Free Management Dissertations - Critically Examine The Movement 'towards Spirituality In Leadership' And
CRITICALLY EXAMINE THE MOVEMENT 'TOWARDS SPIRITUALITY IN LEADERSHIP' AND ASSESS THE CONTRIBUTION OF THIS APPROACH TO DEVELOPING THEORIES OF STRATEGIC BUSINESS LEADERSHIP.
Introduction
The study of leadership has been an area of interest to humankind for centuries. This interest can be traced back to Hippocrates’ 400 BC writing on personality types based on body humour, and Plato’s establishment of the first leadership training centres in 386 BC. With more than 2000 books a year published on the subject, and a plethora of leadership models and theories available, it is a bewildering field of study that emphasises the increasing need to understand the complexity and rapidity of change facing modern enterprise. (Higgs, 2002 and Mullins, 1999)
Higgs, 2002, argues that there are four primary drivers of interest in leadership. Firstly, evolving societal values combined with significant economic and organisational developments have led to a scarcity of skilled resources which in turn has led to the need to engage employees differently in order to retain and motivate talent. Secondly, there has been a change in investor focus with investment decisions increasingly being influenced by intangibles such as the quality, probity, and depth of leadership, linked in a complex fashion to emerging social responsibility concerns and governance frameworks. Thirdly, organisational change to secure competitive advantage is constant in most international and domestic enterprises. This must be linked to effective leadership if successful outcomes of the change process are to be realised. Lastly, the impact of productivity measures, benchmarking and continuous improvement programmes create increasing stress pressures on employees and in so doing reduce productivity and negatively affect work life balance. Arguably, the behaviour of leaders under these circumstances influences the level of stress, and an organisation’s culture.
The main theme of this essay is the emergence of the role of spirituality in the workplace and its impact on strategic leadership and organisational transformation theory. It is therefore necessary to review the development of thinking on leadership to give context to the discussion.
Theoretical Overview
The research based study of leadership began in the United States of America (USA) during the 1930’s. Early work focused on qualities or traits of leadership that assumed leaders were born not made. The research was controversial in respect of methodology and underlying assumptions that sought to identify inherited characteristics or personality traits that would pinpoint leaders of the future. The focus of the approach was on the person in the position, rather than the position itself. In contrast, the behavioural school that gained momentum thereafter assumed that leadership skills could be learnt and developed.
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