Values in Leadership
Abstract: For a very long time, Values have been considered extremely important in the basic functioning of the organization – to explain the action in and around organizations. The formation of organizational values takes place within the sphere of influence of external and internal forces, and therefore, a combination of several important determinants should be taken into account in order to understand the rationale behind the values held by organizations.
Introduction
We have had great leaders in the society for centuries. The Pharaohs understood leadership and what it took to accomplish a humongous task such as the Pyramids. The Imperial Emperors understood how to manage the Chinese army and even China for that matter for centuries all together. The Moghuls of India, the Romans, Alexander the Great never needed any books or references on how to act like leaders.
Moving on to a more recent time in history, the rise in the companies in the professional world, there has been an increase in the amount of sessions on leadership. From Al “Chainsaw” Dunlop to “Neutron Jack” Welch, they all knew about leadership.
Even though these leaders were present many years apart, all of them fell back on the same basic approach to leadership. Basically, the major funda is “It’s my way or the highway”. The use of these hierarchical top-down power structures to try to ensure a system of policies, procedures and programs in line with the stated objectives has been going on for years. But then, why the sudden interest now? Why not let something that has existed for a very long time continue as it has? The most important factors are changing employee values and hence societal values. Societal values have now changed and leading edge individuals have entered into leadership positions and have since changed many policies and procedures. Thus, Leadership and Organizations need to be modernized and this in turn has placed a very high weightage on values. One should move
Introduction
We have had great leaders in the society for centuries. The Pharaohs understood leadership and what it took to accomplish a humongous task such as the Pyramids. The Imperial Emperors understood how to manage the Chinese army and even China for that matter for centuries all together. The Moghuls of India, the Romans, Alexander the Great never needed any books or references on how to act like leaders.
Moving on to a more recent time in history, the rise in the companies in the professional world, there has been an increase in the amount of sessions on leadership. From Al “Chainsaw” Dunlop to “Neutron Jack” Welch, they all knew about leadership.
Even though these leaders were present many years apart, all of them fell back on the same basic approach to leadership. Basically, the major funda is “It’s my way or the highway”. The use of these hierarchical top-down power structures to try to ensure a system of policies, procedures and programs in line with the stated objectives has been going on for years. But then, why the sudden interest now? Why not let something that has existed for a very long time continue as it has? The most important factors are changing employee values and hence societal values. Societal values have now changed and leading edge individuals have entered into leadership positions and have since changed many policies and procedures. Thus, Leadership and Organizations need to be modernized and this in turn has placed a very high weightage on values. One should move
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