Welcome to 2009’s third quarterly review, as with previous issues, engagement continues to be at the forefront of people’s thoughts. Behind the engagement debate however there seems to be a growing call for a wider reappraisal of the fundamental way corporations are organised and for me personally, this is the most interesting aspect of this quarter’s articles. Other themes include;
• Shifting the Organisational Pyramid
• The McLeod Review on Employee Engagement
• The Leader/Manager Debate
• Line Managers who Lead
• The Intrinsic Motivation of Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose
• The Irrationality of Human Behaviour
• Tomorrow’s HR Professionals - A Multi-Disciplinary Background
Articles are included from the likes of Harvard Business School, Henry Mintzberg, HR Magazine, McKinsey, the McLeod Review, the Partnership Institute, Personnel Today, Strategy + Business and TED.
Leadership, Intangibles & Talent Q2 2009 Four GroupsFour Groups
Reading through this quarter’s articles, there were plenty of pieces rehashing practical tips on how to deal with the recession. However, there are a number of interesting ideas and themes lurking beneath the surface. * Intangibles such as engagement, networking and collaboration are hot topics but managing these issues is easier said than done * New technologies have the potential to revolutionise the way we understand organisational behaviour, although the appetite for this information is as yet unclear * Line managers can play a pivotal role in developing engaged employees and this has implications for how organisations approach talent management * Firms are waking up to the importance of engagement, in these recessionary times, once costs have been stripped out, the need to do more with less is paramount * Knowledge is key to value creation but how we educate and train for working with this often intangible and unpredictable environment is unknown
Here's the abstract of my paper presented at the ANZAM Conference.
The author of this paper has observed a worryingly large number of common traits among failed projects, in contrast with successful projects – the spin is on how they engage with their people and teams. Several projects still fail because their people are not properly engaged.
This paper asserts that we lead people and manage things. It is dangerous to think we can manage people. Based on studies by human behaviour experts, together with examples from the author’s leadership experience, the paper expounds this assertion. The paper offers practical insights and effective techniques to better understand oneself and team members, so as to develop high-performing teams towards project success.
How to Help Leaders Succeed: A Guide to Successful Executive Career TransitionsKip Michael Kelly
This white paper provides HR and talent management professionals six simple steps they can take with newly hired executives to ensure successful transitions into their roles and organizational cultures. These steps are cost affordable and can be scaled to any size organization. With today’s leaner organizations, it is more important than ever to reduce the break-even point—the point at which new leaders have contributed as much value to their organizations as they have consumed from it—from six to three months (Watkins, 2003). Throughout this white paper are examples of organizations that have recognized this need and have developed programs that provide guidance to their executives to ensure successful career transitions.
Leadership, Intangibles & Talent Q2 2009 Four GroupsFour Groups
Reading through this quarter’s articles, there were plenty of pieces rehashing practical tips on how to deal with the recession. However, there are a number of interesting ideas and themes lurking beneath the surface. * Intangibles such as engagement, networking and collaboration are hot topics but managing these issues is easier said than done * New technologies have the potential to revolutionise the way we understand organisational behaviour, although the appetite for this information is as yet unclear * Line managers can play a pivotal role in developing engaged employees and this has implications for how organisations approach talent management * Firms are waking up to the importance of engagement, in these recessionary times, once costs have been stripped out, the need to do more with less is paramount * Knowledge is key to value creation but how we educate and train for working with this often intangible and unpredictable environment is unknown
Here's the abstract of my paper presented at the ANZAM Conference.
The author of this paper has observed a worryingly large number of common traits among failed projects, in contrast with successful projects – the spin is on how they engage with their people and teams. Several projects still fail because their people are not properly engaged.
This paper asserts that we lead people and manage things. It is dangerous to think we can manage people. Based on studies by human behaviour experts, together with examples from the author’s leadership experience, the paper expounds this assertion. The paper offers practical insights and effective techniques to better understand oneself and team members, so as to develop high-performing teams towards project success.
How to Help Leaders Succeed: A Guide to Successful Executive Career TransitionsKip Michael Kelly
This white paper provides HR and talent management professionals six simple steps they can take with newly hired executives to ensure successful transitions into their roles and organizational cultures. These steps are cost affordable and can be scaled to any size organization. With today’s leaner organizations, it is more important than ever to reduce the break-even point—the point at which new leaders have contributed as much value to their organizations as they have consumed from it—from six to three months (Watkins, 2003). Throughout this white paper are examples of organizations that have recognized this need and have developed programs that provide guidance to their executives to ensure successful career transitions.
Inside-Out Collaboration: An Integrated Approach to Working Beyond SilosDavid Willcock
In this article, David Willcock draws insights from psychology and organizational
development theory and practice to provide a framework for building and maintaining productive relationships across organizational boundaries. Through an integrated approach to collaboration that includes the individual, team, and organization, managers and leaders can serve as catalysts for “partnership working,” which can ultimately lead to high performance and competitive advantage.
How the leaders of the US Navy and the rock band U2 connected with people so everyone wanted to gave their best efforts and align their behavior with group goals.
There are challenges while trying to integrate two corporate cultures during a merger. DRIVING MERGERS – How to lead a company through merger integrations focuses on those challenges. The article discusses the key leadership actions for successful merger integrations.
The Hill & Knowlton/PRWeek annual Corporate Survey was released on October 1. For this year’s report, more than 290 US corporate communications professionals completed an online survey examining the latest trends and shifts in the corporate communications function.
Inside-Out Collaboration: An Integrated Approach to Working Beyond SilosDavid Willcock
In this article, David Willcock draws insights from psychology and organizational
development theory and practice to provide a framework for building and maintaining productive relationships across organizational boundaries. Through an integrated approach to collaboration that includes the individual, team, and organization, managers and leaders can serve as catalysts for “partnership working,” which can ultimately lead to high performance and competitive advantage.
How the leaders of the US Navy and the rock band U2 connected with people so everyone wanted to gave their best efforts and align their behavior with group goals.
There are challenges while trying to integrate two corporate cultures during a merger. DRIVING MERGERS – How to lead a company through merger integrations focuses on those challenges. The article discusses the key leadership actions for successful merger integrations.
The Hill & Knowlton/PRWeek annual Corporate Survey was released on October 1. For this year’s report, more than 290 US corporate communications professionals completed an online survey examining the latest trends and shifts in the corporate communications function.
Leadership, Intangibles & Talent Q1 2009 Four GroupsFour Groups
Unsurprisingly, the financial crisis is still uppermost in people’ s minds and new ideas and insights are slowly emerging, interestingly not always from organisations which one would term the “HR establishment”. Over and above this, other themes for this quarter include;
• Leadership development is going nowhere fast
• HR’ s relevance to an organisation’ s success
• HR acting more like a teenager, or not
• Command and control, enterprise 2.0 and amplified workers
• Successful recruitment via a self directing process
• A lack of creativity and death by data
• The big picture HR role
• Innovation, change and new ideas
As always any comments and feedback are welcome!
The CEO Report_Oxford Univeristy & Heidrick & StrugglesNiren Thanky
Our unique research initiative brought together two globally renowned institutions with a shared purpose of helping to enhance the practice and positive impact of leadership throughout the world.
The CEOs we interviewed represent every industry and geography, these global leaders have nearly 900 years of CEO experience at companies employing 6 million people, generating nearly $2 trillion in revenue.
‘The CEO Report – Embracing the Paradoxes of Leadership and the Power of Doubt’ was launched in Davos at the World Economic Forum 2015
The CEO Report offers unique insights into how CEOs experience the changing nature of their role and turn their new challenges into opportunities for business and personal growth.
Leadership, Intangibles & Talent Q3 2010Four Groups
Welcome to the Q3 Quarterly Update for 2010. After the Summer lull, we have seen some thought provoking articles surrounding intangibles, HR, innovation and leadership. We’ll also explore the following themes;
* Compensation and Motivation
* The HR Conundrum
* Relationships
* Culture
* Talent
* Conclusion
Articles are included from the likes of AT&T, the Financial Times, Hay Group, Hewlett Packard, Science Magazine, Wharton Business School and Zappos.com.
The report explores current practice in MLD; individual managers' views of MLD and the impact it has on their performance and abilities; organisations' approaches to MLD and the impact on organisational performance and how organisations can increase the business impact of MLD and how individuals may identify MLD for their specific needs.
1. Global Leadership 2019-2020Under Guidance from Dr.MargenePurnell14
1.
Global Leadership 2019-2020
Under Guidance from Dr. Sriram Rajagopalan
LDR 6145
Northeastern University
Table of Contents
Global Leadership Success Through Emotional and Cultural Intelligences.....................................5
The Global Leadership of Carlos Ghosn at Nissan.........................................................................17
Gojo Industries: Aiming for Global Sustainability Leadership.........................................................29
Leadership in a Globalizing World..................................................................................................41
Regional Strategies for Global Leadership.....................................................................................85
Rising Costs of Bad Leadership.....................................................................................................99
Learning to Manage Global Innovation Projects...........................................................................103
Global Leadership 2019-2020 LDR 6145
Under Guidance from Dr. Sriram Rajagopalan Northeastern University
2.
Global leadership success through emotional and
cultural intelligences
Ilan Alon, James M. Higgins*
Roy E. Crummer Graduate School of Business, Rollins College, 1000 Holt Ave-2722, Winter Park, FL 32789,
USA
Abstract Culturally attuned and emotionally sensitive global leaders need to be
developed: leaders who can respond to the particular foreign environments of
different countries and different interpersonal work situations. Two emerging
constructs are especially relevant to the development of successful global leaders:
cultural and emotional intelligences. When considered under the traditional view of
intelligence as measured by IQ, cultural, and emotional intelligences provide a
framework for better understanding cross-cultural leadership and help clarify
possible adaptations that need to be implemented in leadership development
programs of multinational firms. This article posits that emotional intelligence (EQ),
analytical intelligence (IQ), and leadership behaviors are moderated by cultural
intelligence (CQ) in the formation of global leadership success.
D 2005 Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. All rights reserved.
bBut when a prince acquires the sovereignty of a
country differing from his own both in language,
manners, and intellectual organization, great dif-
ficulties arise; and in order to maintain the
possession of it, good fortune must unite with
superior talent.Q —Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince
1. Global interaction and interpersonal
relationships
To say that globalization is upon us is axiomatic.
Conducting global, international, and cross-cul-
tural business is a mundane reality for most
contemporary large organizations. Even if your
business is a medium- or small-sized firm, you
have probably experienced globalization through
interactions with global participants that belong
to at lea ...
IN SEARCH OF GLOBAL LEADERSHIP Mark E. Mende.docxjaggernaoma
IN SEARCH OF GLOBAL LEADERSHIP
Mark E. Mendenhall
Burton Frierson Chair of Excellence in Business Leadership
College of Business
University of Tennessee, Chattanooga
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga, TN 37403
[email protected]
Allan Bird
Darla and Frederick Brodsky Trustee Professor in Global Business
Northeastern University
D’Amore-McKim School of Business
360 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02035
[email protected]
Published as:
Mendenhall, M.E., & Bird, A. 2013. “In search of global leadership.” Organizational Dynamics,
42: 167-174.
IN SEARCH OF GLOBAL LEADERSHIP
2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The vast majority of top management teams of firms from all over the world would likely agree
that they need more global leaders in their managerial cadres. Unfortunately, most firms struggle
to develop their existing managers into global leaders. It turns out that developing global
leadership competencies in managers does not occur with “one-size-fits-all” training programs or
traditional management development courses. We contend that firms’ failures in their global
leadership development efforts stem mainly from two “disconnects” – failing to understand what
global leadership is, and failing to understand the core competencies needed for global
leadership. Based on recent research, we provide a framework to assist top management to better
understand the relationship between the “global” dimension of leadership and the strategic
development of global leadership development programs that are effective, and how to decide
which competencies should be included in their global leadership development programs and
how to approach developing those competencies in their managers.
IN SEARCH OF GLOBAL LEADERSHIP
3
IN SEARCH OF GLOBAL LEADERSHIP
Few executives disagree with the notion that “we need more people — at all levels of the
company — who have the ability to effectively operate in their roles from a global perspective.”
A recent study by the World Economic Forum that investigated the most urgent issues that
leaders face, reported:
One theme that recurs more than any other is the need for clear, dynamic leadership in a
fast changing world. Given … that most of today’s leaders … grew up in a vastly
different world from today’s, it is perhaps no surprise that leadership remains the biggest
challenge of all for 2013 and beyond.
Yet, by all accounts, the effectiveness of efforts to develop global leaders for most
companies has been mixed at best, and in most cases disappointing. Why is that?
We, along with our colleagues, have been studying global leadership since it emerged as
an important issue for companies in the late 1990s. While it is too early to say that we know all
about global leadership and.
What keeps CEOs up at night?
“Leadership”, answered the President of one of India’s largest business conglomerates recently. “Do we have the right skills and capabilities to pull our strategy off,” reported a Global 500 CEO. “I worry that the current management team will not be able to take us where we need to go to next,” answered a third corporate leader.
Most CEO’s are satisfied with their strategies. Many are less satisfied with their performance. This Executive Insight Thought Leader centers on the imperative of leadership capability development as a business priority.
This presentation goes into much more detail about 4G, its applications and case studies. Information on the following topics is included; what makes 4G unique, 4G modules, strategy, case studies and implementation tactics.
Removing Bottlenecks to High PerformanceFour Groups
Research tells us that differences in organisations can mean a 20 - 200% increase in performance. Yet explaining the difference between high and low performance is often more art than science
20 - 40% of performance is determined by the quality of people’s relationships, yet there are no tools that allow relationships to be predicted and forecast
The Foundation Course Overview - Four GroupsFour Groups
The Foundation Course is an advanced developmental application of 4G. By combining the Social Profiles from 4G with the skills of a facilitator, the Foundation Course represents an alternative to traditional executive coaching.
Linking Financial Values And Cultural Values Four GroupsFour Groups
The financial and cultural values of an organisation often appear to be two separate and distinct entities. However, simultaneously linking and managing them can have a major impact on the success of both strategy and its execution.
Commentators are currently polarised around the future of the HR function. Some suggest that the function is about to enter a boom period as after several years of cajoling, organisations are placing far greater emphasis on talent management and putting strategic HR activities at the heart of the business. On the other hand, others believe that HR is still struggling to rise to the challenge and is destined to remain a transaction based cost centre for the foreseeable future. As with most things, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. This article explores the evidence for both perspectives and suggests that solving apparently intangible human capital problems is the best way for HR to profit given current circumstances.
Actions For Enterprise Collaboration Four GroupsFour Groups
Companies need to innovate relentlessly to even stand still in an increasingly global and competitive economy. No longer is it sufficient to deliver incremental improvements at a leisurely pace. Instead disruptive innovations of the type that fundamentally alters markets and business processes must be sought out and delivered regularly and predictably. Disruptive innovation must become a core business process. This article shows how to achieve this.
A Summary Of How 4G Works - Four GroupsFour Groups
4G is a proprietary approach to predicting relationships, behaviour and group cultures. Based in part on the work of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, 4G incorporates measures of people’s strengths, creativity, motivation and weaknesses. The model contains 16 definitions of individual’s behavior, 14 different relationship types and 4 examples of group culture.
Four Groups have developed a tool to better understand and optimise behaviours, relationships and culture in the workplace, 4G has been designed to help prevent and resolve intangible issues and problems that impact individual and group performance.
This document is designed to introduce 4G and to show how it compares to and differs from other tools and techniques which organisations use to help manage their people.
B2B payments are rapidly changing. Find out the 5 key questions you need to be asking yourself to be sure you are mastering B2B payments today. Learn more at www.BlueSnap.com.
Implicitly or explicitly all competing businesses employ a strategy to select a mix
of marketing resources. Formulating such competitive strategies fundamentally
involves recognizing relationships between elements of the marketing mix (e.g.,
price and product quality), as well as assessing competitive and market conditions
(i.e., industry structure in the language of economics).
VAT Registration Outlined In UAE: Benefits and Requirementsuae taxgpt
Vat Registration is a legal obligation for businesses meeting the threshold requirement, helping companies avoid fines and ramifications. Contact now!
https://viralsocialtrends.com/vat-registration-outlined-in-uae/
In the Adani-Hindenburg case, what is SEBI investigating.pptxAdani case
Adani SEBI investigation revealed that the latter had sought information from five foreign jurisdictions concerning the holdings of the firm’s foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) in relation to the alleged violations of the MPS Regulations. Nevertheless, the economic interest of the twelve FPIs based in tax haven jurisdictions still needs to be determined. The Adani Group firms classed these FPIs as public shareholders. According to Hindenburg, FPIs were used to get around regulatory standards.
Premium MEAN Stack Development Solutions for Modern BusinessesSynapseIndia
Stay ahead of the curve with our premium MEAN Stack Development Solutions. Our expert developers utilize MongoDB, Express.js, AngularJS, and Node.js to create modern and responsive web applications. Trust us for cutting-edge solutions that drive your business growth and success.
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Discover the innovative and creative projects that highlight my journey throu...dylandmeas
Discover the innovative and creative projects that highlight my journey through Full Sail University. Below, you’ll find a collection of my work showcasing my skills and expertise in digital marketing, event planning, and media production.
Personal Brand Statement:
As an Army veteran dedicated to lifelong learning, I bring a disciplined, strategic mindset to my pursuits. I am constantly expanding my knowledge to innovate and lead effectively. My journey is driven by a commitment to excellence, and to make a meaningful impact in the world.
Building Your Employer Brand with Social MediaLuanWise
Presented at The Global HR Summit, 6th June 2024
In this keynote, Luan Wise will provide invaluable insights to elevate your employer brand on social media platforms including LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok. You'll learn how compelling content can authentically showcase your company culture, values, and employee experiences to support your talent acquisition and retention objectives. Additionally, you'll understand the power of employee advocacy to amplify reach and engagement – helping to position your organization as an employer of choice in today's competitive talent landscape.
An introduction to the cryptocurrency investment platform Binance Savings.Any kyc Account
Learn how to use Binance Savings to expand your bitcoin holdings. Discover how to maximize your earnings on one of the most reliable cryptocurrency exchange platforms, as well as how to earn interest on your cryptocurrency holdings and the various savings choices available.
An introduction to the cryptocurrency investment platform Binance Savings.
Leadership, Intangibles & Talent Q3 2009 Four Groups
1. Q3 2009
Linking Behaviour to Bottom Line Performance
Leadership, Intangibles & Talent Q3 2009
Welcome to 2009’s third quarterly review, as with previous issues, engagement continues to be at the forefront of
people’s thoughts. Behind the engagement debate however there seems to be a growing call for a wider reappraisal
of the fundamental way corporations are organised and for me personally, this is the most interesting aspect of this
quarter’s articles. Other themes include;
• Shifting the Organisational Pyramid
• The McLeod Review on Employee Engagement
• The Leader/Manager Debate
• Line Managers who Lead
• The Intrinsic Motivation of Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose
• The Irrationality of Human Behaviour
• Tomorrow’s HR Professionals - A Multi-Disciplinary Background
Articles are included from the likes of Harvard Business School, Henry Mintzberg, HR Magazine, McKinsey, the McLeod Review,
the Partnership Institute, Personnel Today, Strategy + Business and TED.
Comments and feedback are of course welcome.
Shifting the Organisational Pyramid this year’s hot topic is employee ment backed McLeod Review1 looking
engagement, whilst an acknowledge- into the impact of poor employee
The general consensus of commenta- ment of it’s importance is widespread, engagement in the UK. Undoubtedly
tors from a broad spectrum of disci- there remains considerable uncertainty this is a strong endorsement of the
plines is that the traditional organisa- around putting an effective engage- positive effect of engagement on per-
tional pyramid is not fit for purpose. ment strategy into place. Furthermore formance. However, there has been
See below to find out more. We are as the discussion develops, it is becom- criticism from some for the lack of new
also seeing a notable increase in arti- ing increasingly hard to separate insight or practical suggestions. I think
cles and blog posts focusing on recruit- engagement from other organisational that this is slightly missing the point
ment in the upturn. Whether this is issues such as; leadership, talent man- and the report is far from the “recycled
wishful thinking or a genuine sign of agement and innovation. rubbish” claimed by Nicholas Higgins2.
improving economic times remains to In a similar vein, Personnel Today3
be seen. The McLeod Review on explicitly criticises the lack of practical
Employee Engagement suggestions. In my view, the job of this
On a continuing theme from previous report is to make CEOs sit up and take
updates, there can be no doubt that July saw the release of the UK govern- note and raise what is traditionally
2. Leadership, Intangibles & Talent Q3 2009
seen to be a “soft issue” up the corpo- Tag Cloud
rate agenda. The report is also meant
to raise the issue of engagement for
businesses of all sizes, again I think this
is something that it achieves. As a first
step in an ongoing process, this report
gives HR directors the evidence to sup-
port the case for taking a serious look
at engagement.
Although short on new ideas there is
no doubt that the Mcleod Review “Many people we spoke to identified The Leader/Manager Debate
brings together lots of data and evi- managers’ approaches and behaviours
dence supporting the argument for an as key factors in disengagement – as To kick things off, Henry Mintzberg has
increased commitment to engage- one respondent said, they sometimes created a buzz with a look at the peren-
ment. A good summary by John act as “a great impermeable damp- nial manager/leader debate5. This was
Ingham can be found4. There is nothing proof course.” Jeff Kelly, of the also a topic covered in the previous
revolutionary in the report and it is Partnership Institute, told us at a round issue. In this article Mintzberg is critical
easy to see why some in the industry table discussion for this review: “There of the traditional role of corporate lead-
are frustrated by it’s lack of specifics. is a territorial problem and a comfort ers who he brands as aloof and discon-
However as a document making the zone problem. Many feel comfortable nected from the workforce, therefore
quantitative case for increased invest- with managing staff on an adversarial having little idea of what is actually
ment in engagement it is pretty solid basis and don’t want to give it up.” happening in the organisation. It is this
and for those not directly involved in disconnection that hampers so many
HR and its related disciplines, it is a My feeling is that what is being called organisational initiatives. In Mintzberg’s
good introduction. for in the McLeod Review goes much view, corporate America is overled and
further than encouraging organisations undermanaged.
Despite the shortcomings, the conclu- to adopt a formal engagement pro-
sions reached by McLeod are likely to gramme. If organisations are to fully True leadership is something that may
resonate with many. In short, McLeod is realise the benefits outlined in the only be required on an ad hoc basis, in
calling for a more sophisticated report it is going to require a complete particular during times of uncertainty or
approach to people management. The rethink in the way corporations man- dealing with specific challenges or
report openly argues that due to age and engage their people. unknowns. These are the challenges
amongst other things changing demo- which we most associate and value
graphics and technology, engagement Curiously enough there have been a strong leadership with such as charis-
is not something organisations can number of other articles published this ma, determination and vision. Effective
approach with a one size fits all men- quarter that I feel more explicitly management on the other hand is
tality. True engagement is focused on reflect the findings of the McLeod something that requires a more mun-
the needs of each individual. Review. Interestingly, these articles are dane yet equally valuable approach.
Furthermore, if organisations buy into all written by people from a variety of
this assertion, the role of line managers backgrounds or disciplines yet the “As Stanford University emeritus pro-
has to evolve away from the tradition- underlying message is very similar. fessor James G. March put it:
al administration/assigning tasks role "Leadership involves plumbing as well
to a more collaborative/coaching type as poetry." Instead of distinguishing
approach, as McLeod states; leaders from managers, we should
3. Leadership, Intangibles & Talent Q3 2009
encourage all managers to be leaders. ment and leadership, one particular Citing a number of scientific sources,
And we should define "leadership" as criticism outlined by Mintzberg in Pink states that the traditional reward
management practiced well.” another article8 is what he refers to as structure used by organisations is not
leading through information or “deem- an effective means of motivation.
At the heart of Mintzberg’s criticism is ing” as he terms it. This is where lead- Clearly this view undermines many of
that the traditional corporate pyramid ers deem that certain targets need the assumptions that organisations
encourages and supports this discon- achieving, such as sales need to rise by implicitly make about motivation and
nection between leaders and the rest 10% or we need to cut 15% of staff. By performance. In getting rid of the tradi-
of the organisation. Jamie Notter6. has any definition this is not leadership and tional carrot and stick approach, Pink
an good summary of the Mintzberg as such is unlikely to engage or moti- focuses on three areas of what he
article and picks up on his assertion vate employess apart from through terms “intrinsic motivation” of autono-
that organisations need to review the fear. my, mastery and purpose.
usefulness of the prevailing hierarchical
model of organisational design. Dismantling the organisational pyramid In discussing the role of autonomy, Pink
is also the topic of a Strategy + Business is another to go against the orthodoxy
Line Managers who Lead article9. Ostensibly discussing talent and directly criticise the traditional
management, the theme is the same organisational pyramid which concen-
The notion of line managers who lead as Mintzberg’s argument and calls for a trates decision-making in the upper
is explored in this recent McKinsey arti- fundamental reassessment of how echelons. By removing self-direction,
cle7. An idea that is coming from a sim- organisations engage with their organisations are undermining the abil-
ilar direction to Mintzberg, instead of employees. The article argues that the ity of employees to fully engage with
training managers in process and traditional career progression struc- their work. At the same time feelings
administration, they can improve pro- tured through an organisational pyra- of unfairness are likely to grow. Clearly,
ductivity by empowering the people mid structure is outdated and not fit for Pink is suggesting that organisations
around them. In this way managers can current and future demographics. need a fundamental rethink in the way
be seen as catalysts to creativity, inno- Instead organisations need to take a that they motivate their employees. As
vation and devolved decision-making. more sophisticated and flexible Pink repeatedly summarises;
In particular managers need to address approach to career development based
the issues that are of particular rele- on the individual. “there's a mismatch between what sci-
vance to them and their people. This ence knows and what business does.”
can be anything from dealing with The Intrinsic Motivation of
interpersonal issues to customer rela- Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose The Irrationality of Human Behaviour
tionships. The article goes on to say;
Further evidence to support a radical As if that isn’t enough, we are continu-
“To unlock a team's abilities, a manag- reappraisal in the way organisations ing to see an increase in articles focus-
er at any level must spend a significant structure themselves is outlined by Dan ing on the “irrationality” of human
amount of time on two activities: help- Pink who delivered an entertaining TED behaviour. In a posting on the Harvard
ing the team understand the compa- talk10, well worth the 20 minutes if Business School site Jim Heskett11 kicks
ny's direction and its implications for you have the time. In it he discusses off a decent discussion about a recent
team members and coaching for per- the failure of bonuses and incentives to HBR article12 by Dan Ariely. Again, this
formance.” improve performance. Contrary to pop- has significant implications for our
ularly held beliefs in the corporate approach to management theory and
This prompts the question, is the tradi- world at least, the basis of Pink’s talk is assumptions about human behaviour.
tional top down business model fit for that traditional monetary incentives fail
purpose in the 21st Century? To high- to boost performance in all but the “Reactions to our efforts as managers
light this confusion between manage- most mundane or mechanical tasks. reflect what each individual receives in
5. Leadership, Intangibles & Talent Q3 2009
Footnotes and References
1. http://fourgroups.com/link/?86
2. http://fourgroups.com/link/?87
3. http://fourgroups.com/link/?88
4. http://fourgroups.com/link/?89
5. http://fourgroups.com/link/?90
6. http://fourgroups.com/link/?91
7. http://fourgroups.com/link/?92
8. http://fourgroups.com/link/?93 Written by
Michael Folkman, Director
9. http://fourgroups.com/link/?94 michael.folkman@fourgroups.com
10. http://fourgroups.com/link/?95 About Four Groups
11. http://fourgroups.com/link/?96 Four Groups have developed a new
approach called 4G to understand
12. http://fourgroups.com/link/?97 behaviour, relationships and culture. 4G
provides its users with insight into per-
13. http://fourgroups.com/link/?98 sonal characteristics, how relationships
develop within teams and groups and
14. http://fourgroups.com/link/?99 how culture can be best defined and
managed.
15. http://fourgroups.com/link/?100
4G provides organisations with infor-
16. http://fourgroups.com/link/?101 mation on how best to deploy and opti-
mise the performance of their people.
It also enables preventative measures
to be taken which minimise the less
productive aspects of interaction and
group dynamics such as friction and
misunderstanding between colleagues.
4G represents a systematic approach to
managing the previously intangible
aspects of organisational life. The
methodology is easily replicable and
can be implemented quickly and effi-
ciently.