Abstract
Large multinational corporations in the contemporary business environment have a strong focus on leadership as the external environment places pressure on sustainability of their business models, based solely on the downstream advantages. With the growing complexity of the business, HRM became a paramount strategic element of the organizations, where leadership development and retention build on the core of business competitiveness. Many companies in the modern environment recognize the role of human capital in building productive and efficient internal environment and creating rare and inimitable assets. At the same time, there are numerous barriers that can be seen in the contemporary business environment that prevent these companies from building an efficient and self-sustainable leadership development system. These barriers are varied and difficult to identify, but such issues as general confusion between the leadership and management, failure to link theory of leadership to the reality of the company and excessive hierarchical layers in organizations lead to major structural mistakes in large multinational corporation.
Theoretical research on leadership and the theories, related to the leadership personality and behavioural patterns along with an interpretive study, conducted with the employees and ex-employees of a large multinational company A.P.Moller-Maersk were conducted to analyse the existing concepts and build on a new model of leadership that, among other objectives, aims to enact management and leadership and give continuity to the framework of organizational learning. The study explores the gap between the need of the company for leadership and management resources and the focus of leadership development programs and mentoring practices.
The study found that company that is able to distinguish major milestones in leadership development, which were comprised in the following four active definitions: contributor, organizer, catalyst and builder, as they correspond to the theoretical leadership level of “leading self”, “leading others”, “leading leaders” and “leading the organization” benefits from diminishing and, at times eliminating the gap between actual and needed leadership resources in the company. Moreover, understanding of the practical application and use of behavioural leadership study and personality attributes allows companies building on solid and sustainable change and crisis management.
The wider findings of this study outline the important role of cultural and ethnical differences in the “reading” of leadership and general behavioural and emotional attributes of individuals in leadership positions. With that in mind, further studies, which involve analysis of cultural aspects of leadership and diversity are required to extend and enhance the findings of the current study.
Introduction
Background of the Research
An analysis of the organizations involves evaluation of the individual and group behaviours, which can be seen from social, business and even political perspectives. The reality of the contemporary business environment illustrates that companies are complex mechanisms, where working environment plays a tremendous role in individual motivation and determines the degree to which this mechanism can function effectively (Armstrong & Baron, 2002). A lot of research has been done to address and analyse the correlation between effective leadership and organizational performance. Scholars and business professionals recognize the positive impact, which structural management and talented leadership can have on the companies. It is arguable, however, that this research gives enough attention to the mutual impact, which exists between the leadership and the environments. In other words, common research overlooks the impact, which the level of responsibility and the position of individuals in the hierarchy of the company has on the development of the personality traits and building of the behavioural patterns of the leaders. To understand the relationships between organizational culture and personality traits and cultural influence on individual behaviour it is critical to recognize that the as social element, organization and individuals are mutually affected (Huczynski & Buchanan 2010). That said; as much as the leaders and their attitude and actions affect the company and employees, organizational culture and individual responses from the regular employees shape and form an image and personality of a leader. Moreover, one can argue that leadership is a dynamic component of the organization, and the impact of business and social environments will constantly change the role, which leaders play, including such roles as “change ambassadors,” “defenders,” “promoters”, etc. (Nohria, Groysberg & Linda-Eling 2008). That said; the values, principles and procedures within the company are static, influenced by the individual behaviours, while the same individuals change their roles and acts, influenced by the group thinking, culture and other actors.
When we look at the correlation between the position of individuals in the organizational hierarchy and the behavioural and personality changes, it is important to recognize the fact that these changes are not permanent and the individuals continue to evolve and adapt their behaviors not only on the timeline, but also in a given situation. The argument, which should be made here is that the ability to adapt and learn in each situation is one of the critical qualities, which should be looked for in effective managers (Collins, 2001). The relationships between leaders and managers and the organizational culture are very dynamic, as their impact on the formation of it is much more significant than the positions without people management responsibility (Northhouse 2013). One of the most challenging tasks for the company is to find a healthy balance between the management and leadership and shape behaviours, adequate and relevant for the strategic development of the firm. Kotter (2001) argues that many companies are “over managed and under led” at the same time. One could argue that the root of this imbalance in people leadership and management capabilities is ineffective leadership and unappropriated set of behaviors acquired and taught on a different stages of the leadership pipeline (Meindl & Ehrlich 1987).
An insight into the challenges and issues, which contemporary businesses face today allows outlining the scope of research and direction of the leadership study, which must look at the ways external environment influences leadership and what are the critical characteristics which can be found in effective leadership. The research question of this document is: “In what way different personality traits and behavioural patterns among individuals on a different level of the leadership pipeline impact organizational effectiveness?” The objectives of the study are the following:
- Critically analyse each of the stages of the leadership pipeline (“leading self,” “leading others” and “leading the organization”).
- Research the personality traits and behaviour patterns, which can be seen as appropriate for each of the stages.
- Research the gaps between the appropriate and actual personality traits and behaviour patterns in the contemporary organization.
- Recommend the changes in the training and recruitment and selection processes to address the specificity of the behaviours and traits for each leadership level.
For the success of the study, it is important to investigate the impact of each of the above mentioned levels of the organizational hierarchy on the leadership personality traits and behavioural patterns and identify some of the common qualities, which effective leaders have and which are not subject to change under the influence of the vertical development within the organization. With the above in mind, the literature review of this dissertation will include a separate chapter, which will look at these relationships and formulate the common leadership characteristics, which should be pre-existent in each of the effective leaders.
Justification for the Research
Many authors have examined leadership from various perspectives throughout the past decades. With the above in mind, findings, the material and presenting new and different standpoint requires much attention. The present document will focus on the change, which leaders go through once they grow within the organization and shift up the career ladder (Drucker 2004). The research will help to better understand the nature of dynamic leadership and adaptability needs for the leaders within the organization. It will explore and present the characteristics, which should be seen as common for potentially effective leaders, as well as specific personality traits and behavioural patterns, which are attributed and should become a focus of attention of individuals on different level of their leadership hierarchy (Marshall & Rossman 2006). The conclusions and findings from this research can be used for further more in-depth study of the leadership topic as well as for current professionals as an assistance material for building on the Leadership development Programs (LDP).
The study will focus on the secondary research method and explore previous research and empirical analysis, which was conducted within the field of leadership studies. The theories and previous researches, which have been referred to in this document varied in many ways. Some of them were used to explore the concepts and existing frameworks of leadership; others looked at the team work and the role of leader in different organizational settings (Kothari 2004). The materials, which made part of this research, are diversified and the authors introduced and examined in this research present different opinions, which was done to widen the scope of the study and enrich the research in general. From the timeliness perspective, the author attempted to use the sources, which refer back to 1980s as well as modern authors, to better understand the evolution of thought and research in the field of leadership over these decades (Arthur, Varing, Coe & Hedges 2012). The sources, used in this document include books, academic journals as well as other reliable online sources.
The ultimate goal of this dissertation is to enact the analysis of the personality behavioural characteristics of individuals as it relates to their impact on the effectiveness and operational productivity of the company. The research will look at some specific dynamic elements, which build on the concept of effective transformational leadership and can be summarized in the following three areas: conflict and emotional management skills, personal life story element, motivation and loyalty creation mechanisms. The findings and conclusions of this work will be methodologically and theoretically relevant to three major audiences: organizational management, academic circles and the individuals, which are looking at their career development from the entry level of the organizational hierarchy. The structure of the dissertation will include a total of five chapters: Chapter I: Introduction,
Chapter II: Literature Review, Chapter III: Methodology, Chapter IV: Findings and Chapter 5: Analysis and Conclusion. In the Literature review chapter, the writer will explain the concept of the leadership pipeline as it is seen at A.P. Moller – Maersk Group, look at the theories, surrounding the leadership frameworks, explore the personality traits and behavior more relevant for each of the pipeline stages, examine the differences between leadership and management and their respective impact on the organization and look at the theory behind the teams and leadership and explore the theories behind the dynamic leadership and the importance of adaptation for effective leadership in the company. Chapter III will outline the methodology of the research and explain the logical path, which took the writer to the conclusion. Chapter IV will summarize the major findings of the document. Chapter V will draw a final line under the analysis of finding and drive conclusion with regards to the primary research question.
Chapter II: Literature Review
II.I. Introduction
The study explores the development of the leadership capabilities and the impact of the levels of organization hierarchy and position of the individual on the personality traits and behavioural patterns. The research will focus on the analysis of the leadership concept and several elements, relevant to the understanding of the leadership framework, such as the dynamic and adaptive leadership, outlining differences between leadership and management and the role of leadership in teamwork. A lot of material emerged with regards to the above question and the document only summarizes the previous research for better understanding of the scope of the question.
The existing body of knowledge, which was reviewed in this chapter, also incorporates the material on the personality traits and behavioural patterns, which are generally considered essential for the leadership. As this research relates to a specific organization, the understanding of the generalized framework of leadership is essential for the development of the research question. The subject of the leadership and leadership framework is not new, with that, a wide range of literature dating back to 90s and more recent writings were examined in this work.
II.II. The Concept of Leadership Pipeline
One of the ultimate goals of the Human Resource Management (HRM) department is to ensure that the organization is building on its pool of effective leadership and management to address current and future needs. The interest in leadership development is strong, and many organizations are looking for their unique models to address the capability gap and lead the organization through change (Cherian & Jacob 2013). Moreover, in order to understand the development path of leaders in the organization, one should be able to difference three elements: leaders development as opposed to leadership development, understand the practice context, where the state-of-the-art development is conducted in working context and, finally, recognize the importance of the human and social capital in the organizations (Day 2000). The practices of leadership development include 360-degree feedback, mentoring and coaching as well as on-job and theoretical learning. It is difficult to find an organization, which incorporates all of the above practices in the conceptual framework of its leadership development. After an exploration of the market for such organization, it was decided to focus on A.P. Moller –Maersk Group (APMM), which seem to “have it all” and, thus, can present and interesting object for the study. Leadership development at APMM is referred to as “leadership pipeline development.” In fact, leadership pipeline is a term used by many international corporations to describe the process of management and leadership development within the organizational hierarchy, divided into stages, outlining the level and scope of individual responsibility. In the majority of cases the stages of the pipeline include four elements: leading self, leading others and leaders and leading organization (Boxhall & Purcell 2011; McCauley, Moxley, & Van Velsor 1998). Individuals normally start with the “leading self” stage, where the core objective is to start the process of self-discovery and understand the weak and strong side of personality, on which this individual would have to work on in the future. This stage generally corresponds to the individual contributor level and involves a lot theoretical and on job training on leadership theories. Once individual moves to the “Leading others” stage, his scope of responsibilities and the level of authority increase significantly and the focus of development shifts from “self-discovery” to leadership and management techniques. At this stage, however, the leaders are still more focused on horizontal learning, where people, conflict and emotional management are the key learning objectives. Not all the individuals reach the “leading leaders or “leading organization” levels. The reality shows that approximately 10% of the individuals, which start their career in the company as Leadership and Management Development (LMD) trainee, can progress to this level of the leadership pipeline (Gibson & Pason 2010). The fact is that these levels of managerial hierarchy involve supervision and management of “leading others.” It is important to mention that for APMM as for many companies in general the growth along the leadership pipeline signifies the increase in leadership responsibilities and the consequent shift of balance from management to the leadership role within the company.
II.III. Leadership Frameworks
Various studies were conducted to analyse leadership and identify the common traits and characteristics, which build on effective leadership. The reality shows, however that none of these studies provides exclusively correct and accurate framework. The concept of effective leadership behavior, therefore, will continue yielding new leadership behavior taxonomies and build on the recognition of the fact, that more research is needed to understand these taxonomies better (Yukl 2012). At the same time, many of them illustrate that, while there are several specific characteristics, which define leadership, strong and great leadership is based on authentic traits, which cannot be generalized. Innovation, for example, is one of the critical elements for organizational survival, and transformational leadership has been particularly effective in building on innovative behaviors (Pieterse, Van Knippenber & Schippers 2009). This effectiveness is based on four salient features: intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, individualized influenced attribute and individualized influence behaviour (Ismail, Mohamed, Sulaiman, Mohamad & Yusuf 2011). Additionally, the secret of leadership is based on the individual ability to addressing “self.” As such, leading self, building on intrinsic motivation and social skills is critical for any leader (Goleman 2004). Self-awareness can take a leader from leading self to leading others level. At the same time, it is the self-regulation, which allows leaders to control and direct their emotional and cognitive behaviors and reactions that can make the leader grow to lead leaders and leading organization levels. With the above in mind, such qualities as empathy, motivation and social abilities, such as communication and relationship management are essential for great leadership.
Some have claimed that the conventional view on leadership, which dictates such attributes, as charisma, vision and long-term orientation, is not necessarily the elements, which help to identify a good executive with high leadership potential. Admittedly, the role of self-sacrifice for the benefit of the organization as the main leadership attribute is essential and any leadership framework should highlight such qualities as the ability to make decisions, practicality and sacrifice (Drucker 2004). Although, self-sacrifice is a critical construct of effective leadership behavior, emotional intelligence is essential for transformational leadership approach (Harms 2010). Additionally, based on the Rus, Van Knippenberg & Wisse (2010) argument, effective leaders demonstrate self-serving behavior and their power is based on intrinsic motivators and beliefs, rather than extrinsic cues, such as performance information.
Another framework, which deserves attention is the role of adaptive change in leadership by Heifetx and Laurie (1997). The framework acknowledges the evaluation methodology for the leaders, which managed to take the companies through change and crisis and conclude that there are six qualities and capabilities of leadership, which can truly make a difference for the organization: 1) getting on the balcony and seeing the helicopter view of the problems and opportunities, 2) identifying the need for the adaptive change, 3)delegating the responsibilities and giving work back to people, 4)regulating distress, 5) maintaining disciplined attention and, finally, 6) protecting the voice of leadership and differentiating self (Heifetx & Laurie (1997). Indeed, it implies that the ability to transform the long-term vision into the actions of other people is a critical construct of the leadership evaluation framework.
II.IV. Essential Personality Traits for Effective Leadership
Each stage of the leadership pipeline is unique in its own way. Once the organization look at the development of individual and growing their leadership potential it is critically important to take into consideration the appropriateness of this learning. That said, it is not possible to apply a standardized approach to the LDP and incorporate vertical development on the initial stages of the LMD program. Goffee and Jones (2000) explore the concept of leadership from the perspective of some of the strong leadership personalities in the business world. The authors look at the development of the leaders and the stabilization of the leadership personality by asking a dynamic question: “Why Should Anyone be Led by You?” Admittedly, the answer to the above question is not the unique framework of leadership, but rather the specificity of the qualities and behavioural patterns, which outline the leadership personality on a certain stage of their career development. The point that should be made here is that there are several qualities and attributes, which are essential for the leaders on all the stages of the leadership pipeline, such as reliance on intuition, tough empathy, feeling of timeliness for the action and the ability to differentiate them (Yang, Huang & Wu 2011). At the same time, entry levels of the pipeline will require more focus on the individual ability to demonstrate the self-discovery ability and learn on demand. These capabilities of a leader outline his ability to learn from others and grow personally on the examples of others and under the mentorship of the executive on higher levels of organizational hierarchy. It is important to recognize that the entry levels of management will not have people management responsibility, freeing up the internal capacity of individuals to learn about own emotional and conflict management skills. With that in mind, such personality traits as ability to deal with stress predict the conflict situation and address the emotional challenges are essential for leading “self” professionals. At the same time, this level of leadership should focus on the development of the teamwork abilities and diversity management.
“Leading others” stage of the leadership pipeline demands professionals to focus on leading other individuals, generally without people management responsibility. They should enter this stage with a clear answer to the question: “Why should one be led by me?” which comes as a result of the self-discovery exercise, conducted during their work on the “leading self” level. Wang, Tsui & Xin (2011) point out that CEO level leadership should be able to differentiate task-driven behaviors and relationship behaviors, where the first is directly linked to organizational performance and the later outlines the employee attitudes, and, consequently and indirectly relates to organizational effectiveness. From the contemporary business perspective this role involves the development of the transformational leadership capability, which enables individuals to lead others to lead themselves (Manz and Sims 2001). At this stage of responsibility, LDPs should focus on such capabilities as motivation, feedback and long-term vision. Leaders, which enter the stage of people management, should develop the capacity to create self-managing teams, which can accept the responsibility and make effective internal decisions (Manz and Sims 1987).
Finally, organizations should be able to build their LMD programs in a way to develop at least 10%of the leaders, which are able to effectively manage leaders and the organization. This level leadership, “leading leaders” and “leading organization” incorporates such elements as a long-term vision and the ability to show own weaknesses. It was mentioned earlier, that individuals, which reach high positions in the organization at times, stop being present and become reluctant to admit their own weaknesses due to silo thinking. Those, who deny this position, would argue that these individuals often lack the ability to learn and demonstrate the drive to acquire. So far as the learning within the organization is concerned, learning organization is the one, which is able to bring this knowledge acquisition culture to all the levels of the organizational hierarchy (Jo & Joo 2011). With that in mind, learning from others, showing the weakness and at the same time difference are the qualities and behavioural patterns expected from the leaders of leaders and the leaders of the organization.
II.V. Team Building and Leadership
A leader can only be effective in the team if he is able to sacrifice his own interests for the sake of the team goals (Maner & Mean 2010). Ideally, these leaders will use their high-level power to steer the teams towards a common goal. The discussion on the leadership and teams is relevant for this study as it gives a background of the working environment in the organization and on different stages of the leadership pipeline. As such, junior manager´s responsibilities and team structure may significantly vary from the one of the senior manager, who leads the leaders. With that in mind, understanding of the dynamics of each team building approach is interesting for the evaluation of the traits and behavioural patterns.
The stages of the leadership pipeline restrict and limit the choice of the team building approach. As such, “leading self” stage, when the individual primary goal is to discover self and understand tangible and intangible elements of management hierarchy, will unlikely be able to develop and test his own personality traits and behaviours in wheel approach, as it will limit his freedom for error and learning on demand (Nohria, Groysberg & Linda-Eling 2008). “Leading leaders” and “Leading organization” stages, however, do not leave room for facilitation leadership and demand central point of decision making process and visionary leadership, achievable in modular and wheel, as opposed to iterative approach.
The process of leading and team interaction is based on the ability of a leader to control his behaviour and realize the range of personality traits, which drive his decisions and actions (Bolman & Deal 2013). The fact is that each stage of the management hierarchy demands different behaviour, as leading a department is different than running a branch or even the country operations. This requires a certain level of emotional intelligence. In an ideal situation, individuals grow within the organization and eventually shift from one to another stage. Given the fact that leaders should be able and aim at expanding their scope of work and take on more responsibilities, the ability to transform and adapt is central for the organization (Boyatzis & McKee 2005). Admittedly, leadership style is not a characteristic of an individual, but his response to the needs of the situation and the team. Individual´s growth along the leadership pipeline will necessitate a change in his style of management and leadership and, consequently, will change behaviour and emphasize different personality traits. Also, emotional intelligence is the key to succeeding in the journey through this pipeline. The fact is that emotions by themselves can be seen as a supportive element of human actions and the behaviours, which can be observed in different individuals with leadership responsibilities, are mostly based on their leadership styles, which include visionary, coaching, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting and commanding (Goleman 2005).
What differentiates a good leader from a good manager is the ability to adapt various leadership styles, based on the situation and the personalities of those, with whom they are leading. Mayer, Salovey, Caruso (2000) recognize emotional intelligence through a threefold model of mental operation. First element is the emotion itself, which is a form of reaction to change in the interpersonal communication process. Motivation is an internal mechanism to enable simple acts as a survival mechanism. Finally, cognition is the third element, which enables learning from the external environment. Obviously, such approach to emotional management implies that the basic principle of interpersonal relationships must be understood by the leadership. Although, the reality shows that individual success in a particular role within the organization depends on many factors, the core is the realization that the relationships between the business environment (organization) and its actors (leaders) are mutual and effective leaders are those, who can transform their behaviours and develop. Contingency leadership theory contributes to the above discussion. The approach outlines the fact that individuals, which are great at one role may fail in another position, due to the specific personal characteristics, which may or may not find their application in the assigned role (Donaldson 2001).Understanding the above components builds on individuals´ ability to adapt to the situations and ensure that their leadership style is appropriate to the situation and the team.
II.VI. Leadership vs. Management
The concept of leadership is often interchanged with management in the business world, and this constitutes the biggest mistake for the organizational development as these elements are very different and equally essential for the company (Kotter 2013). Management can be described with the application of the traits theory, which suggest that in all leaders or managers, for this matter, possess a certain set of common traits, which determines their effectiveness. Such traits may include empathy, decision-making skills, assertiveness and other elements and determine us external behaviour. The fact
