Becoming an Effective Global Leader - Research Paper Example

Becoming an Effective Global Leader (Research Paper) Contents Introduction ............................................................................................3 Literature Review....................................................................................3 Theories of Leadership......................................................................3 Leadership and Emotional Intelligence...........................................5 Relationship between Organisational Culture and Leadership....7 Methodology..............................................................................................8 Analysis......................................................................................................9 Revisiting the foundation.....................................................................9 Findings from Interviews...................................................................10 Recommendations................................................................................11 Conclusion..................................................................................................11 References Introduction What does the term “Leader” signify? Does it refer only to those who rule the masses by virtue of their political authority? Or do the activists who never held office but had the ability to move the masses through their ideas and visions also deserve inclusion? Does it include only those who had a positive influence on the world or also those who brought about damage and destruction? Moreover, what is the key to becoming an effective global leader? Such eternal questions concerning the mystery of great leadership have fascinated men ever since the creation of mankind. It was finally in the eighteenth century that man could actually figure out a discrete sense of the word “leadership”. With the dawn of Enlightenment, man started applying reason and science to concepts that were till then explained by religion. The advent of the various branches of social science such as evolutionary history, political science and psychology helped to frame general theories and models of leadership. Literature Review Theories of Leadership The first dominant framework on leadership was the Trait Theory or the “Great Men” Theory which was proposed in the early twentieth century. It focussed on the five central traits possessed by leaders- intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity and sociability. The theory claimed that leaders are born, not made. Galton (1869) contributed to this theory by stating that “no man can achieve a very high reputation without being gifted with very high abilities”. (Cox, 1926, p. 12) Carlyle (1910) also asserts that “the history of the world is the history of great men”. (Bass, 2009, p. 49) Mid-twentieth century saw the rise of the Behaviourist school of leadership which emphasized on the actions and dominant behaviour of the leaders. This period was marked by a parallel research at Ohio State and Michigan University that highlighted the leaders’ behaviour on the job, use of authority and task-relationship orientation. Later, scholars such as Fred Fiedler realised that a leader must match his/her situation and leadership style should vary depending on the situation and context. This gave way to a third phase of leadership studies, known as the Contingency school, which focussed on task structure, leader-member relationship and power position. (Shoup, 2005) The modern proponent of leadership studies is James McGregor Burns who has brought about a marked transition in this genre through his classification of the transactional and transformational leader. According to Burns, transactional leaders are mere managers who superficially deal with a situation by hovering around the edges of the problem. They have a tendency of putting band aids on problems that require more radical treatment. In contrast, a transformational leader sees a problem as an opportunity to change the world through his visionary ideas and experiments. (Polelle, 2008) Great leaders are artists whose canvas is whole societies or civilizations. This is evident from the lives of great leaders who show up again and again in history textbooks and the more specialised literature of leadership studies. The world has witnessed the rise of different types of leaders with their own different set of principles and styles of leadership. We may take for instance, Osama bin Laden and Barack Obama. The former is a mastermind of terrorist acts that have killed thousands thereby posing a threat to global peace and stability. The latter is politician who overcame ages of slavery and racial discrimination to become the first Afro-American president of the world’s most powerful nation. The two are opposites in every imaginable way. They are similar, however, in their ability to inspire loyal followers and their lasting impact on the world in which they and future generations will live. (McKenna, 2009) While good leaders are characterized by efficiency, commitment and strong ethics, bad leaders demonstrate ineffectiveness and unethical behaviour coupled with rigidity, callousness, corruption and insularity. Barbara Kellerman, in her work “Bad Leadership”, puts forward an extremely interesting and useful revelation that studying bad leadership is the key to understanding good leadership. (Kellerman, 2013) Perhaps the only way to learn better about the great leaders is by understanding their opposites- the worst leaders of history. After all, one cannot teach health without explaining disease. (Polelle, 2008) Leadership and Emotional Intelligence Emotional Intelligence refers to the capacity of an individual to recognize, evaluate and regulate his own emotions and the emotions of others. The first comprehensive usage of the term is attributed to Wayne Payne in his thesis A Study of Emotion: Developing Emotional Intelligence (1985). Before and after Payne, many other scholars like Beldoch, Leuner, Greenspan, Peter Salovey and John Mayer had mentioned the term in their works. However the term Emotional Intelligence received wide acceptance and recognition in the year 1995 after the publication of Daniel Goleman’s work Emotional Intelligence - Why it can matter more than IQ. The term received reinforcement through Goleman’s further publications on the same theme. Today the world is pondering over the question whether Emotional Intelligence is a mark of real intelligence and whether it can be considered a replacement for Intelligence Quotient as a standard measure of intelligence. (Harms, 2010; Payne, 1986) Over the years, there have been extensive research and varied disagreements among scholars regarding the apt definition of Emotional Intelligence. Though no consensus could be reached over the issue, the scholarly studies over the past few decades have yielded certain acceptable models of Emotional Intelligence. Of these, three have gained popularity and prominence- the Ability theory, the Trait theory and the Mixed theory. Each model propounds a different theory of Emotional Intelligence and a set of instruments for the assessment of Emotional Intelligence. The Ability Theory, put forward by Salovey and Mayer, presents the idea of a new kind of intelligence. The theory defines Emotional Intelligence as- "The ability to perceive emotion, integrate emotion to facilitate thought, understand emotions and to regulate emotions to promote personal growth." (Nishida and Faucher, 2010, p.161). It considers emotions as a source of information that helps a person to comprehend and steer through his social environment. According to this theory, Emotional Intelligence is a collection of four types of abilities- perceiving, using, understanding and managing emotions. (Salovey, 2005). The Trait Theory propounded by British psychologist K.V. Petrides defines Emotional Intelligence on the basis of an individual’s self-perception about his emotional abilities. As per this theory, Emotional Intelligence is a group of emotional understanding situated in the lower layers of one’s personality. It is based on four prime tenets- well-being, self-control, emotionality and sociability (Petrides, 2007; Leutner, 2011). In contrast to the ability and trait theories, it is the Mixed Theory that offers a more comprehensive overview of the concept of Emotional Intelligence. The theory was proposed by Daniel Goleman in his work What Makes A Leader (2012). He treats Emotional Intelligence as a set of skills and competencies that initiates leadership. Emotional Competencies are not inherent talents but learned abilities that must be worked upon. Or in other words, people may possess innate Emotional Intelligence, but they have to acquire Emotional Competency through their own efforts. Goleman outlines five major parameters which constitute Emotional Intelligence, which are self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, motivation and people skills. (Barling, 2000) Scholarly studies have suggested that Emotional Intelligence has tremendous impact on professional leadership. Series of in-depth researches on Emotional Intelligence and work performance have yielded a positive relationship between Emotional Intelligence and entrepreneurial leadership and accomplishment. Before the concept of Emotional Intelligence acquired prominence, IQ was regarded as the only source of professional success. But today, academic credentials and technical expertise cannot take the place of Emotional Intelligence in an individual’s professional success. Emotional Intelligence is a significant issue that sets celebrated and successful performers separately from the rest of the group. It determines how one monitors the actions of ours and others, meet social problems and enact individual resolutions that lead us to optimistic results (Goleman, 2000; Tram, 2006). Relationship between Organisational Culture and Leadership Culture refers to a set of beliefs, norms and customs followed by a group of people during a given time span. Organisational culture refers to a common perception or a system of shared meaning held by the members of an organization. It is characterized by a range of factors such as innovation, risk taking, attention to detail, outcome orientation, people orientation, team orientation, aggressiveness and stability. Culture defines the boundary between one organization and others by conveying a sense of identity for its members. It enhances the stability of the social system by facilitating the generation of commitment to something larger than self-interest. Besides it helps in sense-making and acts as control apparatus for appropriate employees in the business. (Hanges, 2004; Lok, 2004) Leadership and organisational culture are two inter-related and inter-dependent concepts. Culture is socially learned and transmitted by members within organizations. The leaders of an organization are the creators and perpetrators of its culture. The norms, values and ethics exhibited and showcased by the leaders go on to form the culture of the organization. The leaders or the founders of an organization employ and retain only those employees who think and feel identically. The leaders then instruct and meet people these employees to their philosophy and emotions. The leaders’ own behaviour presents an ideology that urges the workforce to recognize them and hence adopt their faiths, principles, and suppositions. Effective leaders, in order to promote an ethical culture, often employ managerial practices like being a visible role model, communicating ethical expectations, providing ethical training, providing protective mechanisms, rewarding ethical acts and punishing unethical ones. (Schein, 1992; Northouse, 2012) While the leaders are the pioneers of culture within an organization, it is the culture that keeps the gifts of their leadership alive and useful for the future members of the organization, thus fostering the growth of new leaders in future. To sum it up, it will not be wrong if we assert that if leaders are the creators of culture, then culture is the medium through which the leaders are immortalized in the history of an organization. Methodology A primary survey on 6 participants from different professional areas has been chosen for the research – one from education, two from finance, one form civil service and one from a non profit organisation. They belong to six different age groups between 31-50 years and all of them are chosen from Hong Kong. Almost all are qualitative questions and conclusions may be drawn based on their perceptions. Qualitative analysis has been used for the analysis. The main limitation lies in the sample size owing to which we have incorporated a comprehensive literature survey to support the results. At lest a sample size of 20 would have been desirable in order to generalise the results. Analysis Revisiting the foundation The trends in leadership studies discussed in the literature review reveal a plethora of the different aspects of leadership. Though there is no universally accepted definition or model of a leader, each of the theories presents a clue to the phenomenon of leadership. The scenario is analogous to the situation of the three blind men who, upon touching the different parts of the elephant, argue on what the object in question really was, even though they all were talking about the same elephant. The person holding the trunk claims that it is a huge hose, the one seizing the tail calls it a rope, whereas the one touching the torso feels that it is a solid wall. (McDougall, 2008) The debate on which facet- trait, situational or relational- captures the core of leadership is a never-ending phenomenon. However, a coherent model can be worked out upon synthesis of all the contributing theories, studies and definitions. Although leadership is enacted differently in different cultural, political and business environments, one cannot deny the existence of certain universal expectations from a leader such as intelligence, decisiveness, motivation, dynamism and charisma. The survey results address most of these issues. Findings from Interviews A thorough analysis of the feedback provided by the participant interviewees, as part of this project, will also provide a useful insight into the concept of global leadership. Global leadership, as observed by the six participants, is a relatively modern phenomenon that has evolved as a by-product of the globalised business world and the resulting proliferation of multi-national companies. The gamuts of technological and cultural changes that have accompanied globalisation have further strengthened the role of leadership in business scenario owing to the growing need for change management and the presence of a multicultural workforce. In such circumstances, it is the responsibility of the leader not only to manage the strategic alliances and business aspect of the firms, but also to ensure inter-cultural harmony and relationship-orientation at the workplace. All six of the participants have agreed to the fact that leadership is not an innate ability, but a quality that is practised and cultivated over time. Education, upbringing, experience, surrounding circumstances and general outlook are some of the factors that determine the extent to which the leadership capacity is developed in an individual. Though some of the traditional virtues like knowledge, control, dominance and balance are usually associated with the personality of a leader, there are many newer ingredients that have come to be accepted with time as the traits of a successful leader. These include emotional intelligence, negotiation skills, and harmony with organisational culture, contingent leadership, relationship-orientation, charisma and transformational influence. When asked about their views on the use of power in their leadership style, majority of the interviewees asserted that they believe in using their motivational power rather than their position power. They believe in empowering their subordinates through a combination of proper technical training and work-related motivation. The ever-improving technologies and ever-changing composition of workforce are two major stumbling blocks that impede the functioning of effective leadership. The continuous influx of technological advancements demands an equal degree of adaptability and flexibility in leaders and their followers. Similarly, the infusion of multiple cultures in the workforce looks for a matching proactive approach in handling of HR issues. So the leaders, in order to sustain their effectiveness, need to be abreast with the latest developments and leave no stones unturned to overcome these technological and cultural constraints. While the benefits of effective leadership are innumerable, the challenges in the path of effective leadership are many. According to the opinion of the interviewees, the major obstacles that impede the functioning of leaders are the unabashed pace of technological advancements, the modern age of digital communication , the cultural diversity at workplaces and the level of alertness and flexibility expected of the leaders. If we talk about charismatic leaders, then they too are subject to the vagaries of cultural constraints that make them susceptible to cultural nuances like playing favourites, racial bias and cultural discrimination. In such a scenario, a leader must possess and maintain a very high degree of tolerance, sensitivity and adaptability so as to overcome these hurdles and ply on the path of effective leadership. Recommendation Last but not the least, the prime traits that are essential for sustaining the efficiency of one’s leadership, according to the respondents we interviewed, are: openness to learning, unlimited creativity, excellent interpersonal skills and a steady positive attitude. A leader must always practice what he preaches. He must always remember that he is a role model and his actions are a source of inspiration for his subordinates who always look up to him for new learning and experiences. Conclusion The world has always stood in a great awe of the leaders thriving within its confines. The great Western scholars like Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch and Machiavelli have reflected, in their works, upon leaders and their use of power (Genovese, 2013). In fact even the Bible can be regarded as a treatise on leadership in human and divine form (Woolfe, 2002). But for the early civilisations, leadership was one of the most experiential and least perceived facts on earth. However, the idea came to be understood better owing to the development of the plethora of theories on the concept of leadership and series of in-depth studies on the trends in global leadership styles. But unfortunately, even after years of research and observation in the sphere, much of the modern society’s outlook about leadership is still based on the wrong crux. People learn what to think, not how to think. They learn what to be, not how to be. They learn everything about things, but very little about their basic nature. Many of the definitions of leadership focus on its outer manifestations such as vision, creativity, charisma etc. rather than getting to the essence of leadership. People often receive applause for their superficial mastery. Success is nowadays measured in concrete terms of business revenue, profit and market share. No doubt achieving external results is necessary. But that is not the real issue. The more relevant issues are how to produce and how to sustain those results. 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