10/04/2017

Sheldon Botes

Varsity College

Student Number 17062883

Management and Leadership MALE8411

Assignment 1
Table of Contents

QUESTION 1................................................................................................................2

Introduction...............................................................................................................2

The environmental challenges that contemporary organisational leaders face.......3

Research options available when studying leadership.............................................5

Deciding which research methodology suits the situation........................................7

Conclusion................................................................................................................8

QUESTION 2................................................................................................................9

Introduction...............................................................................................................9

Schneider Electric...................................................................................................10

Defining Leader and Leadership Development......................................................11

Critical Analysis of Schneider Electric.....................................................................11

Conclusion..............................................................................................................16

REFERENCE LIST.....................................................................................................17

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QUESTION 1

Introduction

In the contemporary era, which we define as the period from just after the second
world war in 1945 to present day it is found that the methodological approach to
studies into leadership is comparatively diverse. This is mostly due to the fact the
qualitative methods are more widely accepted and appreciated than in the earlier
parts of the 20th century where quantitative research methodologies were dominant.
The modern environment is far more fluid and rapid than before leading to an
increase in levels of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of the markets,
labour force and overall the general environment in which someone in a leadership
role operates. This has forced users of research methodologies to pay closer
attention to and make use of methodologies which in the past were very much under
used and disregarded. This report will define and critically analyse the different
research options available when studying leadership and recommend possible
alternatives available for leadership research within the VUCA environment based on
relevant examples.

This report will begin with defining the key environmental challenges faced by the
modern leader as well as defining what a VUCA environment is. Thereafter the
different research methodologies with be critically analysed with examples and
recommendations of more practical methodologies in the contemporary and finally in
conclusion these recommendations will be put forward to take on the contemporary
era the modern-day leader is faced with.

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The environmental challenges that contemporary organisational leaders face

In the incredibly VUCA environment that we operate in today it is difficult to isolate a

finite list of environmental challenges that contemporary organisational leaders face,
but below you will see ten major challenges that are sure to have an effect on the
way a leader operates and conducts his or her research methodologies: energy and
environmental security; conflict and poverty; competing in a new era of globalization;
global imbalances,; rise of new powers in the world; economic exclusion of the
middles east; global corporations and their global impact; global health crises; global
governance stale and finally overall global poverty

VUCA is an acronym that was initially created by the US Army College to explain
general conditions of the contemporary economic environment as one of volatility,
uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. This coupled with the ten points
environmental challenges mentioned above gives one a good indication regarding
the challenging environment that modern-day leaders find themselves in. It is very
clear therefore that the method in which research is conducted when studying
leadership is vital in the success of a leader in our contemporary era. In the following
sections, the different research methodologies available when studying leadership
will be defined and critically assessed.

Per Horner, 2014, successful organisations understand how to overlap the goals and
values of their team and organization as well as the members and stakeholders
relevant to the organization. It is commonly found that companies with amazing
growth is mostly down to the fact that everyone knows what they need to do and
they get on and get their tasks done as they have the freedom to think for
themselves. These companies such as Apple, Google, Microsoft and Tesco have
understood the market to such a point that their internal systems allow staff and
leaders to have the confidence to make critical decisions in a very timeous and
accurate manner despite the VUCA environment in which they operate. These
companies understand that in current day there is elevated risk and so their leaders
are well equipped with research knowledge to understand the context of the
changing environment and have the authority to be decisions makers with team
structure taking one more of coalition or collaboration rather than the traditional
hierarchy which takes a lot longer for any decision to be made. Having such a

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structure allows leaders to be focused, fast and flexible leading to leadership agility.
The current business environment is one of incredible uncertainty and this not going
to change anytime soon, if anything it will become more exaggerated. Horney, et al.,
2010 gives four necessities to be an agile leader which is key for the modern-day
enterprise and leader to have to successfully navigate the contemporary business
environment.

First, the leader must be able to provide guidance and direction to groups and teams
who work in different time zones, cultures and in areas where there are differing
organizational barriers. Second, the leader needs to be prepared to take more risks
by connecting personnel and moving information across the globe in a super-fast
efficient manner. Third, the leader must maintain key focus on employee commitment
and engagement across all boundaries present. Finally, and very importantly, the
agile leader must be able work in partnership with suppliers, employees, consultants,
partners and customers and make this collaboration a signature part of the
organization.

It is clear to see why certain researchers are comparing the successful modern-day
leader to an athlete.

Now that the ideal leader situation is identified, how do we find and achieve this?
Clearly through research, these methods will be discussed below, but before we
move onto this, let us first understand some requirements, the human resource team
needs to understand what is required of leaders to grow in a VUCA world; strength
and development needs of the leadership team must be identified and finally this
agility requirement must be instilled in talent acquisition as well as social capital
management processes.

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Research options available when studying leadership

It is widely regarded that there are two main forms of leadership research in
quantitative and qualitative research, with a third option of mixed method research
being some sort of combination of quantitative and qualitative research with various
forms and degrees of variation possible.

Quantitative research methods on the other hand emphasize objective

measurements and the statistical, mathematical, or numerical analysis of data
collected through some method of survey or through reviewing existing statistical
data through computation. Types of quantitative research methodologies include
structured interviewing, content analysis, historic data research, questionnaire
studies, experimental research and structured observation. As with any method there
are certain limitations to quantitative research methods, often the related secondary
data is not available, sometimes it is difficult to understand the context of the data
and finally data itself cannot explain complex issues without further analysis

Qualitative Research can be defined, as primarily exploratory research. It is used to

gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides
insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential
quantitative research. Qualitative research places a focus on analysing narrative
data. An example of qualitative research is a survey with an open-ended question
section requiring the subject to give reason, opinion or motivation for the points
expressed elsewhere in the survey. The various forms of qualitative research
methodologies include observation, which is often used in conjunction with other
qualitative methods; qualitative interviewing centres; textual content analysis of texts;
discourse analysis. Qualitative research also has its limitations, finding generally
cannot be generalised to a larger scale, the results are more difficult to analyse and
as such dont fit into categories which makes collection time consuming.

Major benefits of qualitative research methodologies in todays contemporary era will

help explain why the shift of method has moved from predominantly quantitative
research methodologies to the current situation where mixed method research
methodologies are more common practice and practically more effective in achieving
accuracy. There is a shift towards understanding the reasons behind the facts and

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understanding the emotional factors at play in decisions made, qualitative research
plays a major part in this understanding, whilst quantitative research gives the facts,
the hybrid (mixed-method research) and its forms thereof are discussed below

Relating to the initial challenges outlined, it is clear to see that many of these
challenges cannot be looked at and solutions cannot be found if they are researched
and analysed from a purely quantitative methodology. For instance, take the
exclusion from the world economy of the middle east, for sure quantitative research
will tell you this is the case, but in todays contemporary society leaders need to
know why this is the case and how this came about to be proactive in any action
taken about this challenge.

The mixed method research methodology as the name suggests is a mix between
quantitative and qualitative methods of research. This method is strongly advocated
by leadership researchers as a situation becomes available where the best of both
qualitative and quantitative research methods are combined into one methodology.
The possibility of the number of mixes of qualitative and quantitative research is
almost infinite and gives the leader great flexibility when devising a research
methodology to address a specific challenge. For example, a researcher might
conduct a survey and use a questionnaire that is composed of multiple closed-ended
or quantitative type items as well as several open-ended or qualitative type items. Or,
alternatively, a researcher might collect qualitative data but then try to quantify the
data. We can see that it is possible for the mixed method research to happen in any
order or any combination depending on the situation at hand. A researcher may
combine the two methods using one set of data from a certain method and another
from another method and then expanding on each of them to give a complementary
clear view of the results as the final product. (Bryman, et al., 2011)

Bryman & Sempik, 2008 show an example of mixed method investigation from an
investigation of social policy researchers in the United Kingdom. Quantitative data
was used from an electronic serving and then qualitative data was acquired through
an open-ended question section. The reason for using this combination of research
was because an accurate representation could not be produced by one method
alone. Let us critically analyse how a mixed method research methodology should be

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carried out and which research methodology best suits the situation in the section
below.

Deciding which research methodology suits the situation

Bryman, 2014, puts forward from Julias book that, the use of research methods is
influenced by several factors and epistemology is just one of these. For the
selection of the correct research method to take place the historic and rigid
tendencies of yesteryear need to be overcome.

Per Venkatesh, et al., 2016 and Bryman, 2014 we can use some steps or factors in
helping decide which research methodology would suit the situation. The steps and
factors are merged below to help prepare a recommendation.

There is a need for quantitative and qualitative components of a mixed methods

project to be implemented in a technically competent manner help us decide on the
appropriateness of a Mixed-methods Approach. The importance of qualitative vs
quantitative in the study must be analysed and there must be clear integration
between the two research methodologies, the methodologies cannot simply run in
parallel with integrating, a factor relation to this is the time ordering of the methods.
The order must be coherent and logical to achieve the research results required. The
question must be posed before carrying out any research, are their sufficient skills
present in a research team?

The mixed methods must be fully transparent and continuously relate back to
research questions posed, this will ensure the research is insightful and accurate
and rapid. This relates to having a clear rationale, why is the mixed method of
research being used? Why is one or the other not used individually? If this is not
clear, the results will not be coherent with what the researcher attempts to achieve.

So here we see how important it is to have a research methodology that is agile and
up with the current times and adaptable to different situations with minimal time
delay. The market needs to be understood in greater detail in a faster time before it
changes again. This eludes to importance of carefully considering the factors
mentioned above in that need to be considered when conducting mixed method
research.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, as per (Johansen, 2013) the modern-day leader needs to Figure out
how to engage with the confusion and the fear and flip that into an opportunity.
Having an agile research method will allow the modern-day leader to be physically,
mentally and emotionally fit. From this report, it is found that the recommendation of
the most suitable research methodology is that a mixed-method. This mixed method
should be reviewed and analysed for specific situations and specific leaders. It gives
the researcher agility to choose the best possible research methodology to
accurately understand the issue at hand.

In our current era integration of quantitative and qualitative data-sets is highly

valued, lack of integration is often regarded as a problem, from this some form of
mixed method of research is the only possibility for success.

In the VUCA world that is currently present leaders and researchers can no longer
just catch up to the opposition, they have leap frog past the competition to gain an
advantage before the imminent change occurs. The modern-day researcher and
leader needs to be clear and simple without being simplistic, there is a fine line and
subtle difference.

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QUESTION 2

Introduction

Over the past decade there has been a clear movement towards viewing leadership
with relational and systemic ideas that have implications for the actual practice of
leadership development. The trend has changed from focusing on the further
development of those who are already leaders to now further incorporate developing
a strong leadership program to help achieve a greater succession plan in the
organisation. Leadership development is complex and the process is very closely
linked to leader development, in this report the two processes of leader development
and leadership development will be defined in various forms and critically analysed
by focusing on the Schneider Electric leadership and leader development programs
and processes. The Schneider Electric development programs will be analysed and
it will be determined if and why they are conducive to ensuring sustainable
leadership.

The following report will be structured as follows, firstly Schneider electric will be
explained in brief detail, thereafter the report will go on to attempt to define the
difference and the interrelation between leader development and leadership
development. Finally, the report will assess the Schneider Acorn development
program vs the ideal leadership development program and determine the
sustainability of the program.

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Schneider Electric

Schneider Electric is a global specialist in energy management and automation with

hiring locations globally and over 160000 employees in over 100 countries
worldwide. Schneider has development programs at the Schneider Electric
University which are dedicated academies for executive development, leadership,
customer education, energy and solutions, sales excellence and functional skills.

Why the company offers this perk: We believe providing high-potential, early-career
employees opportunities to build their portfolio with multiple positions in multiple
locations across the company, says Jenna Roland, employer branding specialist.
They will be stronger and more committed leaders of our organization in the future.

What kind of employee the company is looking for: We are looking for people to
embrace our high-performance culture by being straightforward, open, passionate
and effective and to challenge the status quo, says Roland.

( (Thottam, 2017))

In this report the focus will be on Schneider Electrics acorn leader development
program. As seen above from Jenna Roland the company is looking for committed
leaders and for people who are passionate and challenge the status quo. This report
will attempt to analyse the effectiveness of their leadership development program in
ensuring leadership sustainability.

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Defining Leader and Leadership Development

The distinction between leader and leadership development is not a simple matter,
but at the core of the difference is that leader development is focused on developing
human capital and leadership development is focused on developing social capital.

Leader development defined from (Bryman, et al., 2011) The more common and
traditional approach focused on building individual capabilities. Leadership
development is more geared towards teambuilding and organization development.

Leadership development and rotational programs provide you with in-depth

experiences, ongoing mentorship, and targeted training across a range of business
areas within a company. The goal of leadership development is to recruit and
develop leaders for their organization, in the discussion below it is analysed how well
Schneider electric does this with their Acorn Emerging leader program.

Critical Analysis of Schneider Electric

Leader development: One of the primary reasons that organizations invest in training
and development for employees is to enhance and protect their human capital. (Day,
2000) Leadership Development: In addition to the organizational resources provided
as a function of human capital, social resources are embedded in work relationships
that take the form of social capital. Unlike human capital, in which the focus is on
developing is on developing individual knowledges, skills and abilities, the emphasis
with social capital is on building networked relationships among individuals that
enhance cooperation and resource exchange in creating organizational value.

Social capital is based on relationships which are created through interpersonal

exchange. A major factor in leadership development is on building and using
interpersonal competence.

In considering complexity leadership development, it is a good idea to divide the

development into systems level and individual level. This is elaborated on below and
in the following paragraphs these points will be related back to assess how effective
Schneider Electrics Acorn program is 3 key criteria for development are identified at

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the system level: Network conditions (Relational ties, social exchange,
communication patterns); Shared leadership (concerted action, intuitive working
relations, formal structures/processes); Organizational leadership (Intuiting,
interpreting, integrating, memory)

Individual level development places a focus on the role of individuals acting as

formal and individual leaders. If differing ideologies and methods of leadership can
be aligned there is a much greater chance that positive leadership will come out of
this. There are seven key factors identified in individual level development:
Supporting Autocatalysis Involves leaders organizing the work environment to
facilitate interactions among ensembles; Supporting Shared leadership formal
leader role needs to be one of coordinating and coaching rather than controlling;
developing the systems network leaders are required to develop their skills in
effectively managing and developing networks. A leader therefore needs to
encourage increased contact and interactions between team members and help to
develop shared expectations for collaboration;

supporting shared meaning-making The need to keep the system on the right track
is still important. The leader must engage in sense-giving with team members to
promote shared understandings and serve as a basis for resolving tension within the
network. Leaders need to connect systems with their wider environments; Identifying
barriers to information flows leaders need to examine impediments to information
entry and distribution within the social system and look to counteracting barrier to
knowledge exchange. Individuals with greater access to the network are more likely
to emerge as leaders; fostering the positive value of tension there must be a
structure in place for conflicting perspectives, needs and goals among team
members to be constructively surfaced. The team climate needs to value divergent
views and provide the team and individuals with skills to resolve conflicts and
differences; building Social Capital importance of social capital in promoting
knowledge transfer places a primacy on leader skills in building and developing
social capital within the network. Emphasis is placed on the leaders relational skills
and behaviours that enhance social ties rather than being about motivating network
members.

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Whilst individual leaders are important and requiring a set of skills, leadership
development also involves shaping the context, particularly structures and cultures.
Together, these support the process of leadership development.

Schneider electrics acorn development program is a 10-year program which

immediately points one in the direction that this a sustainable leadership program
that the company is carrying out. The program is divided as follows, Years 1 and 2,
the focus is on diverse international, interdisciplinary assignments (This gives the
individual access to many teams and improves the individuals understanding of why
diversity and why building social capital within a team is so important in the modern
workplace); Years 3 through to 7 focus on more specific training and development in
different roles, here we see some focus shift to training, but at the core of this
remains the key factor of diversity and fitting into different teams within the system.
This shows that Schneider places an emphasis on system level development. Finally
form years 8 to 10 the candidates may be appointed to an executive role in a
targeted new economy, this is mostly because these environments are rapidly
changing and the leadership team in such an environment needs to be quick to
adapt to surroundings and team members and integrate team members into decision
making. The Acorn Emerging Leaders Programme is a dedicated, fast-track career
path, it is a a tailored progression plan in an international corporate environment
driven by diversity, sustainability, and innovation. Very key here is that these three
pillars of the program lead directly to the discussion of how effective the leadership
development program is.

Schneider Electric believes they know the answer to produce great leaders within a
great team and move individuals to a global leadership role (Schneider Electric
Industries SAS, 2012)

The Acorn Emerging Leaders Programme features direct involvement from

Schneider Electric Executive Committee members who act as high-profile mentors
for all participants. This encompasses four dimensions put forward in the complexity
leadership development, the model comprising (1) network conditions, (2) shared
leadership, (3) organizational learning and (4) leader skills and knowledge. By
having direct involvement with the executive committee, the future leaders can
collaborate and learn and social capital is built within the organisation. The system

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allows the individual to grow and expand. As per Clarke, 2013, leader is the property
of relationships. It is clear from the above that the Acorn program places large focus
on leadership growth through developing relationships along the business hierarchy.
Clark also goes on to comment that a multitude of writers have identified that
interpersonal skill development for leaders and followers is vital in the leadership
development process as this creates foundations of trust and respect.

Leadership is perceived as a function of social resources embedded in relationships.

The increasing complexity facing organizations requires us to consider leadership as
embedded not merely in sets of interpersonal relationships, but more widely as
constituting an array of interacting organizational processes that facilitate intelligent
and innovative organizational adaptation. To ensure that this remains at a entire
company level and that company culture is coherent worldwide there needs to be
some movement of personnel between departments and cultures and even
countries. The acorn program offers advanced training and development
opportunities and places individuals in different business disciplines throughout the
program to gain a wide knowledge of their roles and the business culture of
integration.

Initially with the acorn program you may be based in Asia, Europe, or the United
States. Subsequent roles in your career path may see you based in any of these
locations, but with a focus on the new economies and the target role of senior
leadership position in one of these markets. This shows that the acorn program has
a strong emphasis an agility and on new economies where company culture must be
embedded and where there is rapid change. This system level of leadership
development promotes individuals to grow into dynamic and effective leaders. The
social capital is developed as the overall team structure benefits and grows, these
individuals learn to understand how to fit into a team seamlessly and quickly and
learn how to gain the mutual respect of their colleagues as decisions are made to
improve business operations.

Dugan, et al., 2015 discusses the social change model approaches leadership, a
diagram is shown below which quickly shows how the different factors fit together.
The model notes that leadership happens throughout an organisation from formal
leaders through to non-leaders, leadership is an inherent process. Schneiders Acorn

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program shows how leadership development programs can be a great vehicle to
grow social responsibility and integration by sending its candidates to various
countries and various positions of work or leadership and encouraging these leaders
to adapt and improve the team collaboration to coherent throughout the company
and to have a common purpose set out by Schneider.

(Dugan, et al., 2015)

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Conclusion

In conclusion, it is found that Schneider Electrics acorn program follows a successful

sustainable leadership development program which goes as far as a 10-year plan for
future and current leaders. There is individual and system level development present
in the Acorn leadership development program. Key themes were noted in the
difference between leader development as one of developing human capital and
leadership development developing social capital. From this report, it is found that
social capital is vital in developing a great company culture and developing internal
leaders within a team. If the leadership development program is effective and
sustainable the company culture will be a positive one and like Schneiders acorn
program it becomes an incubator for great growth possibilities moving forward
individually and within the entire organisation.

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REFERENCE LIST

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Bryman, A. et al., 2011. The Sage Handbook of Leadership. 2014 ed. London: SAGE
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Bryman, A. & Sempik, J., 2008. Quality Criteria for Quantitative, Qualitative and
Mixed Methods Research: A View from Social Policy.. International Journal of Social
Research Methodology, IV(11), pp. 261-276.

Clarke, N., 2013. Model of Complexity Leadership Development. Human Resource

Development International. 16(II), pp. 135-150.

Day, D., 2000. Leadership Development: A Review in Context. Leadership Quarterly,

IV(11), pp. 581-613.

Dugan, J., Turman, N. & Torrez, M., 2015. Beyond Individual Leader Development:
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Horner, A., 2014. The Role of Leadership in a VUCA World. People and Strategy,
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Horney, N., Pasmore, B. & O'Shea, T., 2010. Leadership Agility: A Business
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Johansen, B., 2013. Navigating the VUCA World. Research Technology

Management, Issue Jan-Feb2013, pp. 10-15.

Mabey, C., 2013. Leadership Development in Organizations: Multiple Discourse and

Diverse Practice. International Journal of Management Reviews, Volume 15, pp.
359-380.

Schneider Electric Industries SAS, 2012. Schneider Electric. [Online]

Available at: www.schneider-electric.com/acorn
[Accessed 4 April 2017].

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Thottam, I., 2017. Monster Worldwide Inc. [Online]
Available at: https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/companies-with-
awesome-training-development-programs
[Accessed 4 April 2017].

Venkatesh, V., Brown, S. & Sullivan, Y., 2016. Guidelines for Conducting Mixed-
methods Research: An Extension and Illustration. Journal of the Association for
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