ORGANISATIONAL THEORY

Organisational Theory

Organisational Theory

3.One of the most enduring popular views about leadership is that leaders are born and not made. In the light of recent developments in leadership theory evaluate the validity of this idea.

Leadership plays a very important role in the success of any organisation. It has been the subject of essay and debate for thousands of years but it is only the twentieth century that, it has become a topic for sustained formal analysis by scholars and researchers. Many theories of leadership have been developed in the last 50 years. The past decades of leadership theory has provided considerable support for the effectiveness of transformational and charismatic leadership in Asian organisations.

There are few, if any, hotter topics in management, business and organisation theory at the present time than 'leadership'. I have been struck over the past few months and years when visiting scores of corporate training centres and hotel 'conference suites' by the sheer number of workshops being held on this subject. Virtually every sector and all levels of staff appear to be represented and engaged. Everyone, it seems, is being invited to join in. 'Are you here for the Leadership Workshop?' receptionists would cheerily and routinely enquire. Leadership in contemporary organisational life has become a pervasive phenomenon. The climate in relation to it certainly seems to have changed significantly when compared with the traditional mode of approach used, for example, by US navy captains with respect to relations with their crews. Standard form, it is reported, was for captains to address their men as 'you damned rascals' (Leiner 2001, 30-7). Nowadays, public and private sector organisations alike are caught up in a frenzy of activity as they seek to demonstrate that they are taking responsible steps to populate the 'leadership pool' with a set of competences far wider than the navy's formerly no-nonsense approach.

The incredible focus on leadership is an international phenomenon. In Asia, numerous surveys reveal increased attention paid to, and increased resources allocated to, the topic. There is evidence that investment in leadership development has increased significantly (Fulmer 1997, 59-73). All the usual signs are present-there are conferences galore, dedicated journals, courses, workshops and so on. But, perhaps most indicative of all, there are plentiful indications that large numbers of organisations are actively trying to 'do something' about leadership development. Leadership and management development is very big business indeed. One estimate of annual corporate expenditure on the activity in the Asia put the total at some $45 billion in 1997-up from $10 billion a decade before (Fulmer 1997, 59-73). The growth of the corporate university phenomenon in Asia and in Europe is one manifestation of this increased attention to leadership development. Having dispensed with their administrative staff and senior management colleges one or two decades ago, large corporations have spent the past few years launching corporate 'academies' and 'universities'-and one of the critical foci of activity for these new creations has been 'leadership'. One recent assessment of the overall picture in the Asia indicates ...