The Fine Line Between a Leader and a Manager
Question:
Discuss about the Emerging Role Of the Transformational Leadership.
A good leader has to have a large number of qualities in order to lead his entire band of followers along with him. However, there is a fine line of distinction between a leader and a manner. A manager can manage all the activities but a leader is someone who will not only be managing but will be leading the followers. The followers will always look upon their leaders before each and every step. In the modern day business scenario, a large emphasis is being given to the cross-cultural leadership as well. This is because the employees are coming from so many different backgrounds and ethnic classes (Oreg and Berson 2015). So, it is for this reason that the leaders need to make sure that the sentiments and the emotions of all the employees are being taken care of. An ideal leader has to make sure that there is no disparity being made in between his followers and he will have to ensure that all the followers are working together as a team for the overall production of the organization (Mo and Shi 2017).
I have been working with a leader whom I look upon as my role model. My chosen leader is the CEO of Matrox a well known Indonesia based retail company. It is the owner of several other brands like the Paul n Frank, Sperry and Rimowa, Wakai and several other such brands. I have an immense admiration for her because of many and varied reasons. Firstly, she is really very hard working. She has achieved many different positions in her entire job like that of a director, assistant director and also a restaurant owner. She has about 50 employees working under her as per her current job role and she also makes sure that she is putting forward her 100% effort. She looks after the interest of all the employees who are under her so that she can ensure that all of them are working together as a team.
As per my perceptions, she is really a very powerful follower. She makes sure that she is able to exert her power in the right way possible so that she can bring about a change in the employees and can strive towards the common goal of an overall improvement for the company. However, there are also several variations in this power as well. As per as her personal power is concerned, she is an expert in her area of expertise. She has brilliant skill about the task related issues of the employees. However, in order to be an ideal leader, she must try inculcating with her the referent power as well (Ojo, Ree and Carretta 2016). She must be able to develop some kinds of developments or changes within her character that will help her to attract the attention of the employees and will make them respect her. This respect will be based on the characteristics of the leader and not merely on the professional position or the task knowledge that she possesses (Ghasabeh et al. 2015).
Importance of Cross-Cultural Leadership
One important thing that I have observed about her is that she is very strict and believes that compliance is perhaps the best method by which she can get the works done by her employees. Whenever there is an urgent situation or an urgent need in the business she makes sure that she is able to somehow get the task done by her subordinates, she often does not like to go into any second round discussions with the employees. She considers her own decision to be final.
She also narrates a story that once she was in charge of a very important business project and the entire team was really under a huge pressure for that. As a leader, she always tried her level best to make sure that all her followers or the employees are working properly. During that time her major concern was to somehow get the business deal. She was mainly focusing on the quantity and the quality of products that were being put forward by the employees. She really worked hard and made sure that there is no error or any drawbacks present on the part of any of her employees. It so happened during the ongoing preparation of that business deal that one of her employees wanted a short leave for at least 2 days as he was unable to bear the long official pressure and was often suffering from mental breakdowns. So, he had applied for a leave stating this reason of his health issue. After seeing this leave request, she was really quite angered and she rejected the leave request for that employee. She not only rejected the leave but also said that it is his work obligation that he will have to deal with this work pressure and give his best rather than asking for leaves. She believed that being a leader she has to act as per the situation and get the work done by any means possible even if her way is not well accepted by the employees. However, this proves that though she worked as per the rules of situational leadership but she could also behave in a different way and take a different decision. She got the work done by the employee with force. Though she could get the job done which at that time was the business requirement she lost the respect or the commitment that this employee earlier had for her. She could have opted for other options as well. Instead of behaving roughly with the employee she could have behaved with him empathetically, try to know what issues is he exactly facing and then taken a decision. She could also have granted him the leave by placing another employee at his place temporarily as a backup. Though apparently, she got the work done by displaying the powerful and the authoritative nature within her at the same time, she lost the good relationship and the rapport that she actually should have built up with the employee. Else she could have supported the employee morally and get the work done by him (Klein 2014).
Personal Experiences with a CEO
So, after narrating this incident she said that she could pinpoint this drawback of hers’ that she as a leader must be more patient and more empathetic towards her followers. She must not make the unnecessary usage of her power. She must also never take undue advantage of her position to dominate her followers or her employees. She also lacks the ability of crisis leadership. This is evident of the fact that she needs to inculcate the charismatic leadership qualities within her so that she can support her employees during distress. Though she gets the work done by compliance often there is also a resistance that is created among the employees because of her strange behavior. So, she said that she must try to change her attitude and built the feeling of commitment among the employees. As per the discussion that I had with her, she seemed to have recognized all the loopholes that are present within her as a leader. Though she is able to manage her responsibilities she needs to work on herself a great deal for becoming an ideal leader in the future.
Leadership is largely associated with that of business ethics. A true leader is one who will always be concerned about the ethics and will value the ethical considerations as well. Whenever any business decision is being taken, the leader has to constantly check his own decisions and ask him constantly is the decision taken by him is correct. Is this right for all the employees? Will it hurt the emotions and the sentiments of any of the employee? A leader will have to constantly question his or her decision and intuition as well (Gower 2017).
I have observed this that my role model is very much concerned about the ethical considerations of the business that she is undertaking. She never thinks about her own personal benefits. She makes sure that whenever there is any profit for the business; it gets evenly distributed among all the employees. Another very important trait that I have observed about her is that she is brutally honest in all the business affairs that she undertakes. She never overlooks the interest of any of her employees or her followers for the purpose of fulfilling her own money or any other interest. She is also very much open to promoting the social responsibilities. She makes sure that her business organizations are also extending their services to the society, even beyond their clients.
On interviewing the leader, she agreed with my observation that she pays due importance on the ethical considerations of her companies as well. She makes sure that every year; a certain portion of the profit made by her restaurant venture is going to the charity funds for helping the orphans. On the other hand, she also takes care of the internal ethics of her organizations. She makes sure that some extra benefits are given to the disabled employees along with their salaries and their incentives.
One of the most important skills that have to be present in an ideal leader is that he or she must be open to the large diversity in culture. In the modern times, the workforce is becoming highly diverse and is including people coming from all the ethnic races and from many different linguistic, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds as well. So, it is the duty of the leaders to make sure that there is no discrimination being done among the workers on the basis of their skin color, their language, their religion, their social belief and many other such differences. A leader must be able to treat all the employees equally and also motivate them (Osland, Mendenhall and Li 2017).
The Power of a Leader
I have observed this that my chosen leader that she exhibits some qualities of an ideal global leader whereas lacks the others. She does not follow any kind of favoritism or any kind of biases while recruiting people from different religious or ethnic backgrounds. She is flexible in setting the recruitment policies of the organization in such a way that they can open a good platform for all the people to come and work together. However, the qualities that she highly lacks is being patient, having the willingness to learn the local customs and the native language of the people that her companies are recruiting from the cross-cultural boundaries (Muenjohn and Armstrong 2015).
She has accepted that being very authoritarian and egoistic in nature she is often never able to go out from her own familiar boundaries. This is more because right from her childhood she has been brought up in a very strict conservative environment. She has often seen racial discriminations being done among people in her neighborhood however not that she is in favor of these racial disparities but she is very reluctant in learning the language of any other communities rather than her own. She is also aware of the fact that she is not having a good command over her second language. This also hinders her from speaking fluently in some of the cross-cultural business meetings. She also shares that being a leader or a business entrepreneur she often has to travel in several countries where she needs to speak in many other tongues apart from her own native tongue. This not only becomes a problem in addressing those audiences on the business meeting but also it hinders her abilities as a leader to motivate and look after the needs of many of her employees who belong from some other linguistic and socio-cultural backgrounds. Though she promises at the beginning of every business year that she will be conducting the programs like the diversity training and the cross-cultural training sessions but she often forgets them or becomes reluctant about them but the mid of the year. Particularly because she somehow gets more involved in the other business issues and neglects these issues. So, I have got this observation that she is having the CQ or the cognitive (head) as she is good in maintaining all the business meetings and completing all the scheduled works within the given deadlines. However, she lacks in the physical CQ (Body), as she is reluctant and ignorant towards understanding the local customs and the conventions of the employees that she is hiring from some different ethnic backgrounds. She also lacks the Emotional or the motivational CQ (Heart) because she lacks the willingness or the desire to understand different cultures (Mujki? et al. 2014).
The transformational leadership says that the leaders must strive in bringing a change in the employees. A leader must create a particular vision and lead all the followers towards the same. As an ideal leader, she tries her level best to get 100% efficiency from her employees but she is very autocratic in nature. She has to give up this autocratic nature and trust the employees as well. It basically talks about shifting the focus from oneself towards the group or from the personal interest towards the collective interest. However, she should start following this principle only after she has built within her the
Drawbacks of a Leader
Thus, after conducting this session I have learned that there are several complications that one has to face during his or her terms of leadership. As per my perceptions I have seen that the leader is honest and goal oriented. She strives to make sure that all the goals and objectives of the company are being met with. This is indeed an essential quality of a leader to make sure that all the employees are giving their best and are helping in achieving the goals and objectives of the company. However, she is an autocrat and does not really count on the decision of the employees. She is mostly governed by her own decisions. She supports all the employees with the professional support that they need but she often fails to support them emotionally. She is concerned about the company’s profit but she must try and be more empathetic to the employees. She also needs to build the charismatic qualities of leadership within herself. I would also recommend that she must include more employees in the decision-making process. She must be more friendly and understanding towards the employees so that the employees develop a commitment towards her advice and directions rather than a resistance or a compliance. She must also develop within herself the willingness to learn other languages particularly the languages of the employees recruited from the cross cultural boundaries. She needs to nurture her social and corporate responsibility to give it a further boost in the upcoming days. She is already taking up the ethical consideration and the CSR side by side, so she must carry on doing the same. As a global leader, she must make sure that she is being able to embrace employees equally. Equality is one of the most important things that she must promote in her organization. In order to do so, she has to develop the willingness to learn the local customs, the language of the employees coming from different cultural backgrounds.
I have found that in order to be an able and a successful leader; I must know how to shift my concern from myself to the collective interest of all the employees or the followers. I have to know that being a transformational leader is not sufficient in itself. I can bring a change in the organization only if I bring a change within myself. I must always practice what I intend to preach. I will have to inculcate within myself the aspects of charismatic leadership. I will have to be empathetic towards the employees and will make sure that I can provide the employees moral support when they are in distress. One of the most important thing that I must follow as a leader is keeping a strong self-confidence and an optimistic attitude. I must be able to accept my drawbacks freely and work upon them. Being a charismatic leader will also be very helpful for my career. I must be able to stand by the side of the employees when they are in need. Another important thing that I must inculcate within myself is that I must try and boost up my self-confidence. This is indeed very essential for creating a proper leadership skill. If I am not confident enough then I will never be able to take up the responsibility of my subordinates or my followers. As a leader I will have to look at the needs and demands of all the subordinates I will also have to take part in many meetings where I need to address a large number of people. So, if I am not sure enough about myself during such situations then it will be really tough for me to cope up. I will also work on my language skills. I will try to work on learning of the different languages so that I can speak with all the employees, including them who are recruited from the different ethnic classes and backgrounds. I will make sure to listen to and solve all the problems of my followers at every instance. I will guide them through every single step and will help them not only with the professional support but with the moral support as well. I will always make sure that there is an equality that is being maintained throughout the organization. I will make sure that the sentiments of the employees are not being hurt. I will always try to create a clear understanding between me and all the employees or the followers.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that a leader needs to have very good adapting and adjusting skill for the purpose of being successful. He needs to look after the needs and demands of all the employees. He must inculcate the feeling of empathy within himself. An ideal leader is who practices what he preaches. He must always make sure that he is being able to support his followers during their distress.
References
Ghasabeh, M.S., Soosay, C. and Reaiche, C., 2015. The emerging role of transformational leadership. The Journal of Developing Areas, 49(6), pp.459-467.
Gower, K.K., 2017. Legal and ethical considerations for public relations. Waveland Press.
Klein, E., 2014. Desired leadership styles in classroom and court: Comparing ideal coaching and teaching styles of collegiate student-athletes. West Virginia University.
Mendenhall, M.E., Osland, J., Bird, A., Oddou, G.R., Stevens, M.J., Maznevski, M.L. and Stahl, G.K. eds., 2017. Global leadership: Research, practice, and development. Routledge.
Menges, J.I., Kilduff, M., Kern, S. and Bruch, H., 2015. The awestruck effect: Followers suppress emotion expression in response to charismatic but not individually considerate leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(4), pp.626-640.
Mo, S. and Shi, J., 2017. Linking ethical leadership to employee burnout, workplace deviance and performance: Testing the mediating roles of trust in leader and surface acting. Journal of Business Ethics, 144(2), pp.293-303.
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Ojo, A., Ree, M.J. and Carretta, T.R., 2016. Leadership Style and Leader Power. Leadership & Organizational Management Journal, 2016(1).
Oreg, S. and Berson, Y., 2015. Personality and charismatic leadership in context: The moderating role of situational stress. Personnel Psychology, 68(1), pp.49-77.
Osland, J.S., Mendenhall, M.E. and Li, M. eds., 2017. Advances in global leadership. Emerald Group Publishing.
Zhu, W., Treviño, L.K. and Zheng, X., 2016. Ethical leaders and their followers: The transmission of moral identity and moral attentiveness. Business Ethics Quarterly, 26(1), pp.95-115.
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