Article

Transforming Leadership: An Assessment Tool

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Abstract

Several modern leadership theories seem to fit the leadership needs of business today and for the future as company structures, infrastructures, operations, and strategies change much more rapidly than ever before. Andersen Consulting (1999) engaged in a series of studies involving CEOs of major Fortune 100-1000 companies. These studies brought forth a serious concern that today’s leadership standards and styles are not keeping pace with the needs of today or the future. Corporations are becoming larger and more complex; the competition for all companies is more intense and the competitive environment is very turbulent; in addition, today’s stake- holders are more demanding. There- fore, the need for strategic and capable leaders is greater than ever, and the search for these individuals is becoming more rigorous. To compound the situation, individuals with leadership potential are still being overlooked, because the accepted wisdom that leaders are born, and not made, is very slow to change. The premise of this initiative is that potential leaders are being overlooked at every level in manufacturing organizations; and, that an assessment instrument could assist companies in identifying who might have potential and is yet untapped, those who desire to be developed as leaders and have leadership capabilities once trained and educated, and to determine the existing attitudes across ranks about leadership within the company culture. This researcher engaged in a study with manufacturing CEOs (Scarborough, 2001) to study the status of transforming leadership in manufacturing. Two companies involved in that research were interested in the development of an instrument that would assess the perceived status of leadership and development opportunities in their companies. The instrument would also assess the desire of employees across all levels to lead. The researcher worked with a panel of manufacturing professionals and developed and tested the two instruments presented here.

Keywords: administration|human relations|leadership|management|research

How to Cite:

Scarborough, J. D., (2002) “Transforming Leadership: An Assessment Tool”, Journal of Industrial Technology 18(2).