The chameleon organization – dealing with effective leadership and organizational change

Dr. Glenn Strange

In today’s busy world, it is vital that Company executives understand the implications of organizational change and how their leadership style impacts same. An effective leadership style can influence the way an organization behaves, resulting in better operational performance, increased growth and better profits. However, is good management practice enough, given the increasing complexities of organizational structures, mergers and demergers, and the increasing push towards globalization? This article explores the changes that are taking place and how we look towards addressing leadership style in this changing environment.

An Introduction

In the late 1970’s it was generally accepted that business organizations would generally undergo some form of major change at least once per year, with a major change about once every four or five years. Moving some thirty years on, owing to the advancements in technology and overall performance level improvements, the model has considerably changed. Major changes are now much more frequent and it is estimated that up to 70% of new business programs are subject failure – ranging from technology implementations, cultural improvement programs to dealing with the implications of business mergers and demergers. A lot of the resulting analysis has been pointed towards a lack of effective business leadership – considering only proactive, forward thinking executives have the capacity to initiate successful strategic change. Without successful alignment between strategic plans and program/project management, the organization will have little chance of managing successful change.

Despite the many Business Schools and MBA programs addressing Executive Leadership potential, it still remains an elusive concept. Very few studies have been conducted that examine the relationship between specific leadership characteristics and effective outcomes in organizational change. The challenge increases as Organizations push for inclusive market awareness in the context of the global economy.

Important Leadership Values

There are numerous authors that have explored taxonomies of leadership but Quinn’s competing Values framework is amongst the better approaches to explore the attributes of effective organizational leadership. [ Description available – The 8 leadership characteristics, Quinn, Faerman, Thompson and McGrath 1996 ]
Leadership roles examined from the perspective of:

Leadership Role Associated Behavior
The Broker Maintenance of external legitimacy and obtaining external resources
The Co-Coordinator Maintaining the structure and flow of the system
The Director Hard driving, no nonsense, take control
The Facilitator Collective effort, builds team cohesion, manages conflict situations
The Innovator Facilitates adaption and change
The Mentor Develops and cares for people through empathy, orientation and learning
The Monitor Understands the business and ensures compliance to rules and regulations
The Producer Task oriented, work focused, high interest, motivation energy and self driven

Examine your leadership style in relation to Quinn’s model of behavior.

The Organizational implications of leadership

Maria Hacker of Oregon State University and Marvin Washington of Texas Tech University published some interesting findings at the 19th Conference of the Institute of Industrial Engineers in 2003.

There are distinct competencies or skills associated with three leadership characteristics:
Brokers: These are expected to be politically astute, persuasive, influential and powerful. They will have the skills to maintain a power base, negotiate commitments and be creative in the presentation of ideas
Innovators: These are expected to be clever, creative and clever visionaries who can predetermine innovations and package ideas or concepts in an inviting way so as to convince others of the merits
Co-Coordinators: Have the required skills in order to ensure that a project or program is managed successfully over the organization. They have the capacity to carry this out in a methodical and systematic manner.
The study found that Executive strength or weakness in any of these three areas will have a profound impact on the ability to implement major projects or programs. [ program being defined as a portfolio of projects ]

Research indicated that business leaders fail 50% of the time within the first phases of a program of change. Some of the reasons indicated showed:
• Inability to motivate and gain co-operation of people deemed critical to the process
• Inability for Executives (leaders) being able to convince others of the need for change and thereby gain inclusion into that process
• The Executive failing to have, in the context of his team, the skills for the Broker, Innovator and Co-Coordinator

Looking for the attributes of a successful leader

There are no hard and fast rules here but research does show some common threads over varying organizational cultures:
• Intelligence : Ability to grasp new ideas and good problem solving ability, able to control stressful situations in a methodical manner
• Technical Ability : In depth knowledge of the organizations business and industry market place
• Emotional : Strong self-discipline with capacity to develop strong business and people relationships
• Adapts : Flexible attitude towards changing situations, learns from experiences, listens and responds to feedback, adjusts quickly to new and changing circumstances
• Successful : Track record of success and achievements

Building the leadership pipeline

In order to cater for organizational change it is necessary to build up a strong leadership pipeline – a system that will drive strategic objectives, business values and organizational goals. An effective leadership pipeline should focus the organization Executive on the following aims:

• Gain a firm understanding of the businesses strategic position and what organizational priorities are contained therein
• Maintain a clear focused vision on their own work and the strategic objectives of the Company
• Develop those critical skills that are essential to achieving the strategic objectives and goals of the Company

Bibliography

Wilcox, Martin and Stephenson Rush (eds), The CCL Guide to Leadership in Action, Jossey-Bass, 2004

Watkins, Michael, The First 90 days critical success strategies for new leaders at all levels, Harvard Business School Press 2003

Golerman, Daniel What makes a leader, Harvard Business Review Jan 2004

Conger, Jay and Fulmer Robert M Developing your leadership pipeline, Harvard Business Review December 2003

Bennis, Warren G The Seven ages of the leader Harvard Business Review Jan 2004

Jacobs, Dianne, In search of future leaders, Human Resources Magazine, March 8th 2005

Morton, Lynne, Talent Management Value imperatives, The Conference Board Research Report 2005