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Brothers from Different Mothers—Confucius, Benedict, and Francis: the Historical Search for Humane Leadership

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Brothers from Different Mothers—Confucius, Benedict, and Francis: the Historical Search for Humane Leadership Journal of Human Resource and Sustainability Studies, 2013, 1, 34-42 http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jhrss.2013.13006 Published Online September 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/jhrss) Brothers from Different Mothers—Confucius, Benedict, and Francis: The Historical Search for Humane Leadership Cheryl Crozier Garcia1,2 1MAHRM Program, Hawaii Pacific University, Honolulu, USA 2Contributing Faculty, MHRM Program, Walden University, Minneapolis, USA Email: [email protected] Received May 10, 2013; revised June 30, 2013; accepted July 10, 2013 Copyright © 2013 Cheryl Crozier Garcia. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Ongoing global economic downturn, social and political upheavals, revolutionary changes in technology, and frighten- ing climate change are having massive impacts on the ways people live and work. This paper examines the teachings of 3 of these leaders: Confucius, Benedict of Nursia, and Francis of Assisi, whose teachings may inform the ways in which today’s leaders motivate a workforce and deal with uncertainty. Though separated by both time and culture, these 3 men shared common biographical traits that informed their teachings and shaped their ideas about appropriate behaviors for leaders and their subordinates. Compassion, sincerity, wisdom, and trust are traits that all 3 stress as vital for leaders trying to accomplish meaningful goals in the face of adversity. Keywords: Leadership; Servant Leadership; Transformational Leadership; Ethics; Morality; Confucius; Benedict of Nursia; Francis of Assisi; Ethical Leadership 1. Introduction bookstores are full of advice about responding courte- ously to people who are unmannerly or downright mean. The second decade of the 21st Century is being called a These sources suggest calmly asserting one’s needs and time of unprecedented change. The ongoing global eco- nomic downturn, social and political upheavals, revolu- being equally calm and assertive when calling unaccept- tionary changes in technology, and frightening climate able behavior to the bad actor’s attention. Still, poor be- change are having massive impacts on the ways people havior continues to thrive. live and work. Extremely high level of stress on the job People seem to think that this is a new phenomenon. is creating a work environment that can bring out the However, there have been other times in history when worst in people. Workers feel trapped in oppressive jobs rapid change leads to less than mature behavior. In those where their contributions are not valued. Managers feel times, people looked to their leaders to set the example of pushed to increase productivity with fewer resources. noble behavior in the face of uncertainty—and many of Layoffs, furloughs, and the loss of traditional employee those people were disappointed in what they saw of their benefits create feelings of frustration and hopelessness in leaders’ behavior. There are, however, some examples of wage earners at all organizational levels. The manager- leaders who have chosen to take the moral high road employee relationship is being strained as each tries to during times of strife, advocating unselfish, compassion- meet both performance imperatives and personal needs. ate leadership behaviors, and exhorting their followers to With few outlets for their frustration, people sometimes do likewise. These leaders’ counter-cultural approaches indulge in poor behavior, treating one another rudely, to leadership stress self-awareness, self-restraint, lifelong disrespectfully, and even abusively. Workplace bullying learning, and putting the needs of the group ahead of is becoming a serious problem in some companies [1-4]. individual profit. This paper examines the teachings of 3 One response to this upsurge in workplace hostility of these leaders: Confucius, Benedict of Nursia, and has been a call for a return to civility and a reminder to Francis of Assisi. Like today’s leaders, they lived “play nicely with one another”. Broadcast media and through times of unprecedented change; yet they man- Copyright © 2013 SciRes. JHRSS C. CROZIER GARCIA 35 aged to set examples of compassion, personal honor, and Conscientiousness, defined as going beyond the nor- humane leadership that continued to inspire those who mal requirements or expectations of the job. believed that the best leadership was leadership by ex- Courtesy, defined as politeness, respect, and consid- ample for the benefit of all. eration for others. Sportsmanship, defined as employees exhibiting a po- Leadership’s Current Conceptual Context sitive attitude and willingness to tolerate challenges in the work environment [8]. The relationship between leadership and organization Through the individual and organizational manifesta- survival is undergoing close examination. Current litera- tion of these core citizenship behaviors, leaders optimize ture focuses on the relational aspects of both. There is an stakeholder interests and fulfill the ethical duties of lead- increasing emphasis on ethical, servant, and transforma- ership [6]. tional leadership, in which those in leadership positions Leadership should not be viewed as a set of essential are expected to embrace a broader definition of stake- job functions or as a position within an organization’s holders and a longer-term orientation in assessing organ- chain of command. Rather, leadership is a social process izational success. The most current literature on leader- in which people at various levels in an organization work ship categorizes leaders in 3 ways: together to meet their own needs and the organization’s Ethical leaders, who “encourage normative behavior goals. In fact, within any organization, those in formal and discourage unethical behavior” [3]; leadership may not be the only individuals to whom lead- Servant leaders, who “emphasize[s] service to others ership authority is imputed. Informal leaders also have and recognition that the role of organizations is to the power to motivate the group to meet shared expecta- create people who can create a better tomorrow” [5] tions. Both formal and informal leaders are those who and; can personalize interactions with team members, provid- Transformational leaders, who “commit[s] people to ing the coaching and mentoring each might need to be- action, who convert[s] followers into leaders, and come a more valuable member of the organization. This who may convert leaders into agents of change [6]. requires a change in leader focus—moving away from a Regardless of its label, each type of leader shares sev- traditional leader-follower relationship construct to a eral common traits. They set the tone for subordinate be- leader-stakeholder approach based on ethically congruent havior, apply what they have learned through education relationships between equals playing different roles and experience to current challenges, and embed expec- within the organization. Ultimately, it is the perception of tations and assumptions about acceptable work perform- a person’s past success and everyday interaction between ance into organizational systems. Leaders are also ex- organization members that mark a person as a leader, pected to recognize and reward organization performance whether they hold a leadership position or not [7-12]. that meets or exceeds expectations and correct the sub- Current leadership challenges. Ethical, servant, and standard performance of people and systems. Trait, be- transformational approaches are not always successful. havior, and contingency approaches to managing people There are a number of reasons for this. First, leaders are and resources are part of the leader’s arsenal as are “dy- widely distrusted. Caldwell, Dixon, Floyd, Chaudoin, namic delegation” [7] and building connectivity between Post, and Cheokas’ (2012) study found that only 7% of employees and the information they need to succeed. employees believed that senior management’s words and This facilitation activity transcends mere encouragement actions were congruent; only 25% of employees trusted and compels leaders to take an active role in the profes- management to make good decisions in times of uncer- sional development of their superiors, subordinates, and tainty [6]. Second, while broad rhetoric makes an inspir- peers. In short, leaders play a critical role in shaping the ing vision, it is often difficult to turn a grand message ethical behavior of individual organization members as into reality. Third, there is often an incorrect assumption well as the organization’s collective citizenship behavior made that there is a pre-agreement of terms. Leaders and [1,3,8-10]. subordinates may not have a shared understanding of Ethical, servant, and transformational leadership mod- what is expected or how to achieve the stated, but poorly els all rely upon the same behavioral assumptions, which understood goal [1,9,15]. are articulated by Al-Sharafi and Rajiani [8] as having a Fourth, even a highly trusted leader with a well-un- mitigating effect on an organization’s citizenship behav- derstood message faces the challenges of a mixed reality. ior. Geographically dispersed and multi-cultural groups are Altruism, defined as employees helping one another difficult to manage. The combination of face-to-face and with job-relevant tasks. technology-assisted communication makes for spotty un- Civic virtue, defined as employees playing
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