Defining Leadership
Leadership has been defined in many ways by political leaders, business executives, social scientists and educationalists in their own way. Though there are differences in opinions all consensuses at one point that leadership is important in all spheres of life.
A simple definition of leadership is that leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal.
Put even more simply, the leader is the inspiration and director of the action. He or she is the person in the group that possesses the combination of personality and skills that makes others want to follow his or her direction.
While there are people who seem to be naturally endowed with more leadership abilities than others, there are people who can learn to become leaders by concentrating on improving particular leadership skills.
Styles of Leadership
Participative Leader
A Participative Leader seeks to involve other people in the process, possibly including subordinates, peers, superiors and other stakeholders. Often, however, as it is within the managers’ whim to give or deny control to his or her subordinates, most participative activity is within the immediate team. Government organisations follow similar style.
Free rein
In this style, the leader allows the employees to make the decision. However, the leader is still responsible for the decisions that are made. This is used when employees are able to analyze the situation and determine what needs to be done and how to do it. This is not a style to use so that you can blame others when things go wrong, rather this is a style to be used when you have the full trust and confidence in the people below you. This is usually adopted in scientific research centers.
Autocratic Leader
This form of leadership is one of the least desirable when it comes to building trusting relationships and making friends. In a system of autocratic leadership, one person has control over all of the workers or followers. The leader is in complete control and no one is permitted to make any suggestions or offer any opinions, no matter how it may benefit the group.
But there is a time when autocratic traits can prove beneficial. This form of leadership is effective when absolute control is needed over a group.
Benefits of Autocratic Leadership
Though not accepted much in puritan management circles, autocratic leadership is extremely useful when it comes to group tasks. It is also useful when quick decisions are required. This is a style that has uplifted underdeveloped countries to the main stream of development. For instance, the countries like China and Singapore progressed under this style of control.
However, the political system in China is much different from Singapore. China being a communist country, autocratic style can be practiced with ease whereas the latter is a democratic country and is not easy to practice such a style. Here, lies the importance of a leader who through his authoritarian style gave Singapore the tag of developed country – Lee Kuan Yew.
Lee Kuan Yew and Style of Leadership
Lee managed this miraculous transformation in Singapore’s economy while maintaining tight political control over the country; Singapore’s government can best be described as a “soft” authoritarian regime, and at times it has not been so soft. He was prime minister of Singapore from its independence in 1959 (it became part of a federation with Malaysia in 1963 but was expelled in 1965) until 1990.
Development of Leadership
Lee Kuan Yew was born in Singapore on September 16, 1923. He came from a middle class Chinese Hakka family which had been established in Singapore since his great grandfather migrated to the island in the mid-19th century..” In 1939 Lee sat for the Senior Cambridge Examination and emerged as the top student for the whole of Malaya.
The outbreak of World War II in Europe made him shelve his plans for further studies in England. He returned to Singapore and accepted a scholarship he had won to study economics, English literature, and mathematics at Raffles College, where he met his future wife, Kwa Geok Choo, and some of his future colleagues.
His political attitudes were largely influenced by his experiences during the Japanese occupation of the Second World War, when he resolved to make Singapore free for ever from foreign rule. This became his desire, and he decided, in his own words that his country “should not be the pawn and playthings of foreign powers.” It was a burning ambition that was to be realized earlier than he could possibly have imagined.
Lee described the impact of the Japanese occupation on him in the following way:
“I did not enter politics. The Japanese brought politics to me…. The Japanese occupying forces were blind and brutal and made me, and a whole generation like me, in Singapore and Malaya, work for freedom–freedom from servitude and foreign domination.”
Strengths
During his early college days in England he was exposed to the ideas of Fabian socialism. After the war, Lee went to England, enrolling first at the London School of Economics and then proceeding to Cambridge University, where he studied law. At Cambridge he established an excellent academic record and won a star for special distinction by graduating with a “double first”–that is, first class honors in his two crucial comprehensive examinations.
After returning to Singapore, he became the honorary legal adviser for several trade unions after being acquainted with their leaders and first caught the public eye in February 1952, when the Postal Workers Union succeeded, with his guidance, in obtaining important concessions from the colonial government.
Lee Kuan Yew founded the People’s Action Party in 1954, a leftist party that formed an alliance with the trade unionists. He was selected to Legislative Assembly in 1952 and became the first Prime Minister in 1959, which ended in 1990.
His speeches and writings are in fact powerful rhetorical and discursive tools that form part of an arsenal of instruments, ranging from suasion to legal force and other sanctions, summoned to shape Singapore and move the country in certain directions. They have different effects on the multitudinous segments that comprise society, inescapably weakening or contradicting other goals even by their very success.
Weaknesses
The overwhelming support within his party and also the brut majority of his party in the national parliament has made him an autocrat. Trade union rights were curbed and freedom of press was restricted. This is much criticized all over the world and he is known as an autocratic leader. Although this tactics paid high dividends in the initial stages of development, it invited resistance from the people at later stage.
Ideas, Visions and Opinions
Lee Kuan Yew had a vision to make Singapore as the “Switzerland of the East” by 1999.
Lee Kuan Yew and his colleagues needed the communists’ organisation among the Chinese-educated masses of Singapore if they were to win an election.
To consolidate his position among the Chinese majority, he educated his children in Chinese schools in stead of English.
Lee Kuan Yew said in late 1982, union leaders should “interpret government policies and relate them to the realities of workers’ attitudes and work habits” so that the unions “can play a more effective role to get our workers highly motivated and imbued with the ideals of continually increasing productivity”.
Challenges faced and Solution Strategies
Lee ran a very tight ship. He possessed the Chinese trait of strict discipline and obedience of orders. When he took office he found the political scene to be full of corruption and he stamped this out immediately. He accepted no argument or criticism, and had no hesitation in destroying anybody who stood against him. The way he cut out corruption was to make it illegal, and he appointed an agency that enforced these laws rigorously. He was a tenacious fighter who left anybody who opposed him beaten. He enforced strict discipline and complete intolerance of disobedience.
He possessed the Chinese way of strict discipline and intolerance of political dissent, and encouraged investment and private enterprise. He cooperated with communism when it suited him, but he was of a mildly anti-communist disposition. Under his tenure of office the transformation of Singapore was remarkable, and is today second only to Japan in average income per head of population.
Views about America
“As an East Asian looking at America, I find attractive and unattractive features. I like, for example, the free, easy and open relations between people regardless of social status, ethnicity or religion. And the things that I have always admired about America, as against the communist system, I still do: a certain openness in argument about what is good or bad for society; the accountability of public officials; none of the secrecy and terror that’s part and parcel of communist government.”
Effects on his Opponents and Organisation
He was known for suing his opponents and bankrupting them wherever possible and of using the courts to settle personal disputes with political opponents. Open debate was not his forte, and he never sought public consensus for his policies.
Although he did so much for his country, Lee has been criticized for being autocratic, and it has been claimed that his economic success was won at the expense of civil liberties and an intolerance of opposition parties. Political demonstrations, for example, were outlawed unless a police permit had been obtained, and the freedom of the pres was severely restricted. However, Lee points to his results as justification.
In 1990, he stepped down from the prime minister’s post. However, he retained a position in politics, and assumed the position of Senior Minister in an advisory capacity. In 2004 he stood down from that position to take up a newly created position of Senior Mentor.
Practical application of Influence Tactics
The key to leadership is influence, which is transaction by which a person or a group is induced by another person or group to act in conformance with the influencing agent’s expectations. There are three major elements in the process:
- Agent exerting the influence.
- Method of exertion of influence.
- Agent subject to the influence.
Exercise of influence is an integral component of organizational life, and influence is often seen as a key to leadership. A commonly accepted definition of leadership holds that “leadership is a relational concept implying two terms: the influence agent and the person influenced. Every act of influence on a matter of organizational relevance is in some degree an act of leadership”.
Lee adopted different tactics to overcome various difficult situations following the dictum “different people need different stroke”.
Leader-Member Exchange Theory
Leader-Member Exchange Theory, also called LMX or Vertical Dyad Linkage Theory, describes how leaders in groups maintain their position through a series of tacit exchange agreements with their members.
LMX is positively related to consultation, collaboration, inspirational appeals, rational persuasion, apprising, ingratiation, and is negatively correlated to power tactics.
Influence is exerted through power which leader may enjoy; such power is classified into five major categories:
- Reward Power: Leaders have the ability to reward their subordinates with pay raises and promotions control over employees that can affect employee behavior.
- Coercive power: Leaders can punish subordinates by firing them, by withholding promotions and raises and by keeping them in undesirable jobs.
- Legitimate power: derives from the organization’s formal power structure. The hierarchy of control legitimizes the right of the leader to direct and supervise the activities of followers and the duty of followers to accept that supervision.
- Referent power: refers to the degree to which employees identify with their leaders’ goals, accept those goals as their own and work with their leaders to achieve the goals.
- Expert power: refers to the extent to which leaders are perceived to have the skills necessary to attain the group’s goals. If employees recognize their leader’s expertise, then they are more likely to become willing and supportive subordinates.
Lee used LMX theory to influence his followers. His tactics included consultation, rational persuasion and inspirational appeal. He had exerted all the powers prescribed in the theory on his followers to make his vision, to make Singapore the Switzerland of the East, a reality. The powers exercised by him were reward, coercion, legitimacy, referent, and expert. He rewarded hardworking followers to the maximum extent and utilized coercion tactics to tackle his potential opponents. As a leader with mass appeal, he utilized his legitimate power and charisma to face the challenges and crush his opponents at very stage.
Leadership: Theory and Practice
Leading is something you can’t learn in the abstract. You’ve got to do it. There’s not always a choice as to who you’ll lead, and you have to be willing to change the how. The steady slogger who wants to be alone; the creative fireball who’s frequently missing; the expert with personal problems; all has contributions to make. They need different approaches to bring out their best, and you have to adapt the way you lead.
Since leadership style theory measures the behaviors of leaders, these are among the easiest competencies to develop. In order to improve on the style of initiating structure, choose the specific competency behaviors that are most closely related to the style of initiating structure from the list above. As you look into the specific ideas of each competency, identify specific behaviors that you can try that will increase your competence in this area. Make sure to seek feedback from subordinates and others about how you are doing in improving your task-oriented behaviors.
Some of the successful businessman and political leaders feel that leadership is and inborn quality and cannot be learned in business schools. They infer that there is a wide gap between theory and practice, but they fail to understand that the leadership theory is based on the practice of successful leaders that has been codified as a management science. Like any theory there is always an exception to the rules. No styles can be put over the other considering its acceptability. Democratic style is accepted world wide and autocratic style is criticized as much, since it infringes civil liberties of the people.
There are, however, some instances where an autocratic style of leadership may not be inappropriate. Some situations may call for urgent action, and in these cases an autocratic style of leadership may be best. In addition, most people are familiar with autocratic leadership and therefore have less trouble adopting that style. Furthermore, in some situations, subordinates may actually prefer an autocratic style.
Steps of Improvement
The principle of colleagueship: Individuals listen to and follow the lead of respected colleagues. Lee never followed this principle and hence management scientist dubbed him as an autocrat. He may adopt this theory for better leadership.
Principle of fairness
Individuals desire fair treatment: The notion of fairness is a critical ingredient of how workers feel about their job, organization and leader. Lee practiced strict autocratic style, often forgetting the value of fairness treatment even towards his opponents.
He should have adopted benevolent autocratic leadership style instead of non-compromising autocratic style.
References
Defining Leadership. Web.
Characteristics of a Leader. Web.
Styles of Leadership. Web.
Participative Leader. Web.
Free rein. Web.
Autocratic Leader. Web.
Benefits of Autocratic Leadership. Web.
View about America. Web.
Practical application of Influence Tactics. Web.
Leader-Member Exchange Theory. Web.
Leadership: Theory and Practice. Web.
Other References. Web.
Personnel Management : Text and Cases – C.B. Mamoria, S.V. Gankar Journals.
Lee Kuan Yew’s Fabian Phase, By Michael D. Barr – author. Journal Title: The Australian Journal of Politics and History. Volume: 46. Issue: 1. 2000. Page Number: 110.
Development of Labour Organisation in Singapore, 1800-1960. By Carl A. Trocki – author. Journal Title: The Australian Journal of Politics and History. Volume: 47. Issue: 1. 2001. Page Number: 115
Trade Unions in an Elitist Society: The Singapore Story, By Michael D. Barr – author. Journal Title: The Australian Journal of Politics and History. Volume: 46. Issue: 4. 2000. Page Number: 480.
Influence: A key to Successful Leadership, By Wayne K. Hoy, Page A. Smith.
Leadership Quarterly, 7(l), 1099132, 110 LEADERSHIP QUARTERLY Vol. 7 No. 1 1996.