The Managerial Revolution in American Business - Essay Example

Assignment Leadership is an integral part of human social behavior which is intricately linked with the followers. Leadership can be defined as apersuasive communication skill which inspires others to achieve a common goal. Leadership in all areas assumes special meaning because it motivates and encourages that target group within the population that plays a crucial part in the future of nation building processes. It is equally important that certain basic assumptions about the leadership qualities especially which relates to the individual approach of tackling issues and objectives, may create a vast difference to the results achieved. Leadership basically refers to people who have the capacity to bring about changes in other people. Organizations are characterized by the unique culture that is inherent in the overall working of the organization. The fast changing pace of the technology can be observed in the study of the organizations and the changing role of leadership within the organizations. The role of leaders, managers and the administrators of the organizations become more challenging when new strategy and policy decisions are introduced in the organizations. The good leadership ensures effective communication with the employees with shared vision of the new strategy thus promoting better understanding among the employees for easy adaptability to change. Hence, the knowledge of core psycho analytical concepts becomes important tools to the leadership for understanding the organizational behavior that significantly impact group dynamics.. The understanding of psychoanalytical concepts provides invaluable information regarding the socio-psychological factors that adversely affect the performance outcome of the workforce. Unconscious and repression, transference, envy and rivalry are few major concepts that considerably influence the human nature and consequently the behavior of the organization. Freud, the eminent socio-psychologist has contributed extensively towards understanding of these core psychoanalytical ingredients so that the one is better able to analyze human behavior within the prescribed social norms. Social scientists have corroborated that the psycho-analytical perspectives are important tools for understanding the hidden dynamics of human relationship, especially with regard to corporate culture, social defenses, leadership imperatives, motivation and other paradigms associated with organizational behavior (Levinson, 2002; Gabriel, 1999). The understanding equips the leadership with the necessary knowledge to promote confidence building and strengthen interpersonal understanding with the group, within the organization. Good leadership teaches through self example. People like to emulate persons who inspire them and are capable of instilling self confidence in them. It is especially relevant in the context of multi cultural society where it has become imperative to learn to interact with each other without racial prejudice. They learn to develop attitude and behavior which is conducive for a mutually benefiting and tolerant society. When Prince took over the stewardship of Citigroup, it was under tremendous pressure from the Federal Regulation Authority and had huge demoralizing repercussions from the event of Japan and MTS. Under his leadership, unique Citigroup culture of shared responsibility through effective communication was developed. Prince, not only provided an intangible stability among the employees and facilitate integration with the system, but his leadership style also encouraged collective vision of the organization and provided the necessary impetus to the employees to strive towards it. Indeed, leadership qualities and traits are not always inherent but they can be cultivated and polished to achieve exemplary leadership. Few of the important traits that a leader must have are: vision; good communication; adaptability towards change; creativity and initiative; positive attitude and commitments; confidence and belief; integrity and ethics; compassion and caring nature. Leadership of Lord MacLaurin of Tesco is a case in point. His belief and his visionary outlook for Tesco became the highlight of Tesco’s success in the coming years. His intrinsic trust in the new technologies and his charismatic personality that was able to convince others of his ideas was the decisive factors which facilitated easy implementation of those technologies in the stores. According to prominent social scientists, research studies in the area of leadership approach has tried to find the traits, behavior and leadership style that turned them into more efficient and successful than others (Stogdill 1974; Yukl 2002). Leadership qualities have become vital tools to encourage people’s participation in the overall strategy of having collective goals through shared learning. It was realized that ‘strategies rather than operative planning and decision making, became the main factor of managerial leadership’ (Chandler, 1977). (717) Assignment 2 Leadership refers to people who have the capacity to bring about changes in other people. Leaders help facilitate more accommodating approach to the changing dynamics of the organizational scope and processes. Thus, leadership within the organization is the major factor that is able to exploit the personality traits of the workforce to maximize performance outcome. Four major types of leadership style would be discussed: situational leadership; transformational leadership; participative leadership; and charismatic leadership. Situational leadership According to the theory of social construction ‘various institutions (re)produce construction of leadership that coincide with concurrent episodes and processes at the actor level’ (Sjostrand, 1997). The theory helped unravel the qualitative paradigms that interpret and grasp the dynamics of leadership in organizations, which made one particular leader more effective than the other. Strong communication skill and intrinsic understanding of human nature become vital factors that inspire change towards the better. Blanchard and Hersey (1988) have developed matrix model of leadership, better known as ‘situational leadership’ that analyzes the situation and then appropriate style of leadership is applied. It is especially relevant in the context of advancing technology and globalization which has promoted a highly competitive work environment. The exemplary leadership of Bill Gates has not only influenced the business world but his philanthropic work in the area health and education, have been universally applauded. Bill Gates, as Chairman of Microsoft, has made huge impact in the lives of the people in general and his creative inputs, in the field of information technology, have become an indispensable tool for the world. Hence effective leaders are versatile and are adept at exploiting the potential of their followers or workers as per the demands of the situation. Transformational leadership James Burns defined transforming leadership as a ‘relationship of mutual stimulation and elevation that converts followers into leaders and may convert leaders into moral agents’ (Burns, 1978). He further suggested that it ‘occurs when one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality’. This leadership motivates and empowers the people to exercise informed choices. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Junior are exemplary examples of this type of leadership. Gandhi was an Indian whose unique leadership style had become the main plank of gaining independence from the tyrannical British rule. He was the most popular leader of the country who believed in working hands-in-hands with the people at the grass root level and motivated them towards self rule. Martin Luther King Junior is one of the greatest leaders of twentieth century who was able to make significant contribution to the civil rights of the African Americans. He took up the cudgel to fight for the equal rights for all human being and became an instant hit with the people with his advocacy for civil rights. Participative leadership Participative leadership encourages collective decision and mutual trust building to improve and improvise outcome. The leadership ensures effective communication with the employees with shared vision of the new strategy thus promoting better understanding among the employees for easy adaptability to change (Tannenbaum & Schmidt, 1973). Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, is renowned for his exemplary leadership quality and his innovative approach in the cutthroat business. He reinforces the concept of value based leadership that promotes and facilitates continuous learning and focuses on participative leadership style that encourages collective decision and mutual trust building to improve and improvise outcome (Welsh, 2005). Welsh’s leadership addresses organizational leadership and exhorts them to adopt dynamic strategies to meet the challenges of the changing times. The leadership is focused on knowledge and skills of the employees and exploits them to achieve organizational goals. Strong communication skill and intrinsic understanding of human nature become vital factors that inspire change towards the better. Cross cultural understanding and relationship building are strong ingredients of Welsh’s leadership. Charismatic leadership Charismatic leadership relies heavily on the dominant personality and promotes the concept of role model amongst his/ her followers. Northouse asserts that charismatic leaders have not only strong personality but are also identified with ‘articulation of ideological goals with moral overtones; and (4) high expectation of followers and confidence that they will meet these expectations’ (Northouse, 2004, p171). Russel Simmons on the other hand relies primarily on charismatic leadership that is focused on exploiting the potential of black youth through hip hop culture that may not be applicable for people across the board. His leadership style, is based on inflaming the emotions of the target audience and thereby influence their decision making. Simmons’ leadership has emerged from a sense or concept of inequity, racism and self empowerment of the African Americans. He has exploited the cultural dynamics of Hip Hop phenomenon of the black community to address their myriad problems. (796) Reference Burns, J.M. (1978) Leadership. New York: Harper Row. Chandler, AD (1977). The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Case study of Tesco. Available from: [Accessed 20 January, 2010]. Gibson, C B & Vermeulen, F. (2003). A healthy divide: Subgroups as a stimulus for team learning. Administrative Science Quarterly, 48, 202-39. Hersey, P. and Blanchard, K. (1988). Management of Organizational Behavior: Utilizing Human Resources. Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice Hall International. Levinson, H. (2002). Organizational Assessment. American Psychological Association. Washington DC. Northouse, P.G. (2004). Leadership: Theory and Practice (3rd Edition). London: Sage Publications Ltd. Paine, Lynn Sharp., Knocp, Carin Isabel and Sesia, Aldo Jr. (August 2008). Leading Citigroup. Harvard Business School. Simmons, Russell. (2007). Do You! 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Empowerment. Gotham Books. Sjostrand, Sven Erik, (1997). Two Faces of Management: The Janus Factor. Cengage Learning. Stogdill, R.M. (1974) Handbook of Leadership: A survey of theory and research. New York: Free Press. Tannenbaum, R. & Schmidt, W. (1973). How to Choose a leadership Pattern. Harvard Business Review, May-June 1973, No. 73311 (originally published in March-April 1958 issue). Welch, Jack & Welch, Suzy.(2005). Winning. HarperCollins Publishers. NY. Yukl, G.A. (2002). Leadership in Organizations: Fifth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice-Hall. Read More