MBA 9008

Managing and leading people at work

Individual Assignment

Name: Kiran Bhagat

“I certify that this assignment contains no material which has been

accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any
university or equivalent institution, and that, to the best of my
knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or
written by another person, except where due reference is made in
the text of the assignment.”

_____________________

Kiran Bhagat

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IT IS NO SECRET that human, not financial, capital must be the starting point

and ongoing foundation of a successful strategy and success largely revolves

around people, not capital (Barber, Felix & Strack, Rainer, 2005).

Many companies seem to claim that people are their most important assets,

but few of these companies have built any processes, cultures or systems that

reflect the human importance. People are more capable than organisations

perceive them to be, but only if they are made to unleash their full potential of

creativity, innovation, motivation and commitment.

Senior managers’ at most traditional companies have been left gasping for air

at the breadth and rapidity of change during the last 2 decades and have had

to alter their longstanding, deeply embedded mindset that capital is the critical

strategic resource to be managed and their key responsibility should centre

on its acquisition, allocation and effective use. Based on the changes in the

last few years, HR management has become a key component in the design,

development and delivery of company strategy as companies move into the

war for talent (Michaels, Handfield-Jones & Axelrod, 2001) and as individuals

with specialised knowledge, skills and expertise are recognised as a scarce

resource.

Traditionally leaders viewed employees as individuals to be controlled,

manipulated and often disposable in order to achieve one’s goals. They

continue to treat employees as raw-materials to be acquired and only

acknowledged when the organisation is doing well. They do not recognise the

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fact that talent management and motivating people are central to the

operations of any company that wishes to succeed.

The traditional leaders operate in a ‘people-using’ environment, described

more as a dictator style of leadership, where the leader pits his needs before

the needs to his employees (Dannhauser, 2007). People-using is a

bureaucratic culture and is hierarchical and compartmentalized. There are

clear lines of authority and is power oriented, regulated with explicit rules and

regulations.

‘People-using’ style of leadership could work well in free-agency model of

leadership, where individuals are expected to watch out for themselves,

employment turnover rate is well over 25-30% and move at a moment’s notice

as seen in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s with the IT boom is well accepted.

The managers managed this process through change and an adaptive

approach.

‘People-using’ style of leadership is also very common in a sub-contractor

model of business, where businesses are not dependent on their own

employees. Managers do not feel that they need to train, motivate current

staff and recruit the best in the industry as this forms an implicit cost for the

organisation. The managers believe in outsourcing core-business processes

and promote motivation by fear.

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The question is whether this style of leadership is valid in today’s fast moving

environment and how can a company be at an advantage whose core

processes are in the hands of people with little loyalty and lesser commitment.

A decade ago, management consultancy McKinsey published ‘The war for

talent’ and predicted the most successful firms would be those that made

attracting, developing and retaining their key staff as a major strategic priority.

Modern management have a key role to play in developing team members or

risk loosing them to progressive rival firms and elevate talent to corporate

priority. ‘People-building’ is a more innovative and supportive culture within an

organisation and is described as trusting, encouraging, relation-ship oriented

and collaborative (Dannhauser, 2007). It provides for a creative place to work

filled with challenge and risk.

In ‘people-building’ the core task of top-level management in developing the

company’s human capital for sustainable competitive advantage is: training,

looking in-ward and talent management.

• Training can prove hugely beneficial to an organisation to invest in

existing employees and working to improve their skill set. Apart from

the obvious time and money savings there are numerous other aspects

that can impact on the corporate performance. Employees that see a

career progression will be prepared to commit more deeply to the

enterprise. It also will instil the wider perception that as other advance,

the gaps they leave will create promotion opportunities for their

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 immediate delegates and have a domino effect across the organisation

(Altman, 2008).

Motivation forms an integral part of training and is a way of keeping

employees within the organisation. A true leader will motivate by

example and by vision.

• Looking-inward – businesses can move forward by optimising the

contribution of existing management, staff and workforces. It is a fact,

that job rotation can help in discovering unsung talent in existing staff

and is less costly that recruiting and introducing new personnel.

Finding existing staff is more about supporting individuals and teams

on their developmental journey – helping them become the people they

want to be and help achieve the success they aspire to (Seymour,

2008).

• Talent-management is reaching to the hearts and minds of individuals

and organisations that wish to achieve success. Implementing Quality

Management systems, customer service and OH&S standards define

steps and outline a process to manage talent. When accompanied with

culture, beliefs and leadership that are committed to enhancing their

behaviour and attitudes, individuals join in feeling that they can

contribute to the success of the organisation. Talent-management is

one of the hardest attributes for commercial competitors to replicate

(Thorne and Pellant, 2007).

Future success for any organisation lies in accessing and understanding the

value of human capital currently available and preparing the same for the

future. The future performance will depend on the thoroughness and vigour of

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today’s succession planning and this was strongly recognised as early as

1970 when Robert K. Greenleaf coined the philosophy of ‘Servant-leadership’

that examines the characteristics of the effective leader. Greenleaf develops

the ‘leaders need followers’ theme and maintains that leaders can achieve

and sustain their positions only by having followers and developing them. The

characteristics outlined in the ‘The Servant Leader’ (1970): listening, empathy,

awareness, foresight, commitment and building community all form part of

great leadership. As Servant-leaders they find better ways to serve employees

and customers alike and in the process form new levels of capacity. Greenleaf

understood that the hierarchical face of business had to change.

The institutions in which servant-leadership leads are ‘people-building’

organisations. The leaders believe, the time spent with people is an

investment and believes in developing people that follow him/her as they are

the best resources. The leader believes in inspiring and leading followers to

developing and leading other leaders. People crave a culture where

individuals truly care for each other, where people are treated respectfully and

encouraged in their personal growth, where customers and workers are

treated fairly, and where leaders are trusted to serve the needs of the majority,

rather than a select few (Greenleaf, 1970).

True leaders also recognise that it is their responsibility to set out a tone from

the top of the organisation to ensure ‘People-building’ are adhered to

throughout the organisation and at all levels. To ensure this, leaders also take

initiative and do what needs to be done rather then waiting for someone else

to do something (Responsibility for Choices). Leaders are authentic; they lead

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by visible example, fostering openness, continuous feedback (Authenticity)

and are passionate and build strong commitment through involvement and

ownership (Passion and Commitment). Leaders lead with heart, rouse team

or organizational spirit (Spirit and Meaning) and help people grow through

strong coaching and continuous development (Growing and Developing).

Finally, leaders energize people by building strong teams, inspiring and

serving (Mobilizing and Energizing) (Clemmer, 2003).

To move towards a ‘People-building’ culture within the organisation, managers

make a commitment to find intentional ways of discovering peoples potential

and good work. They also acknowledge that excellence in performance is

hidden and that it takes personal interest in personal achievement to build a

learning/working community.

Managers find ways to build strong communities within organisations by

cultural changes as they understand that the community shapes human lives;

they publicly recognise others for the accomplishments achieved within and

outside the organisation. Managers also treat mistakes as learning

experiences and are “never punishable events” and their greatest asset is to

acknowledge that work exists for the person as much as the person exists for

the work (Greenleaf, 1970).

Conclusions

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Every organisation evolves and grows around the vision, skills and

enthusiasm of its leaders and managers and they need to plan their strategy

and have a succession plan for the future. To build a successful organisation,

the new paradigm is to focus on retaining and developing key staff and build

people to move into leadership roles.

Some leaders achieve distinction for a short-time ‘gimmicks’ by providing

raises, bonuses and profit-haring based on annual results; but this is not a

happy achievement and eminence so derived does not last long. They need

to provide training, build a culture where people care for each other and

model an environment of growth through caring, support, trust and ensuring

that people have the right set of tools and opportunities within the

organisation.

“Caring for persons, the more able and the less able serving each other, is the

rock upon which a good society is built.” (Greenleaf, cited in Frick & Spears,

1996, p. 1)

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