It was a student\'s presentation on Strategic Management course at University of Southern Denmark.

1. Leadership: The
Leadership: The
Management of
g
Meaning
Presented by
Md. Abdul Hamid
European Master in Tourism Management
University of Southern Denmark
mahamid.biz@gmail.com

2. Just Imagine…
• Company X, a large multinational company based in Switzerland
• specializes in power and automation technology.
i li i d t ti t h l
• Its growth was dramatic in the 1990s but suffered in the early 2000s.
Its growth was dramatic in the 1990s but suffered in the early 2000s.
• A new CEO took over in 2002 when the company was on the verge of
bankruptcy.

3. Just Imagine… (continued)
Just Imagine (continued)
• Over the following two years, the CEO sent weekly e‐mail messages to all
h f ll h kl l ll
employees around the world.
• The e‐mails focused on explaining…
‐ the threat facing the company (managing the meaning of the environment)
‐ the short term goals and long term vision he had to overcome the threats
(managing the meaning of the goals)
‐ the practical steps that needed to be taken (managing the meaning of the means) and
‐ the company’s ongoing performance (managing the meaning of the performance).
(Boas Shamir and Robert Hooijberg, 2008)

4. Leaders manage meanings in order to….
Leaders manage meanings in order to
• create shared perceptions and interpretations so that members’ actions
are guided by a common definition of the situation;
are guided by a common definition of the situation;
• Justify their actions and the changes they introduce to the organization;
• Recruit followers and motivate members of the organization to support
their actions.

5. how do strategic leaders impact their organizational
members’ meanings?
• The meaning of the environment: the interpretation of environmental
Th i f th i t th i t t ti f i t l
circumstances and events.
• The meaning of performance: the state of the organization and its
performance.
• The meaning of goals: the organization’s vision and goals.
• The meaning of means: the appropriateness of various means, decisions,
Th i f th i t f i d ii
and actions employed by the organization to achieve its goals.
• The meaning of efficacy: the ability of the organization to make progress
toward meaningful goals.

6. The phenomenon of leadership…
• A social process defined through interaction
• Process of defining reality in ways that are sensible to lead
Process of defining reality in ways that are sensible to lead
• Assigning power and authority to others
• Formal leadership lead institutional approach

7. A case study in the management of meaning
A case study in the management of meaning
• An ethnographic study of the executive staff of an insurance
company
• It was a division of a larger corporation
• 11 years old; 10,000 employees
Operation June 30th (OJ30)
• O i J 30
• In 1979, researcher stayed there physically for six weeks,
y p y y
interview and observation

8. Case study (continued)
Case study (continued)
• The outcome of OJ30….
• Mixed reaction (success….failure)
• Perspective was figure‐ground relationship

9. Findings of the Study….
Findings of the Study
• Staff members’ reaction…. Mixed
• Their interpretations…
‐ good for a short term project but not for desired future state
‐ they were not a team but a group
they were not a team but a group
‐ no scope of doing work in own way
• Competing interpretations…
‐ President: Cooperative spirit development
President: Cooperative spirit development
‐ Staff members: Nothing to solve the basic problem

10. The dark side of managing meanings
The dark side of managing meanings
‐ attempts by powerful actors
‐ to manipulate and control the behavior of others
‐ increases the power, resources, status, and benefits of the former.
increases the power resources status and benefits of the former
‐ circumstances and actions are derived not only from the organizational leadership
‐ but also from other sources, such as their colleagues, informal leaders, the media and their own prior
experiences.
Finally, leaders are players in an arena saturated with multiple meanings and multiple sources of
influence in an inherently ambiguous world.

11. Different !!! Organized !!!

12. References for further study….
References for further study
• Boas Shamir and Robert Hooijberg (2008)
Sh i d b ijb (2008), Managing Meanings to achieve
i i hi
meaningful management: A strategy for success. Website address….
(http://www.imd.org/research/challenges/TC024‐08.cfm)
• Robert Hooiiberg et. al., Leading Through Strategy, Structures, and Systems
(Monographs in Leadership and Management). To know more click on….
http://www.amazon.com/Being There Even When You/dp/0762313323#_
http://www amazon com/Being‐There‐Even‐When‐You/dp/0762313323#
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ylwa1oKV3Mc&feature=related