Page 57 - CMA Journal (Jan-Feb 2026)

Articles Section

Leadership Theory Jungle

Leadership has many colors. It is an adjective widely used congregational prayer.

to glorify select people, organizations and even things. While the Ima’am leads
That said, leadership is pronounced for individuals, the prayer, he
organizations and things which happen to command assembles individuals Sohailuddin Alavi
higher status or demonstrate extraordinary into a unified HR/Organizational Development (OD)
achievements. Simply put, a front runner, smartest of all, congregation [Jamaat],
Consultant and Executive Coach
an organization ahead of others or a best product in the each facing one
market. Persons with elevated positions or exceptional direction, and coordinates their actions. Nevertheless, the
achievements are acclaimed as leaders. In short, the Ima’am and other worshipers perform their own prayers
leadership title is more of an acknowledgement of status and are individually responsible for it. Secondly, look at
rather than actions. Such as country’s President, politician the captain of a team. While the Captain unifies diverse
commanding huge followership, chairman of a company, players into one team, he cannot be directly made
business tycoon, legendary player, someone who excels. responsible if a player drops the catch or a batsman fails
Similarly, managers or supervisors per se are referred to as to bat properly. But rather, he will be responsible for
leaders by default. It is imperative to note that such playing his own game as an individual player.
people avail themselves of the leadership title by virtue of On the other hand, managers are the controllers of all
their position. Once the position is relinquished so is the
that goes into the process and are responsible for the
title. The former type refers to “Ceremonial leadership”
and the later type is “Pseudo leadership”. output. The employees in return are responsible to
managers. That said, managers have authority over the
In contrast to ceremonial and pseudo leaderships, real employee to get the work done. The relationship
leadership reflects the role or functional responsibility between managers and employees is transactional.
of a catalyst in a group and is seen in relationship with Additionally, managers represent the organization to the
the group. This description of leadership is inclusive employees– they are the eyes and ears of the
and complex in its scope. It is inclusive because it organization.
promotes development and growth of each person
and of the subject organization. It is complex because Leadership function in a work setting is complementary
to managerial functions. While anyone can lead,
it simultaneously intervenes at collective and
managers are expected to have a dual role as a manager
individual levels.
and a leader. The scope of leadership role varies amongst
Ironically, however, ceremonial and pseudo leadership managers at different echelons. Front-end managers’
seems to have shadowed real leadership and more leadership role is relatively narrower but equally critical.

critically has distorted the perception of the core Its scope, however, increases as managers climb upwards
leadership function and its development. That said, the and become increasingly dominant. That said, as
need to revisit and zero-in on the real leadership function managers move upwards, their leadership role becomes
cannot be overemphasized to promote just the right dominant as against managing operations vis-à-vis both
competencies- vision, values, motivation, knowledge & employees and the organization.
skills – and the leadership process of real leadership to Managers’ effectiveness largely depends on their
enhance its impact.
legitimate authority in the given situation, the
Picture A Real Leader resources at their disposal, and decisions they are
empowered to make. In contrast, leaders’ effectiveness
Real leaders are from within the group. Meaning, they are is a function of their personality traits, relationships,
responsible for similar outputs as any other person in a
and interactions. The core distinction between
group is, yet they have this role as a leader vis-à-vis other
managers and leaders lies in their relationship with
people. As leaders, they transform diverse individuals into employees, objectives, and performance output.
single unified entities, help clarify purpose and promote
Managers maintain transactional relationships while
rationality, inspire commitment and perseverance,
leaders have relational bonds with their employees
coordinate actions and last but not least, act as a role and group, respectively. Managers’ interactions are
model. The following examples elaborate these concepts. mainly for the attainment of organizational goals.

Let us examine the role of an “Ima’am” who leads a
Leaders interact to help people succeed.
ICMA’s Chartered Management Accountant, Jan-Feb 2026 55