Statesmanship Model and Organizational Leadership

Statesmanship Model Overview

Statesmanship is a leadership framework, an approach to governing and inspiring others by embodying a set of designated ideas and principles. It is, or at least was for the majority of its existence, indivisible from the figure of a statesman: the charismatic leader who has a clear vision of the desired path in front of them (Overeem & Bakker, 2016). Engaging in persuasion, coercion, and leading by example, a statesman ensures that their vision is achieved by obtaining a persistent following.

Statesmanship is distinguished from other, more ordinary forms of leadership by the presumption of moral excellence and justice. It is implied that a statesman would not be able to achieve the same results by application of brute force and relying on their political and personal skills (Overeem & Bakker, 2016). The virtues expected of someone who exercises statesmanship cannot be fully based on spirituality and character but rather need to have a practical positive impact on the decisions a statesman makes. Courage, trustworthiness, and the ability to stick to one’s promises are deemed the core virtues of the statesmanship approach.

With the passage of time, the model became applicable not only to the governing process but to the other areas where inspired leadership is needed. CEOs of the major companies of today already possess political power as it is, and statesmanship instructs them to exercise this power wisely. When in agreement with the statesmanship model, organizational leaders maintain their companies in as fair and mutually beneficial a relationship with the environment as possible. It ensures sensible resource management, respect towards the employees of the firm, and, perhaps most importantly, orientation toward the greater good (Overeem & Bakker, 2016). Overall, the statesmanship model in organizational leadership is one of the key ways a firm could realize its potential to benefit society at large.

Interpersonal and Organizational Leadership

However, in order for the principles outlined above to be applicable to the leadership in an organization, they need to undergo several adjustments. These changes are related to the differences that exist between interpersonal and organizational leadership. As one might understand from the previous section, the original statesmanship is mostly locked on the one key figure of the central leader. Although not described as dominating, this approach to leadership elevates one person above their environment and subordinates. Such positioning is, generally speaking, not applicable to the state of organizational management and leadership today.

Interpersonal leadership is characterized by its emphasis on inspiring other people and motivating them to be their best selves, often via personal example. It not only relies but is dependent on the leader’s charisma and ability to compel their audience (Fischer, 2010). The idea of the rewarding purpose is sufficient within the interpersonal leadership framework, as it is frequently exercised outside of the more structured environments. Interpersonal leadership is less concerned with details and intermediate stages when working towards the outlined grandiose goals in question. Once again, it can be frequently found in politics and public speaking, where the areas that require inspiring others and the areas of management of current affairs are separated.

Organizational leadership, on the contrary, is heavily dependent on a leader’s ability to set up realistic intermediate goals in accordance with the financial interests of an organization. The ability to motivate the individuals involved remains relevant to the process but often takes a step back when compared to emerging management issues (Cao et al., 2015). In the organizational approach to leadership, leaders set up strategic goals and establish bite-sized steps and checklists to guarantee the goals are achieved in time. Structural consistency is crucial within the organizational approach to leadership, as it affects the course the business is adopting for itself for a specified period of time. It is important to specify that attention to individuals’ potential cannot be disregarded in this type of leadership. However, the understanding of said potential becomes less broad as organizational leaders pay attention to the ways in which a team member can contribute to the firm’s overall efficiency.

By extension, when applied to organizational leadership, the statesmanship approach evolves and becomes more business-focused. It contextualizes the role of values in an organization’s overall prosperity, which is particularly applicable to public organizations (Ritz et al., 2014). Namely, the ideals of statesmanship have the potential to affect and shape employee behavior, thus aiding the managemen