Leadership and governance goes hand in hand in the transparent functioning of an orderly society. In today’s complex world many institutions operate to fulfil the ongoing human needs of the society. The type of governance and leadership style varies from one institution to another. Examples of a variety of enterprises include; small & large corporations, public & private companies, for profit & non-profit groups, small and large education institutions, government managed social services departments, political organizations etc. Each of these organizations have their own set of challenges, governance policies and leaders to implement those policies. Effective governance is the optimal management of material and human resources at the disposal of the leader. The respect for human dignity is of paramount importance while meeting the goals of the organization.
The governance policies for large companies are created by a board of governors headed by a leader called the chairman of the board. Thus, the quality of governance of an organization heavily depends of the collected wisdom of a small number of people. The governance policies create a vision of the company and a set of rules and guidelines to be implemented by one or more appointed leaders. This process guides the day to day activities of the company in the realization of its established goals. The governance policies include mechanisms required to maintain the powers of the members of the board, and their main duty of enhancing the prosperity and viability of the organization. Ongoing monitoring of the organization essentially involves balancing the interests of a company’s many stakeholders including customers, employees and shareholders.
The crisis in leadership is nowhere more visible than in the global political arena. One can see the breakdown of governance and leadership in the political discourse at local, state and national level. The elected representatives of the people forget their sworn duty of serving their constituents but get involved in petty and destructive politics. Thus, the energy of the political leaders in not directed in solving pressing human problems needing urgent attention. This slows down the progress of the nation and creates frustrations and disarray in the society. Thus, much of political leadership lacks basic understanding of the process of life and the role of a human being on the planet in the larger scheme of divine nature. There is an urgent need to address the current crisis in political leadership.
In many organizations, different managers employ distinctly different leadership styles, ranging from relatively hands-off, facilitative styles to autocratic, micromanaging styles. The two main types of leadership discussed in management literature are Transactional leadership and Transformational leadership. A Transactional leader focuses on the role of supervision, organization, and group performance. They are concerned about the status quo and day-to-day progress toward goals. Human values are not given importance in this model of leadership A Transformational Leader employs different motivational strategies and techniques to boost employee performance or accomplish internal change while maintaining respect and dignity of the people involved in the organization. Transformational and transactional leadership are extreme opposites when it comes to the underlying theories of management and motivation. In today’s corporate human resource management human values are mostly ignored giving more importance to the goals of the organization.
Applied Ancient Wisdom brings practical knowledge to address the challenges faced by the ineffective leadership and unproductive governance policies. Ancient scriptures highlight the importance of cultivating the vision of interconnectedness of all life. Several simple ancient practices of self-introspection help one to purify one’s mind. This is the process of self-transformation leading to the development of Transformational style leadership. Effective governance is a natural consequence of that development.
Academic scholars, leading researchers, practicing professionals and students from the fields of education, political science and management are encouraged to submit their original research papers with an abstract and a brief profile by 30th November 2016. Selected papers will be published after a blind peer review. The conference steering committee warmly welcomes everyone connected with the field of leadership and good governance to participate in the InSIS 2017 national conference.
