Giving Wings to Your Leadership Style

Many managers argue that, in principle, they would like to give employees more room for development and creativity, but given the urgent challenges resulting from the instability of domestic and global financial markets, they must focus on efficiency and cost cutting instead. But do humanistic principles and superior business performance really contradict each other? This article looks at some humanistic leadership principles underpinning successful organizations. It offers guidelines for managers on how humanistic leadership can renew an organization?s direction, structure and capabilities, while also winning over employees, whose support is critical for success. The author suggests the factors that are hugely important for managing organizational change initiatives effectively. Finally, she summarizes existing research indicating that humanistic or ethically oriented leadership ? often termed transformational leadership ? can be linked to positive economic performance.