Graeme Hart Leadership: A Thorough Analysis

Question

Task: Analyse the Graeme Hart leadership, and the theories which has influenced him to develop this unique style of leadership.

Answer

Introduction
The concept or the terminology of leadership signifies different contexts in different scenarios. The approach or the methodology by which a single individual motivates a group of people to work towards attaining a single target or goal could be connoted by the theory of single term leadership (Northouse 2015). Though if conducted a detailed literature review, it could be noted that the ideology of leadership has evolved throughout a period and the theories regarding it still not have reached the level of perfection. The major factors which have the potential to create a significant impact over the ideology of leadership are phycological development at the social level, availability of the information available, societal factors, various organizational convolutions, the existing environment in the official surroundings, emerging laws, difference in cultures, etc. (Nawaz & Khan, 2016). The leadership followed by a certain person would always be different from others and hence would be unique. It is the leading theory followed by a person that would reflect majorly on the leadership style implied by him. Let us take an instance of a person, Hart, who has not even given an interview before the press of New Zealand for a decade. The family of Hart consists of four members who are his wife, two children, and himself. From the outlook of society, Hart could be perceived as a very self-reliant person. In the current scenario, Graeme Hart is considered one of the richest persons in New Zealand. He is also acknowledged by Forbes magazine as the richest person in New Zealand (NZ Herald, 2017). Hart has majorly focused on obtaining or acquiring the weak enterprises which rely on its daily business like the business of papers, water bottles, foils, milk bottles, etc. (Forbes, 2017). Various major business entities like Reynolds Group Holdings Ltd, Rank Group Investment Ltd., and Carter Holt Harvey Ltd. are currently owned by Hart (Bloomberg, 2016). Throughout his career, Graeme Hart has stayed away from the media and other limelight. Hart has always displayed a bashfulness from making a public appearance. His modus operandi is to avoid sharing any risk or profit with the shareholders and this is the main reason he operates as a leveraged buyout investor. Whatever the outcome of his business is, whether it is profit or loss, Hart always takes responsibility for it. In the below section of this report on Graeme Hart leadership, his specific type of leadership is being analyzed and discussed in a very detailed manner (Hunt, 2010).

To analyze the leadership style followed by Hart, various leadership theories should be taken into consideration. From an overall outlook, the style of Hart could be tagged as a narcissistic style of leadership. In this style of leadership, the person would keep his interest at the top of his priority list. The approach of such leaders would be very hostile, dominant, and arrogant towards the employees (Braun, 2017). It has been made clear by scholars that this type of leader has both its positive and negative aspects after its implication. The same type of leadership has implied by many famous personalities in world history like Mahatma Gandhi, Napoleon, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, etc. Since the leadership style of Hart majorly focuses on controlling the surrounding situations, his style could be related to that of the above-mentioned personalities. As mentioned in the above section of this report on Graeme Hart leadership, that he prefers not to share the risks with the involved shareholders. The major strategy he follows is to acquire a failing project and make it a successful one by implying his modus operandi and style of leadership. The major factor behind the success of people like him is the possession of qualities like drafting creative strategies, and being a skilled orator. Though there is also a negative aspect to this approach since the persons following the narcissist sort of leadership would show very less magnitude of empathy and have very little interest over the opinion of others. The approach is much more successful if the leader works with himself as a unit (Maccoby, 2004).

If taken into account the transformational theory of leadership, a strong resemblance could be observed with the Graeme Hart Leadership. The transformational style of leadership would reveal how the actions taken by the leaders would create an impact on the overall performance of the company. In this approach, the subordinates are encouraged by the leadership to attain the target which is deemed to be existing beyond the ordinary limit. Very evident similarities followed in Graeme hart leadership could be traced in the transformational style of leadership though they should not be considered the same. The major qualities of Hart which displays strong resemblance with the transformational style of leadership are the ability to make crucial decisions at a very difficult situation, ready heartedness of taking the appropriate risks, self-management, self-generated motivation, high active participation in the surrounding environment, ability to attain any hard goals, etc. Though the characteristics like the lack of listening mentality, keeping the personal ego unchecked, and the absence of sharing any organizational consciousness is considered to be the major difference between the Graeme hart leadership and the transformational style of leadership.

If the context of Charismatic leadership is taken into account, several resemblances could be traced when comparing with the Graeme hart leadership. The high presence of skill that is only retained by a rare group of people could be classified under the tag of charisma (Northouse, 2012). It is based on the two major factors, charm and persuasiveness that charismatic leadership majorly depends upon. The very charismatic people would possess some of the qualities which are very hard to imitate or master. The followers would continue to pursue the orders of the charming leader, no matter how hard it is to go along with. By this approach of the employees towards their leaders, three basic elements could be traced which are identification, apparition, and extraordinary qualities (Avolio and Yammarino, 2013). In a close encounter, there could be observed a close resemblance between charismatic leadership and the transformational style of leadership. The leader who follows the theory of charismatic leadership retains the characteristics like the high level of enthusiasm, the high capability to generate motivation among the employees, ability to deal with difficult situations, generating the feeling of trust among the subordinates, high-quality communication skills, etc. (Dubrin, 2015). In the case of Graeme Hart, a quality amalgamation of charismatic leadership could be seen. Hence the style of Graeme Hart could be stated as both outspoken and charismatic.

Among all of the leadership theories, the trait theory is the best one which could elaborate the Graeme Hart leadership on a much better level. The ideology that it is the intrinsic qualities possessed by the person which makes him a better leader makes the base of the trait leadership theory. By the term intrinsic, the qualities retained even at the time of birth are signified. The major difference between a leader and a non-leader person could be observed in the intellectual and physical aspects. It is the personal traits of the person which contributes to the leadership quality as per the charismatic leadership ideology. Though in the case of Graeme it is very evident that he had not shown any trait of a leader in his childhood. This could be much more evident if he referred to the occupation he followed after pursuing his academic graduation. He used to work as a tow truck driver and a panel beater at that time. It is the experience he has acquired from various sections of the market and economy that has made him such a knowledgeable and efficient leader. The major incident which helped him in acquiring the leadership quality was acquiring an MBA from Otego Unversity. Some of the characteristics and qualities which were retained by Graeme like decisiveness, cleverness, ability to tackle the risk, high knowledge about the working environment, self-confidence, have a piece of thorough knowledge about the concepts to be implemented in the market, persuasiveness towards the employees, and the exiting dominant character helped him to attain success in the business. The major characteristics that put aside Hart from other leaders are taking the sole responsibility for his decisions. It is on his decisions that various risky advancements are carried out by the company and whatever poor result it should result in, Hart would take all the responsibility. In the same manner, he is not willing to share the credit of rewards he has acquired from his approach.

If looked into the business academics, it could be ascertained there is an evident rift in the concept of management and leadership. In the below section of this Graeme hart leadership, some of the details regarding it are discussed. In a practical scenario, there would be only a very small difference between a manager and a leader. Let us take a detailed look into some of the common and evident differences between them. To turn into an effective leader, the person should retain some extraordinary qualities, which are not at all needed in the instance of being a manager. In the profession of managers, the officials are required to copy the processes and approaches of other successful personalities. The innovative approach would be observed in the leadership since they try to work out of the box, while the managers try to work in the confined limit to satisfy the orders of the higher officials. Hence it could also be said that the managers rely majorly upon the learned behaviors. It is the activity of the leaders in a specific field that pioneers the major change in the approaches. The managers are not allowed to work beyond the demarcated set of rules and regulations. The leaders would keep on changing their approaches whereas the managers would try to stick around the approaches which seem to provide the best results. Whereas the managers put forward a well-calculated set of goals in front of the employees, it is the vision that is put forward by the leader in front of his subordinates. It takes a certain level of inspiration and effort to work towards a certain vision. The employees had to work and put extra effort to turn out the vision of the leader into a reality. It has been observed in the corporate world that providing the subordinates with a vision has resulted in higher productivity rather than just setting personal goals for them. In the case of the managers, a shorter set of goals is et rather than longer set goals since it is very convenient to be followed in the relevant business operations. It is by evaluating a set of goals and short-term targets that managers would measure the output from the employees. In the corporate scenario, leaders are perceived to be risk-takers whereas the managers are expected to control the risk. The possibility or probability of the risk would not stop the leader from pursuing any project if he is willing to do it. Unlike others, the failures are perceived as a stepping stone towards victory by leaders. As mentioned in the above section of this Greene hart the managers have not to trust in taking risks since their major aim is to somehow mitigate the possible risk. If taken into account the ideologies followed by both the managers and the leaders, there could be observed a wide range of differences. The thought space of the leaders is much wider as compared to that of the concise thought process of the managers. The leaders are very motivated towards achieving a much larger vision and long-term goals. If compared to the leaders, the motivation of the managers is comparatively very low and hence would require regular rewards and profits to sustain the effort.

The approach of a leader towards his employees would be a sort of relationship whereas the approach of the managers is to somehow generate a systematic transaction in the system (Arruda, 2016).

Hence from the content provided in the above section of this Graeme hart leadership essay, it could be ascertained that there is an evident difference between the approach of managers and leaders. It is a very debatable point, whether a leader could be a good manager. If taking the instance of Graeme Hart, it is hard to say whether he is both an excellent leader and a brilliant manager. Both the act of being a good leader and a good manager is very different from each other. Though it should be understood that both effective leadership and managers are very important in the context of the business. The zeal to improve in the approach implied in an organization that would help the person in sustaining much longer in the relevant career. The whole effort of the person should help the company in attaining its final motive (Sriperambuduru, 2014). Though it is quite probable that an effective leader could work as a brilliant manager though the reverse method could not be practicable every time. If looked upon the scenario of Graeme hart it could be observed that he is although a very good manager, he is not at all an efficient manager. It has been revealed in one of the articles published by the Forbes magazine that different set of skills are required to become a leader and a manager. Every leader should identify and understand the significance of an efficient managerial body in an organization. There should be a proper parameter that must be implied to measure the quality of management (Clark, 2013). In his course of a career, Graeme Hart has evolved into a very good leader and has understood the significance of good managerial approaches. For management, Graeme Hart has employed only the professionals like it is done in the department of human resources, accounting, finance, marketing, etc. The manager is expected to make his decision on his conscience though he is not expected to take unwarranted risks like the readers. The manager is only allowed to make changes in the existing system by relying on the framework provided by the organizations. If the organizations retain a very bad team of managers, then it would have to deal with a high amount of loss. Hence the presence of inefficient managers would lead the organization towards the path of failure. Similarly, if the company retains a very large team of managers, it may turn a very harmful aspect for the company. Hence maintaining a balance between the quality and quantity while the process of recruiting the managers is very important for the company (Beck and Harter, 2014). As mentioned in the above section of this report on Graeme Hart leadership, Hart is a very efficient leader and has knowledge regarding what type of managers are required in the organization. If taken the case of organizations operated by hart, it could be observed that the team of managers is considerably small and consists of very efficient people. The approach towards the managers are very strict and no dip in the performance would be allowed to affect the outcome of the organization. The leadership quality of Hart would always overshadow the inefficiency of the managerial team.

In the final section of this report of Graeme hart leadership, it could be observed that the approaches of Hart are ideal for many of the entrepreneurs operating in the global platform. It is by his regular perseverance and hard work by which Graeme Hart has developed himself into a successful entrepreneur and billionaire. The Graeme hart leadership displays a strong link with the theories of charismatic style, narcissist style, and transformational style. Hart does not like much of media attention and hence leads a very private life. It could be observed from the Graeme Hart leadership that he always positions his preferences at the top. His ability to motivate his subordinates to make the strong resemblance to both the transformational and charismatic style of leadership. The skill of efficient communication makes him a very extraordinary leader. He is a better decision-maker and risk-taker, thereby considers himself as the sole responsible person for the output. The attractive personality and a unique charm in him motivate other subordinates to follow his path, which could be considered a boost to the motivational activities. Hence in the instance of Graeme hart leadership, the trait theory could be related very significantly. The present Graeme hart leadership has evolved over a while by assimilating various ideologies of leadership. Over time, Graeme hart had acquired some characteristics like high knowledge regarding the business concepts, cleverness, decision-making abilities, knowledge regarding the operational market, the mentality to take the risks, confidence, and dominance over the office elements. All the leadership qualities were acquired by the exercises he has accrued in the business. There is no significant flaw in the Graeme Hart leadership and thus it is very hard to criticize ground realities. Though the scenario changes utterly when taken into consideration the scenario of managers. The ideologies and principles followed behind the concept of managers and leaders are much different. Different skills are required to reach excellence in manager and leadership positions. Though Hart is a very good leader, he lacks a little bit in the managerial aspect. Hart understands the significance of an efficient management team and hence he has employed a very efficient team in his company. Though all the crucial decisions regarding the company are still made by Graeme Hart. It is the Graeme Hart leadership which still protrudes as a unique feature that overshadows the role management in the success of the companies.