Leadershipteam Workstrategic Management

LEADERSHIP

Motivation

Chapter I . Leadership skills and leading practices

1. Leadership and business excellence

1.1.The concept of leadership

2. Transformational Leadership Model

3. Profile of a woman leader and a leading man

4. Functions of Managers and their Various Skills of Leadership

5. Values and leadership excellence

6. Leadership measurement instrument

Chapter II Strategic leadership

Chapter III. Ethical leadership

Chapter IV. Methodology of the study

1. Paper purpose and objectives

2. Research approaches

3. Research limitations

4. Further research

5. Expected results

Chapter V. BCR case study

1. BCR -overview

2. Leading Practices at BCR

2.1.Present activities concerning improvements leadership skills

2.2.Product offering

2.3. Financial evolution analysis and leadership efficacy

2.4.Rewarded findings

Conclusions

Bibliografy

Motivation

Every paper-work rises a logical question: why did you choose to tackle this subject? In my case I must say that the aim of this study is to examine the importance of leadership practices and quality management for an organization whose status is the most favourable from an established teritory and should be permanently reinforced.

As for the research study I selected the Romanian Commercial Bank because I think it is the most representative bank of our banking system, the banking market leader in Romania. Beyond the fact that a bank always represents a reliable example for a leadership and quality analysis, a BCR case study is a better example for a well-known economical struggle- the secret of permanent success.

Financial results, continued growth in business volume and quality of professionalism confirm BCR employees and management, in a permanent improvement of risk management, customer relationship bank, business partners, as well as management costs. There are many factors that can reinforce the credibility and the reputation of a bank as solid, balanced and dynamic and a good management of leadership skills and quality excellence are primary. As a result of a successful mixture of skills and business plans, BCR is nowadays considered the most powerful and efficient bank system.

Bank performance analysis is crucial, the banking system in the economy a main circulatory system. Banking sector development is one of the essential operations of promoting economic reform and consolidation of a market economy development.

The objectives of this paper will be revealed across the evolution of the text which begins with a conceptual basis for quality and different means of measurements. This part will continue with a theoretical basis for leadership practices and the challenge of business excellence and it will end with a case study about financial evolution of BCR and the applied leadership skills and quality management seen across the evolution of the most important bank from Romania during five years.

Chapter I Leadership skills and leading practices

Leadership and business excellence

When talking about leadership we must first of all talk leading organizations. Organizations are different in many aspects, for example, size, complexity and types of customer. Some people say that what you really want to know about an organization is impossible to measure. I believe that this is not true. The fact that most organizations do measure their performance, and, in my view, should continue to do so, means that there must be substance in organizational performance measurements. This paperwork aims to reveal whether today’s leaders of organizations are used to their full potential or if there is room for improvement. Over the last ten years the term ‘business’ or ‘organizational’ excellence has become frequently used in quality and management literature. BE, as used by many authors of quality management literature, has the same or similar meaning as Total Quality Management (TQM).

1.1.The concept of leadership

LEADERSHIP DEFINITION

Leadership is a process of creating a vision for others and having the ability to translate that vision into reality and sustain it.

THE ATRIBUTION MODEL

When someone behaves in a certain way, there must be an explanation. The attribution model suggests that a leader's judgment about employees is influenced by the leader's interpretation of the causes of the employees' performance.' The leader's attributions, as much as the employees' behaviors, determine how the leader responds to their performance. A leader b#%l!^+a?obtains information about employees and their behaviors through daily observations of their work. Based on this information, the leader interprets the reasons for the employees' behaviors and takes actions to deal with them when necessary. Orit Gadiesh(an Israeli-American corporate strategist and chairwoman of management consulting firm) asserts about employees' behaviors that it "included their desire to compete, have fun, and display their emotions at work".

LEADERS’ ATRIBUTIONS

Leaders must determine whether personal or situational factors cause behavior. A leader's attributions reflect an ability to process information about three dimensions of behavior: distinctiveness (Did the behavior occur during performance of this task only?), consensus (Is this level of performance usual for other employees?), and consistency (Is this level of performance usual for this employee?). The answers to these three questions identify for the leader either external (situational) or internal (per- sonal) causes for employee performance.

This distinction is crucial to good leader-employee relations.' An employee whose successes or failures are attributed to personal skills is likely to have different interpersonal relations with the leader than an employee whose successes or failures are attributed to factors over which the employee has little, if any, control. Leaders should attempt to change an employee's behavior only after attributing poor performance to an internal cause. For example, if a leader of an organization believes that a subordinate's poor performance is caused by the situation, he is more likely to provide additional resources, redesign the job, or otherwise change the situation in some way. But, if he believes that his poor performance is attributable to personal reasons, he will more likely try to motivate him to improve his behavior, offer him training to improve his skills, or reprimand him.

IMPLICATIONS FOR LEADERS

Leaders often tend to make internal attributions about poor employee performance, often leading to the punitive actions. Such actions usually are resented by employees who often do not feel responsible for the problem. Once the leader attributes performance problems to employees, the leader is less likely to give them support, coaching, and resources. Moreover, when employees make mistakes or have difficulty performing tasks, the leader is likely to blame them rather than recognizing situational causes or the leader's own contribution to the b#%l!^+a?problem. Therefore leaders must learn to be careful, fair, and systematic about evaluating employee performance. They need to aware of the many options available for dealing with different causes of performance problems and the importance of selecting an appropriate one.

TYPES OF LEADERS

A.VISIONARY LEADERS

Leadership is inherently future-oriented. It involves helping people move fromwhere they are (here) to some new place (there). However, different leaders define or perceive here and there differently. For some, the journey between here and there is relatively routine, like driving on a familiar road. Others see the need to chart a new course through unexplored territory. Such leaders perceive fundamental differences between the way things are and the way things can or should be. They recognize the shortcomings of the present situation and offer a vision of how to overcome them. Thus visionary leaders see beyond the current realities, define new goals, and generate ideas about how to achieve those goals.

History is replete with examples of individuals who have had extraordinary success in generating deep changes in the beliefs, values, and actions of their followers. These individuals (Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John E Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther, and Joan of Arc, to name but a few) transformed entire societies through their words, actions, and visions. In today's organizations, such people include Yotaro Kobayashi of Fuji Xerox, Jean Kvasnica of Hewlett-Packard, Ray Lane of Oracle, and many others. Individuals who set great changes in motion are often described as visionary leaders. Their behaviors may be classified as charismatic, transactional, and transformational. We can best describe the differences between these types of leaders in the workplace and their behaviors by examining their sources of power.

B. CHARISMATIC LEADERS

Charismatic leaders concern themselves with developing a vision of what could be, discovering or creating opportunities, and increasing employees' desire to control their own behaviors. Charismatic leaders rely on the power they obtain through followers' identification with them. Followers identify with and are inspired by charismatic leaders in the hope that they will succeed or even become as powerful as the leader. Charismatic leaders also have the ability to distill complex ideas into simple messages, communicating with symbols, metaphors, b#%l!^+a?and stories. Charismatic leaders relish risk and emotionally put themselves on the line, working on hearts as well as minds.

C. TRANSACTIONAL LEADERS

Transactional leaders use power derived from rewards and punishments to influence their followers. Unlike charismatic leaders, transactional leaders create visions that don't capture the emotional spirit of their followers. Their visions focus on the exchange of rewards and punishers for achieving results. Leaders help followers identify what must be done to accomplish the desired results. In helping followers identify what must be done, the leaders take into consideration the followers' needs.

This type of leadership is based on some sort of contractual exchange (often implicit) between leader and follower." A factory work crew supervisor expects subordinates to follow directions, and the supervisor's subordinates expect to follow such directions. Each party has these expectations because of a contract between them specifying that, if the employees do the work required, they will receive a certain amount of money. However, exchanges need not involve material things. Most exchanges are based on intangible social or nonmaterial rewards or feelings. Designing and maintaining exchanges in organizations so that people can work together effectively is crucial. Robert Crandall, CEO of AMR Corporation (parent of American Airlines) is an example of a transactional leader. His negotiations with American's pilots and flight attendants saved the company significant labor costs and gave it a competitive advantage over its cornpetitors, notably Delta and United Airlines. As a result, American has been able to expand its flights into new markets and not lay off personnel.

Richard Rosenberg, CEO of BankAmerica, used his transactional leader behaviors to b#%l!^+a?change radically how that organization does business. In the following Quality in Practice piece, we highlight some of his behaviors.

D. TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERS

Transformational leaders rely on their referent and personal sources of power to arouse intense feelings and motivate their employees. Unlike charismatic or transactional leaders, transformational leaders' influence derives from their followers' personal acceptance of certain values. Values provide guidance in making decisions and behaving, so the followers, who share the leader's values, aren't dependent on the leader's orders.

Frances Hesselbein, former presver its cornpetitors, notably Delta and United Airlines. As a result, American has been able to expand its flights into new markets and not lay off personnel.

Richard Rosenberg, CEO of BankAmerica, used his transactional leader behaviors to b#%l!^+a?change radically how that organization does business. In the following Quality in Practice piece, we highlight some of his behaviors.

D. TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERS

Transformational leaders rely on their referent and personal sources of power to arouse intense feelings and motivate their employees. Unlike charismatic or transactional leaders, transformational leaders' influence derives from their followers' personal acceptance of certain values. Values provide guidance in making decisions and behaving, so the followers, who share the leader's values, aren't dependent on the leader's orders.

Frances Hesselbein, former president of the Girl Scouts, strove to define and make explicit certain important values—trust, empathy, openness, and honesty—that she and her subordinates held in common. Faced with falling membership, she challenged the organization's policies, practices, and procedures, but never its values, purpose, or mission. Such values guide action, enabling the transformational leader to rely on the followers' judgment. Transformational leaders are described by others as servants or stewards rather than bosses. One task of a transformational leader, then, is to turn subordinates into self-directed leaders.

What methods do transformational leaders use that have such a profound effect on their followers and generate this type of relationship? Transformational leaders exhibit three behaviors: vision, framing, and impression management.

2. Transformational Leadership Model b#%l!^+a?

-Vision

Perhaps the most important behavior of transformational leaders is their ability to create a vision that emotionally binds people together. People may become exhausted, frustrated, disenchanted, and tempted to give up. Visionary leaders encourage others' "hearts" to carry on. Such encouragement can come in simple gestures or actions. At Mobil Oil, Continuous Improvement Advisor Steve Butt occasionally puts on a clown's suit and gives out balloons to employees when certain quality milestones are reached. Such acts always get a good laugh from people, and Butt enjoys playing the role.

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-Framing

Mary Kay Ash, founder and president of Mary Kay Cosmetics, began her company in 1963 to help women earn as much money as men. She wanted her salespeople to be paid on the basis of their contributions and not because they were women or men. She framed her vision by giving women a purpose for working for her new organization.

Transformational leaders are willing to take risks and nontraditional career paths to reach their goals. In short, they challenge the status quo by framing their vision of the future. That is they may champion a new product through its development, get a groundbreaking piece of legislation enacted into law, initiate a campaign to get teenagers to join an environmental cleanup. Joan Lappin vividly remembers her introduction into the men's-club world of Wall Street. As an analyst with Equity Research Corporation, she had been invited to lunch at the New York Stock Exchange's lunch club. The security guard wouldn't let her in because the club rules prohibited women. Undaunted by this rule, and after several years of training, she founded her own firm, Gramacy, which specializes in investing in stocks that she believes are grossly underpriced. Since forming her organization in 1986, her firm now is recognized as one of the best investment firms on Wall Street. Now she gets a kick out of declining luncheon invitations to the NYSE's club (now open to women).

-Impression Management

Transformational leaders use tactics designed to enhance their attractiveness and b#%l!^+a?appeal to others, referred to as impression management. When Mary Kay Ash arrives at her company's annual meeting to present awards to her beauty consultants, her entrance befits a queen. She is lowered on a throne from above into billowing clouds below. She descends from her throne in a long flowing pink ball gown, adorned with jewels. The more than 8000 beauty consultants are captivated by her presence, setting the mood for the event. She leads them in songs, crowns top performers, and personally asks each winner to repeat the "Mary Kay oath." Obviously, she has the ability to inspire others through her words, vision, and actions.

Transformational leaders lead by example. Their actions are designed to express and reinforce organizational values and beliefs. Ken Wilkinson is the general manager for information systems at Greyhound Lines. On a tour of the Austin, Texas, bus terminal with local terminal management, he sees a passenger wandering around the terminal looking for something. He excuses himself from the group, approaches the person, and asks, "Is there something I can help you find?"

Such actions do more than could dozens of memoranda on the importance of customer service.

Steve Jobs of Apple Computer, Wayne Huizenga of Blockbuster Video, Anita Roddick of The Body Shop, Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, and Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines are among the transformational leaders that you might have read about. Through their leadership, these people have been able to motivate employees and change their organizations in unique ways.

Transformational leaders consider themselves as change agents, are courageous risk takers, believe in the abilities of their followers, and can dream andshare this dream with others. Transformational leaders build confidence among their followers by helping them increase their self-efficacy and giving them freedom to take the initiative. Seeing themselves as teachers and stewards, they empower their followers to become partners in their endeavors.

Implications for Leaders

Transformational leadership may be most appropriate when an organization is new or when its survival is threatened. The problems faced by such organizations call for leaderswith vision, confidence, and determination. These leaders will have to influence others to assert themselves, to join enthusiastically in team efforts, and arouse positive feelings about what they are attempting to do. b#%l!^+a?

Transformational leadership isn't a cure-all for organizations. Because transformational leaders' effects can be more emotional than rational, they have certain limitations. First, followers of such leaders may be so zealous that they are blind to conditions surrounding the leader, a bit like the children who followed the Pied Piper of Hamelin. For example, Steve Jobs at Apple Computer achieved unwavering loyalty and commitment from his employees during the late 1970s and early 1980s. He created a vision for them that personal computers would dramatically change the way people lived. However, once the need for this vision was fulfilled, Jobs became a liability to Apple. He was unable to listen to what experts in the PC industry were saying about Apple, became uncomfortable when employees challenged his views, and began to hold an unjustifiable belief in his "rightness" about issues. Because of these problems, he was replaced by a less charismatic leader, John Sculley, who has since been replaced himself as Apple's profits and market share dwindled.

At worst, transformational leaders emotionally manipulate followers and create visions for their own self-aggrandizement. They can even wreak havoc on the rest of the world. A tragic example of the negative aspects of transformational leadership was David Koresh, the Branch Davidian cult leader who died along with his followers in a fiery farmhouse near Waco, Texas, in 1993.

Second, such leaders may lack communications and impression management skills. Organizations that become dependent on transformational leaders run the risk that they will surround themselves with "yes people" and thus fail to receive information that might be important but challenging to their visions.

Finally, some transformational leaders are known for their autocratic management style. Ross Perot, for example, was used to running his own organization at Electronic Data Systems (EDS). When EDS merged with General Motors and Perot was made a GM board member, he became one of GM's most outspoken critics. He insisted that any changes in EDS's procedures be cleared through him. His style and outspokenness were revealed again during his 1993 TV campaign against NAFTA, including his TV face-off with Vice President Al Gore.

These limitations must be considered, but organizations such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot have found that transformational leadership and its philosophy can become an important part of their operating style. That is, organizations in the 1990s must understand, appreciate, and support those employees who are willing to make unpopular decisions, who know when to b#%l!^+a?reject traditional ways of doing something, and who can accept reasonable risks. A "right to fail" must be nurtured and embedded in the organization's culture.

DOES LEADERSHIP MATTER?

The various models make contradictory recommendations about leadership style (that is, use a consideration or an initiating structure, use an autocratic or a consultative approach, and so on), all are based on the assumption that leaders make a difference in organizations. Several researchers have attacked this assumption, concluding that the varying nature of a situation or type of followers cast doubt on the relative importance of leaders in organizations. These researchers suggest that leaders sometimes have little impact on the attitudes and behaviors of their followers. Sometimes, no matter what a leader does, employees are satisfied or dissatisfied with their jobs, attain or fail to reach their goals, and perform well or poorly without a leader exerting much influence. These arguments can be classified as (1) leader irrelevance and (2) substitutes for leadership.

LEADER IRRELEVANCE

Jeffrey Pfeffer(an American business theorist) has argued that leadership is irrelevant for many organizational outcomes. He stresses a situation-based approach to understanding leadership, emphasizing that situations are more important determinants of organizational effectiveness than leaders' behaviors. His argument stresses three point.

First, factors outside the leader's immediate control affect profits and other success factors more than anything a leader might do. Consider the recent situation facing Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin, the largest defense contractor in the United States, was formed in 1995 by the merger of Martin Marietta, Lockheed Corporation, and Loral Vought. Much of Lockheed Martin revenues comes from U.S. defense contracts. When the federal government announced that it was cutting defense contracts, Norman Augustine, CEO, found that he had to slash millions of dollars from its budget to keep the company operating. In addition, he had to sell off operations that weren't part of the company's core businesses in order to reduce debt.

Second, only rarely do leaders unilaterally control the resources needed to influence others. The leader's power to reward or punish people is constrained by organizational policies, politics, and/or the power of stakeholders outside of the company. As Augustine discovered, shareholders and creditors exerted pressures on Lockheed Martin to divest noncore businesses b#%l!^+a?so that it could raise $1.8 billion in cash to improve its financial position.

Third, the selection process through which all leaders pass filters people in such a way that those in leadership positions tend to act similarly. Therefore the impact of a leader on the organization is reduced. For example, in the 1996 presidential election campaign it was virtually impossible for some leaders—extremists whether right or left—to be elected. People who eventually win elections are more alike than different. Therefore selection processes generally reduce the impact of any change in high-level leadership. In some organizations, such as JC Penney, Allstate Insurance, The Associates, and Alcoa, leaders tend to be long-time employees who have paid their dues while climbing the corporate ladder. They have followed proven career paths that their predecessors used. For example, in the 1980s, many CEOs rose through the ranks of marketing. In the 1990s, the trend is for engineers and technical people to rise to positions of leadership.

SUBSTITUTES

A leadership substitute is something that acts in place of a formal leader and makes leadership unnecessary. The success of a particular leader depends on the characteristics of the followers, team, situation, and organization. Each can act as a substitute for a particular leader behavior. Consider the case of Robert Kennedy, an ophthalmologist at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center. The tasks that his staff perform are intrinsically challenging for them. Hence the substitutes model suggests that leader consideration would have little impact on his followers because the tasks that they are performing give them considerable job satisfaction. Therefore it is unnecessary for Kennedy to engage in considerate behaviors to influence his followers. The model also suggests that Kennedy direct his considerate behavior toward followers performing routine tasks that provide little job challenge and satisfaction. In essence, substitutes can free up a leader's time to concentrate on other activities that need attention.

A recent review of the research on leadership substitutes provides some sup- port for this model. Leader substitutes, such as employee maturity, group norms and cohesiveness, team performance, task structure, and professional recognition, affect subordinates' behaviors. Actions by leaders influence the substitutes through employee selection, task design, work group assignments, and the design of reward systems. Part of being an effective leader is knowing when to use substitutes to influence others. For example, a charismatic leader who is in charge b#%l!^+a?of a highly effective team needs to provide less active leadership than a transactional leader in the same situation. Leader substitutes are important but do not eliminate the role of the leader.

3. Profile of a woman leader and a leading man

It is clear that women and men tend to have different leaders, bringing diverse contributions within the organization. Each leadership style contributes to the diversity and offer unique capabilities essential for organizational effectiveness. We have previously shown similarities and differences that arise in the style of leadership of men and women, but I found it necessary to exhibit these characteristics by providing the leadership qualities or defects of Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey.

Bill Gates, co-founder and chairman of Microsoft, seems to be the first choice of all as a leader of American corporations and the influential Oprah Winfrey is a woman whothe beliefs and actions has managed to create a brand that is a reflection of what it does and how it is perceived by others.

I mentioned that for a leader is important to have confidence in their forces and to dream of reaching as far away even if not all things seem to be in their favor. This can be considered as a first similarity between the two persons chosen by us. While heads of large companies like IBM, Digital and Control Data did not see a future in this field, Gates and Allen, the other founder, had a different opinion. They saw a world in which everyone will have one or more personal computers. Gates saw his Microsoft operating system offering these computers. As concerns the Oprah Winfrey, it has had a difficult childhood, but the teenager was determined to work to overcome their condition, and a few years later he confessed to her friend Gayle King, "I do not know what the future holds, but I know who holds it. " Vision of the two has turned into a motif that gave direction to their walking activities. In the process of vision formation, the leader is one who must give way to create a close link between him and members of the organization, create a group identity, to arouse the collective imagination that his men gather around him.

It is said that every leader has some secrets of his success, Bill Gates and the recipe for success includes five essential things: passion, intelligence, integrity, good team and leadership. These features are found in what it means for Oprah secrets of his success, saying it was important to do what you like, to act on their principles and to promote integrity. b#%l!^+a?

Both have held over their work clearly shows that a true leader that success is based on summation of all efforts, not just its own capabilities. Gates wanted to demonstrate that work is important for the company and customers. When good results are obtained, they shall be of merit of all those who contributed to success.Oprah believes it is important that employees be compensated either by pay or by time off for overtime and receive recognition for tasks well done.

Another similarity that reflects the leadership style of the two, is what can be described as the importance of clarity of thought and execution. Bill Gates demonstrated it in 30 years and, unlike many of his contemporaries, has not given up on the field who understand best: software. In a study by the New York Times David Carr chronicler of the media, suggest that the key to longevity Winfrey and her brand is a combination of things that he did that he did not. What he did was to always remain true to itself, is very confident in yourself, thus proving once again that a leader is confident in his abilities and vision. Moreover, none of the two would not have succeeded if it had not shown much perseverance.

Equally important is innovation constantly, so that both have had in mind. Change is the only constant and as a leader is more agile and adaptable to change, it will be more successful.

I mentioned in this paper that a true leader he should not be afraid to cultivate other leaders around him. Both Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey is a good example. Bill Gates has managed to develop and because Microsoft has managed to create many other leaders. For Oprah, a leader leads others to follow him and trust him. Trust is essential for management, as well as a brand is critical to foster successors.

After her success, both have shown responsibility and solidarity, giving back as much as society. Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave a new dimension of philanthropy by addressing issues that are global in nature – malaria, cancer or AIDS. Oprah has promoted a series of campaigns, including the 1991 prevention of abuse in children, and founded in 2007 in South Africa Foundation Leadership Academy for Girls ", and wanted the girls to this school will be the next leaders of world.Thus, both have shown a remarkable degree of consistency in both its business goals and objectives in philanthropy.

Concerning the differences between these two leaders, the first of them and perhaps most significant is the fact that Oprah's leadership style is charismatic, and that is the direction of Bill Gates, one characteristic of men. In general, charisma is seen as a difficult feature to be b#%l!^+a?described, but which generates a strong sense of confidence and obedience around those who possess it.This provides grounds to reach those people and leaders can trigger and control events of great importance for a given mass. If Bill Gates, since the business started, it was important for people to focus as more on their work, so I encouraged them to adopt a more comfortable dress (slippers and pajamas), as it often happens that they work until 2:00 at night to sleep on the desk and then wake up at 9:00 to start over. It's a tough way to get results, but it is a typical approach to male leadership, men are more interested than women and competitiveness gains. If Gates, at the beginning, this system has paid off.

When Oprah speaks of cultivating a positive brand of leadership. In a study by the New York Times David Carr chronicler of the media, suggest that the key to longevity Winfrey and her brand is a combination of things that he did that he did not. Oprah is an example of a leader that employees saw him taking action to do things the right way ahead of the competition.

I said in the paper that women have more developed communication skills than men, which is confirmed in the case of Oprah. This ability to communicate its representative was a factor that people have come to trust it and follow it. He promoted what they believed, the audience listened to them and offered them as demanded. Oprah was at the outset transparent and authentic, but Bill Gates did not take into account the different opinion in making decisions, even considering that a leader should make the decision and accept the consequences.

Another difference is that Oprah Winfrey believes that an authentic leader acts for the benefit of the organization first and second personal benefit. It highlights the fact that companies and corporations should not be the sole purpose of accumulating profits, but should also serve to achieve people's needs. For Bill Gates was more important to umărească its objectives, regardless of obstacles.

Sense of intuition is a capacity that I have mentioned as being more pronounced in women than men in leadership. This is confirmed in the case of Oprah Winfrey, it confessed that in many cases was based on intuition and the ability to know when to refuse something and when to do what you feel deserve. Oprah has always been aware of the things that is good and the others chose to learn from others. When a leader wants to create a brand, you must be realistic and know what is right for him. Oprah has made decisions that have withstood the test of time, precisely because they were personal decisions.

Conclusions

Leaders are those who make the difference. They manage to build and provide an b#%l!^+a?attractive vision of how future look like for the organization to the community and each of its members.

By comparing the leadership style of Oprah Winfrey and Bill Gates, I noticed that there are a number of common and essential elements that shape an authentic leader. A popular saying says that beauty is in the details, and for us discovering different characteristics of a leading man and a woman leader we have outlined the idea that each of these two leadership styles are unique and special in their own way. We believe in leadership roles so they have personality, position and experience leader.Equally important are the personalities of the people they lead, combined with their position is. Moreover, we believe that there is global leadership. Experience of leaders in various fields has shown that.

It's about clarity of purpose in a certain context and getting results, total team involvement in this process. Studies on different leaders and leadership styles will help to understand how the objectives have been achieved and what style helped this, but this does not mean that people will not innovate in their own style, bringing success.

In this century, the greatest challenge of a leader is to create an organization to meet the vast majority of human needs. This type of organization must be a remedy against stress for employees, insurance for a healthy existence, an environment to stimulate their imagination and creativity, contributing to the fulfillment of their lives and helping them to find balance between personal and professional life.

Although there is this discussion about the differences caused by gender leadership, the leaders are expected to turn to people.Collaboration, teamwork, mutual support, communication are essential elements for successful leadership. If in the future, women will be better able leaders in this regard remains to be seen.

Based on the studies and found, believe that in today's society and future in the type of organization that wants to grow, women will play an important role as leaders. Women have a number of features that help them and for people, be they men or women, it is better to be ruled by a leader who sees himself as having power with others, not on others.

However, consider that for another time organizations will underestimate and undervalue women's leadership skills. This may have as the main reason that men are so often victims of sexual stereotyping. Unfortunately, many men are by definition leaders and women leaders are perceived as atypical. b#%l!^+a?

Differences in leadership emergence based on gender is a contemporary debate, which brings a series of clear evidence of similarities between the two sexes, but more proof that refer to women as leaders of the century in which we live needs.While leadership has been of interest to society for thousands of years (discussed in Greek and Latin classics, the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, and writings of ancient Chinese philosophers), the scientific study of leadership began in the early part of the twentieth century. Over the last decades, in particular, there has been an extensive research on leadership.

A review of the literature suggests that there are almost as many different definitions of leadership as there are researchers who have attempted to define the concept (Bass 1990, cited in Kakabadse and Kakabadse 1997). It has been defined in terms of individual personality traits, leader behaviours, responses to leader behaviours, interpersonal exchange relationships, interaction patterns, role relationships, follower perceptions, task goals, organizational

culture, and nature of work processes (Yukl 1989, cited in Mello 1999). The origins of the concept appear to be found in folk psychology when it was used to explain social influence on groups (Andrews and Field 1998).

Du Brin (1995, cited in Shriberg et al. 1997, p. 4) conducted an exhaustive literature review on the matter and found five representative definitions of the concept:

• Interpersonal influence directed through communication, towards goal achievement

• The influential increment over and above mechanical compliance with directions

• An act that causes others to act or respond in a shared direction

• The art of influencing people by persuasion

• The principal dynamic force that motivates and coordinates the organization in the accomplishment of its objectives.

From the proposed definitions, it may be easily argued that leadership inevitably comprises an influential component. After this review, Du Brin adopted the view that leadership is the ability

to inspire confidence and support among people who are needed to achieve organizational goals. Northouse (1997: 3) defines leadership as ‘a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal’ and emphasizes that viewing leadership as a process has the advantage of focusing attention on the transactional and interactive event that b#%l!^+a?occurs between the leader and his/her followers.

4. Functions of Managers and their Various Skills of Leadership

It is a well-established belief that effective leadership is one of the most crucial factors in the implementation of change and without a positive commitment, any strategy for change is likely to fail. Leaders in the context of introducing change face two fundamental tasks: first, to develop and articulate exactly what the company is trying to accomplish and, second, to create an environment in which employees can figure out what needs to be done and then do it well and it is how the products and services are managed that will provide the source of competitive advantage (Zairi 1995). In a recent survey, Prabhu and Robson (2000a,b) found that ‘world-class’ organizations and less successful companies were clearly different in terms of leadership practices (such as the development of a service culture, customer orientation, establishment of human resources strategies, innovation and existence of a quality mindset).

Darling (1999) reports that the analysis of a large number of multinational companies led to the confirmation of the success of the four leadership strategies as follows:

• attention through vision (which is essential to create a focus for the organization);

• meaning through communication (capacity to articulate a compelling image of the future and develop shared meanings and interpretations of reality, facilitating coordinated action);

• trust through positioning (trust provides the foundation which maintains organizational integrity; through establishing and sustaining a position, i.e. a set of actions to implement the vision, the leaders establish trust);

• confidence through respect.

5. Values and leadership excellence

The importance of having strong values is not to be underestimated. As Peters and b#%l!^+a?Waterman (1982) found out in their research, the best organizations are those that are ‘value driven’. This is exactly our understanding as well, since the values provide the foundation for the vision, mission, strategy and other key components of the leadership role. We believe that leaders have a crucial role in defining and communicating the organizational values, but, at the same time, the organization’s values also have an impact on the type of leadership that fits a particular company at a given moment. They generate the patterns of behavior prevalent in the organization. This suggests that any major change to be introduced in an organization needs to start with considering, and eventually modifying, the existing values. However, it is important to notice that this change is extremely difficult and requires much time and effort. New values cannot simply be imposed. Probably the most useful idea is that of continual learning in order to be willing to progressively adjust organizational values and align behaviours with the new environmental demands. Georgiades and Macdonell (1998) propose that an adaptive culture is based upon six core values and beliefs:

• Open and Trusting Relationships (only trust makes people present their points of view and contributions freely; trust demands that promises be kept).

• Commitment to People.

• Participation in Problem Solving Through Teamwork (teamwork enhances efficiency and creativity).

• Commitment to Change and Innovation (to declare that the organization

is not dedicated to the status quo and is constantly pressing for improvement and change is the first step in the commitment process).

• Commitment to Individual Autonomy (each individual, provided with and committed to a vision of what the organization could be, should be given freedom and autonomy to act in the best interest of the enterprise).

• Obsessive Commitment to Loyal Customers (gathering systematic feedback and responding constructively to it).

For each of the core values identified, action-oriented behaviours must be articulated b#%l!^+a?

6. Leadership measurement instrument

Measurement is essential in order to have a clear indication of the effectiveness of the leadership and to ensure that the deployment of best practices is in place.

Open and trusting relationships

A manager keeps promises and commitments (builds a reputation for standing by the commitments that have been made; ensures consistency between plans and actions). A manager shares key information with subordinates. A manager is honest; never dissembles (is consistent and dependable; behaves in a way he/she would expect from others; sets organizational interests above self-interest). A manager builds supportive relationships with peers, subordinates and bosses.

Commitment to people

A manager is concerned with welfare and well-being of subordinates (does not compromise on issues of health and safety; listens to problems when there is need to talk through). A manager encourages frank and open discussions about subordinates’ performance (prepares for appraisals, asks questions and listens to answers; follows up on agreed corrective actions).

A manager agrees on clear performance objectives (negotiates targets rather than imposing them; accepts the possible impact that external factors might have on performance; is prepared to accept his/her own share of blame for missed targets). b#%l!^+a?

Participation in problem solving through teamwork

A manager helps the team to understand their role in the wider Organization. A manager encourages the team to define team goals; encourages the team members to define individual roles and responsibilities; encourages frank and open discussion about the way the team works.

Commitment to change and innovation

A manager constantly responds to customer feedback; encourages subordinates to try out new ideas (rewards and praises attempts to try new ideas; is willing to allow time and put resources to try new things); encourages benchmarking. A manager constantly tries learning new things and gets training

Commitment to individual autonomy

A manager gives authority to act and make decisions without upward reference (expects individuals to monitor their own timekeeping; praises individual initiatives) A manager encourages others to act in ways that promote the best interests of the business

Obsessive commitment to loyal customers

A manager meets and talks regularly with customers; constantly seeks customer feedback; encourages staff to be involved with customer

Managers are required to establish and maintain the environment within the company to encourage efficiency among employees. The functions of managers involve planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of resources. The resources of the company are people, positions, raw materials, buildings, patent, technology, equipment and cash. The business environment is proactive, challenges and changes occur almost instantaneously. The functions of management are influenced by goals set by the management. They are related to each other b#%l!^+a?and mutual. Successful organizations working with clients in creating products and services, thus integrating their core customer processes. They adopt new channels to engage and communicate better with customers. Analyzing existing data better, successful managers make their primary priority customer privacy.It leads the company towards its goals. Organizing is the management function that coordinates the resources needed to implement the plan. In organizing, company structure is established, relationships are formed and resources are allotted appropriately to realize the objectives sought for. Directing refers to a management function that directs and supervises employees to attain the company objectives. Finally, controlling is confirming if the plan is carried out in actual situation.

Chapter II. Strategic leadership

2.1. Objective of strategic leadership

Strategic leadership refers to a manager’s potential to express a strategic vision for the organization, or a part of the organization, and to motivate and persuade others to acquire that vision. Strategic leadership can also be defined as utilizing strategy in the management of employees. It is the potential to influence organizational members and to execute organizational change. Strategic leaders create organizational structure, allocate resources and express strategic vision. Strategic leaders work in an ambiguous environment on very difficult issues that influence and are influenced by occasions and organizations external to their own.

The main objective of strategic leadership is strategic productivity. Another aim of strategic leadership is to develop an environment in which employees forecast the organization’s needs in context of their own job. Strategic leaders encourage the employees in an organization to follow their own ideas. Strategic leaders make greater use of reward and incentive system for encouraging productive and quality employees to show much better performance for their organization. Functional strategic leadership is about inventiveness, perception, and planning to assist an individual in realizing his objectives and goals.

Strategic leadership requires the potential to foresee and comprehend the work environment. It requires objectivity and potential to look at the broader picture. A few main traits / characteristics / features / qualities of effective strategic leaders that do lead to superior performance are as follows:

To conclude, Strategic leaders can create vision, express vision, passionately possess vision and persistently drive it to accomplishment.

Strategic leadership is different than two other popular leadership styles, managerial and visionary. Managerial leaders are primarily immersed in the day-to-day activities of the organization and lack an appropriate long-term vision for growth and change. For reasons we will touch upon later, this is the most common form of leadership, especially in large, diversified organizations. Conversely, visionary leaders are primarily future-oriented, proactive and risk-taking. These leaders base their decisions and actions on their beliefs and values, and try to share their understanding of a desired vision with others in the organization.

In this paper work, I want to discuss the shortcomings of these two leadership styles and argue that sustained wealth creation, continuous growth and expansion, and a healthy financial status in the short term are more likely to occur under strategic leadership. We also argue that the demise of companies such as GM and K-Mart and the constant decline in shareholder value at these companies are, in fact, a result of leaders being too focused on day-to-day activities, to the detriment of other facets of good business practice. In other words, demise by managerial leadership.

If we accept the widely held assumption that leadership does matter, and that the function of a b#%l!^+a?business leader is to increase shareholder value, it is our belief that strategic leadership is the best alternative for creating shareholder value.

2.2. Strategic leadership defined

While there are many different definitions of strategic leadership, we define it as the ability to influence others in your organization to voluntarily make day-to-day decisions that lead to the organization’s long-term growth and survival, and maintain its short-term financial health.

The most important aspects of strategic leadership are shared values and a clear vision, both of which will enable and allow employees to make decisions with minimal formal monitoring or control mechanisms. With this accomplished, a leader will have more time and a greater capacity to focus on other, ad hoc issues, such as adapting the vision to a changing business environment. In addition, strategic leadership will incorporate visionary and managerial leadership by simultaneously allowing for risk-taking and rationality.

An examination of the characteristics of managerial and visionary leadership styles (presented in Table 1) will help understand strategic leadership better.

In short, managerial leaders need order and stability, and to be able to control the details of the work being performed. Mostly, these leaders have no personal attachment towards setting and using goals as motivational tools, and they may have difficulty showing empathy when dealing with employees. They will attempt to gain control through systems of rewards, punishment, and other forms of coercion. These leader/managers will be focused on the cost-benefit analysis of everyday actions and will therefore be mostly linked to the short-term financial health of the organization, as reflected in its day-to-day stock price. It is important to note that short-term gains are often a result of a least-cost approach, which might not be good for long-term viability.

Robert Milton, who was the President and CEO of Air Canada and ACE3 for approximately 10 years, is an example of excellent managerial leadership. In 2003 and during his time in charge of Air Canada, he implemented a controversial restructuring program which paved the way for the eventual sale of Air Canada’s loyalty program, its regional carrier, Jazz, and its maintenance division. b#%l!^+a?

As head of ACE, Milton sold what some believe were the most profitable arms of Air Canada, only to return the proceeds to ACE shareholders while the airline itself was in need of investment for future growth. All this left Air Canada vulnerable to unexpected changes in a highly competitive industry, during a time that it also lost market share to its national rival, Westjet (see Figure 1).

Figure 1 Air Canada versus Westjet: Domestic market share

While managerial leaders are focused on the past, visionary leaders are oriented to the future. Their main tool for achieving goals is their ability to influence followers, influence they use to create a shared vision and an understanding of what is to be achieved. These leaders rely heavily on their own values, and they invest in people and their network of relationships in order to ensure the viability of the organization. They articulate a compelling vision, and then empower and energize followers to move towards it. The formal structures of the organization will create few constraints for these leaders, as they make decisions and shape their vision based on their values, beliefs, and sense of identity.

According to some business scholars, the ability to envision an exciting future and create a commitment to achieving that vision is an attribute that differentiates leaders and non-leaders [or managers]. This may be an accurate assessment of the visionary leadership style compared b#%l!^+a?to the managerial style. However, there is a major problem with most visionary leaders, namely that they tend to ignore the short-term stability and day-to-day functioning of the organization.

This shortcoming makes visionary leadership extremely risky. For this reason, most organizations tend to turn to managerial leaders, a less risky and therefore more attractive – although not more successful – alternative.

It is logical to assume that all organizations desire both short-term financial stability and long-term growth and viability. Achieving this goal calls for a combination of both the managerial and visionary leadership styles. There are two options for doing so: First, an organization could have two leaders, one a visionary and one a managerial leader, with the visionary leader in charge. Having two leaders like this requires that they trust each other implicitly and are willing to listen to each other.

Some successful combinations have been Tom Watson, Jr. and his CFO Al Williams, who subsequently became one of IBM’s executive vice presidents and then president before he retired in 1966. Tom Watson Jr. credited Al Williams with helping him to grow IBM into a multi-billion dollar company – an outstanding performance at the time. At Disney, Michael Eisner and his first president/COO, Frank Wells, were another such combination of leaders. When these leaders took over in 1984, they quickly doubled profits in only two years and then went on to transform Disney into a multi-billion dollar empire. The partnership – and period of creative initiatives associated with it – ended in 1994, with the tragic death of Wells in a helicopter crash.

As these examples indicate, some organizations can have both types of leaders working together. However, we believe that a better solution – and the second option for combining the managerial and visionary styles – is to find a strategic leader, someone from that species of leaders that can accept and manage the paradox inherent in managerial and visionary leadership – that is, one of those rare leaders who can combine managerial and visionary leadership and make that combination work. Some scholars and practitioners believe that visionary and managerial leadership styles occupy two ends of a single continuum and thus cannot reside in one person. We disagree and suggest that, while these are two different mindsets, there are a few individuals that can well handle the b#%l!^+a?paradoxical nature of managerial and visionary leadership.

2.3. What is the Difference Between Management and Leadership?

Leadership and management must go hand in hand. They are not the same thing. But they are necessarily linked, and complementary. Any effort to separate the two is likely to cause more problems than it solves.

Still, much ink has been spent delineating the differences. The manager’s job is to plan, organize and coordinate. The leader’s job is to inspire and motivate. In his 1989 book “On Becoming a Leader,” Warren Bennis composed a list of the differences:

– The manager administers; the leader innovates.

– The manager is a copy; the leader is an original.

– The manager maintains; the leader develops.

– The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people.

– The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.

– The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.

– The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.

– The manager has his or her eye always on the bottom line; the leader’s eye is on the horizon.

– The manager imitates; the leader originates.

– The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.

– The manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is his or her own person.

– The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.

Perhaps there was a time when the calling of the manager and that of the leader could be separated. A foreman in an industrial-era factory probably didn’t have to give much thought to what he was producing or to the people who were producing it. His or her job was to follow b#%l!^+a?orders, organize the work, assign the right people to the necessary tasks, coordinate the results, and ensure the job got done as ordered. The focus was on efficiency.

But in the new economy, where value comes increasingly from the knowledge of people, and where workers are no longer undifferentiated cogs in an industrial machine, management and leadership are not easily separated. People look to their managers, not just to assign them a task, but to define for them a purpose. And managers must organize workers, not just to maximize efficiency, but to nurture skills, develop talent and inspire results.

The late management guru Peter Drucker was one of the first to recognize this truth, as he was to recognize so many other management truths. He identified the emergence of the “knowledge worker,” and the profound differences that would cause in the way business was organized.

With the rise of the knowledge worker, “one does not ‘manage’ people,” Mr. Drucker wrote. “The task is to lead people. And the goal is to make productive the specific strengths and knowledge of every individual.”

The strategic leader defined

We consider managerial and visionary leadership as two separate continuums (see Figure2) and believe that individuals who are strategic leaders are more than the sum of these two styles. Strategic leaders envision a future with the present circumstances in mind and pay attention to short-term financial stability, with an understanding of what is to be achieved in the long term. As the late Steven J. Ross, the former chairman and CEO of Time Warner put it, these kind of leaders come to work, dream for an hour, and then do something about those dreams for the next several hours.

Figure 2 Leadership styles based on dual continuum thinking8

In terms of performance and wealth creation, it is our belief that one strategic leader can deliver better results than the previously mentioned dual leadership.

Strategic leaders encourage innovation in the face of changing environments and contexts, seeking innovation and change in moving forward. On the other hand, managerial leaders are likely to be fully occupied with the present order and stability. At the same time, strategic leaders are mindful of how the organization is functioning and, therefore, are not likely to fall b#%l!^+a?into the trap of arrogant risk-taking, as might visionary leaders, who can destroy an organization’s wealth even faster than a managerial leader.

The presence of a strategic leader leads to a number of outcomes for an organization that are eventually linked to share values in both the short and long term.

These leaders tend to pay particular attention to building their organization’s resources, capabilities and competencies in order to gain appropriate, sustained competitive advantages. Strategic leaders know that focusing on the short term and forgetting about core competencies in the face of changing circumstances and a turbulent environment are likely to lead to organizational failure.

Strategic leaders view human capital as an important factor in innovation and the creation of core competencies, and they expend considerable effort sustaining the health of this resource (human capital). While managerial leaders focus on the exploitation of current resources and capabilities, strategic leaders combine this focus with a search for new resources, capabilities, and core competencies, which will, when needed, be exploited to create wealth. This dual focus on exploitation and exploration, often referred to as ambidexterity, is a prerequisite for long-term organizational success. We believe that while managerial and visionary leaders are busy exploiting and exploring, strategic leaders exploit and explore in a way that maintains organizational financial stability in the short term, while building a foundation for long-term viability.

Organizations led by strategic leaders are more successful in learning, both at the individual and group levels. Studies have shown that both the managerial and visionary aspects of leadership are essential for organization-wide learning initiatives to succeed. While a strategic leader’s articulation of a vision helps alter the institutionalized learning of an organization, his or her managerial approach helps spread and reinforce current learning initiatives. This combination is necessary, since the organization always needs to learn new things and at the same time, to institutionalize newly discovered avenues of learning. Organizational learning and the creation and sharing of knowledge within an organization are important prerequisites for long-term viability and are better practiced by an organization led by a strategic leader. b#%l!^+a?

The ultimate goal of a business is to create, capture and distribute wealth in a manner that is sustainable. We believe that each form of leadership will lead to a different outcome in terms of wealth creation. As illustrated in Figure 3, managerial leadership will maintain the current level of wealth in the near future, or in the best-case scenario, create short-term gains.

However, based on managerial leaders’ approach to innovation and change, it is highly unlikely that this trend can be maintained for long periods. . As seen in Figure 3, wealth is slowly lost in the long-term. The slow decline of companies such as Air Canada and General Motors can be blamed on their lack of a long-term vision, and their lack of attention to innovation and the development of core competencies.

Figure 3 The Impact of Different Leader Style on Wealth Creation

Visionary leaders, on the other hand, are focused mainly on the future and the direction that organization should take in that future. Such a focus is very risky, and since there is likely to be much less adherence to any type of financial control or structures, the odds of failure are extremely high. In most cases, visionary leadership results in below-normal performance faster than managerial leadership. This is because some visionary leaders lack or even reject the support of managerial leaders, making it difficult for them to keep the company in good financial health. Although these leaders do have successful stints, there is always the high b#%l!^+a?probability of eventual failure. A good example is the decline of Apple during Steve Jobs’ first term as CEO, where, we believe, he exercised only visionary leadership.

Although a combination of visionary and managerial leaders can yield positive results in the short and long run, there are numerous practical obstacles that can prevent such an outcome.

As illustrated in Figure 3, a strategic leader is more likely to create synergy by envisioning a desired future and growth strategy, while influencing employees to voluntarily make day-to-day decisions that will help maintain the financial stability of the organization, as well as its future viability. This was evident at GE during the years of Jack Welch, who totally transformed the company into a consistent wealth-creating, capturing and distributing entity.

2.4. Strategic leadership constrained

It is unfortunate that, in spite of all the benefits discussed above, many organizations still implement structures or routines that constrain and discourage strategic leadership. If strategic leadership are to emerge, an organization must offer them autonomy and protection. They need to be free to envision a future as they see it and implement growth strategies without interference. They need to be protected from the managerial leaders in the organization, who might try to impose rigid financial controls at the expense of strategic controls.

This interference is more evident in large, diversified organizations with many divisions, and which often fall into the trap of imposing highly bureaucratic controls as a result of financial restrictions, the political context and the short-term demands of the markets. Government-owned or funded organizations, for example, would constrain strategic leaders. The very fact that leadership in most democratic regimes is changed after limited terms is an incentive to use tight financial controls in order to deliver short-term results. High levels of diversification, budget deficits, political issues, and accountability for even the smallest amount of money are other factors that constrain strategic leadership in most diversified organizations.

While we acknowledge that there are many difficulties associated with finding and developing strategic leaders, we nevertheless believe that they are worth the effort. There is no safer alternative for an organization that is pursuing sustained wealth creation for its stakeholders. Creativity, innovation, competency development and continuous learning are all vital elements for growth, and a strategic leader can initiate and facilitate the development of these elements b#%l!^+a?without compromising the financial health of the organization.

The fact that they are hard to find and even harder to train makes these individuals valuable and rare for their organizations.12 An organization must try and remove as many obstacles as possible in order for these leaders to emerge in leader-development and succession programs.

Much of what we do in organizations today is, consciously or not, directed at curtailing or even eliminating ambitious thinking and innovation for some short-term gains. Managerial leaders need to be reminded that without a long-term vision, the most they’ll achieve is probably a normal return for a limited time. They must be reminded that the long-term prosperity of their organizations depends on having strategic leaders at the helm.

Finally, while we acknowledge that organizations need managerial and visionary leaders, we submit that the person in charge should be a strategic leader.

Table 1: Strategic, Visionary, and Managerial Leadership

b

Chapter III. Ethical leadership

Abstract

Ethical leadership is a term related to human relationships between the leader and follower. These terms have evolved to what they are today. There are many examples of good leaders, both ethical and unethical.

Transformational leaders are good examples of ethical leaders where followers are raised to higher standards to the point where they are being trained as leaders. Hitler, Clinton and Nixon are examples of great leaders, however, they are considered as unethical leaders. Colin Powell and C.A.L.M. may be considered as examples of ethical transformational leaders and while b#%l!^+a?these leaders continue their work, followers will continually be raised to positions of leadership.

3.1. Examples in Ethical Leadership

It has been said that a good leader is an ethical leader and that to effectively lead a group of people a leader needs to have an ethical foundation. But is this always the case? There are numerous historical examples of good and effective leaders who had questionable ethical behaviours, and yet still had the love and adoration of their followers. While on the other hand, leaders like Colin Powell are able to effectively lead with strong ethical and leadership behaviours. Transformational leadership has the ability to raise followers into leaders, more often than not, these are the ethical leaders. This paper will discuss these points and in doing so will first define the terms of ethics and leadership. Transformational leadership will be described followed by a dichotomy of the ethical leader and a historical account of both ethical and unethical leaders. Finally an account of community leadership will be discussed with the impact that an organisation has had upon my community. The field of leadership and ethics is an exhaustive field where there is much potential to be written, however, due to set parameters; the previously mentioned points will only be discussed.

Ethics

Ethics are reflected in the way we see ourselves and the way we see others, and are culminated in our relation to those others in the community in which we live. Ethics have been referred as the science of conduct. Since the times of Socrates and Plato, philosophers have analysed the issue of ethics. Modern definitions focuses on the impact ethical leaders have on organisations and individuals. Ethics is defined as the knowledge of right and wrong, and making the right decision. Therefore, the goal of ethics is to make decisions that are best for individuals and the organisation .

The study of ethics is about human relationships, it is about what we should do and what we should be like as human beings, as members of a group or society and in different roles we play in life (Ciulla, 2004). It is the standards of right and wrong which influence our behaviour. These ethical standards are the crucial links between leader’s aims for their organisations, on the one hand, and their own personal beliefs and actions, on the other. The values that are held to be important to the promotion of high ethical standards are honesty, fairness, mutual respect, trust, compassion and sensitivity in the exercise of power’ . Morality and ethical behaviour are usually situated socially within distinct communities and culturally within particular structures of moral reasoning and practice (Mangham, 2004).

Leadership

Contemporary definitions most often reject the idea that leadership revolves around the leader's ability, behaviors, styles or charisma. Today, scholars discuss the basic nature of b#%l!^+a?leadership in terms of the interaction among the people involved in the process; both leaders and followers. Thus, leadership is not the work of a single person; rather it can be explained and defined as a collaborative endeavor among group members. Therefore, the essence of leadership is not the leader, but the relationship.

The definition of leadership has like many other definitions in society evolved to what it is today. Rost (1991, as cited in Ciulla, 2004) collected 221 definitions of leadership dating back to the 1920s. These definitions generally say the same thing of a person or persons somehow moving other people to do something, however the relationship between follower and leader evolved. For example, in the 1920s, leaders impressed their will on followers. In the 40s, leaders persuaded followers, in the 60s, leaders influenced them, whereas in the 90s, leaders and followers influence each other (Rost, 1991 as cited in Ciulla, 2004). Leadership is a social, normative and historical construct which evolves through research, conditions of life and the values that are important to society (Ciulla, 2004).

3.2. Ethics and Leadership

There are two theories which illustrate the relationship between ethics and leadership. The deontological theory: this is where the intentions are the morally relevant aspects of an act. As long as the leader acts accordingly to their duties, and moral principles, then the leader has acted ethically regardless of the consequences. The teleological theory: what really matters is that the leader’s actions result in bringing something about which is morally good, or the greater good (Victor & Soutar, 2005). Thus, deontological theory is where the moral intent is what counts, in comparison to the teleological theory where results are what matters.

Transformational leadership has been almost synonymous with ethical leadership because it rests on a set of moral assumptions about the relationship between leaders and followers (Ciulla, 2004). This form of leadership argues that leaders have to operate at higher need and value levels than their followers in order to raise follower’s consciousness. They elevate followers by helping them reassess their values and needs, thus the followers are being transformed to leaders. This is in contrast to transactional leadership where leaders and followers reach their own goals by supplying lower level wants and needs so that they can move up to higher needs.

Dichotomy

Although transformational leadership argues that leaders operate at higher levels and values, does that mean that followers operate at lower levels? A curious point about ethics is that when the standards for leaders are set too high, then too few people will be qualified as leaders or will want to be leaders. How many people can live up to the standard of never having lied, said an unkind word, reneged on a promise, or totally disliked someone? So where does this leave us? On the one hand it is admirable for leaders and followers to aspire to high moral and ethical standards, but on the other if standards are unreachable, then people give up trying to reach them, or become disillusioned with our leaders for not reaching them. b#%l!^+a?

History is littered with leaders who did not think they were subject to the same standards as their followers. On the one side, these people may be considered exceptional leaders, however, on the other side; they may consider themselves exceptions to the rules. Hollander’s (1964) work on social exchange demonstrates how emerging leaders gain idiosyncratic credits which allow them to deviate from the groups norms. Given the fact we often give leaders permission to deviate or be exceptions to the rules, it is not difficult to see why leaders make themselves exceptions to ethical constraints. These points have been confirmed throughout history.

3.3. Unethical President’s

History defines successful leaders largely in terms of their ability to bring about change for better or worse, regardless of whether they were ethical or not. Some leaders are highly ethical but not very effective, while other leaders are unethical but very effective. Presidents Nixon and Clinton have been referred to as being good Presidents of the United States. However, both of these presidents were caught in unethical situations which undermined their Presidencies to the point where their unethical behaviour is just about all that is remembered from their terms of office. Were these presidents unethical? To many observers and moralists, yes they were, because they were in positions of authority and leadership over a nation. Presidents are viewed in many ways as being the moral and symbolic spokesperson for b#%l!^+a?the nation. However, Nixon states that

"It is not a matter of questionable behaviour traits, but whether these traits are useful or not. Guile, vanity, dissembling, may be unattractive habits, but to the leader they are often essential. He needs guile in order to hold together the shifting and often bitterly opposed interest groups. He needs vanity in order to create the right kind of public impression, and he needs other unattractive habits in order to prevail." (Nixon, 1983, as cited in Cronin & Genovese, 1998).

Do Nixon’s comments justify his unethical behaviour? That depends on what type of leader people are looking for. If people want a transformational leader, then Nixon is not the man for the job. Cronin & Genovese (1998) state that there are many traits which fall into the role of what is expected as President of the United States. These traits include decency and compassion, toughness and guile when dealing with adversaries. Fierce and compassionate, nice and mean, sensitive or ruthless, depending on what they want done. But woe to a president who is too much or too little possessed of these characters (Cronin & Genovese, 1998). These traits are often deemed as unethical behaviours for a leader, however, it is not deemed to be so when a leader is the President of the United States. Thus, leadership is situational where the behaviours and actions of the leader are reliant upon their own ethics, values, morals, society, surroundings and their follower’s expectations, desires and needs.

Exemplary Ethical Transformational Leader

Colin Powell is an exemplary example of ethical transformational leadership who believed in empowering and raising people who are committed to the vision. Powell lived by seven tenants that influenced his leadership style, to describe just two of them. “It is important to do what is right than to do what is personally beneficial. Whatever the cost, do what is right” . Doing what is right is at the core of courage and character, both of which are essential for leadership. Doing what is right means standing for an honourable value even in the face of adversity. It means holding the banner of personal excellence, setting the right example, walking the talk, and being straight and honest (Harari & Brewer, 2004). Leadership requires moral, mental, physical and spiritual strength; ethical and integrity based leadership are critical parts of great leadership (Harari & Brewer, 2004). Powell’s second tenant is “Leadership is not rank, privilege, titles, or more money, it is responsibility” (Harari & Brewer, 2004). The final responsibility for success or failure rests with the leader. Real leaders embrace that responsibility. They realise they are ultimately responsible for the organisations mission, culture, values that exist within the culture, key decisions and failures of its members, and for the organisations progress or decline.

Great leaders blend their responsibility to their mission and their people. They take ownership of company setbacks and errors and constructively mobilise people’s efforts at fixing b#%l!^+a?them. When success is achieved, they let their followers own the triumphs. During Enron’s heyday, the leaders enjoyed the perks of their positions and took full credit for any successes. However, during the court trials of the top executives, none of them claimed responsibility for the company collapse; it was always someone else’s fault. After the 1991 Gulf war, Time magazine wanted to put Colin Powell on the front cover, however, to their surprise, Powell tried to convince them to put General Schwarzkopf, the field commander of Desert Storm on the front cover instead. At Enron, a perfect mirror image occurred; top executives took credit for their victories, yet blame people for their defeats. When leaders take that unethical stance of basking in glory, then blaming others in defeat, it is no surprise to see the fall of Enron.

3.4. Empowering Communities

This example can then be related to the community. I currently do volunteer work at Penguin Island for C.A.L.M. & they have strong ethical values to sustain the Island’s habitat, wildlife and good relationship with the community. I live in the community (Safety bay) and am appreciative of the work and effort which this group (C.A.L.M.) put into the community and habitat. The leadership role they take is by acting as guardian of the Shoalwater Marine Park. Without a guardian, the Marine Park would be overrun to the point where a lot of the natural habitat and marine life would disappear from the area, this was nearly the case twenty years ago.

At the community level, ethical leaders are very important because leadership is rooted in communities because leaders embody the group’s most precious values and beliefs. The way C.A.L.M. are ethical in their guardianship of the Marine Park is their behaviour and attitude towards the local community and the public in general. They do not put themselves in positions of authority or seniority; they appreciate and encourage community involvement into all their activities in the area and are open to suggestions for improvement. A good example is the amount of volunteers on the Island, without community involvement through volunteers, the work and efforts of C.A.L.M. would be compromised as they are contributing to the local community, not to the Government. C.A.L.M. are transformational leaders as they are effectively training up volunteers to be leaders within the Shoalwater marine Park. This is a point which I appreciate, and as a stakeholder within the community, I am willing to dedicate a certain amount of my time to contribute to the project of sustaining the Shoalwater Marine Park.

Conclusion

Ethics is about human relationships ; therefore it has a strong association with leadership because leadership is a particular type of human relationship. b#%l!^+a?Ethical leadership has many meanings which are defined by the leader/follower relationship. History has given examples of this evolving relationship where we have moved from the idea of leaders impressing their will upon followers to the stage where leaders and followers influence each other. Good leaders are not always ethical leaders to the point where unethical behaviours have been encouraged and even justified in some cases, this point has been confirmed throughout history.

The ethical leader has the potential to positively influence and gain respect of their followers. This has been shown by transformational leaders where the leaders are living to high standards and are able to lift their followers to those standards to the point where followers become leaders. People like Colin Powell are examples of ethical and transformational leaders where he states that great leaders not only accept, but seek the final responsibility. When successes occur, the glory is shared with the followers. Organisations like C.A.L.M. have the ability to influence communities by programs, initiatives and examples they set through the organisation and their leaders. Their ethical relationship with volunteers encourages community involvement and enables local stakeholders to become leaders within the community. As leaders like Colin Powell and C.A.L.M. continue their work, ethical leaders will continue to be produced by their good examples.

Chapter IV. Methodology of the study

Paper purpose and objectives

According to a well-known definition of effective leadership that seems to be proper for the next research in the banking domain, a good analysis of leadership practices must include the business context and the available resources within the internal and external environment. All this ”for the attainment of organizational or societal goals."

The goals of this study are to identify the business context of BCR products, to analyse the evolution of BCR between 2006-2010 and to examine quality management practices and future improvements. The study also includes a SWOT analysis.

Research approaches

The main method of the following analyse was collecting and comparing data from the period 2006-2010 BCR financial evolution which represents the structure of the others segments of study like leadership practices and quality management. As a necessary starting point, the overview of BCR introduced the context on analyse. The next level was the application of the two main leading concepts: quality management and leadership parctices to BCR financial evolution and business organziation. The principal criteria of the case study were identyfing methods of successful quality management of BCR, leadership practices at BCR and comparative analysis of income evolution and product developement across five years, from 2010 to 2006. I also included a SWOT analysis as a fundamental for business planning, considered necessary for business strategies and leadership practices and also quality management.

b#%l!^+a?

Research limitations

Research limitations were caused by the lack of minutious informations about the different segments of analyses. There was also a lack of direct contact with some members of management board who could highlight some aspects directly.

Further research

Further research should investigate new areas or variables that affect the financial evolution of BCR and try to propose a better financial plan, even though there are included the crisis circumstances.

5.Expected results

The case of BCR seems to be a role model for others banking strategies, but despite the excellent leading practices and the continuous struggle for mantaining a successful status, there were some difficulties during the crisis period which diminished BCR income. In 2011, net profit was 494.5 million (117.7 million), down almost 30% compared to same period of 2010. Bank uses an average exchange rate for the third quarter of 4.20 lei / euro, even after NBR calculations was 4.25 lei / euro. The result of the third quarte of 2010 is explained by an increase of 63% provision for bad debt expense compared to June 2010, to about 1.6 billion lei (373 million).

Also, Dominic Bruynseels, BCR executive president said that the bank lost about 3 b#%l!^+a?million by eliminating the early repayment fee on retail loans, while the Treasury lost 17 ​​ b#%l!^+a?million euros by the negative revaluation of positions currency leu / dollar in July 2011 and September. At group level, the result was affected by the reduction of 28 million book value of assets in the balance BCR Leasing, a subsidiary with the largest share after the bank.

Chapter V BCR case study

BCR -overview

In 1990 the commercial banking operations of the National Bank of Romania was taken over by Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR). Nowadays, BCR can be considered the most important financial group in Romania, including companies on the leasing, asset management, private pension and housing bank market, as well as mobile banking services.

According to the level of clients’ trust and to the number of those for whom BCR is the main institution they bank with, BCR is the most valuable financial brand in Romania.

”BCR offers a full range of financial products and services in most Romanian towns of more than 10,000 inhabitants. BCR is the No. 1 bank in Romania on the cards and banking transactions market. It commands, to the benefit of its clients, the largest national ATM (over 2,200 machines) and POS (over 18.000 terminals) network, together with a complex offer in electronic banking services, including Internet banking, phone banking and e-commerce services.” Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR)is the most important financial group in Romania, including the operations of universal bank (retail, corporate & investment banking, treasury and capital markets), as well as the companies on the leasing, asset management, b#%l!^+a?private pensions, housing bank and mobile banking services market. BCR is the No. 1 bank in Romania assets-wise (over EUR 16 billion worth), the No. 1 bank according to the number of clients and the No. 1 bank on the saving and lending segments. BCR is the most valuable financial brand in Romania, according to the level of customers’ trust and to the number of those for whom BCR is the main institution they do banking with.

BCR has full range of financial solutions and services across the entire financial life of their clients in a “one-stop-shop”: savings, investments, lending, consulting and advisory, covering banking activities, corporate and retail banking, capital markets, leasing and insurance.Their regional focus is on the Romanian and Moldavian market (via 100% owned subsidiary, BCR Chișinău), while offering clients active abroad financial services and advisory via the Erste Group subsidiaries across Central and Eastern Europe.

Since 2006 BCR is a member of Erste Group, which was founded 1819 as the first Austrian savings bank. From 1997 on Erste Group has developed into one of the largest financial services providers in Central and Eastern Europe, with more than 50,000 employees serving more than 17 million clients in 3,200 branches in 8 countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Croația, Serbia, Ukraine).

According to the leading position considering financial evolution of BCR, the bank was well placed to benefit from the opportunities provided to the Romanian financial markets. There were some favourable attributes as positive development in the economy, decreasing inflation (lower than targeted inflation) and the favourable evolution of exchange rates led to an increase of internal demand for financing of feasible projects. Meanwhile, decreasing interest rates and increasing credit demands generated supplementary pressure on liabilities management and profit margins.

As a strong catalyst for customers trust and leadership commitement, the Romanian banking system is in the full process of strengthening its credibility and consolidated its performance. Furthermore, the main catalyst being increased competition for various segments of clients, and products offered, by the top ten Romanian banking institutions, often supported through direct b#%l!^+a?capital investment in other financial areas.

Managing Quality at BCR

If our analysis concerns are quality and top managers practices, then we should mention that, regarding these aspects, BCR won in December 2005 the JURAN Trophy at the 5th Edition of Romanian Quality Award JM Juran, awarded by the JM Juran Foundation.

Another concern for quality was rewarded with the distinction of being the first Romanian bank to implement the Security and Labour Health Management System, which sets requirements that allow an organization to keep its risks under control and continuously improve its performance.

“As a result of the audits carried out in July 2011, Moody International unconditionally recommended the certification of the Security and Labour Health Management System. The implementing of this standard is part of BCR’s efforts to align with the European Standards and to observe the Directive 89/391/CEE”, according Gabriel Drilea, head of BCR Human Resources Division.
Based on third party audits performed by the certification body Moody International, BCR received the unconditional recommendation for the certification of the Security and Labour Health Management System, which observes the provisions of the BSI – OHSAS 18001:1999 referential for the certified field – banking activity and support activity. The project for extending the certification was also started by BCR according to the BSI – OHSAS 18001:1999 referential, for county branches too.

More than this, BCR was the first Romanian bank to receive the certification for the Quality Management System (observing the SR EN ISO 9001:2001 provisions), from the prestigious international certification body – Moody International.

b#%l!^+a?

2.1.Future goals

The Austrian Erste Bank, majority shareholder of Romania’s largest bank is targeting territorial expansion and market share compared with its main, the Frenchowned Romanian Development Bank-Societe Generale (BRD-SG), competitor through recovery from its lag.

The integration programme which BCR started following its takeover by Erste Bank in 2006 gradually diminished the bank’s market share in terms of assets by some two percentage points, from over 26 percent.

2.2.Aiming to quality excellence

As it is claimed in BCR’s credo, Romania’s largest bank has in view approaching quality under all its aspects and view making employees aware of sustaining a high level of quality.

Regarding self-improvement and obtaining the best level of business quality, BCR’s message to their clients is:

“We are permanently concerned by improving ourselves, by correcting and eliminating errors and nonconformities, intending to reach Excellency and to build a long-term partnership with our customers”. BCR seeks long-term relationship with clients in all segments, offering accessible and transparent products as well as personalized consulting services.

The leading of BCR also promise credibility and human touch related to the customer-counsellor relationship as representative principles which clients cand perceive and feel. Another important concern is to adapt banking products and services to their customers’ needs. The three main directions of actions for the period 2015 – 2016 are as follows: b#%l!^+a?

making their clients loyal to the bank by means of effective handling of their relationship with them, in order to consolidate their position within the Romanian banking system;

satisfying their clients’ demands by means of increased orientation towards their needs and expectations and by carrying out all bank processes and activities as few failures as possible;

approaching customers’ problem solving by means of internal collaboration, in a way in which both parties may benefit.

2.3.Strategic quality objectives are:

i.maintaining BCR position in top 3 among the banks in the Romanian banking system

ii.increasing staff performance in selling bank products and services by implementing the service quality standards, by approaching a professional behaviour during the selling process

ii.improving the complaint management process within the bank, emphasizing and benefiting from the feedback role of complaints and intimations.

2.5.2.Strategic planning b#%l!^+a?

Success begins with a clear vision of the future and the underlying guiding principles, mission, and understanding of your unique selling proposition whether you’re a large organization or a family-owned business. In order to obtain optimum performance, it is crucial to opperate with clear goals and objectives is crucial for optimum performance. The team at BCR brings creativity, experience, and objectivity to the strategic planning process to ensure that the plan is reliable, innovative, and addresses the mission, values, and long-term goals of the company. As we will see from the following evolution aspects during 5 years, BCR Group has acheieved a high level of performance and development strategy.

The process of developing an organizational strategy involves three distinct steps:

* Assessment – trying to establish the real current state of the organization. This helps its leaders identify plans for getting the organization where it needs to be and to improve overall performance. There are used various technological, means, assessment tools, and consulting expertise to get a true and accurate picture of the state of the organization's developing strategy.

* Executing Strategy – Once the current state of the organization is defined, our approach engages people at all levels in the organization to execute the new strategic direction. Our tools and processes help the team commit to and implement the strategy and direction.

* Managing Change – change is often the hardest struggle to work through, even though we are introducing a completely new+ direction for the organization or simply reorganizing a department. Even if we need to involve entire employee groups, or coach a single executive, we offer varous tools and techniques to help people manage.

For example, BCR Strategy 2015-2017 is a strategy of growth through concentration, based on product development and market, according to the major objectives of development in this period, subordinate representation and adequate protection of the interests of shareholders, customers and employees of the Bank, focusing on: b#%l!^+a?

1. Strengthening leadership in the occupied Romania and in Central and East by developing business in each market segment where it operates Group and exploitation of competitive advantages offered by well-known brand distribution integrated high quality financial services;

2. Increasing shareholder value by maintaining a high level of profitability capital, due to productivity gains and a control of costs, according to corporate business development and retail portfolios and more aggressive approach to investment banking activities, insurance.

3. Increase customer satisfaction for financial solutions offered by the bank developing its capacity for innovation and flexibility and improving access to products and services as a result of promoting the concepts of unit proximity multidistributie and modern partnership in traditional relationships;

4. Strengthening capital base having as fundamental principles used intensive and efficient allocation of capital to risk adjustments, so the bank develop a sustainable and profitable manner;

5. Improved risk profile by improving process control procedurare and a proactive management, and upgrade techniques and monitoring tools used to align the requirements of Basel II and implementation of appropriate policies to prevent money laundering and customer due diligence;

6. Improving human resources management to encourage initiative, innovation, commitment and efficiency in work designed to enhance the contribution employees to create value added.

7. Annual growth of 5% in customer satisfaction in the relationship with BCR.

2.5.3. Business plans

A business plan is, unfortunately, changed or structured without being sufficiently understood. Many entrepreneurs invest in business without taking the time to plan and understand the playing field in which they are operating. This type of business will very often will run into b#%l!^+a?problems or possibly even face failure. Plans and goals can work like magic for a business. With a well researched and structured plan, the road map for the organization is clearly defined and provides focus for the organization to determine how it is going to function. The road map for business organization can be much easier traced if there is a professional plan and this is obvious in BCR strategies. Being the most powerful bank from its area doesn’t necessarily mean that keeps the success secret, but this status allow favorable opinions regarding the quality organization management. BCR has an extensive experience in planning and establishing strategic positioning as following: offering full range of financial solutions and services across the entire financial life of their clients in a “one-stop-shop”: savings, investments, lending, consulting and advisory, leasing. Regarding the geographical approach they focus on the Romanian and Moldavian market (via 100% owned subsidiary, BCR Chisinau), while offering clients active abroad financial services and advisory via the Erste Group subsidiaries across Central and Eastern Europe. Client approach means that long-term relationship with clients in all segments are maintained through offering accessible and transparent products as well as personalized consulting services.

Leading Practices at BCR

3.1.Present activities concerning improvements leadership skills

BCR and International Business Promotion (IBP) created the most complex platform for entrepreneurs from Romania www.bcrclubantreprenori.ro. The interactive portal gives entrepreneurs access to information, online training, interaction with other entrepreneurs and specialists from various fields, support and business opportunities. The platform is intended to facilitate the access of micro-enterprises to promotion on the internet and bring together potential clients and providers, while also offering information and training that entrepreneurs need to develop their business.

BCR involvement into leadership skills development determined the creation of the most complex platform for entrepreneurs from Romania www.bcrclubantreprenori.ro. This platform is an interactive portal dedicated to entrepreneurs and small enterprises from Romania; 5,000 micro-enterprises have already registered on the portal. b#%l!^+a?

Facilities:

* The platform gives entrepreneurs the possibility to promote their business on the internet, meet potential clients, send offers and receive product and service requests, as well as access to trainings and specialized counseling for efficient business development;

* BCR strategic priorities: improving banking services and identifying simple and inexpensive financial solutions for small emerging businesses.

There are already 5,000 micro-enterprises registered on the www.bcrclubantreprenori.ro platform and the estimates indicate a number of 50,000 micro-enterprises that will benefit from the portal’s facilities for support and business opportunities.

“Due to their significant ability to adjust and transform, small entrepreneurs provide the economy with the resources for revival and development. We developed the www.bcrclubantreprenori.ro platform because we strive to understand the entrepreneurs’ needs and give them the necessary tools for sound growth,” stated Sorin Mititelu, Director of Retail Segments Division, BCR.

“The economy’s sustainable development depends mostly on private initiative to maximize the opportunities of producing and selling products and services, mainly for markets or market niches that have been underserved so far. Banks have the responsibility of involvement in all stages of any entrepreneurial initiative, from the information stage to sustainable development, providing information, easy access to banking services and actual support for business development. Given such a favorable environment, we expect an increase in the number of b#%l!^+a?entrepreneurial initiatives and successful Romanian businesses.” added Sorin Mititelu.

The main themes of the articles from this platform are topics like business management and development, legislation, taxation etc. and also training and consultancy on business management topics used in order to offer accesible pieces of advice to young and unexperimented entrepreneurs by authored specialist. Furthermore, this platform also include business resources for entrepreneurs as:

* Means of communication and contact with other entrepreneurs

* Access to products and services offers

* Promoting own offers, access to requests of products and services

* Search engines on various criteria (companies, products and services, business solutions etc.)

* Platform for sending online offers

Seen as a very important regional impact over the challenge of starting a private business, BCR has also introduced an offer for micro-enterprises.

BCR ClubAntreprenori is intended for both entrepreneurs and anyone who thinks about starting a business. In addition to detailed information about managing and growing a business, the portal provides online business courses and promotion for companies. The most interesting part for BCR (IBP) was integrating the BCR brand’s promotion needs and the bank customers’ development needs with the need to train and inform regular online users. The portal is the outcome of teamwork of both IBP and BCR teams, carried out over more than one year.

3.2.Product offering

BCR services are oriented to the following client groups: b#%l!^+a?

Private individuals: They offer support to all their clients to fulfil their aspirations while securing their financial wealth now as well as in the future. BCR offers the complete range of services and products, from Housing financing (mortgages), consumer loans, personal accounts (including dedicated packages for entrepreneurs, students, NGOs & foundations), payment & credit cards, direct banking services (controlling one’s account via the Internet, phone, GSM), Investment and savings products, consulting and sale of financial market & treasury products to Private Banking customers.

Small and medium-sized enterprises as well as large corporations: customised products, specialised programmes and consulting for micro- entrepreneurs, small and medium enterprises as well as large corporations.

Municipalities, public and non-profit sector: Due to our historical strong relationship with municipalities, the public and non-profit sector we developed to be the first choice address for tailor-made financial solutions (including special financing for national, regional and municipal infrastructure projects).

3.3. Financial evolution analysis and leadership efficacy

3.3.1.Financial results 2010

Operating result raised to RON 2,304.4 million (EUR 548.4 million) in the first three quarters of 2010 up 3.6% on nine months 2009 based on continued revenue generation and cost control.

Operating income growth slowed (up by RON 57.4 million or 1.6% on nine month 2009) and was combined with a decrease in operating expenses (down by RON 23.6 million or 1.9% y/y) Net profit after taxes and minority interests amounted at RON 494.5 million (EUR 117.7 million) down by 29.3% on end-September 09 mainly on higher provision expense due to the b#%l!^+a?tough market conditions heavily impacting BCR's customers and due to OUG 50 implementation impact on fees.

High efficiency and positive risk management in a very challenging economic environment

'The positively managed operating result demonstrates BCR capability to respond to the difficult market conditions. We are taking a prudent approach to our risk positions as the economic environment remains tough. BCR is well equipped for successfully coming through this period and we will continue to provide support for our customers and look for ways to help Romania return to a growth path' stated Dominic Bruynseels, BCR CEO.

BCR Group’s operating profit increased by 3.6% to RON 2,304.4 million (EUR 548.4 million) from RON 2,223.4 million (EUR 528.0 million) in the first 9 months 2009 as a result of the operating income growth combined with improved and efficient cost control. The operating income slightly rose from RON 3,492.5 million (EUR 829.3 million) to RON 3,549.9 million (EUR 844.9 million). The main driver of this improvement was the increase in net interest income (up by 7.3% or RON 197.2million y/y) from RON 2,689.7 million (EUR 638.7 million) to RON 2,886.9 million (EUR 687.1 million) albeit pressured by the lower interest rate environment, increasing competition for quality business and low demand.

Risk costs

BCR is adjusting risk provisioning appropriately to the still difficult current economic conditions. NPL formation has slowed down in 2010 compared to 2009 on lower interest rates, relatively stable local currency and on reduced unsecured retail lending provisions, but remains at high levels and is not expected to decrease on the short run.

BCR continues to focus on finding sustainable solutions for helping customers b#%l!^+a?reorganize their finances to deal with their individual situations – thousands of families and companies are already benefiting from these solutions which help our customers through these difficult times. At the same time BCR has a prudent approach in lending, adapted to the current environment.

Business activities brief 2010

Despite the troubled economic environment, BCR continued to manage a positive and sustainable business in line with expectations . Total assets of the bank increased by 1,62% to RON 65,569.9 million (EUR 15,349.4 million) as of September 30th, 2010 from RON 64,526.8 million (EUR 15,231.8 million) as at December 31st, 2009. BCR has preserved its market position in lending to around 22% market share in line with its business and risk strategy and with expectations in a troubled economic environment as well due to positive gains in housing loans (+0.8 pp y/y) and rather stable position in corporate segment.

Lending has developed in line with expectations on a weak eligible demand. The volume of aggregate Loans to customers portfolio (before provisions, IFRS) slightly rose by RON 325.9 million (up 0.70%) to RON 46,840.0 million (EUR 10,965.9 million) from RON 46,514.1 million (EUR 10,979.8 million) as at YE 2009 and by 1.96% on end – September 2009, and maintains well balanced by customer segment and industry.

“BCR Prima Casa” success is expected to continue, BCR being the most reactive bank in the program with a total of over EUR 465 million lent to almost 11,500 families starting with August 2009 who thus could have their first home of their own. A stronger renewal on the mortgage lending is expected to be further seen due to Prima Casa program.

The share of loans in domestic currency in bank’s portfolio – of 42% of total loans – is above the market average and showing an adequate currency structure of the portfolio. FX loan portfolio is dominated by EUR (56% of the total portfolio). No loans were extended in CHF or other “exotic” currencies. The bank also successfully enhanced the functionalities of its Internet Banking and Phone Banking services (known as “BCR 24 Banking” financial services), continued to develop the cards business and extended the range of services at ATMs as well. b#%l!^+a?

“BCR 24 Banking” financial services are seeing a constant migration of transactions from cash to online banking – the number of transactions via BCR 24 Banking is increasing by more than 10% on a quarterly basis – 40-50% year on year growth. In Q3 2010 only, BCR customers have performed more than 1,000,000 online transactions through Click 24 Banking service and more than 600,000 foreign exchange operations via FX ATM.

BCR continued to expand its ATM network by adding 19 new machines in Q3 10 up to 2244 ATMs (8% y/y increase) and its POS network to 18400 units (11% increase y/y).

3.4.Rewarded findings

BCR has achieved a net profit of 488.5 million lei in the first half of 2010, 19.5% less than in the first half of last year, with 36% less than S1.08, but 5% more than in S1. 07 and by 27.6% more than S1.06.

As a result of the transformation of financial institutions, revenues have increased steadily, while the number of employees has decreased. Thus, in late 2007, the Bank reached about 10,500 employees and total revenues of 6.9 billion lei. BCR Group, which is the largest bank in the middle market, reported a third quarter net profit of 6 million lei (1.4 million), down over 93% against the same period of 2009 .

The result is calculated as international reporting standards that allow a lighter treatment of provisions. Bank's retail division recorded a loss in Q3 nearly 14 million euros, according to data published by Erste Group, the parent bank of BCR. b#%l!^+a?

"Austerity measures adopted by the government have a clear effect and we expect this to continue in 2011. Do not anticipate any significant decline in the cost of provisioning. (…) You will probably be a deterioration in the SME and larger companies during the winter and the first half of 2011, "said the head of BCR.

Conclusion

After analyzing the results of what becomes clear is a recurring theme, the manner in which every economic change has impact on customers, business and society. The world will not simply return to "normal business" after returning from a cyclical expansion. It underwent a significant change of paradigm and will never be the same, because causes are not reversible.

The evolution of the banking sector over the last decade was marked by major changes in business environment, mainly due to privatization, reduction of restrictions legislative and technological changes occurring in this economic sector in many countries Europe, including Romania.
Changes in the supply of banking products and financial services were demand stimulated by changes of coordinates, consisting of revenue growth and power consumer purchasing, and an enhanced level of information consumers financial institutions on new entrants and offer them. This has suffered but drastic changes due to the consequences of economic crisis as advertised.

Heavily involved in the economic – social situation, Romanian Commercial Bank activity reflects positive developments, but also some shortcomings that we have seen recovery and restructuring processes of the Romanian economy during the transition to market economy, measures taken in the monetary field, rate, tax. For the Romanian Commercial Bank general b#%l!^+a?objective for the next years, from the results so far obtained by the bank continues to be keeping the main place they occupy at present in the Romanian banking system and especially the strengthening of this place.
The strategy adopted by the bank's own development objectives and principles are insrise to take forward and strengthen the bank's efficiency and profitability criteria and the widest possible recognition domestically and internationally.

In recent years Romanian Commercial Bank has been the most active operator on the Romanian banking market and managed, following a clear strategy and well grounded in the realities of the Romanian economy, to strengthen its place in the system and get results to match.
The real economy is at the forefront of concerns BCR and demand for this area is also a priority.
In these circumstances, the loan has been and remains the main investment bank that encourages profitable customers and especially those in the private economy.

Bibliografy

Gadiesh, Orit; Hugh MacArthur (Jan 4, 2008). Lessons from Private Equity Any Company Can Use. Harvard Business Publishing

Peters , Thomas J., Robert H. Waterman – In search of excellence: lessons from America's best-run companies, HarperBusiness Essentials, 2004

Frances Hesselbein, Hesselbein on Leadership , Paperback – March 5, 2013

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Apud. Gopal K. Kanji , Measuring business excellence , p. 106, Routledge, 2002

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Ken "SKC" Ogbonnia, New York 2000

BCR press report 2011

http://www.businessdictionary.com

http://www.oprah.com

Homepage

www.bcr.ro

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Bibliografy

Gadiesh, Orit; Hugh MacArthur (Jan 4, 2008). Lessons from Private Equity Any Company Can Use. Harvard Business Publishing

Peters , Thomas J., Robert H. Waterman – In search of excellence: lessons from America's best-run companies, HarperBusiness Essentials, 2004

Frances Hesselbein, Hesselbein on Leadership , Paperback – March 5, 2013

Kotlyar, I., & Karakowsky, L. (2007). Falling Over Ourselves to Follow the Leader. Journal of Leadership &

Organizational Studies

Jeffrey Pfeffer, Robert I. Sutton Cambridge: Harvard Business School Press, 2006

Derived models of leadership (Andrews and Field 1998), cited in Measuring business excellence by Gopal K. Kanji, Routledge, 2002

Essence of leadership, Andrew Kakabadse,Nada Kakabadse, Cengage Learning EMEA, 1999

Practicing Leadership Principles and Applications, by Arthur Shriberg,David Shriberg, John Wiley and Sons, 2009

Best practice: process innovation management, Mohamed Zairi, Butterworth-Heinemann, 1999;

Apud. Gopal K. Kanji , Measuring business excellence , p. 106, Routledge, 2002

International management leadership: the primary competitive advantage, Raimo Nurmi,John R. Darling, Routledge, 1997

Leadership for competitive advantage, Nick Georgiades, Richard Macdonell, John Wiley, 1998, cited in Measuring business excellence by Gopal K. Kanji

Boleman, L., & Deal, T. (2001). Leading with soul: an uncommon journey. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Hollander, E. P. (1964). Leaders, groups and influence. New York: Oxford University Press

Lussier, R., & Achua, C. (2004). Leadership. Theory, Application, Skill Development, Sydney: Thomson South-Western

Warren Bennis, On Becoming a Leader, Basic Books, New York, 2009

Ciulla, J. B. (2005). The state of leadership ethics and the work that lies before us. Business Ethics: A European Review

Martin, J. J. (2001). The importamce of ethical leadership at the campus level. Retrieved February 14, 2006 from http://www.shsu.edu/~edu_elc/journal/research%20online/75EdmonsonEthics.pdf

Mangham, I. (2004). Leadership and Integrity. In J. Storey (Ed) Leadership in Organisations: Current Issues and Key Trends

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