The Role of the Founder in Creating Organizational Culture - Thesis Proposal Example

The Role of the Founder in Creating Organizational Culture Presentation Paper Topic statement. The research paper discusses how, a leader and his/hers’ leadership traits are important to an organization’s survival and success. For every organization, a capable leader will be the integral component. And it is, this leader with a good number of leadership traits, who can make an organization a success or a failure. So, this paper analyses the important leadership traits and shows its application in the organization. Also, this paper shows how leadership traits are something that will be visible in one’s childhood itself, and which only develops and gives that individual the advantage to run an organization. The matter that are presented and discussed in the research paper are: The importance of leadership. - The leader can only lead humans under him/her to success or failure - Leader only creates a perfect, feasible and winnable working culture Important Leadership Traits - Imposition of founder’s assumptions - Leader should lead by example - Initiator of new approaches - Awarding individuals purely on merit - Utilize the services of the experts - Involving the workers productively - Providing a perfect and comfortable working environment - Discipline should be maintained - Embedding the successful work culture - Rewards as a confidence booster - Consistency - Getting angry and getting work done - Focussed target - Open to criticism - Decisiveness Personal Conclusions As the one, who was exposed to different kinds of leadership, both as a leader who lead, and as a member in a team lead by another person, I could not list down more than four leadership traits, before this research study. But after researching the topic, I could increase the list to fifteen leadership traits, which would be highly beneficial to all. Also, prior to the research, I had different perspectives about how the leadership traits got evolved. I had an understanding that, it will suddenly form or arise in managers. But after, the research, I understood that leadership traits will get ‘seeded’ and will evolve in the childhood of an individual itself. The traits formed in the childhood will only continue its applications in the adulthood. Leadership From time immemorial, the success or failure of an organization or any other human activity depends on the role, the leader plays. The leader is the one who can lead humans under him/her to ‘heaven’ or ‘hell’. And, if the leader follows a set of traits he/ she can ‘sprinkle’ success on many lives, including the workers in his/her organization. That is, Organization is an organized human activity, apportioned into different ‘organs’ or departments by a leader. ‘Organized human activity’ in the sense, ever since our origination, we humans have been showing activeness both mentally and physically, which have transformed our globe from a primitive one to an advanced one. Physically speaking, this activeness is due to the functions or ‘organized activity’ of the various body organs. And even though various organs play their part, it is the brain, which plays the chief part, by initiating and controlling the various parts. Likewise, the organization will be active, physically, statistically, economically etc due to the organized activity of the workers and the departments. And like brain in the human body, the leader of the organization in the form CEO (Chief Executive Officer), MD (Managing Director), Chairman etc will put his/her brain and manage the various human filled departments. So, organized human activity is planned and controlled flow of human energy. So, if organized or planned activity is carried out with precision, the organization will be a success. But, precision in organizing or planning cannot be done without the initiatives of the workers and departments and also without a knowledgeable, capable and powerful initiator. Like the five different fingers in one’s hand, each human is different from one another having different characters, attitudes, education, background etc, etc…And the unison of these different humans under a single organization to reach a target is, and will always be a difficult proposition. As these different humans could only create a different working culture, the success rate will be minimal. And, if a common working culture, if correctly said, the perfect, feasible and winnable working culture is ‘operationalised’, through out the organization, the organization will be a success story. And, the script for the success story could only be scripted by an effective leader. “Leadership is based on a spiritual quality; the power to inspire, the power to inspire others to follow” (Vince Lombardi). The leadership traits should be visible and should be put to effective use when the leader, as a ‘builder’ builds a group and as a ‘founder’ launches an organization. The leader can build a group, by associating individuals who came from the same ‘stable’ like friends, work mates, family members etc and by recruiting individuals with talent, knowledge and attitude. That is, as Schein (2004, p.261) said, “... best way to build an organization was to hire very smart, articulate, tough, independent people and then give them lots of responsibility and autonomy”. With this ‘living’ group, and the material things like capital, machines, infrastructure etc the founder cum leader embark on an organization. That leader, along with his/ her team should formulate policies, rules and targets or goals for the success of the group. Then, the important process of decision making also fall into the hands, if correctly said, ‘falls’ into the brain of the leader. And one of the important first tasks of a leader in a new organization is the creation of a Culture. That is, the task of the leader is to create a working culture, embed the working culture in the working group and environment, sustain it and also rectify it, when faults occur. According to Edgar Schein, What is culture? “The culture of a group can now be defined as a pattern of shared basic assumptions that was learned by a group as it solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems” (Schein, 2004, p.17). So, apart from policy formulation and decision-making, it becomes all more important to look at the other side of the leader, in culture creation. The leader, who as a founder of an organization need to create a culture, then as a managing director or CEO of an organization need to manage and implement the culture, and then as a wise creator of a culture tune it, according to the needs of the situation. A vital element one needs to understand is that, culture “coevolves” with the organization as success brings growth as well as ‘aging’. Normally, Culture is created by shared experience of the group working, but it is the leader who initiates this process by imposing his or her beliefs, values, and assumptions at the outset. Imposition of founder’s assumptions As Founders are the man in lead, they usually have a major impact on how the group initially defines and sets into an organization. Typically, the founders as leaders have strong assumptions about the nature of the world, the role that organizations play in that world, the characteristics that make up human nature and relationships, how truth is arrived at, and how to manage time and space (Schein, 1978, 1983). They will, therefore, be quite comfortable in imposing those views and personal cultures, on their partners and employees as the fledgling organization copes with challenges and targets in the initial stages. This initial stage imposition of founder’s assumptions, as a form of good culture is one of the good leadership traits, because as the workers mind will be fresh in their new organizational setup and also as their mind will be willing to make a good beginning, the new culture could be easily adopted. “The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority” (Kenneth Blanchard). Schein in his book Organizational Culture and leadership also talks about this good leadership trait through the work culture maintained by business stalwarts like Sam Steinberg, Ken Olsen etc. Sam always took products he sold at his grocery store back, if there was the slightest complaint, and always kept his store absolutely clean. Each of these practices later became a set working culture in his chain of stores and was taught and reinforced by close personal supervision. So, this process of great working culture will always or should always ‘seeded’ by the leader. Getting involved in all the process Another good leadership trait that leader should show is, getting involved in all the processes that will take place in the organization. The role of the founder should not be limited to just starting and funding an organization, he had to become the integral part of the organization. His / hers ‘touch’ both mental wise and physical wise should be found in all aspects of an organization. Because like a father and mother who initiates a life into this world and should take care of him/ her till he/ she becomes independent, the leader who initiates the idea of an organization should take care of it until someone could replace him. Till that time, he should not shy away from his responsibility because apart from having a negative connotation on the subordinates, it would also be a sure recipe for the failure of the company. As the role of the leader is to motivate his/ her subordinates through his/ her action, and not demotivate them. So, if the leader involves himself/herself and ‘pushes’ himself/herself and importantly workers towards the target, the organization can push the competition away. “Good management consists in showing average people how to do the work of superior people” (Rockefeller) Leader should lead by example A good leadership trait, that, should be exhibited in the initial stages is, the leader should live and work as an example for others to follow. This trait, one of the important for the leader to imbibe, will motivate the workers to give cent percent and make the organization score cent percent. Also, setting personal examples only can allow the leader to point out the faults in his workers and correct them. And, many business leaders have formulated many strategies for the implementation of these traits. And the important thing they will do is that, they will not centralize their powers but ask their subordinates; you could be superiors to somebody, to lead by example. And this strategy only stipulates that a good manager always has to be around to set a good example and to teach subordinates the right way to do things. “A leader leads by example not by Force.” (Sun Tzu, 6 B.C.) Initiator of new approaches Another, good leadership trait, is to try new approaches and also encourage new approaches from their subordinates, which can be implemented with minimum risk. Traveling to conventions and other businesses where new technological innovations were displayed will give the leader, new perspectives about the industry. It also gives a fair idea about the market, the organization’s competitors, how the market’s and product’s future will be, etc. This trait is also intertwined with another good trait of always be, in search of new avenues. That is, the leader should not settle with the thought he knows all the answers and has all the solutions, he should find more answers and solutions to the problems that will keep on arising in an organization. That may take the leader to any place and he/she should be willing to travel to whatever extent to fully equip. And that equipping will make push the leader to try new approach and in the process equip the workers also. Awarding individuals purely on merit Another good leadership trait is awarding individuals purely on merit, not on any other considerations. This is because, many leaders in many organization overriding tried and trusted individuals; give important posts and responsibilities to individuals who might be family members, friends, and persons with negative influence on the leader etc. If this practice is followed, it will create disenchantment among workers and will show the leader in poor light. And in many companies, because of the ritual of awarding plum posts for his family members and shielding them when they committed mistakes, many members of the organization banded together in a kind of mutual protection society that developed a culture of its own. They were more loyal to each other than to the company. So, to keep the core group of good workers in a motivated state, the leader needs to award the right individuals. Utilize the services of the experts Also, if the leader feels he/she is lacking in any particular field mainly knowledge wise, he/she should bring in the experts and try to fill in the pieces. This is one of the important traits because; experts will bring their wealth of experience in to the new avenue and will try to utilize the experience to the whole of the organization. And in the process may also develop a protégé, who will continue his/hers working style. And if the leaders, due to the fear of losing the authority and as a sign of superiority complex act as if they knew everything, it will only lead to graver consequences. Because theirs false or inadequate knowledge could result in failure, which is more damageable then accepting the inadequacies and looking for good alternatives. Involving the workers productively During the process of decision-making, one of the approaches the leader could try is, putting for discussion his/ hers thoughts among the workers, and involving them productively. This strategy will have unexpected at the same time favorable results, because one may never know from where, when and importantly from whom a great idea could come. “Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results” (Patton). So, involving and allowing co-workers to play a part in the decision-making, but at the same time being the final authority is a good leadership trait, one should cultivate. And Olsen had the same thought process has he felt that open discussion and debate in a group was the only way to test an idea. Hence, Olsen set up a number of committees and groups and insisted that all ideas be discussed and debated before they were acted on. “I’m not that smart; if I really knew what to do I would say so. But when I get into a group of smart people and listen to them discuss the idea, I get smart very fast” (Olsen). For Ken Olsen, groups were a kind of extension of his own intelligence and he often used them to think out loud and get his own ideas straight in his head. (Schein, 2004, p.235) Providing a perfect and comfortable working environment Another approach, a leader could practice and which could be a considered a good leadership skill is providing a perfect and comfortable working environment for his workers. For that, the best option the leader will have is going for an open-office layout. That is, cubicles should be preferred instead of offices with doors because, in a office set up where team work will have prominent place, face to face interaction would bring in more ideas, than one calling other into a closed room and having a closed discussion. Also minimization of the use of status symbols such as private offices, special dining rooms for executives, and personal parking spaces should also be curbed down. This is one of the important needs because it will give even the lower staff, the feeling that all are treated equal, irrespective of the salary, experience etc. So, instead of special rooms, many conference rooms and attached kitchens should be setup to encourage people and interact comfortably. This environment will make the workers stay, at office, an enjoyable experience at the same time encouraging experience. Discipline should be maintained At the same time, the successful leaders will always recognize the fact that excess freedom would be a bane to the organization, so discipline will be implemented thoroughly. And, it is one of the important leadership traits because in some situations and in some sectors, discipline was essential to getting things, done. So according to the successful leader, Ken Olsen, the leader should function as a brilliant, demanding, but supportive and charismatic father figure. That is, he or she should be given the space and freedom to think and act in a way that could benefit the company but at the same time should be controlled and disciplined if that thought process and action is detrimental to the organization. “Olsen is an example of an entrepreneur with a clear set of assumptions about how things should be, in terms of both how to relate externally to the environment and how to arrange things internally in the organization”. (Schein, 2004, p.239) Embedding the successful work culture And, when the organization attains some success or great success as it accomplishes its primary task, the leader’s assumptions that is, his/ hers work culture becomes shared and the embedding of those assumptions, can, then be thought of more as a process of socializing new members or acculturating them to the group. This embedding of culture cannot be done in a single day, it is a slow process with each value and rules taking their own time to be absorbed. But the process can be quickened when there is success. That is, the success that results due to a certain culture will strengthen that culture in the organization. And the role of the leader is to hold on to the culture and make it work, so the workers have no other choice but to follow it. “He had to seduce the employees into a situation in which they had no choice but to rethink their identity” (Schein, 2004, p.306). Rewards as a confidence booster Allocating Rewards and Status to the deserving and apt candidates or workers is an important trait the leader should have. In an organization, the workers do their duties for personal motivations like money, looking after their family etc, but their motivation level will get a great boost if they receive rewards and promotions. Rewards and promotions to deserving and ‘success achieved’ workers will motivate them to give better results and motivate others also, to reach that status. So, leaders can quickly get across their own priorities, values, assumption, etc and importantly organization’s goals and profits by consistently linking rewards and punishments to the activities of the candidate. Another key leadership trait which is inter linked to the above trait is filling key positions with people who have the beliefs, values, and assumptions that are viewed by senior leaders as the necessary ones for the future growth and survival of the organization. “The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” (Theodore Roosevelt) Consistency Another important trait of a leader is showing consistency in all aspects of management. That is, if the leader wavers from his/ hers set principles or rules and act according to the situation, that too, in front of his/ hers subordinates, it will result in a disgrace for the leader in the mind of the workers. So, leaders should be consistent in all his decisions, activities, commitments, communication etc. Because, consistency can only be considered as a complete victory for the leader in every sense of the term. Some of the mechanisms that leaders use to communicate their beliefs, values, and assumptions are conscious, deliberate actions (Kunda, 1999). Getting angry and getting work done Another trait the leader should adopt is using one’s anger as a weapon of mass change. That is, to get angry is human trait, but leader should get angry only when the situation demands it. Always getting upset and showing one’s anger on others, will only result in degradation of respect, one have for their leader. So, one have to subdue his/her anger, when it will not work, and use it only when it will work, on the workers. That is, the practice of Olsen involves, when the company was doing well; he often had emotional outbursts reflecting his concern that people were getting complacent. When the company was in difficulty, however, he never punished anyone or displayed anger; instead, he became the strong and supportive father figure, pointing out to both the external world and the employees that things were not as bad as they seemed, that the company had great strengths that would ensure future success (Schein, 2004, p.255). Focussed target The trait of merging different humans and focussing all of them on a single target is the one trait, the leader should importantly have. Because as any organization will be a hotbed of human activity, it could give rise to groups and subgroups, which will eventually share enough experience to create subcultures based on occupational, national, and uniquely historic experiences. Once such differentiation has taken place, the leader’s task is to find ways of coordinating, aligning, or integrating the different subcultures. So, building an effective organization is ultimately a matter of meshing the different subcultures and the leader should do this job, by encouraging the evolution of common goals, common language, and common procedures for solving problems. Open to criticism One of the most difficult aspects of leadership, but will be an important trait if practiced, is to stay open to criticism and even encourage it. Because, when one is occupied with managing a big organization with lot of decisions, goals, pressures, workers etc, etc, the leader sometimes tend to overlook the mistakes or blunders he/ she himself/ herself committed. In that case he/ she should be open to critical views from the subordinates, then only he can correct it for future use. So, leaders without any complex should keep their mind open and be open to criticisms Decisiveness Leaders should also need to show decisiveness in some cases, when the employee becomes too lazy, self-seeking, troublemaker and having many bad attributes. In those cases, the decisiveness can be outputted, by firing all of them from the organization. The organization would do well without these individuals. Actually these types of employees could be the obstacles in the growth and if the leaders show his/her authority and weeds out these individuals, the organization could be on the success path. ” Executives owe it to the organization and to their fellow workers not to tolerate non performing individuals in important jobs” (Peter Drucker). Personal conclusions In my opinion, all the above-mentioned leadership traits are the perfect ‘ingredients’ to make a leader. And these leadership traits can be interpreted in different ways and I have interpreted in three ways. That is, all these traits will be visible in a leader you have achieved success and are managing a successful organization. And, if said differently, if a person have all these skills and is running an emerging organization or a new startup, in course of time he/she would become a leader and have a successful organization. And finally, if a person is in youth and wanted to start an organization and make it a success, he/she is best advised to follow these traits. And one of my views is, Leadership is a facet that could be visible in only some individuals of this world. That is, when we take the whole population of the world, I think only 20% of the people would show full leadership potential. And that 20% of the people will change the lives of the remaining people through insights and actions. So, I think that the lives of the people of the world will get better if they have an able leader guiding them. And one of my personal conclusion and which are also the conclusion of many is, leadership gets attached with an individual in his/her childhood itself. I believe in the concept that small traces of leadership skills will be visible when the humans are themselves small. That is, leadership skills could be most visible in the childhood itself. In the childhood, he/she will have company of tiny tots of his/her age and all of them will involve themselves in the group activities, in their school or in their neighborhood. These activities could be in the form of physical as well as mental, and most of the activities will demand a team, which could be even a two-person team. So, while involving themselves in the team activities, some one from the group will try to guide and dominate the other ones. This is the natural process and I have seen this happening in every set up. And when I look in retrospective, my childhood has been replete with lot of this kind of situations, when I or some other friends of mine played that leadership role in the group activities, we tend to do. So, all the above-mentioned leadership traits will be visible but on a small scale. That is, most times a child with a good physical stature and ability to communicate at any moment will try to become a leader. And in the process, he/she will build on that by integrating all the leadership traits. Starting from integrating his/her personal habits to their group’s habits, then trying new approaches in the form of leading friends to new adventures etc, etc…- all these leadership traits will be visible in the childhood. And my opinion is, this exhibition of childhood leadership traits will only continue when the child grows up. That is, a child who does not show small, small leadership skills in his/her childhood, he/she will be hard pressed to show it in his/her later life. But, if a boy or girl shows it, in their childhood, he/she will surely show it in their later lives, adopting the traits to the needs of the situations in future. That is, when a child grows up into a boy, then teenager, then youth and finally man/woman, he or she will face and live in different situations and those situations will demand leadership skills. And, in those situations, the individuals, who have shown that leadership traits in his/her childhood will be able to ‘translate’ or use that skills to those situations easily. That is, in my opinion, leadership traits are like any other body ‘organ’ which grows with the whole body from the childhood. Even though, the leadership traits should be visible in all situations in one’s life, it should be most visible when an individual decides to form an organization. As I spelled out all the traits that will or should be visible, I got a chance to understand all the traits deeply and how it changed the lives of many individuals and made them into well-known personalities. These are the traits, which everyone can integrate to their lives. All the traits are feasible to be followed and each one will give the necessary advantage to face and manage all the situations and crisis that will arise in any organization. Finally, like the organization, the leader should not stagnate and saturate. And, Schein (2004, p.418) pushes forward the idea “that the leader of the future must be a perpetual learner”. Perpetual learner in the sense, learning new levels of perception and acquiring lot of insights of an organization. Then as an ongoing process should develop a work culture for others to follow. At the same time getting involved in all the process of the organization. Then, motivating oneself to learn new things, attaining emotional strength to absorb any anxieties caused by crisis. And involving others in the process of decision-making at the same time awarding them purely on merit. And finally show decisiveness, discipline and distinction to achieve success. So, Unison of humans with an urge to usher an organization into a leading ‘utopia’ will be a successful endeavor, if the leader of the organization show undaunted, unabated and unabashed conduct. And, if the leader shows all the good leadership traits mentioned here and many others, the organization would have a ubiquitous presence all over the world. References Blanchard, Kenneth. Leadership Quotes. Retrieved on January 13, 2007. http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_leadership.html Drucker, Peter. Woopidoo. Inspirational Business Quotes. January 13, 2007. http://www.woopidoo.com/business_quotes/leadership-quotes.htm Kunda, G. (1992). Engineering culture. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. Lombardi, Vince. Quotationspage. Retrieved on January 13, 2007. Quotations.about.com/od/stillmorefamouspeople/a/VincentLombard2.htm – 20 Patton, George S. leadervalues. January 13, 2007 http://www.famous-quotes-and-quotations.com/leadership-quotes.html Rockefeller, John D. Church Champions Update, Mar 13, 2001 Schein, E. H. (1978). Career dynamics: Matching individual and organizational needs. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Schein, E. H. (1983). 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