THEE Wrap-Up

Does your assessment agree with THEE's?

Think before you click!

■ Origin of the Ideas

R&T have, seemingly unknowingly, focused on two out of the many important areas of management life, neither of which are especially about leadership.
► decision-making
► interacting-for-benefit

Location in THEE: decision-making is at PH'1; interacting-for-benefit is at PH'6Qt4.

■ Principal Achievement

Identifying The Strategist.

■ Errors of Omission

Insufficient attention to pragmatic methods and requirements.

No mention of four well-recognized leadership categories found within the THEE frameworks relevant to the R&T study:
● The Pragmatic Achiever
● The Chief
● The Entrepreneur
● The Society-oriented Leader
+
Understandable omission of other leadership categories rarely evident in firms.
+
Omission of leadership related to other endeavour dimensions e.g. change.

■ Errors of Commission

» A category that rejects leadership (Diplomat)
» A category that avoids leadership (Individualist)
» A category that is too diffuse, being based on capability (Alchemist)

■ Blunders in Naming

Too many poor names.
The title of the article does not seem to describe the contents.

■ Classic Error

All academic work starts from defining terms: why not here?
Not defining «leadership» made this Exercise harder.

You can read much more about these frameworks and others, see and help develop practical applications, contribute to ideas and engage in discussions. Why not?

Till then, here is a final taster on leadership…

Using the formulation of leadership initially provided, THEE locates a framework for representing reality that emerges from the framework of change. These approaches generate and explain in an exclusive way seven leadership types, only one of which is identified by R&T: the Specialist Leader (= the Expert).

This typology looks at leadership itself—rather than confusing it with decision-making or self-interested interaction. These things are simply means used by leaders, by followers, by anyone and by everyone.

This THEE framework (date of posting not yet determined) distinguishes leaders by such things as:

► Mode of attainment of the leadership position
► Features distinguishing a genuine leader (if any)
► Type of leadership authority and its origin
► Source of the leader's power
► Essence of the leader-led relationship
► How leadership breaks down and the response to that.
► How and when to remove leaders

All leadership raises ethical questions—ethics is not reserved for R&T's supposedly "higher" types. The change categorization of leadership seems to align strongly with THEE's approaches to ethical choice. That is perhaps further confirmation of its validity and relevance to all current and potential leaders.

Suggest another THEE Exercise—see guidance.

Last Updated: 12-Jan-2012