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Introduction

The document discusses visionary leadership and its importance for organizational success, particularly in small to medium enterprises (SMEs). It describes how visionary leaders imagine new futures, challenge the status quo, and show what is possible. While critical for startups and times of crisis, visionary leadership can be disruptive when stability and execution are key. The document also discusses how vision provides direction by articulating goals, guides work, and inspires people. Finally, it notes that leaders help shape organizational culture and ethics.

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Salman Jan
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83 views2 pages

Introduction

The document discusses visionary leadership and its importance for organizational success, particularly in small to medium enterprises (SMEs). It describes how visionary leaders imagine new futures, challenge the status quo, and show what is possible. While critical for startups and times of crisis, visionary leadership can be disruptive when stability and execution are key. The document also discusses how vision provides direction by articulating goals, guides work, and inspires people. Finally, it notes that leaders help shape organizational culture and ethics.

Uploaded by

Salman Jan
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Vissionary leadership and organization success in SME sector

Introduction

The role of the visionary leader is to imagine futures, determine what is limiting about
the present, and show what is possible in the future. Visionary leaders such as Steve
Jobs, Winston Churchill, Walt Disney, Craig Venter, Billy Mitchell, and Thomas Edison
are a constant fount of new ideas and are “at war with the present.” Many high
technology startups have been founded by visionaries, but eventually end up being run
by operatives or fixers. The visionary leader imagines new possibilities, creating new
institutional facts and realities, and therefore plays a critical role in moving networked
organizations in new directions. This is an absolutely critical role in the start-up or crisis
phase of an organization. However, it can also be disruptive in circumstances where
continuity and execution are critical to success.

In the literature concerning leadership, vision has a variety of definitions, all of which
include a mental image or picture, a future orientation, and aspects of direction or goal.
Vision provides guidance to an organization by articulating what it wishes to attain. It
serves as "a signpost pointing the way for all who need to understand what the
organization is and where it intends to go" (Nanus, 1992). By providing a picture, vision
not only describes an organization's direction or goal, but also the means of
accomplishing it. It guides the work of the organization. Seeley (1992) describes vision
as a "goal-oriented mental construct that guides people's behavior." Vision is a picture
of the future for which people are willing to work.

However, vision is more than an image of the future. It has a compelling aspect that
serves to inspire, motivate, and engage people. Vision has been described by Manasse
(1986) as "the force which molds meaning for the people of an organization." The
concept of leadership is relevant to any aspect of ensuring effectiveness in
organizations and in managing change.
Schein (1985) has noted that leadership is a critical component of the organization's
culture because leaders can create, maintain, or change Sims (1992, 2000) has also
suggested that leadership is important to establishing an ethically-oriented culture. The
idea that corporate leaders are responsible for organizational ethics is not a new one
(Paine, 1997).

In 1938, management theorist Chester I. Barnard described the executive's role in


"creating morals for others" in his book The Functions of the Executive (Barnard, 1938).
Our definition of charismatic leader- ship is based largely on the work of House and
colleagues (House, 1977; House & Shamir, 1993; Klein & House, 1995). Specifically,
we defined charisma as a relationship between an individual (leader) and one or more
followers based on leader behaviors combined with favorable attributions on the part of
followers. Key behaviors on the part of the leader include articulating a vision and sense
of mission, showing determination, and communicating high performance expectations.
Favorable attributions effects on followers include the generation of confidence in the
leader, making followers feel good in his/her presence, and the generation of strong
admiration or respect.

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