Leadership Practices, Theories and Experiences - Literature review Example

Leadership Practices, Theories And Experiences Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Instructor Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date Leadership Practices, Theories And Experiences Introduction With increased competition across the globe, organizations as well as community bare highly depended upon capable leadership especially to guide them through today’s increased unprecedented changes. Despite increase in unprecedented changes across organizations, most organizations are not in a position to adapt to these changes due to poor leadership practices as well as poor application of the different leadership theories. The different turmoil occurring within our globe has something to do with leadership and if people do not change the current approach on leadership, the number of disasters happening will significantly increased. Over years, there has been need to mainstream leadership practices into various development aspects so as to reduce the number of disaster and organization collapse within the globe. There is need for leaders in their different designation to adopt a kind of leadership that is creative in action. Leadership is defined as the ability of individuals to see the present in term of the future while at the same time respecting the past through learning from it. Leadership is defined as a process of providing direction while at the same time influencing individuals or groups to achieve goals. This paper discusses the leadership practices and theories through critically reviewing four DVD’s namely; Erons- the smartest guy in the room (2005), Hillsborough (1996), Thirteen days and I am alive: surviving the Andes plane crash. The characters in these DVD’s will provide insight on leadership focusing on the various theories, practices and experiences. The four DVD’s provided insight into aspects of leadership that illustrated four scenarios three of which had similarities in that the leaders Kennedy (13 Days), Dukenfield (Hillsborough) and the rugby team captain Balbi (Alive) are thrust into situations they have little or no experience to deal with. Contrastingly, Enron shows us how despite levels of responsibility how leaders Lay and Skilling amongst others at Enron abuse their positions of trust without regard for consequences. Singh (2007) suggests that leadership has three elements “Energy, Expertise and Integrity” and when considering the four DVD’s it is clear that expertise comes into play in 13 days, Alive and Hillsborough and integrity in Enron. This review will critique leadership behaviours and characteristics of the leaders in the four DVD’s. Enron: the smartest guys in the room This DVD critically analyses the tale of the country most disastrous failure of corporate greed and accounting standards in recent past. This documentary dig deep into monumental organizational fraud at the very top of Enron leadership not forgetting the close connection the company has with White House. The film shows how Enron manipulation of the electricity market in California and how these manufactured power e profits blackouts led to hug profits by the company. Cruver (2003) maintain that, the tale describes how pride, greed as well as self preservation instincts drove ambitious people to the outer capacities of immoral behavior and deception. It is clear that this DVD shows how corporate personalities are greedy to make them self wealthy at the expense of the greater American economy. Enron is long gone, but it is clear that there are some leadership characteristic needs to be addressed so that a repeat of this does not occur. It is evident that Enron is one of the biggest failures in the American history. While researchers maintain that dubious accounting practices were the reason for its failure, bad leadership is the key contributor to the failure of this organization (Cruver, 2003). The two leaders both Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay were primarily responsible for the fall out of Enron. Collins (2009) maintain that, the action of these two leaders resulted to loss of confidence by the larger public in the corporation. The actions adopted by these leaders were neither morally nor ethically responsible. Cruvers (2003) maintain that both Skilling and Lay were ruthless and were involved in the worse form of self promotion. The leaders headed the organization without any moral hiring young people and making them work for over 80 hours in a week. While these leaders made employees believe that they are part of the globe changers, these employees were normally fired at the whims of managers (Collins, 2009). At the beginning of his career, Lay showed some sig of him being a transformational leader. A transformational leader is one who is highly dependent on level of communication so as to meet desired organizational goals. Here, leaders are involved in motivating their employees to enhance productivity while at the same time creating efficiency in all communication levels. Initially, lay had been a supporter of free market and was involved in advocating for deregulation of energy market. Nonetheless, this type of leadership changed to an autocratic type of leadership when he stated that “you should not be a slave to rules”. An autocratic leader is one who makes all decision without consulting other parties. Here, leaders’ posses total authority to impose their will on their employees. This change of the leadership style by Lay so the collapse of Enron as the unethical management in this organization destroy the culture of Enron passing the wrong message to other Enron employees. Change in Enron organizational culture led increased completion among employees who engaged in unethical behavior so as to meet their aggressive compensation targets. It is evident from the film that both Lay and Skilling were involved in achieving short term goals at any expense. According to Ciulla (2005), these two leaders sole aim of achieving short term financial aims placed both the company and employees at a risk by way of engaging in dubious practices. The leaders engaged in financial tweaking so as to inflate Enron performance and a result a bubble was created and later busted. When it was clear that the company was at the brink of collapse, Lay begun selling Enron shares since he knew the value of share were going to erode. Skilling on the other hand was the key driver behind the exaggerated as well as the overestimated financial statement of the Enron. This allowed Enron to operate on inflate earning propagating false impression of the business performance (Cruver, 2003). The documentary indicated that the culture of fraud created by Lay encourage unethical behavior among Enron employees. It is important for leaders to create a moral and ethical responsibility among all its employees. According to Ciulla (2005), the leadership philosophy by Lay was incorrect and this resulted to the collapse of Enron. Lay followed the philosophy of making money for self gain eliminating any person who voiced against them. Thirteen Days In 1962, the US and the Soviet Union became entangled in a confrontation that could have without doubt escalated into a nuclear war. The events of this confrontation are dramatized in the Thirteen Days movie that tells the tale from white house point of view. The film follows a historical timeline of events which commence with the flying of a U-2 spy jet taking photos of Cuba uncovering missile locations under construction. President Kennedy needed to respond to this major invasion by the soviet. It is quite evident that the strongest point in the film he showed that the tiniest misjudgment by the US or the soviet could have led to the spiral events out of control resulting to a nuclear holocaust. Brown, Trevino and Harrison (2005) maintain that, despite the crisis building up, Kennedy as the US president was to take action to avoid making a mistake that might be viewed as a total act of war by the soviet. During this time, the president was under increased pressure from his military chiefs who wanted to be the first to shoot and later deal with the consequences. It is quite evident from the film that the president understood that the rules of engagement by his military rules were old fashioned especially in today changing globe. From the film, Kennedy is a democratic leader. Despite the fact that he made the final decision he was keen at inviting other individuals to contribute to the decision making process. Kennedy way of leadership played a great role on addressing the missile crisis. Brown, Trevino and Harrison (2005) maintain that, leadership involved focusing on the consequences of a particular action partaken. Here, Kennedy provided leadership that would ensure that his administration find a solution that will remove the soviet missiles without resulting to any form of war. Despite the pressure from his military chief, Kennedy settled on a step less than a blockade which was regarded as an act of war. Amid a lot of pressure by the military chief, Kennedy authorizes attacks on the missile location to commence on Monday in a bid to buy more time. A reconnaissance plane was sent to Cuba to gather intelligence was shot down. Kennedy did not reciprocate by issuing an immediate strike but rather he avoided war by sending his brother Robert F Kennedy to meet with the soviet ambassador and discuss on the removal of the missile from Cuba with a promise of not to invade as well as assist in the Cuban invasion. In the film, the character Kennedy was involved in making both the soviet and his military chief to feel in control of their own destiny. As opposed to the autocratic form of leadership, the democratic form of leadership can lead to things taking place at a slower rate but often the end result are always better. Brown, Trevino and Harrison (2005) maintain that, Kennedy leadership style follows the contingency theory in the sense that his leadership effectiveness is highly dependent on interaction of his behavioral style with the various characteristic of a given situation. Towards the end of the film, the president displays transformation style leadership by way of dedicating a letter of condolence to the family of the pilot of the reconnaissance plane that was shot down. Brown, Trevino and Harrison (2005) maintain that, transformational leaders are full of charisma towards his followers through articulating an appealing vision which at the end is beneficial to all its followers. I Am Alive: Surviving the Andes Plane Crash I Am Alive: Surviving the Andes Plane Crash is a film that gives a detailed account of the 1972 Andes plane crash told by the survivor as well as other additional individuals who worked closely with them. This documentary follows a more harrowing journey of 16 members of a rugby team that survived for 72 days after their plane crashed in Andes Mountains. From the film, the survivor blamed the pilot. The pilot miscalculated and son the plane wound up heading straight into the Andes Mountains. The plane hit peak and eventually went down splitting into various pieces some which blew up. Nevertheless, the main front portion of the plane fuselage remains intact and many people in this part were alive plane when the plane touched down. The team captain Antonio Balbi, took charge of the situation by way of coordinating various effort so as to help his injured team members. Two medical students who had boarded the plane assisted injured members. Antonio with the help of other two team members plug the gaping hole in the fuselage with the language to keep out wind while other passengers curled up besides one another so as to stay warm. There was no food or anything to eat and this is when one of the passage found a tin of chocolate, Antonio the team leader declared the use of rationing method to ensure each person gets a piece of chocolate. From the film, it is clear that Antonio adopted a more people oriented type of leadership style. In this type of leadership, the leader is totally focused on supporting, organizing as well as developing the people in his team. Antonio was no clear on when they were going to be rescued and therefore his declaration on rationing the chocolates was to ensure that there was something to be eaten the following day. Brown and Trevino (2006) maintain that, as the captain and the leader of the group, Antonio adopts a participative leadership styles so as to create collaboration among his team members. Usually, transformation leaders delegate significant responsibility and authority as it can be seen in Antonio case. Brown and Trevino (2006) maintain that, this film define the behavior theory that focuses on employees centered which is displayed by Antonio fight in providing a more supportive environment for his team members amidst the hardship being experienced at that particular time. Hillsborough (1996) The Hillsborough (1996) DVD documents the Hillsborough disaster were 96 Liverpool football fans were crushed to death. The first half of the DVD reconstruct on the major happening that particular day whereas the second half documents the impacts of the disaster on the families. This documentary is largely critical of the management of the crowds by the police and their notable insensitive treatment of the victim families in the aftermath. The film portray David Duckenfield the chief superintendent at that particular time as unable to respond immediately to the overfilled pens which he witnessed from the police control tower as well as on television monitors (Conn, 2012). Duckinfield was accused of trying to cover for the police incompetence. Here, Duckinfield was involved in shifting the blame to the Liverpool fans telling their families they were drunk when they entered the football ground. The police that the trouble was caused by rivalry fans fighting each other as opposed to poor crowd management by the police (Conn, 2012). Brown and Trevino (2006) maintain that, Duckinfield adopted the behavior theory through focusing on job centeredness. Here, the leader was involved in behaving in a more punitive manner towards his followers. This disaster required immediate recognition, evaluation and action, which Dukenfield did not do but rather he was forced to act far more quickly. The film shows that Dukenfield placed more focus on the crowd control as opposed to crowd safety. A good leader should be able to ensure his followers are safe Similarities and contrast of leadership practices and theories in the four DVDs Latham (2013) noted that integrity was a key characteristic as Singh (2007) had stated for leadership. Kirkpatrick and Locke (1991) also noted that drive was necessary, which could be taken as energy as Singh (2007) noted was a requirement for a leader to gain expertise. Grattan (2004) stated that Kennedy lacked experience at that level just as Dukenfield did in leading or indeed managing similar situations of crowd control. However, by examining their leadership styles and approaches to the situations they are faced with, both handle them significantly differently. Kennedy adopts Latham’s (2013) approach to teamwork by engaging in collaborative discussions and eliciting input, whereas, Dukenfield seems to ignore input and advice. There are parallels between Kennedy, Dukenfield and Bilbao’s situations in that while the situations required immediate recognition, evaluation and action, Dukenfield was forced to act far more quickly. In looking at Enron and considering the degree of deception involved which was continual over an extensive period of time, Lay and Skilling have a complete disregard for integrity and honesty and were faced with an impending negative outcome. There are key leadership characteristics that Latham (2013) noted that seem to be absent in Lay and Skilling like integrity and trust but they also created an organisational culture that had a corrupted sense of value; this originated from them. Comparing the Enron organisational culture that was restrictive of ideas from followers is opposite from both Kennedy and Balbi’s approaches. Interestingly, with the development and emergence of both social and environmental impacts besides financial goals as organisational accountabilities, it is necessary for the entire organisation to adopt an ethical organisational climate Kalshoven, Den Hartog & De Hoogh 2010). It is clear from how Enron’s leaders conducted themselves that the promotion of ethical leadership was not something that was valued and that the impact of decision making was only focused on financial targets and rewards and as Johnson (2003) notes that the philosophy was one of “make the deal at whatever the cost and generate constant profits and growth”. Just as Enron failed to create an ethical organisational culture that was driven by profit and greed it could be said that it was not one that promoted teamwork and certainly did not value input any more than Dukenfield listened to it. However, Kennedy does undertake to value input and supports the idea of teamwork and in fact given his relative inexperience he takes a different approach from Dukenfield in that he is not assertive of his position (Grattan 2004), whereas, Dukenfield does use his position in an authoritative way. The question here is one of choosing a democratic approach to leadership in seeing a value in eliciting ideas (Grattan 2004) and input, much as Balbi does, something that Dukenfield seems to not value despite his lack of experience. Here even though Balbi lacks experience other than as a team captain he draws on the support from his existing position and a need to act fast and recognises the severity of the situation. Contrastingly, Kennedy and his advisors according to Grattan (2004) are unsure of “the meaning of the events” but must also act fast, yet still they encourage informational input. When considering strategic outcomes from the event scenarios both immediacy and severity of impact must be considered in all four DVD’s. Leaders are charged in organisations to consider return on investments for shareholders. For Enron their primary concern seemed to reflect this on the outside as they were responsive in demanding greater profitability at any cost as they were driven by the stock market. For Kennedy holding arguably the most important position in the USA and perhaps in the world at that time was discharged to act both in the interests of his stakeholders the citizens of the USA but also as an agent on a global level for world peace. Dukenfield’s role much like Balbi’s is on a far smaller scale although similar to Kennedy’s in ensuring safety and security of the fans and teammates respectively. The question of strategy here can be seen that only Enron had a clear strategic vision as they were not under a reactionary situation whereas, Kennedy, Dukenfield and Balbi were and as such had certain limitations as to options they could take. The impact of strategic decision making is measured in its outcomes and for Enron the resulting consequence of their unethical business practice has not only resulted in their collapse but brought about increased transparency and regulations governing corporations (Stiglitz 2009). While Enron had a clear aim the implementation of that strategy was at fault. For Balbi the aim was clear not only does he elicit a collective aim and consensus as does Kennedy they both assess their positions and resources in order to execute successful outcomes (Grattan 2004). For Dukenfield not only does he not gain collective agreement he fails to execute a strategy and utilise the resources at his disposal. Interestingly, both Dukenfield and Enron fail, and Kennedy and Balbi succeed by adopting a facilitative approach something Grattan (2004) suggests is best when a situation and both Kennedy’s and Balbi’s were unclear. It could then be stated that Dukenfield’s situation was unclear but since he did not lead by being a facilitator but by being authoritative which is something Grattan (2004) states is not the correct approach. Conclusion The DVD’s showed how expertise and integrity are important characteristics of leadership. Despite a lack of expertise by Kennedy and Balbi they are able to use the benefits of collaboration a behavioural quality (Latham 2013) to adapt to the situations presented, whereas Dukenfield chooses not to and consequently the outcome is negative. In the case of the leadership of Enron, the leaders illustrate how behaviours like a of accountability and its leadership trait integrity are used to manipulate outcomes and similarly how the leaders used their own personalities to shape organisational culture that promoted and recognised only financial reward resulting in failure. The most important aspect of the DVD’s that could be understood in terms of leadership value would be that of collaboration and teamwork as both Kennedy and Balbi were successful at implementing their strategies founded on this approach. References Brown, M.E. and Trevino, L.K. 2006. Ethical leadership: A review and future directions. The Leadership Quarterly. Vol 17(6), pp 595–616 Brown, M.E., Trevino, L. K. and Harrison, D. A. 2005. Ethical Leadership: Social Learning Perspective for Construct Development & Testing. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. Vol 97(2), pp 117-134. Ciulla, J.B. 2005. The state of leadership ethics and the work that lies before us. In Business Ethics: A European Review. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd Collins, D. 2009. Essentials of Business Ethics: Creating an Organization of High Integrity. New Jersey: John Wiley Conn, D. 2012. Safety failings that contributed to death of 96 Liverpool fans were foreseeable The Guardian. 19 September 2012. Cruver, B. 2003. Enron: Anatomy of Greed. London: Arrow Books. Grattan , RF 2004, ‘The Cuban missile crisis: strategy formulation in action’, Management Decision, vol.42, no.1/2, pp. 55-68. Johnson, C 2003, ‘Enron’s Ethical Collapse: Lessons for Leadership Educators’, Journal of Leadership Education’, vol.2, no.1, pp. 45-56. Kalshoven, K, Den Hartog, DN & De Hoogh, AHB 2011, ‘Ethical Leader behavior and Big Five Factors of Personality’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 100, pp.349-366. Kirkpatrick, SA & Locke, EA 1991, ‘Leadership: do traits matter?’, Academy of Management Executive, vol. 5, no.2, pp.48-60. Latham, JR 2013, ‘A Framework for Leading the Transformation to Performance Excellence Part II: CEO Perspectives on Leadership Behaviors, Individual Leader Characteristics, and Organizational Culture’, The Quality Management Journal, vol.20, no.3, pp. 19-40. Singh, J 2007, ‘Impostors Masquerading as Leaders: Can the Contagion be Contained?’, Journal of Business Ethics, vol.82, pp. 733-745. Stiglitz, J 2009, ‘Government Failure vs. Market Failure: Principles of Regulation’, in E. Balleisen & D. Moss (eds), Government and Markets: Towards a New Theory of Regulation, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 13-51. Read More