Business Administration

Leadership: Past, Present & Future

The Role of Leadership in Business and Management

Abstract
The fundamental objective of this research paper is to discuss the concept of leadership from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Leadership probably is one of the most essential aspects of business and management. Leadership is a crucial role of managers and it is in this particular area that the actual distinction in performance and efficiency can be made evident. This paper predominantly focuses on discussing the various principles of leadership and how efficient leaders lead their teams. Great leaders of the business history and their leadership styles are provided as evidences in this paper. Later on an analysis the ethical challenges that are faced by leaders and potential solutions for such ethical challenges are provided. In addition to the above, the research also presents the lessons that may be learnt from past leadership and how efficiently they can be implemented in future leadership.

Contents
Abstract.......................................................................................................................................2 1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................4 1.1 Problem Statement.............................................................................................................9 1.2 Purpose of Research..........................................................................................................9 1.3 Hypotheses........................................................................................................................9 1.4 Scope of the study.............................................................................................................9 2. Research Methodology.........................................................................................................10 2.1 Research Process............................................................................................................10 2.2 Aims and Objectives of the Research...............................................................................11 2.3 Research Design..............................................................................................................12 3. Literature Review...................................................................................................................13 Carlson Ghosn.......................................................................................................................19 Arthur C Martinez...................................................................................................................20 Jacques Nasser.....................................................................................................................20 Jack Welch -...........................................................................................................................20 Giovanni Agnelli.....................................................................................................................24 3.1 Significance.........................................................................................................................44 4. Analysis of Findings...............................................................................................................45 5. Conclusion.............................................................................................................................48 6. Recommendations.................................................................................................................51 7. Appendix................................................................................................................................53 8. Bibliography...........................................................................................................................54 Error: Reference source not found

1. Introduction
In todays swiftly changing business milieu, employees go through more work pressure, greater frustration, and possess higher job expectations. All such various dimensions would tend to have impact on the larger workplace behavior. In the recent past, awareness has dawned upon business enterprises that the workforce, i.e. the human resources is its most essential asset (). Human resources can be defined as the sum of the inherent capabilities, gained facts and skills as epitomized in the skill set and propensities of people working in the organization. Aptitude and ability of employees can be sharpened by training, motivation and proviso of prospects for education and personal development. Employees vary as individuals, in their requirements, outlooks and behaviour. When their requirements are not fulfilled or their objectives are not accomplished, the result is dissatisfaction of employees. It is not a simple task for the organization to keep all the employees contented and enthused, at all times. Though this fact may not sound very realistic, it is very true. There can be various reasons for an employee being discontented. A manager

should spend plenty of time in improving interpersonal relations and motivate the employees to develop their performance quality. It is very imperative for the superior to know the various dimensions that motivate an employee as the modern day employees are more knowledgeable and well-informed. Organizations as well have become more multifaceted than what they were earlier, and hence require greater managerial skills for efficient management. Leadership is as learnable as any other expertise. Abilities are an expression of the personality traits possessed by an individual. However, as extensively accepted, human beings

are remarkably good at familiarizing their personality to suit the circumstance. Therefore, leadership skills being the yield of personality traits, the traits can accordingly varied to the necessary skills and abilities. In the view to Warren G. Bennis who is known to be the Chairman of the Leadership Institute that was founded at the University of Southern California, Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led.(). Even if an organization is conferred with ample resources, in the lack of effective leadership, it will not be able to operate smoothly. Incompetent leadership worsens employee confidence; encourages dissatisfaction amid employees and impacts organizational productivity and efficiency negatively. Quite a few theorists have tried to characterize leaders and leadership. A leader may be characterized as a person who creates a clear vision, sets objectives, encourages people and gains their commitment to accomplish the goals and realize the vision. All theorists have the same opinion that leaders persuade people and that leadership entails persuading people to strive towards the desired goals. Three skills that are primarily used by leaders have been identified, namely,

Technical skills An individuals knowledge and ability to make efficient use of any procedure or system comprises the technical skills. The people working at the operational and professional levels are obligated to possess certain technical skills.

Human skills A persons capability to co-operate with other members of the organization and work effectively in teams is referred to as human skills. Human skills also involve developing positive interpersonal relationships, solving peoples problems and gaining acceptance of other employees. Effective human skills are an 5

essential requirement at all levels of the organizational hierarchy and especially for people in leadership positions.

Conceptual skills Conceptual skills refer to the capacity of an individual to evaluate complex situations and to realistically process and understand available information. It also includes an ability to anticipate the future outcomes of his present-day actions from the organizational perspective. Additionally, leaders have to define the proper organizational structure and create long-term strategies and goals.

Communication is one more vital and essential characteristic that a leader needs to possess. In all organizations, individuals and groups try to exchange ideas, thoughts and feelings. This communication is vital for sharing information and synchronizing action(). Communications is important for accomplishing administrative and organizational efficacy. Lack of proper communication results in employees not being aware of what their colleagues are doing and they will also fail to have no idea about what their goals are, and will also not be able to evaluate their performance. In the lack of channels of proper communication, leaders will not be able to give directions to their subordinates and consequently management will not obtain the information it needs to design plans and take proper decisions. Participation is one another important skill that a leader needs to possess. Participation proves beneficial for the organization in numerous ways. It improves the motivation levels of the workforce, reduces the attrition and absenteeism rate in the organization, and additionally improves communication within the organizations(). In order to make sure that there is utmost participation of employees in all the various organizational activities, the employees must also

have the pertinent capabilities and skills, and at the same time they also need to be interested in that particular area of work. Participation directs to development in both the quantity and the quality of the productivity of the organization. Since participation increases the motivation levels of employees, it augments their involvement in the task that they undertake. The resultant increase in self-esteem and job satisfaction of the employees consequently results to better cooperation with colleagues and managers and therefore an overall improvement of organizational performance. In order to ensure the true participation of employees, it is necessary that the organization creates such an ambiance and impression so that the employees are both psychologically and emotionally involved in the organizational activities. Participation also has numerous other advantages in the form of lessening the attrition rate and absenteeism level amongst the workforce. A few less concrete benefits that may result from employee participation are reduction in the number of organizational conflicts, lower stress levels in the minds of the employees, improved commitment of employees to the accomplishment of goals, and a smaller amount resistance to change. The support of top management is very crucial for the growth of the organization which can be further translated to individual growth. It is very important that organizations emphasize people-oriented values apart from the performance and profitability of the organization. As already stated in the above paragraphs, innovation is a new idea that is being applied to initiating or improving a change in existing processes. This fact is true with respects to individuals also. Innovation is not just making something new and different from the existing processes or products. It is rather a value addition to the existing processes or products. The

structural variables of an organization, the organization culture and the support of the management to its employees are the three important sources of innovation in organizations. Structural variables form an important source of innovation. The structure of an organization has got a profound impact on the innovation that is expected to happen sooner or later in the organization. Secondly, in innovative organizations, the vision, mission and strategies of the organization are communicated very clearly to the human resources of the organization. In such organizations, the employees are never forced to adopt traditional methods to achieve the goals of the organization. Instead, the management encourages its employees to take risks, experiment with innovative ideas and assume the responsibility for implementing them. It is only then that the organization would be able to successfully reach higher heights and progress well(). For instance, 3M fosters a culture of innovation in its organization. It allows its employees to spend 15% of their working hours on independent projects. In addition to this, the key elements that foster innovation at 3M are its capability to recruit and retain talent, construct a challenging atmosphere within the organization, support knowledge sharing and design suitable systems for rewarding employees who outperform. Likewise, management in innovative organizations trains and develops its workforce to update their talent and acquaintance and encourages them to become idea champs. Idea champs are those people in an organization who are highly enthusiastic in promoting the ideas they have newly developed, systematize essential support for their ideas within the organization, overcome confrontation if any and ensure that the organization implements their ideas or innovations. Such individuals succeed in obtaining support for their innovation by communicating their vision pertaining to its potency, to other members of the organization. Furthermore, their confidence 8

and dedication plays a predominant role in persuading others about the potential of the innovation.

1.1 Problem Statement

Leadership can determine the success or failure of an entire organization. However, the problem is that a lot of modern day organizations forget to focus on effective leadership, team leadership and managerial ethics. This paper focuses on explaining the drawbacks in modern day leadership and highlights how leaders can succeed and emerge as exemplary leaders in the current day challenging environment.

1.2 Purpose of Research

The main purpose of conducting this research is to get an overall understanding of leadership and at the same time to learn from the past and present mistakes and try implementing the lessons thus learn in future leadership.

1.3 Hypotheses
Various problems will be investigated during this project, and valuable solutions will be offered depending on the success of the various researches.

1.4 Scope of the study

A detailed approach to any issue or the topic can help in gaining deeper insights. For any dissertation to be meaningful, a lot of ground works on the contemporary issues and especially when working on the key aspects, greater amount of attention has to be paid to the issues which are to be correlated to the fundamental aspects. The key aspect of any academic study is to deeply acknowledge the objectives of the study. The objective of this paper is to understand the concept of leadership from various 9

dimensions and also to look at the ethical challenges that may be faced by efficient leaders. In order to meet this particular objective, research was conducted in relevant areas by reviewing many secondary sources.

2. Research Methodology
Any researcher faces the dilemma of choosing the most suitable approach to meet the aim and objectives of a study. Therefore this chapter becomes one of the most important chapters. A wrong approach may hamper the objectives and significance of the whole study. However, there is no one best approach to follow since the choosing process is different to each research as well as the objectives themselves. Besides choosing the most suitable methodology also depends on the availability of resources among many other variables. This chapter seeks to discuss and justifies the methodology used in this research. It starts by describing the research process and its objectives. It moves to explain the most relevant approaches, research designs, data collection methods and data analysis to finally select the most suitable methodology for the current research and it finishes by concluding the main points through the chapter.

2.1 Research Process

The purpose of conducting research is to find a suitable solution for a specific and immediate problem that is confronted. Research is generally assumed to be a complicated task which is actually not if the various parts or phases of the research are clearly understood. This research project is basically a well-structured process which has a beginning, intermediate part and the end. In todays world, research is alternatively being termed as logical reasoning()().

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The problem formulation was the first and the most important step of the research process for this study. The problem was defined clearly and specifically, as an ill-defined problem may result in an ineffective solution. The problem was properly translated into a research topic and the reason why the research was required was also spelt out. Secondly, an exhaustive revision of the theoretical and empirical framework within the related review of literature was made(). The literature review was based on secondary research conducted by reviewing various journal articles, books, research evidences of past research and of course the worldwide web. This step helped the study by generating and refining the research objectives. Another step was the research approach and design of the research. This step covers the way in which data were collected to answer the research objectives. This step also influenced the data collection method. The data were collected according to the chosen method. Finally, the data were analyzed, interpreted and presented in this research.

2.2 Aims and Objectives of the Research

The fundamental objective of this research study, as already stated, is to look at the aspect of leadership from both theoretical and practical perspectives. A wide research in the field of leadership is conducted and the findings of the same are presented. Apart from this, a prominent CEO of an organization of decent size has been personally interviewed in order to obtain his inputs which are of great help in making this research paper better. The interview with the results has been given in the later parts of this paper. The objectives should cover question regarding the purpose of the study, how the study will be done, the information needs and the sources of information. It is against this background that the above objective has been established. 11

2.3 Research Design

Research is considered to be an effective tool that provides a linkage between the corporate environment and the organization. It can thus be viewed as a most important tool used as an aid for tackling various problems. Research can formally defined as the objective and formal process of systematically obtaining, analyzing and interpreting data for optimal decision making. Furthermore, the above definition of research lays emphasis on two important aspects. They are objectivity and systematic process in data collection and analysis. The most important fact that needs to be borne in mind while conducting research is that the research should not be influenced by individual views and considerations of the person conducting the research. Research is generally assumed to be a complicated task which is actually not if the various parts or phases of the research are clearly understood. A research project is basically a well-structured process which has a beginning, intermediate part and the end. In todays world, research is alternatively being termed as logical reasoning(). In a nutshell, research is a methodical and purposeful study conducted to obtain solutions for specific problems. Research is a process of collection of data in an organized manner with subsequent recording and analyzing of such data that will help in an effective decision making process. The design of the research plan determines the tools and techniques that are employed for conducting the research(). Normally the research design is broadly classified into exploratory research, descriptive research and causal research()(). Moreover, there also exists an implicit assumption with regards to research that the ultimate findings of the research should have the actionable quality. To be more specific, the user 12

of the research data must be able to make use of the results for the purpose of effective decision making. In absence of such actionable quality, the utility of the research findings would be significantly undermined. Exploratory research helps in the identification of the presence of potential opportunities. The data for this kind of research is obtained from books, journals, magazines etc. Descriptive research is generally conducted after the above research. As the problem is clearly defined in exploratory research, the quantum or intensity of the problem is identified in descriptive research. In causal research, the cause and effect relationships between two variables are analyzed(). Research Design can be simply defined as the structure followed by the researcher. Research Design is the important component or key ingredient which holds all the various elements of the entire research(). A design is elaborately explained by using a succinct data which further enables in the summarization of a complex or difficult design structure in an efficient manner. A research design consists of various elements

3. Literature Review
Warren Bennis is a pioneer in leadership who claims that Leaders do the right things; Managers do things right(). In his book On Becoming a Leader, he collects a set of lessons from the varied experiences of 28 dissimilar cases of triumphant leadership. It is recommended that the book is surely read by a broad spectrum of people, since practically every one of us are drawn in the leadership process either as leaders leading a team or as followers or as both leaders and followers.

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The author examines varied experiences of 28 different cases of leadership and clearly presents the how of leadership. Form the 28 cases of varied leadership experiences, the author segregates and presents common themes and aspects. In addition to these, the author also examines the personal characteristics of all the 28 leaders who have been interviewed and the milieu in which they emerged as successful leaders. Warren Bennis significance is in his research specifically in his capability to distill from the experiences of triumphant leaders a set of interesting lessons on how to become a successful leader. These lessons are further interspersed in the book with the help of subjective stories and vignettes by the leaders who have actually experienced all those lessons. This format generates a highly realistic, persuasive, and occasionally a very remarkable presentation that is very clear and inspiring. The author also strongly remarks that courses for leadership will help gain skills but not qualities like vision and character which are highly essential to become a successful leader. Interestingly, the author depicts in a very delicate way that failure is actually a process of learning and is nothing to get annoyed of. To substantiate this opinion, he presents his own experience of a failed coaching. His experience was portrayed as the case of Ed in the first chapter of the book under the section Surrendering to the Context. The above case is a personal experience of the author that he presents in the first chapter of the book. It is about a coaching failure in which that author Warren Bennis personally takes part. He fails as a coach to mitigate the coaching. He describes the same as a failure of leadership. The author highlights specifically that the ability to lead and successful leadership can be indefinable and that final success is not assured.

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This case of Ed and his leadership failure makes the discussion extremely truthful. The case demonstrates that leadership capability can be indescribable; however success is not a guaranteed aspect. The most significant lesson that Warren Bennis extracts from the 28 successful leadership experiences is the fact is the necessity to make mistakes, which is held by all successful leaders virtually identical with development and progress. In addition to the above chapter, there are also other chapters which discuss the aspect of failure in leadership namely Learning from Adversity and Reflection and Resolution. The author has provided a wide range of material. One of the most significant messages that the author has conveyed from these chapters of the book is that, according to him embracing failure necessarily means abode on it, reflecting on it and carefully investigating it. The author strongly believes that if only this sort of considerations to failure would the fruits of such failure are reaped. Warren Bennis deals with the age old question of whether can be successfully trained in leadership skills with a smart and perceptive response. Leadership is impossible to be taught in a classroom setting, however it can obviously be developed or possibly more precisely realized. One of the most significant catalysts is the espousal of lifes prosperous experiences principally the adversities. In page 39 of the book, the author lists certain Core Leadership Ingredients. They are namely a guiding vision, Passion, Integrity, Trust and Curiosity and daring. According to the author, individuals who strive continuously to achieve more things in less time, even in the face of opposition are believed to be ambitious and achievement-oriented. They try to be fast in everything they do, whether it is eating, talking, walking etc. The pace at which things generally happen upsets them. They try to involved themselves in more than one thing at a time and are 15

always busy and find themselves unable to cope with leisure time. They emphasize numbers and quantity and measure their success in quantitative terms like amount of output produced etc. The author feels that there is surely a definite difference between a leader and a manger. The author feels that this difference is similar to the difference between people who master the situation and those who surrender to the same. The differences between a leader and a manager were very excellently explained by the author in page 45 of the book. According to him, The manager administers, the leader innovates " The manager copies, the leader is an original " The manager maintains, the leader develops " The manager focuses on systems and structure, the leader focuses on people " The manager relies on control, the leader inspires trust " The manager has a short range view, the leader has a long range perspective " The manager asks how and when, the leader asks what and why " The manager has eyes always on the bottom line, the leader's eyes are on the horizon " The manager imitates, the leader originates " The manager accepts the status quo, the leader challenges it " The manager is the classic good soldier, leaders are their own people " The manager does things right, the leader does the right thing() Self-knowledge is another aspect which Bennis highlights in this book. He claims that it is necessary for people to re-evaluate the way they learn things. The traditional methods of teaching restrain a persons ability to develop a sense of individuality(). He also believes that innovative learning that comprises of anticipation, listening to others and participation is effective in developing ones individuality. Reinforcement is better approaches for making 16

individuals learn. Hence reinforcing is considered to be the most vital principle of learning. Reinforcement necessarily means to strengthen, and it particularly refers to a stimulus which strengthens the probability of a particular response being repeated. In the opinion of the author, innovative learning necessitates the person to be aware of his past and present, and consequently try and differentiate both and figure out the difference in situations and thereby figure out or anticipate what may possibly happen in the near future and getting prepared for handling the same. The author also feels that participation is a very crucial aspect of innovative learning. For true participation to happen, it is vital for a person to be both mentally and psychologically involved in the activity. It is not just the skill of the person, but his entire self which has to be involved in the activity. A person who is engrossed completely in an activity is said to be involved in the activity with complete ego. On the contrary, an individual who only makes use of his skills to perform the activity without any emotional involvement in it is said to be involved in the activity just for the sake of doing the task. The author also portrays the significant role played by organizations in fostering leadership and innovative learning and thinking among their employees. Organizations can be designed and managed in numerous ways. There exists the bureaucratic way which is characterized by innumerable set of rules, regulations and standard operating norms, and there also exists the informal management method which on the contrary is characterized by flexibility in rules and norms. Though individuals differ in various aspects, they generally share certain common rudiments. Learning is one such rudiment. The process of learning is the same for all individuals but the variation lies in what they actually learn which further depends on the environment in which they are present. The vital aspect that is associated with learning is the understanding of individual behavior. The behavior of individuals working in an organization is 17

known as learned behavior. They tend to align their individual behavior with the group to which they belong in the organization. It is noticed that learning brings about noteworthy changes in the behavior of an individual. The support of top management is very crucial for the growth of the organization which can be further translated to individual growth. It is very important that organizations emphasize people-oriented values apart from the performance and profitability of the organization. As already stated in the above paragraphs, innovation is a new idea that is being applied to initiating or improving a change in existing processes. This fact is true with respects to individuals also. Innovation is not just making something new and different from the existing processes or products. It is rather a value addition to the existing processes or products. The structural variables of an organization, the organization culture and the support of the management to its employees are the three important sources of innovation in organizations.

Similarly, in the book Organizational Behavior and Design, Barry Cushway and Derek Lodge present the difference between being a manager and an efficient leader. They argue that management and leadership are not one and same and leadership is a distinct process that is mastered through experience as the time passes. Various theories of leadership are presented in brief in order to give an overview of the theoretical perspective of the concept.

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Here are few examples of some remarkable leaders in the business world. The styles followed by them are also discussed.

Carlson Ghosn The Cost Killer: Known as le cost killer, a name acquired during his
days as Chief Operating Officer at Renault, Ghosn engineered the turnaround at Nissan with a scrap-and-build philosophy. The main problem at Nissan was the increased debt burden of the company. Carlos Ghosn had to take drastic measures with respect to cost cutting and debt reduction in order implement his turnaround strategy and review() Nissan from its perilous situation. Additionally, according to Carlos Ghosn Financial operations worldwide will be centralized to develop global financial controls and risk management. Nissan, which has share holdings in 1,394 companies, will realize assets by selling-off its interests on the basis of a cost/benefit analysis. In addition, Nissan will dispose of land, securities and non-core assets and will adopt an inventory reduction program to decrease by 30 percent its inventory-to-sales level by 2002().As already mentioned, cost cutting and debt reduction were the two things that helped Nissan to overcome its bad state and regain its position in the global auto industry. The first objective: Trim the flab at Nissan by eliminating 21,000 jobs, closing five factories, and demanding 20% savings from suppliers. Then came an overhaul of the product line and the introduction of such winners as the new March subcompact Japans third bestselling model in May and the Altima Sedan, winner of the 2002 North American Car of the Year Award (Prasad, 2005).

Arthur C Martinez The Customers King: When he moved from vice-chairman of

Saks Fifth Avenue to the top spot at Sears in 1992, he uncovered problems deeply enough to require two complete transformations. To effect change, he killed the revered Sears catalo that was losing so much money. He also closed dozens of unprofitable stores, shed long-time 19

affiliates like Coldwell Banker and Allstate and oversaw a cautious entry into e-commerce. The story of Sears has always been a storey of American Retailing (Prasad, 2005).

Jacques Nasser Jacques Nasser, former CEO of Ford Motors had successfully led his
organization through a massive transformation process cruising through the various factors that resisted change. A company spread across 200countries and employing approximately 340, 000 employees

Jack Welch - Another great leader who has great respects and also has set an example for
corporate leaders is Jack Welch, CEO of GE. All CEOs want to emulate Jack Welch. They wont be able to, but theyll come closer if they listen carefully to what he has to say says Warren Buffet, The Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway about Jack Welch. Such is the charisma this tough but humane Chairman of GE carries about him. Jack Welch created history as the Chairman of General Electric. From a modest post PhD beginning in the 1960s at the lowest end of the ladder the climb to the top was one of great journeys ever witnessed by an individual in the corporate history that was every witnessed. One of the earliest things that really created a deep impact on the young Jack Welch was at the end of a hockey game, which his team ended losing - the seventh loss in a row! The statement was made in front of the whole team at the team lockers If you dont know how to lose, youll never know how to win. If you dont know this, you shouldnt be playing. As Jack Welch says his mother Grace Welch was the most influential person in his life. Her passion, energy, and love had deep impact on Jack Welchs life. Jack Welch acknowledges that his leadership style, a way of getting the best out of people, he owes it to his mother Grace Welch.

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Some of the management skills that Jack Welch is known for - competing hard to win, facing reality, keeping the motivation levels high in people by alternating between the stick and the glove handling, monitoring people to ensure compliance and setting how much to stretch a person were among things that Welch learnt at a very tender age from his mother. He had a equally impressive father a ticket collector on a local train who with his unique way of work impressed on the young Welch to work hard very hard, never miss a day of work and ensure that each and every customer traveler on the train was greeted these were the things that Hack Welch did practice at his work place too. Jack Welch started is work at GE in 1960 with a modest pay of $10,500 per year. He learnt one of his earliest corporate lessons early that year itself To get out of the pile winning teams come from differentiation, reward the best, remove the weakest and always fight to raise the bar. One of the biggest lessons that Jack Welch learnt in his earlier days at GE was that to succeed one had to really take chances and risks big calculated risks and the company culture permitted him to do just that. Jack Welch actually blew up a factory or at least a good part of it in his fourth year at GE. He was promptly called the next day, what he envisaged could be his last day at GE, much to his surprise the entire analysis was so intellectual and bereft of emotion that he came out positively from that experience. And this experience taught him a very important lesson not to push someone down when their chips are down or when they have made a mistake that does not mean that any one at GE can do anything and get away with it. If the circumstances were genuine and the mistake was totally unintentional it was to accept the mistake. The GE team that came up the $ 10.95 halaracs electric bulb a product that never

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came into the market was actually rewarded with promotions and increments in the GE language it is ok to take swing, even a big swing and miss it. This Chairman of GE one of the most admired CEOs in the world also had his flop sides. During the time when he was being considered for a promotion to head a $400 million business division, the GE head of Human Resources noted that Jack Welch over reacts emotionally that too to criticism and gets too personally involved in the work. He was also noted to have the anti-establishment attitude. This was attributed to his youthfulness and immaturity. Jack Welch himself acknowledges the appraisal, which he found much later, was actually very useful in his career. Jack Welch was not the type of manager that one would expect he did not like to sit down to have one to one canned conversations. He did not like them. He was quick; he was blunt to the point where people actually considered him to be rude. He actually encouraged conflict a controlled type of conflict which he calls as the constructive conflict. Jack Welch was known not to hide his feelings or emotions. He created a very informal but a very strong work environment for people to perform. People who did not fit into this environment either left the organization themselves or were asked to leave. Bad hires that did not perform also met with the same fate. Pompous and arrogant people did not have a place on his team. But those who delivered took home great bonuses and excellent salaries. He says he kicked, but also hugged!() One of the simplest things that Jack Welch always practiced was to be himself. He had developed some habits and he stuck by them throughout his entire stint with GE. For instance he was always in a habit of send a person a handwritten note after a meeting on what was decided in the meeting. He had a habit of intolerance with people. Who did not fit in to his scheme of things had to go. But the way he handled it was that there was never a shock or disappointment the way 22

he handled things. He made sure that people knew it before he actually told them to leave. Jack Welch believed that the human element in an organization was quite crucial for the success of the company. Possibly this was one of the first and the best things that he did in his first address to the Wall Street as the Chairman of GE. He envisioned that to be a winner an organization not only had to be no. 1 or no.2 in the business but also be in touch with the intangible soft values. Welch spoke of the need to permeate every mind at GE with attitude, with atmosphere that would encourage them to see things as they are and deal with the way it is and not the way it ought to be. Jack Welch was characteristic for his leadership style of lecturing, questioning and cajoling people to perform and perform at their best. While he did push his people to outperform themselves he also had set clear limits to how much he would push each one of them and also himself. He had a very strong entrepreneurial vision of balancing the short term and the long term. Also in the modern day management parlance referred to balancing the operational excellence and strategic excellence.() Jack Welchs style has always been hands on performance. He was always known to question not be anti-establishment but to be sure of what he was getting into. He was one person who was known to ask questions even if they were uncomfortable. The questions were aimed to get more clarity for himself and his team members rather than cynical questions. He was clear on what he wanted and went about pursuing it in an unabashed manner. Jack Welch is known to motivate the entire GE team by the sheer force of his personality and unbridled passion for winning the game of business. To all this energy and vitality add attention to detail that very many CEOs at his level lack. Then you have Jack Welch, the one and only Jack Welch that history of human kind has ever witnessed. 23

Giovanni Agnelli- The Italian automotive giant FIAT was started and grew gradually
under the leadership of Giovanni Agnelli, one of the members of the Agnelli family. He strengthened the production system of the groups automobile division. It was as a result of his leadership and innovative strategies; FIAT was able to offer many vehicles at affordable prices through FIAT Auto. After the death of Giovanni Agnelli, Vittorio Valletta who was a close associate of the later and also a key executive of FIAT Auto became the chairman of the group. It was under his leadership that the group entered an era of prosperity. Fiats era of prosperity can be largely attributed to the growth of the mass car market in Italy during the 1950s(). Right kind of leadership makes the difference. Most often a turnaround situation may demand an outsider to lead the company out of the mess. But sometimes, all it may need is a change in leadership style rather than a change in the leadership. Leadership is as learnable as any other skill. Skills are a manifestation of the personality traits of a person. But, as widely accepted, human beings are exceptionally good at adapting their personality to suit the occasion. So, leadership skills being the output of personality traits, the traits can be varied to the required skills(). The resources of an organization along with its skills create unique competencies. These competencies in turn help the firm identify its cost or differentiation advantages and ultimately create value for the customers (). The resources of the organization include its brand value, technological know-how, patents and trademarks, and the goodwill of the firm in the market. The skills include its service quality, employee skills and efficiencies (). The ability to integrate and co-ordinate the various groups of the organization is the main aim of core competency of the leader. It is not sufficient if a company hires brilliant people of a particular technology. This does not simply mean that the company has gained core competence. 24

It is only when there is effective coordination among all the groups involved in developing a particular product and bringing it into the market, the firm is said to have gained core competence. In todays rapidly changing business environment, employees undergo more stress, greater frustration, and have higher job expectations. These factors may affect their performance. Lately, realization has dawned upon organizations that employees, i.e. human resources are its most important asset (). Human resources is the sum of the innate capabilities, acquired facts and skills as exemplified in the skill set and aptitudes of people in the organization. Talent and skill of employees can be honed by training, motivation and provision of opportunities for education and personal development. A manager who acts as a leader should spend ample time in improving interpersonal relations and direct the employees to improve their quality of performance. It is very important for the superior to know the factors that motivate an employee since the present day employees are more educated and more demanding. Organizations too have become more complex than what they were earlier, and so require greater managerial skills for effective management. Several theorists have attempted to define leaders and leadership. A leader may be defined as a person who establishes vision, sets goal, motivates people and obtains their commitment to achieve the goals and realize the vision. All theorists do agree that leaders influence people and that leadership involves influencing people to work toward desired goals(). Three skills that are primarily used by leaders have been identified, namely,

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Technical skills A persons knowledge and ability to make effective use of any process or technique constitutes the technical skills. The employees at operational and professional levels are required to have certain technical skills.

Human skills An individuals ability to co-operate with other members of the organization and work effectively in teams is referred to as human skills. Human skills also involve developing positive interpersonal relationships, solving peoples problems and gaining acceptance of other employees. Effective human skills are an essential requirement at all levels of the organizational hierarchy and especially for people in leadership positions.

Conceptual skills Conceptual skills refer to the ability of an individual to analyze complex situations and to rationally process and interpret available information. It also encompasses an ability to foresee the future consequences of his present-day actions from the organizational point of view. Further, managers have to define proper organizational structure and establish long-term plans and goals.

Leadership Theories As already mentioned above, there are numerous theories that attempt to explain the qualities required by an individual in order to be an efficient leader. However, it is pertinent to be noted that not all the various theories that exist about leadership are in agreement with each other and hence this tend to result in confusion(). There are predominantly three very important theories of leadership that attempt to describe leadership. They arePersonality Trait theories, Behavior Theories, & 26

Contingency Theories According to the trait theory of leadership, leaders tend to possess certain personality traits that non-leaders do not have at all, or possibly possess to a very minimal extent. The behavioral leadership theories tend to explain the behavioral aspects of leaders. Although both the above mentioned theories tried to explain leadership in a very simple manner, they were however very severely criticized for the reason that those theories were not supported by valid evidence and they had oversimplified assumptions regarding the conceptual framework of leadership. Further research into this field resulted in the development of contingency theories which tried to overcome the inadequacies of the above mentioned two theories and also eliminated the contradictions involved in them. Trait Theories Initial research into the field of leadership concentrated on leaders traits. It was believed that there was something unique about a person which enabled him to emerge as a leader. Early researchers studied the personality characteristics that make an individual a leader and concluded that leaders are born and are not made(). For instance, famous personalities in history like Napoleon and Alexander were natural leaders and would have become leaders even if they were made to face situations which were different from what they actually were confronted with. The researchers also suggested leaders possessed some personality traits that are unique and essential for efficient leadership. One famous trait theory is the great person theory of leadership. According to this particular theory, leadership traits can be acquired with the help of training and experience. 27

They may not be inborn. Contrary to the former view that leaders are born with certain unique qualities, this theory led to a more pragmatic approach to leadership because it believed that leaders might not be born with the desired traits. The great person theory was perhaps the outcome of the influence of the behavioral psychologists, who believed that leadership traits can possibly be acquired through learning and experience. Research aimed at identifying universal traits which are applicable to all leaders has not resulted in crucial results. The only common trait identified among all leaders was intelligence. Research to recognize the physical traits associated with leadership was also likewise unsuccessful. Actually, some researchers also found that many followers are taller, stronger and even brighter than their leaders. Application of trait theory to organizational leadership yielded even more puzzling results. Researchers were not able to support the theory with the traits as noticed in successful leaders. Hence, modern researchers have now started to highlight on multiple intelligences of leaders rather than trying to segregate a single most important characteristic leading to their success. For example, some researchers who studied the emotional intelligence of leaders have suggested that empathy, graciousness, optimism and ability to read non-verbal cues in a social setup are important characteristics of successful leaders. Some general characteristics found in leaders are ambition, high levels of energy, desired to lead, honesty, integrity, self-confidence, intelligences, and job-relevant knowledge(). Nonetheless, trait approaches only give a portrayal of leaders; they have little logical or prognostic value. Although some researchers still clinch to the trait theory of leadership, their emphasis has changed from personality traits to job related skills.

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Behavioral Theories As the trait theories did not successfully establish the connection between traits and effective leadership, researchers shifted their focus to the behavioral aspects of leadership, paying particular attention to successful leaders. They attempted to recognize the behaviors that were unique to leaders, and which distinguished them from non-leaders or non-performers. This was quite hard, as it involved finding out answers to questions such as If most of the leaders they study are found to be autocratic, and distant from the follower, would it mean that this kind of behavior is a characteristic of all successful leaders?() The four important theories that fall into the above category are the Ohio State Studies, the University of Michigan Studies, the Managerial Grid and the Scandinavian studies. All of these four studies sought to identify the specific behaviors demonstrated by effective leaders. According to the researchers and psychologists of behavioral research, the personality development of an individual is influenced by a variety of factors such as inheritance, surroundings, maturation and knowledge. Even as personality theorists have the same opinion that human personality development takes place in different stages of physiological and psychological development, they vary in the opinion about the precise stages and the kind of development that takes place at each and every stage. Several of them disagree that there are no precise stages with respect to individual personality development process and consider that personality development is an incessant process and that the level of development is based mainly on the available opportunities of learning opportunities.

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The outcomes of all the above mentioned four studies were almost similar. The Ohio State studies resulted in the conclusion that a high-high type of leadership resulted in obtaining best performance results. This is because the researchers found out that people who scored high on both dimensions of initiating structure and consideration were able to attain higher levels of performance and job satisfaction compared to those individuals who scored low on either one of the above stated dimensions or even both of them. Conversely, the researches of this particular study also found that some exceptional situations in which the above type of leadership may not even be successful(). The researchers and psychologists concluded that leaders who are more employeeoriented achieve higher levels of job satisfaction and increased levels of group productivity. Production-oriented leaders attain low levels of job satisfaction and group productivity. Similarly the managerial grid and Scandinavian studies resulted in the evolution of a new dimension of behavioral leadership named the development-oriented behavior. According to these researchers, leaders who possessed the above dimension tend to constantly experiment with new ideas and practices and embrace change and this new dimension is believed to be the most important aspect of modern day effective leaders. All the above studies also concluded that development-oriented leaders are more competent than leaders who fail to have this particular dimension in their approach and style. Though the above theories were successful in explaining leadership in terms of behavior and also successfully established a relationship between behavior of leaders and the performance of their subordinates, they somehow failed to take into account the situational aspect and the various situational factors that influenced the success or failure of leaders to a large extent. This

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ultimately led to the emergence of yet another leadership theory the Contingency theory of leadership. Contingency Theories The contingency theory postulates that leaders have to change their style depending on the situation they face. The theories also suggest that a leader should carefully analyze the nature of the situation before deciding on the appropriate style of leadership to be adopted. The five Contingency theories are discussed below: Fiedlers contingency model One of the earliest models of contingency leadership was developed by Fred Fiedler and his associates. Their model was an extension of some of the existing theories relating to task and employee orientation. According to this model, leadership requirements depend on the situation facing the leader; and the choice of the most appropriate style of leadership depends on whether the overall situation is favourable or unfavourable to the leader. The favourability or

unfavourability of a particular situation to a leader is analyzed based on the following parameters: Fiedler's Contingency Theory of Leadership Pictorial representation

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The above can be further explained as follows: According to Fiedler, a situation is considered to be favourable to the leader if the scores on all the three dimensions namely- leader-member relationships, degree of task structure and the leaders position are high. Fiedler proposed that a task-oriented, tough-natured leadership style is most effective in highly favourable or highly unfavourable situations and a people-oriented, lenient type of leadership style is most appropriate in moderately favourable or unfavourable situations(). Fiedlers model suggests that managers must examine the situation in which they operate in terms of people, task, and organization; they must adapt their style of leadership to suit the situation. If this is not possible, they must at least attempt to change the elements of job to suit their style. 32

Leader- member relationship This indicates the extent to which a leader is accepted by his subordinates. If a leader has friction with majority of his subordinates, then he scores low on this dimension. Degree of task structure This refers to the degree to which the task on hand can be performed efficiently by following a particular method. The leaders position It refers to the power or formal authority that the leader is bestowed within the organization. For instance, a leader has more power if he is in a position to decide the rewards and incentives for his followers. The LPC scale requires leaders to think of all the persons with whom they would have worked, and then requires them to describe the one person with they would have worked the least well with. That particular individual may be someone from the past or somebody with whom the leader is currently working with. From a scale of 1 through 8, leader are asked to describe this person on a series of bipolar scales such as those shown below: Unfriendly 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Friendly Uncooperative 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cooperative Hostile 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Supportive Guarded 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Open

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A situation is considered to be favourable to the leader if the scores on all the three dimensions are high. Feidler proposed that a task oriented, tough natured leadership style is most effective in highly favourable or highly unfavourable situations and a people oriented, lenient type of leadership style is most appropriate in moderately favourable situations. Fiedlers model suggests that managers must examine the situation in which they operate in terms of people, task, and organization; they must adapt their style of leadership to suit the situation. If this is not possible, they must attempt to change the elements of job to suit their style. Hersey and Blanchards situational theory According to the situational leadership or Life Cycle model developed by Hersey and Blanchard, the maturity level of the subordinate plays a major role in influencing the leadership style of the superior. The ability of an employee to carry out a particular task and the extent to which he is motivated to perform the task constitutes the maturity of an individual. According to this model of situational leadership, it is felt that leaders have to adopt different leadership styles to deal with different subordinates. Blanchard and Hersey characterised leadership style in terms of the amount of direction and of support that the leader gives to his or her followers, and so created a simple grid:

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1. Directing (Telling) - Leaders define the roles and tasks of the 'follower', and supervise

them closely. They make decision are the same are announced by them and this type of communication turns out to be predominantly one-way communication.
2. Coaching (Selling) - Leaders still define roles and tasks, but seeks ideas and suggestions

from the follower. Decisions remain the leader's right, however communication is probably twoway.
3. Supporting (Participating) - Leaders dictate day-to-day decisions like task allocation and

processes, to the subordinates. However the leader eases the process of decisions, but control is with the subordinate.
4. Delegating Though Leaders are still involved in decision making and problem-solving,

the control remains with the subordinate.

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5. The strength of the Hersey Blanchard model lies in its simplicity and intuitive appeal. Moreover, the model emphasizes on an individuals capabilities and willingness to undertake a specific task. Leader Member Exchange Theory
6. Most of the traditional theories of leadership assume that leaders treat all subordinates

alike. But George Green and his associates observed that leaders often act very differently towards different subordinates. This observation led to the development of the Leader Member Exchange (LMX) Theory of leadership.
7. According to the LMX theory, leaders establish a special relationship with a small group

of subordinates, usually early in their interaction.

This usually happens due to the time This small group of

constraint the leader faces in interacting with all his subordinates.

subordinates is referred to as the in group while the rest are referred to as the out group. The leaders trust the subordinates, who belong to in groups, give them more attention, interact with them frequently and offer them special privileges. The out group people get less of the leaders time and attention(). Also, the interaction between the leader and the out group people are less frequent and purely formal.
8. Although the theory does not explain the basis on which a leader chooses his in group

members, research has indicated that generally, leaders favour the people who have attitudes and personality characteristics that are similar to their own, and tend to select such people as in group members. The other factors that form the basis of selection into the in group include a higher level of competence than the out group members and extroversion. The LMX theory suggests that the in group people receive high performance ratings and thus obtain rewards and

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promotions quickly. As a result, there is greater satisfaction with the leader and lower turnover among the in group members when compared to the out group members. Leadership participation model 9. In the year 1973, Victor Vroom and Philip Yetton conducted extensive research on leadership behaviour to establish the relationship between leadership behaviour and decision making style. Different situations demand different activities routine and non routine to be carried out by leaders and thus, according to Vroom and Yetton, leaders have to adjust their behaviour depending on the situation. 10. The leadership participation model proposed by Vroom and Yetton is normative in that it provides a sequential set of rules that can be followed fro ascertaining the type and amount of participation required in decision making in different situations. Initially, the model consisted of a decision tree with seven contingencies and five alternative leadership styles. Later Vroom worked with another academician, Arthur Jago and came up with a revised model. The new model included twelve contingencies instead of seven as in the original mode which are also called problem attributes. Problem Attributes
11. According to the model, the leader should assess a situation in terms of its problem

attributes. The twelve problem attributes can be broadly classified into two classes decision quality and employee acceptance. Decision quality dimensions include cost considerations, information availability, and nature of problem structure i.e. structured or unstructured. Employee acceptance can have dimensions like need for commitment, their prior approval, congruence of their goals with that of the organization, and conflict among the employees. 37

12. Other factors considered in the model are level of subordinate information, time constraints, geographical distance between subordinates, leaders motivation to conserve time, and, finally, the leaders motivation to develop subordinates. Even complex and apparently unique problems can be identified and categorized into known classes, if the problems are analyzed using the above format. 13. The leadership participation model is based on three important assumptions which are yet to be proved: Leaders can precisely classify problems by following the decision tree format; leaders are willing to and capable of adapting their styles to suit the situation; employees accept the leaders classification of the situation and changing his leadership style from situation to situation. Path goal theory The path goal theory is a contingency model of leadership developed by Robert House. It borrows some important elements from the Ohio State Studies and the expectancy theory of motivation. According to the path goal theory, the leader should provide required support and guidance to his followers and help them achieve organizational goals. He should establish individual or group goals for employees that are compatible with the broad organizational goals. Thus, the leader defines the path to achieve goals; he also removes any obstructions that come in the way of employee achieving these goals. 14. Further, according to the path goal theory, the behaviour of a leader is

acceptable to subordinates as long as: The subordinates find that the satisfaction of their needs such as promotion and rewards depends on their effective performance, and 38

They are provided with guidance, support and rewards that are needed are effective performance.

Robert House suggested four types of leadership with the help of the path goal theory. They are:
1. Directive Leadership The leader clearly tells his subordinate what is expected

from them, gives them work schedules and instructs them on how to do the task. This is similar to the initiating structure defined in the Ohio State Studies.
2. Supportive Leadership The leader tries to focus and be attentive to the needs

and problems of his subordinates. This is similar to the consideration dimension identified in the Ohio State Studies.
3. Participative Leadership The leader discusses and takes into account the

suggestion and comments made by his subordinates before making a decision.

4. Achievement oriented Leadership The leader attempts to develop his

subordinates by giving them challenging tasks and higher responsibilities, and encouraging them perform at their best. The path goal theory suggests that the leaders behaviour depends on two contingency variables environmental factors like the formal authority system or the nature of task, and personal characteristics of the subordinates like experience, capabilities and locus of control. Job satisfaction and employee performance are likely to be influenced positively when the leader compensates for things lacking in the work environment or in the employee.

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Contrary to the Fiedlers Contingency Model of Leadership which states that a particular leader consistently exhibits a particular behaviour which does not change over time or with the situation, Robert House assumes that a leader behaves in a flexible manner. He suggests that a leader can exhibit any of the above types of behaviours depending on the situation. Also, this theory suggests that the leaders behaviour depends on two contingency variables namely the environmental factors like the formal system of authority or the nature of the task, and secondly the personal characteristics of the subordinates like experience, capabilities and locus of control etc. Job satisfaction and employee performance are likely to be influenced positively when the leader compensates for things lacking in the work environment or in the employee. House also proposes that the leaders behaviour will be ineffective if it is not consistent with the environment and subordinates characteristics. Communication is one more important and crucial feature that a leader needs to possess. In all organizations, individuals and groups attempt to exchange ideas, feelings and emotions. This communication is essential for sharing information and coordinating action(). Communications is essential for achieving managerial and organizational effectiveness. Without communication, employees will not be aware of what their co-workers are doing, will not have any idea about what their goals are, and will not be able to assess their performance. In the absence of channels of communication, supervisors will not be able to give instructions to their subordinates and management will not receive the information it requires to develop plans and take decisions. In all organizations, individuals and groups attempt to exchange ideas, feelings and emotions. This communication is essential for sharing information and coordinating action. Communications is essential for achieving managerial and organizational effectiveness. Without 40

communication, employees will not be aware of what their co-workers are doing, will not have any idea about what their goals are, and will not be able to assess their performance. In the absence of channels of communication, supervisors will not be able to give instructions to their subordinates and management will not receive the information it requires to develop plans and take decisions. In other words, the basic management functions of planning, organizing, directing and controlling cannot be carried out without communication. Participation is one another crucial skill that a leader needs to possess. Participation proves advantageous for the organization in many ways. It improves the quality and quantity of output. It also improves the motivation levels of employees, decreases the rate of attrition and absenteeism, and improves communication within the organizations(). In order to ensure the maximum participation of employees in all the activities of the organization, the employees must also have the relevant abilities and skills, and should be interested in that particular area of work. Participation, according to Warren Bennis, motivates people to contribute their ideas and creative suggestions. In a participative environment, people try to use their capabilities and creativity to accomplish the goals. Participation is also believed to enhance the motivation levels of an individual by offering them the opportunities to offer their opinions and suggestions for the accomplishment of the organizational goals and in the process giving them the direction to accomplish their own individual goals. Hence, the contribution aspect of participation offers individual a path to accomplish their goals. However it is very pertinent to note that, participation is a social process wherein individuals are actually involved with their profession and attempt to make the same a successful affair.

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An interview that has been conducted with Mr. Thomas Graf, CEO of Century Casinos, Inc. also yielded very useful information regarding leadership. According to him, only if strong leadership is established, employees will follow and help building strong business organizations. The interviewee told me from his experience that he tries to motivate his employees on a daily basis and tries that they ultimately keep the organizations goals in mind. Make them feel like they belong to something bigger. Even he feels that leadership is a learnable skill, an opinion that matches with the views of Warren Bennis. However, Mr. Thomas Graf feels that the same is not easy. He feels that in order to learn leadership skills from the get go a lot of passion, time and the willingness to learn and evolve must be taken into consideration. When asked if leaders are a creation of situations and circumstances, Mr. Thomas replied in a very skeptical manner. He said both Yes and No as his answers. The clarification that he gave for such an answer is that Situations can create leaders, but it is not always the case. Some people are meant to be leaders and if they are confronted with certain situations they can emerge as leaders. Some people can learn the theory their whole life, but will never emerge as a leader. Another important aspect that Mr. Thomas clarified was if good leaders are always good managers. He feels that Good leaders might have a vision and know how to motivate and influence people, but at the same time they could also lack managerial skills (organizational control etc.). Participation makes individuals very good group members. It persuades them to happily acknowledge their responsibilities in the activities of the group. Once individuals start taking responsibilities, they tend to display greater amounts of interest in performing their duties and usually find a path to accomplish their task in a successful manner. Therefore, participation is believed to help in constructing a spirit of cooperation and enthusiasm to accept responsibility in the minds of individuals working in a group or organization.

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Right kind of leadership makes the difference. Most often a turnaround situation may demand an outsider to lead the company out of the mess. But sometimes, all it may need is a change in leadership style rather than a change in the leadership(). Transformational leaders are believed to have a vision which they are able to clearly communicate to others. They establish a mission for their followers and make them take pride in working towards that mission(). They gain the respect and trust of their followers. They are also inclined towards inspiring their followers by communicating to them the high expectations the organization has of them and assure them of their capacity to meet those expectations. Transformational leaders are good at expressing complicated goals and objectives in simple terms. They may even use non-verbal communication to communicate with their subordinates. They appreciate and encourage rationality and careful problem solving among their followers. Servant leadership model is one among the various transformational leadership models. As already stated above, Servant leadership is one of the most popular models of leadership that has gained popularity in the recent past. This model was developed in the year 1970 by Robert K. Greenleaf. According to this model, leaders are defined as individuals who serve the people he/she leads which implies that they are an end in themselves rather than a means to an organizational purpose or bottom line(). Servant leaders tend to devote themselves to serve the organizational needs. Their main focus is on the individuals whom they actually lead. They motivate their team members excellently and try to bring out the best out of every individual team member. They train all the other members and encourage them to express their inner self and also strive to facilitate personal growth in every team member. Servant leaders exhibit excellent listening skills and they also build a feeling of oneness. 43

Servant leaders are believed to be efficient because the needs of all the followers are taken such good care that they tend to reach their complete potential, thus perform at their finest. The major strength of this kind of leadership is that it forces people away from self-serving, dominant leadership and makes those in charge imagine more about how to revere, value and encourage people who report to them(). Leaders tend to earn influence by maintaining compliance with the legitimate needs of an individual; this would in turn help in building trust and cooperation in organizations. Confidence and trust along with cooperative nature of the teams are supposedly the key components of efficient organizations. In order to remain effective, the leader needs to be an individual who posses excellent character and integrity and needs to have a pertinent zeal and commitment to lead people through serving them.

3.1 Significance
In the world of modern day organizations, this idealization of great leadership leads to an endless search for heroic figures who can come in to rescue the rest of the world from recalcitrant, non-competitive institutions(). But might this very thinking be a key reason how such institutions prevail? Might not the continual search for the hero-leader be a critical factor in itself, diverting out attention away from building institutions that, by their very nature, continually adapt and reinvent themselves, with leadership coming from many people in many places, not just from the top? The significance of this study lies in finding out an answer to the above question.

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4. Analysis of Findings
The following are the major characteristics or qualities that are to be possessed by an individual in order for him to become a servant leader. Listen to all aspects that are uttered and also expressed and not said Empowerment is very essential through which other members of the group are given opportunities Positive attitude is very essential in order to influence people positively as it contagious and reflects ones self Escalate issues in order to quickly solve the problems Better results can be obtained through resolution Honest feedback gathering will help build trust Serving by way of leading gives an individual the ability to influence people Apart from the above mentioned aspects, certain other characteristics like effective communication, making an objective assessment of situations, the ability to call a spade a spade and communicating this reality to the team members opposite in a way to empower them in their current situation and give feedback effectively are also the traits of servant leaders. Servant leaders also tend to possess balanced objectivity or subjectivity. This refers to private, personal and unique ways of experiencing situations. Both these characteristics have their own disadvantages when not balanced properly in a profession. These are actually opposite end of the continuum. If the servant leader is too subjective in his approach to group members, then there is a possibility that he becomes too involved emotionally with the problems of the other person and this may not allow him to help them properly.

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Now, if the servant leader is too objective in his approach or relationship with the team members, then there is a possibility of the servant leader being viewed by the client as uncaring and uninterested in the well-being of the other person. This in turn would lead to a great difficulty in communication and cause resentment. Increasing miscellany, knowledge and information explosion, strategic affiliation, global competition and prominence on total quality management are the challenges confronting modern organizations. In order for organizations to effectively meet these challenges, managers require support from individual employees and their work groups who often defy change. So, for an effective management of organizations, an indepth study of the behavior of individuals within workgroups, including an analysis of the nature of workgroups is required. The reason behind highlighting one specific model of leadership- servant leadership model is that most of the turnaround artists about whom discussions were presented in the earlier parts of the paper fall into this category. Effective Decision-making is yet another important aspect that is to be possessed by every successful leader. Decision-making describes the process by which a course of action is selected as the way to deal with a specific problem(). People at all levels in an organization are constantly making decisions and solving problems. For managers, the decision-making and problem-solving tasks are particularly important aspects of their jobs(). Which employee should be assigned a particular task? How profits should be invested? Whether the problem is large or small, it is usually the manager who has to confront it and decide what action to take. Managers make decisions which deal with a specific problem and also an opportunity simultaneously. For example, making decisions about cost cutting in the organization by five percent represents a problem. The manager also needs to make decisions when there is an 46

opportunity which is readily available for exploitation. For instance, if the organization has excess funds, the manager needs to decide whether they should be used to boost shareholder dividends, reinvested in existing operations, or to spread out into new markets. Apart from the above, innovation is also a very important aspect in the study of leadership. Structural variables form an important source of innovation. The structure of an organization has got a profound impact on the innovation that is expected to happen sooner or later in the organization. Secondly, in innovative organizations, the vision, mission and strategies of the organization are communicated very clearly to the human resources of the organization. In such organizations, the employees are never forced to adopt traditional methods to achieve the goals of the organization. Instead, the management encourages its employees to take risks, experiment with innovative ideas and assume the responsibility for implementing them. It is only then that the organization would be able to successfully reach higher heights and progress well(). For instance, 3M fosters a culture of innovation in its organization. It allows its employees to spend 15% of their working hours on independent projects. In addition to this, the key elements that foster innovation at 3M are its capability to recruit and retain talent, construct a challenging atmosphere within the organization, support knowledge sharing and design suitable systems for rewarding employees who outperform. Likewise, management in innovative organizations trains and develops its workforce to update their talent and acquaintance and encourages them to become idea champs. Idea champs are those people in an organization who are highly enthusiastic in promoting the ideas they have newly developed, systematize essential support for their ideas within the organization, overcome confrontation if any and ensure that the organization implements their ideas or innovations. 47

Such individuals succeed in obtaining support for their innovation by communicating their vision pertaining to its potency, to other members of the organization. Furthermore, their confidence and dedication plays a predominant role in persuading others about the potential of the innovation.

5. Conclusion
In the era bygone, leadership was restricted to very few concepts and situations. The few areas that really needed leadership historically were either leading a war or limited to providing leadership to the kingdoms and religious institutions. Like the great kings of various kingdoms across the civilized world and institutions like the church. This ultimately translated to physical prowess one way or the other or ultimately it led to controlling the physical superiority. Physical superiority meant either in terms of being larger in size, space or numbers. However it is pertinent to recollect the fact that economies were primarily agrarian and electronics were nonexistent. There was extremely limited thought leadership involving higher levels of human intellect. The safety and security was of the paramount concern and the one who was able to provide this became the choice of mates as well as great leaders. As the complexity of human society increased and the thinking patterns diversified in human beings along with technological innovations there was another kind of leadership that began to emerge, the leadership in thoughts that was trying to control or in the least influence the way the physical might acted this was the era of brahminical superiority in or similar ones in the Asian context and the era of religious superiority in the European and African Contexts. This kind of arm chair leadership that inherently tried to play a role in managing / controlling the thinking as well as the actions of the kings and the powers that were. 48

Over a period of time what started off as a benevolent situation turned malicious and even perverted. This led to various kinds of harassment and negative situations in the society that led to the kings / powers realizing that they were in the clutches of the religious minority. Alternatively the oppressed class also realized that they were actually being exploited. This generic negative situation led to alternate leadership mechanisms being evolved in the society in general. In addition to the changes in the social fabric and systems, the development of technology and scientific applications began to accelerate and accelerate rapidly. This led to creation of various gadgets that began to ease the life of people and started creating a middle class a new layer in the society. Technological changes and improvements along with rapidly accelerating technological developments led to creation of a different kind of leadership the mental and intellectual prowess. This along with the realization that physical prowess is more or less not really important, but what really matters is the economic superiority called for a new set of leaders to be created. This situation calls for leaders who can clearly and quickly create economic superiority either for themselves, their organizations or their countries. Slowly the face of leadership has changed. The systems of kings and monarchs have disappeared or have been relegated into the background to be of ceremonial importance. This is more or less true across all the countries globally. The leaders who are really making an impact on the global directions are either the political leaders or the business leaders. As the industrial economy has transformed to service economy to information economy to knowledge economy to skill economy the faces of the leaders is also changing. The leadership

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has changed from that of physical superiority to that on the intellectual superiority. The one who can actually respond the fastest and the best to the given situation and create economic advantage to himself or his affiliate is the one who becomes a leader. The type of leadership that is popular and effective is also changing from the authoritarian style to the participative style of leadership. What is critical today is not to be able to establish physical superiority but the need to establish economic superiority. In line with the changing demands of the business situations today, the need for leadership also has changed. What really matters today is the ability to provide thought leadership that would lead to economic superiority either for self or the organization. What matters today is the ability of a leader to be able to grasp a current or future business situation and turn it into one of an opportunity for himself and the organization. Being able to provide better returns to self and all the stake holders in whatever form is what leadership is all about today. In the same breath it is pertinent to note that perversion exists even today at the leadership level. The recent episodes of financial failures of large corporations in the United States that led to a global economic crisis is an ample example of economic perversion the single minded devotion to create wealth for self over the interests of the society. This kind of perversion leads to large scale global failures. Thanks to the strength of political leadership and institutional leadership that the world was drawn away fairly safely from the brink of collapse. This kind of perversion comes into play and plays havoc with global balance when human shortsightedness and greed overtakes the need for maintaining a health welfare outlook for the human race in general.

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Leaders have changed. Leadership styles have changed. Need for leaders has changed, but what remains constant is the ability of leaders to keep an eye and maintain a balance between the benefit for self and their institutions and the human race at large!

6. Recommendations
Faced with the practical needs for considerable change, companies usually choose the hero-leader rather than extracting and developing leadership ability all over the entire organization. A new hero-CEO turns up to propel new life into the organizations anguishing fortune. Usually, today, the new leader implements cost cutting measures and enhances both productivity and profits. However, the improvements are not sustainable in nature. Most of the grand strategies proposed by leaders are never put to action; as an alternative, people cling to customary ways of doing things. New ideas do not emerge from people at the front lines because they are too scared to take risks and get exposed. Energies are not released to create new products or new ways to meet customer needs because people are too busy competing with one another to please their bosses. Sooner or later, new crises ensue, giving rise to the search for new hero-leaders(). This is the modern day scenario. Most organizations, at some time in their existence, face decline in performance. During a companys lifespan depicted in the firms lifecycle a stage comes when it may need a turnaround in order to survive. Here, the right kind of leadership makes the difference. Most often a turnaround situation may demand an outsider to lead the company out of the mess. But sometimes, all it may need is a change in leadership style rather than a change in the leadership. Leadership is as learnable as any other skill. Skills are a manifestation of the

personality traits of a person. But, as widely accepted, human beings are exceptionally good at 51

adapting their personality to suit the occasion().

So, leadership skills being the output of

personality traits, the traits can be varied to the required skills. Organizations are increasingly focusing on improving the knowledge and skills of employees because of the continuous advancement in the technology and changes in the business environment.

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7. Appendix
Interviewee: Thomas Graf, CEO of Century Casinos, Inc. I chose 10 out of 15 questions from the questionnaire. Besides the Yes/No options I included additional answers from the interviewee. Is leadership necessary for building strong business organizations? Yes, if strong leadership is established, employees will follow and help building strong business organizations. The interviewee told me from his experience that he tries to motivate his employees on a daily basis and tries that they ultimately keep the organizations goals in mind. Make them feel like they belong to something bigger. Is good leadership sufficient to handle all dire situations in an organization? Yes, but it should always be a good combination of managerial and leadership skills. Is leadership a learnable skill? Yes, it can be learned but its not easy. To learn leadership skills from the get go a lot of passion, time and the willingness to learn and evolve must be taken into consideration. Managerial skills can be acquired through formal education. Yes, but experience is more important than plain theory. Leaders are a creation of situations and circumstances. Yes and No. Situations can create leaders, but it is not always the case. Some people are meant to be leaders and if they are confronted with certain situations they can emerge as leaders. Some people can learn the theory their whole life, but will never emerge as a leader.

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Good leaders always are good managers. No. Good leaders might have a vision and know how to motivate and influence people, but at the same time they could also lack managerial skills (organizational control etc.). Leaders always have solutions for all problems. Yes and No. Even if theres no solution at the beginning, a good leader never gives up and knows how to motivate others. Never give them a feeling that something is out of control. Business owners always make great leaders. No, because business owners might have monetary resources available to own a business, but that doesnt make them a good skillful leader automatically. Situations create leaders. Yes, the most successful leaders in the business world today are created by situations. But a good leader in one situation might not be a good leader when the situation differs. Managers and leaders are essential for business. Yes, both are the most important factors in an organization and have to work closely together to assure long term success.

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