Why the Leader of the Future Must Be a Perpetual Learner - Literature review Example

Business Literature Review Any organized human activity, which is done in-group, will be most times constituted into structure called organization. So, Organization is a ‘structure’ with a ‘collage’ of individuals doing their allocated work under the supervision of a leader, for the benefit of the organization as well as them. This team of individuals like the five different fingers in one’s hand will be 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 this success story can only be scripted, by an effective leader or manager. So, this paper as a form of literature Review will analyze how the organizational culture mainly ‘scripted’ or created by the leader or manager creates both opportunities and challenges From time immemorial, the success or failure of an organization or any other human activity depends on the role, the leader or manager plays. If the leader or manager follows a set of traits he/ she can ‘sprinkle’ success on many lives, including the individuals in his/her organization. The managerial skills should be visible and should be put to effective use when the leader, as a ‘builder’ builds a group by following a certain organizational culture. A manager will normally take over or preside over or manage an existing organization. That is, the building or recruiting of the ‘group’ of individuals as well as the installation of infrastructure, set up etc, would have already taken place, with the manager only leading and managing the organization. This job of taking an existing set up and managing it, brings in set of challenges, which can be taken care by formulating certain strategies or solutions based on a common and effective organizational culture. Literature Review One of the important first tasks of a leader in an organization (both in a new organization and in an existing 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 (2004, p.17), “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, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems”. 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 banking 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. That is, instead of restating the existing organizational culture or modifying the existing culture or copying another organizational culture, it would be better and optimum if the leader creates, his/her own according to the needs of the organization and importantly employees. “Organizational cultural interventions involve more than simply restating values, beliefs, or norms and communicating them to individuals. Cultural changes involve a complex process of replacing an existing paradigm or way of thinking with another.” (DeSimone, Werner & Harris, 2002, p. 594). The first main role of the leader in any organization is to build an academically, technically, practically strong and experienced workforce, who will be able to the assigned work effectively and professionally. That is, what Schein (2004) 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”. When the apt employees are recruited, it is the duty of the leader of the organization to impose his/hers assumptions, ideas, principles, etc on the employees and thereby form an organizational culture. As leaders are the man in lead, they usually have a major impact on how the group initially defines and sets into an organization. Typically, the 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 organization copes with challenges and targets. This imposition of founder’s assumptions, as a form of good culture is one of the good leadership traits, because as the individuals 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. “Leadership focuses on developing corporate culture and human capability, patiently building trust and emotional commitment to the company through teamwork and communication.” (Beer and Nohria 2000) But, in some organizations, the challenge to this imposition of a new culture will come in the form of experienced workers who will be slugging out in the same job in the same environment, importantly in the same mindset for years and changing them to accept the new effective assumptions and work culture will be difficult. “…difficult goals lead to high achievement when accompanied by high commitment and vice-versa” (Dodd and Nancy). In that case also, the managers should play an effective and influencing role. “The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority” (Blanchard). There are many leaders who have successfully imposed their assumptions and practices and each of these practices later became a set working culture for the whole organization. So, this process of great working culture will always or should always ‘seeded’ by the leader. An effective leadership trait, that, should be exhibited in the initial stages is, the leader should live and work as an example for others to follow. “Leadership by example: Behaviour from important people that is inconsistent with the vision overwhelms other forms of communication” (Kotler 1996). That is, after creating the culture, he/she should be the strongest follower of that culture and the leaders should not waver from it themselves. This trait, one of the important for the leader to imbue, will motivate the workers to give cent percent and make the organization score heavily. Also, setting personal examples only can allow the leader to point out the faults in his workers and correct them, thereby integrating them to the organizational culture in a more effective manner. 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. That is, apart from setting personal examples they should also encourage leaders in other supervisory positions to perform effectively and set personal examples for their subordinates. This strategy only stipulates that a good leader always has to be around to set a good example and to teach subordinates the right way to do things. “Good management consists in showing average people how to do the work of superior people” (Rockefeller). After the leader creates the culture and follows that culture himself/herself, the workers will start do their work by following the set organizational culture. “The sheer number of decisions that must be made keeps them occupied with the decision making process, necessitating that intermediaries convey these decisions throughout the company” (Carlzon, 1989). The workers can also be made to follow the organizational culture in an even stronger way, if they are made part of the decision making process by the leader. That is, during the process of decision-making, one of the approaches the leader could try is, putting for discussion his/ hers thoughts and organizational goals among the workers, and involving them productively. Participation in goal-setting was found to be an effective method for enhancing goal commitment (Locke, Latham & Erez). This part of organizational culture is visible in many organizations as many business leaders try to build an image of cooperative leadership, without any superiority. 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. “Dont 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, leader should cultivate, which will ultimately lead to a healthy organizational culture. “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.” (Roosevelt) Then, when the employees impede or obstacle the growth of the organization particularly the set organizational culture, the leaders should show their authority and weeds out these individuals and put the organization on the success path. Effective and 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, the common acknowledged concept is, the leader should function as a brilliant, demanding, but supportive and charismatic father figure. That is, the workers 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 by the leader, if that thought process and action is detrimental to the organization. They got the right people on the bus, moved the wrong people off, ushered the right people to the right seats - and then they figured out where to drive it” (Collins 2007). That is, leaders should need to show decisiveness in appropriate 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 them or suspending 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” (Drucker). When the organization attains success as it accomplishes its primary task, the leader’s assumptions or the work culture will become shared. That is, as the organizations starts to show positive results, the existing as well the new employees can be easily made to follow the organizational or bank culture. So, the embedding of the assumptions or culture, 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 taking 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. So, the role of the leader is to hold on to the culture and make it work, so the individuals 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). This happens in majority of the successful organizations, all over the world. That is, every successful organization will form an organization culture of their own, after witnessing major success, which can be further optimized, with more successes. Conclusion Any organization and also its leader should not stagnate and saturate, and should continue to develop further. Schein (2004, p.418) pushes forward this idea by stating “that the leader of the future must be a perpetual learner”. Perpetual learner in the sense, the leader should learn new levels of perception and acquire lot of insights for running an organization. Unison of workers into teams, with an urge to usher an organization into top echelons will be successful, if the leader creates a perfect organizational culture. And, if a perfect organizational culture is created, the organization would have a ubiquitous presence all over the world. Works Cited Blanchard, K, Leadership Quotes. October 21, 2008 http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_leadership.html Beer, M. & Nohria. N. 2000. Cracking the Code of Change. Harvard Business Review. May-June, 133-141. Carlzon, J. 1987, Moments of Truth, Harper & Row. Collins, J. 2001, Level 5 Leadership: The triumph of humility and fierce resolve, Harvard Business Review, Jan, 66-76 DeSimone, R.L., Werner, J. H., &Harris, D. M. 2002. Human resource development. Orlando: Harcourt College Publishers. Dodd, N and Kenneth, S. A. 1996. “A test of goal commitment as a moderator of the relationship between goal level and performance.” Journal of Social Behavior & Personality. June: 329 Drucker, P. 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Schein, E. H. Organizational Culture and Leadership, 3rd. ed. Jossey-Bass. 2004 Read More