IMPROVE ORGANIZATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS

A leadership development model to improve organizational competitiveness.

INTRODUCTION
Firm competitive behavior and the sustained effort to remain effective and competitive are very important attributes of successful organizations. As Offstein and Gnyawali (2004) have pointed out, few researchers have carefully and exclusively examined human factors as antecedents
to firm competitive behavior. Some researchers such as Hambrick et al. (1996) have examined the human dimension in some ways, however, there are few such studies. Yet, we can be reasonably confident that the human capital (that is, individual knowledge, skills, attitudes, predispositions) of an organization can contribute a great deal to the improvement of the organization's competitive intensity and success as the human capital may have extensive knowledge of the organization's competitive environment and, as well, may be prepared to engage in a variety of complex and strategic actions.

In an effort to stimulate positive change in the capability of organizations to improve their competitive talents, this paper proposes an approach to leadership development that makes use of chains of independent and interdependent interaction sequences, transactional episodes, in which an individual systematically seeks to: 1) project leader attributes towards others, and, concomitantly, 2) effectively employ selected influence tactics to gain commitments and compliance of others. The overall process of becoming skilled in these influence behaviors we have labeled autogenic leadership development or ALD. Reflecting on the recent work and criticism of management education and training by Ghoshal (2005), ALD is a means to forward an intentional, ethical approach to leading that incorporates concepts grounded on the reinforcement of social order and the use of positive impression management methods.

Propositions
ALD rests on two ideas that seek to guide individuals in attempts at leadership. The two ideas are the guiding beacons that demonstrate what has to be achieved in order for one to become more influential. ALD is an action model that ultimately prescribes specific influence behavior to use in work and other social situations to help an individual manage progress. From the body of research literature in the areas of communication, leadership, influence, social psychology, management and others, we know two things with some certainty. First, most people with whom we interact with will form some opinions about us as to our capability to influence them and others. Often, these opinions or attitudes towards us are formed by others rather early in our encounters with them. People will do this whether or not they possess much information about us.