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Flexible
Flexible leadership in the leadership in the
manufacturing sector manufacturing
sector
Priya Alat and Damodar Suar
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences,
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India
23
Received 20 August 2018
Abstract Revised 28 December 2018
22 March 2019
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore leader flexibility in the manufacturing sector. The Accepted 10 May 2019
objectives are to understand the nature of uncertainties that leaders face and how their personal attributes
facilitate them in responding to uncertain situations.
Design/methodology/approach – A total of 20 middle- and senior-level executives were interviewed, using
seven semi-structured questions, from four states in India. Responses were analyzed using thematic analysis.
Findings – In this paper, two themes were identified: the need for flexibility and competencies. The need for
flexibility included the factors that warrant adaptability and the performance requirements, such as changes in
external environment, reconciling opposing demands, unpredictability of human resources and day-to-day
contingencies. Performance requirements included monitoring the environment, anticipating changes, creating
shared meanings, developing adaptability in human resources, understanding contradictions and generating
alternate solutions. Competencies included balancing different values, roles, and behaviors, coaching and team
building skills, planning skills, systems thinking, social skills, conflict management skills and openness to learning.
Research limitations/implications – Interviews were conducted with only executives; interviewing their
subordinates may have revealed different perspectives. With the accounts being retrospective, few details
may have been missed or exaggerated.
Practical implications – The findings can be used to apprise leaders of the challenges they may face and
develop competencies required for leader flexibility.
Originality/value – Leadership research in the manufacturing sector is mostly focused on leaders’
responses to environmental uncertainties. This research identifies the task demands associated with
unpredictability of human factors and daily contingencies, and the competencies used to respond.
Keywords Behaviours, Competencies, Thematic analysis, Traits, Flexible leadership,
Performance requirements
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
The ability to respond positively to uncertainty has become necessary for leader
effectiveness due to the growing complexity of organizations and business environments
(Norton, 2010). Hence, leader flexibility has gained prominence in leadership research.
Flexible leadership refers to the way leaders analyze situational cues and change their
responses in terms of decisions, behaviors and actions for productive outcomes (Good and
Sharma, 2010; Norton, 2010; Yukl and Mahsud, 2010).
In the workplace, flexibility is generally viewed as the ability to behave flexibly;
however, depending on the nature of uncertainty, a variety of skills, behaviors and abilities
are required (Good and Sharma, 2010; Pulakos et al., 2000). Leaders face an array of
unpredictable situations (Kaiser et al., 2007), which may be technical, interpersonal,
organizational or environmental. These situations put forth a range of task demands that
are addressed using different skills and abilities (Zaccaro et al., 2013). Accordingly, this
study explores the factors that necessitate flexible leadership in the manufacturing sector
and the personal attributes that enable flexible leadership. The study aims to add to the
extant research on leaders’ responses to immediate situations (Yukl and Mahsud, 2010).
International Journal of
Manufacturing industries are the drivers of economic development, a source of Organization Theory & Behavior
Vol. 23 No. 1, 2020
modernization, and job creation in developing countries (Tybout, 2000). Leader flexibility is pp. 23-42
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1093-4537
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest. The authors did not receive any funding. DOI 10.1108/IJOTB-08-2018-0093
IJOTB integral to the effectiveness of manufacturing organizations (Homkes, 2014). Although there
23,1 is a plethora of research on flexibility in manufacturing strategy (Upton, 1997; Zhang et al.,
2003) and technology (Co et al., 1998), flexible leadership in this sector is understudied. This
research intends to fill the gap.

Theoretical background
24 Organizational effectiveness and flexible leadership
Effective organizations are profitable, fulfill their missions and survive in the long run
(Yukl, 2008). The dimensions of organizational effectiveness are economic viability,
technological adaptability, competitiveness and market share, concern for people and
ethicality (Bartram et al., 2002). Theories of flexible leadership explain the different ways in
which leaders influence these dimensions according to situational changes and enhance
organizational effectiveness (Yukl and Lepsinger, 2004).
The flexible leadership theory (Yukl, 2008) posits that organizations are effective when
leaders influence the determinants of financial performance according to situational demands.
The performance determinants are as follows: first, efficient and reliable operations focused on
reducing cost, errors and delays; second, adaptability to changing environment through
innovation; and third, high level of employee knowledge, skills, morale and commitment.
Depending on the organization type and business environment, leaders use different leadership
styles, management programs and competitive strategies to influence these determinants. During
economic instability, leaders can improve efficiency through the use of task-oriented behaviors
and downsizing. To adapt to technological changes, leaders can use empowering behaviors and
rewards to encourage innovation and risk-taking. Effective leaders understand that these
determinants are interdependent. Sometimes, improving one may need a simultaneous
improvement in another. For example, to improve efficiency, organizations have to innovate to
develop the technology that reduces waste. This interdependence also requires ambidexterity or
the capability to balance contradictory objectives. For example, downsizing can control costs but
decrease the morale of existing employees. Flexible leadership involves understanding these
issues and using behaviors, programs and strategies that are relevant and consistent with others.
Leaders also respond to change and uncertainty through adaptive leadership (Heifetz
et al., 2009). Adaptive leadership is required as the current business environment is
characterized by adaptive challenges. For example, organizations are facing the adaptive
challenge of moving beyond selling products to offering solutions based on trust and
understanding. Such challenges demand new learning and cannot be solved by available
knowledge and standard practices. To address such challenges, adaptive leaders modify
people’s beliefs, values, habits and priorities through experimentation, trade-offs and by
encouraging diverse opinions. They mobilize people to face challenges so that organizations
survive periods of disequilibrium and find new ways to grow (Heifetz et al., 2009).

Flexible leadership and individual differences

Although flexible and adaptive leadership theories focus on leadership at the collective
level, these theories underscore the role of individual leader flexibility. The flexible
leadership theory explains that leaders at all levels have to be flexible. Thus, there is scope
to explore personal traits of leaders that facilitate the response to complex situations (Yukl,
2008). Adaptive leadership also depends on the individual leader’s spontaneity, intuition and
reflection (Heifetz et al., 2009). Flexible and adaptive leadership involves ambidexterity
(Yukl, 2008), which depends on the individual manager’s ability to balance competing
objectives (O’Reilly and Tushman, 2004).
The emphasis on individual abilities arises because strategic decisions, even though
made collectively, are based on insights and innovative ideas generated by individuals
(Crossan et al., 1999; Keller and Weibler, 2015). The top leaders’ values, cognitions and Flexible
personality traits affect their perception and selection of information and thereby their leadership in the
decisions (Finkelstein et al., 2009). Leaders’ overconfidence, complacency, commitment manufacturing
to decisions, mind-set and decision rules can also be a barrier to strategic flexibility
(Shimizu and Hitt, 2004). sector
Organizational theories focus on planned changes, whereas in organizations, continuous
changes occur due to the actions of organizational members (Orlikowski, 1996). Ongoing 25
micro-level changes imply that executives have to adapt to uncertainties in their work even
when there is no explicit mandate for change from the top. Micro-adjustments to everyday
changes can result in long-term adaptability of organizations (Heifetz et al., 2009; Weick and
Quinn, 1999; Uhl-Bien and Arena, 2018). Exploring flexible leadership at the individual level
may reveal the skills and behaviors used by leaders to respond to continuous changes and
throw new light on flexible leadership.
Flexible leadership at the individual level is a three-stage cyclical process. The process
involves appraising the subtle cues in the situation, assessing the different behaviors one is
capable of performing according to the need of the situation and finally selecting and
executing an appropriate response (Good and Sharma, 2010). Earlier contingency theorists
assessed situational factors and prescribed appropriate leadership styles, or suggested how
situations can be altered to best match the leader’s style (Horner, 1997). However, due to the
increasing complexity of organizations, it is difficult to assess every possible contingency
and prescribe behaviors accordingly (Denison et al., 1995). Rather, to be effective, leaders
have to perceive and analyze situational cues and display a wide range of behaviors
(Hooijberg et al., 1997). Therefore, the competencies associated with flexible leadership can
be explored (Yukl and Mahsud, 2010; Zaccaro, 2007).

Competencies and flexible leadership

Competency refers to capability or ability that results in effective performance; it is a set of
related behaviors that are displayed with a particular intent (Boyatzis, 2008). For example,
for the competency “empathy,” the behavioral manifestation can be asking a question and
listening to someone, and the intent will be to understand his or her feelings (Boyatzis, 2008).
Competencies include knowledge and skills required for job performance and the underlying
traits, values and motives (Boyatzis, 1982; Woodruffe, 1991). When a person’s power motive
is aroused, he or she is likely to display change-oriented leader behaviors (Emmerling and
Boyatzis, 2012; McClelland, 1985). Therefore, competencies are overt behaviors propelled by
desire and ability (Woodruffe, 1991).
In leadership competency models, flexibility refers to the generic ability to adjust one’s
behaviors if required (Kaiser et al., 2007; McClelland, 1998). However, flexible leadership
involves a number of specific flexibilities and the underlying attributes (Good and Sharma,
2010; Zaccaro, 2007). Leaders can be flexible in the use of coping and communication
strategies, decision-making, learning styles, balancing gender roles and during social
interactions (Good and Sharma, 2010). Flexible leadership also involves balancing different
leadership styles. Behavioral complexity is the ability to balance collaborative with directive
leadership and controlling with creative leadership (Lawrence et al., 2009). Versatile leadership
is the ability to balance enabling with forceful behaviors and operational with strategic
behaviors (Kaplan and Kaiser, 2003). Paradoxical leadership is the ability to balance self-
centeredness with other-centeredness, distance and closeness, control with autonomy, treating
subordinates uniformly while allowing individualization and enforcing work requirements
while allowing flexibility (Zhang et al., 2015).
A range of cognitive, motivational and personality attributes underlie the different
flexibilities. These attributes enable leaders to gather and analyze information, and make
them able and willing to act in desired ways. Cognitive flexibility (Ionescu, 2012) and
IJOTB adaptive expertise (Nelson et al., 2010) enable individuals to identify changes in task
23,1 conditions and shift thought and action. Cognitive complexity and systems thinking allow
leaders to form accurate mental models of their environment and identify contingencies
(Yukl and Mahsud, 2010). Social and emotional intelligence, and self-monitoring make
leaders self-aware and aware of others’ expectations (Sumner-Armstrong et al., 2008;
Zaccaro et al., 2013). Flexible leaders also learn from previous experience (DeMeuse et al.,
26 2010), and they are comfortable with uncertainty (White and Shullman, 2010).
Describing flexible leadership in terms of specific capabilities can help create measurable
constructs that can aid leadership development (Good and Sharma, 2010). However, it is
easier to separate such capabilities in theory than in practice (Le Deist and Winterton, 2005).
In reality, leaders may require more than one capability, as adaptive performance includes
multiple dimensions. Therefore, flexible leadership can be conceptualized as a
metacompetency subsuming several different competencies (Norton, 2010).
The nature of uncertainties faced by leaders is relevant for identification of competencies
required for flexible leadership (Pulakos et al., 2000). Leaders can construct appropriate
responses when they understand the conditions to which they have to respond (Kaiser and
Overfield, 2010). Such responses, constructed in the moment, will be more in consonance
with the demands of the situation than generally followed past practices (Wheatley, 1992).
Therefore, leaders require attributes that enable them to understand the situational
demands and use relevant behaviors (Yukl and Mahsud, 2010). To specify the aspects of
flexible leadership, the challenges faced by leaders, the task demands made on them and the
attributes that facilitate adaptive response to those demands have to be identified.

Manufacturing sector and flexible leadership

Leadership is one of the success factors of manufacturing organizations (Kathuria et al.,
2010). Research usually focuses on leaders’ roles in manufacturing flexibility, which is the
organization’s ability to respond to changes in customers’ needs and competitive pressures
(Vokurka and O’Leary-Kelly, 2000; Zhang et al., 2003). Leaders enhance manufacturing
flexibility through changes in quality, quantity and product range (Upton, 1997). Also, the
focus is on leaders’ roles in planned changes including the implementation of advanced
manufacturing technologies (Co et al., 1998), total quality management (Das et al., 2011) and
lean production (Poksinska et al., 2013).
Manufacturing flexibility and planned changes relate to improving adaptability to
external environment. Apart from these changes, a leader faces challenges due to role
requirements in different positions, conflicting values and demands, immediate threats or
crises and differences in subordinate abilities (Yukl and Mahsud, 2010). In the
manufacturing sector, the workforce consists of white and blue collared employees.
Managing these different set of employees may require different leadership styles
(Najjar and Fares, 2017). Leaders also face constant pressure from unions, activists and
community members. Therefore, the leaders’ adaptability to contingencies other than
planned changes can be explored (Weick and Quinn, 1999).
To summarize, flexibility of leaders is relevant to organizational effectiveness. Flexible
leadership encompasses a wide range of competencies related to the nature of uncertainties
faced by leaders. Leadership research in the manufacturing sector is focused on leaders’
roles in adaptability to external environment and their responses to other uncertainties are
less explored. This research aims to explore flexible leadership in executives of the Indian
manufacturing sector, specifically the challenges faced by them, and how they use different
leadership styles and skills to respond:
RQ1. How is flexible leadership relevant in the manufacturing sector?
RQ2. What are the performance requirements for flexible leadership?
 RQ3. Which competencies facilitate flexible leadership in the manufacturing sector? Flexible
This research aims to understand flexible leadership from the executives’ perspective. leadership in the
Therefore, the interpretive approach is chosen. Interpretivism assumes that reality is manufacturing
subjective and individuals construct reality and knowledge through their interaction with sector
the world (Scotland, 2012). Interpretative approaches assume that competencies, though
personal attributes of an individual, are not independent of the work context. Rather, the
attributes related to the accomplishment of a particular work depend on the meaning 27
the work has for an individual and the way he or she frames the specific work situation
(Sandberg, 2000). Therefore, the interpretative approach is in line with the research objective
to explore leaders’ responses to the task demands put forth by different unpredictable
situations. The qualitative approach incorporates multiple perspectives and can reveal
unexpected issues, contextual factors and how leaders’ responses change according to
situations (Bryman, 2004).

Method
Participants
A total of 20 middle- and senior-level executives from 9 manufacturing organizations in 4
Indian states were interviewed (Table I). The list of manufacturing organizations in India
was obtained from the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy database. This list was
arranged in descending order of total assets value starting from high to low, and the first
40 organizations were selected. Convenience sampling was used to select one manufacturing
plant from each of these organizations. The selected plants had a minimum manpower of
500, and therefore can be categorized as large manufacturing units (Duberley and Walley,
1995). The human resource departments of the selected manufacturing plants were
contacted through e-mail or the researchers’ professional contacts; permissions were
received from three public and six private organizations.
Middle- and senior-level executives were to be included in the sample because the
requirements of flexibility increase at higher levels of organizational hierarchy
(Denison et al., 1995). Accordingly, the first criterion for inclusion was designation of

Description n M SD

Age 49 5.5
Years of experience 24.6 3.57
Gender
Males 17
Females 3
Function
Operations 9
Human resource 6
Sales/marketing 3
Corporate social responsibility 2
Designation
Assistant general manager 2
Head of department 5
Plant head 3
Chief manager 3
Deputy general manager 4 Table I.
Vice-president 2 Descriptive statistics
General manager 1 of the participants
IJOTB assistant general manager or higher. As the designations were not uniform across
23,1 organizations, the second criterion was a minimum experience of 15 years. Furthermore,
manufacturing strategy along with human resource, marketing and finance complements
the higher level business strategies (Swamidass and Newell, 1987). Therefore, participants
were chosen from all functions to gain a comprehensive view of performance requirements.
The human resource departments provided list of employees from which the researchers
28 identified the eligible executives. The average number of eligible executives in a plant
was 16, and at least 5 participants were randomly contacted in each plant. Out of the
45 participants contacted, 20 agreed to participate. Two participants each were interviewed
from four organizations, three each from another three organizations, two from one and one
from another organization. As the coding and analysis revealed no new codes from the last
two interviews, further follow-ups for contacting more participants were not carried out
(Saunders et al., 2018). This sample size satisfied the criteria of 5–50 participants for studies
using interviews (Dworkin, 2012).
The executives were involved in cross-functional activities; they interacted with both
internal and external stakeholders; and they had worked in more than one region of
the country. The selected manufacturing plants had 2,000–10,000 employees as disclosed by
the participants. The middle-level executives were included in the sample as they had
experience of 20 years, and they were handling large groups of employees.

Measures
Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews using seven open-ended questions
(see the Appendix). Direct questions about flexibility were not asked in the beginning so as
to explore whether elements of flexibility can be identified in the executive’s conception of
leadership and their success and failure. The questions were semi-structured so that the
participants could express their views as openly as possible and allow the researcher to
probe them more if required.

Procedure
Permission to conduct the interviews was granted by the human resources departments of
the organizations. Appointments to conduct the face-to-face interviews were made with the
executives by meeting them personally or through telephone and e-mail. While making the
appointments, the purpose of the interview was explained and their verbal consent was
sought. During the interviews, the participants were asked seven semi-structured questions
and to share their experiences as openly as possible. Each interview lasted for
approximately 40 min. The interviews were audio recorded with permission, except for eight
who did not permit. For the interviews that were not recorded, the answers were written
down verbatim and confirmed. During the interviews, handwritten notes were also taken to
elucidate the points. All the interviews were conducted by the first author. The coding and
analysis were carried out simultaneously with the data collection. No new codes could be
identified after the analysis of data from the last two interviews. Therefore, it was assumed
that sampling saturation has been reached and interviews were stopped after 20.

Coding and analysis strategy

The analysis was carried out using the principles of thematic analysis, which is a method to
identify, analyze and report themes within the data (Braun and Clarke, 2006). The data were
first transcribed word by word from the audio files onto Microsoft Word, and then they were
read and reread a number of times for familiarization. The Word file was uploaded onto
QDA Miner Lite software (Version 4), which was used hereafter for storing, coding and
analyzing the data (see Figure 1).
 Transcribing the data Flexible
leadership in the
Reading to gain familiarity with the data manufacturing
sector
Uploading the data on QDA Miner Lite software
29
Developing first level codes

Rereading the data and revising the codes

Discarding codes which appear less than twice

Identifying similarities among the final codes to

develop sub-themes

Assessing “keyness” of the sub-themes

Assessing “prevalence” of the sub-themes

Rereading the data and revising the sub-themes

Identifying similarities between sub-themes to

develop themes

Reading the themes developed to check if those

contain relevant sub-themes

Data and themes developed given to two

independent raters

Inter-rater reliability of codes analyzed

Final results fixed after obtaining adequate Figure 1.

Coding strategy
reliability

The next phase involved generating initial codes, which are the “most basic segment, or
element of the raw data or information that can be assessed in a meaningful way regarding the
phenomenon” (Boyatzis, 1998). The data were analyzed carefully to identify the words, phrases
or sentences that indicated the challenges faced by leaders, task demands, traits, skills and
behaviors related to flexible responses. The relevant data extracts were then coded and labeled.
Some phrases were coded as it is, for example, “cross-functional knowledge”. Some codes were
identified from data extracts; for example, the extract “taking interest in the working of other
units” was also coded as “cross-functional knowledge.” All the codes were provisional. Codes
that were present in the data more than twice and were relevant to the objectives were
considered for the next stage of analysis. Finally, 42 relevant codes were identified.
The analysis was inductive as the codes were identified from the data. Although the
analysis was guided by the research questions, no prior coding scheme was referred to
IJOTB (Braun and Clarke, 2006). However, no coding can be completely free from theoretical
23,1 preconceptions; thus, existing theories of leader attributes and flexibility were referred to
while coding the data ( Joffe and Yardley, 2004).
In the next step, the codes were read many times to assess the similarity of content and
whether they represent some overarching theme. For example, “identifying information,”
“financial planning,” “making assumptions,” “preparing schedules,” “human resource
30 placements” and “forecasting” were clustered into the sub-theme of planning skills. The
“keyness” of a sub-theme was determined by assessing whether it captures something
important with respect to the research question and its prevalence; prevalence was determined
by the number of times the theme occurred across the entire data set (Braun and Clarke, 2006). A
total of 11 sub-themes were identified. Some of the codes were put into more than one sub-theme.
The next step was to collate the sub-themes, generated in the second phase, into themes
according to their similarity of content; two broad themes were identified: need for flexibility and
competencies. The first theme included the factors that warrant flexibility and the performance
requirements that each factor demanded of the executives. The factors included changes in the
external environment, opposing stakeholder demands, unpredictability of human resources and
day-to-day contingencies. Competencies included balancing different values, behaviors and
roles, coaching and team building skills, systems thinking, planning skills, openness to learning,
social skills and conflict management skills. The themes were reviewed to check if those include
relevant codes and represent the data accurately (see Table II).
The reliability of the codes, sub-themes and themes was assessed using Cohen’s κ. Two
independent coders (doctoral students in organizational psychology) were given the codes,
sub-themes and themes, with the descriptions of each, and asked to sort the first-order codes
into sub-themes and the sub-themes into themes. A Cohen’s κ of 0.77 ( p o0.001) was
obtained between the codes developed by the researchers and the first coder, and 0.70
( p o0.001) between the researchers and the second coder, suggesting substantial agreement
(McHugh, 2012) between the researchers and the two coders.

Themes Sub-themes Codes

Need for Changes in the external Technology change, govt. policies, change in demand, competition,
flexibility environment (8) anticipate changes, make strategic plans, develop adaptable
human capital
Opposing demands (9) Define problems, understand perspectives, create consensus
Unpredictability of Understand contradictions like pay and productivity
human resources (10)
Day-to-day Breakdowns, unavailability of resources, conflicts
contingencies (15)
Competencies Balancing (15) Balancing values, roles and leadership style
Conflict management Trade-off, negotiations, coordinations
skills (13)
Developing adaptable Team building, cohesive teams, hiring, training and development
human resources (18)
Systems thinking (10) Understanding inter-linkages, breaking problems into parts,
cross-functional knowledge
Planning skills (14) Identifying information, forecasting, making assumptions,
preparing schedules, human resource planning, financial planning
Social Skills (14) Calmness, empathy, self-awareness, emotional control, flexibility of
behavior, understanding various situations
Table II.
Themes, sub-themes Openness to learning (7) Feedback, learning from mistakes, learning from multiple sources,
and codes of flexible keen learner
leadership Note: Numbers in parenthesis indicate the number of executives who mentioned the the sub-themes
Results Flexible
Need for flexibility leadership in the
This theme discusses the challenges faced by executives. Understanding these challenges manufacturing
reveal the kind of uncertainties faced by leaders and the resulting task demands.
Changes in the external environment. The changes that occur at the macro level are sector
usually beyond the control of the leaders. These are sudden technological shifts, geopolitical
fluctuations, fall or rise in demand and competition. These issues usually affect the whole 31
organization or multiple levels of the organization. In this context, leaders go for
transformational changes like deskilling of employees, changing plant layout and dropping
specific products.
To prepare for these issues, senior executives monitor the environment, gather
information, anticipate future changes and make long-term strategic plans. The middle-level
managers implement the changes and coordinate with other departments and stakeholders.
Operations and human resource executives assess requirements of manpower and other
resources. Marketing and sales executives monitor the preferences and requirements of
customers and supply chain partners. Furthermore, executive in all functions and levels
echoed the requirement to build adaptable teams capable of responding to changes:
A major change facing organizations today is that customers are not loyal, in the sense that they
will not continue business for the sake of past relations; now they only look for the best quality and
price. So the management goal is retention of customers through quality and price. This has made
continuous modernization of plants an absolute necessity. Only those organizations are surviving
which are continuously upgrading their utilities. Therefore, top management has to be dynamic,
assess changes that are going to take place. The management here is ready to change everything
from the scratch if required; with time the strategy has changed, layout has changed. (E13)
One of the major challenges is the fast pace of change in technology – disruptive technology –
something that is going on is to be totally changed, sudden changes. (E19)

Opposing stakeholder demands. Executives are responsible for creating shared meaning to
achieve a common ground. In the manufacturing sector, the stakeholders include the employees,
unions, government officials, supply chain partners, customers and the community members
who often place contradictory demands. To reconcile these, the executives have to understand
the requirements of each stakeholder, think differently and come up with innovative solutions so
that everyone’s demands are fulfilled to the extent possible. In managing demands from
stakeholders, senior executives were involved in liasioning with government agents and
executives below them. Middle-level executives had the responsibility to link shop floor with the
top management and coordinate with peers. In conflict scenarios, the final decision to withdraw
or continue deliberations rested with the senior executives; the strategy building involved the
concerted efforts of both senior and middle management from relevant functions. Executives in
support functions of human resources and corporate social responsibility were involved in
conflict resolutions involving unions and community members. Executives in marketing were
involved in attending to retail units like demands for more commission:
Numerous political parties have no fixed demands. Also politicians never explain the market
situation to general public, for example, during price rise they don’t explain the supply side
problems due to which prices rise. (E17)
Lower level employees only think about tonnage, upper levels think about cost too. (E2)

Unpredictability of human resources. Human resources were considered as the “most costly
and vital resource,” as these cannot be replicated and the utilization of physical resources
depends on them. While managing human resources, executives faced dilemmas and
realized that employees may not behave as expected. For example, employees did not
IJOTB respond to monetary incentives in the expected manner. Protective culture and trust were
23,1 more important for motivating them and for acceptance of the leader’s actions. Sometimes,
productivity did not increase in spite of installing new equipment, as the older employees
were not ready to work with these. Executives faced problems of indiscipline, interference
from local political members and siphoning of raw material and finished products:
Employees are the most vital resource because (they are) unpredictable. Finance, logistics, etc. can
32 be controlled but there is no fixed formula for engaging people and how to motivate and deliver
better. It differs. Production can be high in spite of low pay, there has to be parental protection. (E5)

Day-to-day contingencies. Apart from the major issues, executives face many contingencies
in their daily functioning that require flexible responses. They have to handle disruptions
due to shortage or unavailability of resources and breakdowns. To handle these
contingencies, executives have to find different ways of doing tasks like finding alternate
resources. Usually, middle-level executives addressed such contingencies. However,
sometimes the inability of lower level executives to handle such issues led to escalation,
resulting in an involvement of senior executives:
Sometimes employees are to be placed in spite of lack of competency, due to unexpected vacancy; in
that case lower level employees are placed but they have to be trained, empathized, first mistakes
have to be forgotten and they have to be supported. (E12) (This extract was also coded for empathy)
These factors were not always independent of each other. Daily contingencies were
sometimes caused by human resource or technical issues or demands from stakeholders.
Similarly, conflicting stakeholder demands could be caused by unpredictability of human
resources and changes in the external environment.

Competencies
This theme includes the abilities that enable leaders to assess situations and their responses
in terms of behaviors, decisions or other actions.

Balancing
The executives understood that they have to engage in different leadership styles and roles
according to the situation. The phrases “synchronizing,” “realistic” and “situation-oriented”
reflect that the executives balanced different forms of behaviors depending on circumstances.
They advocated the use of stern leadership styles to deal with indiscipline or unethicality, and
they also emphasized the importance of knowing employees personally, as well as the use of
support and empathy when required:
I have to achieve organizational objectives of gaining volumes and market share in all products,
increasing profitability, fulfilling the needs of customers, guiding team during various problems
and situation, imparting training and guidance to subordinates, and colleagues, mentoring
subordinates etc. (E8)
I strongly feel three things are important – (a) domain expertise- adequate knowledge to command
the respect of others, (b) leaders have to have the drive, enthusiasm, passion, and quest for
excellence, (c) walk the talk- integrity. All the above three are synchronized. We cannot have one
without the other. (E10)
Along with balancing behaviors and roles, the balancing of wide range of objectives was
also stressed at the organizational and individual level:
Our organization aims to set high standard of ethics, fostering relationship with customers for a
lifetime, pioneering the spirit of innovation, developing employees to excel, harnessing best
technology, caring for environment and community. (E8)
Although the executives believed that they had to be flexible in their behavior, their actions Flexible
were always carried out within the ambit of their conviction to get things done, safety, leadership in the
discipline and productivity. In enforcing discipline in safety, attendance and placement of manufacturing
labor, they faced protests and disruptions, which hampered productivity. They had to
decide how much leverage can be given in these matters to save productivity and whether sector
productivity had to be sacrificed to enforce rules. Therefore, flexibility was balanced by
conviction and determination: 33
A leader needs flexibility of action with firmness of conviction. (E16)

Systems thinking
Executives have to assess how changes in external environment affect the organization,
develop vision and strategies to guide the functioning of their organizations or units. They
have to offer solutions to various problems faced by organizational members. Therefore,
knowledge of how an organization is affected by the external environment and how different
constituent units of the organization interact with each other enables to formulate strategies
and offer solutions acceptable to all. Systems thinking thus helps them in understanding the
various demands from different stakeholders and creating consensus:
If internal customers like unions, employees, and contractors are happy, everybody works well. If
external customers like retail are happy, issues are resolved faster with less or no meetings and
requires less effort. There is lesser burden on field staff which reduces manpower requirements. If
customers like Steel Authority of India Limited, Railways are happy, it improves public perception
of the brand. To keep customers happy, the followings are important -product quality, presentation,
price, transparency, and service. One satisfied customer will bring ten new customers. This affects
brand image and goodwill whose value is not monetary. (E3)

Planning skills
Planning skills include identifying information, anticipating challenges, making assumptions,
forecasting, manpower planning, scheduling and financial planning. Executives should be able
to plan flexibly to deal with interruptions in the form of shortage or unavailability of resources,
breakdowns and conflicts. Planning is a continuous process, and it involves improvisation,
besides standard tasks like scheduling:
A situation arose where there was a demand for a particular number of spare parts by
subordinates. However, as the budget was inadequate, I negotiated with them to reduce their
demand and helped them to manage by other means.

Openness to learning
It is the willingness to continuously learn. While domain expertise is required for effective
leadership, the rapid pace of change has made it necessary to continuously upgrade
knowledge and skills. Executives keep themselves updated through feedback, suggestions,
keeping channels of communication open and learning from multiple sources:
A good leader must be prepared to change and adapt to change, and learn from mistakes. A leader
may have knowledge about global affairs and the macro aspects but he or she has to learn about the
organization from his or her employees, also from stakeholders like customers and distributors. (E19)

Social skills
Social skills included emotional awareness and control, empathy and social judgment. Social
skills helped executives understand others’ and one’s own emotions in conflict situations and
IJOTB understand local cultures while setting up new units in different locations. Executives reported
23,1 the importance of controlling one’s emotions and empathy in handling situations better:
If something negative is going on, then also I keep calm, try that these negatives are not passed on
to the work. (E4)
When executives face problems, they may not always have sufficient physical resources,
time or information to take rational decisions. They may have to make quick decisions to
34 address a problem immediately and build consensus for such decisions. In such situations,
their ability to control emotions and understand how other parties may react to their actions
help in building consensus and implementation of plans. In manufacturing plants, issues of
safety could not be compromised. However, executives have to be skillful in enforcing
discipline, otherwise conflicts may arise. A plant head (E9) described an incident where, in
spite of having the right intentions, an issue escalated into a conflict due to his inability to
control emotions and a lack of realistic assessment of the situation:
In one of the locations I was working as a safety manager, one day some unsafe activities were
going on which had the potential to lead to a big explosion. I could not control myself after seeing
this and behaved rudely with the workman who was involved. My actions were noticed by other
workmen who were present in the location. It was a sensitive location and I without thinking
called the security and removed the person from the location. After two hours, the plant was
closed. There was pressure on management to settle the issue as the product was a sensitive and
essential in nature for daily use. The management forced me to apologize so that the plant can
start, but I was determined not to, as in my opinion I was correct. Total plant operation was at
standstill for more than six hours and management pressurized me to make settlement with the
Union. Since I could not do this, my superior on my behalf apologized and started the operations.
To my opinion it was a defeat to me and I was very upset because my action could have been
realistic and situation oriented, so that the situation could have been handled better in a peaceful
manner. (E9)
The lack of manpower was another issue faced by executives frequently. In such cases, they
have to get the work done by other employees who lack required skills and are thereby
unwilling to do the particular job. Executives’ ability to empathize helps them understand
apprehensions of such employees and choose the appropriate leadership style like showing
support to get the job done. Social skills complement the need to build trust and long-term
relationship with employees and customers, and understand their internal motivations to
motivate them and gain their acceptance.

Conflict management skills

Conflict management was identified as a major performance requirement for the executives.
Conflicts emerged due to different demands from different stakeholders and unpredictability of
human resources. Executives faced conflicts ranging from complex issues involving multiple
parties to interpersonal conflicts between team members. Flexibility in managing conflicts
involved using trade-offs, negotiations and being prepared to withdraw from conflicts if
resource depletion is high without any results:
All conflicts cannot be solved all the time. They are to be prioritized and solved or negated.
With trade unions it is a continuous effort like tug of war, they are ever present; manger’s aim must
be to find out ways to tap them in positive way. Their demands are not according to output.
So when conflicts arise, sometimes unions are given short-term benefits but are asked for some
long-term gain, like retiring old employees and employing younger staff. (E9)
Production manager wants sufficient resources; however, there is no definition of sufficient.
Negotiate between different departments regarding cost effectiveness, technical aspects to arrive at
consensus. (E2)
 Conflict resolution can be done through discussion, and persuasion, if still not successful, I give the Flexible
employees a personal hearing, it works it is ok otherwise, I put my foot down. There has to be leadership in the
objectivity and flexibility with a human side. (E19) (also coded for “balancing”)
manufacturing
sector
Developing adaptability
Executives stressed on developing adaptability of team members through innovative and
continuous training and team building. Sudden changes in technology may make employee 35
skills obsolete. Therefore, leaders have to continuously upgrade their employees’ skills to
enable them to adapt to change and crises:
Suppose an employee has skills which are adequate for today; however, they may become
inadequate in the future. So, employee training should be futuristic and continuous. Assess the
skills they are lacking that may be required in future and train them; there should be a long term
action plan; make them aware through market survey and available information. (E19)
Another way executives tried to retain their employees was by training them in
unconventional areas. An executive (E10) narrated an incident where he had to communicate
to few women, employed as housekeeping staff, that they are being relieved of services
because the organization had surplus labor. However, the women protested and he along with
his team tried to find ways to retain them. The executive and his team came up with a novel
program that trained these women as operators of heavy machinery. This program
empowered those women by developing their skill to perform in a formally male-dominated
sphere and prevented them from becoming unemployed.
Building cohesive teams was another way to ensure adaptability. Executives ensured
cohesiveness by having team members with varied skills (E16), giving them some ideas and in
turn learning from them, encouraging constructive dissent (E19) and knowing about the weakest
member of a team (E7). Furthermore, the people who are hired should be willing to adapt:
When the plant was first set up, we hired a lot of senior executives from large public sector organizations.
However, though they were experienced and had expertise, they were not ready to change. (E13)
To summarize the results, executives face challenges in the form of changes in the external
environment, opposing demands from stakeholders, unpredictable human resources and
day-to-day contingencies. To address these issues, they monitor their environment and
anticipate changes, make long-term and short-term plans, build adaptable human resources,
understand stakeholders’ demands to create shared meanings and find out alternate ways of
doing tasks. These performance requirements are facilitated by a number of competencies
such as the ability to balance different behaviors, roles and values, innovative and
continuous coaching, team building, systems thinking, planning skills, social skills, conflict
management skills and openness to learning.
To address an issue, executives may have to perform one or more tasks that may be
facilitated by one or more competencies. For example, to adapt to threats from competition,
executives have to continuously monitor the environment to gather information about the
changes required to beat competitors. They may decide to modernize their physical
infrastructure to improve productivity. Executives who are open to learning may gather
more information required to implement the change from various sources including supply
chain partners and customers. Their efforts to modernize their plants and other utility will
be further strengthened if they have built adaptable human resources through continuous
training and cross-functional activities.
Similarly, when faced with opposing demands that are not clearly defined, executives’
cross-functional knowledge helps them understand the requirements of each stakeholder,
define problems and offer solutions. Their negotiation and coordination skills enable them
to bring consensus.
IJOTB Discussion
23,1 This research explored leader flexibility in the manufacturing sector. Using the competency
and performance requirements approach, the challenges that warrant adaptive
performance, the tasks performed by leaders to respond to those challenges and the
competencies required to perform those tasks were identified. Findings indicate that the
need for flexibility arises due to changes in external environment, opposing demands from
36 stakeholders, dilemmas in managing human resources and day-to-day contingencies. To
address these issues, executives have to monitor environment, anticipate changes, make
plans, understand contradictions, create shared meaning and find alternate solutions. The
competencies required to respond are the ability to balance different behaviors, roles and
values, innovative coaching, team building, systems thinking, planning skills, social skills,
conflict management skills and openness to learning.
Among the sources of uncertainties identified here, there is more emphasis in
manufacturing literature on changes warranted by technological or competitive demands
and regulatory pressures (Swamidass and Newell, 1987; Vokurka and O’Leary-Kelly, 2000).
Uncertainties due to stakeholder demands, unpredictable human resources and day-to-day
contingencies are less focused. Opposing stakeholder demands is referred to in flexible
leadership research (Yukl and Mahsud, 2010); this research shows the nature of such
demands in manufacturing sector. Furthermore, although the importance of workforce
practices in responding to environmental uncertainties is emphasized in manufacturing
(Zhang et al., 2003) and flexible leadership research (Yukl, 2008), the uncertainties that stem
from human factors are less explored. Apart from commonly reported issues like employees’
resistance to new technology implementation and training of employees (Co et al., 1998), the
nexus among employees, worker’s unions, suppliers, government agencies and community
members creates uncertainties that are handled using planning, social and conflict
management skills. Finally, executives also faced continuous changes due to daily
contingencies stemming from breakdowns and lack of resources. Thus, executives face
challenges and uncertainties even without any mandate for change. These issues form a
continuous source of variation that warrants continuous adaptation (Orlikowski, 1996) and
reiterates the relevance of individual leader flexibility.
A competency framework is useful when it is concise and contains competencies relevant
to job performance (Emmerling and Boyatzis, 2012; Kaplan and Kaiser, 2003; Norton, 2010).
Here, using the experiences of leaders, the competencies required for specific tasks were
delineated, which makes these competencies relevant for job performances. The interpretive
approach allows understanding how the competencies enable leaders to make sense
of the situations and use appropriate responses (Boyatzis, 2008; Sandberg, 2000). However,
task-related competencies rooted in the current work context may become obsolete with
changing work demands (Hayes et al., 2000). Here, competencies such as balancing
behaviors and values, systems thinking, social skills and conflict management skills are
useful for the present context. Flexible planning, innovative coaching, team building and
openness to learning are associated with current task demands and anticipating and
preparing for change.
Studies on leader flexibility have assessed the capability to use different leadership styles
(Denison et al., 1995; Lawrence et al., 2009; Kaiser et al., 2007) and social intelligence
(Sumner-Armstrong et al., 2008). This research throws light on the cognitive, emotional, social
and managerial competencies (Boyatzis, 1998; Dulewicz and Higgs, 2003) related to individual
leader flexibility. Cognitive skills facilitate to analyze situations and formulate alternate
courses of action. Systems thinking and openness to learn can enable executives to
understand the perspectives of others. For example, top management, with incomplete
understanding of operational details, may make unrealistic demands on operation engineers;
conversely, operations managers may not understand their role in overall organizational
effectiveness (Ferraro et al., 1988). Also, leaders with system thinking skill and openness to Flexible
learn will encourage team members to acquire cross-functional knowledge. Leaders who are leadership in the
open to learn are competent as they can proactively recognize impending changes (Das et al., manufacturing
2011). Planning is a necessary component of manufacturing systems (Co et al., 1998). The
executives keep revising plans, as change can influence and undermine planning performance sector
(Marta et al., 2005).
Social skills help executives understand situations from multiple perspectives, take 37
decisions calmly and choose appropriate leadership style. Social judgment, perspective
taking and emotional intelligence are linked to leader flexibility and effectiveness (Mumford
et al., 2000). These skills also complement other managerial competencies such as conflict
management, coaching and team building skills. Conflict management skills allow leaders to
channel the conflicting goals and agendas of different organizational units into productive
outcomes (Uhl-Bien and Arena, 2018). Executives create common grounds through trade-
offs, negotiations and coordination to address conflicts. They use conflict management
skills along with emotional control and empathy to devise solutions in the moment. Flexible
leadership also involves developing adaptability through coaching and team building.
Adaptable human resources enhance organizational adaptability (Uhl-Bien and Arena,
2018). Continuous training for employees can be beneficial as the rapid pace of change may
allow less time for formal training programs (LePine et al., 2000). Also, the leaders’ job
performance can be enhanced if the employees are trained and empowered to take
spontaneous decisions when problems arise (Kathuria and Partovi, 1999).
In manufacturing sector, while the control style of management has been usual, relation-
oriented practices that encourage participation improve efficiency (Arthur, 1994; Kathuria
and Partovi, 1999; Kathuria et al., 2010). To be flexible, leaders have to use specific behaviors
skillfully and at the right times (Shipper and White, 1999; Van Wart, 2004). While older
workers may prefer task-oriented leadership styles, with increasing knowledge work,
participative management style is being preferred (Yu and Miller, 2005). Here, executives
advocated balancing task-oriented behaviors to enforce discipline with supportive and
empowering behaviors to build long-term relations. Executives also balance contradictory
objectives of growth and realistic targets, conviction and flexibility, and concern for
profitability and innovation with concern for environment and community. The ability to
balance contradictory values indicates the leaders’ awareness of the inherent contradictions
in organizational functioning, and it is an indicator of flexible and adaptive leadership
(Mumford et al., 2000; Kaiser and Overfield, 2010).

Implications
This research adds to the literature on the role of individual leader flexibility. Executives
have to be responsive to uncertainties created by human factors and continuous micro-level
changes, along with planned changes. Responsive leaders address problems immediately,
prevent escalation of minor issues and thus save valuable resources. Executives require
cognitive and social competencies to perceive situational requirements, ability to balance
behaviors, values and conflicting objectives, and develop adaptability in others for long-
term benefits. A different mix of competencies is required in different situations. This
research, thus, addresses the need to explore traits and skills required for flexible leadership
(Yukl and Mahsud, 2010). Identifying competencies useful in responding to different kinds
of uncertainties can be useful for coaching executives ( Jones et al., 2006).
The research also has practical implications. In leadership development programs,
executives may be apprised of the challenges and conflicting situations identified in this
research. For large-scale changes caused by external factors, they have to be open to gather
new information from various sources, create meaning acceptable to all, coordinate with
others to implement required changes and build adaptable workforce. While hiring new
IJOTB employees, executives can assess candidates’ willingness to adapt. In addition to formal
23,1 training programs, executives may develop leadership skills of subordinates by delegating
responsibility and independent assignments; encouraging them to learn about activities of
other units and gathering information about skill requirements through market surveys.
Furthermore, executives may explore unconventional areas where employee skills can be
developed by looking beyond gender roles and formal role requirements. Executives have to
38 understand the unique needs of their workforce and other stakeholders and offer solutions
accordingly, rather than implementing widely accepted practices. By being vigilant in their
day-to-day operations, executives can perceive the ongoing activities that might cause
disruptions or provide opportunities for improvisation.
At the individual level, executives can develop cross-functional knowledge, financial
acumen and empathy. Executives can prioritize conflicts to be solved, strike trade-offs,
negotiate and also know when to withdraw from conflicts. Executives may assess their own
behaviors or seek feedback to understand whether their leadership style is one dimensional
or a balance of supportive and task-oriented behaviors.
Selection procedures can assess whether candidates for leadership roles have the
required attributes. Whereas openness to learning may require more efforts to be developed,
systems thinking, planning and social skills may be developed through training (Hoffman
et al., 2011). Executives may use feedback from multiple sources, continuously update their
domain knowledge and learn about cross-functional activities.

Conclusion
This research contributes to the literature on flexible leadership by revealing how leaders
assess unpredictable situations and respond accordingly. The study identifies competencies
relevant to the situations faced by leaders due to unpredictability of human resources and
daily contingencies in addition to external environmental changes. Leaders’ responses are a
mix of cognitive, motivational, interpersonal and behavioral competencies. Flexible
leadership is, thus, more than a generic competency and includes a variety of competencies
required to respond to different kinds of unpredictability.

Limitations and future directions for research

The first limitation of the study is that only executives were interviewed and they may have
exaggerated the positive aspects in their responses. Collecting data from executives and
subordinates can provide a better understanding of leader flexibility. Second, retrospective
accounts were given, so some details may have been lost. Although in qualitative research,
the sample size is decided by theoretical saturation, a bigger sample might have provided
more generalizable results. This research reports the experiences of leaders from all
functions and levels. Future studies may compare executives at different levels and
functions. Future studies can examine how cognitive, personality, interpersonal and
behavioral competencies influence one another. Similar studies in service sectors can
examine whether the competencies for leader flexibility are similar or different.

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Appendix. List of questions asked in the interview

(1) Describe yourself as a leader.
(2) Describe three situations where you succeeded as a leader.
(3) Describe three situations where you were unsuccessful as a leader.
(4) Give your views on flexibility.
(5) Describe your roles in the success of the organization.
(6) What are the challenges faced by a leader.
(7) Describe two or three situations where you have faced conflicting demands and sorted out
the issues.

About the authors

Priya Alat is an Assistant Professor at Rajagiri Business School, Kochi, India. She has a Ph.D. in
Management from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal, India. Her research areas
are leadership, values and disaster studies. Priya Alat is the corresponding author and can be
contacted at: priyaalat@gmail.com
Damodar Suar is Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Indian Institute
of Technology Kharagpur, West Bengal. His research focuses on leadership, business ethics, cognition
and postdisaster trauma.

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