MALE8411 - Assignment 1 17062883 SM Botes

10/04/2017

Sheldon Botes Varsity College Student Number 17062883 Management and Leadership MALE8411 Assignment 1

Table of Contents QUESTION 1................................................................................................................2 Introduction...............................................................................................................2 The environmental challenges that contemporary organisational leaders face.......3 Research options available when studying leadership.............................................5 Deciding which research methodology suits the situation........................................7 Conclusion................................................................................................................8 QUESTION 2................................................................................................................9 Introduction...............................................................................................................9 Schneider Electric...................................................................................................10 Defining Leader and Leadership Development......................................................11 Critical Analysis of Schneider Electric.....................................................................11 Conclusion..............................................................................................................16 REFERENCE LIST.....................................................................................................17

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QUESTION 1

Introduction

In the contemporary era, which we define as the period from just after the second world war in 1945 to present day it is found that the methodological approach to studies into leadership is comparatively diverse. This is mostly due to the fact the qualitative methods are more widely accepted and appreciated than in the earlier parts of the 20th century where quantitative research methodologies were dominant. The modern environment is far more fluid and rapid than before leading to an increase in levels of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of the markets, labour force and overall the general environment in which someone in a leadership role operates. This has forced users of research methodologies to pay closer attention to and make use of methodologies which in the past were very much under used and disregarded. This report will define and critically analyse the different research options available when studying leadership and recommend possible alternatives available for leadership research within the VUCA environment based on relevant examples.

This report will begin with defining the key environmental challenges faced by the modern leader as well as defining what a VUCA environment is. Thereafter the different research methodologies with be critically analysed with examples and recommendations of more practical methodologies in the contemporary and finally in conclusion these recommendations will be put forward to take on the contemporary era the modern-day leader is faced with.

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The environmental challenges that contemporary organisational leaders face

In the incredibly VUCA environment that we operate in today it is difficult to isolate a finite list of environmental challenges that contemporary organisational leaders face, but below you will see ten major challenges that are sure to have an effect on the way a leader operates and conducts his or her research methodologies: energy and environmental security; conflict and poverty; competing in a new era of globalization; global imbalances,; rise of new powers in the world; economic exclusion of the middles east; global corporations and their global impact; global health crises; global governance stale and finally overall global poverty VUCA is an acronym that was initially created by the US Army College to explain general conditions of the contemporary economic environment as one of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. This coupled with the ten points environmental challenges mentioned above gives one a good indication regarding the challenging environment that modern-day leaders find themselves in. It is very clear therefore that the method in which research is conducted when studying leadership is vital in the success of a leader in our contemporary era. In the following sections, the different research methodologies available when studying leadership will be defined and critically assessed. Per Horner, 2014, successful organisations understand how to overlap the goals and values of their team and organization as well as the members and stakeholders relevant to the organization. It is commonly found that companies with amazing growth is mostly down to the fact that everyone knows what they need to do and they get on and get their tasks done as they have the freedom to think for themselves. These companies such as Apple, Google, Microsoft and Tesco have understood the market to such a point that their internal systems allow staff and leaders to have the confidence to make critical decisions in a very timeous and accurate manner despite the VUCA environment in which they operate. These companies understand that in current day there is elevated risk and so their leaders are well equipped with research knowledge to understand the context of the changing environment and have the authority to be decisions makers with team structure taking one more of coalition or collaboration rather than the traditional hierarchy which takes a lot longer for any decision to be made. Having such a 3

structure allows leaders to be focused, fast and flexible leading to leadership agility. The current business environment is one of incredible uncertainty and this not going to change anytime soon, if anything it will become more exaggerated. Horney, et al., 2010 gives four necessities to be an agile leader which is key for the modern-day enterprise and leader to have to successfully navigate the contemporary business environment. First, the leader must be able to provide guidance and direction to groups and teams who work in different time zones, cultures and in areas where there are differing organizational barriers. Second, the leader needs to be prepared to take more risks by connecting personnel and moving information across the globe in a super-fast efficient manner. Third, the leader must maintain key focus on employee commitment and engagement across all boundaries present. Finally, and very importantly, the agile leader must be able work in partnership with suppliers, employees, consultants, partners and customers and make this collaboration a signature part of the organization. It is clear to see why certain researchers are comparing the successful modern-day leader to an athlete. Now that the ideal leader situation is identified, how do we find and achieve this? Clearly through research, these methods will be discussed below, but before we move onto this, let us first understand some requirements, the human resource team needs to understand what is required of leaders to grow in a VUCA world; strength and development needs of the leadership team must be identified and finally this agility requirement must be instilled in talent acquisition as well as social capital management processes.

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Research options available when studying leadership

It is widely regarded that there are two main forms of leadership research in quantitative and qualitative research, with a third option of mixed method research being some sort of combination of quantitative and qualitative research with various forms and degrees of variation possible. Quantitative research methods on the other hand emphasize objective measurements and the statistical, mathematical, or numerical analysis of data collected through some method of survey or through reviewing existing statistical data through computation. Types of quantitative research methodologies include structured interviewing, content analysis, historic data research, questionnaire studies, experimental research and structured observation. As with any method there are certain limitations to quantitative research methods, often the related secondary data is not available, sometimes it is difficult to understand the context of the data and finally data itself cannot explain complex issues without further analysis Qualitative Research can be defined, as primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research. Qualitative research places a focus on analysing narrative data. An example of qualitative research is a survey with an open-ended question section requiring the subject to give reason, opinion or motivation for the points expressed elsewhere in the survey. The various forms of qualitative research methodologies include observation, which is often used in conjunction with other qualitative methods; qualitative interviewing centres; textual content analysis of texts; discourse analysis. Qualitative research also has its limitations, finding generally cannot be generalised to a larger scale, the results are more difficult to analyse and as such don’t fit into categories which makes collection time consuming. Major benefits of qualitative research methodologies in today’s contemporary era will help explain why the shift of method has moved from predominantly quantitative research methodologies to the current situation where mixed method research methodologies are more common practice and practically more effective in achieving accuracy. There is a shift towards understanding the reasons behind the facts and 5

understanding the emotional factors at play in decisions made, qualitative research plays a major part in this understanding, whilst quantitative research gives the facts, the hybrid (mixed-method research) and its forms thereof are discussed below Relating to the initial challenges outlined, it is clear to see that many of these challenges cannot be looked at and solutions cannot be found if they are researched and analysed from a purely quantitative methodology. For instance, take the exclusion from the world economy of the middle east, for sure quantitative research will tell you this is the case, but in today’s contemporary society leaders need to know why this is the case and how this came about to be proactive in any action taken about this challenge. The mixed method research methodology as the name suggests is a mix between quantitative and qualitative methods of research. This method is strongly advocated by leadership researchers as a situation becomes available where the best of both qualitative and quantitative research methods are combined into one methodology. The possibility of the number of mixes of qualitative and quantitative research is almost infinite and gives the leader great flexibility when devising a research methodology to address a specific challenge. For example, a researcher might conduct a survey and use a questionnaire that is composed of multiple closed-ended or quantitative type items as well as several open-ended or qualitative type items. Or, alternatively, a researcher might collect qualitative data but then try to quantify the data. We can see that it is possible for the mixed method research to happen in any order or any combination depending on the situation at hand. A researcher may combine the two methods using one set of data from a certain method and another from another method and then expanding on each of them to give a complementary clear view of the results as the final product. (Bryman, et al., 2011) Bryman & Sempik, 2008 show an example of mixed method investigation from an investigation of social policy researchers in the United Kingdom. Quantitative data was used from an electronic serving and then qualitative data was acquired through an open-ended question section. The reason for using this combination of research was because an accurate representation could not be produced by one method alone. Let us critically analyse how a mixed method research methodology should be

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carried out and which research methodology best suits the situation in the section below. Deciding which research methodology suits the situation

Bryman, 2014, puts forward from Julia’s book that, “the use of research methods is influenced by several factors and epistemology is just one of these.” For the selection of the correct research method to take place the historic and rigid tendencies of yesteryear need to be overcome. Per Venkatesh, et al., 2016 and Bryman, 2014 we can use some steps or factors in helping decide which research methodology would suit the situation. The steps and factors are merged below to help prepare a recommendation. There is a need for quantitative and qualitative components of a mixed methods project to be implemented in a technically competent manner help us decide on the appropriateness of a Mixed-methods Approach. The importance of qualitative vs quantitative in the study must be analysed and there must be clear integration between the two research methodologies, the methodologies cannot simply run in parallel with integrating, a factor relation to this is the time ordering of the methods. The order must be coherent and logical to achieve the research results required. The question must be posed before carrying out any research, are their sufficient skills present in a research team? The mixed methods must be fully transparent and continuously relate back to research questions posed, this will ensure the research is insightful and accurate and rapid. This relates to having a clear rationale, why is the mixed method of research being used? Why is one or the other not used individually? If this is not clear, the results will not be coherent with what the researcher attempts to achieve. So here we see how important it is to have a research methodology that is agile and up with the current times and adaptable to different situations with minimal time delay. The market needs to be understood in greater detail in a faster time before it changes again. This eludes to importance of carefully considering the factors mentioned above in that need to be considered when conducting mixed method research. 7

Conclusion

In conclusion, as per (Johansen, 2013) the modern-day leader needs to “Figure out how to engage with the confusion and the fear and flip that into an opportunity.” Having an agile research method will allow the modern-day leader to be physically, mentally and emotionally fit. From this report, it is found that the recommendation of the most suitable research methodology is that a mixed-method. This mixed method should be reviewed and analysed for specific situations and specific leaders. It gives the researcher agility to choose the best possible research methodology to accurately understand the issue at hand. In our current era integration of quantitative and qualitative data-sets is highly valued, lack of integration is often regarded as a problem, from this some form of mixed method of research is the only possibility for success. In the VUCA world that is currently present leaders and researchers can no longer just catch up to the opposition, they have leap frog past the competition to gain an advantage before the imminent change occurs. The modern-day researcher and leader needs to be clear and simple without being simplistic, there is a fine line and subtle difference.

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QUESTION 2

Introduction

Over the past decade there has been a clear movement towards viewing leadership with relational and systemic ideas that have implications for the actual practice of leadership development. The trend has changed from focusing on the further development of those who are already leaders to now further incorporate developing a strong leadership program to help achieve a greater succession plan in the organisation. Leadership development is complex and the process is very closely linked to leader development, in this report the two processes of leader development and leadership development will be defined in various forms and critically analysed by focusing on the Schneider Electric leadership and leader development programs and processes. The Schneider Electric development programs will be analysed and it will be determined if and why they are conducive to ensuring sustainable leadership.

The following report will be structured as follows, firstly Schneider electric will be explained in brief detail, thereafter the report will go on to attempt to define the difference and the interrelation between leader development and leadership development. Finally, the report will assess the Schneider Acorn development program vs the ideal leadership development program and determine the sustainability of the program.

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Schneider Electric

Schneider Electric is a global specialist in energy management and automation with hiring locations globally and over 160000 employees in over 100 countries worldwide. Schneider has development programs at the Schneider Electric University which are dedicated academies for executive development, leadership, customer education, energy and solutions, sales excellence and functional skills. Why the company offers this perk: “We believe providing high-potential, early-career employees opportunities to build their portfolio with multiple positions in multiple locations across the company,” says Jenna Roland, employer branding specialist. “They will be stronger and more committed leaders of our organization in the future.” What kind of employee the company is looking for: “We are looking for people to embrace our high-performance culture by being straightforward, open, passionate and effective and to challenge the status quo,” says Roland. ( (Thottam, 2017)) In this report the focus will be on Schneider Electric’s acorn leader development program. As seen above from Jenna Roland the company is looking for committed leaders and for people who are passionate and challenge the status quo. This report will attempt to analyse the effectiveness of their leadership development program in ensuring leadership sustainability.

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Defining Leader and Leadership Development

The distinction between leader and leadership development is not a simple matter, but at the core of the difference is that leader development is focused on developing human capital and leadership development is focused on developing social capital. Leader development defined from (Bryman, et al., 2011) “The more common and traditional approach focused on building individual capabilities.” Leadership development is more geared towards teambuilding and organization development. Leadership development and rotational programs provide you with in-depth experiences, ongoing mentorship, and targeted training across a range of business areas within a company. The goal of leadership development is to recruit and develop leaders for their organization, in the discussion below it is analysed how well Schneider electric does this with their Acorn Emerging leader program.

Critical Analysis of Schneider Electric

Leader development: One of the primary reasons that organizations invest in training and development for employees is to enhance and protect their human capital. (Day, 2000) Leadership Development: In addition to the organizational resources provided as a function of human capital, social resources are embedded in work relationships that take the form of social capital. Unlike human capital, in which the focus is on developing is on developing individual knowledges, skills and abilities, the emphasis with social capital is on building networked relationships among individuals that enhance cooperation and resource exchange in creating organizational value. Social capital is based on relationships which are created through interpersonal exchange. A major factor in leadership development is on building and using interpersonal competence. In considering complexity leadership development, it is a good idea to divide the development into systems level and individual level. This is elaborated on below and in the following paragraphs these points will be related back to assess how effective Schneider Electric’s Acorn program is 3 key criteria for development are identified at 11

the system level: Network conditions (Relational ties, social exchange, communication patterns); Shared leadership (concerted action, intuitive working relations, formal structures/processes); Organizational leadership (Intuiting, interpreting, integrating, memory) Individual level development places a focus on the role of individuals acting as formal and individual leaders. If differing ideologies and methods of leadership can be aligned there is a much greater chance that positive leadership will come out of this. There are seven key factors identified in individual level development: Supporting Autocatalysis – Involves leaders organizing the work environment to facilitate interactions among ensembles; Supporting Shared leadership – formal leader role needs to be one of coordinating and coaching rather than controlling; developing the system’s network – leaders are required to develop their skills in effectively managing and developing networks. A leader therefore needs to encourage increased contact and interactions between team members and help to develop shared expectations for collaboration; supporting shared meaning-making – The need to keep the system on the right track is still important. The leader must engage in sense-giving with team members to promote shared understandings and serve as a basis for resolving tension within the network. Leaders need to connect systems with their wider environments; Identifying barriers to information flows – leaders need to examine impediments to information entry and distribution within the social system and look to counteracting barrier to knowledge exchange. Individuals with greater access to the network are more likely to emerge as leaders; fostering the positive value of tension – there must be a structure in place for conflicting perspectives, needs and goals among team members to be constructively surfaced. The team climate needs to value divergent views and provide the team and individuals with skills to resolve conflicts and differences; building Social Capital – importance of social capital in promoting knowledge transfer places a primacy on leader skills in building and developing social capital within the network. Emphasis is placed on the leader’s relational skills and behaviours that enhance social ties rather than being about motivating network members.

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Whilst individual leaders are important and requiring a set of skills, leadership development also involves shaping the context, particularly structures and cultures. Together, these support the process of leadership development. Schneider electric’s acorn development program is a 10-year program which immediately points one in the direction that this a sustainable leadership program that the company is carrying out. The program is divided as follows, Years 1 and 2, the focus is on diverse international, interdisciplinary assignments (This gives the individual access to many teams and improves the individuals understanding of why diversity and why building social capital within a team is so important in the modern workplace); Years 3 through to 7 focus on more specific training and development in different roles, here we see some focus shift to training, but at the core of this remains the key factor of diversity and fitting into different teams within the system. This shows that Schneider places an emphasis on system level development. Finally form years 8 to 10 the candidates may be appointed to an executive role in a targeted new economy, this is mostly because these environments are rapidly changing and the leadership team in such an environment needs to be quick to adapt to surroundings and team members and integrate team members into decision making. The Acorn Emerging Leaders Programme is a dedicated, fast-track career path, it is a a tailored progression plan in an international corporate environment driven by diversity, sustainability, and innovation. Very key here is that these three pillars of the program lead directly to the discussion of how effective the leadership development program is. Schneider Electric believes they know the answer to produce great leaders within a great team and move individuals to a global leadership role (Schneider Electric Industries SAS, 2012) The Acorn Emerging Leaders Programme features direct involvement from Schneider Electric Executive Committee members who act as high-profile mentors for all participants. This encompasses four dimensions put forward in the complexity leadership development, the model comprising (1) network conditions, (2) shared leadership, (3) organizational learning and (4) leader skills and knowledge. By having direct involvement with the executive committee, the future leaders can collaborate and learn and social capital is built within the organisation. The system 13

allows the individual to grow and expand. As per Clarke, 2013, leader is the property of relationships. It is clear from the above that the Acorn program places large focus on leadership growth through developing relationships along the business hierarchy. Clark also goes on to comment that a multitude of writers have identified that interpersonal skill development for leaders and followers is vital in the leadership development process as this creates foundations of trust and respect. Leadership is perceived as a function of social resources embedded in relationships. The increasing complexity facing organizations requires us to consider leadership as embedded not merely in sets of interpersonal relationships, but more widely as constituting an array of interacting organizational processes that facilitate intelligent and innovative organizational adaptation. To ensure that this remains at a entire company level and that company culture is coherent worldwide there needs to be some movement of personnel between departments and cultures and even countries. The acorn program offers advanced training and development opportunities and places individuals in different business disciplines throughout the program to gain a wide knowledge of their roles and the business culture of integration. Initially with the acorn program you may be based in Asia, Europe, or the United States. Subsequent roles in your career path may see you based in any of these locations, but with a focus on the new economies and the target role of senior leadership position in one of these markets. This shows that the acorn program has a strong emphasis an agility and on new economies where company culture must be embedded and where there is rapid change. This system level of leadership development promotes individuals to grow into dynamic and effective leaders. The social capital is developed as the overall team structure benefits and grows, these individuals learn to understand how to fit into a team seamlessly and quickly and learn how to gain the mutual respect of their colleagues as decisions are made to improve business operations. Dugan, et al., 2015 discusses the social change model approaches leadership, a diagram is shown below which quickly shows how the different factors fit together. The model notes that leadership happens throughout an organisation from formal leaders through to non-leaders, leadership is an inherent process. Schneider’s Acorn 14

program shows how leadership development programs can be a great vehicle to grow social responsibility and integration by sending its candidates to various countries and various positions of work or leadership and encouraging these leaders to adapt and improve the team collaboration to coherent throughout the company and to have a common purpose set out by Schneider. (Dugan, et al., 2015)

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Conclusion

In conclusion, it is found that Schneider Electric’s acorn program follows a successful sustainable leadership development program which goes as far as a 10-year plan for future and current leaders. There is individual and system level development present in the Acorn leadership development program. Key themes were noted in the difference between leader development as one of developing human capital and leadership development developing social capital. From this report, it is found that social capital is vital in developing a great company culture and developing internal leaders within a team. If the leadership development program is effective and sustainable the company culture will be a positive one and like Schneider’s acorn program it becomes an incubator for great growth possibilities moving forward individually and within the entire organisation.

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REFERENCE LIST

Bryman, A., 2014. June 1989 and Beyond: Julia Brannen's Contribution to Mixed Methods Research. International Journal of Social Research Methodology. II(17), pp. 121-131. Bryman, A. et al., 2011. The Sage Handbook of Leadership. 2014 ed. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Bryman, A. & Sempik, J., 2008. Quality Criteria for Quantitative, Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research: A View from Social Policy.. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, IV(11), pp. 261-276. Clarke, N., 2013. Model of Complexity Leadership Development. Human Resource Development International. 16(II), pp. 135-150. Day, D., 2000. Leadership Development: A Review in Context. Leadership Quarterly, IV(11), pp. 581-613. Dugan, J., Turman, N. & Torrez, M., 2015. Beyond Individual Leader Development: Cultivating Collective Capacities. New Directions for Student Leadership, Volume 148, pp. 5-15. Horner, A., 2014. The Role of Leadership in a VUCA World. People and Strategy, 36(IV), p. 7. Horney, N., Pasmore, B. & O'Shea, T., 2010. Leadership Agility: A Business Imperative for a VUCA World. People and Strategy, 32(IV), pp. 32-38. Johansen, B., 2013. Navigating the VUCA World. Research Technology Management, Issue Jan-Feb2013, pp. 10-15. Mabey, C., 2013. Leadership Development in Organizations: Multiple Discourse and Diverse Practice. International Journal of Management Reviews, Volume 15, pp. 359-380. Schneider Electric Industries SAS, 2012. Schneider Electric. [Online] Available at: www.schneider-electric.com/acorn [Accessed 4 April 2017]. 17

Thottam, I., 2017. Monster Worldwide Inc. [Online] Available at: https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/companies-withawesome-training-development-programs [Accessed 4 April 2017]. Venkatesh, V., Brown, S. & Sullivan, Y., 2016. Guidelines for Conducting Mixedmethods Research: An Extension and Illustration. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 17(VII), pp. 439-495.

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