Do Leadership Theories Help Organisations to Develop Effective Leadership - Essay Example

Leadership programs used in contemporary organizations There are several views associated with leadership. Some believe that it is everything while others believe it is nothing. Leadership can be found in all aspects of an organization’s functioning. Leadership is difficult to define completely. Despite all published literature, there is yet no single definition that captures the essence of leadership in its entirety. As a result, there is also no definitive approach to developing good leadership. Although it is difficult to define leadership in words, all of us know good leadership when we see and hear about it. Irrespective of the extent to which the essence of leadership can be captured in the form of a definition or a set of criteria, all organizations believe in the importance of having good leadership. The success of companies that have been bestowed with a “most admired” status has almost always been attributed to their leadership. If one thinks of Microsoft, one would immediately think of Bill Gates and his leadership skills and business acumen. The same would be true for Jack Welsh and GE, and Sam Walton and Wal-Mart. Most organizations today believe that it is important intentionally develop and nurture leadership within the organization. The development of effective leadership is now regarded as a competitive capability and is now considered as part of organizational strategy. A number of coffee table and airline books pertaining to leadership development have recently been published. These books have titles such as Leadership Is An Art; Leadership from the Inside Out: Becoming a Leader for Life; and Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... And Others Don't; The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You, etc. Publications such as these provide strong evidence that contemporary organizations are paying close attention to leadership development. The present report summarizes the concept of leadership development as understood by organizations by discussing several important aspects of leadership including a description of several popular theories and styles of leadership. Leadership programs used in two contemporary organizations will also be analyze and compared. Leadership program at Federal Express (FedEx) FedEx believes in the philosophy that it is important to prioritise people before profits because when people first priority, they are motivated to provide the highest level of services and profits automatically follow. (Murrell and Walsh, 1993) Leaders at all levels at FedEx are trained to ensure a people-first culture. FedEx conducts several organization-wide leadership development initiatives that aim to familiarize new managers with the people before profits philosophy. (Bolden, 2005) FedEx established the Leadership Institute in 1984 when several senior-level managers concluded that the organization is not effective in preparing employees for leadership roles although it was very effective at preparing them for functions that have been traditionally considered as management functions. The Leadership Institute focuses on development of leaders by applying principles of successful leadership. Leadership theories such as Greenleaf’s servant leadership model and Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory form the basis of these development initiatives. FedEx also uses the transformational leadership model. Transformational leadership at FedEx is based on three specific behavioral dimensions: individualized consideration, charisma, and intellectual stimulation. These are combined with six other leadership competencies: dependability, courage, integrity, flexibility, respect for others and judgment. The 9 dimensions mentioned form the basis of the LEAP program (Leadership Evaluation and Awareness Process). (Bolden, 2005; Trunick, 1989) LEAP is a very thorough employee evaluation process that aims to link leader selection with development. It is necessary for a candidate to have demonstrated excellence along the nine LEAP competencies prior to being allowed to apply for managerial positions. (Bolden, 2005) They have to attend a full-day course titled ‘Is management for me? that gives them a realistic view of the responsibilities they would be expected to assume as front-line managers. The course is generally held on a weekend to make the point that as a manager, the employee will be expected to do extra work without receiving any extra pay. This process itself results in 60 percent attrition and those who continue with the course are more likely to stay around. (Bolden, 2005) After the day-long course, candidates must complete a ‘leadership profile’ statement that provides evidence that their performance on all nine leadership dimensions has been successful. Additionally, formal written assessments by the candidate’s peers, a panel of mid-level managers and manager are also necessary. (Bolden, 2005) All the data is compared and a recommendation regarding whether or not the candidate is suitable for a managerial position is made. The recommendation does not guarantee a position. The curriculum of the Leadership Institute involves action learning and a combination of reflective observation, concrete experiences (e.g., business simulations), active experimentation (e.g., application of taught principles to real-world problems) and abstract conceptualization (e.g., classroom lectures). (Bolden, 2005) Managers of the top three management levels are required to take the ‘core management principles’ courses. FedEx values, their people before profits philosophy, and culture is incorporated into these courses. (Murrell & Walsh, 1993). Courses include the following levels: Management Principles I: designed for first-level managers build awareness of behaviors that managers must demonstrate to successfully lead work groups. Management Principles II: aims to help senior managers link leadership dimensions with current business requirements. Management Principles III: aimed at helping managing directors have in-depth discussions on business ideas with members of senior management, evaluate their leadership approach, increase their knowledge of the business environment, etc. (Bolden, 2005) FedEx also uses the concept of management Preceptors (i.e., instructors) in its leadership development programs. Preceptors are nominated by the vice president (or above) level and are carefully chosen from among the senior management level. FedEx conducts an annual employee satisfaction survey an in order to qualify as a preceptor, the candidate’s name should in the top 20 percent of all managers in this survey. The main responsibility of Preceptors is the development, design, and facilitation of courses at the Leadership Institute. New managers are provided with the opportunity of learning from the high-potential managers within their organization. Additionally, Preceptors are allowed to pursue their own self-development. Thus, this system allows for a two-way educational experience. The FedEx Preceptor program is very successful and has spread throughout the organizations management ranks. This system ensures that FedEx has a continuous stream of high-quality leaders to help the company successfully move forward. (Bolden, 2005; Trunick, 1987; Vicere and Fulmer, 1997;) Leadership development at HP HP offers several innovative training programs to allow for the development of new manager and to provide all the required support. (Learning and development, 2008) In 2008, two new leadership development programs were introduced to quickly allow new managers to demonstrate full productivity: New Manager Excellence @ hp: This program helps new managers make the transition from individual contributors to a position of leading others to make contributions for organization progress Managing @ hp: This program helps experienced managers who have been recently employed at HP to quickly acclimatize themselves to the environment at HP. (Learning and development, 2008) Leading for Results, the leadership development program in the organization, has ten modules based on the principles of HP's operations. The main focus of the program is improving manager performance and promoting best practices. In the year 2007 and 08, more than fifteen thousand managers took part in the program and gave the program an overall satisfaction score of 92 percent. (Learning and development, 2008) HP also offers Key Talent programs for high-performing managers, directors, and vice who are nominated by top management. The design of such programs aims to help managers develop key skills in a number of leadership areas quickly. The Director Rotation Program, a two-year job rotation program for leaders, exposes high potential directors to development experiences across geographies, functions, and businesses. This helps leaders prepare for management roles that they may assume in the future. Another program initiated by the organization is the China Executive in Residence Program. This program allows executives to visit China with their families for three weeks at a time ands pend time with regional leaders and important clients to gain a better understanding of cultural differences and local business requirements and to help HP succeed in this important emerging market. (Learning and development, 2008) Analysis Several theories of leadership have been proposed and early theories have proposed that great leaders were ‘born and not made’. Subsequently proposed theories have questioned this belief and argue that it is possible to learn and acquire leadership behaviours and competencies over time. (Day and Halpin, 2001; Storey, 2004) The leadership development program at FedEx is based on Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory. Additionally is has also incorporated elements of Greenleaf’s servant leadership model. It is also based on some elements of Transformational leadership. HPs program is based more on Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory. Hersey and Blanchard’s easy-to-understand theory states that managers focus on either the task or relationships. (Hersey and Blanchard, 1977, 1988) Based on this model managers can be categorized as either telling (exhibiting behaviour that is high on task focus and low on relationship focus), selling (exhibiting behaviour that has both a high-task and high-relationship focus), delegate (exhibiting behaviour that has both a low-relationship and low-task focus) or participating (exhibiting behaviour that high-relationship and low-task). Of these behaviour categories, no single style can be considered optimal for all who assume leadership roles to possess. (Hersey-Blanchard Situational Theory, 2009) Effective leadership needs to be flexible; it is important for these leaders to adapt themselves according to the situations they are faced with. Each leader tends to possess his/her own natural style, and he/she must be aware of his/her intrinsic style when applying situational leadership. Servant-leaders allow for the progress of their organizations by prioritizing the needs of their colleagues and those they manage. Qualities such as commitment to growth, Listening, foresight, building community etc. are important for servant leaders to possess. (Servant leadership, 2009) Transformational leadership is defined as leadership that is responsible for positive and valuable change among followers. It focuses on ‘transforming’ encouraging and harmonious, to help each other and to consider needs of the organization as a whole. (Transformational leadership, 2009) Both FedEx and HP have adopted the change agent approach (Dubrin, Dalglish and Miller, 2006) that prepares their leaders to function in an ever changing environment. An effective leader is able to balance business needs and the needs of employees. Not all individuals who assume leadership roles are born leaders. Many of the skills are acquired while on the job. Effective leadership requires leaders to adapt very quickly to the ever changing market conditions. A philosophy that works today may not work tomorrow. Effective leadership has to be prepared for ‘always moving cheese’. A leader has to lead his/her followers through the process of change and help them manage the pain they experience during the change. Approximately US$50 billion is spent every year on leadership development, thus making leadership development and executive education a big business (Raelin, 2004). A survey conducted in 2003 by Financial Times found that an average of three thousand pounds per participant annually was spent by leading organizations in Europe on executive education; and of the topics offered as part of the programs, leadership, followed by general management, were the most typical (Financial Times, 2003). Hirsh and Carter (2002) mention that there is a rising demand for leadership development and organizations are making provisions for these programs. Day (2001) indicates that leadership development and management development are different. Leadership development involves a larger extent preparing people for roles and situations that are way beyond their current responsibilities. Leadership development is viewed as a process involving every person in the organisation. FedEx effectively uses three leadership theories as a basis for its leadership development programs. It is able to extract the best of these theories and use them to its advantage. In addition to just using the theories in their leadership development programs is the fact that both organizations have a very strong implementation culture. All levels in the organization are committed to making the programs a success. It would not be fair to say that the leadership theories alone help them develop effective leaders. The success of the program is a combination of using best practices, implementation and commitment. Thus, leadership development programs require a very holistic approach. REFERENCES Bolden R.(ed.) (2005). What is Leadership Development? Purpose and practice. Leadership South West Report. Retrieved from http://eric.exeter.ac.uk/exeter/handle/10036/77193 Day, D. (2001). Leadership development: a review in context. Leadership Quarterly, 11(4), 581-613. Day, D. V. and Halpin, S. (2001). Leadership Development: A Review of Industry Best Practices Retrieved from www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/army/tr1111.pdf Dubrin, J., Dalglish, C. & Miller, P. (2006). Leadership. 2nd Asia-Pacific Edition. Milton, Qld: John Wiley & Sons. Financial Times (2003, September 8). Companies still value training. Financial Times, Special Report on Business Education. Hersey, P. and Blanchard, K. (1969) Lifecycle theory of leadership. Training and Development Journal, 23, 26-34. Hersey, P. and Blanchard, K. 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