Leadership Trends and Shifts in the West - Case Study Example

The success rate or even the failure rate of any company or organization depends solely on the strategy and management of resources, however, in order to implement the strategy and further to achieve the goals; a lot of other factors have to be taken into account. This implies that the management and the leadership roles have a huge part to play in the smooth functioning of the strategy. On one hand where management is responsible to ensure that the resources are being utilized in the best way possible and maximum results are being produced to the advantage of the firm, on the other hand leadership has an even important role to play in envisioning the employees with the objectives of the firm and motivate their team in order to achieve a common goal. If the leaders lead their teams toward the right direction, the task of the management also becomes easier, and with that, the company is destined to reach to another level. However, this paper will aim at analyzing the leadership roles in Asian business firms, alongside critically commenting on the leadership trends and shifts in the West to draw a clear contrast, and further to understand the effect of these differences on the global market. Prior to analyzing the leadership trends in Asia and in the west, it is crucial to understand the dynamics of leadership, so that it becomes convenient to lay the foundation over which the comparison can be made. Most importantly, leadership revolves around two things, i.e. vision and energy enhancement. Vision further involves two aspects, i.e. an integrated and a collective vision of the entire organizations, and secondly, the individualistic vision of the key players of the organization (McNAUGHTON, 2004). Once the leaders identify the vision of the organization, they will have to understand how each individual perceives the vision, and thus, it is then the job of the leadership of the organization to integrate both and thus, take out the maximum out of it. Furthermore, a leader is responsible for motivating the employees of the organization and thus, to take interest in the organization, rather than just relying on their personal goals. A true leader is the one who makes the employees own an organization as much as the top management does, and further ensure that each employee is contributing his/her maximum to the organization. Consequently, leadership, be it in Asia, West or anywhere in the world relies on these basic concepts and the leaders need to be mindful of these aspects in order to benefit the firm. Further, giving a brief overview on the leadership trends in Asia and in the West can only prove to be a fruitful start to the discussion. Since the discussion will be focusing on how an executive contributes in setting the direction of the firm, and thus envisions and energizes the employees, these aspects would be analyzed from Asian as well as from Western perspectives. Studies from various aspects indicate that Asian business firms are quite dominant of the family politics, and thus, succession within the family takes place more often than not. Also, the top management and the confidantes of the business owners are also close family contacts and they prefer keeping the business details only to these few people. In contrast, Western business practices are free of family politics, and rely on ambition and capabilities instead. Also, culture is quite a dominating feature crucial to analyze the leadership roles in both the societies. In Asia, culture, traditions and family variables play an important role and thus, the leadership also has to act in a certain way to deal with the employees working in a culturally induced environment. In contrast, Western businesses are dependent on board of directors, or some other institutional setup (Wall Street for instance), thus leadership styles have to be different, the elaboration of which would be done throughout the system. Starting off with Asian businesses and thus, the leadership styles dominant in Asian business firms, it won`t be an understatement or even an exaggeration when one states that the leadership styles all over Asia don`t exhibit much of a diversity, rather similar trends can be observed. As stated above as well, family politics dominate; rather run all the big business firms throughout Asia. Most of the business firms in Asia started off after the World War II, and the maximum of these family owned businesses developed as de-colonization occurred and these huge investors were free and independent to conduct businesses in their territories. Given the insecurities and the close connections within the families, these businesses started to depend largely on the family politics dependent in a company (McMurray &Adele 2003). Thus, these company owners became highly experienced, and with time highly specialized in the fields, and eventually the trend developed which ensures that the business skills and specialties stay within the families of the large business owners. Thus, the leaders would have to keep this aspect in mind, and ensure smooth functioning of the firms by seeking out a way how to envision the employees and at the same time satisfying the higher-ups who are quite reluctant to accept change, and evolve in similar patterns. Moreover, another pattern which is also a huge challenge for the firm would be deemed the issue of succession within Asia. A study conducted over 250 families firms in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore indicates that in the process of succession about 60% of wealth was lost, in three years after succession, as compared to that of five years before succession took place (Ben-Porat, 2005). Thus, in this context, succession is a huge concern since when another generation takes over the family business, there is a lot at stake, and this issue needs consideration. However, it is important to analyze why this huge issue to these businesses is, and research further solves this puzzle. If only wealth and capital was to be passed over to another generation, this wouldn’t have been such an issue, however, in this case, leadership skills and challenges are as important as are the assets, and mastering the skills of the ancestors isn’t such a piece of cake. Researchers have identified cultural indicators, history, value based leadership and implicit rules as being deterrents in the way, which leaders need to take notice of (Klancko, 2007). Basically, the family owners take years to master the tricks of dealing with such issues, and a trend has been developed where certain rules of business apply and history and family rules dominate politics. Also, these executives are the leaders who know the secrets to satisfying their employees with their vision, and thus, they master the art of dictating rules to their employees and the trend continues. Once another generation takes over, they get caught up in other technical and financial issues, and in this race, they compromise the leadership roles and thus the employees lose motivation, and within no time, the company is at risk. In this context, the directive style of leadership works well in Asian business firms, whereby, the leader is the most influential person and has the maximum say in governing the order of business. This style requires the leaders to give orders and deadlines to their subordinates whereby the subordinates have no say in decision making and they do as the higher-ups desire. Though the style may have its own pro and cons, but it suits well to the business environments in Asia. In contrast, the businesses running in the West follow certain institutional rules, and every firm, regardless of the family name, is obliged to follow these set of rules not just by law, in fact by the order of business dominant in the region. In contrast to Asia, where the only leadership style being executed is the one dictated by family politics, there are many diverse leadership styles which can be identified in the way. Out of these styles, the most effective and dominant styles are the participative, charismatic, directive, celebrity and empowering styles (Olapegba & Olowodunoye 2011). Participative leadership style is quite effective and dominant in the West as it requires team work, and input via subordinates for the smooth running of the business (Yang 2008). This implies that the leaders and executive don`t just give orders to the subordinates, rather understand their own needs and priorities, and based on that, they lead the employees. Thus, the leaders working in such a scenario demonstrate the true leadership skills, as leadership is all about reading the subordinates and then giving them enough space to execute their activities. Empowering leadership style is a new phenomenon and it is also becoming quite dominant in the Western Business firms. This leadership style implies that not only will the needs and desires of the subordinates be kept in mind, rather, it will be ensured that they are empowered to take a decision on their own, experiment and learn the secrets to success themselves. Though this may sound risky, but it has its own advantages as well, as empowered employees will feel more strongly about their organization, and thus will contribute more positively. In addition, the leaders and executives still have an important role to play as in such a case, giving direction is more tricky as they will only have to lay the outline for the employees, and West is quite drastically now being shifted toward this style of leadership. Moreover, with the trends changing in the West, nowadays Charismatic leadership style is yet another one being implemented. This style is based on the ability of humans to lead and charm the subordinates by their presence (Visagie Linde, & Havenga 2011). This directly implies that the leader proves to be a role model or an interesting figure to the employees, whom they would like to follow with pleasure. This proves to be a good strategy as the subordinates would be doing something which truly motivates them from the inside, thus, they would take interest in the task, and this would eventually lead toward the development of firm objectives which would maximize the returns on investments. Lastly, Charismatic style is also quite adaptable to the business practices dominant in the West, as the CEO of the company or the other executives portray a positive image, in fact a celebrity figure of themselves. In other words, the company focuses on the branding of the CEO or the executive playing the role of a leader, which also contributes in motivating the employees to a great extent. Thus, in the West, institutional rules govern the order which requires the executives to pursue creative roles and innovative strategies to lead, as in these scenarios motivation is of a huge concern to the organization. Institutional rules imply that these businesses are quite dependent of the trustees, board of governors, quality assurance standards, international framework and global trends. Thus, the game is fair and square, and the only person who succeeds the higher-ups is the one who`s the most capable one. There is a strong corporate environment in the firms functional in the West, which determines the order of business, in contrast to the family politics dominant in Asia. In other words, there is a highly professional environment in the firms functional in the West, for instance in America, all businesses are engaged in stock market where Wall Street rules apply to every company irrespective of the contribution of the company to the economy (Charles Harvey, 2011). In such a case, there is a drastic competition amongst the companies, and the comparative advantage is not just the quantity or even quality, in fact, innovation and creativity then becomes the comparative advantage of these firms. In addition, diversity is another aspect which must be kept in mind while analyzing the leadership styles. Businesses in West cater to the needs of a diverse market; also the labor force in the West is comprised of people from various backgrounds and ethnic groups, which requires the businesses to alter their strategies accordingly. (Jarrett-Kerr, 2011) Thus, an executive employing a single leadership pattern may not be able to cater to the needs of all of the work force, thus it becomes crucial to empower the sub-ordinates in this regard. Thus, to cater to these needs, the leadership styles also need to be altered, and consequently, subordinates aren’t just treated like employees rather assets to an organization, as it is their ideas which are important for an organization. Thus, in a nutshell, if one makes an effort to compare the leadership practices in the West and Asia, a huge contrast can be tracked. Though we live in a global age, and apparently, it seems like the business practices all over the world have been integrated, and the business environment all over the world would be similar, or at least would be at the verge of coming in close contact with each other, giving way to new practices. However, research indicates quite the opposite, and nowhere in the future can the convergence patterns be traced. On one hand, family politics, culture and corruption fuels up the businesses in Asia, where rules of business are strict, inflexible and all subordinates are strictly asked to adhere to these rules. On the other hand, there is a transparent system, which is strictly governed on the institutional rules of business. External auditors, in the form of institutions act as the governing authorities, and in order to run in the system, it becomes crucial to follow these rules (Guthrie, 2010). Thus, to survive in such a system, the companies have to respect and also, rely on the subordinates, as much as the subordinates rely on the company, and consequently, the executives are subject to mend their rules in favor of the employees. Thus, on one hand a strict leadership style dominates the Asian Business scenario, the business companies in West follow friendly, supporting and an accommodating style, to increase the creativity in the firms. Conclusively, Asian business style is distinct from the rest of the world. Culture, internal family politics, ethnic priorities and family dominance and heritage makes the business environment less subjective to change, and more dependent on the rules which may not be changed in any circumstances. Thus, the executives have to be dictators, who set punitive actions against anyone who dares to challenge the status quo or the rules of business. In contrast, the west follows a system which is free from corruption and politics, which makes it favorable for anyone who is competitive to take the lead and enter into the market. Thus, the environment is very competitive, and the leadership style is such that it favors free thinking and also friendly competition. Thus, these differences should be kept in mind while analyzing businesses as these would affect other determinants to a huge deal, and thus, both environments must be kept independent from the other and considered as separate subjects, given the difference in the leadership styles in both the environments. 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