Introduction
This paper embodies two case studies to illustrate the issues of strategic leadership of a leading company; Infosys based in India and provides regional and global technology services in engineering and software development. Infosys was founded in 1981 by Narayana Murthy and six other Software Engineers (Hoover). The first case is based on strategic leadership issues in 2014, when the founders stepped down into non-executive positions after almost three decades to appoint the first non-founding chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director; Vishal Sikka (https://www.infosys.com/newsroom/press-releases/Pages/ceo-announcement.aspx). The second case is based on strategic leadership issues in 2017 when Infosys’s 3-year
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Murthy has also contributed in leading key corporate governance initiatives in India (Barnabas, Joseph, & Clifford, 2010). In 2005 at the World Economic Forum, he defined a business leader as one who shoulders the biggest responsibility to seek the truth, communicate it to other stakeholders and live by the truth (Bhattacharya, 2005). According to Spears (2004), the attributes that are key to a servant-leader are listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to growth of people and building community all of which can be seen in Murthy’s leadership. He had a holistic approach to work and shared the power of decision-making as he promoted a sense of community (Greenleaf, 1990). Another leadership style Murthy exhibited was transformational leadership from the very beginning when he first had the vision to create the company and sold the vision to the other six people and convinced them to climb on board the bandwagon contributing to team proactivity (Wu & Wang, 2015). In fact, Barnabas, Joseph, and Clifford (2010) state that servant-leadership is a long-transformational approach to work and life in the sense of having the potential to create positive changes in society (Spears, 2004). Murthy also fits in the
To be a successful servant leader one must have a true honest desire to want others around them to be successful. The major strength of the servant leader is their contribution of the organization they are leading. I believe this type of leadership really aligns
Servant leadership is defined by a willingness of a leader to put the needs, desires, recognition and success of their employees and organization above their own interests. They often inspire followership through their example resulting in deeply loyal subordinates that are motivated to emulate the leader’s behavior not out of fear or a desire to please and impress but because of its intrinsic value. Reading through the results of my Seven Habits Profile I noticed that I was comparatively deficient on a few of the foundational and organizational habits such as putting first things first and beginning with the end in mind. Conversely, I had a much higher level of empathetic traits with synergy, seeking first to understand, and thinking win-win taking the top three spots. These traits are highly consistent with servant leadership.
Over the course of my career, I have tried to model various leadership behaviors based upon successful leaders that I have worked with or for. This has led me to incorporate different styles into my own. Considering my current leadership strengths and how I view successful leaders I will use a servant leadership theory to analyze my own competencies. Servant leaders have 9 different aspects comprised of: emotional healing, creating value for the community, conceptual skills, empowering, helping subordinates grow and succeed, putting subordinates first, behaving ethically, relationships, and servanthood (Boone & Makhani, 2005, pg. 86). The aspects of a servant leader are those that I personally value and identify with. In addition to this, it is my belief that servant leaders, because they are people oriented, are more effective in a variety of environments and situations.
The two theories that I chose to do my self-assessment by are the authentic leadership theory and the servant leadership theory. The authentic leadership theory was chosen due to my desire to stay true to who I am and what I stand for. However, the servant leadership theory was chosen because of my desire to meet the needs of others while doing what I can to help others succeed as well as meet their set goals. Being a servant while being authentic are the traits I want in my style of leadership and are assessed throughout this paper along with my strengths and weaknesses in the area of leadership.
James A. Autry is the author of the bestselling book The Servant Leader. He has put together the fundamental skills every leader should hold in order for them to successfully run their businesses. Within thirteen chapters, the book has been divided into four categories: a foundation of character and vision, servant leader as manager: the everyday nuts and bolts, the harsh realities of organizational life, and finding the balance. The importance of developing yourself into the character of ‘servant leadership’ is identified to show how to harness productivity, creativity, courage, a nurturing nature, and handle both short and long term management situations. Although a particular purpose or mission leads every organization, all organizations are in a sense the same. The dependency on people is a dominant factor (Autry 2001, xviii).
This article examines the similarities and differences between transformational and servant leadership. The authors suggest the primary difference is the focus of the leader. The transformational leader’s focus is more on the organization and the servant leader’s focus is more on the follower. The authors state that both offer the conceptual framework for
In the approach on general leadership characteristics, the fundamental difference is authentic leaderships strive to be “real”, whereas servant leaders strive to be “right.” Servant leadership is a style that lays down a set of characteristics that all leaders are supposed to emulate to attain success, and tries to shape the character and personality of the leader. On the other hand, authentic leaders tend to rely on their own unique set of experiences and style that has been learned and developed throughout their career. The main difference between servant and authentic styles, when applying into practice, is the serving of others. One of the primary applications is to give priority to the interest of others. Servant leaders exercise their duty
Moreover, while taking the Leadership Foundations Class, there were many lessons that provided me with tools to be an efficient leader. However, when my teacher exposed the class to servant leadership, I immediately took interest in it. At this moment, I finally directed my leadership to embody the qualities of a servant leader. Some of which include: acting with humility, encouraging the new generation of young leaders, valuing diverse opinions, and serving others before
Servant leadership is a theory based on Robert K Greenleaf’s belief that all men have a primary motivation to serve others and through this service they aspire to lead (Parris & Peachey, 2012). Although this leadership model has very little in common with charismatic and situational does however compare to transformational leadership in several areas. The main area of commonality between the two can be found as transformational leaders serve as stewards to change enable the followers to accept the change and move forward with the organization (Tichy & Devanna, 1990, p. 75). In essence, servant leadership becomes the long-term transformational approach to life and work.
Leadership and management for many go hand in hand, and may be perceived as one in the same. In the book titled, The Servant (1998), James C. Hunter challenged this mainstream view, and literally turned this concept, which so many are coached on, upside-down. The notions of what characterizes a virtuous leader, as well as what it means to serve others, are the primary focal points of Hunter’s book. He did an eloquent job of revealing his theory concerning effective leadership by using an allegorical approach which, made the content easier to digest and much more personable. The Servant deeply resonated with me, and I gained significant value from the attitudes Hunter presented which, I can apply to my schooling, personal life, and future career paths. I was also able to discern what I felt to be applicable elements regarding the mark of a worthy leader, and arrived at my own theories.
Leadership is an important factor within a business environment and often plays a significant role in achievement of organisational success (Landis, Hill & Harvey 2014). However, leadership is an art, therefore there is no simple formula for effective leadership (Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy 2015, p.33) and a leader’s effectiveness can often only be understood in the context of the leader-follower-situation interaction model.
What is the stimulus that encourages the emergence of a great leader? Robert Greenleaf’s theory of Servant Leadership places emphases on the individual, who is instinctively a servant.
Transformational leaders are proactive, inspire, provide individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation and idealized influence to their staff. Learning opportunities are created, encouragement to solve problems and development of strong emotional bonds are tools transformational leaders provide. Finally transformational leaders possess integrity, vision, rhetorical and management skills, and motivate staff to aspire to goals beyond self-interest. Transactional leaders focus on setting objectives or goals and creating a reward system upon attainment of the goals. Google exhibits the transformational style of leadership that comes in part from their servant leadership style. Smith (2004) defines six components of servant leadership: valuing people, developing people, building community, displaying authenticity, providing leadership, sharing leadership the style adopted by Google leadership
Infosys should consider expanding its operation into other foreign markets and industries. As indicated in the article, Infosys gets over 70% of its revenue from the United States and the majority of its big clients (such as Goldman Sachs, Visa or JC Penny) come from various industries but all of them are very sensitive to changes in the US economy. In order for Infosys to not only maintain but also increase their sales growth in spite of the referenced economic downturn, Infosys has to expand its global account management system along with restructuring its strategic account management. First and foremost Infosys should build a reliable network of foreign intermediaries in Asia and
This review acknowledges that additional empirical research is needed on servant leadership especially its current and potential future role in organisations. The authors state that Greenleaf warned that servant leadership would be extremely difficult to apply in an operational setting such as a company.