My vision on Leadership!

“A leader acts as a guiding light for his followers.” – Shahrukh Rashid Ali Khan. A leader needs to have a vision and good relationship with his followers in order to achieve common goals. Effective leadership is based on a number of skills that involves dealing with people in such a way as to motivate, enthuse and build respect amongst their followers. (Yulk 2010)

Sir Richard Branson is an international entrepreneur, adventurer, icon and best known as the founder of the Virgin group that comprises of more than 400 companies today. It is one of the most recognized and respected brand worldwide. He is someone i look up to, someone who has inspired me to understand in depth about effective leadership. Success and Sir Richard Branson go hand in hand and there are no second thoughts about his achievements over the years. The thing that inspires me the most is the way he lead the Virgin group to the top.

Sir Richard Branson has followed the three most important leadership principles throughout his journey which is: to listen, to learn and laughter. He believed that listening is one of the most important skill that anyone can possess. It enables everyone to learn from each other and sparks new ideas that can be vital in working towards your goals and also signifies a sense of respect amongst your followers. He learnt a lot from his employees and guests that way. He believes that learning and leadership are on the same page. He credited virgin’s success by working and learning from some of the most inspired people and his employees. “If you do not enjoy what you do then you should not be doing it.” – Sir Richard Branson, a quote that has influenced me in many ways. He believes that running a business involves long hours and hard decisions but to be successful there needs to be balance between life and work. Without having passion for your work, you are more likely to taste failure. (Schawbel 2014)

One of the model i would like to discuss is WHM’s leadership model that consists of leading self, leading others, leading change and leading for results.

                                                                              (Source: WJM associates)

First of all, to be an effective leader you need to lead by an example. A leader needs to lead himself before leading others which is by following his own set of rules and regulations. A leader needs to have self-management, self-awareness and self development in order to become a genuine leader. Secondly, a leader needs to make good professional relationship amongst his team members, develop trust, respect one another and motivate his employees to build a successful team. A leader plays a key role in communicating the vision of the company to his employees. It is important for a genuine leader to focus on capitalizing on the strengths of his team and minimizing the weaknesses. The next thing that should concern a leader is results. A leader needs to understand about his position in order to gain competitive advantage which can be achieved by finding every opportunity available in the market and take chances to accomplish their goals. Lastly, a leader needs to lead change. A Leader needs to keep trying to be innovative and creative in the ever changing business environment, if he is’nt he will eventually expose the company and his team to risk.

When i had the opportunity to lead six members during my leadership seminar, the feedback i recieved from my colleagues were pretty even. For strengths, they always appreciated me for time management. I had good healthy discussion with my team members about the task that included what needs to be done and how are we going to achieve our goal as i believed they all needed a clear vision of the goal. I divided the work and responsibilities amongst my team members equally. My team members believed in me during the entire task and went on to label me as a “Team man” that made me feel proud because i believe no one is bigger than the team not even the leader. However, there were some weaknesses that i lacked in mainly accuracy and decision making which was rightly pointed out by them. I believe i need to be more accurate with my work, make quality decisions and get things to move at a faster pace. Looking at today’s environment it is important to be accurate with your work and i need to enhance my skill in order to be an effective leader in future. You will only learn with experience.

REFERENCES

1. Schawbel, D. (2014). Richard Branson’s Three Most Important Leadership Principles. Available: http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2014/09/23/richard-branson-his-3-most-important-leadership-principles/. Last accessed 1st April 2015.

2. Yulk, G. A. (2010) Leadership in Organisations. Harlow: Pearson Education.

3. Mullins, L.J. and Christy, G. (2013) ‘Organisation Culture and Change’. in Management & Organisation Behaviour. 13th edn. London: Pearson, 693-732.

A goal is temporary but change is permanent

“Change is the only constant.” – Heraclitus, Greek philosopher. Considering a small change to one or two process or a system wide change, it is common to feel uneasy and intimidated. In today’s competitive world where business continue to evolve, organizations and teams are facing rapid changes like never before. Globalization has increased the markets which has resulted in creating opportunities for more revenue and growth for many organizations. Ever increasing competitiveness and diverse market demands organizations to understand and make changes, thus transforming to a wide range of stakeholders needs and customers expectations . (McNamara 2011)

New initiatives, technology improvements, staying ahead of the competition and project based working are some of the things that leads to change. It is essential for leaders and managers to be capable of introducing and managing change, thus ensuring the organisational objectives of change are met. In order to achieve that, it is essential for leaders to gain full staff commitment throughout the execution of action plan and make sure that the business is operating normally. (Mullins 2010)

Evidence suggest that the probability of failure is higher when organizations react to trends in market place rather than cultivating a culture that monitors and responds to the change in a controlled manner, which will foster involvement from stakeholders and relate the vision and strategy of the organization. John Kotter world renowned change expert noted that many unsuccessful change efforts occur due to failure in creating a sense of urgency, unclear vision or startegy for change, ineffective communication, failure to identify and remove obstacles, failure to create short or long term achievements, premature success celebration, causing stakeholders to lose focus and failing to incorporate the changes in the present corporate culture. (Francis-Nurse 2007)

Organizational change is ineffective without a strong leader. Managing change requires strong and stable commitment from the change leader who needs to assist the change effort and gain commitment of staff and all the stakeholders. It is true that change is constant and unavoidable. The survival of an organization depends on the ability to adapt and sieze the change well in advance. Hence, a successful change management commences with an effective leader who can respond and lead the transformation by implementing new strategies to drive the renewal process.

The most recent example of change management can be found at California State University (CSU). Any IT system change that occured at the main campus had to go through 23 satellite campuses, thousands of employees, students and staff had to adapt to their IT systems as well. Dealing with change at a smaller organization can be a nightmare by itself; but it’s worse when it comes to large organizations like CSU. Instead of giving up on this change, the IT department decided to establish an automated change management system. Using Cisco’s pace functionality, the company can now make upgrades that will automatically make changes to their entire system. In order to make their change management strategy even more effective, they are now defining who can use what system and what changes they can make to their chosen area. CSU’s change management strategy considered the human factor. It not only included the automated system, but also defined the roles of change in order to minimize the confusion and issues when a change has to be instituted. (Faucheux 2013)

For an organization to survive, it is vital for a leader to consider and manage change carefully. Firstly, leaders and managers have to communicate clearly with all the employees about the organisation’s objectives for change and link it to individual’s benefit. This is more likely to generate new information and skills that can play an important role in managing change. Throughout the entire process, leaders and managers need to understand the reasons to accept change, come up with an action plan in order to eliminate those reasons and signify their appreciation for individual difference. (Matai 2010)

In my view, participating is the most suitable leadership style when it comes to managing change. Simply because, this leadership style instigates communication, understanding and exchange of new ideas. Employees opinion and views must be taken in to account, especially under such circumstances where they are entitled to be affected in future. Employees need to be well informed about the change in execution and decision making process. By respecting, appreciating employees and involving them more will develop a sense of surity in their minds about the organization which will result in the change in behavior according to the situation.

REFERENCES:

1. McNamara, C. (2011). Organizational Change and Development (Managing Change and Change Management). Available: http://managementhelp.org/organizationalchange/. Last accessed 31st March 2010.
2. Mullins, L.J. (2013), Management and Organisational Behaviour, 10th Edition, Pearson Higher Education.
3. Francis-Nurse, C. (2007). Managing Change: The Leadership Challenge.Available: http://www.batimes.com/articles/managing-change-the-leadership-challenge.html. Last accessed 31st March 2015.
4. Matai, DK. (2010). What is the Key to Survival in a Constantly Changing Environment?. Available: http://www.mi2g.com/cgi/mi2g/frameset.php?pageid=http%3A//www.mi2g.com/cgi/mi2g/press/210210.php. Last accessed 31st March 2015.
5. Faucheux, M. (2013). Examples of Change Management Plans That Worked. Available: http://www.brighthubpm.com/change-management/55056-examples-of-change-management-plans-that-worked/. Last accessed 31st March 2015.

Participative Leadership style- the most effective

“Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means.”- Albert Einstein. Employees look for their leaders to not only assign them with work but inspire them with goals and vision that ensures high efficiency on employees part. A leader is influential in developing his employees skills while organizing a team that can be crucial in achieving success for the organisation. However, when we look at management it is different compare to leadership. “Management is getting work done through the efforts of other people.”  (Mullins 2010) A manager’s job is to organise, plan, control and direct the team following the principles that are laid out. It is relatively easy to differentiate between the two, a manager is task-oriented whereas a leader is people-oriented while achieving an objective. Managers use rational approach and on the other hand leaders use passion and emotional approach.

Increasing competitiveness of the market, advancement in technology,changing trends and consumer demands are some of the reasons that has revolutionized many areas of business. Analysing these economic factors, Human resource is considered as a vital element for organisation’s success. With the ever increasing number of knowledgeable workers, organization’s objectives are changing from procedures efficiency to productivity of specific ability and knowledge of individuals. In order to achieve this, management and leadership need to go hand in hand. Adopting an appropriate leadership style depends on situations, task complexity and maturity of employees.

Autocratic leadership style is the one where the boss dictates the way an organisation needs to run. An autocratic leader involves no input from its subordinates. Managers who use this leadership style fail to get the best out of their employees which reduces employee motivation. A stirking example of autocratic leadership style in corporate world can be Leona Helmsley of the Helmsley hotel chain, her aggressive style earned her the nickname ” The queen of mean.” She demanded perfection from top executives to cleaning staff. She allegedly “treated people like garbage,” one example being to fire on the spot a secretary daring to use the Helmsley Palace dry cleaner to remove an accidental spill on her cloth, even though she had worked diligently for eight years. (Nayab 2011)

Participative leadership style is the most effective and used leadership style in team building. All subordinates are assigned with job roles. Participative leadership style encourages creativity as well as productivity within the team. One of the best user of this leadership style can be Bill Gates. The founder of Microsoft is renowned for his participative leadership style. Gates believed in the power of innovation, empowered his subordinates to innovate in products, markets, process, or any other area. He positioned the company as a platform for people to build on their strengths. Gates created a digital landscape that connected people, process, and technology, making sharing ideas and work seamlessly easy. These innovations allowed the company to respond to the changing markets effectively. (Nayab 2011)4

Transformational leadership style is designed to make vast changes to a management team. A transformational leader is usually charismatic and visionary. Transformational leadership style is good for team morale and also assist in improving performance of individuals and teams. However, a transformational leader needs to be careful when it comes to changing things quickly. The only drawback of transformational style is change of responsibilities among subordinates as some members who have contributed a lot in different projects might feel unfair due to change of roles. Late Nelson Mandela defines transformational leadership style perfectly. By the time he became the president in 1994, he already knew high profile business leaders and companies personally. It was not common to summon for some of them to support a project such as health clinic in a rural area. He set an example of vision and reconciliation for his country men. Transforming small companies can be a tough task for any leader but he transformed an entire nation.  (Schoemaker 2013)

Leadership style depends on situations however in my opinion participative leadership style is the most effective compared to transformational and autocratic. Keeping in mind about the importance of human resource in business i feel a team is not about the leader it is about every individual. A team is a mirror image of the leader. Encouraging ideas, proper division of work leads to employee motivation. Participative leadership style enhances creativity that guarantees success. Leaders who follow participative leadership style are more likely to create happy and satisfied employees.

REFERENCE:

1. Johnson, R. (2015). 5 Different Types of Leadership Styles. Available: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/5-different-types-leadership-styles-17584.html. Last accessed 24th March 2015.

2. Zellman, M. (2015). The Advantages of Transformational Leadership Style. Available: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-transformational-leadership-style-18809.html. Last accessed 24th March 2015.

3. Nayab, N. (2011). Examples of Companies with Autocratic Leadership.Available: http://www.brighthubpm.com/resource-management/77233-examples-of-companies-with-autocratic-leadership/. Last accessed 24th March 2015

4. Nayab, N. (2011). Five Real-World Examples of Successful Leadership.Available: http://www.brighthubpm.com/resource-management/120498-five-real-world-examples-of-successful-leadership/. Last accessed 25th March 2015

5. Schoemaker, P. (2013). Nelson Mandela, Transformational Leader.Available: http://www.inc.com/paul-schoemaker/what-made-mandela-a-transformational-leader.html. Last accessed 25th March 2015.

Managing Diverse Teams- A Challenge!

“A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle.” is a Japanese proverb that easily ranks among the best quotes on team building. Every individual has certain limitations, working in a team divides work and duties that enables individuals to work on what they are good at.

Long gone are the days where you expect to manage a relatively homogeneous team—that is, individuals from one culture and national background. Times have changed over the years, now teams in corporate world often consist of individuals from diverse backgrounds, different culture, languages, races. A culturally diverse team means you have to take into consideration the difference in time zones when arranging both virtual and in-person meetings of the entire team. It’s not new for one or more team members to be starting their day quite early or ending it quite late in the evening in order to participate in a virtual meeting. Travel, time and costs are some of the factors  that should be taken in to consideration during group meetings. (Mullins 2013)

A diverse team offers great source of experience from individuals that come from a different background which can be vital in fulfilling a company’s objective. For instance, to enter a new market you need necessary knowledge about the culture, people, market and competitors that is when companies need diverse teams, they are highly effective. Diverse teams also enhances creativity and problem solving ability. There are likely to be different ideas and intellectual conflicts that can result in innovation and success for many companies.

When you manage diverse teams, a leader’s job is to grasp the differences quickly and come up with a strong working plan based on the reality of the situation by focusing on maximizing their team members strengths and value to the organization while balancing the potential menace that a team can cope up with in future. In short, a team’s diversity needs to deliver value and not act as a stumbling-block. Understanding is the most challenging part for a leader managing a culturally diverse team. When you are managing people from different backgrounds they need not share the same values, norms or even language. A leader then needs to have an understanding why people behave differently, respect their values and norms, have patience as it takes time to figure out their behavior, strengths and weaknesses of group members. (Majlergaard 2015) Motivating a culturally diverse team is another key challenge for a leader. A leader needs to be in control and be clear about the goals expected from his employees, it is like providing a detailed road map and job description of what is expected from them. Achieving a desired level of efficiency is vital for success. In multicultural teams, people have different views on efficiency. Some people value to make quick decisions and move on whereas some take time to analyse and consult before making one. A leader needs to ensure that collective discussion should take place during meetings before arriving to conclusions. Collective decision might be time consuming but it produces better quality.

IBM (International Business Machines) an American multinational technology and consulting corporation sets a brilliant example of diversity management. The company has developed a workforce of 435,000 employees worldwide. One of the key strategy for IBM is to enhance knowledge, awareness, open mindedness, tolerance and respect for other cultures in order to build a stronger team and continue to foster innovation. IBM understands the importance of successful integration of diversity principles so that the employees act accordingly. IBM communicates with its employees through  Diversity Networking Groups, Diversity Networking Events and the Diversity Contact Officer Network. Diversity networking groups consists of employees who come together to provide feedback about the business, helping other members to be more effective and enhancing company’s objectives. IBM’s current networking groups are people with disability, women in technology, flexibility, cultural diversity and GLBT (gay, lesbians and bisexual transgender) (Workforce Diversity 2008)

Looking at the ever changing business environment at present, workforce has become more diverse. Leaders work is cut out to manage diverse teams which can be quite a challenge, however it is fair to say after looking at IBM the success and competitiveness of the company depends on the efficiency of workforce diversity management. Cultural diverse teams may have certain limitations but when we look at the positive side of things, it brings a lot to the table in form of different ideas, views, knowledge, skills that can determine creativity and success for any organisation.

REFERENCES:

1. unknown. (2008). Workforce Diversity. Available: http://www-07.ibm.com/ibm/au/corporateresponsibility/pdfs/GL_9833_diversity_nocov.08.pdf. Last accessed 23rd march 2015.

2. unknown. (2013). Top Ten Tips: How to manage diverse teams?.Available: http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/news/1181428/top-ten-tips-manage-diverse-teams/. Last accessed 23rd march 2015.

3. Mullins, L, J (2013). Management & Organisational Behaviour. 10th ed. London: Pearson Education Limited. p26-31.

4. Majlergaard, F. (2015). The top 5 challenges managers of cultural diverse teams are facing. Available: http://gugin.com/the-top-5-challenges-managers-of-cultural-diverse-teams-are-facing/. Last accessed 23rd march 2015

ETHICAL LEADERSHIP- A SUCCESS

“In law a man is guilty when he violates the right of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so.”- Immanuel Kant. An Ethical Leader understands the fact that positive relationships are the gold standards for all the organisational effort. Ethical Leader knows the fact that these relationships are based on basic fundamental principle of trust, respect, integrity, honesty, compassion and justice. Following these fundamental principle brings success to the organisation and flourishes human enterprise. Leaders at every level act to inspire and promote the right action that determines the performance and culture as a whole. (Mullins 2013) Hunter (2012) states that ethical leaders create more happy and satisfied employees in the organisation who are less likely to work counter-productively.

In today’s competitive world corporate corruption is on the rise. Part of the problem is that some leaders are out-and-out crooks, and they direct the wrong doing from the top but that is rare.However very often, we believe employees bend or break ethical rules because those in charge are blind sided to unethical behavior and may even unknowingly encourage it. Many managers are guilty of rewarding results rather than high-quality decisions. For instance, a manager may make a poor decision that turns out well and be rewarded for it,or a good decision that turns out poorly and be punished. Rewarding unethical decisions because they have good outcome leads to disaster in the long run. There have been many cases where a well defined goal with right intention led to unethical behavior. In 2008, The Business Week editor Peter Coy wrote about one case that had president Bill Clinton and at the heart of the problem was his desire to increase home-ownership in US. He wrote: “Add President Clinton to the long list of people who deserve a share of the blame for the housing bubble and bust. A recently re-exposed document shows that his administration went to ridiculous lengths to increase the national home-ownership rate. It promoted paper-thin down payments and pushed for ways to get lenders to give mortgage loans to first-time buyers with shaky financing and incomes. It’s clear now that the erosion of lending standards pushed prices up by increasing demand, and later led to waves of defaults by people who never should have bought a home in the first place.” Clinton’s administration officials intentions to increase home-ownership rate never meant to inspire unethical behavior in the first place but by failing to consider the consequencess of goals and reward systems they created, they did. (Bazerman & Tenbrunsel 2011) In present business environment that has evolved over the years, different models of ethical leadership is introduced dividing ethics into two principle areas of study: Deontological ethics (rules, morals, values, virtue.) and Teleological ethics (consequences, results, outcomes.)

 Deontological, or duty-based theory refers to specific moral duties or obligations that are seen as self-evident, having intrinsic value in and of themselves and needing no further justification. Moral actions are evaluated on the basis of right or wrong and not on the goodness or a primary consideration of consequences. Deontological ethics enhances on people’s value and treating everyone with equality and respect which has positive impact on the individuals in the organisation. However, there are certain limitations as well. Deontological does not help in dealing with conflicting duties or exceptional cases. Leaders find it difficult to judge whether an action is good or bad as they do not have the view of morality. Since it is not concerned with the outcome but acts in a rigid way that often leads to bad consequences. (Alexander 2000)

In terms of Teleological ethics the ethical perspective that contends with rightness or wrongness of the moral action is solely based on the goodness or badness of the consequences. It differs from duty based ethics as it provides a flexible system and takes different circumstances in to account, however it has certain limitations too. Firstly, it is really difficult to predict consequences in future with a desired course of action. Secondly, measuring the goodness of consequences is really difficult,depending on individuals. Ethical egoism can be a good example of teleological ethics. Finally, it is solely depended on outcomes and ignores ethical values such as character of a person, unethical act that often lead to lack of mutual trust in the organisation. (Rabindra 2009)

In summary, both the theories have positive influence on individuals and organisation. However in the complex business environment, where consequences are unpredictable and individuals ethical perception varies significantly, deontological theory can play a crucial role in setting clear ethical rules to follow in order to prevent harmful consequences. An organisation needs to develop ethical values like code of conduct, principle and guidelines that improve organisational value, creating a culture within the organization, reinforcing policy and incorporating ethical standards in business strategy. Therefore, it is predicted by philosophers that organisations will try to develop morality in the workplace. Duty based ethics is more essential to leaders in the organisation.

REFERENCES:

1. Alexander L. (2000) Deontology at the Threshold, San Diego Law Review, 37: 893-902

2. Rabindra N. (2009) Ethical Values of Transactional and Transformational Leaders, Issue Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences,18(4): 257–265

3. Mullins, L, J (2013). Management & Organisational Behaviour. 10th ed. London: Pearson Educaton Limited. p367-373

4. Bazerman, M, H & Tenbrunsel, A, E. (2011). Ethical Breakdowns.Available: https://hbr.org/2011/04/ethical-breakdowns. Last accessed 20th March 2015.