Leadership According to the Book

Leadership

According to the book the Leaders Companion: Insights on Leadership throughout the Ages by J. Thomas Wren, a leader is identified as portraying various personal traits. According to Wren, there are six specific traits that research has shown to have a strong correlation with effective leadership. These six characteristics include: drive, leadership motivation, honesty, integrity, self-confidence, cognitive ability and having significant business, industrial or organizational knowledge. (Wren: p. 135-141)

The individual that I have chosen to evaluate as a leader, in accordance with the above cited traits offered by Wren, is Jabbar Shaiban. Mr. Shaiban is a Maintenance Foreman and is thus in charge of operating the maintenance needs and department of a fleet of eight high-tech helicopters located at the Ras Tanura Airstrip, Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia.

On a day-to-day basis, Mr. Shaiban's duties include overseeing and supervising the work of over twenty helicopter mechanics, including training, conflict resolution and the delegation of various tasks. Further, Mr. Shaiban, as the department's head, is also charged with overseeing the department's inventory, ensuring that the department is equipped with all the supplies necessary to complete its mission.

As a departmental supervisor, Mr. Shaiban has to ensure that his department operates on an effective and efficient time table and that all maintenance projects are completed on schedule. Numerous other departments and individuals are dependent on the work that Mr. Shaiban's department does and any errors on Mr. Shaiban's part will have critical effects on these dependent departments. Thus, Mr. Shaiban must hire and schedule the necessary number of employees needed to get the job done. Mr. Shaiban is also in charge of the safety of his workers and thus must maintain a safe and orderly work environment.

As a supervisor, Mr. Shaiban tends to adopt a "middle-of-the-road" personality. He is not often aggressive but does have high expectations of his employees. Instead of commanding what must be done, Mr. Shaiban is more likely to delegate responsibilities to other employees, thus empowering them and encouraging a stronger work ethic. However, as Mr. Shaiban has been employed in this position for some time, he can be said to be "set in his ways." The result of this is that although he delegates responsibilities, he expects things to be done "his way." This sometimes leads to a lack of improvement through the use of new ideas, thus having an overall negative effect on the department's efficiency.

When looking at Mr. Shaiban through the six characteristics of a leader in which Wren identifies, it can be concluded that Mr. Shaiban exhibits a majority of them and thus can be considered a leader. For example, Mr. Shaiban is clearly driven and has leadership motivation in that he often is seen leading by example and is not the type of supervisor who is not willing to get directly involved in a project. Further, Mr. Shaiban is honest and has a high respect from his employees and his superiors, which demonstrates his integrity. More s, as can clearly be seen by his ability to function in a complex, high-tech based industry, he has both the cognitive ability and industry knowledge needed to be a successful leader within his department. Finally, his use of delegation demonstrates his self-confidence in his training of his employees. On the other hand, his tendency to be "set in his ways" is exemplarily of his self-confidence in his way of doing things and personal leadership style.

As it is clear that, according the six traits of leadership developed by Wren, that Mr. Shaiban is a leader, the next question is to determine what type of leader Mr. Shaiban is. In order to this, one must turn towards the subject of leadership style.