Leadership Profile PART II - Essay Example

Introduction - Popular leadership theories: Some say leaders are born while others say they are made. It is just a matter of time that we come know about some one to have the potential of being a leader. Every leader has a unique style (P. Vecchio, 2000). That is some thing which enables the leader to exercise his leadership powers and skill. The more followers abide and the more the objectives are achieved in the prescribed manner, the more effective the leader is considered. Thus leadership is also dependant on several variables. One of these is the ones are to be lead by the leader, the followers! All sorts of leaders, be it a political leader, group/team leader (for a project), leader in any field or discipline(s) and any n' every leader; they, despite being unique by several of their attributes, they have a few similarities (Gareth & Charles, 2005). They show some of the similar patterns which can be integrated into a few categories or types of leadership styles as per the leadership theories given by renowned observers and theorists. These include several theories which have provided exceptional guidance to assist people over the whole globe and to help out leaders in leading their subordinates effectively as per the prevailing conditions and situation of an organization. Some of those world renowned theories are discussed briefly below. It will be pertinent to note here that we have already looker at the reasons and chosen the transformational leadership style to explain the behaviour of our chosen leader namely Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra. Contingency Theory Transformational Leadership Path-Goal Theory Leader-Style Theory Contingency Theory: Fred Fiedler was the one who developed a contingency or situational theory of leadership. Leadership theories may be of great help in molding the behaviors of leaders but they also need to be effective enough to assist leaders in different situations. Now that many theories are there, a lot of researchers have agreed on the point that actually no "one" style of leadership is always right for every person, who is a leader. Therefore, for different conditions and circumstances, these conditional theories were developed to be applicable in different cases with respect to the task at hand, the type of organization and the people involved (G. Northouse, 2006). In this theory, the developer i.e. Fiedler emphasized on three main things that were the structure of the task, the relationship between the leaders and the subordinates, and the power that the leader has and is entitled to exercise on his own discretion. 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. (Bernard M. Bass, 2005) Path-Goal Theory of Leadership: This theory emphasizes on the leaders to motivate their employees by clearly stating them the means of achieving high. This includes guiding them as to how they should achieve the organizational goals, controlling their performance and monitoring their output results, lauding them for good work and respecting what they did and then further guiding them how to improve on the mistakes that were made and also how to achieve new and higher benchmarks. Leader-Style Theory: Leader style, also known as "Trait Theory" is another way of identifying and analyzing the key characteristics of a successful leader. This approached was used for actually separating the critical leadership traits of born-leaders so that people with such traits can be filtered out and can be recruited and/or selected and placed into position where their skills are required (G. Northouse, 2006). This approach requires the leaders to commit themselves and their subordinates to accept the organizational decisions that are made without questioning. This approach is very much applicable in the military forces in almost all countries. We will now be looking at the traits, skill and different styles of leadership and try to link them with the personality of Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra. Leadership Traits There are numerous theories to explain the makings of an effective leader. The traditional theories attempt to identify the common traits or skills that make an effective leader. Contemporary theories concentrate on the other hand focus on the actions of leaders rather than characteristics. A number of traits that appear regularly in leaders include ambition, energy, the desire to lead, self-confidence, and intelligence. Although certain traits are useful, these characteristics provide no guarantees that a person possessing them is an effective leader. The basic assumption in the trait approach is that some people are natural or born leaders and are endowed with certain traits not possessed by other individuals. An analysis of leadership traits (S.A. Kirkpatrick and E.A. Locke, 1991) revealed six major characteristics that the majority of effective leaders possess: Drive. Leaders are ambitious and take initiative and are risk takers. Motivation. Leaders are willing to take charge and want to lead. Honesty and integrity. Leaders are truthful and do what they say they will do. Self-confidence. Leaders are assertive and decisive. They admit mistakes and foster trust and commitment to a vision. Leaders are emotionally stable rather than recklessly adventurous. Cognitive ability. Leaders are intelligent, perceptive, and conceptually skilled, but are not necessarily geniuses. They show analytical ability, good judgment, and the capacity to think strategically. Business knowledge. Leaders tend to have technical expertise in their businesses. Traits can better predict whether a leader may be effective or ineffective leader. This is because workplace situations or the general external environments vary in each situation therefore leadership requirements in those situations also vary. This was one reason why researchers began focusing more on what effective leaders do rather than what effective leaders are. Leadership skills Whereas traits are the characteristics of leaders, skills are the knowledge and abilities, or competencies, of leaders. The myriad skills a leader needs depends upon the situation. These competencies depend on a variety of factors: The number of people following the leader - Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra had become a well-known figure in the power circles of Thailand even before he stepped into politics because of his business relationships with people. After stepping into politics the stature of Mr. Shinawatra rose and reached the pinnacle with the creation and mass acceptance of his own political party. The popularity of Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra can easily be gauged by the fact that his party won two general elections and Mr. Shinawatra was the only Prime minister in Thailand's history to have completed a full four-year term. The extent of the leader's leadership skills - Mr. Thaksin had already demonstrated his leadership skills in the corporate world when he became the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Shinawatra Computer and Communications Public Company Limited, awareness of his leadership capabilities also grew when he served in the government at positions such as Foreign Minister and deputy prime minister. The particular culture (or values and associated behaviors) of whomever is being led - The Thais in general are very warm hearted and loving people, it was this very aspect that lead Mr. Thaksin to name his party Thai-Rak-Thai (Thais love Thais). Peter Drucker outlined a pragmatic approach to leadership in the workplace. He believes that consistency is the key to good leadership, and that successful leaders share the following three abilities which are based on what he refers to as hard work: To define and establish a sense of mission. Good leaders set goals, priorities, and standards, making sure that these objectives not only are communicated but maintained. Thaksin Shinawatra envisaged and purported a better Thailand with the Thai people at the center stage of things. The emerging 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. Even though the PDP lost its way somewhere in between but then it was Mr. Shinawatra's strong belief in his vision that lead to the creation of Thai-Rak-Thai and its eventual success. To accept leadership as a responsibility rather than a rank. Good leaders aren't afraid to surround themselves with talented, capable people; they do not blame others when things go wrong. The journey of Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra from a business man to a massively popular political figure went through lots of highs and lows but he was persistent in his vision and effort. This persistence can only arise out of responsibility and not rank or position. To earn and keep the trust of others/followers. Good leaders have personal integrity and inspire trust among their followers; their actions are consistent with what they say. The awards and achievements that dotted the career of Mr. Thaksin (both in the corporate and in the business world) 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. Leadership styles No matter what their traits or skills, leaders carry out their roles in a wide variety of styles. Some leaders are autocratic, some are participatory, and others are Laissez-faire (hands off). There is no set formula or a particular style that is always successful. The leadership style depends on the situation, and the personal capabilities of a leader. A popular political leader will obviously need to follow a more participative leadership style rather than autocratic (Elaine S. Potoker, 2004). The same can be said about Mr. Thaksin. The high level of interaction with the masses and his business and political contacts were what lend him his popularity, and it was this participatory approach that enabled Mr. Thaksin develop policies for the betterment of Thais such as "One Tambol, One Product," (One district, one product) program which enabled villages and rural districts to work for their own economic uplift in particular and Thailand in general. We should also consider some of the factors that affect the leadership styles: Motivation. Leaders influence others to reach goals through their approaches to motivation. They use either positive or negative motivation. A positive style uses praise, recognition, and rewards, and increases employee security and responsibility. A negative style uses punishment, penalties, potential job loss, suspension, threats, and reprimands. In my opinion it is difficult for a political personality to use negative motivation as compared to an organizational leader due to the difference in dynamics of the two arenas. Mr. Thaksin too used positive motivational tools such as speeches, his vast financial resources and contacts with the important personalities' active in the Thai corporate and political arena not only to attract people into his own party but make more people believe in his vision and to motivate them. Decision making. The second element of a manager's leadership style is the degree of decision authority the manager grants employees-ranging from no involvement to group decision making. We have already identified Mr. Shinawatra to be a democratic and participative leader. But it is also imperative to realize that when it came to difficult issues the leader has to assume responsibility and move things forward. Mr. Thaksin's stand on directing more funds to rural areas and communities and the implementation of the national health policy that provided extremely economical health services to the Thai people, even though were popular moves but were not very well received in some echelons of power. But the decision was taken keeping in mind the betterment of the people. Task and employee orientation. The final element of leadership style is the leader's perspective on the most effective way to get the work done. Leaders who favor task orientation emphasize achieving objectives by using better ways, methods or equipment, controlling the work environment, assigning and organizing work, and monitoring performance. Leaders who favor employee orientation emphasize getting work done through meeting the human needs of subordinates. Teamwork, positive relationships, trust, and problem solving are the major focuses of the people-oriented leader. Here we have to bear in mind that leaders may exhibit both task and people orientations to some degree, and this was exactly the case with Mr. Shinawatra, though the inclination was more towards people. The nature of the political arena is such that it is difficult to control many factors affecting the scenario (task orientation), but by focusing on the followers to generate a critical mass of people envisioned to carry the work forward the task will be achieved (task completion through people orientation). If betterment of the economy was an objective of Mr. Thaksin, one way he could have done it was by employing some heftily paid technocrats/specialists to help in financial management, accounting, auditing e.t.c, not to say this was not necessary but what Mr. Thaksin did was apart from all this was to involve the general people in the development of Thailand through programs such as "One Tambol, One Product" and other similar programs that constituted what was popularly called "Thaksinomics". Works Cited Bernard M. Bass, Ronald E. Riggio (October 5, 2005) Transformational Leadership. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.; 2 edition. Burns, James MacGregor (1978) Leadership. NY: Harper & Row, Publishers. Elaine S. Potoker, (2004) "Managing Diverse Working Styles: The Leadership Competitive Advantage". South-Western College Publishers. 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 P. Vecchio Robert (2000) Organizational Behavior: Core Concepts. Harcourt Peter Drucker & Jennifer Whitney, (1998) "Lessons In Leadership" Jossey-Bass Publications. S.A. Kirkpatrick and E.A. Locke, (1991) "Leadership: Do Traits Really Matter" Academy of Management Executive 5 Read More