Leadership in organizations and companies in Peru

The Theme of Leadership in organizations and companies in Peru

In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about leadership and leader training. Actually, the subject is not new. The word leader is a Castilianization of leader, conductor. Thus, the leader is a conductor of a human group, and human groups have always existed. For this reason, the fact that leadership is talked about today more than before does not mean that leaders were invented recently, but rather that their importance in such a globalized society, and even more so in companies as basically human organizations, has turned the attention on this kind of person.

A branch of psychology that deals with human relations between members of a work team, as well as the main features of the organizational leader, is managerial psychology. Psychologists teach that human beings found in companies, like all other human beings, are the product of an experiential process that shapes them first and shapes them later.

The fact is that in a company, different people, with different experiences and experiences, intermingle, more as a group than as an aggregate. Thus, it is not the same to have a company in which 100% of the employees are under the age of 22 and another in which the vast majority of workers are mature, full-fledged, and mature men.

Unfortunately, for many years in the psychological and even economic literature, the man who formed the workforce was a simple number, one more input, he was only part of a mystery in which the human side of work was not distinguished . This is still a problem in Peru. This gap in the study of the human reality of a company is already beginning to be filled in recent years. Considering the company as a body, a living organism with different parts, can give a better understanding of the reality of it. In that organism, as an analogy to the human body, there are external organs, internal organs, a covering of the superficial internal organs (the skin), a locomotive means, but also a head…

And this is where even the most superficial comparison is made. As the human body has a head, in which resides the vital nervous center that summarizes the sensations of each and every one of the organs of the body, so in the business organization the leader or driver is distinguished - "driving" is equivalent to "driving ”And in English“ manage ”can be translated as manage, where the manager or manager is derived - which will act as an active receptacle for the stimuli sent from the different substructures of the company.

This research work has a reason, a reason for being. It is not for fun that the Psychology course is now compulsory even for the faculty of economics. We believe that it is necessary to highlight the existence of human relations of leadership and leadership of groups in order to understand a little better the revolution of recent years in terms of theories of human capital, which come to consider the worker as the most important living input, fundamental for the operation of an organization. Understanding the virtues of the leader and his way of acting can necessarily contribute to the sustained development of companies and countries. Peru is in the development stage and necessarily has to consolidate itself in the formation and enrichment of the spirit of today's youth, who will be adults tomorrow.

The present work will consist of a theoretical framework that focuses the development of ideas, with conventional concepts and classifications. On this basis, a reflection from a particular point of view will be constructive in order to put the knowledge from the course into practice and thus propose solutions to the problem of lack of leadership and inadequate leadership of human groups. Then a survey on the subject will be analyzed, looking for explanations to the answers and finally, a framework of global and particular conclusions for the present research essay.

II.- Theoretical Framework.

When writing about groups one could pay fundamental attention to two aspects: leadership in the group and how to maintain individuality in the group outline. In other words: the leader or driver or manager or boss or whatever you should call him influences the group, it is true, but he is also human and can be considered as part of the group he leads, so he must strive to maintain his individuality.

What is leadership.

To speak of leadership is to speak of a relationship of individuals and not of a particular individual. It consists of the influence of a person on a group to lead him towards ends that he determines. Absolutizing the leader would be a mistake, for example if you take the leader of the Hutus tribe, Oriente section, of Rwanda and put him as the leader of the Heroes of Cenepa battalion in Peru, unfortunately you will have nothing to do in the Peruvian battalion, because leadership is relative to a group. Obviously, the African leader can, with the virtues that he has, gradually gain the respect and admiration of his new colleagues and become a leader in a reasonable time.

Leadership, according to many experts, should be taken as a task, a function, and not so much as a set of characteristics. However, there are a minimum of conditions that leaders must carry with them if they want.

Being a leader is related to the use of power (and not so much of authority). As is known, authority is given by an investiture commissioned by society to an individual to hold power and direct them. Obviously, it is a very general definition, but one example is enough: authority is the person to whom an individual is subject by some regulation or law.

Instead, power has a different definition. It is the force that motivates people's behavior change. Thus, the leader is a person who has power and who uses it directly towards the optimal ends for the well-being of the group he or she directs (note: it would be necessary to distinguish leader from leader, that is, there are people who know how to lead groups but not correctly, but with twisted means and ends, censored by society, such as Abimael Guzmán, leader of the bloodiest terrorist group in Peruvian history).

A review of the bases of power would be very convenient to propose the theoretical framework:

Power of Reward.- It is the one held by the leader through which he can offer the members of the group that leads something to exchange for their obedience. For example, you can give money, friendship, a desire to live, sympathy in return. A reward leader, then, could be a business owner, a sincere friend, a person who radiates life, or a likeable person, respectively. There are many ways in which this rewarding power can be exercised, some more materialistic than others. Coercion power.- It is defined as the force derived from the leader's ability to punish individuals in his group if they disobey his requirements. While physical punishment is difficult in these times of great civilization, there are many types of punishment that are exercised based on this source of power. Thus, for example, a person who has his people under threat of punishment, say, a guard of a group of inmates on probation, who is guarding them 24 hours a day, simply exercises leadership based on coercion. In the survey section we will see what people think about this type of leadership or power. Reference power.- It consists of force, sometimes moderate, sometimes irresistible, that leads groups to imitate or emulate their leaders, and lead them to imitate or resemble them. Let's say that in a company like a bank, sometimes the boss is a very educated person, who knows a lot about all subjects, and this gives him an ascendancy over his subordinates, because he dazzles them with his prudence and wisdom. In the event that the manager or leader does not try to stand out but only through material means, such as a luxurious way of dressing, a high-class new car or a well-decorated office, perhaps his power of reference will only frustrate his people, since they know that they will never be able to have what he does have. For this reason, it is advised that the power of reference has not only apparent, material, but also spiritual or behavioral bases.Legitimate power.- It results from the investiture of someone in authority, for which subordinates are obliged to obey. It is essentially different from other types of leadership, since this force can only be exercised by those who have a defined position or social position. Instead, for example, the power of reference can be exercised by the naughtiest boy in the class, who without having any distinction between his peers, knows how to manage to lead a group. In the case we are studying, that of the company, the legitimacy power is held by the hierarchy of workers. The manager commands over the assistant manager and assists successively. Power of experience.- "Knowing is power" is a phrase coined in recent years. The power of experience is exercised by a person who definitely has more knowledge and capabilities than those directed. It is no longer a mere superiority of sympathy or a force for being authority, let alone a coercive force: it is life itself made experience that makes some men have more and better training than others to lead the group. One case is, in a company, that of the foreman of the gang of workers. The foreman is usually a person who has been in the company for more years, knows their strengths and weaknesses and the human group they control. Power of information.- It is a force somewhat different from the others. The information power base does not depend so much on the influential leader, but on the data that he has, which allow him to influence others. In the world of globalization, it is surely very necessary for companies to be up to date with the direction things are taking in the business world. If the IT manager does not know the latest Internet data, it will be very difficult for the manager to make appropriate decisions; thus, the former has some influence on the other.

Personal reflection.

The topic of leadership lately is in some cases poorly focused. Perhaps they are just looking to screen, figure out that they know the recipes or formulas to make someone a leader, but this is not true if they do not define what are the virtues that the leader must have to guide a human group in a serious way.

A first point is that of the gift of command. From my point of view, it is not enough to be erected in authority to know how to command. To command one must have (or acquire quickly) a capacity or gift of command by which the leader is respected by his subordinates. He must generate a system by which his men, seen as man and not as robots, obey him within reasonable limits. The business leader should not be like an old curmudgeon who, when the company's balance sheets show falls in economic indicators, vent with his employees and make them double the work. That is not a gift of command. The gift of command is a rational, moderate, and effective way of getting others to follow directions. You cannot come to an end if you don't have the means first and that's where a second necessary virtue comes in:prudence.

The business leader must be very sharp in distinguishing what is going well, what is going wrong in the company and how to solve it. The what may seem easy to find, but the how is not so easy. It is known that the ends must be proportional to the means they seek to achieve. Incidentally, the end does not justify the means. Thus, the leader of an organization must know how to make appropriate decisions to achieve the ends, because if he does not do so, he will lose the respect of his subordinates.

Leaders simply and plainly lack a very important virtue, which is that of service. "Minister" comes from the Latin "ministrare", which means to serve. The leader who does not know how to put himself in the place of others is simply too much, he is more than enough. He may be very skillful in command or he may be very prudent in his actions, but if he does not know how to serve, if he does not have an empathy with his people, he will never be able to obtain the results he wants. In the Psychology course we have seen what empathy means: putting yourself in the other's place, which leads to even feeling the same emotions.

On the other hand, the leader must have a dose of sacrifice. Knowing how to adjust the belt is a virtue, that of temperance, which will make the organization walk in the most indicated way. It has been the case of characters who were not consistent in their way of caring for material goods, but rather wasting what they had at hand. They may have a short-term well-being, but in the long term they are the ones who lose, since the company spends more than it has. In economics, there is talk of a fiscal deficit, a negative trade balance, late payment, losses for the year, overdrafts… These data seem neutral or normal, but reflect behind a lack of capacity for sacrifice in the authorities. It's nice to spend, it's nice to build a monument or have a new car.It is very comfortable to have a current account with free availability… but if it is not used in a moderate way, they are double-edged weapons for the purpose of the company.

Finally, respect for the dignity of subordinates is a characteristic that must accompany a good business leader. Having a payroll to maintain and social benefits to pay does not end with the relationship between the leader and his employees. What's more, that's only the minimum you should give them. The most important thing is to consider these workers as the true creators of productive growth and possible generators of greater resources. The training and formation of workers is a quite adequate measure for both the company and the worker, since it generates positive emotions in the worker, who is a person like the leader. We must remember that each individual is a psychological world totally independent from the others; each man is a wonderful reality.The human treatment of the members of a workforce cannot be neglected, since it would be the worst mistake, the beginning of the end of an organization.

All these reflections are points of view that I have formed from conversations with colleagues, as well as from conferences of important scholars of the human aspect of the company. I take it for granted that true business leadership must be based not on violence or coldness, but on mutual respect and consideration between bosses and employees.

Third Party Opinions.

To carry out an adequate investigation of the opinions of other people on the subject, a survey was conducted on June 16, 1997. The sample is not representative (12 observations), but useful conclusions can be drawn.

Sample data: young people, between the ages of 15 and 22. Includes schoolchildren, university students; another subdivision: young people with work experience and young people with experience.