in the final decision making. There is need to separate the leadership traits from those of a ruler. The author also argues that those weak leaders may adapt good traits and transform over time. This is contrary to the leadership expectations where, good effort is rewarded and poor practice is punished. Hence creating leadership based on this assumption may prove disastrous in a non-democratic environment. In conclusion, the author bases his arguments on primary practices that may prove either the success or failure of a given leader in executing duties. The family lays the basis of the four principles advocated by the author. These principles wideness the leadership spectrum and includes the social and cultural expectation of any given leader. A leader may be born with skills or acquire skills. The skills may be acquired through formal education and training. Whichever way an individual acquires the leadership skill, one needs to identify the essence of communication. Communication acts a bridge between problems and solutions. Breaking communication between a leader and the subject may be the beginning of failed strategies by a given organization. The criticism of the book is its failure to integrate changing environmental factors with the practical aspect of the principle. The article then leaves managers to develop their own strategies in tackling emerging trends in business and the environment in which the principle works best. Work cited Covey, Stephen. Principle-Centered Leadership. New York: Summit Books, 1991. Print. Read More