LEADERSHIP

Definations Koonts and Odonnell defined leadership as ,influence, the art or process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly towards the achievement of the group goals. Peter Drucker defined it as the lifting of mans visions to higher sights, the raising of mans performance to higher standard , the building of mans personality beyond its normal limitations. A.Goulder defined leadership as ,a role which an individual occupies at a given time in a given group. According to Cheaster I. Bernard ,it refers to the quality of the behaviour of the individual whereby they guide people on their activities in organised efforts. According to grey and Starke, leadership is the use of non-coercieve influence to direct and coordinate the activities of the members of an organized group towards the accomplishments of group objectives . As a priority leadership is the set of qualities attributed to those who are perceived to successfully employ such influence. It is a psychological process and multi-dimensional in character.

How leadership varies from men and women? o The literature suggest two conclusions regarding leadership -First the similarities between men and women tend to outweigh the differences. -second, difference is that women fall back on a more democratic leadership style, while men feel more comfortable with a directive style. o Just like people who choose careers in law enforcement or civil engineering have a lot in common, individuals who choose managerial careers also tend to have commonalities. o Women tend to adopt more of democratic leadership style- they encourage participation, share power and information, and attempt to enhance followers self-

worth. They prefer to rely on their charisma, expertise, contacts and interpersonal skills to influence to influence others. o Men, on the other hand are more likely to use a directive command-and control style. They rely on the formal authority of their position for their influence base. o The tendency for female leaders to be more democratic than male declines when women are in male-dominated jobs. o Women abandon their feminine styles in such jobs and more autocratically. o Men have historically held the great majority of leadership positions in organization, its tempting to assume that the existence of the noted difference between men and women leadership would automatically work to favor men. It doesnt. o In todays organization, flexibility, team work, trust and information sharing and replacing rigid structures, competitive individuals, control and secrecy. o The managers listen, motivate and provide support to their people. And many women seem to do these things in a far better way than men. o The leadership styles women typically use can make them better at negotiating, as they are less likely to focus on wins, losses and competition, as do men. They tend to treat negotiations in the context of a continuing relationship-trying hard to make the other party a winner in its own and other eyes.

Case Studies Case 1 Henry Ford - A Great Innovator

"I will build a motor car for the multitude. It shall be large enough for the family, but small enough for the unskilled individual to operate easily and care for, and it shall be light in weight and it may be economical in maintenance. It will be built of honest materials, by the best workmen that money can hire, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it shall be so low in price that the man of moderate means may own one and enjoy with his family the blessings of happy hours spent in God's great open spaces."1
- Vision of Henry Ford (1903).

"Ford's action transformed American industrial society."2

- Peter Drucker, economist and management guru.

"There was no way to escape the fact that Henry Ford was the great business impresario of his era or any era for that matter."3
- Douglas Brinkley, author, Wheels for the World. Introduction In November 1999, Fortune magazine named Henry Ford (Ford), founder of the Ford Motor Company (Ford Co.)4 as the 'Businessman of the 20th Century.' Ford was accorded this world by creating a car which was affordable to the common working middle class. honor for transforming the lives of billions of people and revolutionizing the automobile

Ford was chosen ahead of three other finalists Alfred Sloan Jr. (General Motors), Thomas Watson (IBM), and Bill Gates (Microsoft) as the 20th century business leader. Sheryl James (James), Detroit Free Press, reporter, feature writer, and winner of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing (journalism), said, "Ford Motor Co.'s founder was a charismatic risk-taker who relentlessly pursued his vision." In December 1999, Ford was named the 'Automotive Entrepreneur of the Century' by the Car of the Century (COTC) International panel of journalists and historians for his invaluable contributions to the world and in particular to the field of automobile manufacturing. Dick Holzhaus, founder, COTC International (Netherlands), commented, "The twentieth century can, in retrospect, be regarded as the 'century of the car' a revolution of technology and lifestyle. In this revolution, Ford Motor Company paved the way both as a manufacturer and as an industry leader. It was Henry Ford's vision to give people unprecedented mobility that changed the lives of millions throughout the world."6 These awards and recognitions were in recognition of Ford's invaluable contributions to the automobile industry. Ford was credited with enhancing the standards of living of people with his inventions like the quadricycle and the Ford Model T, and his use of the assembly-line production approach in the early 1900s. Ford had formulated a philosophy of three Ps People, said in 1916, "I don't believe we should make such an awful profit on our cars. A reasonable profit is right, but not too much. I hold that it is better to sell a large number of cars at a reasonably small profit......I hold this because it enables a larger number of people to buy and enjoy the use of a car and because it gives a larger number of men employment Products and Profit for his company. Explaining the relationship between the three Ps, he

at good wages. Those are the two aims I have in life." Case 2 Shahnaz Husain - A Successful Indian Woman Entrepreneur

"I do not sell products. I sell an entire civilization in a jar."

- Shahnaz Husain

"She lives, sleeps, breathes her business. She is consumed with building a successful company which she has done."
- Janine Sharell, Correspondent, CNN Introduction She captured the markets around the world and now she wants to conquer space. In an innovative move, Shahnaz Husain has started work on formulations that astronauts could carry with them in their extraterrestrial sojourns to protect their skin from the ravages of space travel and slow down the ageing process. She has sent National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) free samples of her moisturizers, hoping that they will be used on space expeditions. Shahnaz Husain is one of India's most successful women entrepreneurs. Her company, Shahnaz Husain Herbals is one of the largest manufacturers of herbal products in the world. It formulates and markets over 400 products for various beauty and health needs and has a strong presence across the globe, from the USA to Asia. In 2002, the Shahnaz Husain Group, based in New Delhi, was worth $100 million. It employed about 4200 people in 650 salons spread across 104 countries. The Group has seen a good growth rate in the 25 years that it has been in business.

The average growth rate in the initial years (late 1970s to the early 1980s) was 15-20%. In the 1990s the average growth rate was 19.4%. A number of awards, both national and international have been conferred on Shahnaz Husain. Some of them are "The Arch of Europe Gold Star for Quality", "One of the Leading Women Entrepreneurs of the World", "The 2000 Millennium Medal of Honor", "Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Award", etc. (Refer Exhibit I & II) The Making of an Entrepreneur

Shahnaz Husain belongs to a royal Muslim family which migrated from Samarkhand to India and later held high positions in the princely kingdoms of Bhopal and Hyderabad before India's independence. Shahnaz received her schooling in an Irish convent and poetry and English Literature. because of the influence of her father, Chief Justice N.U. Beg, she developed a love for

Case 3: TISCO - The World's Most Cost-Effective Steel Plant - Rajeev Das, Analyst, Paribas Asia Equity. "It is our endeavour to reduce the cost of saleable steel by 2.5 - 3 per cent every year."

"We realize that however efficient we become, the steel industry is not likely to return the cost of capital. This is no fault of ours, but due to the structure of the global and Indian steel industry."

- B. Muthuraman, Managing Director, TISCO.

Background Note
Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) was established in 1907 by J N Tata1 at Jamshedpur in Bihar, India. TISCO offered a wide range of products (See Exhibit I) and services including Hot rolled/Cold rolled (HR/CR) coils2 and sheets, tubes, construction bars, forging quality steel, rods, structurals, strips and bearings. It also manufactured material handling equipment, ferro alloys and other minerals, software for process controls, and offered cargo-handling services. In the early 1980s, TISCO initiated a modernization program of its steel plant (See Exhibit II). Explaining the need of modernization, J J Irani, the then managing director of TISCO said, "We would have been finished otherwise.... you cannot fight a modern-day war with weapons of the Mahabharata. We would have been annihilated had we not modernized. We addressed our drawbacks like the steel making process, our weakest link."

Asia's first and India's largest, integrated steel producer (ISP)3 in the private sector. By

By mid-1990s, TISCO had become India's most cost-effective steel plant. It also became

2000, eight divisions of Tata Steel were ISO-140014 certified, including Noamundi Iron Operations, West Bokaro Collieries, Ferro Alloy Plant, Joda, Sukinda Chromite Mines, Joda East Iron Mines, Tubes Division, and Growth Shop & Steel Works.realized this and making process, our weakest link." Case 4 Dhirubhai Ambani and Reliance embarked on the four phases of modernization. We addressed our drawbacks like the steel

"Our dreams have to be bigger. Our ambition higher. Our commitment deeper. And our efforts greater. This is my dream for Reliance and for India."
- Dhirubhai Ambani.

"The country has lost an iconic proof of what an ordinary Indian fired by the spirit of enterprise and driven by determination, can achieve in his own lifetime. Not only did Ambani build a large and diversified business conglomerate but also inspired many first generation entrepreneurs with his success."
- Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister, Republic of India.

"Dhirubhai built an empire that is rock solid and he will always remain an icon."
- Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Aditya Vikram Birla Group. The Death of an Icon The 6th of July 2002 was a black day in the Indian corporate history. The Founder and Chairman of the Reliance group of Industries (Reliance), Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani (Dhirubhai) died after a 13 day battle for survival. A perfect combination of entrepreneurship and leadership, Dhirubhai transformed Reliance from a company with a turnover of Rs 640 million in 1976, to one with a turnover of Rs 620 billion in 2002. Starting with a small textile mill in Naroda, in 1966, Dhirubhai took Reliance into various refining and marketing of petroleum, textiles, power, telecom services, information management and financial services (Refer Exhibit I for Reliance Group of Companies). Dhirubhai never followed the text book style of management. Instead ,he evolved a unique style, which combined the American style of entrepreneurship, with the Japanese focus on the latest technology. And to this,he added the innate shrewdness of a Gujrati businessman.

areas like petrochemicals, polyester filament yarn, oil and gas exploration and production,

Analysts feel that he was a perfect manager of time, money and men and exhibited a

passion to find solutions to problems. Dhirubhai started reliance at a time when most companies were owned by government , and the private players were given step-motherly treatment by the government while offering licenses and permits. Similarly, when most Dhirubhai raised capital from the public by offering shares of his companies. Indian business houses depended on government-owned financial institutions for funds,