1 1 authentic leadership charlotte rayner professor of hrm hot topic oct 2010
TRANSCRIPT
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Authentic Leadership
Charlotte Rayner
Professor of HRM
Hot Topic Oct 2010
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Structure1. 50 years of leadership in 2 slides…
2. The leadership industry
3. Authentic leadership
4. Conclusions
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Leadership research emerged two constructs (1950’s-1990’s)
High task
High people0
Note : Gary Yukl (2008) Leadership in Organizations is THE academicbible for conventional leadership studies
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Effect on performance?High task
High people0
BUT evidence was unclear – showing importance of context
It is not just WHAT you do but HOW you do it.
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Key turning points in 1990’s
• In Search of Excellence (1985) effect
• Fifth Discipline (Peter Senge): Learning Org
• A Force for Change John Kotter
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THEN
ENRON– Misbehaviour from the top– A corporation geared to performance (any cost?)– Professional misconduct from Accts– Extraordinary losses
Who is to blame … The Business Schools!!
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ETHICAL LEADERSHIP
• The idea that shareholder value is not everything
• That ‘at any price’ is not good for business
• Sustainability – from business to the planet
Research shows staff like this, even if top management / shareholders do not.
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Leadership is all around us….Amazon.co.uk
• 2008 41,166 books• 2009 52,771 books• 2010 171,940 books
Web of Knowledge : academic articles
2000-2008 9,572
2000-2009 11,564
2000-2010 13,650
Almost all with a stated assumption that leadership is a ‘good idea’
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AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP
Definitions vary, but include….
Consistency between actions, values and words (Vision & purpose)
Personal Mastery (Senge onwards)
A focus on others’ wellbeing (Ethical stewardship)
Stability (Follower security)
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Mastery (Peter Senge)People with a high level of personal mastery live in a
continual learning mode. They never ‘arrive’. Sometimes, language, such as the term ‘personal mastery’ creates a misleading sense of definiteness, of black and white. But personal mastery is not something you possess. It is a process. It is a lifelong discipline. People with a high level of personal mastery are acutely aware of their ignorance, their incompetence, their growth areas. And they are deeply self-confident. Paradoxical? Only for those who do not see the ‘journey is the reward’.
(Senge 1990: The Fifth Discipline p142)
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• Values
• Purpose
• Words and deeds
Consistency
Employee well being
Hard to achieve unless it is ‘real’
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Authentic Leadership
Hard to achieve unless its real ...
• If real – means you have less role conflict and stress
• If real – means your staff might actually believe you
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Authentic Leadership: a process
How do you decide who you want to be?
a)What you perceive others as wanting?
b)As you see those ‘ahead’ of you?
c)What you have admired or enjoyed?
Outside-In OR Inside-Out
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Authentic Leadership: Problem
This is a process theory … little content
• Assumes one type of ‘right’
• Assumes your purpose and vision fits the organisation
• Allows much ‘room’ for self-deception
• How will you judge ‘It works’?
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Authentic Leadership: Problem
What if you do not know what type of leader you want to be?
• Fake it?
• Try on various ‘skin’s?
• Get help (coaching & development)?
• Blunder around making mistakes until it feels ok?
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Authentic Leadership
• Allows you to do more than ‘The Bottom Line’
• Appears more accessible than Ethical Leadership
• Is still context specific – you need to find the ‘right’ organisation for you.
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Which has been your best experience of leadership?
What did those leaders do which made them good?
Answers to these make a good starting point
