Cultural Dimensions of Leadership
February 12, 2025
The term “Organization culture” refers to the values and beliefs of an organization. The principles, ideologies as well as policies followed by an organization form its culture. It is the culture of the workplace which decides the way individuals interact with each other and behave with people outside the company. The employees must respect their […]
The early phase of development of a virtual team is crucial for its success. Just like the foundation defines the strength of the building, the steps involved in establishing a virtual team goes a long way in contributing to its successful functioning in later stages. The two basic questions give skeleton to this phase – […]
The Battle between Change Agents and Status Quo Adherents Every organization has its change agents who seek to take risks, disrupt the status quo, and introduce changes to steer the organization in a particular direction. On the other hand, there are also those who advocate the Status Quo and want the organization to treasure stability […]
Relationship Between Organizational Structure and Culture Organizational structure determines the organizational behavior and influences the organizational culture. In addition, design of the organizational structure often determines how flexible or adaptable it is to change. The linkages between the design of the organizational structure and its resistance or acceptance to change are indeed deep. For instance, […]
Traditional reinsurance companies have always made attempts to minimize risks associated with their business. Most reinsurance companies look at themselves as companies that hold on to risk on behalf of their peers. There are very few reinsurance companies that made investments in insurtech in the early stages of the industry. The few reinsurers which did […]
Leadership is both an art and a science. For actualizing effective and efficacious leadership, leaders must first articulate a vision, lay down a mission, communicate the vision and the mission to all the relevant stakeholders, implement the same, and ensure that feedback is sought and incorporated for the next iteration. Further, leadership is situational which means that more often than not, leaders are made according to the circumstances in which they find themselves.
During tumultuous times, there is a scope for change as well as the possibility of disasters happening that result in chaotic conditions prevailing during these times. Hence, the leadership of a nation or an organization must ensure that change is “managed” in an orderly and structured manner to avoid the disasters from happening.
For instance, the carnage that happened in post-Invasion Iraq is an example of disasters happening by intention or by accident when the residents of a nation or the employees of a company are faced with the prospect of rapid and discontinuous change.
The key terms here are “rapid” and “discontinuous” as the rapidity of change and the non-linear way in which it happens leads to the “law of unintended consequences” becoming operational and hence the change must be managed in such a way that it is glacial and controlled.
The telling style of leadership is characterized by a one-way communication between the leader and the followers wherein the former sets the context and the expectations from the group. Some leaders in family owned businesses have to deal with the legacy left behind by their forbearers as well as leave behind their distinctive style of leadership. Towards this end, some family business leaders such as Ratan Tata of the TATA group have ensured that they articulated their vision for their companies that had huge ambitions and plans for global expansion.
The literature on leadership and situational leadership in particular is clear that it is not enough to have a vision without translating it into actionable strategies. Research has shown that this style is characterized by a two-way communication between the leaders and the followers wherein both are influenced by each other and buy-into each others’ strategies.
Further, this style also corresponds to the leader being comfortable in his or her role. In this respect, business leaders such as Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic have ensured that the adoption of technology was done in a big way to further their vision of their companies needing to build internal capabilities which are aligned to the external drivers such as the imperative to expand globally.
The situational leadership is evolutionary in nature meaning that it is based on the progression of the leader through successive phases in his or her leadership. Having said that, the theory also states that some leaders tend to conform to one or more styles better than the other style(s). This is applicable in the case of the late Steve Jobs of Apple who is known more for his transitional, transformative, and trailblazing leadership rather than his participation in day to day running of the company.
The fourth style of leadership according to the model is that of a leader who does not direct and monitor the day to day running of the company and is instead, engaged in higher value adding processes. For instance, Bull Gates who delegated much of the work that he was initially engaged in now began to focus on global plans for the company especially at a time when the global macroeconomic environment was unfavourable.
The four competencies of leadership as described by Warren Bennis are:
In our personal experience, we have seen these competencies in dealing with groups by utilizing the collective energies of the group to articulate a vision as well as ensure that the objectives set forth for the group has meaning.
More importantly, building trust is essential to the success of the group and hence many leaders make efforts to build the team in a combat situation. Finally, unless the team members have a healthy dose of self-esteem by way of pep talks and leading by example, the efficacy of the team in crisis situations becomes corroded.
The two presidents that we have selected for comparison are President Bush Jr. and President Obama. These two presidents are so “unlike” each other in their leadership styles. For instance, President Bush was more of a “gut feel” player who instinctively could sense the other person’s character and nature whereas President Obama is more of a leader who relies on rational analysis and careful consideration of the merits and demerits of proceeding on a particular course of action.
Further, President Obama relies more on rhetorical skills and oratory to lead compared with President Bush who was more evangelical in his approach.
To reduce the commitment gap in the organization, the team members in the military must be properly trained and motivated. Since the job of the military is to defend one’s country and participate in highly stressful combat operations, it is necessary for the members of the military to be highly motivated and focused on the job at hand. This requires consistent effort by the top leadership in leading by example as well as increased rewards for those whose job entails taking significant risks. Finally, commitment from the military is also increased by making them involved in the entire process and ensuring that they get to see the big picture as opposed to tunnel vision
Bennis, W. (2003). On Becoming a Leader. New York: Basic Books.
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