business leadership review, spring 2013

CHANGE AND COMPLEXITYSpring 2013 10:2

Editor: Dr Richard Bolden

For almost 10 years, the Business Leadership Review has been the forum for leadership development and postgraduate management education. It is a resource designed to bridge the gap between leaders, managers, academics and those at the forefront of management education. It provides a range of insights from the academic and practitioner communities.

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Editorial

Change the world or go homeDr Richard Bolden, Senior Lecturer in Leadership Studies, University of Exeter Business School

In the first quarter of this year I had the rare and fortunate opportunity, occasionally afforded to academics, of temporarily leaving behind my day-to-day commitments and taking a period of Study Leave. During this time I spent nearly two months overseas witnessing leadership development and education in a range of different contexts. Whilst this editorial is not the place to recount all my experiences, it is a chance to reflect on some of the key learning and insights from this trip and their relevance to the BLR readership.

The first leg of my journey involved travelling to Kenya with Nigel Linacre and Jefferson Cann of Extraordinary Leadership to spend a week exploring and engaging with leadership in the context of a number of community projects. We met some truly remarkable people including James and Karen Ngugi, two Kenyan teachers who after their retirement established a school and orphanage; Martine Kappel, who left The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work on community development projects focused on personal development in the Nairobi slums; and Lucy Njoroge who is the local representative for a water charity and despite only being in her mid-twenties already onto her third or fourth career.

What each of these people has is common is their unwavering sense of commitment, passion and dedication to supporting the needs and interests of their respective communities. Each is a prime example of the capacity for ordinary people to do extraordinary things – of leadership not by conquering heroes but by engaged citizens.

Following Kenya I spent several weeks in South Africa, mostly at the University of Stellenbosch but also visiting the Universities of Cape Town and Pretoria. Whilst in many ways the university environment felt familiar what struck me was the sense of commitment to positive social change. South Africa is still a young nation, coming to terms with the legacy of apartheid and colonialism, and faced with substantial economic, social and environmental challenges.

Whilst South African universities may look to Europe and the USA for their benchmarks I noticed a real sense of duty to also making an impact at local level. Each of the academics that I met, in his or her own way, expressed a profound sense of vocation and a dedication to the social mission of higher education.

The final leg of my trip was spent in Singapore with the Centre for Leadership Development at the Singapore Civil Service College. Here again I was exposed to a group of highly capable leadership and organisation development professionals, committed to applying their knowledge and expertise to meet the needs of local citizens. In a place that is both a city and a country in its own right, the line between policy and practice is short and the potential to make a real difference is large.

Sometimes we find inspiration in the most unlikely of places and for me it came on the back of a wine bottle I was served on my flight from Nairobi to Johannesburg which read: “Be Passionate, Love, Dream Big, Be Spontaneous, Celebrate, Change the World or Go Home”. For me, these few words captured the sentiment of

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Editorial BLR, Spring 2013 10:2

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the people I had met and was yet to meet. They were people who understood that in a complex and uncertain world the only way to make a difference is to do something – to be courageous, committed, to believe in the possibility of a better future, and to do this for others rather than themselves. For far too long we have been obsessed with the hero leader, the celebrity, the commander-in-chief, perhaps it’s time to look for other role models – the citizen, the parent, the sister, the brother, the friend.

The articles in this issue of BLR each have something to say about the nature of leadership in times of change and uncertainty. Brian Howieson, in his article ‘Crisis averted versus crisis created’, explores the leadership of President Barack Obama following the BP Deepwater Horizon crisis in 2010. Using Keith Grint’s framework of leadership, management and command, he illustrates the challenges Obama faced in responding to a ‘wicked’ problem whilst not appearing weak or indecisive.

Colin Coulson-Thomas’ article on ‘Talent Management 2 for Today’s Leaders’ reports on recent research into talent management that indicates that most schemes – be they focussed on high flyers or corporate restructuring - are poorly suited to the changing needs of organisations. Instead, he suggests, we should focus on how best to support the performance of people in front line jobs and develop their potential to excel. This is about growing leadership capacity across the organisation and putting in place processes and practices that reduce the chances of failure.

Michael Walton takes a look at the dark side of leadership in his article ‘A ‘PRISM’ for your thoughts? Looking anew at the behaviour of the Leader’. He suggests that for many senior leaders the temptations of power, reputation, identity, sexual attraction and money can be hard to resist and can draw them into dysfunctional and destructive patterns of behaviour. His call is for greater attention to be paid to the less savoury aspects of corporate life in an attempt to identify and address them before they get out of hand.

In this issue’s regular feature Pierre Casse focuses on ‘The Complexity of Listening’ - encouraging us to be creative listeners who construct new meaning from everyday encounters. Finally, George Murgatroyd provides an overview of the Association of MBAs 2013 Career Survey – suggesting that MBAs are continuing to gain positive returns from their qualifications.

As citizen-leaders, of course, we needn’t travel far to have an impact – we can look to our own communities for ways in which to make a positive contribution to the lives of those around us. The articles in this issue speak to the value of being grounded and in touch with our place in the wider scheme of things – to think globally but to act locally. As ever we invite you to share your views and comments on the BLR LinkedIn site and encourage you to submit your own ideas for articles.

Dr Richard Bolden

“For far too long we have been obsessed with the hero leader, the celebrity, the commander-in-chief, perhaps it’s time to look for other role models – the citizen, the parent, the sister, the brother, the friend.”

BLR, Spring 2013 10:2 Bolden

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Casse’s Corner #24The Complexity of Listening: What effective leaders really do!Professor Pierre Casse, Moscow School of Management-SKOLKOVO, Russia

Three Premises on Listening

It seems that effective leaders keep three key ideas in mind when they communicate, and these three “premises” have a strong impact on the way leaders relate to other people. This results in a communication process which is more authentic and creative. Effective leaders are not afraid of managing their interactions with imagination and provocation.

The three key premises are:

1. Nature has made human beings in such a way that they cannot fully understand each other.

The implication for leaders is that to believe in the possibility of being able to fully and completely understand another person’s mind-set is nonsense. It also means that to be able to understand each other is not so vital for our survival.

2. To be inventive while communicating is more important than having some kind of mutual and reciprocal understanding.

For effective leaders, the purpose of the communication process is not to practice empathy but rather to invest time and energy in the creation of an environment from which everybody will benefit.

3. Listening is not a process intended to encourage other people to express their ideas so that the leader can see what other people see, but rather it is a process through which the leader can build on the others’ perceptions and generate new and more appropriate assumptions.

Listening is a creative act based on a reciprocal flow of ideas that leads to the enlightenment

of the parties involved and in the production of new ways to understand situations and people.

A Selection of Listening Skills

Effective communication leaders have been using a selection of skills that range from being gently provocative to unquestionably perturbing.

Here is a sample of the listening behaviours which can prove to be a source of sparkling ideas:

• Creative listening

The process is very simple: You say something and I pick up one word in what you said and elaborate my own ideas around that word. I’m not interested in whatever else you said and you do the same thing to me.

• Selective listening

As you talk I allow my mind to wander in various directions and I react to what you say in a haphazard way. Some of your ideas trigger my own reflections and I let it happen that way.

• Interpreting listening

I listen to you in a systematic way and I attribute my own meaning to what you said without trying in any way to really understand you. In other words I misunderstand you on purpose.

Effective leaders are not afraid of managing their interactions with imagination and provocation.

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Debriefing

If you have between 7 and 10 yes answers: This is a bit excessive. It could be good for you to check on your own behaviours to see if they are indeed in line with your answers. If yes, then think twice about the impact you could have on the people to whom you are talking.

If you have between 4 and 6 yes answers: There is a good chance that you are both an active listener (i.e. in tune with the other person talking to you) and a creative listener (i.e. in search of new ideas). Is it really what you do in real life situations?

If you have between 1 and 3 yes answers: This is low and it could mean that you are missing some great opportunities to trigger creativity when interacting with other people. Passive listening is not necessarily good in human communication. It is up to you to decide if this is true or not.

Professor Pierre Casse

CREATIVE LISTENERS... YES NO

1 Give the impression that they are distracted and not listening when they actually pay full attention

2 Have a tendency to guess what the speaker is going to say next

3 Build their own ideas around a few words expressed by the other party and tend to neglect whatever else they say

4 Cut people off and are impatient with slow speakers

5 Misunderstand on purpose what the other person said

6 Use a lot of “yes but” statements to stimulate the other person’s thinking

7 Reformulate ideas/responses in the wrong way

8 Use silence to encourage the speaker to say more

9 Ask unexpected questions –they have nothing to do with what has been said-to challenge the other person

10 Highlight and build on the contradictions in the speaker’s statements

TOTAL

Are you a creative listener?

Here is a short self-assessment exercise on “Creative Listening”

Do you agree that the following behaviours are right (acceptable) and powerful (effective)?

Simply answer yes or no.

BLR April 2013 10:2 Casse

Introduction

On the 20th of April 2010, BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded. The fire continued for another 36 hours until the rig sank. For the next 87 days, crude oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico. Although the long-term environmental impacts have yet to be determined fully, it is certain that the oil spill caused one of the worst environmental disasters in US history (The Guardian, 2010).

In the fall of 2010, this oil spill had become the world’s largest accidental release of oil into marine waters (Robertson & Krauss, 2010). In addition to the loss of 11 human lives (due to the explosion), an environmental disaster, the loss of livelihoods for many along the US coastline, and the near downfall of an international oil company, stood an American President heavily criticized for his lack of action to resolve the situation for the American people. On reflection, therefore, one might enquire about the leadership of one of the main actors in this situation, namely President Barack Obama [1].

In his paper, ‘Problems, problems, problems: The social construction of ‘leadership’’, Grint (2005) offers an alternative model of leadership that

Crisis averted versus crisis created: can social construction explain the leadership style of President Barack Obama during the BP Deepwater Horizon crisis?

Dr W B Howieson, Stirling Management School, The University of Stirling, Scotland

In a crisis, a leader’s ability and willingness to communicate can be severely hampered, thereby potentially damaging an important link between him/her and his/her stakeholders. And when that link is severed, so too is the potential for building or sustaining trust

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Crists Averted BLR. Spring 2013 10:2

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to analyse, via Keith Grint’s (2005) social construction model of leadership, President Obama’s leadership during the crisis that was the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, and subsequent fallout, during the summer of 2010, in an attempt to describe his behaviours and actions; and to attempt to understand why President Obama chose his particular stance to deal with this situation. To achieve this purpose, the paper will: revisit the context surrounding the explosion; introduce Grint’s (2005) social construction model of leadership; and examine, in detail, President Obama’s leadership during this period. Finally, concluding thoughts will be stated. It is hoped that this analysis will further the understanding of the theory of the social construction of leadership, and perhaps leadership in crisis, during this most difficult period for all concerned.

adapts the Tame and Wicked problem analysis of Rittell and Webber (1973), in association with Etzioni’s (1964) typology of compliance, to propose an alternative analysis that is rooted in social constructivist approaches.

Grint (2005: 1471) suggests that decision-makers are much more active in the constitution of the context than conventional contingency theories of leadership allow, and that a persuasive rendition of the context then legitimizes a particular form of action that often relates to the decision-maker’s preferred mode of engagement, rather than what ‘the situation’ apparently demands. In effect, the context is reconstructed as a political arena and not a scientific laboratory.

The purpose of this paper is twofold:

1) to analyse, via Grint’s (2005) social construction model of leadership, President Obama’s leadership during the crisis that was the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, and subsequent fallout, during the summer of 2010, in an attempt to describe his behaviours and actions; [2] and

2) to attempt to understand why President Obama chose his particular stance to deal with this situation.

To achieve this purpose, the paper will: revisit the context surrounding the explosion; introduce Grint’s (2005) social construction model of leadership; and examine, in detail, Obama’s leadership during this period. Finally, concluding thoughts will be offered. It is hoped that this analysis will further the understanding of the theory of the social construction of leadership, and perhaps leadership in crisis, during this most difficult period for all concerned.

The Context

Crises are marked by time constraints, ambiguity, remarkably unusual circumstances, limited or conflicting information, and a need for immediate and decisive action, not to mention anxious stakeholders, naïve observers, and an

aggressive media who all want information and answers (James and Wooten, 2005).

The BP oil crisis came at a time when the United States of America was, it may be argued, at one of its most vulnerable periods in the country’s short but influential history: the recession had hit hard and the American government was working hard to cut costs and attempting to put the country back on course (Business Monitor International, 2010). The BP oil spill could probably not have occurred at a worse point in time as far as the Presidency was concerned. With the economy in such a critical state, nothing would be more devastating for the American tax payers than having ‘to pick up the bill’ for a commercial, foreign company.

And so the blame game commenced, as the President made every effort to ensure that the people of America understood that: “British Petroleum is responsible, and British Petroleum will pay.” (Robertson & Fountain, 2010). But blaming BP and ensuring that they would stand responsible was not satisfactory. Perhaps President Obama was trying to divert attention to his own inaction by categorically stating that the problem was not one caused by the United States of America (Corkindale, 2010).This, simply, was a form of political rhetoric that was not beneficial to actually solving the crisis. At this time, the people of the United States of America were most likely looking for guidance in this period of significant uncertainty. His response, therefore, seems to have been perceived as ineffective, and demonstrated little or no will for action. How is such a difference in perception regarding the situation possible?

Social Construction

The Theory

Social constructionism provides a different and less rigid view of how relations between occurrences, perceptions, and expectations emerge in processes and places. This approach encourages us not only to understand what appear to be the actions of those occupying managerial positions, but also to recognize

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BLR, Spring 2013 10:2 Howieson

The BP oil spill could probably not have occurred at a worse point in time as far as the Presidency was concerned. With the US economy in such a critical state, nothing would be more devastating for the American tax payers than having ‘to pick up the bill’ for a commercial, foreign company.

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various preconditions in terms of local understandings of the specific circumstances. It is particularly interesting to see how managerial leadership itself is interpreted and understood, and to grasp the dynamics of the creation and (re)production of such frames of understanding and how they are changed. Grint (2005) states that social constructionist accounts are not new; indeed the early roots can be traced to Kuhn’s (1962) work on scientific paradigms, to C. Wright Mills’s (1959) work on the vocabularies of motive, and to the seminal work of Berger and Luckmann, ‘The social construction of reality’ (1966).

The critical elements of social constructionism or constructivism are that what counts as ‘true’, as ‘objective’, and as ‘fact’ are the results of contending accounts of ‘reality’. That implies that ‘reality’ is constructed through language and, in turn, since language is a social phenomenon, the account of reality which prevails is often both a temporary and a collective phenomenon.

The Application to Leadership

For leadership scholars, Grint (2005) suggests that the recent theoretical developments are best approached through the works of Smircich and Morgan (1982), Knights and Wilmott (1992), Bresnen (1995), Surr (2003), and Gergen (1999). For leadership-specific applications, the reader is directed to the work of Grint (2001) and Sjöstrand et al (2001). Sjöstrand et al (200:1) suggests that what (managerial) leadership is and how it is enacted are both determined by the social constructions of the leadership phenomenon that emerge in human interactions. Thus, managerial leadership is a relational and ongoing social construction process rather than as a single clear-cut phenomenon. This assumption implies a shift in perspective from viewing managers as the exclusive helms(wo)men of organizations to regarding them as one of the many important constructors and executants of organisational leadership.

Grint (2005) states that contingency theories, that are premised on securing independent and objective accounts of the context, situation, leader and followers (essentialist approaches), are fundamentally flawed and we should pay much more attention to the role of leaders and decision-makers in the construction of contexts that legitimates their intended or executed actions and accounts. Expanding on this theme, Grint (2005: 1471) says:

While contingency suggests that there is a rational connection between (objective) context (problem) and (objective) leadership style (authority form), the perception of the correct leadership style is due to the leader’s ability to present the context in a persuasive manner.

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“In effect, leadership involves the social construction of the context that both legitimates a particular form of action and constitutes the world in the process. If that rendering of the context is successful, for there are usually contending and competing renditions, the newly constituted context then limits the alternatives available such that those involved begin to act differently. Or to put it another way, we might begin to consider not what is the situation, but how it is situated.”

As moderation to the contingency theories, Grint (2005) presents what is known as the ‘social construction of leadership’. While contingency suggests that there is a rational connection between (objective) context (problem) and (objective) leadership style (authority form), the perception of the correct leadership style is due to the leader’s ability to present the context in a persuasive manner.

Grint (2005: 1472-1473) also offers further definitions of command, management and leadership. These three forms of authority, that is legitimate power, are, in turn, another way of suggesting that the role of those responsible for decision-making is charged with finding the appropriate answer, process, and question to address the problem respectively. Moreover, it is

often the case that the same individual or group with authority will switch between command, management and leadership roles as they perceive and constitute, the problem as critical, tame or wicked, or even as a single problem that itself shifts across these boundaries. A critical problem is one that is self-evident in nature and that requires swift decision-making and action. A tame problem may be complicated but resolvable through unilinear acts because there is a point where the problem is resolved and it is likely to have occurred before. A wicked problem is complex, rather than just complicated, it is often intractable, there is no unilinear solution. Moreover, there is no ‘stopping’ point, it is novel, any apparent ‘solution’ often generates other ‘problems’, and there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer, but there are better or worse alternatives.

In his paper, Grint (2005) revisited/reflected further on Etzioni’s (1964) alternative typology to distinguish between coercive, calculative and normative compliance: coercive compliance (or physical power) was related to total institutions, such as prisons or armies; calculative compliance was related to ‘rational’ institutions, such as companies; and normative compliance was related to institutions or

Figure 1: A typology of problems, power and authorityGrint, K, Human Relations, Volume 58(11): 1467–1494. Copyright © 2005, The Tavistock Institute ®, Reprinted by Permission of SAGE


organisations based on shared values, such as clubs and professional societies. This compliance typology also fits well with the typology of problems (Rittell and Webber, 1973): critical problems are often associated with coercive compliance; tame problems are associated with calculative compliance; and wicked problems are associated with normative compliance.

This model of Command, Management and Leadership is shown in Figure 1.

President Obama’s Leadership

A Crisis (?) and the Blame Game

James and Wooten (2010) suggest 3 basic rules for effective leadership in crisis handling:

1) Demonstrate concern: crisis leaders are faced with an awesome responsibility to carefully manage the vulnerability that is shared across multiple parties and demonstrate sincere concern to all parties involved

2) Perspective taking: during a crisis, one of the core responsibilities of a leader is to ensure the well-being of those affected by the crisis. Perspective taking allows the leader to better understand and empathize with others, and in turn, act in the best interest of stakeholders

3) Communicate effectively: communication is the primary mechanism through which leaders are able to influence the perceptions that stakeholders hold

In a crisis, a leader’s ability and willingness to communicate can be severely hampered, thereby potentially damaging an important link between him/her and his/her stakeholders. And when that link is severed, so too is the potential for building or sustaining trust (Coombs, 2007).

President Obama entered the crisis late. He first met with BP personnel 50 days into the crisis (Corkindale, 2010). As Pearson et al., (1998) suggest about crisis management, decisions need to be made swiftly. The implications, therefore, of President Obama’s late entry, one might argue, is that it can enhance the anxiety of the public in that they that do not know how they are going to be affected by the disaster,

in effect, there is not enough direction given. Of note, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser testified: “I don’t know who is in charge. Is it BP? Is it the Coast Guard?” (Inhofe, 2010).

President Obama, at first, chose a different rhetoric in his dealing with the crisis, he acted by placing blame and judgement on BP by unleashing unprecedented comments against the company (Corkindale, 2010). He, together with other top US officials, referred to BP as ‘British Petroleum’ a name that had not been used since 1998 (Evans, 2010). This was a political move to display that the root cause of the problem was not American.

Of course, President Obama’s anger was justified as the disaster was affecting the United States of America, but his approach of attacking BP as opposed to appearing calm and committed, and working with them, to resolving the problem made his leadership actions appear poor. His leadership style was criticized as being too indecisive, seeking consensus for too long, and not able to make strong powerful decisions quickly (Langer, 2010). The consequence of his leadership style was massive public scrutiny of how President Obama handled the situation. This scrutiny led, in turn, to a late response from the Obama administration as to what would be their contribution to solve the issue. By the time the US Government had stated that they would contribute to the clean up along the Gulf coast, it was, perhaps, far too late for the President to convincingly act out the role as Commander in Chief.

A Wicked Problem

One might argue that some of President Obama’s actions point towards a context where there was a wicked problem, which in turn demanded leadership, or a collaborative resolution. Indeed, in President Obama’s address from the Oval Office on 15th June 2010, he stated that:

“Because there had never been an oil-spill at that magnitude and that depth, the situation is testing the capacity of human technology.” (The White House, Washington, 2010).

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No one expected the President and his administration to be able

to cap the oil well, but they did however expect him to have effective crisis management

It appears that America does not want a leader in times of what they see as crisis, they want a

commander, or more precisely, they want the appropriately

named Commander in Chief.

This is part of Obama’s construction of the context as being a wicked problem (complicated, and no obvious solution), which in turn gives him the opportunity to respond with leadership. The President`s speech informed the public that he had assembled a team of experts to create a solution (asking questions and collaborating), exemplifying the use of leadership as defined by Grint in his model at Figure 1. The argument of this being a wicked problem is easily justified. Where President Obama failed – it is suggested − was convincing his followers of the same. It seemed that the American public had its own perception of the context, and this appeared to resemble more of a crisis problem, demanding authority and action on the President’s part.

Part of the reason why Obama was unable to persuade the citizens of the United States of America of the wicked problem lay perhaps not with the context itself, but rather with the fact that that the public did not perceive that the President was focusing on the right context or problem. Of course, no one expected the President and his administration to be able to cap the oil well, but they did however expect him to have effective crisis management (Chavez, 2010). Obama’s failure here it seems, is that he did not consider the problem to be owned by his administration, but rather by BP.

Former Governor of Massachusetts, and Republican candidate for the 2012 US Presidency, Mitt Romney, illustrated quite well how many Americans felt about the President’s leadership of the oil spill. Romney stated : “When a crisis is upon us, America wants a leader, not a politician” (Romney, 2010). He further goes on to glorify the former Mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, for his leadership during 9/11. Giuliani camped out at Ground Zero, reassured the people that someone was in charge, and took measure of the people he had on the ground (Romney, 2010).

The Leadership

According to Grint’s (2005) definitions, Mayor Giuliani’s actions do not correspond with what is defined as leadership, but rather that of command (critical problem) and perhaps borderline management (tame problem). Romney`s


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statement, that America wants a leader at a time of crisis, is at best a misstatement due to the confusing use of the term ‘leadership’. It appears that America does not want a leader in times of what they see as crisis, they want a commander, or more precisely, they want the appropriately named Commander in Chief.

According to Howieson and Kahn (2002:31), leadership and ‘headship’ are two different things, even though many people treat them as one: “Leadership is concerned with inspiration and motivation, while Command is the direction, coordination and effective use of human resources”. The demand for a Commander during times of crisis is supported by Grint’s model. The problem occurs when the perception of the problem is wrongly interpreted, or in the case of the BP oil spill, just interpreted differently by the different stakeholders.

The typology of a critical problem, a tame problem and a wicked problem is quite practical for analyzing leadership behaviour. It not only shows how the leaders behave, but also explains why they behave like that. How the leader identifies the problem is a major determinant of their reaction towards the trouble [3]. The power of social construction depends on the leader’s ability to convince his/her followers.

Grint’s model of social constructed leadership does, however, make an assumption that at any given time the leader is, or will be able to, construct his or her environment in to the desired perceived context (with natural limitations of the environmental situation). This means that in theory, any leader can and will at any time choose the approach (coercion, calculative, normative) most appropriate due to the social construction of the context (crisis, tame or wicked). One might argue, however, that leaders rarely see the different approaches as equal; rather, their traits will give them a preference for a certain approach. It is human nature to expose oneself to situations we believe we are capable of succeeding in. Perhaps this is even more so true in the case of leaders. But this, in turn, suggests that although (theoretically) a leader

may choose any of the problem interpretations of Grint, they will most likely be prone to choose one that converts with their natural preferences in personality. Assuming that personality is closely interlinked with behaviour, as described in the definition by Cattel (and quoted in Bozionelos, 2004: “Personality refers to cognitive and behavioural patterns that show stability over time and across situations”), some of our behaviour may be seen as fairly instinctive. This, in turn, means that our behaviour and choices are not always rationalized or consciously made; some choices come ‘natural’ to us, regardless of the situation. Our personality, given that we have a choice of behaviour, will, therefore, influence our response and behaviour. In the BP example, one might argue that President Obama’s construction of the problem at hand as wicked (and replying with leadership), may be explained to a certain extent by his personality traits. Had the President at the time of the accident been George W Bush, is it likely that he would have interpreted the context and problem in the same manner as President Obama?

In explaining the leadership portrayed by President Obama in the handling of the BP oil spill, it seems that the theory of Grint overestimates the ‘freedom of choice’ by the leader, and underestimates how influenced our actions are by our preferences in personality. This is not to suggest that The Great Man theory (for more details, see Van Seters & Field, 1993) is a more appropriate approach for describing leadership. In fact, it seems that most leadership theory assumes more or less conscious behaviour and decisions from the leader on a constant basis, which might prove to be a weakness. But in the case of BP, and the usage of Grint’s social construction theory, the comment is simply to underpin that some decisions are likely to be taken less consciously, and that some of these decisions might be partially explained by our personality.

In essence, the social construction of leadership is an interesting moderation and addition to the more traditional situational leadership theories. As seen in this case of President Obama’s


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leadership of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil crisis, the perception of reality, or the situation, has a great effect on the consequences of leadership. President Obama has been criticized extensively for his handling of the oil spill crisis (see for example Chavez, 2010; The Washington Post, 2010). Had President Obama focused on the tame problem within the BP case, which was the clean up and the salvaging of the shoreline, his leadership would most likely have been perceived differently.

In terms of the social construction model of Grint, it seems that wicked problems can easily be mistaken as a critical (crisis) problem. The good leader will, therefore, not only recognize and perceive the problem correctly, but will also have to be able to convince the stakeholders of the correct context. The power of social construction lies within the leaders capability of convincing his or her followers of the correct context, and this capability is most likely also dependent on the leaders personality and preferences in behaviour.

Conclusion

The case of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill is a controversial and highly educational one, through which significant lessons can be learned.

It would seem that the issue is not really ‘what really is the problem facing the United States of America?’ but what is the successful rendition of that problem that facilitates a particular kind of authority? (Grint, 2005). Certainly, as Gergen (2002) suggests (and quoted in Grint (2005)), there is a long cultural history of this kind of leadership in the USA, embodied by the likes of John Wayne and the myths of the Wild West (Case & Grint, 1998; Courtwright, 1996). It may be that certain cultures do facilitate different interpretations of,

and approaches to, problems and authority.

Although President Obama recognized that the problem was ‘wicked’ it is suggested that he a) sought to blame, b) did not persuade the American people that it was wicked, and c), did not get over to the said people that he would employ the role of Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C)if need be [4]. In a perceived or actual crisis, in addition to blame, the American people may want their leaders to be commanders, a role that George W. Bush was very willing to act out post 9/11, and perhaps in recognition of this role, was re-elected in 2005.

In the Social Construction of Leadership, Grint (2005) leaves us with three further points to consider: it is not which context should determine what form of problem exists and what kind of authority is appropriate, but what kind of persuasive account of the context renders it as a specific kind of problem that, in turn, legitimates a certain form of authority. Leadership may be an appropriate form of authority for coping with Wicked Problems which are perceived as intractable, but this is often constituted as indecisiveness by the opponents of the formal leader(s) and generates what may be considered the ‘Irony of Leadership’: it is so difficult to achieve that even where the formal leader(s) may consider it appropriate and even necessary, they may be very unwilling to attempt it; and to configure the problem as ‘Wicked’ implies a long term collaborative approach to the issue that their opponents in turn, may configure as indecisiveness, which is fatal to a Commander in a Crisis.

Dr W B Howieson

A note on the author...

Dr Brian Howieson is a Senior Foundation for Management Education Fellow at Stirling Management School, the University of Stirling. His previous role was Head of Training, Education and Professional Development for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. Prior to this, he was a commissioned officer in the British Armed Forces for 19 years. He sits on Council for the Foundation for Management Education, is a Fellow of the RSA, and is a Non Executive (Lay) Member of the Medical Directorate within NHS Scotland.


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References

Berger, P. & Luckmann, T. The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1966.

Bozionelos, N. (2004). The big five of personality and work involvement. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 19(1), pp. 69-81.Bresnen (1995)

Burr, V. Social constructionism, 2nd edn. London: Routledge, 2003.

Business Monitor International (2010). US Economy Still Healing, But Only Slowly. Emerging Markets Monitor 16(34):1-3. Published by Business Monitor International Ltd.

Case, P. & Grint, K. The violent rhetoric of reengineering: Management consultancy on the offensive. Journal of Management Studies, 1998, 35(5), 1–21.

Chavez, L. (2010). Obama’s oil disaster, http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Obama_s-oil-disaster-96670554.html (accessed 11th November 2010).

Corkindale, G. (2010). ‘Five Leadership Lessons from the BP Oil Spill’, http://blogs.hbr.org/corkindale/2010/06/five_lessons_in_leadership_fro.html. [Accessed 15 March 12].

Courtwright, D.T. Violent land: Single men and social disorder from the frontier to theinner city. London: Harvard University Press, 1996.

Etzioni, A. (1964). Modern organizations. London: Prentice Hall.

Evans, J. (2010). Boris Johnson attacks America’s ‘anti-British rhetoric’ on BP, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7147278.ece (accessed 3rd December 2010)

Gergen, K. An invitation to social construction. London: Sage, 1999.

Gergen, D. (2002). Stubborn kind of fellow. Key Note speech at the International Leadership Association Conference, Seattle, WA, November 2002. Reproduced in Compass: A Journal on Leadership, 2003 (http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/leadership/COMPASS_Fall2003.html).

Grint, K. The arts of leadership. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Grint, K. (2005). Problems, problems, problems: The social construction of leadership. Human Relations, 58(11).

The Guardian. 17 June 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/17/bp-oil-spill-tony-hayward-congress

Howieson, B. & Kahn, H. (2002). Leadership, Management and Command: The officer’s trinity. In P.W. Gray & S. Cox (Eds), Air power leadership: Theory and practice. Norwich: HMSO, 2002.

Inhofe, S.J.M., (2010) ‘Failure of leadership: President Obama and the flawed federal response to the BP disaster’ United States Senate Report.

James, E.H. & Wooten, L.P. (2005) ‘Leadership as unusual: How to display competence in times of crisis’. Organizational Dynamics, 34 (2): 141-152.

James, E.H. & Wooten, L.P. (2010) Leading and Pressure: From Surviving to Thriving Before, During, and After a Crisis. New York: Routlege Press.

Langer, G., (2010) ‘Poll: BP Oil Spill Response Rated Worse than Katrina’. http://abcnews.go.com/PollingUnit/Media/poll-bp-oil-spill-rated-worse-katrina-criminal-charges/story?id=10846473

Rittell, H. & Webber, M. (1973). Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences, 1973, 4, 155–69.

Robertson. C., & Fountain, H. (2010). BP Moves to Fix a Leak as Obama Warns of Damage. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/us/03spill.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

Robertson, C., & Krauss, C. (2010). Gulf Spill Is the Largest of Its Kind, Scientists Say. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/us/03spill.html?_r=2&fta=y

Romney, M. (2010). “We need a leader, not a politician; President Obama needs to stop delegating and diverting blame over the BP oil spill. America has seen strong leadership during crises.”

Sjöstrand, S.-E., Sandberg, J. & Tyrstrup, M. (Eds) Invisible management: The social construction of leadership. London: Thompson Learning, 2001.

The White House (2010) Speeches & Remarks. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-gulf-oil-spill

The White House. (2010). President Obama’s Oval Office Address on BP Oil Spill & Energy. http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/presidentobama-s-oval-office-address-bp-oil-spill-energy (accessed at 11th November 2010).

The Washington Post. (2010). BP’s Hayward vs. Obama: A race to the bottom? http://global.factiva.com/aa/?ref=WP00000020100620e66k0005s&pp=1&fcpil=en&napc=S&sa_from=

Van Seters, D.A. and Field, R. G. H. (1993). The Evolution of Leadership Theory. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 3(3), pp. 29-45.

Wright Mills, C. The sociological imagination. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1959.

Notes

1) For further anlaysis, please see National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling at: http://www.oilspillcommission.gov/final-report

2) Other actors included: BP (who leased the Deepwater Horizon mobile offshore drilling unit and whose finances, corporate values, organizational harmony, and reputation were severely damaged); Transocean (who owned the unit); Halliburton (provider of oil rig services); the Minerals Management Services (the regulator); the Environmental Protection Agency (who review offshore drilling for potential damage to wildlife and the environment); and the Coast Guard (who inspects vessels for seaworthiness and licenses crew members to work on rigs).

3) For example, the then BP CEO, Tony Hayward, treated the oil spill as a tame problem, and as a result, he chose the wrong action of starting a routine management process. This in effect, was the wrong problem diagnosis and the wrong leadership ‘solution’.

4) It is wondered, therefore, if this (the American people’s desire for a C-in-C) was behind his thinking in the assault on, and execution of, Osama Bin Laden.


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Talent Management 2 for Today’s LeadersProfessor Colin Coulson-Thomas

Introduction

Many of today’s leaders find the demands and distractions of various initiatives to increase performance frustrating if not irritating. Successive management fashions have promised much and delivered little. Talent management is increasingly a topic of boardroom discussion. Will it endure or turn out to be yet another fad?

A five-year investigation I have undertaken of various approaches to transforming performance has found that general initiatives such as corporate restructuring are time consuming, expensive and disruptive. By the time they are implemented requirements and priorities may change and opportunities can be missed.

The investigation’s first report sets out a more affordable approach to creating high performance organisations [1]. It advocates shifting the emphasis from recruiting and developing high fliers for an unknown future to helping people excel at activities that are crucial today and handle challenges as, when, and wherever they arise.

Experience of Talent Management

Many applications of talent management involve a focus on ‘high fliers’ or ‘future leaders’ and investment today for future benefit [2]. Importing talent can disappoint when high performers in one context do not replicate their success in

another [3]. Attempting to build a ‘talent pool’ involves risks, such as whether individuals will ‘fit in’ and shine in a particular context, or whether talented people will be retained long enough to yield a return on their recruitment, induction and ‘fast track’ development.

Consistent and compelling evidence suggests the approaches of many organisations are costly and doomed to disappoint [1, 4]. More encouragingly, a practical and much more affordable way of quickly achieving multiple corporate objectives and measurable benefits for people and organisations is being overlooked [1, 4, 5].

Recruiting or Building Talent

Should one recruit for a job, or select people perceived as having potential and build roles around them as circumstances change? The latter seems attractive, but is it affordable for sufficient people? Could building talent and supporting job roles as needs arise be more cost effective?

Finding better people can be problematic. Recruiting and inducting new members of staff can take time and be expensive in comparison with changes of support to enable more to be achieved from an existing team, especially those who are open to taking advice, prepared to learn from their peers and willing to adopt superior practices.

BLR, Spring 2013 10:2 Coulson-Thomas

Abstract

A five-year investigation has found that many talent management programmes are unaffordable and destined to disappoint. Talented people can be costly to recruit and difficult to manage and retain. Fortunes can be spent on expensive people who are not engaged, effectively used or properly supported. Developing cadres of future leaders is problematic when organisations cannot be sure of their future requirements and priorities. The investigation provides evidence of a practical, more affordable and less disruptive route to building high performance organisations and quickly achieving multiple objectives. The approach it recommends can avoid traditional trade-offs and benefits both people and organisations. It has implications for leaders and leadership.

BLR, Spring 2013 10:2 17 |

Talent wars to attract ‘the best people’ can push up salary costs, be distracting and involve collateral damage [6]. It may be better to concentrate on understanding critical success factors and capturing and sharing what top performers do differently, especially if a quick response is required.

Talent Management 2 focuses on particular jobs and the requirements for success in them [1, 5]. It involves assessing the roles and tasks that will be required; identifying steps in work processes that have the greatest impacts; and ensuring that people in these ‘key’ jobs are enabled to excel by providing them with appropriate performance support that captures and shares critical success factors and what high performers do differently, and makes it easier for them to do difficult jobs, such as complying with multiple requirements, complex sales, applying new and unfamiliar technologies to particular situations, or delivering front-line public services to demanding users [1, 7].

Eyretel’s prospects were constrained by limited understanding of its call recording software. Specialist engineers regularly accompanied staff on sales visits. Introducing a support tool that explained the company’s technology, posed the questions its best people would ask, automated routine activities and generated proposals speeded up the sales process and led to rapid growth [1, 7]. Many members of the sales force were now sufficiently confident to operate alone, reducing their demand for specialist support by two-thirds. Time saved was devoted to research and development.

Addressing Contemporary Requirements

Identifying high potential and/or future leaders can require considerable commitment and effort. Talent Management 2 does not preclude initiatives to develop leadership potential, but it can enable a wider range of people to build upon and complement natural strengths. It can also be adopted relatively quickly.

When focussing upon increasing the performance of existing staff the use of support tools that incorporate checks and controls

can be liberating in the sense that users can be given greater freedom to explore different options and enabled to provide more bespoke solutions to customers and clients. For example, a tool used by Friends Provident to help independent financial advisers undertake their own marketing activities prevents the printing of sales literature that does not contain certain clauses required by law.

Views of what represents ‘top talent’ can become quickly out-of-date. Hence, a requirement for more flexible ways of enabling affordable people to confront and handle tricky and unfamiliar situations, as, when and wherever they arise. In essence, this is what Talent Management 2 and performance support are about.

Talent Management 2 and performance support are complementary. The former shifts the emphasis to today’s ‘key jobs’ and maximising the contribution of existing staff and ensuring they remain current. The latter emerges from the five year-study as the most cost-effective way of boosting performance without changing cultures or structures and enabling whatever people one has to continue to excel as priorities change and to cope with new challenges and opportunities as they arise [1, 4].

While the ‘ordinary’ person may hugely benefit, by capturing and sharing what high performers do differently [7], Talent Management 2 greatly increases the beneficial impact that ‘superstars’ at key tasks can have on organisations when performance support is used to enable them to focus upon and improve what they do best, capture their superior approaches and enable a larger number of people to adopt them [1, 4].

Addressing ‘Known Unknowns’

Cadres of ‘high fliers’ can be expensive when the cost of ‘fast tracking’ is taken into account. Going to the market as needs arise may be a cheaper option. Setting out to buy high performance can also be costly if a star in one context may not perform so highly in another [3]. It may be cheaper to work with the people one has and put the right support environment in place.

Talent Management 2 BLR, Spring 2013 10:2

Clever people represent a challenge and an opportunity for

organisations. They can be difficult to manage and retain. Giving

special treatment to them can alienate others.

The performance of workgroups sometimes suffers when

experienced members of staff are replaced by those who are less

capable.

While some of the qualities that people have might be transferable, an exceptional talent in one area may be found to be average in another. Achieving objectives often depends on the skills that are employed in particular jobs, especially ‘front line’ jobs that have a disproportionate impact on priority areas for improvement and customers.

The cost of developing a talent pool can be daunting for smaller enterprises. In comparison, the entry ‘price’ to Talent Management 2 - and providing a solution for a scattered workgroup that addresses a critical problem for an organisation - can be around the cost of recruiting and paying the first year’s salary of one new hire [1, 7].

Managing Exceptional People

Clever people represent a challenge and an opportunity for organisations. They can be difficult to manage and retain. Giving special treatment to them can alienate others. Large amounts can be spent on expensive people who are not engaged, effectively used, or appropriately supported. Talent Management 2 recognises people who excel at particular activities and performance support enables them to push the envelope and help others to emulate what they do differently.

Staff turnover and costly talent wars are problems for many organisations [2, 6]. A focus upon helping and developing existing workgroups can aid retention. People may be reluctant to move and leave performance support which makes it easier for them to learn, develop and do a difficult job [1, 4].

Investigations of key corporate activities have identified critical success factors for several key corporate activities and what high performers do differently in these areas [7]. Even superstars can have areas of deficiency [8]. Focusing on particular tasks can make it easier to identify high performers at key activities. Support provided can incorporate critical success factors and the superior ways of high achieving peers.

The performance of workgroups sometimes suffers when experienced members of staff are replaced by those who are less capable. Using performance support to capture and share superior approaches can address this problem [1, 4]. Dana Corporation has

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used a support tool to enable less experienced people in the field to share the understanding of central experts in areas such as the use of materials and coatings to produce bespoke bearings [1].

Talent needs to be applied to what an organisation is setting out to do. Talent management 2 looks beyond ‘high fliers’ and is especially relevant to ‘front line’ support. It also integrates learning and working. While tactical and local applications of performance support can quickly generate significant returns, a more strategic approach is required to reap its full potential [1, 4].

A More Cost-Effective Alternative

Many organisations fail to reap the benefits of learning from people who excel in certain areas. Talent Management 2 and performance support offer ways of achieving a high performance organisation and multiple objectives with the people one has - average people who do not cost an arm and a leg to recruit and retain - and an existing corporate culture [1, 4].

Organisations require an affordable approach which can achieve improved results by taking people as they are, rather than as we would like them to be. Phillips and Edwards have suggested a hard-nosed return on investment (ROI) approach to talent management [9]. Early evidence from pioneer adopters of performance support suggests it represents a more focused, relatively quick and cost effective way of securing large ROIs of over 20, 30 or 70 times within six months to a year on just one or two of a number of possible outcome measures [1].

Observed applications of performance support simultaneously increased understanding, boosted productivity and performance, cut costs, speeded up and bespoked responses, reduced stress, limited risks and helped to ensure and evidence compliance [1, 4, 7]. They make it easier for people to behave in desired and successful ways and help to prevent undesired behaviours.

Elements and Use of Performance Support

Performance support brings together various elements, from helping people to understand complex areas and making it easier for them to do difficult jobs, to a cost-effective mechanism for providing support on a 24/7 basis to people wherever they may be [1,4, 5, 7]. It has been shown to be relevant to different sectors and can contribute to creating flexible, adaptable and high performance organisations.

Relevant help can be provided as and when problems arise via the internet or mobile devices such as laptops, tablets smart phones. Job related support tools can be individualised and automatically updated when people are on line. They can incorporate critical success factors and the approaches of high performers. Graphics and animations can be used to increase comprehension of complex areas.

Cisco Systems and SDX have used support tools to help sales teams and prospects to understand the principles and benefits of new technologies. For both companies their introduction was quickly followed by significant and measurable increases in sales [1]. Simple checklists have been found to significantly reduce inpatient deaths from hospital operations ranging from simple procedures to complex surgery [10].

The use of performance support was examined in large and small organisations, across supply chains, and internationally [1]. Applications observed ranged from launching new products and increasing sales to supporting engineers, recruiting new staff, making it easier for suppliers to satisfy quality requirements and helping people to take more responsible purchasing decisions. Public sector applications ranged from diagnosis and stroke prevention to helping people to better understand and self-manage a condition such as Psoriasis [4, 11].

Implications for Leadership

These findings have implications for leadership and governance [1, 4, 12-14]. John Adair’s call for ‘new leadership’ centred on ethics, values and purpose [15]. The ‘new leadership’ needed to fully exploit the findings of the five-year

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Talent needs to be applied to what an organisation is setting out to do. Talent management 2 looks

beyond ‘high fliers’ and is especially relevant to ‘front line’ support.

In many companies talent management has focused on ‘high

fliers’ rather than people in ‘front line’ roles. It involves ‘top down’

management rather than the provision of ‘bottom up’ support.

investigation shifts the emphasis from motivating and managing people to helping them [4, 12-14].

There are particular implications for where the balance is struck in corporate boardrooms and the building of high performance boards [1, 16, 17]. ‘New leadership’ is less focussed upon planning and top-down approaches and more concerned with implementation and the provision of better support to key workgroups that deliver priority corporate objectives [18].

Since the investigation has been completed, there has been further evidence of the significance and thrust of the findings. The 2013 annual survey of CEOs undertaken by The Conference Board reveals that human capital is now the number one challenge globally and in Asia and Europe [19]. The top five strategies to meet this challenge focus on current employees, not supervisors, managers or the senior team. Encouragingly, applications of performance support can simultaneously deliver all five strategies, along with strategies to address other identified challenges.

Conclusions

In many companies talent management has focused on ‘high fliers’ rather than people in ‘front line’ roles. It involves ‘top down’ management rather than the provision of ‘bottom up’ support. Performance support can ensure compliance and enable more to be achieved by fewer and less costly staff. People can be enabled to handle more complex cases and feel more confident and ‘in control’. By making it easier for staff to do difficult jobs performance support also speeds up responses and reduces stress.

Talent Management 2 develops and deploys talent at the point at which work is done to increase performance and reduce risk. In place of ‘investment’ in talent and ‘potential’ for an unknown future, the focus is upon boosting the performance of today’s key workgroups, quickly delivering multiple benefits and ensuring continuing relevance and vitality. It also engages [4, 20] and can be more sustainable [1, 21].

Professor Colin Coulson-Thomas

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BLR, Spring 2013 10:2 21 |

References

[1] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2012), Talent Management 2, A quicker and more cost effective route to the high performance organization, Peterborough, Policy Publications

[2] Cappelli, Peter (2008), Talent on Demand, Managing Talent in an Age of Uncertainty, Boston, Mass., Harvard Business School Press

[3] Groysberg, Boris (2010), Chasing Stars, the myth of talent and the portability of performance, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press

[4] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2012), Transforming Public Services, A quicker and affordable route to high performance public organisations, Peterborough, Policy Publications

[5] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2012), Talent management and building high performance organisations, Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 44, No. 7, pp 429-436

[6] Michaels, E, Handfield-Jones, H and Axelrod, Beth (2001), War for Talent, Boston, Mass., Harvard Business School Press

[7] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2007), Winning Companies; Winning People, Making it easy for average performers to adopt winning behaviours, Peterborough, Policy Publications

[8] Coulson-Thomas, Colin; Kennedy, Carol and O’Connor, Matthew (2003), Winning New Business, the critical success factors, Peterborough, Policy Publications

[9] Phillips, J J and Edwards, L (2008), Managing Talent Retention: An ROI approach, London, Pfeiffer

[10] WHO (World Health Organisation) (2009), Checklist helps reduce surgical complications, deaths, WHO news release, 14th January, Geneva, World Health Organisation

[11] Cowdell, Fiona (2011), Self Care Toolkit Assessment (Final Report), Bournemouth, Centre for Well Being and Quality of Life, Bournemouth, Bournemouth University

[12] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2012), 23rd World Congress: Leadership & Quality of Governance, Theme Paper, www.iodonline.com/images/23wctq/theme.pdf, 13th December

[13] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2013), “New Leadership” and creating the high performance organisation: part 1, Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 45 No. 1, pp 23-31

[14] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2013) “New leadership” and creating the high performance organisation: part 2, Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 45 Iss: 2, pp.92 – 98

[15] Adair, John (1974), Management and Morality, Newton Abbot, David & Charles

[16] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2012), Building and Leveraging a High Performance Board: The Importance of Balance in the Boardroom, http://www.gseresearch.com/content/paper/10-5848-iod-2012-00004, January

[17] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2012), Building and Managing High Performance Boards, Effective Executive, Vol. XV No. 1, March, pp 44-51

[18] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2013), Implementing strategies and policies, Strategic Direction, Vol. 29 Issue: 3, pp.33 – 35

[19] Mitchell, Charles; Ray, Rebecca and van Ark, Bart (2013), CEO Challenge 2013, Summary Report, New York, The Conference Board

[20] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2012), Engagement, ‘New Leadership’ and High Performance Organisations, Effective Executive, Vol. XV No. 4, December pp 45-52

[21] Coulson-Thomas, Colin (2012), ‘New Leadership’ and Environment Management, GSE Research.com, http://www.gseresearch.com/content/paper/10-5848-iod-2012-00038, 11th October


Professor Colin Coulson-Thomas, an experienced chairman of award winning companies and author of over 40 books and reports - including Talent Management 2, Developing Directors, Transforming Public Services and Winning Companies; Winning People - has received international recognition for his work as a change agent and transformation leader. He has helped over 100 boards to improve corporate performance and is an experienced vision holder of successful transformation programmes. Formerly the world’s first professor of corporate transformation, he is a part-time member of the business school team at the University of Greenwich, and has also held public board appointments at national and local level. He can be contacted at [email protected] or via www.coulson-thomas.com and his recent publications can be obtained from www.policypublications.com


Prismatic Reflections on Leader Behaviour

In this post-Enron age perhaps a more persistent drive for the forensic examination of leadership should be considered - complete with more robust internal checks and balances - to discourage leadership excess and to elicit more insights about what triggers leaders’ misbehaviour. This seems to me to represent a matter of priority in the face of a continuing catalogue of high-profile instances of counter-productive behaviour, executive misdemeanours and the potential for fraud and downright criminality (Woodford, 2012).

Reaching a more profound appreciation of the realities of business life - behind the facade of ‘business as usual’ - is frankly incomplete without an understanding of the power dynamics generated within the corporate world and transparency about the seductive transgressions to which our leaders are exposed. They need protection against inappropriately taking goodies from the candy store!

It is though very easy - and of course somewhat intellectually lazy - to take things at face value. You go into an organisation and it all seems to be trundling along OK. No one is shouting, you possibly get some smiles and folk seem busy. What one sees though - as we all know – will be an incomplete representation and will not accurately reflect significant tensions and undercurrents which could be tearing the place apart (or conversely binding it collusively together of course).

Overt collegial cordiality may mask antagonisms, fierce turf battles, desperation, rivalry and inter-personal disdain; in spite of appearances the place may be on the point of disintegration! After all in the face of the continuing liturgy of leadership failures, and a growing catalogue of dysfunctional leadership

A ‘PRISM’ for your thoughts?

Dr Michael Walton, People in Organisations Ltd.

PRISM dynamics are difficult to identify and track and they illuminate sensitive and emotive issues which hit at the heart of a person’s basic motivations.

BLR, Spring 2013 10:2 Walton

Abstract

Greed, money, avarice and sex: there are several emotionally-charged motivations which can significantly shape and influence a leader’s behaviour - often with disastrous consequences. In this article Dr Michael Walton introduces the PRISM framework to expand on the “dark side” of workplace power. Arguing that such behaviours have been ignored for too long, Walton uses a number of real cases to outline why companies may find it beneficial to begin exploring the less salubrious office dynamics.

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behaviour at the top, shouldn’t such matters be attracting far more widespread attention (i.e. think Enron, Parmalat, Olympus, Tyco, Marconi).

There are some notable exceptions - such as Burke et al (2013), DuBrin (2012), Furnham (2010), Gabriel (1999), Goldman (2009), Hogan (2007), Kets de Vries (2001, 2009, 2011), Langan-Fox et al (2007), Lemmergaard and Muhr (2013), Tourish (2011, 2013) - and more material about the less conventional dimensional of organisational life are in press. Whilst Stein (2001) describes an anxiety-driven, brutal world that makes virtually everyone disposable Allcorn (1991) - with ‘Workplace Superstars in Resistant Organizations’ - adopts a novel approach to examine a not uncommon dissonance between what the rules dictate and what the business actually requires its people to do. He also highlights how the oft expressed support for high-performing excellence is accompanied by a toxic mix of envy, fear, contempt and anger which ‘… leads to the self-fulfilling prophecy that super-star performers will not achieve their potential for the organization (xi).’

Yet it still strikes me as intriguing how so much of the emphasis in the leadership literature remains normatively descriptive about the management of talent, organisational culture, the dynamics of change and Board interactions. Performance management tends to focus on managing the ‘tangibles’ and ‘visibles’ of business life to the relative neglect of the power dynamics involved. Such underlying dynamics though are very important to consider however as they can be both benevolent and malevolent. In part such relative neglect may reflect both the sensitivity and difficulty of addressing such issues in the workplace and because there are too few risk-averse ways of reminding - or perhaps alerting even - colleagues of the motives which could be underpinning and driving their behaviour.

Introducing the ‘PRISM’

Perhaps though I should declare a bias - although the insightful reader will no doubt already have worked this out - in that I have come to position the dynamics of power to be at the heart of studies of leadership and workplace behaviour. Whilst classifying the different types and sources of power (French and Raven, 1958) is informative it is the underlying psychological drivers for power that seems to me to be particularly important to address given the liturgy of top-level corporate misdemeanours of recent years. And this is where the PRISM (see figure 1) can come to the rescue when power in the workplace is being considered.

Following Robertson (2013) I am defining Power here simply as ‘… controlling resources that they want, need or fear … ‘(:186). Of course just how a power-full person exercises that leverage and influence is critical because of its corrosive and corrupting effects, and because of its addictive and aphrodisiac qualities.

Reflecting on instances of leader failure led me to a number of recurring themes which seemed to underpin why such derailments may have occurred in the first place. First of all - to my mind at least - a great deal revolved around the exercise of power and self-defence (i.e of one’s identity and one’s reputation). That led me then reflect, aside from the more conventional French and Raven (1958) sources of power, on how leaders consolidate their position and why they can so readily fall from grace and that led me to greed, money, avarice and sex – and thus to P-R-I-S-M as shown below.

BLR, Spring 2013 10:2 23 |

A PRISM for your thoughts? BLR, Spring 2013 10:2

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To help to remedy this relative lack of attention I want to introduce the ‘PRISM’ as a device that can be used to highlight a number of emotionally-charged motivations which I believe significantly shape and influence a leader’s behaviour - but which could do with quite a lot more attention. I will draw on a number of high profile cases to illustrate just how potent and destructive such motivations - if unchecked - can become. This is not intended to comprehensively capture all of the dynamics involved but it is offered as one way of drawing attention to influences which may otherwise be all too readily dismissed or denied. My focus is on leaders although the PRISM can be more generally applied. Leaders are a special case because of the opportunity they have to mobilise and manipulate people and resources to meet their own needs which can morph into unethical, self-serving, exploitive and criminal behaviour (Brytting et al, 2011; Burke et al, 2011a; Burke et al, 2011b, Woodford, 2012).

PRISM dynamics are difficult to identify and track and they illuminate sensitive and emotive issues which hit at the heart of a person’s basic motivations. As such they cut through the organisational babble of job descriptions,

reporting relationships, collegial rhetoric, social etiquette etc and so can expose a person’s more basic concerns and preoccupations not all of which would meet the criteria for selfless leadership.

The impulse to, and exercise of, power came to be viewed by Bertrand Russell (1938; 2004) as man’s ultimate goal. If so it is again quite surprising to my mind that ‘power’ in its various guises and disguises is not universally right at the heart of the OB curriculum and studies of leadership. After all organisations can be rather daunting, internally competitive and psychologically dark places to work in as Stein (2001) has observed.

So what relevance you may wonder does all this have to BLR and leadership? Well put simply I think much of what leaders do is shaped by (i) who they think they are, (ii) their intentions and aspirations, (iii) their assessment of ‘the competition’ around them and (iv) an ongoing assessment of the risks of acting-out their personal agenda which my not be congruent with that of their role. Whilst the source of power can be labelled as one or more of the classic types of power described by French and


Raven (1958) it is the exercise of such power which seems to me to be of most interest. Interactions for instance which have at their heart money, sex, identity, grandiosity and personal reputation. More explicit and visible attention to such matters would add much to our de-coding of workplace dynamics and could inhibit destructive & dysfunctional excess at the top. Consequently giving more sustained attention to (i) the acquisition and (mis)use of power and privilege, (ii) the importance of identity, (iii) the defence of one’s reputation, (iv) greed and the lure of money and (v) the dynamics of sexual attraction and charisma in the workplace would seem to be a worthwhile venture. The work of Maslow (1954) and McClelland (1975) would appear to be rather tame and uni-dimensional in comparison with the PRISM.

It may be that my emphasis on such basis motivational dynamics is completely wrong but frankly I would be quite surprised if every reader - unless they have sleepwalked through their careers or been induced into an organisational-coma - have not experienced such dynamic interplays at work. If so then the PRISM could have a part to play in legitimising for consideration such sensitive matters. My experience suggests that the very process of drawing attention to how such dynamics might affect decision making can have a very constructive effect in ‘making discussable’ hitherto taboo topics.

Power to the People?

Robertson (2013) notes that power can be a cognitive enhancer and have anxiety reducing and mood-enhancing properties and that it also may increase levels of hypocrisy, moral egocentricity and lack of empathy for others (:187). This links to Lee-Chai and Bargh’s (2001) observations on ‘the metamorphic effects of power’ (:4) and how the act of influence can change not only the behaviour of the targets of influence, but also the values and attitudes of persons doing the influencing. In other words the acquisition of ‘power’ and its exercise profoundly alters - perhaps irrevocably - the

power differentials involved. In turn this could accelerate how a leader comes to view their self as ‘a powerful being’ and lead them to excess, dysfunction and demise (and sometimes to the Dock)! Furthermore as our leaders are not yet robotic mechanistic creatures we should acknowledge their susceptibility to PRISMatic seductions, and vulnerable to mobilising organisational resources to satisfy for their own ends as evidenced by the cases in section 4.

Excessive pride, mis-use of power, greed, arrogance, envy, intolerance, destructive narcissism, sexual intimidation and the corrosive effect of power & money feature prominently in portrayals of business life in films such as ‘Wall Street’ (1987) and Wall Street 2 (2011), ‘Swimming with Sharks’ (1996), the Last King of Scotland (2006), ‘Disclosure (1995), and ‘Enron’ (2006). These big-screen representations illustrate just how potent dark-side PRISM dynamics can be in shaping leadership behaviour and influencing the course of the organisation at large. Whilst such representations may appear exaggerated the startling instances of corporate collapse, primarily through PRISM–type dynamics witnessed since the turn of the millennium, would suggest otherwise.

This body of material provides rich pickings for those interested in picking up on leader power-plays-in-practice and is in sharp contrast to much of the material conventionally dispensed about leadership. Leaders are particularly susceptible to shows of excessive pride, hubris and arrogance. In this regard Owen’s (2007) work on ‘Bush, Blair and the intoxication of power’ offers interesting insights about behaviour right at the top.

Alderfer (1972) proposes that people are concerned with existential issues such as relatedness, meaning, mastery and legacy (see also De Botton, 2004; Knights and Willmott, 1999; Spinelli, 2005). Of course how such human frailties play out is of considerable significance when trying to understand overt workplace behaviour (Burke and Fox, 2013). Emerging insights from the field of social neuroscience

BLR, Spring 2013 10:2 25 |


“ PRISM dynamics...cut through the organisational babble of

job descriptions, reporting relationships, collegial rhetoric, social etiquette etc and so can

expose a person’s more basic concerns and preoccupations not

all of which would meet the criteria for selfless leadership. ”

“Money plays an important role in our lives both in determining a

person’s outlook and in steering many of their decisions. “

suggest ‘five domains of social experience’ which trigger reward or threat responses and thus shape behaviour and could help us to understand seemingly erratic, or even eccentric, leadership behaviour (Rock, 2008; Walton, 2011). These sensitivities - which relate to Reputation and to Identity - are about

• personal status, relative seniority and social standing,

• being able to anticipate the immediate future & rely on past experience,

• autonomy and exerting influence,

• relatedness to others, collegiality and inclusion, and

• being treated fairly and equitably.

Defensive behaviour will be triggered should these ‘social domains’ be perceived to be under threat. In turn this could lead those with sufficient organisational clout to respond in an overly offensive, intimidatory or destructive manner if they don’t feel they are being accorded due deference. The centrality of such matters as identity, reputation, meaning, greed, mis-information and duplicity are also at the core of recent successful sophisticated political TV dramas such as Borgen (2011, 2012), Page Eight (2011) and The Hour (2011). One challenge for the interested reader would be to re-view these programmes using the PRISM to examine the patterns of behaviours from those in positions of power and influence as a test of the utility of this way of re-looking at leadership.

To summarise – (a) the rise of the CEO et al as celebrity over the past decade combined with (b) too little of an awareness of the corrosive impact which money, power, sexual exploitation and an inflated sense of self at the top can have on business leaders may have (c) led to the high-profile cases of destructive and disruptive leadership illustrated below (Newton, 2006; Padilla et al, 2007; Walton, 2007). Using a PRISM through which to appraise and monitor executive behaviour just might have diluted some of the destruction which follows!

CEO Egoism 4 - CEO Propriety 0

The following cases illustrate how the mis-use of power, arrogance and grandiosity, greed and sexual impropriety can derail top executives. Byron (2004) considered the behaviour of four high profile

26 | BLR, Spring 2013 10:2


CEOs - Jack Welch of General Electric; Ronald Perelman of Revlon; Leo D. Kozlowski of Tyco International and Albert Dunlap of Sunbeam to try and work out why such prominent corporate figures behave in ways which profoundly damage their credibility, careers, reputation and personal finances. Reputations damaged through womanising, significant mis-use of company money, fraud, arrogance and greed (Byron, 2004: 161). Drawing more from European material Hamilton and Micklethwait (2006) chart the decline of Barings, AIB, Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Marconi, Swissair, Royal Ahold and Parmalat.

Whilst it would inaccurate, unfair and an over simplification to insinuate that all those in positions of power and authority will be closet toxic leaders the potential for a leader to over reach him or her self and veer towards dysfunctional behaviour is a very real danger as the cases noted evidence. On a regular basis instances of corporate malpractice are reported in the World Press – there does seem to be a lot of ‘it’ around!

Money plays an important role in our lives both in determining a person’s outlook and in steering many of their decisions. It impacts on a person’s psychological well-being and how well they perceive they are doing in the world in comparison to others. ‘Money, in addition to being a symbol of power and control, also symbolizes winning the game of life. It is an indicator of a person’s achievements, bettering others. If we experience a lack of self-worth, wealth is one way of showing others that we are a force to be reckoned with (Kets de Vries, 2009:86)’. In ‘Sex, Money, Happiness, and Death’ he (2009) positions these very human preoccupations and desires within the world of business and considers that the impact of sexual attraction on behaviour can be so pervasive that ‘I argue that all human activity - including many management decisions - is prompted by this desire (:5)’.

Some Concluding Thoughts

PRISM dynamics can exert significant influences on the behaviour of key players. Whilst it may be more convenient - and lazy, deluded and ‘safe’ - to consider that they fall outside legitimate attention in the workplace to adopt such a ‘head-in-the-sands’ approach will only ensure more of the same (Sennett, 1998; Twenge and Campbell, 2009).

In my view we should expect - with all the power and goodies within reach - that leaders could be tempted to behave in ways which are personally and organisationally damaging as the instances already cited testify. To limit the extent to which this could happen leadership behaviour - initially retrospectively - could be re-viewed using the PRISM to tease out underlying motivations from recent events which had in some manner ‘gone wrong’. Where protocols where not followed or perhaps where inappropriate behaviour was observed. In addition to an organisation’s regular ‘review’ processes the PRISM could be used to look at the same situation but through a different set of lenses. Doing so could help to identify patterns of behaviour or relationships which were becoming dysfunctional, where the imposition of power for its own sake was getting out of hand or where turf wars were becoming too vicious (i.e. issues about identity & reputation).

The use of the PRISM can thus help to (i) identify, diffuse and dilute potentially disruptive patterns of behaviour, (ii) legitimise and promote explicit consideration of such workplace dynamics which are often missed or glossed over, (iii) encourage more insightful assessments of executive behaviour and conduct, and (iv) reinforce the need for internal checks and balances to monitor leadership excess and trigger appropriate defence mechanisms where necessary. As Alvesson and Spicer (2012) have noted inappropriate leadership can be created ‘…through political expediency and the operation of power’ (2012:1214) not because of cognitive limitations of those involved.

BLR, Spring 2013 10:2 27 |


28 | BLR, Spring 2013 10:2

Whilst achieving an appropriate balance between too much or too control of ‘power at the top’ may be difficult to manage, ensuring that prompts are in place to consider such dimensions would seem absolutely necessary.

‘When power is unconstrained by democratic controls or good systems of governance, then power-holders may show undesirable distortions in judgement, cognition and behaviour as a result of its drug-like effects on the brain’ (Robertson, 2013). Power indeed may corrupt and addict and according to the philosopher Bertrand Russell is the fundamental stuff of human relationships in the same way that energy is the fundamental concept in physics. Power can generate Illusion, delusion, confusion, denial and increasing levels of absolutist thinking and self-belief. However with power comes the demand to perform under the close and critical scrutiny, the sort of scrutiny currently unfolding in the UK with regard to Lord Justice Leveson’s Report on the Regulation of the Press (i.e. the phone hacking scandal), The Chilcot Inquiry (2009) into the Second Gulf War which now seems likely to dispute some of the evidence recently provided by Blair et al, the inquiry into failings at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust, the whistleblower inquiry at United Lincolnshire NHS Trust.

Whilst achieving an appropriate balance between too much or too control of ‘power at the top’ may be difficult to manage, ensuring that prompts are in place to consider such dimensions would seem absolutely necessary. A PRISM might just help this to be achieved initially by encouraging such dimensions to be more readily recognised as pertinent matters for examination and subsequently for internal checks and balances to be introduced relevant to each place of work.

Dr Michael Walton


Dr Michael Walton is a Chartered Occupational and Counselling Psychologist and runs a small consultancy ‘People in Organisations Ltd’. For several years Dr Walton was associated with the Centre for Leadership Studies at the University of Exeter. Most recently he was a Visiting Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Defence Studies, King’s College, London. Michael was based at the RAF College, Cranwell.


BLR, Spring 2013 10:2 29 |

References

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Allcorn, S. (1991). Workplace Superstars in resistant organizations. New York: Quorum Books.

Alvesson, M. and Spicer, A (2012, Vol.49). A Stupidity-Based Theory of Organizations. Journal of Management Studies , 1194-1220.

Brytting, T., Minogue, R and V Morino(2011). The anatomy of fraud and corruption: organizational causes and remedies. Farnham: Gower Publishing Ltd.

Burke, R. , Martin, G and C Cooper (2011a). Corporate Reputation: managing threats and opportunities. Farnham: Gower Publishing Ltd.

Burke, R. , Tomlinson, E and C Cooper (2011b). Crime and Corruption in Organizations: why it occurs and what to do about it. Farnham: Gower Applied Research.

Byron, C. (2004). Testerone Inc. : Tales of CEOs gone wild. Hoboken,NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

de Botton, A. (2004). Status Anxiety. London: Hamish Hamilton.

DuBrin, A. (2012). Narcissism in the Workplace: research, opinion and practice. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Fox, S. and Burke, R (2013). Human frailties:wrong turns on the road to success. Farnham: Gower Publishing Ltd.

French, J. and Raven, B (1958). The bases of social power. In D. (. Cartwright, Studies in Social Power. Ann Arbour: Institute for Social Research.

Furnham, A. (2010). The Elephant in the Boardroom: the causes of leadership derailment. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Gabriel, Y. (1999). Organizations in Depth: The psychoanalysis of organizations. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Punlications.

Gabriel, Y. (2011). Psychoanalytic approaches to leadership. In A. C. Bryman, The SAGE Handbook of Leadership (pp. 393-404). London: SAGE.

Goldman, A. (2009). Destructive Leaders and Dysfunctional Organizations: A therapeutic approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hamilton, S. and Micklethwait, A (2006). Greed and Corporate Failure: the lessons from recent disasters. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Hayward, M. (2007). Ego Check:why executive hubris is wrecking companies. Chicago: Kaplan Publishing.

Hogan, R. (2007). Personality and the fate of organizations. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

Kets de Vries, M. (2009). Sex, Money, Happiness, and Death: the quest for authenticity. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Kets de Vries, M. (2001). Struggling with the Demon: perspectives on individual and organizational irrationality. Madison, Connecticut: Psychosocial Press.

Kets de Vries, M. (2011). The shadow side of leadership. In A. C.-B. Bryman, The SAGE Handbook of Leadership (pp. 380-392). London: SAGE.

Knights, D. and Willmott, H (1999). Management Lives: power and identity in work organizations. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Langan-Fox, J., Cooper, C and R Klimoski (2007). Reserach Companion to the Dysfunctional Workplace: management challenges and symptoms. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

Lee-Chai, A. and Bargh, J (2001). The use and abuse of power: multiple perspectives on the causes of corruption. Philadelphia: Psychology Press.

Lemmergaard, J. and Muhr, S. (2013). Critical Perspectives on Leadership: Emotion, Toxicity, and Dysfunction. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishers.

Maslow, A. (1954). Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper & Row.

McClelland, D. (1967). The Achieving Society. New York: The Free Press.

Mulgan, G. (2006, 12th-June). Because you’re worth it. The Guardian .

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Owen, D. (2007). The Hubris Syndrome: Bush, Blair and the intoxication of Power. London: Politico’s Publishing.

Padilla, A., Hogan, R and R Kaiser (2007 Vol.18). The Toxic Triangle. The Leadership Quarterly , 176-194.

Robertson, I. (2013) . How power affects the brain. The Psychologist , March 186-189.

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Introduction

Since the 1970s, the Association of MBAs has surveyed MBA graduates on their career development and views about the MBA. Through its surveys of MBA graduates it has unprecedented access to data on the career paths, international footprint and earning potential of MBA students from accredited business schools.

The Association’s twentieth such survey, the MBA Career Survey 2013, assessed responses from approximately 1,000 MBA graduates from around the world. Their responses were collected between September and November 2012.

Highlights

• Salaries remain high amongst accredited MBA graduates.

• Taking into account inflation, the highest median salary was reported by MBA graduates since the 1980s.

• Those working in the energy sector continue to be most highly remunerated MBA graduates.

• The number of MBA graduates working in the public sector has doubled since the last survey in 2010.

• Bonus culture has declined - 10% fewer MBA graduates received bonuses than in 2010.

• Legal profession and public sector support more women MBA graduates: 67% of MBA graduates in the legal profession are female and 41% of MBA graduates in the public sector are women.

•85% of MBA graduates surveyed agreed the MBA is a valuable degree for life.

The Careers of MBA Graduates: 2013

Dr George B. Murgatroyd, Evidence + Ideas Lab, Association of MBAs

85% of MBA graduates surveyed agreed that the MBA is a valuable degree for life.

41% of MBA graduates working in the public sector are female.

30 | BLR, Spring 2013 10:2

The Careers of MBA Graduates: 2013

Dr George B. Murgatroyd, Evidence + Ideas Lab, Association of MBAs

BLR, Spring 2013 10:2 31 |

The respondents were graduates of over 50 business schools, and worked in more than 25 countries.

Survey Demographics

Over 75 nationalities of graduates took part in AMBA’s Careers Survey. The 1,000 respondents surveyed graduated from 50 leading business schools around the world, and work in over 25 countries. Over half the respondents studied for their MBA on a part-time basis.

While 80% of those surveyed studied for their MBA within the UK, only 43% of these currently work in the UK: a significant number of MBA graduates from UK business schools work internationally. 77% were of respondents were male and 23% were female, which roughly reflects the male to female ratio of MBA students internationally.

Approximately 46% of those surveyed were aged under 44, with the remainder aged 45 or over. Three-quarters

While contingency suggests that there is a rational connection between (objective) context (problem) and (objective) leadership style (authority form), the perception of the correct leadership style is due to the leader’s ability to present the context in a persuasive manner.

Careers Survey BLR, Spring 2013 10:2

32 | BLR, Spring 2013 10:2

of respondents had received their MBA degree between 2000 – 2012. Over 20% of all MBA graduates also held professional qualifications, 10% had a specialist Master’s and 3% had a PhD or DBA.

Half of all graduates surveyed funded the degree themselves, either using savings or their income. 10% funded their MBA using a bank loan, and 9% secured a scholarship. Almost 30% of all respondents reported receiving company sponsorship.

Careers Survey Summary

MBA Graduate: Base salary and variable cash earnings

• The base average salary of MBA graduates from Association of MBAs’ accredited business schools working in the UK now stands at over £82,000 and the median level is £75,000.

• This represents the highest median salary reported by MBA graduates for two decades, and the highest average salary in the UK since 2004 (with figures adjusted for inflation).

• The average salary of all respondents, internationally, was approximately £75,000.

• The percentage of those earning over £70,000 increased 11% compared with 2010, and 29% of all respondents reported a salary of over £100,000. For those who reported earning over £100,000, the average income was £137,000.

Sectors

• As in AMBA’s 2010 Careers Survey, graduates employed in the energy sector reported the highest average salary of any sector (£97,000 in 2013). The median salary in the energy sector was also the highest of any sector, at £94,000.

• Those working in the financial sector reported a high average base salary (£95,000), although adjusted for inflation this figure is almost £10,000 lower than the average salary of finance employees in 2010.

• In 2010, every single MBA graduate surveyed earned a variable cash income, such as a performance-linked bonus. This year’s survey shows that there was a 10% reduction in those who reported receiving variable cash earnings e.g. bonuses.

• Of the 90% of MBA graduates who did receive variable cash earnings, 60% of these earned a cash amount of under £20,000, although a fifth reported earning over £40,000.

• In the UK, the median variable cash earning was £15,000. The median total annual earnings of MBA graduates working in the UK (both base salary and variable earnings) is therefore approximately £90,000.

Salary increases

• In the UK, the average salary immediately prior to studying an MBA was £40,350 – and the average salary immediately after gaining an MBA was £51,000, increasing to £60,000 after one year.

• In the subsequent years to graduation, salaries continue to increase at a similar rate.

• An average MBA graduate working in the UK can expect to see real-term increases of approximately £10,000 per year for five years after graduating.

• While percentage increases in salary post MBA varied by country, the overall averages worldwide were a 35% increase in salary immediately post MBA and a 66% increase after one year. Within ten years of gaining an MBA, the average MBA graduate had doubled their salary.

Career development and sectors

The MBA remains a solid passport into more senior roles and MBA graduates continue to work across a diverse range of sectors with the number of MBA graduates working in the public service more than doubling since the last survey in 2010.

The majority of those surveyed were junior or middle managers when they began their MBA. After one year of graduating, over a quarter

BLR April 2013 10:2 Murgatroyd

of MBA graduates took up senior management roles. Only 2.5% set up their own businesses. Within ten years of gaining an MBA, over half of all surveyed were either in senior management, CEO or directorship positions. A quarter of all MBA graduates are either in CEO or board-level positions, although only 22.2% in these senior positions were female.

• 45% of MBA graduates reported changing their business or employer immediately after gaining their MBA (up from 42% in 2010).

• The biggest sectors employing MBA graduates are consulting (15%), finance (11%) and industry (10%), although there is a solid spread of graduates in almost every other sector, including healthcare (9%), energy (5%) and the consumer goods sector (5%).

• There is a 3% increase in the number of those working in consulting after one year of graduating, and a 2% increase in those working in finance (compared with data from the 2010 Careers Survey).

• The biggest change in functional role after one year is in strategy and planning roles where professionals jump from 2.5% before MBA to 13% after one year

• Since the last survey in 2010, the number of those working in the public sector after one year of graduating has more than doubled: today, almost 1 in 10 MBA graduates from accredited business schools work in public service.

• The public sector also has one of the most equal gender ratios reported, with 41% of MBA graduates being female. 67% of MBA graduates in the legal profession are female.

• Approximately 60% of all MBA graduates work in organisations with over 500 employees. 12% work in organisation with between 100 and 500 employees and more than twice as many (28%) work in organisations with fewer than 100 employees.

MBA & Women

The median post-MBA salary for the women in the UK was £62,000 – an 11% increase from 2010. However, the female median salary was still 20% lower than the median salary for males in the UK.

Only 8.5% of those surveyed who earned over £100,000 were female – which is indicative of the shortage a

45% of MBA graduates change their jobs immediately after gaining their MBA.

BLR, Spring 2013 10:2 33 |

The median salary for female MBA graduates is still

20% lower than their male counterparts.

Careers Survey BLR April 2013 10:2

67%

of MBA graduates in the legal profession were female

Entrepreneurship is seen as the most vital topic for

today’s MBA students to learn about.

females in top-level roles (only 6% of those in CEO/President roles were female).

· Improvements included a 10% increase in the number of women in strategy and planning, at 29% as opposed to 19% in 2010. There was a 5% rise in women working in marketing and sales. The percentage females in research and development increased 5%, and women in finance and control increased by 4%, from 28% in 2010 to 32%.

MBA Views

AMBA also asked respondents their views on the MBA degree to ascertain what they felt about the value of the degree.

• The overall view was that an MBA is a degree for life. Almost 85% of those surveyed agreed (58%) or strongly agreed (26%) that the value of their MBA had improved over time. Just 3.5% of respondents strongly disagreed with this viewpoint.

•Discounting salary increase and career progression, MBA graduates felt that the MBA’s greatest value was the access it gave to new perspectives on being a manager. Its ability to improve business acumen was also highly rated.

• Just over 11% stated that networking was the single most valuable thing that they gained from their MBA, and a similar number (12%) stated that a global outlook was the most important asset an MBA degree provided.

• Asked what the most vital topic for today’s MBA students to learn about on their MBA, 35% stated entrepreneurship, and 30% stated internationalisation. One in five stated that sustainable/responsible management was the most important topic for today’s MBA students to study.

Dr George B. Murgatroyd

34 | BLR, Spring 2013 10:2

BLR, Spring 2013 10:2 Murgatroyd

BLR, Spring 2013 10:2 35 |

Book ReviewCollaborative Leadership: building relationships,handling conflict and sharing controlDavid Archer and Alex Cameron, Routledge, 2013, £29.99

Part way through the second edition of Archer and Cameron’s popular book on collaborative leadership, Mahatma Ghandi’s words are quoted: “I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles, but today it means getting along with people.” As the authors observe, over half a century on, Ghandi’s words are still highly relevant today, yet business leaders still find it difficult to “get along” with people. One wonders whether the global financial crash of 2007 - 2008 would have occurred if those in positions of power had displayed less muscle and more understanding.

This book begins, appropriately, with instances of leadership failure since the first edition was published in 2009: from Gordon Brown’s inablity to collaborate in government, to Tony Harward’s unsuccessful response to the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, the pitfalls of failing to lead and respond collaboratively are clear. In 2013, interdependence in business has become near-unbiquitous, which has meant that deciding who to collaborate with, and to what extent, is a much more complex process. Through the twleve concise chapters, a very astute demystification of such a complex process is unveiled.

It is made very clear in this book that collaborative leadership requires hard work and dedication. By pointing out the common pitfalls - such as introducing a “one team” ethos or failing to be forensic about potential partnerships - whilst also methodically analysing the steps leaders can take to successfully collaborate, Archer and Cameron craft a very accessible user guide to leading effectively in today’s world. The chapters advance many instructive ways for conceptualising and undertaking workplace

collaboration. Part 1 introduces a collaborative leader’s toolkit, which contains the types of foundations that should be put in place before collaboration occurs, as well as outlining a roadmap for leaders of partnerships to follow throughout all stages of collaboration. Part 2 then considers collaborative leaders in action - both successful and unsuccessful. A particularly useful chapter on boardroom collaboration leads to reflection that if those in senior roles fail to work in partnership, employees further down the chain will have little incentive or inspiration to push collaboration onto their own agenda.

Underpinned by surveys of business leaders, the authors’ own research and case studies, the opportunity for the reader to transfer the wisdom on the page to the real workings of the workplace is made straightforward. Moreover, the admixture of the authors’ voices and those of others, including leaders who have achieved real success, produces a book which is itself a product of collaboration and real life experience. Together with the book’s uncomplicated language and format, which includes very helpful chapter summaries and frequent, pithy “Lessons for Collaborative Leaders”, Collaborative Leadership is a highly valuable and practical book for those who wish to develop and refelct on their leadership practices.

GBM

Book Review BLR April 2013 10:2

“A critical problem is one that is self-evident in nature and that requires swift decision-making and action. A tame

problem may be complicated but resolvable through unilinear acts because there is a point where the problem

is resolved and it is likely to have occurred before.

A wicked problem is complex, rather than just complicated, it is often intractable, there is no unilinear

solution. Moreover, there is no ‘stopping’ point, it is novel, any apparent ‘solution’ often generates other

‘problems’, and there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer, but there are better or worse alternatives.”

Dr W B Howieson

April 2013 10:2

business leadership review, spring 2013

Documents