LEADERSHIP FORMATION
In their article, Örtenblad, Hong & Snell offer perspective into how bad leadership can be averted and good leadership be fostered or enabled. They do not define good leadership but site some negative consequences of indifferent leadership instead. They argue that these negative outcomes can be averted if leaders practiced good leadership. The paper then goes on to propose five ‘approaches to engendering better leadership’. These approaches include; education and development, practice, heritage, role expectation, and appropriate compensation. These approaches are discussed at length in the article but the authors acknowledge that more needs to be done in terms of studying the approaches and identifying the approaches that best foster good leadership.
This essay sets out to critique the heritage approach. This approach is based on the assumption that good leadership skills cannot be learned by most people but instead reflect special traits that only a small number of people are born with. This approach suggests that only those who possess an innate talent for leadership have the prerequisites that form the basis for subsequent development. According to this approach, indifferent leadership may be solved through better instruments for detecting the few talented people who have what it takes to become good leaders.
Leadership is about skills and attitudes and behaviours, all of which can be learned. The heritage approach is problematic because it only provides a solution to selection of potential leaders. The possession of personal traits considered to be required for leadership does not guarantee good leadership by the individuals. This approach will require to be supplemented by the other approaches in order to develop better leaders.
REFERENCES
Anders Örtenblad, Jacky Hong & Robin Snell (2016) Good leadership: A mirage in the desert? Human Resource Development International, 19:5, 349-357, DOI:10.1080/13678868.2016.1216736
Revans, R. W. 1998.The ABC of Action Learning. London: Lemos & Crane.
Stogdill, R. M. 1948. Personal factors associated with leadership: A survey of the literature. Journalof Psychology, 25: 35–71
[1] https://hbr.org/2008/02/leadership-abilityyou-either-h