Paradigms_of_Leadership

October 8, 2013 Paradigms of Leadership Driving home from work, I noticed a marquee sign at the local veterinary clinic. It read, “Leaders are successful when they create more leaders, not more followers.” I related this to my career as a human resources director and began to envision ways to create more leaders within the organization, rather than creating more followers. To be a good leader, one must influence others in a way to realize a common goal. Many in our organization refer to this process as managing the people. However, there is a difference in managing and leading, although it may appear to be a discrete one. Leadership involves change, inspiration, vision, innovation, and overcoming obstacles; whereas, management involves more tangible activities such as implementation, maintenance, and administration of more stable processes. According to R Gill, five facets of leadership behaviors include: 1. Identifying vision and mission 2. Creating strategy 3. Building shared values among the group 4. Empowering followers 5. Influencing, motivating, and inspiring followers The three paradigms that are identified as facets of leadership behaviors that are most aligned with human resources (in my opinion) include empowerment, people and relationships, and diversity. In contrast, under the old paradigm of management, these would have been control, things, and uniformity. Empowerment is a difficult change for individuals who were raised in organizations where a classical paradigm of management was accepted. The leader was in command and had power and authority over all. In more recent leadership paradigms, employees are empowered to make decisions and be accountable for helping organizations reach common goals for the overall success of the business. Business environment has necessitated this change due to the inability to prosper without the support of others within the organization. Empowered employees share best practices from work experience that they have obtained. In many cases, they can provide ideas that otherwise may have never been considered. People and relationships have replaced things in the more organic paradigm of leadership. In the industrial-age paradigm, focus was placed on things (such as machines) and employees were not seen as individuals. Human resource professionals are somewhat easily able to assist these leaders with this transition based upon their expertise. The environment has necessitated this change because we have moved from the industrial age – where machines were the focus – into an age of service and information, which requires the use of people and building relationships between co-workers and those that the company serves in the community. To have a successful business, the shift from uniformity to diversity has probably been the most difficult change of all. Diversity requires setting aside any personal biases that one might have and embracing differences in the workforce. While many believe that a diversified workplace is just an inclusion of multi-racial employees, they neglect to realize that is not all. Diversity includes individuals from many backgrounds, multiple levels of education, different regions, and yes, different racial groups. These individuals provide different attitudes, ways of thinking, and ways of doing things (Daft, 12). Traditional or classical managers have enough difficulty letting go of the past and dealing with change when it involves processes. When it involves people, the difficulty multiplies. People are able to express opinions and disagreement with these managers, which also challenges their control or authority. Changing a culture of an organization to one that embraces diversity is a challenging task. However, without the diversified workforce, a business will not survive in the ever-changing organization climate. It has become a necessity to move forward in this respect in order to compete in the global workplace. Of the three paradigm changes, the most effective for today’s business environment has been the change from uniformity to diversity. Companies that have successfully transitioned through this change experience improvements in financial outcomes, market shares, job performance and employee satisfaction. References Daft, R.L. (2002). The leadership experience, (2nd ed.). Mason, OH: Thomson South- Western. Gill, R. (2006). Theory and practice of leadership, London: Sage Publications.