Creative Leadership

I have been distracted by last week’s exam for a module on creativity, innovation and change! I am so glad to have written that exam.

To top off the theories of leadership, I feel that it will be appropriate to look at this important issue from the viewpoint of creativity and in particular what it means to be a creative leader. B822 is full of examples of creative leaders that have contributed so much to their organisations from the reclusive Darwin Smith of Kimberley Clark to the extraverted Steve Jobs. One thing is for sure, these leaders shared determination and drive to make enduring changes in their organisations and industry.

 A number of authors have commented on the special status of creative leaders and how they manage differently from other leaders. Kanter (1991) argues that these individuals’ posses what she calls a ‘kaleidoscope view’. She compares this to their ability to possess a number of viewpoints, question assumptions, rearrange their thinking and most importantly be comfortable with holding conflicting perspectives.

 Ross (2005) articulates the concept of ‘distributed leadership. This is in stark contrast to the traditional command and control supervision with its emphasis on control and monitoring of staff. The author underlines the relevance of this type of leadership in today’s knowledge economy where the work of professionals is not amenable to traditional supervision. Barry (1991) further cautions against what he calls ‘person centred approaches’ of leadership and how they can undermine knowledge workers by injecting group dynamics and politics into the workplace.

 Creative leaders are however not without critics. Reich (1989) disparages what he calls ‘heroic individual’ as the typical stereotype of creative leadership. He calls for a different mode of leadership in this circumstances; one based on a state of collective entrepreneurship and multi -professional teams relying upon the talent and creativity of all employees in the organisation. Collins and Porras (2001) caution against what they refer to as ‘great leaders making great stories'. These authors however compare leadership using a number of levels with the best leaders achieving a ‘level 5 leadership'. They argue that level 5 leaders combine’ intense personal humility with extreme professional will’. For example they use the example of how Darwin Smith turned around the fortunes of Kimberly Clark whilst staying away from the limelight. This was in contrast to the publicity seeking Lee Iacoca who became too important to leave his post at Chrysler but eventually ignored the company whilst he pursued personal fame.

 Ultimately these authors underline the importance of vision, charisma and drive in leadership but they also offer a simplified view to the complexity of what makes a creative person provide leadership in a successful organisation. More research is required in how this type of leadership is different from the hard nosed notion of managing business performance and whether this is simply a type of fad that disguises the difficult leadership style of entrepreneurs.

References

Barry, D. (1991) ‘Managing the Bossless Team: Lessons in distributed Leadership’, Organisational Dynamics, Vol.20, No. 1.  

 Collins, J.C (2001) ‘Level 5 Leadership’, Harvard Business Review, 79, 1 (January)

 Kanter, R.M (1991) ‘Change-master skills: what it takes to be creative’ in Henry, J. and Walker, D (1991)

 Reich, R.B. (1987) ‘Entrepreneurship reconsidered: the team as hero’, Harvard Business Review, May-June.

 Ross, L., Rix, M and Gold, J (2005) ‘Learning Distributed Leadership: Part 1, Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 37, No. 3.

Leadership

As part of TMA02, I have been researching theories of leadership and surprised to discover that Fielder's (1976) contingency theory of leadership is still relevant in the present day. This theory posits that the relationship between a leadership style and leadership is contingent upon the situation. The deficiency of this theory is however in its assumption that the situation determines who will emerge as a leader. Furthermore Fielder's theory uses the LPC measure and it is unclear what how this really measures the aspects of leadership. Whilst this theory has significantly contributed to the development of leadership as a subject, more research is required to understand how attitudes and behaviours affect leadership.

Reference

Fiedler, F. E. (1967) A Theory of Leadership Effectiveness, New York: McGraw-Hill.

Meeting with important stakeholders

I have had a number of productive meetings with a number of influential actors over the last few days. Due to the sensitive nature of my initiative, I am unable to say a lot about what happened but it looks extremely promising.

Stakeholders

Today I reviewed an article by Ackermann and Eden (1998) where they argue stakeholders only matter when they have influence and power to directly affect the organisation's future. This reminds me of the resource dependence theory (Mitchell et al, 1997) during my Strategy course (B820). This theory argues that organisations should only pay attention to those stakeholders that contribute significant resources to the organisation. This has however all sorts of ethical dilemmas for all types of stakeholders. Hosmer (1994) suggests that by bringing ethics back into the strategic planning process; stakeholders’ interests and rights will be ethically addressed by senior executives in the decision making process.


I realise that Freeman's (1984) definition of stakeholders as 'any group or an individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organisation's objectives' is far more appropriate for the purpose of my project. This is to enable me build long term support and commitment from a diverse range of stakeholders in my organisation. For example Lippit and Lippit (1984) categorise what they call the 'client' as target, leverage and beneficiary clients. Here the focus is on prioritising which stakeholders to engage with during different times of a project. On the other hand, Neuman et al (1997) emphasise involving what they term as 'significant organisational actors' during the planning and negotiation stage of a project to reduce resistance to change and build a coalition of supporters. However this assertion fails to capture the views of other equally important 'actors' whose influence and importance can change over time.


Ultimately, an organisation must develop a range of strategies to engage with different stakeholders irrespective of their importance to ensure long term success and survival.


Reference


Eden, C. and Ackermann, F. (1998) Making Strategy: The journey of strategic management. London


Freeman, R.E (1984) Strategic Management: A stakeholder approach, Boston, MA, Harpers Collins


Hosmer, L.T. (1994) 'Strategic planning as if ethics mattered', Strategic Management Journal


Lippit, R. and Lippit, G. (1984) 'Consulting roles' in R.J. Lee and A.M. Freedman (eds) Consultation Skills Reading, Arlington. Virginia.


Mitchell, R.K., Agle, B.R. and Woods, D.J (1997) 'Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: defining the principle of who and what really counts', Academy of Management Review


Neumann, J.E (1997) in (eds) Neumann, J.E., Kellner, K. and Dawson-Shepherd, A., Developing Organisational Consultancy, Routledge

Hierarchy of objectives

I have just read an interesting article by Granger(1964) on the importance of viewing objectives as a whole framework or complex aims and other guiding considerations. This article provides the basis for validating the objectives of my EBI and how they link with the overall objectives of my organisation.

Of thoughts and Reflections

The purpose of this blog is to capture my journey as I progress in the final stages of my Open University MBA. This will also enable me to critically reflect on my own learning and development as a manager.

I have previously been recording my thoughts and reflections using a personal diary but I found that this was a cumbersome and inconvenient way of capturing my experiences. I hope this will be a more useful medium as I intend to use this for the duration of my course.