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Finn Havaleschka
Garuda Research Institute, Knebel, Denmark
Figure 1
Head- heart- leg-modelTM
[ 116 ]
Finn Havaleschka flexibility. He attaches great importance to The successful sales and marketing manager
Personality and leadership: a having a profound knowledge of the details of focuses on and has a flair for reading and
benchmark study of success
and failure the tasks he performs. As to detail orienta- understanding other people. Illustrated by a
tion, the placing is at the right side. He right-score on empathy. He has no need to be
Leadership & Organization
Development Journal attaches great importance to the challenge, it in the limelight all the time, but he retires
20/3 [1999] 114±132 is to work with, understand and keep in and listens when it is most appropriate ±
check complex coherences. Abstract thinking illustrated by a middle-score on social con-
is placed to the right. Therefore, it is also tact. He has a certain extent of toleration and
natural that he attaches great importance to patience with people who are ``different'',
having a solid, well-documented and well however, without losing the feeling of when
worked-out decision foundation before he the string is getting too long. Round about the
makes up his mind. Left, on willingness to middle on social flexibility. He is gifted
take risks. Finally, the successful manager is consciously to control himself which is
not the type who lets anyone check him due indicated in a right-score on self-control.
to lack of backing, support or sympathy for Finally, he is open and trusting (not naõÈve) in
what he does ± this is illustrated by a left his unsophisticated contact with other peo-
score on support. ple, that means a score on the right side as
If a sales and marketing manager, with regards confidence-trust.
several salesmen and marketing people re- Whether the account manager is in pos-
porting to him, approached and worked on session of exactly the same qualities does not
his tasks in the same way as the account mean quite so much for his success ± even
manager, he would obviously not conduce to though most people would prefer a colleague
the development and prosperity of the com- with the above mentioned qualities.
pany. The sales and marketing business If we look at the ego-drive ± the leg-profile ±
we do not find big differences between the
cannot be performed within the same well-
two leaders. In general they both have to be
established rules, structures and systems.
in possession of more or less the same
Something will always come across. Selling
qualities in order to produce results. (See
and marketing is far more process oriented
Figure 4.)
than the more structuralised tasks of the
The successful leaders are achievement-
financial department. Therefore, the sales
and competition-oriented, they seek influ-
and marketing manager has to be much more
ence, they have the self-confidence to plunge
flexible, being able to work without having to
into new challenges, they are independent,
concentrate upon all the small details, and he
but also willing to adapt themselves. They
must be able to make decisions without the
are sturdy, tolerant of criticism and setbacks,
same need of documentation, concrete facts
and they are physically energetic and able to
and proofs as the account manager.
keep several balls in the air at the same time.
This also leads to the fact that it is often
These personality structures are illustrated
more difficult for the sales and marketing
in the graphic profile by a placing at the right
manager to sell his ideas than it is for the
side as concerns all the leg-traits. However,
account manager. This is why there are larger the score of independence is close to the
demand of quality of the sales and marketing
manager's heart-work. (See Figure 3.)
Figure 4
The leg-profile for leaders in general
Figure 3
The heart-profile of the successful sales and
marketing manager
[ 117 ]
Finn Havaleschka middle, that means close to the average. The solving more or less complex specialist or
Personality and leadership: a fact that it is not further to the right is an routine tasks. Keeping this in mind, we add
benchmark study of success
and failure expression of the acceptance of the leader together the scores of the five head-factors,
that good management takes place in colla- and consider the total as an expression of the
Leadership & Organization
Development Journal boration between people. Nobody will ± at all person's ability to structuralise. The higher
20/3 [1999] 114±132 times ± have his own way 100 per cent. the score, the higher the capability.
In the same way, we can register that a
well-developed heart-work plays a role for the
From theory to practice manager's ability to produce results. How-
ever, we must admit that the picture is not
Career and personality
quite so unambiguous as at the other factors.
The described and illustrated differences
Empathy, self-control and confidence-trust
generally show the difference between the
are the most important features, while both
specialist and the generalist and thus, also,
high and low scores on social contact and
the differences between the top manager and
social flexibility, generally checks the result-
the manager of the more operative ± day-to-
making. One of the sources of inspiration
day ± activities. The condition to become a
behind the selection and formulation of the
successful leader at all, is an excellent ego-
social traits is Murray (1964).
drive, a good legwork. It is a necessary, but
The fact that making a career in manage-
not sufficient condition. How high you will
ment is connected with a high structure-
get in the management hierarchy and the
score and a high ego-drive score is shown in
amount of success you will get gathering in
Figures 5 to 9. For the relevance of the ego-
concrete results, depends highly on your
drive traits see McClelland (1953). If we score
headwork.
the personality analyses of 1,540 people
In this connection, the headwork does not
selected by chance, representing quite 1,000
have anything to do with the traditional
different companies, and place them in
conception or measuring of intelligence. In
groups dependent on their placing in the
the profile analysis, the headwork is a
question of the ability to structuralise. An organising hierarchy, we get these pictures.
ability which, according to my theory, de- (See Figures 5 to 9.)
The percentage figures of each squadron
pends on how and to which extent, via our
personality, we allow ourselves to utilise our state the relative part of the group, which
intellectual and mental potential. By ability
to structuralise I understand a person's
Figure 5
ability to make the unstructuralised struc-
852 employees without any leader
turalised, the ability to see and understand
responsibility
patterns in coherences which have not been
described before, the ability to find his way
in unstructured and chaotic situations. A
capability, or more correctly, a potential
which we capture via the registration of the
five head factors. Jaques (1976) and Jaques et
al. (1978) have been great sources of inspira-
tion in relation to the definition of the
different head-traits and the formulation of
the underlying statements used in the ques-
tionnaires to identify a persons head-work.
See also Bruner (1956) as a source of
inspiration. It is also interesting to read
Buzan's Book of Genius (1994). One of the Figure 6
characteristics common for all of the genius 277 group leaders
he is portraying is flexibility and mental
freedom, which is also a prerequisite for a
well developed structural capacity.
The more rules and structure we are
dependent on, the more details we need, the
more concrete physically we are in our
approach to problems, the more security we
demand and the more support we need, the
more we limit the utility and the develop-
ment of our ability to structuralise. And the
more we do so, the more we specialise in
[ 118 ]
Finn Havaleschka Figure 7 ego-drive score below the average of the total
Personality and leadership: a 200 middle-range leaders population. And the higher in the hierarchy
benchmark study of success
and failure we look, the more persons we will find who
score above average of the structural factors.
Leadership & Organization
Development Journal The picture of the 852 employees without
20/3 [1999] 114±132 management duties shows that these are not
representative of the population in general.
This is quite natural, as we have not, among
the 852, registered unemployed people, people
on public assistance, as well as more or less
voluntary non-working people. Furthermore,
there are only very few skilled and unskilled
employees among them. The 852 persons are
active salary employees ± many of them are
highly educated, specialists and generalists
Figure 8 in key positions, but without any responsi-
143 functional leaders bility in relation to management.
Figure 10
Top-managers of companies A and B
[ 120 ]
Finn Havaleschka Figure 11
Personality and leadership: a The profile of the managing director of company A
benchmark study of success
and failure
Leadership & Organization
Development Journal
20/3 [1999] 114±132
Figure 12
The profile of the managing director of company B
Figure 14
The management team of company B
Figure 18
Development model
[ 126 ]
Finn Havaleschka planning, detail orientation and security technology and processes of the baser and
Personality and leadership: a orientation are required to be able to func- result functions? We may integrate just as
benchmark study of success tion well solving baser tasks. much as we want, but there will not be more
and failure
Only when we move from baser to result- results due to that. At most, we can avoid
Leadership & Organization
Development Journal producing tasks, does new qualitative devel- stagnation. So, we have to do something,
20/3 [1999] 114±132 opment occur. Often it occurs, in the begin- perhaps something radical. We have to let go
ning of our 20s, when we want to earn more of what is tying up our intellectual and
money in order to obtain independence of the mental potential. We have to let go of the
authorities, which until now has limited our established baser conception. And thus the
independence. For instance our parents, the development of the ability to structuralise
schoolteacher, and the master. And we get begins. We see new patterns, new structures.
this independence when we canalise the And we plunge into it with the authority
energy down to the legs. We develop our ego arising from well-developed heart- and leg-
by becoming salesmen, by putting more work, and the experience and growth in
activity into production, by thinking of how competence coming from doing this kind of
to make things faster and make more profit. work. We are now taking an active share ± as
We act at short sight. Things must happen, task performers ± in the development func-
we have to move on, make a career and, once tion of the company. We work strategically
in a while, we find out that the established and long-termed. Figure 18 gives an overview
structures of the baser function have an of the outlined development idea.
extremely restrictive influence on our in- In practice, we develop our head-, heart-
itiative and possibilities to produce results, and legwork successively by taking part in
right now, in the result function. The tasks of the baser, result, integrator and developer
the result function are short-sighted, process- functions. But not everyone runs through
oriented and operative, and bring about the such a development. Some people stop their
development in personality traits such as development in the middle of the baser
competition, influence, self-confidence, psy- period. They continue in the baser function
chological strength etc. and perform the day-to-day practical busi-
The more we get to know the result ness. Others continue in the baser function
function, the more we learn that the legwork too, but become advanced specialists. Others
alone does not do it. If we only focus on again continue to the result function, but
ourselves, our own ego, it will be difficult to stop there. The fact that they rise, make a
get any further. But perhaps, or should I say career, earn money, they perceive as devel-
fortunately, we run into conflicts because of opment ± personal development, but the
that, which force us to learn to listen, decline, motive is primarily the ego. And if the worst
mediate. And with this, the development of should come to the worst, it will be a question
the heart qualities begins. We put more of running faster, and being even more goal-
emphasis on empathy, a social balanced directed and convincing. However, others
behaviour, confidence-trust, social flexibil- find personal resources to get further. They
ity. With these skills, and with the experi- are the ones who learn that not everything is
ence of the very structure-determined baser created by legwork and ego alone, and that
function and the more process-oriented re- some things are easier if you step aside and
sult function, we have got an experience, listen. And first when you allow yourself to
which makes us the qualified integrator. As a listen, you may realise that something is
natural consequence of our own develop- fundamentally wrong, where after you put
ment, we begin to focus on the tasks of what I forward new ideas in relation to the way to
call the integrator function. We now under- do things. Not because you have a desire to be
stand that systems, machinery and people an MD, but because you have a qualified
have to be integrated to function together, guess to what and how you can do things
and we have formed some qualified ideas of better.
the best way to do it. Here it is the practical The basic for this development idea is
experience rather than the theoretic ballast, outlined in In Search of Leadership (Hava-
which makes the difference. And by this, we leschka, 1991). See also Erikson (1968) and
have ± nice and quietly ± acquired the Maslow (1968). It is worth mentioning that
competence to solve the more tactical and I'm not describing four different type as, for
strategical tasks in the organisation. example, Adizes (1979) and MacCoby (1976;
But what use is our well-developed leg- and 1981). Although it is clear that the four
heart work to us, if our experience from descriptions are very similar. I like to
solving baser, results and integrator tasks emphasise the dynamic development per-
tells us that the problems are owing to the spective which can bring you from a lower to
fact that the time, the technology, the market a higher degree of mental (intellectual-cog-
have out-distanced the traditional structure, nitive) freedom, social freedom, psychic
[ 127 ]
Finn Havaleschka freedom and self-esteem. Even though the spreading of the group. Here, we can see that
Personality and leadership: a aforementioned figures show that most of us there is ``only'' one person with high scores in
benchmark study of success the baser- and result-producer fields. This
and failure (70 per cent), appear to behave like the same
type most of our lives. one person is the financial manager. The rest
Leadership & Organization
Development Journal of the group is in the integrator- and devel-
20/3 [1999] 114±132 oper-fields. As mentioned, this does not
Focus on the company manager signify that they cannot work with baser- and
result-producer tasks. It only means that you
A question of development of personal do not find their primary focus here. All six
competence leaders score positively in the integrator-
The question is now, where are the managers field and four of them also score positively in
of the two companies in this development the developer-field. No doubt the manage-
cycle? Simply on the assumption that the ment team is where it should be, according to
quality of what you perform at a later stage, both theory and model, that is, with the main
at a higher level, is dependent on the quality stress laid on the strategic functions. And
of your personal development and of what when you know about the age, education and
you learned at an earlier stage at a lower experience of these people, there is no doubt
level, any top-level manager should be in the that they have been through the development
integrator and developer period and have of the baser and result functions. They are
gone through the development coming from not just a bunch of theorists, even though
the baser and result period. He or she should this part of their background is as it should
be qualified and able to concern themselves be as well. They know things from practice.
with the integrator and developer tasks of the They know how to integrate, to formulate
company. However, this does not signify that visions and to think out strategies without
the top-level manager should not, occasion- losing the grounding, and they can carry
ally, perform some baser and result tasks too. through the strategies with such a suitably
But it should always be determined by the unbureaucratic and delegating style that the
situation (e.g. owing to lack of other people to operative employees feel responsible and
perform it), and not be a consequence of lack take initiatives.
of personal development. The funny thing is We know that company A produces good
that we can always and quickly return to results, while company B is a little on the
what we have learned earlier, while it is not heels. Could it be owing to the focus of the
possible, instantly, to go forward to some- group and the development of the leaders, or
thing which we have not understood yet. To the lack of it? The answer appears from
go back does not take any time. To go forward Figures 21 and 22.
may take a long time. To go from the As it appears, the management team of
integration to the short-sighted, concrete company B is placed totally opposite to the
activities where we personally have to create team of company A. The weight is attached to
the results ourselves, is as easy as to take a the operational spheres. The group consists
step backwards. It is only a question of will- of very concrete action-oriented people who
power. But to take one step forward, towards try to produce results through a high degree
the art of integration, might take years of of focusing on the baser functions of the
returning crises before we understand. How organisation. The results are that they are
far the management team of company A has functioning as highly-educated specialists,
come is indicated in Figure 19. within the established structures and frames
The graphic figure of the development and of the baser and result functions. Four of the
focus of the A-group does not leave much five B-group managers focus on the baser and
doubt. The group is placed as it has to result functions. Only one has a reasonably
according to both theory and model. They are distinct focus on the developer function.
persons who focus on integration of people, Compared to this, the A-management team
systems and machinery, as well as the has four people who focus on development,
demands of the future to the baser function of and these four, plus two more, also focus on
the company. The development profile of integration. These distinct differences must
Figure 19 has been drawn on the basis of the make a difference in the daily management.
median-score of the group, and therefore Furthermore, the top-manager of the B-group
shows where the management team mainly scores one distinct minus on the developer
has its focus. The profile goes far out into the function (91), while the A-group manager
corners of the squares as the person or the scores plus 36. See the development profiles
group focus more on the task described. of the two managers in Figures 23 and 24.
In Figure 20, the score of the individual Seen in the light of the ideas and the theory
leader, as to each of the four functions, has behind the development profile, it is inter-
been sketched in. We get an impression of the esting to notice that the majority of the
[ 128 ]
Finn Havaleschka leaders of company A have a rather untradi- and through this he has learned the
Personality and leadership: a tional background before they started their result-producing function thoroughly. The
benchmark study of success technical director has a background as flight
and failure careers in company A. I have mentioned
before that the managing director, prior to officer, this means that he made a career as
Leadership & Organization
Development Journal his academic education, had gone through a civil pilot before he started his engineering
20/3 [1999] 114±132 practical commercial training. This means education. After he had finished his engi-
that he has been an apprentice in a business neering education, he was engaged in a
office for four years and consequently production plant and worked both as fore-
learned the baser function in details. He has man and as production manager before he
also been a salesman and a sales manager ended up as technical director. The sales and
marketing manager has, like the managing
director, been through a traditional com-
mercial training before he took a degree at
the graduate level. The production director
Figure 19
also has an untraditional background, in the
Development profile of the leader-group of company A
sense that he has a graduate degree in
economics and an undergraduate in science.
This means that he has come from the more
administrative/economic side of business
life before he became a production manager.
Other things being equal, this is a group of
people who have looked for tasks that could
challenge and develop their intellectual and
mental capacity, social skills and self-esteem.
These people have in their personality some
of the same characteristics that Pinchot III
(1985) uses to describe the personality quali-
ties of the real Intrapreneur, who is first of all
a person who combines visions and actions,
and who is anti-bureaucratic. As real entre-
preneurs, the intrapreneurs are not driven
by a need for power; instead, their motivation
stems from a very high need for achievement,
according to McClelland (1975; 1976).
The management team of company B do
not have the same industrial experience. The
sales and marketing manager is the one who
has the most differentiated background and
experience ± a little like his colleague in
Figure 20 company A. The financial manager has a
The placing of the management team of company A background in economics and accounts, with
a graduate in economics. The managing
director, the production director and the
technical director are all engineers and have
made the traditional career for academically
educated engineers. This means that after
they ended their education they started more
or less directly in a specialist function and
thereafter applied for more management-
oriented functions in production. Conse-
quently, they do not have experience from
the extent of a company's baser function.
Basically, they are specialists and do still
function widely as such.
This means that their angle or approach
the day-to-day tasks is the same. A person
functioning differently ± and therefore com-
ing with other alternative angles of incidence
± will have difficulties in getting influence in
such a group, especially if he is not the
managing director. In practice, it was seen
when a highly-placed manager ± previously
[ 129 ]
Finn Havaleschka member of the top management team ± was management team, who are placed mainly in
Personality and leadership: a left out of influence during a period of two- the operative fields; baser and result func-
benchmark study of success
and failure three years or, in reality, chose to put himself tions). A person with the right personality, in
outside influence. The profile analysis of this the right position together with the wrong
Leadership & Organization
Development Journal person shows a person with a very high score people ± it is not strange that he chose to
20/3 [1999] 114±132 on structure (contrary to the relatively low withdraw.
scores of his former colleagues). The devel- Because of the anonymity of these people,
opment profile of the person concerned it is unfortunately not possible to state
shows a person placed in the strategic fields; profoundly the outlined, extremely interest-
ing connections between education, experi-
integrator and developer (contrary to the
ence, career and success. On the other hand,
we have seen similar stories before. The most
interesting is perhaps that we, with the
presented analyses and theories, can register
Figure 21 the picture and thus help others not to fall
Development profile of the management team of company B into the same situation.
Conclusion
The top-level management team in company
B consists primarily of low-structuralised
persons, who primarily focus on the baser
and result functions of the company. The
opposite applies to the management team of
company A. Here, everybody ± except one ±
are high-structuralised persons. They are
persons who, in their management, primarily
focus on the integrator and developer func-
tions. The group of managers in company A
primarily works at the strategic level, while
group B primarily works at the operational
level. According to the theories and models
that the profile- and development-analyses
are based upon, it is logical that company A
is more successful than company B.
It is in the leadership, which is determined
by the personality of the top manager and the
composition of the personalities of the group
of managers, that we find the difference
Figure 22 between success and failure.
The placing of the management team of company B What led to the composition of the indivi-
dual companies' top management? Why does
the A-company consist of high-structure
persons and integrators/developers, while
the B-company consists of low-structure
persons and baser/result-producers? The
pattern is so well-known and discussed that it
will be the final remark in this conclusion.
Even though we know it and have been
warned against it, it is within human nature
to engage people with whom we communi-
cate well and therefore take a liking to during
the interview. If you are a low-structure
person, you will take a liking to the man who
controls the details and who has distinct and
specified plans of how the tasks should be
performed. You attach great importance to
the well-documented motives and concrete
explanations of the candidate. The low-
structure person takes a liking to and en-
gages the people who approach and work on
[ 130 ]
Finn Havaleschka problems in the same way as himself, and structuralise from a lower to a higher level.
Personality and leadership: a who attaches importance to or puts focus on This means that he has developed his general
benchmark study of success knowledge, he has become or given himself a
and failure the same functions in the company as he
does. The result is that he engages copies of mental excess which makes it possible for
Leadership & Organization
Development Journal himself ± without being conscious of it. him to remain objective in relation to the
20/3 [1999] 114±132 It is not the same case in relation to the company's actual need of management. He
high-structure person. This person has been has got beyond the ego-centred result period.
through a personal developing process in- He engages people who can meet the needs of
cluding both the baser and the result periods. the company instead of his own personal
At the same time, has developed his ability to needs. This makes the difference in leader-
ship and team-building, and also between
company A and company B.
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Buzan, T. (1994), Book of Genius, Stanley Poul,
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Leader, Garuda Research Institute, Knebel.
Havaleschka, F. (1997b), The Leaders Choice,
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Havaleschka, F. (1998), Validity Studies of the
Figure 24
Profile Analysis, Garuda Research Institute,
Function profile of the managing director of company B
Knebel.
Jaques, E. (1976), A General Theory of Bureau-
cracy, Heinemann Educational, London.
Jaques, E., Gibson, R.O. and Isaac, D.J. (1978),
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Kline, P. (1993), The Handbook of Psychological
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MacCoby, M. (1976), The Gamesman, the New
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McClelland, D.C. (1953), The Achievement Motive,
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McClelland, D.C. (1976), The Achieving Society,
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Maslow, A. (1954), Motivation and Personality,
Harper, New York, NY.
[ 131 ]
Finn Havaleschka Maslow, A. (1968), Toward a Psychology of Being, Bringbert, D. and McGrath, J.E. (1982), ``A net-
Personality and leadership: a Van Nostrand, New York, NY. work of validity concepts within the research
benchmark study of success Murray, E.J. (1964), Motivation and Emotions,
and failure process'', Forms of Validity in Research,
Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Leadership & Organization No. 12, June, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA.
Development Journal Pinchot III, G. (1985), Intrapreneuring, Harper &
Cattell, R.B. and Kline, P. (1977), The Scientific
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Revans, R.W. (1971), Developing Effective Man- Analysis of Personality and Motivation,
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Mumford, A. (Ed.) (1984), Insights in Action
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Further reading
Pervin, L.A. (1993), Personality, Theory and
Anastasi, A. (1982), Psychological Testing,
Macmillan, New York, NY. Research, Wiley, New York, NY.
[ 132 ]