This is an interview with Irwin D. Simon who is C.E.O. of the Hain Celestial Group (a natural and organic food and personal care products company).When I was reading this article I thought that this must be a perfect example of an ethical leader.
In Northouse´s book, Greenleaf´s Servant Leadership is presented. In servant leadership perspectives is the leader-follower relationship central to ethical leadership. A servant leader focuses on the needs of followers and helps them to be more knowledgeable, free and autonomous. Greenleaf emphasizes the value of everyone´s involvement in community life and the importance of listening, empathy and acceptance of others.
It is apparent in the interview that Simon has a servant leadership style. He emphasizes the importance of empowering people and argues that he does not need to have the control. He shows that he is very focused on his followers when he talked about his philosophy of “no closed doors”. He brings interns into board meetings and asked their opinions and thoughts about different decision. Simon also encourages them to be involved in the community and tp go out of their comfort zone.
Simon says: “I love people to move to other parts of the world, just to see how the world works. I try to push people to do other things and see other things.”
In article I also noticed that Simon uses several concepts from the Leader-Member Exchange Theory. Northouse´s book presents the concepts of in-groups (more influence, information and concern from the leader) and out-groups (less compatible with the leader). Leadership making is a theory that the leader should develop high-quality exchanges with all the followers.
Simon talks about these concepts in a similar view. He has earlier work experience when he was doing well if he was behind the right people (which is comparable with in-groups) and when he didn´t support certain people he was off the team (out-groups). Simon believes in the idea that they´ll are on the team together. The philosophy of brining everybody in is similar to Leadership Making.
Leadership making contains three phases: the stranger, the acquaintance and the partnership phase. The second part, the acquaintance phase, begins with an offer by the leader for improved career-oriented social exchange. When Simon brings interns to the board meeting is a good example of when he tries to move an employee to the acquaintance phase.
In both Leadership Making and Servant leadership, the leader-follower relationship is a central part. Leader-Member Exchange Theory seems to be a good and ethical theory for leader to practice. Can you find something unethical in this theory? Is Simon´s leadership making a good way to be a servant leader or can you find some unethical consequences?
- Eva-Lena Juhlin
I feel he is definitely a leader that practices servant leadership and uses the Leader-Member exchange.I don't think there is a specific parameter to make a "good" servant leader. Different people do it in different ways. This is a very odd way to go about it, but it is working for him. His number one priority is the people. Simon is completely focused on employee empowerment. Instead of keeping meetings for C-level employees only, he invites interns in with him. The only way I could see a problem with this leadership style, is putting people in positions they are not accustomed to and/or don't want to go into. As a marketing major, I would loathe a manager telling me that I need to go out of my box and crunch numbers. I feel this is unfair to employees and can actually hurt the business. Marketing people take college classes in marketing, training them to do finance can backfire.
ReplyDelete-Ryan Schaumburg