A review of the leadership literature reveals an evolving ...



A review of the leadership literature reveals an evolving series of 'schools of thought' from “Great Man” and “Trait” theories to “Transformational” leadership (see table). Whilst early theories tend to focus upon the characteristics and behaviors of successful leaders, later theories begin to consider the role of followers and the contextual nature of leadership

Great Man Theory

 

Leaders are born and not made. Great leaders will arise when there is a great need.

The idea of the Great Man also strayed into the mythic domain, with notions that in times of need, a Great Man would arise, almost by magic. This was easy to verify, by pointing to people such as Eisenhower and Churchill, let alone those further back along the timeline, even to Jesus, Moses, Mohammed and the Buddah.

Trait Theory  

People are born with inherited traits. Some traits are particularly suited to leadership.

People who make good leaders have the right (or sufficient) combination of traits.

Early research on leadership was based on the psychological focus of the day, which was of people having inherited characteristics or traits. Attention was thus put on discovering these traits, often by studying successful leaders, but with the underlying assumption that if other people could also be found with these traits, then they, too, could also become great leaders.

Behavioral Theory

Leaders can be made, rather than are born. Successful leadership is based in definable, learnable behavior.

Behavioral theories of leadership do not seek inborn traits or capabilities. Rather, they look at what leaders actually do.

If success can be defined in terms of describable actions, then it should be relatively easy for other people to act in the same way. This is easier to teach and learn then to adopt the more ephemeral 'traits' or 'capabilities'.

Participative Leadership

  

Involvement in decision-making improves the understanding of the issues involved by those who must carry out the decisions.

People are more committed to actions where they have involved in the relevant decision-making.

People are less competitive and more collaborative when they are working on joint goals.

When people make decisions together, the social commitment to one another is greater and thus increases their commitment to the decision.

Several people deciding together make better decisions than one person alone.

Situational Leadership

The best action of the leader depends on a range of situational factors.

When a decision is needed, an effective leader does not just fall into a single preferred style, such as using transactional or transformational methods. In practice, as they say, things are not that simple.

Factors that affect situational decisions include motivation and capability of followers. This, in turn, is affected by factors within the particular situation. The relationship between followers and the leader may be another factor that affects leader behavior as much as it does follower behavior.

The leaders' perception of the follower and the situation will affect what they do rather than the truth of the situation. The leader's perception of themselves and other factors such as stress and mood will also modify the leaders' behavior.

Contingency Theory

The leader's ability to lead is contingent upon various situational factors, including the leader's preferred style, the capabilities and behaviors of followers and also various other situational factors.

Contingency theories are a class of behavioral theory that contend that there is no one best way of leading and that a leadership style that is effective in some situations may not be successful in others.

An effect of this is that leaders who are very effective at one place and time may become unsuccessful either when transplanted to another situation or when the factors around them change.

This helps to explain how some leaders who seem for a while to have the 'Midas touch' suddenly appear to go off the boil and make very unsuccessful decisions.

Transactional Leadership

People are motivated by reward and punishment.

Social systems work best with a clear chain of command.

When people have agreed to do a job, a part of the deal is that they cede all authority to their manager.

The prime purpose of a subordinate is to do what their manager tells them to do.

The transactional leader works through creating clear structures whereby it is clear what is required of their subordinates, and the rewards that they get for following orders. Punishments are not always mentioned, but they are also well-understood and formal systems of discipline are usually in place.

Transformational Leadership

People will follow a person who inspires them.

A person with vision and passion can achieve great things.

The way to get things done is by injecting enthusiasm and energy.

Working for a Transformational Leader can be a wonderful and uplifting experience. They put passion and energy into everything. They care about you and want you to succeed.

Participative Leadership Theory

 

 

Assumptions

Involvement in decision-making improves the understanding of the issues involved by those who must carry out the decisions.

People are more committed to actions where they have involved in the relevant decision-making.

People are less competitive and more collaborative when they are working on joint goals.

When people make decisions together, the social commitment to one another is greater and thus increases their commitment to the decision.

Several people deciding together make better decisions than one person alone.

Style

A Participative Leader, rather than taking autocratic decisions, seeks to involve other people in the process, possibly including subordinates, peers, superiors and other stakeholders. Often, however, as it is within the managers' whim to give or deny control to his or her subordinates, most participative activity is within the immediate team. The question of how much influence others are given thus may vary on the manager's preferences and beliefs, and a whole spectrum of participation is possible, as in the table below.

There are many varieties on this spectrum, including stages where the leader sells the idea to the team. Another variant is for the leader to describe the 'what' of objectives or goals and let the team or individuals decide the 'how' of the process by which the 'how' will be achieved (this is often called 'Management by Objectives').

The level of participation may also depend on the type of decision being made. Decisions on how to implement goals may be highly participative, whilst decisions during subordinate performance evaluations are more likely to be taken by the manager.

Discussion

There are many potential benefits of participative leadership, as indicated in the assumptions, above.

This approach is also known as consultation, empowerment, joint decision-making, democratic leadership, Management By Objective (MBO) and power-sharing.

Participative Leadership can be a sham when managers ask for opinions and then ignore them. This is likely to lead to cynicism and feelings of betrayal.

NIB And Participative Leadership Theory

NIB started its operations in pakistan in 2003, as national development leasing corporation(NDLC).In 2007, NIB acquired the majority of shares (70%) of PICIC commercial

After merger of NIB and PICIC commercial bank, PICIC had to follow the instructions of NIB but employees of both banks were not willing to do work with each other. Most of the experienced employed were feeling insecure and wanted to leave their jobs, which result decrease in performance of NIB. To overcome this problem NIB used this approach. NIB gave its employee the same participation in achievement its goals and objectives.

TEAM WORKING

Cross-functional, multi-skilled, and self-directed group of employees responsible for its own assignments, cost control, goals, quality control, work orders, work scheduling, and other such duties and tasks. Work teams are most useful where job content changes frequently and employees with limited skills and a specific set of duties are unable to cope.

Team Leadership

The increasing complexity and the discontinuous nature of modern work however, poses greater problems where Solo leadership is less appropriate and ‘Team leadership’ more suited. The key difference between the ‘Solo leader’ and ‘Team leadership’ revolves around the behavior and participation of the two as illustrated below:

Action plan

To develop an action plan for improving any areas of team process and performance and to create and execute a strategic staffing plan for your company, consider these six steps.

Developing and implementing a strategic performance measurement system will help to keep workers committed to a company's business system and goals and aware of how their jobs fit into strategic activities. Responsibility for developing a strategic performance measurement system lies with the human resources function.

Step 1

Link performance measurement to business planning. Tie resulting performance metrics to overall business results.

Step 2

Design employee orientation and training programs to help workers become more knowledgeable about how their work impacts the company's bottom line.

Step 3

Revise the existing employee performance management program. Consider including multiple-rater, 360-degree feedback and input into the performance measurement system.

Step 4

Involve workers in the performance measurement project. Get their input on design, implementation and evaluation of performance measurement tools.

Step 5

Develop competency models and use them as a basis for linking performance measurement with other people management processes.

Step 6

Separate professional development from performance evaluation. De-emphasize grades and ratings and focus on helping workers to increase skill and competency levels.

Some diagnostic/self-assessment tests:

Diagnostic/self d assessment tests will be divided into two steps, which are as follows:

Step 1

In first step, we analyze our team by considering following questions:

▪ What the weaknesses are and how to improve on them?

▪ What your strengths are which you will use in marketing?

▪ How can contribute to the work environment?

▪ How you can contribute to society as a whole

what your role is?

▪ In what type of work they will be happy and will excel?

▪ What their values are and which ones they are not willing to compromise?

Step 2

Then apply following techniques according to their behavior:

Command

Just tell them to move

Setting goal

Test them by giving them formal objectives

Visioning

Create a motivating vision for future

MBO

Management by objective (MBO) set a formal objectives for people that they will have to achieve but don’t tell them how to achieve this. MBO use what and how approach

Challenge

Inspire them to achieve remarkable things.

Result:

First analyze the behavior and attitude of our team and then application of some proper techniques brings positive results, specially, visioning and MBO gives positive response in improving the performance of team.

Strategic Performance Management

Strategic performance management is defined as:

The process where steering of the organization takes place through the systematic definition of mission, strategy and objectives of the organization, making these measurable through critical success factors and key performance indicators, in order to take corrective actions to keep the organization on track

Strategic performance management is really a broader concept than simply setting goals or conducting performance appraisals, although it’s true that some authors and managers seem to restrict their focus to these aspects. The broader, more encompassing definitions of performance management often focus on the need to link and align team and individual performance with the achievement of overall strategic goals and objectives.

It’s often the case that people within organizations (managers and employees) have narrower perspectives on what is implied or meant by performance management than do authors and consultants. Some employees and managers tend to associate performance management with an activity such as goal setting or appraisal meetings.

Others may have wider, but still bounded, perspectives such as ‘Performance management is about setting goals and objectives, reviewing performance and applying appropriate rewards and sanctions.’ That’s the view of one middle manager in a large corporation.

One could suggest that these differences in definition relate to the fact that academics and consultants don’t live in the real world and that they need to make a living by being more complex than necessary! But it’s interesting to note that the definitions and aims that executives in major organizations give are more in line with the views of the academics and consultants.

While there are likely to be some differences between people’s definitions, increasingly these tend to be more in terms of emphasis than substance. This may relate to the situation of the company or the culture of the sector within which it operates.

Performance management process

Performance management is an important aspect of a company. It is a process that companies use to accomplish goals and effectiveness within the work place. Within this process, everyone in the company is involved including managers and employees.

The performance management process of NIB

Design/key components of the performance management process of NIB:

▪ What will be the purpose?

▪ What will be the sequential stages?

▪ What performance will be measured?

▪ Who will assess employee performance?

▪ What will be on the form?

▪ Will a rating system be used?

▪ What support system needs to be in place?

Performance management stages

There are five different stages within employee performance management.

The five stages are:

1. Planning

2. Monitoring

3. Developing

4. Rating

5. Rewarding

Armstrong’s Performance Management theory

Performance management is a:

Strategic and integrated approach to delivering sustained success to organizations by improving the performance of the people who work in them and by developing the capabilities of teams and individual contributors.

(Armstrong and Baron)

Having described the performance cycle, Armstrong suggests that there’s a need to consider a performance management sequence. This starts to make clear some of the many aspects that need consideration and attention.

Armstrong advocates performance management, a user-friendly system that emphasizes collaboration between manager and employee.”

7-S framework

The 7-S framework of McKinsey is a Value Based Management (VBM) model that describes how one can holistically and effectively organize a company. Together these factors determine the way in which a corporation operates.

Shared Value: The interconnecting center of McKinsey's model is: Shared Values. What does the organization stands for and what it believes in. Central beliefs and attitudes.

Strategy: Plans for the allocation of a firms scarce resources, over time, to reach identified goals. Environment, competition, customers.

Structure: The way the organization's units relate to each other: centralized, functional divisions (top-down); decentralized (the trend in larger organizations); matrix, network, holding, etc.

System: The procedures, processes and routines that characterize how important work is to be done: financial systems; hiring, promotion and performance appraisal systems; information systems.

Staff: Numbers and types of personnel within the organization.

Style: Cultural style of the organization and how key managers behave in achieving the organization’s goals. Management Styles.

Skill: Distinctive capabilities of personnel or of the organization as a whole. Core Competences

Two suitable models or approaches for our organization:

▪ EFQM Excellence Model

▪ Balanced Scorecard

Two rejected models or approaches for our organization:

▪ Six Sigma

▪ Statistical Process Control.

EFQM Business Excellence Model

The European Foundation for Quality Management Award is an internationally recognized quality award based around business processes (of which one is leadership).

The leadership dimension covers the following four areas:

1. Leaders develop the mission, vision and values and are role models of a culture of Excellence;

2. Leaders are personally involved in ensuring the organization’s management system is developed, implemented and continuously improved;

3. Leaders are involved with customers, partners and representatives of society;

4. Leaders motivate, support and recognize the organization’s people.

According to EFQM Model, Our organization has developed vision, mission and goal but

needs to motivate, support and recognize the organization’s people.

|Our Vision: |

|      To be the most admired Financial Institution in Pakistan |

Communication strategy:

Different methods of Communication will be used according to the target group.

Methods that would be used are as follows:

Public address (large group)

▪ Written memo

▪ Bulletin board

Communication Network:

Hierarchy

Expert

Influential

Friendship

Maslow’s theory

self-actualisation, employees and organizations

Maslow's concept of self-actualization relates directly to the present day challenges and opportunities for employers and organizations - to provide real meaning, purpose and true personal development for their employees. For life - not just for work.

Maslow saw these issues fifty years ago: the fact that employees have a basic human need and a right to strive for self-actualization, just as much as the corporate directors and owners do.

Increasingly, the successful organizations and employers will be those who genuinely care about, understand, encourage and enable their people's personal growth towards self-actualization - way beyond traditional work-related training and development, and of course way beyond old-style X-Theory management autocracy, which still forms the basis of much organized employment today.

The best modern employers and organizations are beginning to learn at last: that sustainable success is built on a serious and compassionate commitment to helping people identify, pursue and reach their own personal unique potential.

When people grow as people, they automatically become more effective and valuable as employees.

The best modern employers recognize this and as such offer development support to their staff in any direction whatsoever that the person seeks to grow and become more fulfilled

Hertzberg’s theory

Motivational priorities

Purposes to monitor and measure performance

Techniques are used for measuring performance

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Formality

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