University Of Education Lahore

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ..........................................................................................
2. Why is Leadership Training Important?.................................................
3. Historical views ..............................................................................
4. Leadership analysis.................................................................................
5. Approaches to The Study Of Leadership...............................................
5.1. Psychological approach ............................................................................
5.2. Behavioral approach........................................................
5.3. Situational approach..............................................................................
6. Leadership skills..................................................................
6.1. Human skill............................................................................
6.2. Technical skill........................................................
6.3. Conceptual skill..............................................................................
6.4. Proportional skill........................................................
7. Leadership styles..................................................................
7.1. Autocratic or authoritarian.........................................................
7.2. Participative or democratic.........................................
7.3. Laissez-faire or free-rein leadership..................................................
7.4. Task-oriented and relationship-oriented..........................................
7.5. Exploitative or Authoritative...................................................
7.6. Paternalism......................................
7.7. Servant leadership..................................................
7.8. Benevolent – Autocratic Manager..........................................
7.9. Consultative Managers.......................................................
7.10. Participative Team.........................................
8. Methodology and Case Study ...........................................................................................................
8.1. Preliminary and Exploratory Phase ........................................................
8.2. Data Collection Phase..............................................................................
8.3. Data Analysis Phase ................................................................................
8.4. Writings the Thesis..................................................................................
9. Characteristics of Leadership...........................................................................................................
9.1. Communication skill........................................................
9.2. Team building techniques & Strategies..............................................................................
9.3. Developing strategic thinking: ................................................................................
9.4. Improving emotional intelligence..................................................................................
9.5. Techniques for coaching and mentoring................................................................................
9.6. Time management strategy..................................................................................
9.7. Conflict-resolution techniques................................................................................
9.8. Leading Change..................................................................................
10. Why Do Organizations Require Project Leader Professionals?
11. Importance of Leadership in Project Management
12. Theories
 Early Western history
  Rise of alternative theories
 Reemergence of trait theory
 Attribute pattern approach

13. Types of Leadership:

 According to Style of Leadership

 According to Field of Leadership

14. Leadership differences affected by gender

15. Responsibilities of Leadership
16. Acceptance of Administrative Leadership
17. Importance of Leadership
18. Theoretical framework ...........................................................................................
18.1. Why Vision is Important for Leadership.........................................................
18.1.1. Vision........................................................................................
18.1.2. Leadership...........................................................................
18.1.3. The Organizational Leadership.................................................
18.1.4. Visionary Leadership ............................................................
19. What is the importance of Innovative appraoch ...........................................
19.1.1. Importance of Vision and Innovative approach for Leadership ..........
19.1.2. Why is Change needed for Organizations.....................................................
19.1.3. The Organization .................................................................................
20. Case Studies.........................................................................................................
20.1. Nirala Sweets Pakistan.................................................................................
20.2. MAS Holdings Sirilanka ...............................................................................
Introduction
Leadership is an essential function in every organization. In fact, no organization can exist without a
leader. The goal of any organization depends on the people that are employed to achieve the
organizational objectives. Effective administration depends to a very great extent on sound leadership
that can influence the workers in such a way that they all strive towards achieving the desired objective
of the organization. Importantly, workers should be encouraged to work willingly with zeal and
confidence.
Since leadership is very important in organization, there is need to look at different views
that have been given by some scholars about leadership and leaders. Leadership is about innovation and
initiative. Leadership is creative, adaptive and agile. Leadership looks at the horizon, not just the bottom
line (Aibieyi,2009). Leadership has to do with influencing workers behavior towards the attainment of
organizational goals and objectives. Leadership exhibited by the quality of behavior of an individual in
guiding people or their activities in organized effort. It is an essential indispensable social essence that
common purpose. It also creates the incentive that makes other incentive effective, that infuse decision
without which cooperation is impossible. Leadership is based on the personal qualities of the leader to
influence workers to voluntarily comply with all working principles of the organization.
Leadership is the ability to inspire others to willingly perform their institutional duties. Leadership
always shows where we want to go and the way forward. Leadership also means inspiring others to
perform organized duties freely and willingly to achieve the objectives and the organizational goals.
Leadership is the art of influencing workers to work willingly and enthusiastically for group goal
accomplishment. There are several alternatives available to every leader to make a choice in order to
develop his employees and mobilize them to get the work done. Leaders influence subordinates to
contribute effectively in the manner that all strive towards the achievement of desired goals. This study
is basically a review of the leadership skills, leadership style and their approaches and impact on workers
performance.
The paper reveals that in order for any organization to succeed in actualizing its goals and
objectives, there must be a good leader with the appropriate leadership style such as democratic and
participative style of leadership which are capable of involving employees in decision making process as
well as persuading them towards the attainment of organizational goals and objectives. The acquisition
of leadership skills was also proved to be very important for a leader to lead well and with positive
impact on organization.
Why is Leadership Training Important?
Leadership training is crucial for aspiring leaders who want to improve their abilities and succeed. To
that end, some key leadership training topics can help them develop various skills. These include
effective communication, strategic thinking, emotional intelligence, coaching and mentoring, and
conflict resolution. These abilities are required for anyone who wishes to inspire and motivate their
team, foster a positive work culture, and achieve organizational objectives. Leadership development is
also essential for dealing with change, promoting diversity and inclusion, and increasing employee
engagement and retention. Moreover, leadership training unlocks individuals’ potential to become
effective leaders, driving performance, navigating challenges, and contributing to organizational success.

Historical views
Efforts should be geared by the leaders to encourage the interpersonal relationship with the staff of the
organization. Annual merit award should be established in every organization to enhance greater
performance and as a motivational compensation program me for the best behaved and highest
performer of the year.. The democratic and participative leadership styles should be encouraged, so as
to encourage workers to participate in decision making process. Every worker in an organization should
be encouraged to work whenever he or she is given freedom to work and allow participating fully
towards the realization of the organization goals and objectives. 4. It is necessary for organization to
always organize orientation program me for the leaders and subordinates to enable them know what it
takes to lead and direct people. The leaders and their subordinates should work as a team; that is, all
hands should be on deck to enhance the organization to sustain its standard in productivity and survival.
Leadership analysis
The art of breaking down a leader into basic psychological components for study and use by academics
and practitioners. Good leadership analysis is not reductionist, but rather takes into consideration the
overall person in the context of the times, society and culture from which they come. Leadership
analysis is traditionally housed in political psychology departments and utilizes the tools of psychology
to achieve political ends by exploiting the psyche in the case of practitioners, or to gain knowledge about
the building blocks of leadership and individuals in the case of academics. The distinction between the
two is not made frivolously; in fact, while academics and practitioners both engage in the overarching
act of analyzing leaders, they go about it quite differently. Applied analysts make great use of
the psychobiography, while academics tend to analyze transcriptions in search of traits and character
clues.
Approaches To The Study Of Leadership:
There are three major approaches or theories to the study of leadership. These are the traits or
psychological approach, the situational or contingency approach and thirdly the behavioral approach.
Psychological approach :
It had the belief that leaders are born and not made and that there are certain qualities that are limited
to only leaders which constitute the distinguishing factors between the leader and others. This approach
according to Edam (1987) is that because an individual has certain behavior partially which forms the
product of his personality which makes it easier to distinguish him from others. These traits, the
approach argued are knowledge, flexibility of mind, will-power, integrity and physical and emotion
stamina.
The approach conceives the fact that these leadership traits are present in all leaders
and groups in which leadership exists. Moreover, trait theories failed to consider the influence of
situational factors. It has been possible to identity universal, specific traits common to all leaders. Since
leaders do not function in a vacuum, the social, cultural and physical environment plays complex role in
the development and existence of a leader.
According to Unugbro (1995), there are some weaknesses of trait theory, which include the following:
 List of traits usually do not indicate which ones are most or lesser important.
 Trait studies do not distinguish between trait that are needed for acquiring leadership and those
that are necessary for maintaining leadership position.
 Trait theories are based on debatable assumptions regarding personality which for example
ignore the fact that personality is not the mere summation of a collection of traits but a function
of the total organization of the individuals.
Situational Approach;
The situational approach believes that leadership is a function of a social situation, in which there is
interaction between the leader and the subordinate. Gibb (1984) argues that leadership is a concept
applied to the interaction between two or more persons, any group is a system of interaction in which
every member is assigned a role within the system. This role is any expression of his interactions with
other members. Therefore, leadership is a combination of personality and social system in interaction.
Thus Edem (1987) argued that leaders in different situations may exhibits dissimilar characteristics and
that their success in one situation may not be observed in another.
Behavioral Approach:
This approach sees the leader as one who is passive. This is because leadership is the possession or the
interaction of personality and the social environment is propelled by the virtue of the status. It is
important to point out that administrators are appointed based on the qualifications and length of
service. It is important to not that on his appointment; he makes some relevant efforts to introduce
measures and behavior that promotes friendship report mutual trust, respect and warmth between him
and the staff. The major criticism by the proponents of the behavioral approach is that one does not
need to be a leader by virtue of trace or being able to interact with the social system before becoming a
leader, but upon becoming a leader, should be able to take initiatives that is, behavior is contingent
upon purpose.
Leadership Skills
Another way of analyzing leadership behavior is in terms of the skills that the leader may exhibit.
Included here are technical human and conceptual skills.
Technical Skills: Technical skills are most important at lower managerial levels where the products or
service of the organization are produced. Examples of these skills are the training and experience of
engineer’s mechanists, computer operator, technicians and accountants. As a manager moves up the
organization hierarchy, the importance of technical knowledge decreases and the job begins to require
increased amount of other skills. Then the leader personally must rely more and more on the technical
skills of the subordinate.
Human Skill: The second kind of skill is the human skill. Human skills are important throughout all
management levels. They are concerned with the interpersonal relationship between the manager and
those with whom the manager comes in contact. They are also concerned with applying external
motivation to group member and obtaining cooperation from both peers and superiors.
Conceptual Skill: The third skill is the conceptual skill which involve the ability to view the most
important at the top levels of management where long planning and broad thinking are required. As
leaders move to higher positions in the organizational hierarchy, they must develop and utilize the skill
increasingly.
Proportional Skill Requirement: The proportion of technical and concept are skills requirement which
varies with managerial levels. The skills are necessary for dealing with people who remain important for
all levels in the managerial hierarchy.
Leadership Styles:
Some considerable amount of work has been done on leader’s style, by several scholars. Rensis Likert
(1967) developed universal theory or style ranging from autocratic to participative, that is system one to
four theory; Review of Public Administration and Management .
A leadership style is a leader's style of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. It
is the result of the philosophy, personality, and experience of the leader. Rhetoric specialists have also
developed models for understanding leadership Political Style L'Hyperpolitique. Technologies polities De
La.
Different situations call for different leadership styles. In an emergency when there is little time to
converge on an agreement and where a designated authority has significantly more experience or
expertise than the rest of the team, an autocratic leadership style may be most effective; however, in a
highly motivated and aligned team with a homogeneous level of expertise, a more democratic or laissez-
faire style may be more effective. The style adopted should be the one that most effectively achieves
the objectives of the group while balancing the interests of its individual members.
1. Autocratic or authoritarian
Under the autocratic leadership style, all decision-making powers are centralized in the leader, as
with dictators. Autocratic leaders do not ask or entertain any suggestions or initiatives from
subordinates. The autocratic management has been successful as it provides strong motivation to the
manager. It permits quick decision-making, as only one person decides for the whole group and keeps
each decision to him/herself until he/she feels it needs to be shared with the rest of the group.
2. Participative or democratic
The democratic leadership style consists of the leader sharing the decision-making abilities with group
members by promoting the interests of the group members and by practicing social equality. This has
also been called shared leadership.
3. Laissez-faire or free-rein leadership
In laissez-faire or free-rein leadership, decision-making is passed on to the subordinates. This style of
leadership is known as "laissez faire" which means no interference in the affairs of others. (The phrase
laissez-faire is French and literally means "let them do"). Subordinates are given the complete right and
power to make decisions to establish goals and work out the problems or hurdles.
4. Task-oriented and relationship-oriented
Task-oriented leadership is a style in which the leader is focused on the tasks that need to be performed
in order to meet a certain production goal. Task-oriented leaders are generally more concerned with
producing a step-by-step solution for given problem or goal, strictly making sure these deadlines are
met, results and reaching target outcomes.
Relationship-oriented leadership is a contrasting style in which the leader is more focused on the
relationships amongst the group and is generally more concerned with the overall well-being and
satisfaction of group members. Relationship-oriented leaders emphasize communication within the
group, show trust and confidence in group members, and show appreciation for work done.
Task-oriented leaders are typically less concerned with the idea of catering to group members, and
more concerned with acquiring a certain solution to meet a production goal. For this reason, they
typically are able to make sure that deadlines are met, yet their group members' well-being may suffer.
These leaders have absolute focus on the goal and the tasks cut out for each member. Relationship-
oriented leaders are focused on developing the team and the relationships in it. The positives to having
this kind of environment are that team members are more motivated and have support. However, the
emphasis on relations as opposed to getting a job done might make productivity suffer
5. Paternalism
Paternalism leadership styles often reflect a father-figure mindset. The structure of team is organized
hierarchically where the leader is viewed above the followers. The leader also provides both
professional and personal direction in the lives of the members. There is often a limitation on the
choices that the members can choose from due to the heavy direction given by the leader.
The term paternalism is from the Latin pater meaning "father". The leader is most often a male. This
leadership style is often found in Russia, Africa, and Pacific Asian Societies.
6. Servant leadership
With the transformation into a knowledge society, the concept of servant leadership has become more
popular, notably through modern technology management styles such as Agile. In this style, the
leadership is externalized from the leader who serves as a guardian of the methodology and a "servant"
or service provider to the team they lead. The cohesion and common direction of the team is dictated by
a common culture, common goals and sometimes a specific methodology. This style is different from the
laissez-faire in that the leader constantly works towards reaching the common goals as a team, but
without giving explicit directions on tasks.
7. Exploitative or Authoritative
Here managers make all decisions. They decide what is to be done, who will do it and how and when it
is to be accomplished. Failure to complete work as assigned results in threats or punishment. According
to Likert (1967) there is low level of trust and confidence between management and employees when
system one is used. It is task – oriented.
8. Benevolent – Autocratic Manager
still make the decisions, but employees have some degree of freedom and flexibility in performing their
job so long as they conform to the specific procedures under this system, managers take a very
paternalistic attitude. With system two, there is a fairly low level of trust between the management and
the employees which causes employees to use caution when dealing with management.
9. Consultative Managers
Consult with employees prior to establishing the goals and making decision about the work. Employees
have considerable degree of freedom in making their own decision as to how to accomplish the work.
Management tends to rely on rewards as opposed to accomplishment to motivate employees. Also, the
level of trust between the employees and management is fairly high creating a climate in which
employees feel relatively free to openly discuss work-related matter with management.
10. Participative Team:
This is the most like recommended system or style of leadership. The emphasis of system four is on a
group participative role with full involvement of the employees in the process of establishing goals and
making jobs-related decisions. Employees feel free to discuss matters with their leaders who display
supportive behavior. The leader provides a link between the organizations and the employees. Decision
making is widespread throughout the enterprise.
However, this last style was deemed best in the long run for all situations because any leader who
adopts this participative style will definitely have greater management effectiveness and efficiency. The
Impact of Leadership Style on the Organization The impact of leadership style on the organization
cannot be over emphasized. For example, an effective subordinate could be rendered ineffective if the
leadership style is in conflict with the task role of the subordinates. On the other hand, an ineffective
subordinate could be made effective if the leadership style encourages such improvement and
dedication. Specifically, the way in which a leader disciplines his staff, his human relations feelings, his
consideration and inspiration to members of staff, his handling of staff welfare, his staff development
and host of other attributes is likely to affect the impact of the staff. Thus, the more positive approach
adopted by the leader in handling the above attributes, the more effective the staff will be, all things
being equal. Review of Public Administration and Management .
Methodology:
Methodology is the part of research that shows the ways and approaches of collecting the data.Our
research is primarily qualitative and case based. The reason for choosing the case study strategy is the
exploratory and the qualitative nature of study. Since the case studies have become one of the most
common ways to do qualitative inquiry”. One of the reasons to use case studies in our research is its
quality of flexibility which allows the researchers to use multiple data collection methods .
According to Robson (1993), flexibility is always the main strength of the case study strategy in terms of
interpretation and getting access to the specified places, or organizations.
The research is a based on secondary data. We used document analysis/content analysis as main
method of data collection. Document analysis/content analysis also called “textual analysis” in the study
will include all kinds of academic articles, textual and multimedia products, ranging from television
programmers to web sites on the internet. Significant data was collected through telephonic and online
interviews as well. The main purpose of interviews was to link the cases with the concepts identified in
the literature searched through content analysis and to arrive at a model. The other reason for using
interviews was to supplement document analysis and stimulate further questions for analysis. It was
also helpful to make this thesis more systematic, as well.
The stages of our data collection are as follows.
1. Preliminary and exploratory phase:
We reviewed a wide range of literature in the form of academic articles in electronic data bases about
change management and innovation broadly. Those searches helped us in identifying the links between
the leadership qualities and organizational change, which further helped us in refining and narrowing
down our topic and research question. The main themes identified in academic articles were certain
leadership qualities resulting in change and innovative strategies. We tried to search for some real cases
during that time as well where the visionary and innovative practices have lead to successful outcomes.
Our interest was more towards the developing countries firms experiences due to the reason that socio
political environment of developing countries doesn’t facilitate vision based innovative ideas and
practices.
We also wanted to see the applicability of the concepts and models used in the Western context to the
developing countries context. Besides we conduct a few telephonic interviews with people with relevant
background to identify the critical factors of phenomenon. In formally we tried to know about the
phenomenon through chartrooms of MSN/YAHOO/SKYPE. Due to the reason that managing
organizational change itself is a broad phenomenon and is defined differently in various settings, we
have to conduct this preliminary and exploratory research.
2. Data Collection phase:
The second stage of data collection was rather more systematic. We narrowed down our research by
inserting keywords “Vision” “Leadership” and “innovative approach” in the search fields in electronic
data bases. We reviewed more than 40 articles, and we identified that almost three fourth of the articles
were about the concept and role of leadership. We succeeded in finding two practical and real cases as
well during that time. One was Nirala Sweets from Pakistan and, the other was MAS Holding from Sri
Lanka. Thus we choose two different companies of different countries; these are Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The reason to select the Pakistani company was that it is located in our home city, and it was also not
difficult to gather data from this company, because our relatives and friends are working in this
company. One of the reasons to choose that company for our case study was that after reading the
different articles we arrived at conclusion that this company suits best to address and explore our
research question. In the case of Nirala Sweets we gather data from telephonic interviews and internet
meetings with different officials including Manager Human Resources (HR) and Manager Research and
Development (R&D) department.
We also interviewed two of our friends and relatives working in this company. Four people were
interviewed in total, the two are manager (HR) and manager (R&D), and the other two are our close
friends working in this company in the department of sales and operations and are regular employees.
The manager HR and manager R&D both were interviewed twice in four sessions and the total time of
these interviews was 72 minutes, about 15 to 20 minutes in each session. These interviews were
informal in nature, where we talked about the company’s strategies, details of different departments,
the management structure and the steps taken by the leadership during the process of organizational
change. We have talked several times with the guys working in operations and sales department, as they
are our friends and we meet quiet often at internet via different text, and voice channels. During our
different chat sessions we talked about the new items introduced by the company, companies
marketing and sales strategies and the repute of the company in the market.
All the collected data was saved carefully and confirmed again and again, we also try to cross check the
gathered data with information available on internet, in order to increase the reliability credibility of our
work. The reliability can be taken as the stability of results. If the data collected through different
channels is stable and refers the researchers towards same results then it can be considered stable and
“A high degree of stability indicates a high degree of reliability” .The interviews were made
telephonically and electronically through MSN, Skype and smart VoIP. The purpose of interviews was to
identify the vision of the leader that motivate the company towards organizational change and
innovation from employees’ perspectives and also managers point of view who were involved practically
in the process change management. It gives perspectives from 2 different angles on the same
phenomenon. 6 It also helps in validating our concepts, or findings.
According to Joppe “Validity determines whether the research truly measures that which it was
intended to measure or how truthful the research results are The reason to choose the company from
Sri Lanka was also same; our previous teacher did research on this company. In addition two of our
friends in Pakistan who also had worked for that company in the past. One was working in the
department of operations as an Assistant manager and the other was working in manufacturing unit as a
shift in charge. We conducted indepth interviews from total three persons; we interviewed with of our
teacher three times for the purpose, with 45 minutes of total time. In this interview we talked about the
history of the company, the vision of leader/leaders and the achievement made by the company. We
have talked several times with both of our friends, through telephone, Skype, MSN messenger and
Smart VoIP the nature of these chat sessions were informal where we talked about the working
atmosphere of the company, the facilities for the workers which are introduced by the company, the
annual sales and the performance of the company in the national and international business.
We made notes of the relevant information, wrote in the form of words and analyzed. The data was also
cross checked with the information available on net. After writing all the data in the form of cases it was
send to our friends, teacher as well as the company officials to check the data for its reliability, and after
their confirmation this was put into our final work.
3. Data Analysis Phase:
We employed content analysis approach here by counting the number of times that, any particular
leadership property was linked to organizational change and innovation, accepting the fact that
innovation and successful organizational are closely related things. We reviewed those three forth
articles and identified the instances of the visionary leadership. We reviewed that the visionary
leadership and innovative approach are two of those important factors for bringing change in any
organization, so we come to conclusion after content analysis that the role of leadership is central for
the change and innovation as well.
At the same time we did in-depth within and across analysis of 2 case studies to identify the constructs
that we identified in literature and its relation to organizational change and innovation in the cases. We
analyzed all the interviews to identify the constructs and the relationship we identified theoretically in
the literature in the case studies. We in one way matched the patterns (words) in the literature with the
words of the interview. It’s called pattern matching in case study approach. We reviewed different
books and article and literature in order to build a model, though the primary objective of this study was
not to arrive at a model.
4. Writings the Thesis: During our thesis work, we see that the visionary and innovative leadership
is the relatively important factors for bringing change in any organization, so we come to the
assumption that the role of leadership is central for the organizational change and innovation as
well.
Project leadership: Why project management alone doesn't work
Projects often fall short of achieving their anticipated results, not due to a lack of project management,
but rather from a lack of project leadership. Because project success is a direct reflection of the project
manager, it is his or her responsibility not just to manage the details and report status of a project, but
to go beyond and add value through providing leadership. Project managers can no longer update task
lists and issue meeting minutes if they are to succeed. This article focuses on adapting proven leadership
strategies to project environments, helping to increase the probability for project success. When
properly applied, they will help turn today's project manager into tomorrow's project leader.
Characteristics for effective leadership:
 Communication skills: Communication is essential for leaders; thus, training focuses on it in
detail. It includes active listening, clear and concise communication, and providing and receiving
feedback.
 Team-building techniques and strategies: This helps in building and maintaining effective
teams, setting team goals, building trust and rapport, and resolving team conflict.
 Developing strategic thinking: It is designed to help leaders think strategically, plan and
prioritize effectively, and make sound decisions.
 Improving emotional intelligence: Building relationships, managing stress, and navigating
difficult situations require emotional intelligence. This program focuses on the development of
self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and social skills.
 Time-management strategies: To achieve their objectives, leaders must be able to manage their
time effectively. This course covers time-management techniques such as prioritizing, delegating
tasks, and dealing with distractions.
 Techniques for coaching and mentoring: The course covers coaching and mentoring techniques
like active listening, feedback, and goal setting, to improve team performance and culture
 Leading change: In today’s business environment, change is unavoidable, and this training
teaches you how to effectively lead change, manage resistance, communicate the change, and
support employees during the transition
 Diversity and inclusion: Leaders must create an inclusive work environment that values diversity
and promotes equity. It covers unconscious bias awareness, inclusive communication, and team
building.
 Conflict-resolution techniques: A leader must manage conflicts to effectively maintain a positive
and productive work environment. This course focuses on conflict-resolution techniques such as
active listening, negotiation, and mediation.
 Performance-management strategies: To achieve organizational goals, leaders must be able to
manage the performance of their team members. This course covers strategies related to
performance management, such as goal setting, feedback, and recognizing and rewarding
excellent performance.

Why Do Organizations Require Project Leader Professionals?

Project management is crucial for keeping projects on schedule and on budget. Here are some of the
most fundamental reasons organizations need project management professionals:
 Planning, scheduling, monitoring, and coordination of project activities
 Establishing and maintaining an effective channel of communication with stakeholders
 Ensuring that all stakeholders understand what needs to be done
 Making sure that projects conform to business goals
Importance of Leadership in Project Management
The role of leadership in project management encompasses a wide range of activities, including effective
planning, task coordination, overseeing projects, inspiring team members, and making decisions vital to
setting up a plan of action for project implementation.
Leadership in project management is crucial to ensuring success. Besides boosting team confidence and
heightening efficiency, other key project manager leadership skills include:
 Interpersonal Skills
Project leaders need interpersonal skills, such as questioning, listening, and speaking skills, to initiate
effective and persuasive interactions with team members.
Ace project management professionals agree that projects are most likely to fail if project managers do
not have strong interpersonal skills. Since much of your work as a project manager will require you to
communicate with stakeholders, you must develop exceptional interpersonal skills to lead from the
front.
 Generating Enthusiasm and Maintaining a Positive Attitude
Uplifting the energy of team members, and projecting an optimistic attitude, even in times of crisis, is
the most important project manager leadership skills. Project management and leadership is all about
giving teams the confidence that no matter how critical a problem is, there will surely be a solution.
 Honesty
Project manager leadership skills should embrace honesty when it comes to setting ethical guidelines
and promoting transparency in communication.
Honesty and integrity are two essential characteristics of leadership in project management that project
managers should adopt to boost trust among clients, members, management, and other stakeholders.
 Decision-Making
It is the project manager who gives the last word on necessary actions to streamline processes and fix
problems. Therefore, the project manager’s ability to make informed decisions is a key role of leadership
in project management.
Decision-making is one of the critical project manager leadership skills that have a direct impact on the
outcome of a project. All aspiring project management professionals should master decision-making
skills to succeed in their careers.
Theories
 Early Western history
The search for the characteristics or traits of leaders has continued for centuries. Philosophical writings
from Plato's Republic to Plutarch's Lives have explored the question "What qualities distinguish an
individual as a leader?" Underlying this search was the early recognition of the importance of
leadership and the assumption that leadership is rooted in the characteristics that certain individuals
possess. This idea that leadership is based on individual attributes is known as the "trait theory of
leadership".
A number of works in the 19th century – when the traditional authority of monarchs, lords and bishops
had begun to wane – explored the trait theory at length: note especially the writings of Thomas
Carlyle and of Francis Galton, whose works have prompted decades of research. In Heroes and Hero
Worship (1841), Carlyle identified the talents, skills, and physical characteristics of men who rose to
power. Galton's Hereditary Genius (1869) examined leadership qualities in the families of powerful men.
After showing that the numbers of eminent relatives dropped off when his focus moved from first-
degree to second-degree relatives, Galton concluded that leadership was inherited. In other words,
leaders were born, not developed. Both of these notable works lent great initial support for the notion
that leadership is rooted in characteristics of a leader.
Cecil Rhodes (1853–1902) believed that public-spirited leadership could be nurtured by identifying
young people with "moral force of character and instincts to lead", and educating them in contexts (such
as the collegiate environment of the University of Oxford which further developed such characteristics.
International networks of such leaders could help to promote international understanding and help
"render war impossible". This vision of leadership underlay the creation of the Rhodes Scholarships,
which have helped to shape notions of leadership since their creation in 1903.
 Rise of alternative theories
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, a series of qualitative reviews of these studies prompted researchers
to take a drastically different view of the driving forces behind leadership. In reviewing the extant
literature, Stogy dill and Mann found that while some traits were common across a number of studies,
the overall evidence suggested that people who are leaders in one situation may not necessarily be
leaders in other situations. Subsequently, leadership was no longer characterized as an enduring
individual trait, as situational approaches (see alternative leadership theories below) posited that
individuals can be effective in certain situations, but not others. The focus then shifted away from traits
of leaders to an investigation of the leader behaviors that were effective. This approach dominated
much of the leadership theory and research for the next few decades.
 Reemergence of trait theory
New methods and measurements were developed after these influential reviews that would ultimately
reestablish trait theory as a viable approach to the study of leadership. For example, improvements in
researchers' use of the round robin research design methodology allowed researchers to see that
individuals can and do emerge as leaders across a variety of situations and tasks. Additionally, during the
1980s statistical advances allowed researchers to conduct meta-analyses, in which they could
quantitatively analyze and summarize the findings from a wide array of studies. This advent allowed trait
theorists to create a comprehensive picture of previous leadership research rather than rely on the
qualitative reviews of the past. Equipped with new methods, leadership researchers revealed the
following:
Individuals can and do emerge as leaders across a variety of situations and tasks.
Significant relationships exist between leadership emergence and such individual traits as:
 Intelligence
 Adjustment
 Extraversion
 Conscientiousness
 Openness to experience
 General self-efficacy
While the trait theory of leadership has certainly regained popularity, its reemergence has not been
accompanied by a corresponding increase in sophisticated conceptual frameworks.
Specifically, Zaccaro (2007) noted that trait theories still:
Focus on a small set of individual attributes such as the "Big Five" personality traits, to the neglect of
cognitive abilities, motives, values, social skills, expertise, and problem-solving skills. Fail to consider
patterns or integrations of multiple attributes. Do not distinguish between the leadership attributes that
are generally not malleable over time and those that are shaped by, and bound to, situational
influences. Do not consider how stable leader attributes account for the behavioral diversity necessary
for effective leadership.
 Attribute pattern approach
Considering the criticisms of the trait theory outlined above, several researchers have begun to adopt a
different perspective of leader individual differences—the leader attributes pattern approach. In
contrast to the traditional approach, the leader attribute pattern approach is based on theorists'
arguments that the influence of individual characteristics on outcomes is best understood by
considering the person as an integrated totality rather than a summation of individual variables. In other
words, the leader attribute pattern approach argues that integrated constellations or combinations of
individual differences may explain substantial variance in both leader emergency.
Types of Leadership:
1. Transactional Leadership:
refers to an exchange relationship between a leader and followers in which they both strive to meet
their own self-interests. There are several forms of transactional leadership, the first being contingent
reward, in which the leader outlines what the follower must do to be rewarded for the effort. The
second form of transactional leadership is management-by-exception, in which the leader monitors
performance of the follower and takes corrective action if standards are not met. Finally transactional
leaders may be laissez-faire, avoiding taking any action at all.
2. Transformational Leadership:
refers to a leader who moves beyond immediate self-interests using idealized influence (charisma),
inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation (creativity), or individualized consideration. Idealized
influence and inspirational motivation are when a leader is able to envision and communicate a
mutually desirable future state. Intellectual stimulation is when a leader helps their followers to
become more creative and innovative. Individualized consideration is when a leader pays attention to
the developmental needs of their followers, supporting and coaching them.

Different types of leaders in an industry can be classified as under:

(i) According to Style of Leadership:

 Authoritarian or Autocratic leaders:

This type of leaders drives their gang through command and by developing faith in their followers.
Such leaders give orders; assign duties and responsibilities without consulting the employees or
caring for their opinion. Such leaders never like to delegate their powers.
 Democratic or Consultative leaders:
These leaders always work according to the wishes of their followers. They frame the policies and
procedures in consultation with them but sometimes such leaders also work as a moderator of the
ideas and suggestions.

 Persuasive leaders:
Such leaders influence their followers due to his personal contact, to join with him in getting things
done. He gives directions personally and whole of the gang responds to his call, because they love
and respect him and full confidence in him.
  Functional leaders:
Such leaders lead because of their expert knowledge and win the confidence of their followers by
their superior knowledge.
 Free-Reign Leaders:
A free reign or Laissez Faire leader does not lead, but leaves the group entirely to itself. Such
leader uses very little power and gives a high degree of independence in their working. These
leaders are dependent on subordinates to set their own goals.
Practical experience has shown that the authoritarian leadership produces hostility towards their
leader and whenever the leader is out, production drops to a minimum. But in the demo cratic
leadership the difference in production during the absence of leader is very less. It tends to
increase the production because it wins the confidence, co-operation, loyalty and initiative from
his followers.

(ii) According to Field:

 Labour leaders:
These leaders came to prominence due to their qualities of speech, behavior and action. They
are capable to convince the people and bring them round their view point. They then organize
themselves into trade unions.
 Administrative leaders:
By administrative leadership we mean leaders or bosses in the administration. These leaders
obtain this position by virtue of their ability, experience and association with the
organisation.These persons are responsible for formulating or assistance in the formulation of
policies programmes and plans of the industry and also responsible for their execution.
Administrative leadership must work in close co-operation with the workers’ leadership for smooth
working.
In an industry general manager or managing director works as administrative leader. But in big
industries he alone cannot direct all the activities of the concern. Hence, he is assisted by sub-
leaders (managers) and deputy leaders like the sectional managers, foreman, supervisors etc. Each
one works as a leader of certain group of men, although the number of such persons under each
leader depends upon the responsibility and post held by each.

Leadership differences affected by gender

Another factor that covaries with leadership style is whether the person is male or female. When men
and women come together in groups, they tend to adopt different leadership styles. Men generally
assume an agentic leadership style. They are task-oriented, active, decision focused, independent and
goal oriented. Women, on the other hand, are generally more communal when they assume a
leadership position; they strive to be helpful towards others, warm in relation to others, understanding,
and mindful of others' feelings. In general, when women are asked to describe themselves to others in
newly formed groups, they emphasize their open, fair, responsible, and pleasant communal qualities.
They give advice, offer assurances, and manage conflicts in an attempt to maintain positive relationships
among group members. Women connect more positively to group members by smiling, maintaining eye
contact and respond tactfully to others' comments. Men, conversely, describe themselves as influential,
powerful and proficient at the task that needs to be done. They tend to place more focus on initiating
structure within the group, setting standards and objectives, identifying roles, defining responsibilities
and standard operating procedures, proposing solutions to problems, monitoring compliance with
procedures, and finally, emphasizing the need for productivity and efficiency in the work that needs to
be done. As leaders, men are primarily task-oriented, but women tend to be both task- and relationship-
oriented. However, it is important to note that these sex differences are only tendencies, and do not
manifest themselves within men and women across all groups and situations. Meta-analyses show that
people associate masculinity and agency more strongly with leadership than femininity and
communion Such stereotypes may have an effect on leadership evaluations of men and women.
In times of crisis, women tend to lead better than men due to a show of empathy and confidence during
briefings and other forms of communication. This has been critical during the COVID-19 pandemic as
female governed states showed fewer deaths than male led states.
Barriers for non-western female leaders
Many reasons can contribute to the barriers that specifically affect women's entrance into leadership.
These barriers also change according to different cultures. Despite the increasing number of female
leaders in the world, only a small fraction comes from non-westernized cultures. It is important to note
that although the barriers listed below may be more severe in non-western culture, it does not imply
that westernized cultures do not have these barriers as well. This aims to compare the differences
between the two.
 Research and Literature
Although there have been many studies done on leadership for women in the past decade, very little
research has been done for women in paternalistic cultures. The literature and research done for women to
emerge into a society that prefers males is lacking. This ultimately hinders women from knowing how to
reach their individual leadership goals, and fails to educate the male counterparts in this disparity.
 Maternity Leave
Studies have shown the importance of longer paid maternity leave and the positive effects it has on a female
employee's mental health and return to work. In Sweden, it was shown that the increased flexibility in timing
for mothers to return to work decreased the odds of poor mental health reports. In non-western cultures
that mostly follow paternalism, lack of knowledge on the benefits of maternity leave impacts the support
given to the women during an important time in their life.
 Society and Laws
Certain countries that follow paternalism, such as India, still allow for women to be treated unjustly.
Issues such as child marriage and minor punishments for perpetrators in crimes against women shape
society's view on how women should be treated. This can prevent women from feeling comfortable
speaking out in personal and professional settings
 Glass Ceilings and Glass Cliffs
Women who work in a very paternalistic culture or industry (e.g. the oil or engineering industry), often
deal with limitations in their career that prevents them from moving up any further. This association is
often due to the mentality that only males carry leadership characteristics. The term glass cliff refers to
undesired projects that are often given to women because they have an increase in risk of failure. These
undesired projects are given to female employees where they are more likely to fail and leave the
organization
Leadership emergence
Many personality characteristics were found to be reliably associated with leadership emergence. The
list includes, but is not limited to (following list organized in alphabetical order): assertiveness,
authenticity, Big Five personality factors, birth order, character strengths, dominance, emotional
intelligence, gender identity, intelligence, narcissism, self-efficacy for leadership, self-monitoring and
social motivation. Other areas of study in relation to how and why leaders emerge include narcissistic
traits, absentee leaders, and participation. While there are many personality traits that be considered in
determining why a leader emerges it is important to not look at these in isolation. Today's sophisticated
research methods look at personality characteristics in combination to determine patterns of leadership
emergence.
Leadership emergence is the idea that people born with specific characteristics become leaders, and
those without these characteristics do not become leaders. People like Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham
Lincoln, and Nelson Mandela all share traits that an average person does not. This includes people who
choose to participate in leadership roles, as opposed to those who do not. Research indicates that up to
30% of leader emergence has a genetic basis There is no current research indicating that there is a
“leadership gene”, instead we inherit certain traits that might influence our decision to seek leadership.
Both anecdotal, and empirical evidence support a stable relationship between specific traits and
leadership behavior. Using a large international sample researchers found that there are three factors
that motivate leaders; affective identity (enjoyment of leading), non-calculative (leading earns
reinforcement), and social-normative (sense of obligation).
 Assertiveness
The relationship between assertiveness and leadership emergence is curvilinear; individuals who are
either low in assertiveness or very high in assertiveness are less likely to be identified as leaders.
 Authenticity
Individuals who are more aware of their personality qualities, including their values and beliefs, and are
less biased when processing self-relevant information, are more likely to be accepted as leaders.
See authentic leadership.
 Big Five personality factors
Those who emerge as leaders tend to be more (order in strength of relationship with leadership
emergence): extroverted, conscientious, emotionally stable, and open to experience, although these
tendencies are stronger in laboratory studies of leaderless groups. However, introversion – extroversion
appears to be the most influential quality in leadership emergence, specifically leaders tend to be high in
extroversion. Introversion - extroversion is also the quality that can be judged most easily of the Big Five
Traits. Agreeableness, the last factor of the Big Five personality traits, does not seem to play any
meaningful role in leadership emergence.
 Birth order
Those born first in their families and only children are hypothesized to be more driven to seek
leadership and control in social settings. Middle-born children tend to accept follower roles in groups,
and later-borns are thought to be rebellious and creative.
 Character strengths
Those seeking leadership positions in a military organization had elevated scores on a number of
indicators of strength of character, including honesty, hope, bravery, industry, and teamwork.
 Dominance
Individuals with dominant personalities – they describe themselves as high in the desire to control their
environment and influence other people, and are likely to express their opinions in a forceful way – are
more likely to act as leaders in small-group situations.
  Emotional intelligence
Individuals with high emotional intelligence have increased ability to understand and relate to people.
They have skills in communicating and decoding emotions and they deal with others wisely and
effectively. Such people communicate their ideas in more robust ways, are better able to read the
politics of a situation, are less likely to lose control of their emotions, are less likely to be inappropriately
angry or critical, and in consequence are more likely to emerge as leaders.
 Intelligence
Individuals with higher intelligence exhibit superior judgment, higher verbal skills (both written and
oral), quicker learning and acquisition of knowledge, and are more likely to emerge as leaders.
Correlation between IQ and leadership emergence was found to be between .25 and .30. However,
groups generally prefer leaders that do not exceed intelligence prowess of average member by a wide
margin, as they fear that high intelligence may be translated to differences in communication, trust,
interests and values
 Self-efficacy for leadership
An individual's belief in their ability to lead is associated with an increased willingness to accept a
leadership role and find success in its pursuit.
There are no set conditions for this characteristic to become emergent. However, it must be sustained
by an individual's belief that they have the ability to learn and improve it with time. Individuals partly
evaluate their own capabilities by observing others; working with a superior who is seen as an effective
leader may help the individual develop a belief that he or she can perform in a similar manner.
 Self-monitoring
High self-monitors are more likely to emerge as the leader of a group than are low self-monitors, since
they are more concerned with status-enhancement and are more likely to adapt their actions to fit the
demands of the situation
 Social motivation
Individuals who are both success-oriented and affiliation-oriented, as assessed by projective measures,
are more active in group problem-solving settings and are more likely to be elected to positions of
leadership in such groups
 Narcissism, hubris and other negative traits
A number of negative traits of leadership have also been studied. Individuals who take on leadership
roles in turbulent situations, such as groups facing a threat or ones in which status is determined by
intense competition among rivals within the group, tend to be narcissistic: arrogant, self-absorbed,
hostile, and very self-confident.
 Absentee leader
Existing research has shown that absentee leaders - those who rise into power, but not necessarily
because of their skills, and are marginally engaging with their role - are actually worse than destructive
leader, because it takes longer to pinpoint their mistakes.
 Willingness to Participate
A willingness to participate in a group can indicate a person's interest as well as their willingness to take
responsibility for how the group performs. Those who do not say much during a group meeting are less
likely to emerge as a leader than those who speak up. There is however some debate over whether the
quality of participation in a group matters more than the quantity.
A hypothesis termed, the ‘babble effect’ or the ‘babble hypotheses’ has been studied as a factor in the
emergence of leaders. It is believed that leader emergence is highly correlated with the quantity of
speaking time, specifically those who provide a large quantity are more likely to become a leader in a
group setting. It is also believed that the quantity of participation is more important that the quality of
these contributions when it comes to leader emergence.
Research has shown the largest contributor to discussion in a group is more likely to become the
leader However, some studies indicate that there must be some element of quality combined with
quantity to support leader emergence. Thus, while sheer quantity does matter to leadership, when the
contributions made are also of high-quality leader emergence is further facilitated.

Responsibilities of Leadership:

(i) Achieving the Task:

 Leader should be clear about his task, and understand how it fits into the objectives of the
organization.
 Plan to accomplish these tasks.
 Identify the resources need, and provide them.
 Ensure that each member of the group knows his task and as to how he can achieve his
targets.
 Train and develop the members of the group, if needed.
 Regularly monitor the progress and evaluate the results.

(ii) Keeping Group Morale High:

 Leader should regularly brief the group.
 Provide genuine consultation where needed.
 Grievance redressal procedure is made effective.

(iii) Getting the Best out of each Member:

 Each person should get a sense of personal achievement in his job.
 A member of the group having unsatisfactory performance should be informed and help
him for improvement.
 Every member should feel that his capabilities are matching with his responsibilities.
 Each member should receive adequate recognition for his achievement.

(iv) Team Building:

 Establish clear aims.
 Do not over ambitious at the start, and do not have false expectations.
 Prepare realistic time bound program me.
 Ensure everyone agrees to the program me.
 Have proper communication.
 Do not ignore the difficulties.
 Encourage openness and frankness.
 Recognize individuals work.
 Remember force or threat does not work.
 Have coordination with those who matters.
  Believe in the principle of delegation.
 Learn from mistakes.

Acceptance of Administrative Leadership:

Following are some of the factors, because of which a worker accepts the administrative
leadership:
1. Fear of Losing Jobs:
Generally workers obey his boss because of the fear of losing jobs. This factor is more important in
the society where unemployment problem is more.
2. Thankfulness and Faithfulness:
Workers also obey their bosses because of their thankfulness and faithfulness. Generally this factor
holds well where approach is positive rather than negative. The workers look to their leader and
obey him because they feel indebted to him.
3. Bargaining:
Sometimes workers obey their leaders as a result of bargain and leaders provide certain benefits or
facilities to the workers. Management enters into agreement with the union and a mutual
obligation is created.
4. Common Object:
Sometimes management convince the workers that there is something common, which both of
them wanted to achieve, and then gets the confidence of the workers. However, it is very difficult
to convince the workers.

Importance of Leadership:
Leadership is an indispensible factor for making an organization successful. Since an organization is
basically a deliberate creation of human beings for attainment of certain specified objectives, the
activities of its members require a certain direction effected by a leader. Peter Ducker has pointed
out that managers are the basic and scarcest resource of any business enterprise.
The importance of leadership is discussed as follows:

o Motivating Employees:
A good leader motivates the employees for a better performance. It aims at creating and
maintaining a satisfactory environment for employees to make maximum efforts in attaining
organizational goals. Good leadership in an organization itself is a motivating factor for the
individuals.

 Creating Confidence:
A good leader can create confidence in his followers by directing them, giving them advices and
directing their efforts and achieving good results for the organisation. Once an individual
recognises his abilities with the help of his leader, he acquires a certain level of confidence
towards his potential.

 Helps in Morale Building:

A leader creates dedication and sense of loyalty towards the organisation. High morale leads to
high productivity and organisational stability. Thus by providing good leadership in an organisation,
employees’ morale can be caused high confidence and zeal the elements of morale by evoking.

 Representation:
A leader as a representative of his group, protects the interests of his followers and acts as their
guardian. As a spokesman, he negotiates with external forces for the betterment of his group.

Theoretical Framework
When we think about the term “Organization” two questions may arise in mind as a first reflection. The
first is “What kind of organization”? And the other is “Who is the leader? There may be many factors
which can lead an organization towards success or failure, but the role of leadership is also important
and crucial in handling organizations.
We will define and discuss the characters of our thesis under the light of scientific articles, journals and
books. We will discuss the research questions which are mentioned in chapter one, and the related
terms, with different angles, in order to give our readers a multi angle view over the topic, and try to
keep it simple and well understandable.
Why vision is important for leadership?
We will describe and discuss the term “leadership”, its characteristics and qualifications. We will discuss
the term leadership in detail later in this chapter under the light of scientific definitions, but in our thesis
we will use the term “leadership” in the meaning of a Person/Manager/ or Leader who is responsible for
organizational matters . Knowing the fact that leader is a person, anyways, and a person can have
multiple qualities and characteristics, we will use the terms “Vision” and “Innovative Approach” as two
of those several qualities that a leader can have. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate effectiveness
of leadership on the basis of tow variables, which are “Vision” and “Innovative Approach”. This thesis
does not deny the importance of other variables/characteristics through which the role and
effectiveness of leadership can be investigated.
 Vision
The vision is sort of complex term to define and has multidimensional view. Different scholars and
researchers describe it in different way. Kouzes takes it as “an ideal and unique image of future for the
common good” (Kouzes and Posner, 2007). At the other end Jonathan swift states that “Vision is the art
of seeing the invisible” . To better understand the term vision we quote a lesson which Alice learned in
world fame novel “Alice in Wonderland”. Alice learned this lesson when she was searching for a way out
of Wonderland and came to a fork in the road. “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from
here?” she asked the Cheshire Cat. “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” the cat
responded. Alice replied that she really did not much care. The smiling cat told her in no uncertain
terms: “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go”.
Vision can develop motivation, inspiration, and mutual responsibility for success and can provide smart
choices to the people because they can make their decisions on the basis of end results which are
already in their mind because of their vision (Kotter , 1996). Therefore vision can be taken as an ability
or characteristics of a person which can not only make h/her capable to perceive the future in precise
and accurate way, but also can increase h/her motivation and sense of responsibility to get this desired
future.
 Leadership
Leadership and its role are the most concerning issue for the business and organizations now days. The
“Leaders are individuals who establish direction for a working group of individuals and who gain
commitment from this group of members to established direction and who then motivate members to
achieve the direction‟s outcomes” (Conger, 1992, p18). The term leadership can be viewed through
multiple angles and concepts. Traditionally leadership is a set of feature owned by the leader or it is a
social phenomenon that comes from relationship with groups. These concepts can give different
opinions about the definition of leadership. It is a continuous debate that whether the leadership comes
from the personal qualities of a leader or a Leader makes followership through what s/he does or
believes (Grint 2004). Grint also highlight position problems with the leadership, which explores, is the
leader a person in charge?
With the true authority to decide or implement, or it is only a person in front who takes h/her
directions for someone. Recent reviews take leadership as “a process whereby an individual influences a
group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse 2004). Another view about leadership is that
“leadership is like the Abominable Snowman, whose footprints are everywhere but who is nowhere to
be seen” (Bennis and Nanus 1985). In short leadership/leader is either a person who is in charge and has
authorities to take decision and also ahs powers to implement his/her decisions or a process having a
set of other authoritative process about organizational, personal or social process of influence for which
the groups, teams or organizations can do more to increase their ability. The selection of the leader not
only depends on the personal characteristics of personal but also on the social and cultural factors along
with h/her exposure towards life (Bolden 2010).
 The Organizational Leadership
Organizational leadership is not a magic that one person have and other don’t have. It is also not all
about the ordered by boss and then observed by him that how much these ordered are obeyed. The
leadership of an organization is instead, an ability of management to get and protect the company
benefits by realizing employees need and company targets and bringing them toge ther to work in a
better environment to achieve the common goals (Sansom 1998). Organizational leadership has a
central role in evolution and cultivating an organization. It can help the member 10 of an organization
and working teams to face the challenges and to work for organizational goal in a worthy way.
Dunphy and Stace describe an organization leadership as a person who can promote change in an
organization by its vision and strategy (Dunphy and Stace 1994 in Senior and Fleming 2006). In this era
of rapidly changing business trends and increased customer demands, the role of leadership is more
crucial now a days. The strategic leadership is eagerly needed for organizations, which is well capable to
predict the essential alterations and changes, in advance and create required commitment and highly
suitable atmosphere for worker and teams to understand and adopt these changes successfully. This
action by leaders is decisive not only for the effectiveness of the organization but also for its very
survival (Bass, 1990; Burke & Cooper, 2004). As the business goals can’t be achieved without adopting
any strategic business process, likewise the organizational success and sustainability also can’t be
accomplished without a strategic role of leaders. From allocation of resources to alignment, from
perception of thing to decide future focusing, form commitment and motivating the teams to get the
goals of an organization, to confirm the sustainable growth, it’s a leadership whose footprints are
everywhere (McGuire, 2003).
 Visionary Leadership
Leader/Leadership is about leading the organizations and organizational teams to go somewhere. If the
leaders and its people don’t know where to go, then leadership means nothing. So it is important for
leaders to have a clear vision. If we try to put the light on word vision, it may have different pictures and
angels. According to Bennis and Nanus “vision is a mental image of a possible and desirable future of the
organization” (Bennis & Nanus, 1985, in Lyerly, Maxey 2000, P 48) This mental image grows inside the
mind of leaders and depends on the h/her competency to perceive the things accurately and use them
intelligently for the betterment and sustainability of an organization. Bennis also describes that there
are some practically proven leadership competencies that can affect the performance of an
organization, which also includes “vision and goal setting”, “interpersonal skills and self knowledge”
along with some special characteristics which may be concerned with any specific businesses.
Kotter states that the vision is the ability of a leader to look in to future while aligning the team with that
vision, and then make them inspire to get the desired goals concerning that future: “Vision is a picture of
the future with some implicit or explicit commentary on why people should strive to create that future”
(Kotter, 1996, p 68) Organizations are based on teams, and dedicated team work is required to make
things happen. These people and teams need a clear picture of a future that motivate and inspire them
to become 11 an efficient part of an effort for getting that desired future. It is also important in the way
that what the reason of their work and decisions is? It is the vision of a leader that makes it assure that
actions and the decisions of organizational team are fit into the actual picture of desired future (Kotter,
1996) Kotter also discuss that without the vision of leaders the motivation level of organization people
may go down and their activities become meaningless which can prove worst for an organizations at the
later end.
He further said that “Vision plays a key role in producing useful change by helping to direct, align and
inspire actions on the part of large numbers of people. Without an appropriate vision, a transformation
effort can easily dissolve into a list of confusing, incompatible and time consuming projects that go in
the wrong direction or nowhere at all” (Kotter 1996, p7) Though Bennis and Kotter, try to highlight the
term “Vision” with different angles and describe it in different ways, but it can be easily understood
from their claims, that vision is a ability of a leader to predict and perceive future, in a precise and
accurate way along with defining the route map that how to get into this future successfully. While
summarizing the debate on leaders vision, a question can arise into minds “it there any leader without
vision” the answer is no. Like every human being every leader must has some vision, but vision of two
leaders could be different even while managing the same organization or same matter, because the
vision is a perception of unseen things. Two leaders may perceive differently. Moreover as we can’t say
that this leader is innovative or this is not, before we can see h/her action, decisions, steps taken and
their results, for a certain matter. Likewise we can’t say that this leader is visionary or this is not before
seeing the results of his perceptions.
 What is the importance of Innovative approach?
The relation between dreams and the human is as old as the human civilization is. Many people have
dreams and ideas for the betterment of themselves and their institutions. But most of these people
can’t get their dreams in their lives. The leader is one who may have some dreams and ideas like other
people, but also has an ability to turn these dreams and ideas in to reality. This is the basic difference
between the dreamer and leaders. Prestwood and Schumann states that “Leadership is a state of mind
not a position” (Prestwood and Schumann 2002, p1) in this age of uncertainty, organizations and
companies may face some unexpected and unwanted circumstances any time. So the need of capable
leadership is more than ever now days to sense these unexpected conditions before time and to cope
with them by their innovative approach (Prestwood and Schumann 2002) Imaginations can play an
important role to take a competitor advantages in business.
The innovative approach of leaders/leadership may lead a company towards a sustainable success and
12 can better formulate the organizational strategy for desirable future for organization, by using their
vision. The dictionary meaning of word approach is the “ideas or actions intended to deal with a
problem or situation” 2 and the term innovation/innovative stands for “Being or producing something
like nothing done or experienced or created before” 3 We are referring both these two terms to
leadership on the basis to two components. o Innovative Approach to Leadership: The new, unique and
different way to see, understand and handle things (Prestwood and Schumann 2002). o Leadership for
Innovation: Leaders must be capable to promote and cultivate the innovative culture within an
organization, by motivating other to bring new ideas and provide a proper infrastructure to convert
them into reality (Prestwood and Schumann 2002).
 Importance of Vision and Innovative Approach for Leadership
To survive, in this age of global competition, the organizations and businesses have come to realize the
need of innovative approach and innovations in their business model and strategies. It is well evident
from the recent reports and publications that the companies form different geographical regions and
countries spend a considerable amount of money for the purpose of innovation, and the ratio of
allocating the funds for innovation is continuously increasing (Hage & Powers1992) For organizations
who want excellence and sustainability in their business, need to think about the
managers/leaders/leadership with innovative approach in order to develop the business strategy by
turning their innovative concepts into reality (Carneiro.A 2008).
Innovation is an art of responding the market and technological challenges and the future trends of
business for organizations in most suitable way that can lead organizations towards long term success
and sustainability. It is necessary to make the products, services and business model compatible with
the potential market demands and customer needs in order to meet the organizational goals and
sustainable development (Brenner 1987). From the beginning of 1980, it is observed that the changes
have a significant effect on the business organizations in term of their long term success and
sustainability. Therefore the urge of 2 http://www.answers.com/topic/approach 3
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/innovative 13 capable leadership was also observed to handle,
manage and implement these changes successfully. The question was raised by the scholars that what
kind of leadership is needed for organizations, to cope and handle the situations of more demanding
and rapidly changing business trends? Most of such questions were answered by highlighting the role o

Case Studies
When we designed research question for our thesis, we also selected the path that how we will come to
our research area and address the actual research question. Along with the literature review on related
topic which we chose to theoretically explore the relationship between successful organizational change
and the leadership on basis of h/her two characteristics, we also choose case studies as parallel path in
order to analyze this relation practically on basis of real time examples. In Analysis chapter we will try to
analyze these cases along with proposed model and the claims which we made after literature review.
Nirala Sweets Pakistan (From Shop to Company)
It was the year 1948 when the entrepreneurial Taj Din migrated from Amritsar (now part of India) to
Pakistan. He started a small sweet (traditionally called mithai in Pakistan) shop in Mewa Mandi in (0ld)
Lahore, Pakistan. It had the unique taste at that time and became popular among local population of
Lahore, so Taj Din decided and opened up a shop in busy area known as Fleming Road in (old) Lahore. At
early stage the shop was known as the Taj Din’s shop and had not a specific name. But with the passage
of time people liked it and choose to call it Nirala (wonderful, uncommon, and rare). After that Taj Din
decided to carry on the shop with this name and soon he placed the shop name as Nirala Sweets. Mr. Taj
Din can’t proceed further and survived only in having a single shop. Lahore is very advanced and
historical city of Pakistan.
After 1970 Government took some big steps in the development of Lahore. The city of Lahore can be
divided in to tow parts, Old Lahore and New Lahore. In Old Lahore there is a traditional way of life style,
with old style houses areas, congested and narrow bazaars and streets. Because of its narrowness
people and families with their own vehicles, don’t like to shop in old Lahore. In most of the time there is
a problem of traffic jams and vehicles parking in the area of old Lahore. Though the bazaars of old
Lahore are equipped with every kind of shops and all of the traditional food and sweet shops are located
in this area. In new Lahore there is modern life style with most advanced bazaars and shopping malls,
with well managed traffic and widener parking lots. New Lahore is considered the area of rich people. In
1980 Mr. Farooq Ahmed, Taj Din’s Son and chairman of the Nirala group (At the moment) came into his
father’s business and continued his father’s mission.
Though Mr. Farooq Ahmad was not well educated but still he was an experienced knowledgeable person
and learned his business skill from his father. He took some initiatives to grow the business and to
compete with competitors in a better way. Though Nirala Sweets shop was doing a good business, but
Taj Din’s family was not satisfied completely, and there were two reasons behind. Firstly, because all the
sweet shops were located in the same region so their market share was limited; even they had a good
repute in the fields of sweets. The second reason was that the Taj Din’s family was a rich family, there
were no such financial problems and they were also experienced in sweets 31 business, they just want
to do more. For the purpose, Mr. Farooq took some unique steps and opened a new branch on Nirala
Sweets in a central and the most developed area of the City called Jail road. This was a first sweet shop
in the area of new Lahore.
He also introduced new fancy and gift packing for sweets very first time in Pakistan. His emphases were
on the betterment of the shop in terms of more sale and profitability. That was a good move as it was
easy for the people on new Lahore to get access of reputed sweet shop. The sale of Nirala Sweet was
increased definitely. Mr Farooq is still the chairman of Nirala Group. After the scene Mr. Faisal Farooq
the son of the Chairman Mr. Farooq Ahmed come to that business and has made the remarkable and big
changes in the business and gives the boost to business. He made a chain of Nirala in whole country as
well as introduces Nirala internationally.
Mr. Faisal Farooq is also CEO of the Nirala group. He completed his MBA from United Kingdom and joins
his father’s business in very early age of 23. This young man come with appropriate business doing
knowledge which he get form the well reputed international level institution. He also has international
exposure, as he completed his studies form England. This visionary young man with courageously took
the challenge of growing the family business with a new vision and use the dynamic and innovative
approach to turn his vision into reality. First of all he made a R&D department by hiring the suitable
professionals. After few months when this R&D department gives its initial research report, he took big
steps to expand the business on the basis of this report.
He uses the repute of his grandfather name in sweets business and introduces the branches of Nirala
Sweets all over the country through franchises. Most reputed professional and advertisement agencies
were hired to design the marketing campaign for Nirala Sweets. Surveys were made on different levels,
in order to understand the demands and likeliness of customers. Sugar free sweets were introduced
very first time in Pakistan to target the diet conscious and diabetic customer. Realizing the fact that
sweets in Pakistan are mostly used on wedding and ceremonies, the contract were made with different
banquet halls, Clubs and Party house to provide them sweets on commercial basis. Before this the staff
was being hired on the basis of relations with owners of Nirala Sweets.
Mr, Faisal introduces the culture of hiring most experienced, skilled and qualified staff. He also designs
programms for the training of existing staff. He also introduces the rewards system for the hardworking
and dedicated staff. Now Nirala has 37 branches in different cities within the country. He also took
initiative to launch new shops in Dubai, Sharjah and also going to launch in UK and North America very
soon. He promotes continuous improvement, innovation, integrity, team work and social responsibility
as the core values of the company and changes the vision of the company also.
Now the vision of Nirala is “to make Nirala a global brand, a brand recognizable for its uniqueness and
quality in ethnic food market all around the world. In this perspective we 32 consider our self as an
innovative and a pioneer company, continuously offering unique products and interesting service
concepts that others haven‟t even dreamt of.” 4 Mr. Faisal Farooq made the tremendous changes in the
business and now it is known as the Nirala group of companies. The companies are Anmol Company,
Nirala Design, Nirala Canada Ltd, Nirala Dairy (Pvt) Ltd, Nirala (UK) Ltd, Taj trading and Nirala (Pvt) Ltd.
Now the group is proceeding in the different businesses like dairy processing, packaging, restaurants,
snacks and beverages and more. The Nirala (Pvt) Ltd includes different products like Mithai (sweet),
snacks and beverages, dairy products and packaging.
The products in mithai are regular mithai, sugarfree mithai and special mithai. The products in
beverages and snacks are Rabri milk (traditional lahori milk with nuts), Nirala juices named as bouncer,
Nirala smosas, Nirala khata’ees, snipz and snacks. The products included in dairy products are desi ghee,
milk in tetra pack and Nirala cream. Mr. Faisal Farooq had a vision to grow the business and he took the
initiative courageously and corporate level changes were made in the business. Like any other
professional organization the Nirala sweets also follows a well planned and organized organizational
structure and formed different departments.
These departments are named as administration department, finance and accounting department,
human resource department, marketing department, milk procurement department, MIS (Management
Information Systems) department, production department, quality assurance department, shop
operations department, store & procurement department and distribution & supply department. This is
not enough; yet, Mr. Faisal Farooq also established the largest milk processing and packaging plant in
the country. He also took initiative to establish MIS (Management Information Systems) department,
now the customer orders different products online and receives at their door step.
This was the first time in the history of Pakistan that a person took initiative from a single sweet shop to
the group of companies having different chains within and outside the country. Mr. Faisal Farooq CEO of
the group, he had a leadership vision and he took initiative to grow his family business and also succeed.
Now Nirala Sweets is one of the renowned companies in Pakistan with more than 500 employees in
which about 20 employees in R&D department, and with 2.5 million dollars registered capital.
MAS Holdings Sri Lanka (The Garments without Guilt)
This case is in fact a story of a family business of Nagindas family in Sir Lanka.
Going through a time span of nine decades and facing different ups and downs this case will tell us that
how a local textile mill is converted into business of international fame and honor. What are the factors
that convinced international buyer to become a customer of Nagindas family? 4 www.nirala.com 33 It
was the year 1920 when the Indian immigrant Mr. H.A Nagindas started a small textile business unit at
Colombo, Sirilanka. Mr. H.A Nagindas was a rich, motivated and passionate person, and always wanted
to grow his business. For the purpose he made some efforts by opening some new units in textile factory
and hired more staff for operating the units in proper way. He also introduces some more designs in
cotton fabrics, but unfortunately he couldn’t make any noticeable growth in his business, in spite all of
his efforts and dedication.
He gave a thought to his business growth efforts and come to the conclusion, that the reason of not
succeeding in business is that, it is difficult for him to manage all the business alone. So he convinced his
son Mr. Dayalal to join his family business at just age of 15 when he completed his 8th grade. His son
wants to study more but his father doesn’t agree and Mr. Dayalal uncourageously joins his father’s
business. The Nagindas family was well established and rich family. The aim of father was also to give
entrepreneurial skills to his son at early stage which he has.
Time passed but they were unable to grow their business further. After that Mr. Dayalal was died in
1965 and it was not easy for Mr. Nagindas to manage the business alone. But he was committed to
educate his grandson as he always felt guilty, that why he grabbed his son into the business without
completing his education. The time passed and the year 1978 came when Mr. Mahesh Amalean the
grandson of Mr. Nagindas joined his grandfather’s business at the age of just 23. Mr. Mahesh Amalean
was born in year 1955 and completed his “O level” from royal college Sir Lanka. After that he was
encouraged by his grandfather to continue his studies.
 His grandfather believes that it was his great mistake that he convinced his son to join his business at
very early stage without completion of his studies, and he don’t want to do same again. But he also
wished to see his grandson in his business after completion of his study. After that Mr. Mahesh Amalean
continued his study and completed Chemical Engineering from Madras (India). After completion of his
studies he joined his family business on his grandfather’s request. His two youngest brothers Ajay and
Sharad also joined their family business after completion of their studies. Mr. Mahesh Amalean was a
passionate person; he always wants to do something different and new but his grandfather always
discourages him.
There was a continuous cold war between the grandfather and grandson, in terms of business doing
strategies and approaches. So Mr. Mahesh feels that it is better to leave his family business. He did so, in
1984, but he was committed to do his own business because he believes that he can do business in a
better way. His one brother named sharad also left his family business and these two, brothers started a
new garments business in 1984. They started business from $ 10,000; they bought about 40,000 sewing
machines and started a small garments factory with the name of Sigma. Mahesh’s wife was educated
and took the charge for human resource management, and Ajay’s wife took the charge of accounts as
she was also educated.
After few years his one brother named as Ajay also came into their new business and left his family
business, because the grandfather wants to run business in traditional way and 34 he was well aware of
his elder brothers’ skills and broad vision, so he decided to do business in his brother’s custody. Then
they changed the name of their small unit as MAS hold ings. The name (MAS) is associated with the
name of three brothers Mahesh, Ajay and Sharad. Mr. Mahesh was very motivated and first of all he
starts making good relations with local customers and convinces them to buy their products. He starts
meeting with customers personally to analyze the current situation and the need of market. He also
made his contacts with international buyers buy mailing, them and convincing that MAS holdings can
provide quality products on cheaper rates.
Mr. Mahesh was a visionary person and perceives that labor situations in Sri Lanka are getting tough,
and it may become tougher in coming years. He wanted to settle this issue well within the time. He
decided to practice and experience his new idea, and hired the female labor for the very first time in Sri
Lanka, knowing the fact that female in Sri Lanka is very skilled in garments related fields. His intention
was to use cheapest and most skilled professionals to work for them. As the time passed they feel a
significant growth in their business, which make them motivated and give them courage to take more
steps. Hiring women as workers was not an easy task because the females were not allowed to work and
they were restricted from their families.
He starts encouraging women to leave their homes and get opportunities to earn money. Further he
starts different campaigns with the help of his wife. He stated free residence for women, free
dispensaries and medical facilities within the factories, free breakfast and lunch for women working for
this small unit. He also takes initiative of small housing colonies for women to live within the factories
with their families. This was more than enough for the poor families so they start thinking of it. As time
passed the females from all the country were encouraged and came to work for their units. After some
passage of time he started manufacturing Bra for the famous company brand named Victoria secrets. It
was a famous company, and this was not easy to start business with this company. He convinces them
and made sure that he will meet with their expectations. The industry was dominated by females and
more than 85% and near 90% workers in this unit are still female. The company is still enjoying the sales
of about $700 million in only Bra business.
MAS have set global apparel industry standards by developing the programme to educate and empower
its female workers with the name of “Women go beyond”. The founder and chairman of the company
Mr. Mahesh want to do something different as corporate social responsibility; it was the first time that
any manufacturing company started a campaign to educate the female workers. This includes free
education programmes for its female workers, free meals, medical care centers; scholarships for rural
areas at where MAS holding’s plants were located. There are now about seven units working in different
three countries for manufacturing of Bra for women, and the annual production of Bra is more than $44
million. 35 MAS still spends about 3 - 4% of its cost for the different employee’s development
programmes. This is not enough; in 1990’s decade the company starts manufacturing sportswear,
leisurewear and gents and ladies garments also.
The company was doing very well in terms of profitability, growth and development. But the eyes of Mr.
Mahesh were on the future concerns and trends. He wanted to improve the image of his company in the
modern world. So he decided to take another bold step by taking the environmental issues related to
garment factories and workplaces at top priority. He took some solid and big practical steps to make the
environment of their workplace better and better. The company established an eco-manufacturing plant
in 2007. Their aim was to reduce carbon emissions. It includes the solar plants which will helpful to
provide about 10% of the total electricity required for plant.
The factory and building structure was newly introduced and was quite different than usual, and was
more environmental friendly according to standards of ISO and EMAS. It was also a unique step and was
introduced very first time in Sri Lanka. The MAS holding became pioneers in this eco-manufacturing and
achieved best award for it also. They highlight their environmental friendly policies and efforts in their
marketing campaign worldwide and name it “The Garments without Guilt”. This campaign was highly
admired and appreciated in world at different levels.
Efforts that were made to encourage the green manufacturing and to create a good image of the
company became highly successful. In the same year The Adidas recognized and announced in annual
conference that MAS holding company is its most innovative suppliers, they consider MAS holding not
only innovative in product design but also in its management through process of continuous
improvement in their culture. The continuous improvement strategy of MAS holdings force the world’s
famous brands like Marks & Spencer, banana republic, GAP, Speedo, Adidas and Nike to became its
buyers. Now the company is moving courageously towards continuous improvement and innovation.
The company has also won the different National and international awards. In the same year of 1997 the
company started its new branch in India.
MAS holding provide the innovative fashion wear to the people and soon it became the famous brand in
India. In the limited time period the company has achieved the best customer excellence award in 2007
in India. The company also won the American Apparel and footwear Association award, this award was
given on the excellence of the social responsibilities. The company claims that they make garments with
care and consideration by protecting worker’s and employee’s right. MAS holding also started different
programmes that facilities the customers to further educate them, and also personal growth and
development programmes, that’s why MAS holding claims and call it “garments without guilt”.
The MAS holding was the first company in Asia that installed the fully integrated apparel manufacturing
software packages. The company has also won the different quality, health and safety awards. Currently
the company has about 28 design studios across different five countries 36 and about 45000 people are
employed. The company’s focus is on continuous improvement and innovation. In 2008 the MAS fabric
division was recognized as most innovative at Femmy Award ceremony, this indicates that the company
is continuously focusing on innovation and is doing its best.
The company is moving forward speedily and starts first export scale new unit of warp knit fabric mill
recently. It provides 200,000 square foot warp knit manufacturing facilities to the company. This unit is
started after the joint venture of different companies. MAS holding is comprises of different units such
as MAS intimates, MAS Active and MAS Fabrics. The company is currently dealing with the different
products such as Bras, knickers, pajamas, athletic wear, swim wear, elastics, hooks, lace and fabrics. The
company has 14 plants in Sri Lanka, 4 plants in India, 2 plants in Maldives and 1 plant in Vietnam. The
company is also doing different operations in different countries such as US, UK, Mexico, Indonesia and
China. The company has currently more than 35000 workers and total of 45000 employees.
The total export from Sri Lanka only is about $2.8 billion and from countries is $62 billion. The last year
revenue of MAS holding was about $7,000,000,000. The company has also joint venture with the
different other companies such as Limited brand USA, Triumph International Germany, Stretchline
Global UK, Brandot International, USA, Noyon Dentelles, France, Textprint S.A, Spain and Prym Intimates
PLC, UK. Most recently the company won the globe award for sustainability innovation for year 2010 on
9th march. The founder and the Chairman of the company Mr. Mahesh had a strong visionary leadership
qualities and skills; he started business from a small unit and was highly motivated to grow his business.
As results it is a company of world fame now.
It was his visionary leadership skills that was helpful for the improvements, changing’s and innovation in
his business. Taking Mr. Mahesh visionary policies and innovative approach into account, the business
magazine ranked 14 to Mr. Mahesh among top 20 Asian progressive leaders. Mr. Mahesh Amalean is
very famo us in leadership capabilities and skills and due to his contribution to Sri Lankan Industries the
Government of Sri Lanka also awarded him the title of Deshamanya. And he is also known as
Deshamanya in his country now, and become a famous business man.