Are Leaders Born or Made Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Are Leaders Born or Made - Essay Example 9 Case Study Rolls Royce is a technology leader which employees 36,000 people in offices, manufacturing and service facilities operating in 50 countries. The company has long history of employee development but currently they are reexamining their development strategy. In 2005 a review of talent management which was up till now being managed locally within business units was done and new concept of talent management at global scale was introduced (Jane Yarnall, 2008). Rolls Royce realized the importance of talent management and that it should not be a standalone approach. Leaders can only emerge by identifying the potential talent at the grass root level and then nurtured and developed according to the organizational needs. The efforts which were previously been done at the regional level needs to be coordinated and aligned with each other and with organizational objectives to maximize its effectiveness and broadening its horizon. After reviewing their current policy and assessing it s strengths and weaknesses they charted out a number of steps for their global talent management program. A new stream of graduates was hired as trainee managers or the leadership graduates, developing a pool for future leadership. And as this pool of candidate grew in experience and maturity, succession planning was successful. This program had a clear and predefined set of roles and expectations from the line managers, while at the same time, there was development of a human resource database, keeping in mind the global focus. Career development and progression plans were developed and communicated objectively to the employees, for assuring and ensuring no conflicts by being absolutely objective, alongside coaching and mentoring. This, in turn, assisted the business to focus on leadership development with a strategic eye for the future requirements10(Jane Yarnall, 2008). The above charted out plans further strengthens the view that Rolls Royce also believed in the theory that lead ers are more made than born as suggested by Daft and a no of other writers on the theory of leadership development. Rolls Royce realizes the importance of the quality of human capital and strongly believes that the success of the company depends on how the management programs for all the employees have been established within the company. Before launching this global talent management program Rolls Royce actually conducted a self analysis survey to identify the weaknesses of the old development program. In this self analysis program they asked themselves the following questions. Where do they stand today? How healthy is their existing succession plan? A survey about internal and global demographics What metrics should they use? What kind of leadership is required for the future? An analysis of the need of future graduates Identification of real indicators of high potential What additional development programs are required An analysis of competitors leadership development program If we take a closer look at these questions then it reveals that it was actually a journey for the company through the stages of leadership development as suggested by Daft. Once it was decided at Rolls Royce that born leaders are a rare commodity and cannot be found easily, Since there is no

The Civil War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Civil War - Essay Example The union was, for all practical purposes, largely deceptive and pretentious. The North pretended to give in to the states laws and policies while the southerners merely tolerated them It is against this background that rising discontent due to the biggest issue that divided the country, the issue of slavery, was brought to the forefront. This laid the ground work for one of the most violent moments in the United States of America that would forever remain etched in their history (Hesseltine 44-45). Central to the civil war was the very thorny question of slavery. The Northern states were against slavery while the southern states still owned slaves. This led to rising discontent as neither side was willing to concede to the other. The admission of Missouri into the union was a clear example to the Southerners of the almost condescending nature of the Northern states. The Northerners did not respect the constitutional equality of the states in the union and insisted on the state of Missouri to abolish slavery, eventually reaching a 'compromise'; acting as though the south had no guaranteed rights in the bond of the union. This seeming lordship of the North over the south served to fuel even more, the underlying discontent (Hesseltine 46). The eventual cessation of the southern states thus marked the beginning of the war that would later unfold. South Carolina was the first state to secede adopting its declaration on 24th December 1860. Mississippi was the second state to withdraw from the union, her ordinance of cessation being adopted on the 9th of January 1861.she was followed by Florida on the 10th , Alabama on the 11th, Georgia on the 18th and Louisiana on the 26th; all in the same month of January (Hesseltine 138). Hesseltine points out that the war did not really come to head until the President Lincoln rose to power. The continued use of slave forces especially against the Union brought this issue for discussion at the thirty seventh Congress. The North attempted various measures to end this issue once and for all and reintegrate the south back to the union but this proved futile as the southern states rebelled at whatever suggestion that was put forward to address this issue. The signing of the emancipation proclamation was the straw that broke the camel's back and the stage for the civil war was set (267- 268). The confederates viewed slavery as the cornerstone of the Confederacy while the Northerners viewed it as morally wrong, as all men were created equal. The slavery issue was of great concern because it had implications on the economy of the states. The southerners were concerned with the economic loss that would come about as a result of the abolition of slavery. The slaves provided them with free labor and ensured huge economic gains. Getting rid of them would mean a need for the hiring of waged labor and this would translate to smaller profit margins for them. The southerners were also gravely concerned by the prospect of racial equality. Indeed in the Texas declaration of causes for the Secession it was asserted that the African race was successfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race and thus the proclamation of the blacks as equal men degraded and demoralized the southerners (Hesseltine 269- 270). On April 12th of 1861, the armies linked to the confederates attacked a U.S military