“The final requirement of a leader is to earn trust. Trust is the conviction that the leader means what he says…a leader’s actions and a leader’s professed beliefs must be congruent, or at least compatible. Effective leadership—-and again this is very old wisdom—is not based on being clever; it is based primarily on being consistent.” (Peter Drucker)
The Study of Leadership
As a concept, leadership has been around for thousand years (Management Extra, 2007) and studied from different angles depending on researcher’s operational definition and preferred methodology (Hartman, 1995). Some researchers were trying to find the contrast between leaders and managers and some trying to define the specific traits for a leader to be effective. The theory grew to a more contemporary idea that links the strength of leadership behaviours, the relationship between leaders and the followers, and the interaction within a context and situation (Strang, 2005 in Wells and Peachey, 2010). Stem from opinions and propositions, the idea keeps growing with various moderating, intervening, and dependent variables.
The Definition of Leadership
I am not going to write another definition in this article because they are already too much. Each management guru, like Peter Drucker, John Adair, Jack Welch, Rudolph Giuliani, and Peter Scholtes has their own definition of leadership. If you search ‘leadership definition’ in Google, you will find 15 different definitions of leaders and leadership in a single website. There are several features they have in common; visionary, consistency, and ability to motivate others. Lao Tse even moved further by saying that a leader must not seek credits over what he had done. As an invisible catalyst, the leader walks beyond word and replaces it with deeds. Though things would not get done well if he weren't there, when they succeed, he takes no credit.
The Context
What I am about to write is not entirely based on scientific evidences, international articles or published books. It is mainly observation, experience and opinion from others and me. Why do I consider my opinion as the right one? I do and I don’t. My opinion is right for me, however, I can’t claim it as right for others since people are fundamentally different and I will not force them to march along with my drummer.
Leadership Inconsistency
Greenberg and Baron (2005) stated that leaders tend to be task-oriented, relationship oriented, or managed to keep the balance between the two. A task-oriented leader emphasizes the importance of task completion, but it doesn’t mean that he ignore the interpersonal relationship with his subordinates. The concept applies the same way with a relationship-oriented leader. He might have strong emphasizes on relationship rather than the task, but still, as a leader, he needs to manage the achievements of his people.
In this paper, I still hold the conviction that there are personality traits which can make some leaders proofed to be more effective than the others. This is where my assumption began. A task-oriented leader, the one who criticizes and directs his people must have something called competence, a set of skills and knowledge about how to do the task in well manner. A relationship-oriented leader on the other hand, the one who can relate with his subordinates, must have a splendid character. Competence, character, and one more ingredient needed to create a great leader, consistency.
Consistency in this matter is not about managing meetings every Friday like some kind of clockwork or being stubborn of using the same leadership method in every occasion, forcing his cultural and educational background to others, thus ignoring the contingency theory. Denison Leadership Model defines consistency as modelling values and behaviour that create alignment across organization. My operational definition of consistency for leaders is aligning their inner values and behaviour like what Peter Drucker said.
When a leader said that he wanted his people to work in teams, while he was doing his own individual project without including others, then his people will be confused. They don’t know what to expect from their leader and it was (in my personal experience) frustrating. Cremer (2003) in European Journal of Social Psychology even mentioned that inconsistent leader is considered as procedurally unfair and he creates the feeling of uncertainty about oneself in ongoing interpersonal interactions.
I quote a sentence from Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the greatest leaders in Japan. He stated, “Great leaders can be wrong, but they cannot be unclear. A steadfast, focused vision of the future- one that inspires hope and confidence among followers- is the mark of true leadership”. I could work with a strict leader, a demanding one, or a slowpoke, but I couldn’t adjust my behavior to follow someone who has no standpoint, someone whose words are as dependable as an umbrella in a storm system.
What other danger an inconsistent leadership could pose? A research by Wells and Peachey (2010) found direct negative relationship between leadership behaviors with employee’s turnover intentions. Furthermore, they said that voluntary organizational turnover is often dysfunctional and can be detrimental to organizations (Mobley, 1982). For instance, several studies in sport management have found negative effects of voluntary turnover on organizational performance (Hill, 2009; Salomo and Teichmann, 2000; White et al., 2007). So, unfair behavior leads to turnover intentions which can be a prediction of voluntary turnover and at the very end, organization performance is suffered.
Someday, we will become a leader (or already are) and we must remember that if we are being inconsistent, then our subordinate will confused, unable to adjust their behavior to us, and feel that they are being treated unfairly. One thing leads to another and the organization is the one who will receive an enormous negative impact.
Hill, G.C. (2009), “The effect of frequent managerial turnover on organizational performance: a study of professional baseball managers”, The Social Science Journal, Vol. 46, pp. 557-70.
Salomo, S. and Teichmann, K. (2000), “The relationship of performance and managerial succession in the German premier football league”, European Journal for Sport Management, Vol. 7, pp. 99-119.
White, P., Persad, S. and Gee, C.J. (2007), “The effect of mid-season coach turnover on team performance: the case of the National Hockey League (1989-2003)”, International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, Vol. 2, pp. 143-52.
Wells, J. and Peachey, J. 2011. “Turnover intentions: Do leadership behaviors and satisfaction with the leader matter?”. Team Performance Management Vol. 17 No. 1/2, 2011 pp. 23-40
Greenberg, J. and Baron, R. 2005. Behavior in Organizations. Prentice Hall of India; Eighth edition.
Nidya
(very late post, sorry)
Nidya
(very late post, sorry)
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