Leaders have been studied throughout history and social psychology. One of the pervading findings of sociologists, historians and social psychologists is that what leadership should be depends largely on the specific situation, the task to be performed, and the characteristics of the leader’s followers. A main reason why so many different theories on leadership exist is that different researchers focus on different elements. Despite this, we tend to treat leadership in a vacuum instead of specifying what the leader’s relationship to the organization is at any given time. While the nature of organizations will without doubt change in the future, as we already see it happening today, the challenges of creating, building, maintaining, and changing organizations to new forms will basically remain the same.
Creating: The Leader as Animator A unique leadership function is to provide the energy required to get the organization off the ground. A lot has been said about the vision of entrepreneurs, but not enough is stated about the enormous energy they display as they try to create innovative approaches one after the other, facing repeated failures, in their efforts to sustain their enterprise. It is a kind of energy that motivates the entrepreneur and creates excitement in others. * Building: The Leader as a Creator of Culture The moment an organization sustains itself, the leader’s beliefs, values and basic assumptions are transferred to the mental behavior of its members. The leader’s personality becomes embedded in the entire culture of the organization. It imbibes the subordinates to its way of thinking and feeling.
Maintaining: The Leader as a Sustainer of Culture History has shown that successful organizations attract imitators, who eventually become successful competitors. The creators and builders of the organization often waver at this stage. What was obvious in the young organization - the bravura and the compulsive vision of its founders - becomes a detriment as the organization needs to stabilize itself.This is the period where we think of institutionalization, where we identify successful components and give them permanence and stability.
Changing: The Leader as Change Agent As the rate of change in the technological, economic, political and socio-cultural environment increases, the very strengths that were institutionalized can become liabilities. At this stage, there is a need for leaders to think as change agents, because the concern is no longer confined to learning new skills and concepts, but also the need to unlearn things that are no longer relevant to the organization. The crucial point to understand here is that the leader must be able to evolve culture by building on its strengths and letting its weaknesses degenerate over time.
A Look Toward the Future The one thing that is becoming more clear is that the institutions of the pat may be outmoded and that new ways for governance and leadership may have to be learned. As the rate change increases, learning power may not consist of one time learning of a new system; continuous learning and change will be the only constant. And it takes learning competence and personal flexibility to evolve and change organizations.
The author: Henry S. Tenedero is the president of the Center for Learning and Teaching Styles, an affiliate of the International Learning Styles Network, based at St. John’s University in New York.
source : manila bulletin
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