Leadership Revisited

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TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT

by Sohailuddin Alavi

eadership, especially in the organizational set-up, hasbeen focus of interest of both academicians andpracticing managers for a long time. Conventionally,leadership is a personality driven concept. Individu-

als are considered instrumental in bringing the difference inthe lives of other people and organizations. The emergingconcept of leadership, however, is that it is a culture ofmanaging modern businesses, be it a commercial enterprise,public service institution or not-for-profit entity. Further-more, leadership has since long been considered a

sub-system of management that deals with people in theworkplace. This was perhaps because of the fact that theconcept of leadership was originally derived from the field ofpolitics. Consequently, it was defined as a variant of manag-ing or supervising subordinates per se and it became more ofa status symbol to reflect position of individuals along theorganizational echelons. Subjectivity and personification ofthe leaders became the focus of attention for most of theresearchers as well as organizational managers. Ironically, allthis led to coining of a new title for managers and supervi-sors as leaders but resulted in no synergy in the work place,for they remained narrowly confined to managing (controll-ing to be exact) people and their actions, respectively, which

although led to specific actions but the organizationalimpact was still missing. This was because of the fact thatpeople and their actions were managed as an end in itself.For instance, the emerging performance culture in manyorganizations has only been effective in creating the faade.Real and sustainable benefits for the organization remaindistant goals. Sub-prime mortgage tsunami in the US is aprominent example of such a scenario. Similarly, the changeinitiatives in Pakistani financial sector are no exception, asstill the service standards are far from the expected. Like-

wise, the yawning non-performing financial assets of banksin general are clear evidence to this fact. Many similar scen-arios abound globally.Leadership in PerspectivePersonified leadership refers to dependence on a single personas the savior for all. This type of leadership can have manymanifestations in the world of work in particular, and in thesociety in general. Most interesting one is Charismatic-leader-ship. These persons are considered to command strong follow-ership mainly because of their personality charisma: extraordinary [inspirational] physical personality, humility, attire, etc.,besides, amongst other personified leaders extraordinaryachievers who enjoy leadership status such as philanthropists,

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Leadership Revisited:A critical analysis

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social workers, celebrities, public figures, etc. Stature-basedleaders also avail of the status of leaders by default such asfeudal lords and their descendents, political icons and theirclose aides. The stature-based leaders in particular are theones who are known as born leaders, for they need not domuch for becoming leaders. Another very significant typeof personified leadership is of fabricated leaders. These arethe individuals identified as potential leaders by an outsidergroup, which then promotes them as leaders and thereby

leverages their leadership for accomplishing their specificagenda. Quite a few political leaders fall under this category.It is a common practice of established political partiesaround the world to continually fabricate new leaders, forthis provides them perpetuity while conforming to theneeds and expectations of change by the general public.Ironically, sometimes these fabricated leaders are installedby an external group as their instruments to intervene in thepolicies and decision making processes of another nationor organization, for gaining extraordinary advantage.

Another conventional view of leadership is that it is analternate to managing [manager]. Some, however, considerleading and managing as complimentary to each other

meaning thereby that all managers are essentially leaders inone way or the other, for they lead people and managetheir performances. As we look at leadership in thiscontext it includes all sorts of personified leaderships,such as; social entrepreneurs, political icons, public admin-istrators, business executives, and teachers, etc. We findone commonality amongst all of them: they all lead peoplein a particular direction. This follows that leadership isabout organizing, coaching, and motivating people inalmost every walk of life.

In nutshell, a typical personified leader is generally singleperson (probably the most favored follower of his or herpredecessor-leader) above the rest. It is more of a statususually associated with ones position within the organiza-

tional echelons. Ironically, personified leader either has aself-proclaimed status or the one perceived by its followers.Moreover, personified leader has more of a people mobili-zation role. Theoretically, personified leader influencesfollowers for optimal productivity. But in most of the situa-tions followers control the strings of the leader.

Transformational leadership is rather an emerging concept.Here the leadership is referred to as organizational culture.It essentially focuses on organizational transformation. Itfollows that leadership in the emerging context is all aboutsynergizing work groups [people], organizations, systemsand the immediate environment, etc. Put it differently,leadership is about changing for better; implementing the

change, and, acknowledging [celebrating] the accomplish-ments. Thus in comparison to the conventional perspec-tives, it is relatively more holistic in its scope and pragmaticin its implications. It considers leadership not as a positionor personality but as an organizational culture that everyindividual must live by within his or her permeable domainsand its implications are organization wide strategic,operational and interpersonal.

Leadership Concept RevisitedIn this backdrop, the need was felt to revisit leadershipfrom a holistic perspective. This led to the initial point ofdeparture from leaders as a personified concept to leader-ship as a process concept. Having said this, it was further

established that for a leadership, focus should shift from asingular people management to overall organizationalmanagement, which shall include strategic orientation,operational orientation and the people orientation. In otherwords, the leadership concept should encompass strategic,operational and people management as means to continu-ally reforming organizations. Secondly, it is imperative thatthe leadership process must replace conventional manage-ment processes at all levels, which provides basis for intro-ducing leadership as a superior work culture, where everyindividual demonstrates requisite leadership orientationirrespective of his or her location and status in the workorganization. Thus in nutshell it advocates replacement ofpersonified leaders with a wide spread leadership cultureacross the work organization.

Myths and Realities

Leadership is no magic it is a reality of modernmanagement system geared to accomplishing in dynamicenvironments

Leadership is not mundane people management itis about continually reforming the enterprise performance

and people achievements to newer heightsLeadership is no more a status it is a process thatexists at all levels in a successful enterprise

Leadership is not a choice it is the key to sustainingthe present and securing the future

Leadership effectiveness is no more person or posi-tion dependent it is a complex function of competen-cies, roles, focus and interactions across the organization

Having said so, transformational leadership is a culture perse set of shared values, habits, and behaviors of employ-ees across the organization. This leadership culture helpsthe organizations and the people to be creative in finding

innovative solutions that help reduce response time to thechanging patterns of business requirements of today; and,continually improve process efficiencies and peopleachievements paradigmatically. Thus, we can say, in themodern times Leadership Culture enhances the organiza-tional ability to transform itself (and the performance ofpeople) to newer heights. Hence it is critical for success andsustainability in todays fast improving world.

The FrameworkTransformational-leadership-framework provides a realis-tic basis in the organizational setting for a systematicanalysis of leadership as a process. To begin with, thisframework proposes a conceptual paradigm shift frompersonified-leader to the leadership-culture. Hence, it

envisages a much broader implication. Precisely, it isabout leading the organization in entirety. Teaming up andinteracting with people, however, is but one dimension toit. Strategic and operating dimensions are equally signifi-cant too. Transformational leadership promotes a cultureof do-it-right. As one can observe, it acknowledges thesignificance of leadership competencies as the basis. Butit rejects the concept of personified leader as advocatedby the conventional theorists. In simple words, leadershipis more of a way of working in an organization that everyindividual member should essentially subscribe to insteadof searching for the right person who would come andlead [turn around] the organization.

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Universal Leadership Skills

Power-to-Lead is the foremost skill. It has a focus onindividuals readiness to conduct him or herself in a leader-ship role and prepares the individual to face the strategic

and day-to-day challenges with courage and hope. It hasseveral dimensions, such as conviction, motivation, andmoral integrity.

Empowerment is the second competence in sequence.It also has focus on the individuals self-managementability. Its dimensions are: discipline, responsibility, andemotional power.

Horizon is the next critical leadership competence. Ithas a focus on the individuals ability to see opportunitiesand challenges beyond the present and beyond the obvious.In other words it is an ability to understand the relationshipbetween discrete present and cloudy future. It considersdimensions, like vision, focus, and sense of direction.

Social competence is no less important. It has a focus onthe individuals ability to work and interact with otherpeople. Its dimensions include: team-player, role-model,moderator.

Management competence refers to an individualsability to control the business activity and/or process in anefficient and effective fashion. It has dimensions such asattention to details, systems thinking, and managing change.

ConclusionPersonified leadership analysis was limiting the horizon ofleadership development in organizational setup, particularly,primarily because personified leadership predominantly

assumes that leadership is an innate characteristic [leadersare born], sometimes explicitly and sometimes implicitly,hence it cannot be developed institutionally. Furthermore,it considers the relationship between leaders personality

and performance as that of cause and effect and totallyignores the leadership competencies and the context[transient dynamics] in which employees operate, such asvision and focus, attitude, style and skills and knowledge;and, the process, teamwork [group work], and the perme-able environment, respectively.

Interestingly, the transformation leadership perspectivehas enabled rather pragmatic analysis of leadership scopeand implications, yet the personified leadership perspec-tives still hold reasonable grounds when considered inconjunction with other factors as well but fail to do so asa solo factor, as was considered in the initial days. Trans-formational leadership, in fact, does not substitute butcompliments the personified leadership perspective by

broadening the scope of leadership analysis. It putsleadership at the centre instead of leader [or his personal-ity] as is the case of the former perspective. The signifi-cance of leaders personality, however, has shifted fromphysical to competency orientation such as; socio-moralvalues, integrity & honesty, behaviors and habits, and lastbut not the least, cognitive characteristics. It argues thatorganizations and groups effectiveness is a complex func-tion of leadership culture and the work context. Hence,the chances of success can be positively altered throughinstitutional interventions, such as; by modifying leader-ship culture through training and development programsand reshaping the organizational context.

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Leadership Revisited