ASSIGNMENT - AUGUST 2020

PROGRAMME : EXECUTIVE MASTER OF SCIENCE

ACADEMIC FACILITATOR : MR. PRASHAN COSTA

CAMBRIDGE COLLEGE SRI

LEARNING CENTRE : LANKA

Word Count: 3185

DECLARATION BY STUDENT

I certify that this assignment is my own work and is in my own words. All sources have been

Acknowledged and the content has not been previously submitted for assessment to Asia e

University or elsewhere. I also confirm that I have kept a copy of this assignment.

Signed: _____________________________

Student ID pg. 1
1. Using relevant leadership theories, critically evaluate the following
statement “Leaders are made and not born”. Share your own
experience citing relevant examples?

The statement “Leaders are made, not born” is a universally conversed and a
controversial topic, where even after decades scholars and experts are unable to provide
a concrete conclusion. The universal dilemma/riddle on which came first the hen or the
egg [ CITATION Lui \l 1033 ] Came to the world first may have reached a conclusion
through science, but the riddle on the Leaders whether they are actually born or can be
made, are still open to debate. However the author has the following views, and will be
explained based on leadership theories.

According to Forbes Leadership is a process of social influence, which maximises the

collective effort of the people involved to reach the expected targets and goals.
[ CITATION Kev \l 1033 ]. as we all are aware, just as the fingers in one hand are
different to each other serving for different purposes, individuals can be categorised the
same. People are born with specific different and unique traits and characteristics,
hence the author is in denial with the above statement that the leaders are made. In fact
the author is in agreement that leaders are born with the traits, however are that they
can be trained and cut and polished like fine diamonds.

According to the trait theories, leaders are born with specific traits that can make them
pop out from the ones that are not born with the leadership traits. [ CITATION ORG \l
1033 ]. Unique characteristics such as intelligence, people skills, decisiveness,
creativity, opportunistic, complexity, trustworthiness, motivated etc. are the main
characteristics that are portrayed from a natural leader. [ CITATION ORG \l 1033 ].
Further these leaders could portray different styles of leadership, be it autocratic,
democratic or Laissez Faire could depend on each person’s personality.

However just like a diamond needs a craftsman’s attention for perfection a leader also
would need a certain amount of crafting and moulding to be the best. This is where the
situation leadership theories come into play. A recent study conducted on identical
fraternal twins was able to give out the result that the Heritability of leadership traits
varies from 30% to 40% while the residual would emerge from more of a situational
factors and exposure to certain trigger factors and to role models and learning. (Avery,
Zhang, Avolio, Kruegar, 2007).

According to Blake and Mouton Leadership Grid, leadership is based on two

behavioural dimensions, which is concern for people and concern for task respectively.
Concern for people is the degree to which a leader considers the needs of team
members, their interests, and areas of personal development when deciding how best to
accomplish a task. Concern for task is the degree to which a leader emphasizes concrete
objectives, organizational efficiency and high productivity when deciding how best to
accomplish a task.

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The Blake and Mouton Leadership theory explains how leaders respond to each
situation and how they can be altered into fit a style “in the middle” which is not of any
extreme, too much people focused or task focused. According to the model, there are
81 leadership styles on how a leader can be made.

The author sees one the best example for a Leader that was born however who was
moulded to bring out the best leadership qualities is the Prime minister of Sri Lanka,
Hon. Mahinda Rajapaksa. Why he is the classic example of a combination of a born
leader made to achieve targets is, he was born to a family with a political background,
which proves he inherited traits from his ancestry of being leaders, but however the
prevalent political conditions made him make decisions that made him become the
leader of the whole country for the third time. The individual is highly charismatic,
influential, people oriented and task oriented that his massive following could bring
about any drastic changes to the overall legislative of the country. [ CITATION The \l
1033 ]

The author further approves the fact that leaders need to be born in order to seize
opportunities that emerge and lead the way to both achieve personal and organization
goals. The author states that he had been passively active as a child, passion driven to
achieve educational goals and was influential form early ages, that his charismatic
behaviour had led him to reach a top and world recognized title in a conglomerate as
the “World’s Youngest Master Blender”. As per the authors personal experience, the
author states that a person no matter what how much the external forces triggers a
person to push his/hers limits to break the barriers and be a leader, and idle person or a
person who does not have the discipline and the leadership traits within will never rise
to the light. And that a person who only has the qualities within will move forward to
achieve heights given the trigger factors.

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2. The business environment today is volatile, uncertain, ambiguous
and complex (VUCA). Hence organizations need to be proactive and
take steps towards meeting these challenges. Identify an organization
that has gone into innovation using entrepreneur decision making
tools and explain how this impacted on their business results?

The business nature of any organization is highly dynamic. The dynamic Macro and
Micro environmental conditions can be best explained by the VUCA model.

The VUCA Model

Volatile Uncertain Complex Ambiguous

According to the author, “International distilleries Lanka” is an organization which

sought a turnaround point with the new recruitment of the correct talent or in other
words Leaders in to the organization at the correct time.

International Distilleries Limited was incorporated in Sri Lanka during the year 2004,
after it was acquired over by East India Holdings (Pvt) Ltd. [ CITATION Int \l 1033 ] The
local market leader for the alcohol and spirits industry was identified to be the giant
none other than the Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka, commonly known as DCSL.
[ CITATION Liq \l 1033 ]. Since the entry of IDL into the local spirits industry, IDL was
the follower when DSCL lead the market with a significant portion of the market share
and revenues. Even though the initial investments were recorded high, and even though
the market opportunities were catching up, IDL lacked innovation, novelty and change.
As the author describes the below format best describes how IDL overcame and still
overcoming the market gap.

Student ID pg. 4
The International Distilleries Limited has perused an innovation lead VUCA focused
strategy, which will be explained through the author “The master blenders”
implementation plan and the perspective.

Volatility – Vision
The wine liquor and the spirits market faces volatility with the regulatory
implementations. The liquor industry faces fluctuations in revenues and demand mainly
due to the changes in laws and regulatory changes. The governments implement
policies and changes to policies in order to match the short term working capital needs
in the treasury.

However this challenge is been looked after by the entity through foresight and vision.
The best example can be given is how IDL and other entities reacted to the trade ban on
ethanol imports. [ CITATION Eco \l 1033 ] Since the new recruitment of the talent force
of IDL, the strategy setter had focussing on the means of producing ethanol in
house/locally. Further the implementation of locally manufacturing of ethanol and
toddy related substances enabled IDL to face the ban on ethanol imports, as a blessing
in disguise. The demand further increased, revenues hiked and the impact of the policy
change had been successfully dampened.

Uncertain – Understand
IDL tackles the uncertainty in the market through conducting extensive researches and
projects to collect data on the consumer behaviour. As the author explains IDL
allocates a prudent portion of its budget for conducting market research to captivate
markets, identify the tastes and the preferences of the consumer.

Complex – Clarity
The problem of the market conditions being complex as in different age categories,
different tastes and catering to each of the identified market result is a horrendous task.

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IDL highly focuses on perusing a focused strategy where a limited amount of the
market needs will be fulfilled. As the author identifies, clarity on the business strategy
pursued is vital to penetrate certain markets to be an active competitor.

Entrepreneur Decision making and achieving innovation

In the context international Distilleries as mentioned in prior stage, the company had
been stagnant in the market achieving generic results. As per the authors view the main
reasons are lack of innovation, new thinking, technological know- how and mainly and
most importantly the absence of and “Entrepreneur”. A distilleries perspective, the
blender Is seen and can be identified as the main decision maker and the entrepreneur
in this aspect since, the blender has the clear vision on which tastes would be highly
demanded and on which markets to capture.

Therefore with the installation of the new blender and the team, the company’s results
have seen a massive growth following the introduction of new blends, aromas,
acquisitions and joint ventures, and especially through focussing on segregated markets
both high end stars and low end cash cows.

As the author further states the entity is currently undergoing massive technological
changes through massive capital expenditure investments to make the production
effective efficient and economical whilst considering the quality innovation and an
augmented level of branding.

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Student ID pg. 6
3. “Informal Groups in an organization are becoming more effective
than formal groups when building relationship in an organization”.
Evaluate this statement using Conflict Management, Team working
and Team Building models giving examples?

A formal group is a group that is formed by the management or the strategy setters of
an organization to achieve specific goals and targets. The formal groups are formed to
according to a hierarchy, and follows a standard chain of command. The ledger of the
formal group could be democratic or authoritative. [ CITATION Dif \l 1033 ]. as
Tuckman explains the development of a formal team goes through the following stages.
[CITATION Bru \l 1033 ]
1. Forming – highly dependent on the team leader for guidance, unclear of the
individual roles and responsibilities the mammoth task in achieving the group
objectives falls in the hands of the leader.
2. Storming – during this stage the team members undergo various discussions and
clashes to segregate and identify the roles. Especially power struggles are hit
during this stage.
3. Norming – Under the norming stage the roles and responsibilities are well
understood. The commitment collaboration and the unity is strong. This is a
very progressive stage of the team.
4. Performing – the team achieves goals and targets effectively and efficiently. At
the performing stage the team leaders have the tendency to overkill and could
lead to disagreements. However the team is highly focused on achieving the set
goals with the leader on time.
5. Adjourning – this is the successful closure of the project. The team member are
more united and familiar among each other. The team member have the
expertise and the knowledge to perform another task generating augmented
results.

On the other hand an informal group is a group that is formed among the peers, without
the interference of the higher management, in order to achieve goals. These groups are
formed by 2 or more individuals to share knowledge, updates, know how or grievances.
There are no clear cut guidelines or a hierarchy on how the informal group operates, in
some instances, peers in the informal groups help each other to achieve the goals
effectively and efficiently. [ CITATION Dif \l 1033 ]. Further Dr Meredith Belbin
explains in his theory that individuals in a team adapt to certain roles based on
behavioural traits, rather than what is assigned to them through authority. And
highlights why a balanced and an informal approach may bring about augmented
results compared to a formal group. [ CITATION Bel \l 1033 ]

According to Belbin a group consists of the core team roles. The roles could be either
appointed or could be naturally elected.
1. Monitor Evaluator -
2. Specialist

Student ID pg. 7
 3. Plant
4. Implementer
5. Completer
6. Shaper
7. Coordinator
8. Team worker
9. Resource Investigator

It has become a trend in organizations that informal groups operate more effectively
than formal groups strengthening the team relationships in the organization. Analysed
below is how the informal groups address the conflicts that arise between generic
strategic groups. Generally conflicts among groups arise due to the following reasons.
[ CITATION Bus \l 1033 ]
1. Unclear responsibility and managerial expectations
2. Interpersonal communication lagging and relationships
3. Resource management
4. Conflict of interest, misunderstanding
5. Loss of accountability

The above reasons give birth to three major types of organizational conflicts.

Relationship
Conflict

Task
Conflict

Process
Conflict

Relationship Conflict
This is the conflict that arises between employees due to lack of understanding and the
interpersonal tension. When the group’s relationships are tensed the chain of

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communication and the link between the different levels gets tarnished which in return
could impact the projects results

Task Conflict
When the group is unclear on the tasks goals and the projects orientations the task
conflicts take place. Due to task conflicts incomplete work or dual work could take
place including any delays and financial losses.

Process Conflict
Process conflicts are the clashes among the team members due to the differences in
opinions on how work should be performed or completed. This generally causes delays
in achieving the goals.

Organizations see the introduction of informal groups as a remedy to solve the above
conflicts, and it has proven to be highly effective. The informal teams:
1. Promotes shared values and act inviting to the other members to take part
actively, since they share common thoughts beliefs and interests. The informal
groups act as a major influencer to others since the groups dynamic pushes a
leader to emerge and lead the way.
2. Due to the informality and the relationship among the members, the burden laid
on the top management reduces since the communication is faster and skills are
shared among the groups to achieve the targets.
3. Brainstorming and constant trouble shooting encourages novelty and creativity
among the members and new talent skills and values are born and identified.
4. The trust built among the peers lead to improved performances and collaborated
work being performed.

Stating from a practical aspect, informal groups formed in IDL has proven to be highly
effective. Due to the implementation of technology and capital oriented process a
significant portion of white collar jobs were made redundant, but the talent teams and
the know-how teams were held. And within the organization these individuals are
encouraged to form groups brainstorm and produce solutions for daily and recurring
bottlenecks.

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Student ID pg. 9
4. “It is important to understand in an organization how individuals
behave and how to influence them”. Explain this statement using
individual values, influencing strategies, organizations power
structure and people’s emotions giving examples?

An organizations success depends on its employees. The contented the employees are,
loyal and target oriented will be the employees. Therefore understanding the individual
behaviour and the type of influence the organization must have on the employees are
important.
Creating or the transformation of an individual into a leader or a high performer
depends on the Emotional Intelligence of the individual. [ CITATION Min \l 1033 ].
However the level of emotional intelligence and the degree of the controllability of EI
depends on person to person. [ CITATION Min \l 1033 ]. According to Daniel Goleman an
American psychologist, there are 4 main elements to EI. [ CITATION Min \l 1033 ] , and
can be explained as follows.
1. Self – Awareness
Self-awareness explains on how much an individual is aware of his emotional state.
The degree of self-confidence and motivation depends on the degree of self- awareness.
Some individuals find it difficult to accept their own personality traits and are in denial
of one’s own self, these individuals find it difficult to fit in and perform.
2. Self – management/Regulation
This explains how the individual manages one-self among the other peer groups,
subordinates, and superiors. Conflict management, receiving of negative and positive
criticism and management of effective communicational skills are a part of self-
management skills.
3. Empathy/ Social Awareness
A general sense about the peers and colleagues, caring about others wellbeing, using
sensitivity to another person’s feelings are considered in this aspect.

4. Social Skills/ relationship Management

Getting along with others, exchanging of pleasantries, effective communication, being
an inspiration and a role model to the subordinates are discussed under this social skills.

The above categories of individuals with the above identified emotional intelligence
categories can be further influenced by the following power sources. However
successful leadership and the following of the team depends on the ability of the Leader
Student ID pg.
10
on how well he /she uses sources of power tailor made to the individuals. The following
types of power were identified by French ad Raven (1959).
a) Position Power – the position power refers to the power an individual gains
through the organization position he/she is in. this power is defined clearly
under the organizational hierarchy and the job description. Under this the leader
could influence the individual in the following ways
i. Legitimate power – which is authoritative and provides orders.
ii. Reward Power – Rewarding an individual with something of
value based on the performance and other criteria, under his/hers
authority.
iii. Coercive Power- this stems from the above legitimate power,
however it is extended towards a more threatening and a
punishing level. This coercive power mostly comes into hand in
a leader when the leader is self unware and lacking empathy.
b) Personal Power – a person becomes highly influential and powerful from
internal sources and knowledge gained through experiences that the followers
look up to the leader for inspiration. This again can be segregated into
i. Expert Power – Comes from the knowledge and the experience
from performing job to his/hers full capacity, and comes when a
person is seen to be talented and versatile, that the leader can
lead others to achieve targets.
ii. Referent Power – Depends on the personality, qualities and
exterior persona of a person. People gets attracted to this power
mainly because the followers admire these leaders and identify
them as iconic and role models.
With great power lying within a person, there is a high chance that leaders may be
driven to juggle organizational politics. It is the ability and the responsibility of the
leader to use politics to the betterment of the organization and his team, or unless
mishandled, the organization values and the culture could go to jeopardy. The forms are
political power includes, the following.
a) Networking and Coalitions – Positive Impact
Building contacts and a wide network both inside the organization and outside the
organization to identify potential opportunities and the create expansion.
b) Personal Promotion – Positive Impact
Establishing credibility to sway and influence decisions in order to secure desired
outcomes for the group or the organization.
c) Information – Positive Impact
The positive kind of information s used in this context to justify persuade and prove
evidence for a particular proposal or an argument. The negative kind of information is
used to manipulate and gain power in a situation.
d) Upstaging – Negative Impact
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11
This is about publicly criticizing or humiliating a peer a subordinate or a follower in
order to gain credit form superiors and to hold power.

Sources and bibliography

Belbin's Team Roles. (n.d.). Retrieved from
[Link]

Business Jargons. (n.d.). Retrieved from [Link]

Chapman, A. (2020, July 29). Bruce Tuckman's 1965 Team-Development Model. Retrieved from
[Link]
performing-model/

Difference Between Formal Groups and Informal Groups . (n.d.). Retrieved from
[Link]
formal-groups-and-informal-groups/

Economy Next. (n.d.). Retrieved from [Link]

on-ethanol-imports-69999/

International Distilleries Limited. (n.d.). Retrieved from [Link]

Kruse, K. (n.d.). What Is Leadership. Retrieved from Forbes:

[Link]

Liqour Sector in Sri Lanka. (n.d.). Retrieved from

[Link]

Mind Tools . (n.d.). Retrieved from [Link]

ORG Module Unit 6: Leadership. (n.d.). Retrieved from

[Link]

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (n.d.). Mahinda Rajapaksa prime minister of Sri Lanka.
Retrieved from [Link]

Vilazon, L. (n.d.). The age-old riddle has finally been settled. Retrieved from Science Focus:
[Link]

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