Trust and empowerment

1
Trust and empowerment

• Class 7 and Class 8

2
How to inspire trust (leadership is a
relationship, Kouzes and Posner)

• When people look to admire leaders, honesty,
  forward looking, inspiring, competent, and fair
  lead the list
• Again the leader as servant based on trust
  and credibility
• Honesty is key and follows you in all your
  activities (principal and pencils)

3
Credibility

• Based on reputation
• Difficult to repair, easier to maintain
• Trust given on the basis of performance

4
Problem with Amoral leadership (OToole)

• Mandela as a leader (he outlived his handlers)
• Contingency theory of leadership (Kissinger,
  Welch?) is relativism wrong?
• Compromise on tactics, but not on strategy
• A true leader must be trusted, despite the day to
  day compromises of leadership

5
Leadership and trust

• Trust is a moral principle
• Respect comes from what you provide to your
  subordinates
• Ethics are inviolate contingency theory based
  on relativism
• What are the red lines (if any) of leadership?

6
Leadership and trust

• Leadership IS situational
• So, is nothing gereralizable?
• Few things are universally true in leadership
• Welch made touch choices (neutron jack)
• He began being sometimes abusive and attacking
  he alone knew best what changes were needed at GE

7
Motivation and job redesign

• Frederick Herzberg (The Motivation to Work) led
  to the importance of job satisfaction
• Growth oriented career trajectory
• Sociotechnical Systems Theory (STS) used in
  British coal mines improved efficiency

8
Motivation and job redesign

• Participative design
• Minimal not, complete design
• Open systems
• Autonomous work groups
• Job enrichment
• Shared power, information, rewards
• Egalitarian and humanitarian values

9
Problems of high commitment work systems

• Unrealistic expectations are common
• Employees begin as utopians, but reality sets in
• Inequity problems
• What do coordinators do, and how?
• What happens when employees reach the top
  theres nowhere for them to go?

10
Leadership and trust

• Changes to empowerment as a tactic
• GE was no longer hiring tyrants like Welch
• Like Patton, he is proud to have acted
  differently
• Abuse ok, according to Jack, if it works, and it
  only works in the short run
• Nuances of demanding, tough, and abusive

11
Questions for Jack

• Does he practice what he preaches?
• How do his subordinates see him?
• Is the culture both moral and effective?
• Cites a series of ethical flaws at GE
• Would welch have been more successful had he
  taken a higher road?

12
Lao-tzu 600B.C.

• A leader is best when people barely know that he
  exists, Not so good when people obey and acclaim
  him, Worst when they despise him.
• Fail to honor people, they fail to honor you But
  of a good leader, who talks little, When his
  work is done, his aim fulfilled, They will all
  say, We did this ourselves