Leadership Profile of Thaksin Shinawatra - Essay Example

Thaksin Shinawatra was born on July 26, 1949 in Chieng Mai, Thailand. The former Prime Minister of Thailand and leader of the populist Thai Rak Thai Party, he currently lives in exile in London, and he is also the owner of the English football club Manchester City. (The Bangkok Post, 2007) Educational Background Thaksin attended the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School. He then attended the Thai Police Cadet Academy and upon graduation, he joined the Royal Thai Police Department in 1973. In 1975 he obtained a master's degree in criminal justice from Eastern Kentucky University in the United States. Later in 1978 he received a doctorate degree in criminal justice from Sam Houston State University Texas. Work Experience Worked in the Royal Thai Police Department for 14 years and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1987. His last position was Deputy Superintendent of the Policy and Planning Sub-division, General Staff Division, Metropolitan Police Bureau. After resigning from Royal Thai Police and with several failed business ventures in 1987 Mr. Thaksin started his own business Shinawatra Computer and Communications Group. Mr. Thaksin later resigned from the post of Chairman of the Board of Directors, Shinawatra Computer and Communications Public Company Limited In 1994 Mr. Thaksin was appointed to the Post of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, a post which he held till 1995. Thaksin entered politics in late 1994 under the invitation of Chamlong Srimuang, the leader of Palang Dharma Party and in 1995 he became the leader of Palang Dharma. Mr. Thaksin held the position of deputy prime minister twice; being appointed Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Bangkok traffic in 1995 and again in 1997 Deputy Prime Minister under Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh. It was in 1998 that he founded the Thai Rak Thai Party and became the party leader. Awards and Recognition Due to his services Mr. Thaksin was also awarded with numerous awards. Some of which included: "1992 ASEAN Businessman of the Year" Award from the ASEAN Institute, Indonesia "Kiattiyod Jakdao" Award in Economical Development from the Committee of the Armed forces Preparatory School Foundation Received the "1993 Outstanding Telecom Man of the year Award" One of the finalists for the Asian CEO of the year selected by the financial World Received the "Outstanding Criminal Justice Alumnus Award" from the Criminal Justice Center, Sam Houston State University and, later on October 25, 1996, the "Distinguished Alumni Award" from the same University Received the Honorary Award from the Mass Media Photographer Association of Thailand (MPA) as the Outstanding Politician who has contributed significantly to the society As it stands Mr. Thaksin was an extremely popular political leader. His dynamic entrepreneurial vision allowed him to establish a huge transnational business conglomerate and in ten years become one of the wealthiest individuals in Southeast Asia and the world. He twice won landslide elections - in 2001 and 2005 - with his party performing better than any in history. In fact, he is the only Thai prime minister to have completed a full four-year term after an election. Thaksin's distinctive economic, public health, education, energy, drugs and international relations policies made him the first elected Prime Minister in Thai history to complete his term in office, and helped him win a landslide re-election in 2005. (New York Times, 2006) After the creation of Thai Rak Thai, it was his enormous financial resources that allowed him to attract many accomplished and popular local politicians to his party. With a belief of populism and a strong emphasis on directing more funds to rural areas and communities, Thai Rak Thai developed a strong rural base in Thailand. The populist economic policy which was also termed "Thaksinomics." included novel programs such as "One Tambol, One Product," a highly successful program aimed to encourage each sub-district to develop a product in which it had a singular competitive advantage and capitalize on its resources. Unemployment under Mr. Thaksin's era dropped to 1.8 percent (2005) and the Thai economy largely recovered from the economic crisis of 1997. Thaksin also implemented a national health policy that provided extremely economical health services to the Thai people. All these facts just elaborate on the leadership capabilities of Thaksin Shinawatra. (Gerald Fry, 2007) Transformational Leadership James MacGregor Burns wrote in his book 'Leadership' about the concept of "transforming leadership" (G. Northouse, 2006). According to him, transformational leadership actually takes place when a leader changes his subordinates or followers in three important styles. He inculcates a feeling of cumulative and/or shared gains in the employees i.e. to work not only for their selves only but also fro the sake of the organization's benefit. This results in the subordinates having more trust in their leader, performing at higher levels of productivity and effectively contributes to the achievement of the organizational goal and objectives that are the target for any organization. Burns saw four categories in his typology of transformational leadership: Intellectual, Reform, Revolutionary, and Heroic (charismatic). (Burns, 1978) Intellectual - An intellectual leader is devoted to seeing ideas and values that transcend immediate practical needs and still change and transform their social environment. The intellectual leader is usually ahead of their time. Reform - Leadership of reform movements requires participation of a large number of allies with various reform goals of their own, which means dealing and managing various factions for the achievement of common objectives (Burns, 1978). Reform leaders transform parts of society to realize moral principles. Considering the steps taken by Mr. Thaksin this is the category in which I think he fits. He led the Thai society towards economic and social improvement through political reforms. Revolutionary - According to Burns "revolutionary leadership demands commitment, persistence, courage, perhaps selflessness and even self-abnegation (the ultimate sacrifice for solipsistic leadership)" (Burns, 1978). While the reformer operates on parts of society, the revolutionary operates on the whole. Heroic (Charismatic) - A heroic leader manages support through charisma. Charisma itself is difficult to define; the only thing that is established in this regard is the fact that charisma is God-gifted. (Bernard & Ronald, 2005) As regards to transformational-reformatory leadership let us look at the progress of Mr. Thaksin from an ordinary businessman (retired from Royal Thai Police) to one of the most popular political figures of his country. The vision Transformational Leadership starts with the development of a vision, a view of the future that will excite and convert potential followers. Thaksin Shinawatra envisaged and purported a better Thailand with the Thai people better-off and at the center stage of things. Selling the vision This usually prove one of the most trying and difficult phases of transformational leadership. It takes energy and commitment. The nascent political career of Mr. Thaksin in the Palang Dharma Party ending in him being selected the party leader can be considered as selling the vision. A transformational leader has to take every opportunity and use whatever resources available to convince others to climb on board the bandwagon. This was evident in Mr. Thaksin using his financial resources and contacts with the important personalities (active in the Thai political arena) to attract people into his own party. The awards and achievements of Mr. Thaksin would have proved to be invaluable in convincing others to share his view as personal image and integrity are an integral part of the vision package that the leader offers. (Robert, 2000) (Gareth & Jennifer, 2005) Showing the way forward This activity goes on in parallel with selling the vision. The leader has to have a definite strategy or a means of moving forwards, towards the achievement of the goal. Only words and nothing practical does not work out. The leader has to know the way, so that others can follow him. The first step in my opinion in the political career of Mr. Thaksin was the creation of a political party, a party that fully reflected his view as to how things should be done and what goals needed to be achieved. Towards the goal During the final stage the leader has to ensure that he remains in the center stage and in control of things. The direction has to be ensured. They show by their attitudes and actions how everyone else should behave. They also make continued efforts to motivate and rally their followers. The political movement of Mr. Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai party to garner support throughout Thailand achieved all the above. The result was a landslide wins in general elections in 2001 and again in 2005. As mentioned earlier Mr. Thaksin was the only prime minister in the history of Thailand to complete his term in the office (which just goes on to show the commitment of his followers). Especially the re-election would have not been possible if people would not have seen realization of some of the goals and believed Mr. Thaksin could further better their status quo. Reference: Burns, James MacGregor (1978) Leadership. NY: Harper & Row, Publishers. Bernard M. Bass, Ronald E. Riggio (October 5, 2005) Transformational Leadership. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.; 2 edition. P. Vecchio Robert (2000) Organizational Behavior: Core Concepts. Harcourt Gareth R. Jones, Jennifer M. George & Charles W. L. Hill (2005) Principles of Management. McGraw-Hill G. Northouse Peter (2006) Leadership: Theory and Practice. Sage Publications, Inc The New York Times, (6 March 2006). Protesters Jam Bangkok, but Rural Thais Love the Leader. The Bangkok Post (6 July 2007) Thaksin seals Man City takeover, Biography of Thaksin Shinawatra. Accessed from: http://www.thaiembdc.org/bio/pms/thaksin.html Access date: January 27, 2008 Gerald Fry (June 15, 2007). The Military Coup of September 2006. The Harvard International Review. Read More