E-Book, Englisch, 177 Seiten
Katulwa Enhancing Leadership Development in Kenyan MBA Programs
1. Auflage 2016
ISBN: 978-3-95489-490-1
Verlag: Diplomica Verlag
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection
E-Book, Englisch, 177 Seiten
ISBN: 978-3-95489-490-1
Verlag: Diplomica Verlag
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection
The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which MBA graduates perceived their MBA education experience to have contributed towards the development of global leadership competencies in their lives. The collected data related to what the respondents perceived to have observed vis-à-vis what they would have considered adequate for the development of global leadership competencies. Stratified sampling technique was used to select the respondents using disproportionate allocation of respondents within strata. Data relating to the key research objectives were analyzed using nonparametric tests specifically the Chi-square goodness of fit test and Wilcoxon signed ranks test.
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Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW:
2.1 Introduction:
The quality and relevance of the MBA education has been a matter of concern and debate to both practitioners and academicians in many parts of the world (Beck-Jones & Harper, 2009; Bolden, 2007; Bruce, 2010; Hill, 2006; Mathews & Edwards, 2005; Robbins, Bradley, Spicer, & Mecklenburg, 2001; Sulaiman & Mohezar, 2009; Zhao, Truell, Alexander & Hill, 2006). There is therefore, need to review and improve the quality of MBA programs in order to make business education more relevant to the needs of the graduates aspiring to serve in a fast changing business environment.
2.2 From Management Education to Leadership Education:
The difference between managerial and leadership roles has become more pronounced over the last few decades. Zaleznik (1977) who was among the first scholars to highlight the difference between the two roles perceived that, leaders and managers are essentially different types of people, and hence the conditions favorable to the growth of one may he contrary to the others. Underlying Zaleznik’s argument is the fact that leaders develop differently from managers and therefore a different approaches are appropriate for the development of each.
Kotter (1990) took Zaleznik’s insights further and pointed out that, while managers promote stability, leaders press for change and that, organizations need both to thrive during turbulent times. Kotter’s distinction between leadership and management lies within the key function and the activities involved in each role. In terms of function, management is about coping with complexity while leadership is about coping with change. Kotter’s distinction of the two roles of management and leadership emphasized the need to apply the right approach depending on the desired result.
To produce effective leaders for the 21st century therefore, MBA programs must go beyond equipping business students with knowledge and skills for planning, budgeting, organizing and staffing. Besides these functional skills and knowledge, business schools ought to endeavor to develop global leadership competencies relevant to the global business environment in which the students will operate.
In spite of the recognition that leadership and management are two distinct and necessary complementary roles in organizational development (Buhler, 1995; Kotter, 2000), many traditional MBA programs continue to treat leadership as a subset of management. In many management textbooks and MBA programs, the topic of leadership receives a casual mention, and in many instances, it is omitted altogether (Bosrock, 2007). This perhaps explains the strong functional orientation towards management knowledge and skills which makes traditional MBA programs strong in developing managers but weak in preparing effective business leaders for turbulent and complex business environment.
To develop leaders for the 21st century, MBA programs need to design their curricula in a way that strikes a healthy balance between the content meant to develop managerial competencies and that focused on developing leadership competencies. That way, the graduates from such programs will be able to function effectively in the complex business environment within which they will operate.
2.3 The Need for Leadership Development:
Hitt, Black and Porter (2005) identified change, technology and globalism as the three most serious challenges facing the 21st century managers. To overcome this challenge, the manager must learn to get things done through people. This in turn requires one to be proficient at assessing other peoples’ capabilities; matching people’s capabilities with appropriate responsibilities and motivating people.
De Meyer (2010) went further and identified eight key trends happening at an accelerating scale hence making leadership education crucial. These include;
- Growing internationalization of organizations,
- The fragmentation of value chains,
- The creeping increase in knowledge workers,
- The demands placed on companies by the civil society to be drivers of social change,
- The diffusion of sources of knowledge production and innovation,
- The increasingly networked nature of multinational organizations,
- The increasing need for risk management in a world where the gradual reduction of borders and, trade barriers that have led to an increasing level playing field for companies, and:
- The role of information and telecommunication technologies in networking.
As a result of changes in the global business environment, the role of the manager has changed significantly. The Enterprising Nation (1995) depicts the 21st century manager as the leader/enabler who differs largely from the manager of 1970s. To develop the leader/enabler manager, business schools and programs providing management education of necessity need increase their efforts at implementing a wide range of innovations, aimed at developing managers with new skills set (Gupta, 2011).
Leadership education is needed because of the role it plays in national and organizational development. Maathai in her attempt to spell out the centrality of ethical leadership especially in Africa has the following to say:
Good leadership could decide, for instance, not to sell off Africa’s natural resources for such low prices, and then to invest the additional revenue to accelerate human and economic development. Good leadership could curtail corruption, one of the most corrosive aspects of poor leadership that has been rife in post independence Africa. Good leadership would provide the milieu in which citizens can be creative, productive and build wealth and opportunity (Maathai, 2009, pp.112-113).
Leadership ability determines personal and organizational effectiveness. To stress the priority of leadership, Maxwell coined the phrase „Everything rises and falls on leadership” (Maxwell, 1998, p. Viii) and further summarizes the significance of leadership as follows;
If the leadership is strong, the lid is high. But if it is not, then the organization is limited. That is why in time of trouble, organizations naturally look for new leadership. When the country is experiencing hard times, it elects a new president. When a company is losing money, it hires a new CEO. When a church is floundering, it searches for a new senior pastor. When a sports team is losing, it looks for a new coach (Maxwell, 1988, p.8).
People hesitate to follow a leader simply because she holds a high position within the organizational structure. Consequently, leadership development is necessary for building the 21st century business leader’s social competence (Day, 2000).
In order to manage effectively, the 21st century manager must build and demonstrate her interpersonal competence. On the ground, the manager must model social awareness and demonstrate social skills (Gardner, 1990). Social awareness is demonstrated through the manager’s service orientation, ability to empathize and develop others. Social skills are modeled through the manager’s ability to manage conflict, foster a spirit of collaboration and cooperation as well as through relationship building.
The question as to whether leaders are born or made and whether leadership can be taught and learnt (Elmuti, Minnis & Abebe, 2005) has been a subject of debate for many decades. Two schools of thought have emerged on both sides of the divide with the proponents of the „great man” theory holding that some people are born with leadership qualities that qualify them to perform as leaders and hence there is little that can be done to develop leaders (Carlyle, 2007; Grint, 2000; Nietzsche, 1969). On the Other hand there is the other school of thought (Mostovicz, Kakabadse & Kakabadse, 2009; Maxwell, 1998), while acknowledging the existence of some innate qualities that incline some people towards natural leadership propensity views leadership as a process of exerting influence over others and thus they argue, everyone has the potential to lead, and that leadership skills can be developed. Kotter (2000) was of the view that dozens of people could play important leadership roles in the business organization if they were carefully selected, nurtured, and encouraged.
To date, many authors, researchers and scholars seem to favor the position that leadership can be developed (Gardner, 1990; Henrikson, 2006; Kakabadse & Kakabadse, 1999; Maxwell, 1993; Prince, 2001). A number of leadership experts among them Maxwell (1993) point out that leadership is not an exclusive club for those born with leadership qualities, but is a skill that can be taught. He further refutes the myth that leadership is a rare skill and, instead argues that leadership is rarely taught and that is what makes it rare.
Tubbs and Schulz (2006) and a number of other scholars and researchers among them Lennick and Kiel (2005) are of the opinion that values can be taught and learnt albeit less easily than behaviors. On this basis, business schools in many parts of the world have been blamed for not laying adequate emphasis on business ethics in their approach to business education (Cheit, 1985; Herrington, 2010).
Doh (2003) describes leadership as „an increasingly ubiquitous subject in business school curricula, a theme of popular business books, and a topic for academic and practitioner research” (p.54). In an attempt to answer the question whether leadership can be taught and what constitutes effective teaching of leadership, Doh interviewed leading management scholars involved in leadership research, education and development. All the interviewed scholars were of the view that leadership can be learnt. Regarding the question whether leadership can be taught, most of the management educators believed that leadership skills could be developed through formal courses and coaching.
