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Contextual Dynamics and Leadership in Action

MSc Summit 2008 Instructors: Prof. Philippe Very & Emmanuel Metais

Research Project by Madhavi Suhasini MANGALARA

madhavi.mangalara@edhec.com Student ID: 21500

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I. INTRODUCTION
In theory, the notion of leadership has evolved over the recent years shifting from a mere power-driven command and control mechanism to a more open conception, where leaders are viewed more as collaborators and facilitators rather than as dictators. However in practice, the reality has not witnessed any considerable evolution. Effective leadership, in many cases continues to go hand in hand with the crude form of leadership style. In todays globalised world, where business environments are increasingly dynamic and where most of the population benefits from increased access to high levels of education and improved standards of living, leading to heightened ambitions, crude form of leadership is far from being productive.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

A vast amount of management literature stresses the importance of leadership in the corporate world, more in light of why leaders often fail. While some researchers attribute failure of leaders or leadership to power mania where power has been used by human agents and agencies in managing [or even] mismanaging the individual, social and environmental aspects of existence, (Chakraborty & Bhattacharya, 2001), some others, notably from the contemporary era, encourage leaders to steer away from aggressive leadership, characterized by command and control, and shift towards low pressure leadership (Prentice, 2004), or even soft power leadership as propagated by Nye, former dean of Kennedy school. Prentice (2004) further emphasizes that a leaders failure stems from their inability to recognize that men are complex [and] different. In addition to these aspects leaders are often unsuccessful because they fail to adapt their leadership styles to the context in which they operate. Therefore, in simple terms, an effective leader should be someone who is soft but

-3firm in executing the authority granted to him by his superior by maintaining a kind of psychological distance that permits [his subordinates] to accept his authority without resentment, (Prentice, 2004). Reflection on leadership and observation of leadership styles in our social environment leads to a series of questions which are under explored in the management literature. The questions which come to our minds often include: 1. Are leaders made or born? 2. What are the qualities of an effective leader? 3. What makes leadership fail? Why are leaders perceived as enemies? 4. What lessons should todays leaders learn in order to be efficient?

III. RESEARCH PROBLEM & METHODOLOGY

The author is attracted by this [ideological] shift observed in the definition of a leader (from dictator to facilitator or even nurturer), and seeks answers for the above mention questions. To do this, the author plans to investigate the extent to which the notion of leader as a nurturer is present in the real world. In addition, the author also aims to understand the lessons that the participants of this trip learnt about leadership, which in turn will enable the author in establishing the factors that contribute to the development of good leadership. In order to achieve this research objective, the author interviewed (Refer to Appendix 1 for interview questionnaire) a small sample of 8-10 students, who participated in a hiking trip, where each individuals leadership skills and leadership styles were observed in a real-time environment. The findings are then analyzed to deduce change in perceptions, if any, with regards to leadership.

-4Each interview lasted about 30 minutes. Questions posed revolved around aspects such as the participants perception of leadership, change in perception, if any, during the trip, as well as the behavior, attitude, and leadership styles of the leading teams. Although some of the questions posed were related to the group members (participants, excluding the leading teams), the focus of the authors research is centered on the leading teams, considering the fact members of the leading team were the leaders at that particular point in time and observation or input related to their behavior, attitude and responsiveness to the group can be crucial in finding responses to the questions posed in the previous section. Furthermore, absence of initiative on the part of the group members cannot necessarily be attributed to lack of leadership, given that the group members in this scenario are mere followers and not leaders. Thus, it would be inappropriate to center the study on group members in determining the presence or absence of leadership skills.

IV. DESCRIPTION OF LEADERSHIP CONTEXT

The context which served as a platform for observing leadership styles of participants is an environment that is unknown to the participants (none of them has ever been to these mountains prior to this trip) and even uncertain owing to bad weather conditions. This dire situation was quite challenging to handle, for the leading teams, notably due in large part to the heterogeneity of capabilities of the group members, where all members of the group do not share the same experience or expertise related to hiking. In a scenario such as this, leading teams need to collaborate, and lead while mobilizing efforts of all the group members in achieving the common goal. (i.e. where all the group members, led by the leading teams, are expected to plant a flag on the peak). The challenge for the leading teams here is to choose a peak mindful of the

-5heterogeneous capabilities of the group members. Furthermore, it is equally difficult to motivate and encourage slow-hikers, keep the experienced hikers and the amateurs together, and manage conflict, if any, arising due to differences in ambitions.

V. FINDINGS AND RESULTS

The survey conducted through interviews revealed that many participants had a mere sketchy understanding of leadership prior to the trip, some associating leadership to charisma, while some others to sacrifice, care and responsibility. However, their perceptions of leadership were tempered thanks to the trip, making them understand that leadership in theory is certainly not the same in practice. Though all of them appear to agree that leadership in todays world is not about command and control, it proved difficult to confirm during this hiking experience the idea that todays leaders are communicators, facilitators and nurturers. The argument that leadership is the accomplishment of a goal through the direction of human assistants, (Prentice, 2004) could not be proved either, because for most of the participants, many of the leading team members lacked clear vision of the common goal, trying to appease their own goal and ambition, where the needs of the group members were completely neglected.

VI. KEY LEARNING POINTS

During this excursion, many participants benefited from the opportunity to explore leadership, in a real-time situation. As the author perceives them, the key lessons learned are mentioned below: First of all, leadership is about mobilizing human efforts in order to achieve a common goal, by encouraging, motivating and by being supportive to the team members. Therefore, leadership is about enhancing group performance and not about the performance and achievements of the leader.

-6Additionally, leadership involves sacrifice. Rare are those leaders who accord importance to sacrifice. Leadership, for most leaders, as it is described in the previous chapters, is more a power game. However, in order to achieve common goals, powerdriven leadership may not bear fruit all the time. Moreover, leaders need to set an example. A leaders subordinates are followers not to the leaders command, but to the example in terms of behavior and attitude he/she sets for them. A leader should be looked upon to as a role model, enabling trust-based relationship, thereby leading to enhanced cooperation and coordination. Furthermore, leaders are expected to produce results and this is facilitated through proper planning. Proper planning is essential to success but not sufficient. Given that todays leaders need to act in complex and dynamically changing environments, they should be more flexible than perfect or accurate, in order to adapt initiatives and strategies to accommodate any change in plan, necessitated by unexpected events. In such instances, leaders ought to be react to the context and shape their decisions accordingly. Finally, a leader should be an effective communicator. Effective communication facilitates achievement of tasks, which may otherwise be delayed or impaired. Furthermore, direct communication increases transparency, thereby fostering trust, which in turn leads to increased collaboration from team members.

VII. CONCLUSION
Leadership is essential for corporate success and plays a key role in people management. Direct, but informal communication is the key success factor of leadership because it only entices followers to follow through, but it also creates an

-7atmosphere that is conducive to change, thereby fostering results-oriented performance from his collaborators.

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References
1. Chakraborty, S.K. & Bhattacharya, P. (2001). Reflections on Leadership and Power. Oxford University Press. 2. Nye, J.S. Jr.. Soft Power & Leadership. Centre for Public Leadership. Retrieved on June 6, 2008 from http://www.hks.harvard.edu/leadership/Pdf/SoftPowerandLeadership.pdf 3. Kayes, D. C. (2004). The 1996 Mt. Everest Climbing Disaster: The Breakdown Of Learning In Teams. Human Relations, 57(10), 1236-1284. 4. Mintzberg, H. (2004, November). Enough leadership. Harvard Business Review, 82(11), 22. 5. Prentice, W. C. H. (1961). Understanding Leadership. Reprinted in: Harvard Business Review (2004, January), 102-9.

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LIST OF APPENDICES
INTERVIEW QUESTIONNAIRE 1. How do you define a leader ? (What qualities should an effective leader possess? 2. Did you perceive more or less the same qualities (as mentioned in your definition) amongst the leading teams? 3. What caused variances, if any? 4. What was the attitude of the leading team(s) toward the rest of the group? Qualify it in a word? 5. Describe the behaviour of the group members in such an unknown environment? (In your perspective) 6. Did you observe any lack of coordination amongst group members? What were the causes, and how was it resolved? 7. How conscious were all the members of the group about the common goal? How did they work towards achieving it? 8. Who, according to you, exemplifies the best leader in this excursion? 9. How do you describe the overall experience at the excursion? 10. What were the key challenges of the leader of this whole excursion (M. Very)? How did he manage them to minimize damage of any kind (emotional, physical etc.)?

NOTE: Interview samples are provided as an example. Other interview summaries were withheld upon request for anonymity from respondents.

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Interview I: 1. How do you define a leader ? (What qualities should an effective leader possess? In general, a leader is a person who directs peoples efforts in accomplishing a certain goal. Qualities: understand the team, very patient and be supportive all his team members a leader should have some technical competencies too. 2. Did you perceive more or less the same qualities (as mentioned in your definition) amongst the leading teams? Yes some of the qualities in the first team 3. What caused variances, if any? Each individual was focussed on his or her benefits. Lacked consideration/ understanding for other team members their effort was not even taken into consideration..Eg. one of the team members was asked to slowed down, on the second. And the leading teams response to this was --- We dont care, We are here to have fun. 4. What was the attitude of the leading team(s) toward the rest of the group? Qualify it in a word? Each team was different Team 1: paying attention, to all, organized in a way that there are people in the front and at the back collective goal as priority Team 2 example above = half of the class dropped off Team 3 - following day tried working closer to the team 1 but failed b/c there was lack of communication within them and with others Two people dropped and half were way behind 5. Describe the behaviour of the group members in such an unknown environment? Different among the whole group. Some members were really scared and emotionally wrecked, one of them arrived to the hut crying, not knowing what was going on. Some others enjoyed. They were cooperative only when they were asked /push to collaborate (picking other students bags in the first hike and not in the last one) 6. Did you observe any lack of coordination amongst group members? What were the causes, and how was it resolved?

- 11 Yes, especially when they were tired, and they would think about themselves and the hike, and reaching the destination. In those instances there was no coordination, because it is hard to do so people were away from one another. The more there was lack of leadership, the more there was poor coordination Resolved several times: 1st hike: Leaders perceived the lack of coordination, intervened by changing the structure of the grp to get back the coordination. 7. How conscious were all the members of the group about the common goal? How did they work towards achieving it? Everyone realized the common goal but did not respect the common goeal. Eg: everybody was told by the professor that they need to reach the peak together people who were inconsiderate were aware of the goal but did not care goal not achieved together 8. Who, according to you, exemplifies the best leader in this excursion? Best leader: Saeb 1. Compared to other groups performance, we as 1st group saw how we got everyone together,. We did not see anyone The idea to divide the group into small groups placed in the front, middle and the back.. JD and Camille, in the front could not find the way and I took initiative and went in the front. A leader who can influence peoples behaviour. 2. Behaviour : not waiting for others groups . 2nd grp leaders had no coordination because they were not able to communicate amongst themselves 3. Most imp: A leader should help the team achieve results, no matter how..at one pt one of the members felt that they cannot lead , and when I went ahead it was a good initiative Also reminding others about their roles.. Leadership by example, by initiative and by results 9. How do you describe the overall experience at the excursion? For you, it was very good exp out of their elements. We can see the wk they put in achieving results, u can see the core of their personality. Explore good as well as poor leadership. Martynas lacked good team-oriented skills He was explicit and loud and clear that he was there to enjoy himself. Change in perception: Positive shift Leadership was for me, more of a charisma, but its not it is, A leader shud really care abt the mission and help others care for this mission.

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10. What were the key challenges of the leader of this whole excursion (M. Very)? How did he manage them to minimize damage of any kind (emotional, physical etc.)? Key challenges: 1. deal with diff ppl with diff abilities, Take these abilities and put in place to achieve the common goal 2. People with diff expectations there is compromise,.. but mostly change their expectation and make them understand the purpose of the mission needs grt deal o interpersonal skills which I cud not visualize before. This is not a grt example but it helped me to realize this piece pf info. Communication was the key to face challenges. M. Very was good at it and Saeb too.

- 13 Interview II: 1. How do you define a leader ? (What qualities should an effective leader possess? A leader for me, is charismatic person, guy who takes responsibility of the grp, of the environment, what is going on around 2. Did you perceive more or less the same qualities (as mentioned in your definition) amongst the leading teams? Well hard to say, I only remember tow teams trying to lead the grp,The grp you were in was good.. leading the grp the second day, learn from the lessons from the mistakes of the leading grp the day before. What major problems ? The first grp no preparation, split tasks.. therefore diff to keep an overview and guide the grp effectively communication hard to say. 3. What caused variances, if any? No comments; In terms of variance simply related to experience in other team, they was no experience in naturethe weather conditions were bad, so pblms hard to imagine 4. What was the attitude of the leading team(s) toward the rest of the group? Qualify it in a word? Attitude of the leading team (urs) toward the rest of the grp responsible.. 5. Describe the behaviour of the group members in such an unknown environment? (In your perspective) Quite normal and understandable. Concerning the environment , behaviour was not normal first day tried to cope. Second day tensions this affected the performance of the grp, slowed down the hike, took long. It affected the relationships over a short-run but strengthened the relationship between the ppl, 6. Did you observe any lack of coordination amongst group members? What were the causes, and how was it resolved? Not noticeable, lack of communication, on the first day Collaboration and cooperation from the grp, inspite of all that

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7. How conscious were all the members of the group about the common goal? How did they work towards achieving it? Common goal reaching the peak, everyone must have been conscious, expectations were diff.. as well as the diff skills and diff levels of experience They were ppl who were supportive motivating others etc 8. Who, according to you, exemplifies the best leader in this excursion? Best leader lot of effort from some one.. Saeb not sure he succeeded.. mountain guides,, were skill ful too Why Saeb? b/c he is motivated, into things, encouraged, he can influence the grp,, may be, everyone cud notice that he was taking this thing seriously. 9. How do you describe the overall experience at the excursion? From my perspective. Expected more leadership in action, more focused on leadership and leadership activities. Was just a mountain hike with friends.. Leadership in action n the mountains acc to me: leadership seminar back home in Australia, grp forming activities, really special exercises focuse on leadership and grp motivation to me it was just hiking, Of crs, it was a good experience, but nt concerning sth abt leadership 10. What were the key challenges of the leader of this whole excursion (M. Very)? How did he manage them to minimize damage of any kind (emotional, physical etc.)? Key challenges: too much responsibility. Normally done with his colleague but this time he was alone.. to keep an overview of the whole trip. Cud have done better with an assistant.. There were two things: second day had to intervene and take care about two members of the grp,(Happens this ev year) Second: Taking care that everyone is going to bedwhere he was trying to educate Judith physical conditions. She was also suffering.. Physically and mentally Yinka. A bit of the same, shes never been on a hike.