Leadership Guided by Theoretical Perspectives

#### **Chapter 1**

## A Contemporary Approach to Learning Transfer from the Perspective of Constructivist Theory: Marathon Running as a Leadership Development Strategy for Millennial Leaders

*Elif Bilginoğlu*

#### **Abstract**

This paper includes a literature review of the research on marathon running as a leadership development strategy especially for the millennial leaders while they have a postmodern worldview, searching authentic and innovative solutions and supporting divergent thinking. Furthermore, it points out the importance of learning transfer from the perspective of constructivist theory. In this respect, first, constructivist learning theory and learning transfer are explained. In the next two sections, leadership development for the millennial generation and how marathon running is handled as a leadership development strategy in the literature are determined. At the end of the paper, practical implications for leaders and organizations are suggested.

**Keywords:** Leadership development, marathon running, constructivist theory, millennial leaders, learning transfer

#### **1. Introduction**

The Millennial generation (born 1982–2003), whose dominating presence will make its behaviors the major motif of corporate life in the next decade, are quickly taking on leadership roles [1, 2]. The research indicates that this generation of emergent leaders lack managerial experience, thus their leadership skills are not fully developed. This means that Millennials are being promoted into managerial roles before they are ready and there is a need for ongoing mentorship and coaching to deepen their leadership skills [3–5].

Learning and development opportunities are one of the top things Millennials are looking for in an organization. They want to work for an organization that offers enough development opportunities that will allow them to grow and improve their skills [6, 7]. Besides, they do not see development and training programs offered to them as a sign of weakness, but rather a path to greatness, so to offer them leadership development training will not only make them better managers but will also excite them [4]. However while this generation has different preferences from prior generations; in terms of how they prefer to learn and how they view the programs they are offered, the organizations who would like to retain millennial talent cater to their unique needs rather than forcing them to fit into pre-existing patterns and practices. Millennials have been taught a postmodern worldview, which makes them have very different ideas about leadership and may lead to some disruption to traditional leadership. They also have different expectations of leadership development programs. Thus, the organizations should create innovative approaches to effective leadership development and offer adequate leadership development for these leaders. This will help their transition into leadership roles so that they are better positioned for success and they will provide long-term value to their organization [8–15].

While leadership learning and development initiatives are increasingly becoming complex in nature, organizations are using innovative and unusual approaches [16]. Innovative leadership development programs are effective, efficient, and establish true leaders because they focus on the stepwise completion of objective assignments that align with business strategy [17]. The present study aims to confirm that leadership development is a continuous process that can take place anywhere [18] and constitutes an answer to the call of Hamilton and Bean [19] who suggest further systematic study of leadership development that will lead to a better understanding of how to create shared meaning in context. Thus it suggests to move away from traditional leadership development courses and develops the core learning experiences from a diverse domain namely marathon running. Leadership and marathon running together provide a knowledge base that integrates understandings from diverse domains with closely linked field experiences to bridge theory and practice. As several authors have established that marathon running and leadership development share experiential commons (e.g. [20–34]), this paper introduces marathon running as an opportunity for human resources executives to facilitate leadership development for the millennial leaders and builds a theoretical foundation for academic studies.

This chapter consists of two main headings. In "Theoretical Background" section, first, the relevant literature on constructivist learning theory, learning transfer and learning transfer from the perspective of constructivist theory are explained. Then leadership development for the millennial generation and how marathon running is handled as a leadership development strategy in the literature are determined. The "Conclusion" section summarizes the results of the investigation and the results of different studies that support the present investigation's results. At the end of the paper, practical implications for leaders and organizations are suggested.

#### **2. Theoretical background**

#### **2.1 Constructivist learning theory**

The contemporary movements in the philosophy of science converge on the idea that knowledge must not be considered an objective representation of an external observer-independent environment ([35], p. 135). Constructivism is a philosophical view on how people come to understand or know ([36], p. 31). Constructivism generally casts learners in an active role. Instead of just listening, reading and working through routine exercises, they discuss, debate, hypothesize, investigate and take viewpoints ([37], p. 7). In this way, they are encouraged to constantly assess how the activity is helping them gain understanding. In ideally

*A Contemporary Approach to Learning Transfer from the Perspective of Constructivist Theory… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99428*

becoming "expert learners" by questioning themselves and their strategies, they obtain ever-broadening tools to keep learning [38].

Currently, many organizations are replacing the traditional classroomteaching style of training with the constructivist problem-based learning style in professional training. Professional trainers prefer the problem-based learning system, because it facilitates learner autonomy and easier curriculum negotiation. Furthermore, when it is combined with small group work, it includes communication and collaborative skills that are missing in traditional professional education [39].

#### **2.2 Learning transfer**

Learning is a process of acquiring ideas, applying these ideas, embodying the ideas, reflecting on our experiences, and refining ourselves and our practice (Yeomans as cited in [40], p. 10). A central and enduring goal of training is to provide learning experiences that are useful beyond the specific conditions of initial learning ([41], p. 431). Transfer of learning refers to the use of past learning when learning something new and the application of that learning to both similar and new situations ([42], p. xiii). In the organizational training and development programs, learning transfer occurs when the learned behavior is generalized to the job context and maintained over a period of time on the job ([43], p. 63). As Fogarty et al. [44] claim, real transfer happens when people carry over something they learned in one context to a significantly different context.

While transfer of learning is the very foundation of learning, thinking, and problem solving ([42], p. xiii) and while transfer is theoretically indistinguishable from learning ([45], p. 109), there is no more important topic in the whole psychology of learning than transfer of learning ([46], p. 2).

#### **2.3 Learning transfer from the perspective of constructivist theory**

Transfer of learning enables the application of knowledge learned in one setting or for one purpose to another setting and/or purpose ([47], p. 235). According to constructivist learning theory, the learner is extremely open to new knowledge and reconstructs the information he/she acquired in his/her mind by comparing with the old information and thus begins to understand the world around him/her better ([48], p. 44). Several authors consider learning transfer from a constructivist perspective, where it is highly dependent on how a learner is able to personally integrate and apply lessons learned ([49], p. 86). Thus, it can be asserted that the aim of research on learning transfer is identical to the aim of constructivist approaches that deal with the problem of flexible applicability of knowledge ([50], p. 316). The principles of constructivist theory are also important in the context of adult approaches to learning and have important implications for learning transfer ([51], p. 9).

Although an important characteristic of learning transfer is that it does not necessarily require content overlap between the different domains [52], when the knowledge transfer in human intelligence is examined, it can be found that the individuals do not rely on low-level relatedness to transfer knowledge across domains. They are able to make analogy across different domains by resolving the high level structural similarities even when the learning domains are seemingly irrelevant. Understanding of these structural similarities helps to abstract away the details specific to the domains, and build a mapping between the abstractions. The mapping builds on the high level structural relatedness of the two domains, instead of their low level literal similarities ([53], p. 513).

#### **2.4 Leadership development for millennial leaders**

Millennial professionals are one of the most discussed and researched subjects of recent times ([54], p. 148). While they represent the majority of the workforce and about half of the manager population, they are the leaders of today [55]. Research reveals that these generation of leaders will need to be equipped to take leadership positions in organizations sooner than any other generation in history [56] thus training them for leadership is a business necessity now [57].

Leadership was always regarded as a challenge [58]. While the workplace has changed tremendously over the years, the need to develop strong, capable leaders to succeed in this fast-paced organizational environment has remained the same ([59], p. 10). Leadership learning and development is the critical priority in many of today's large, global organizations. As the degree to which an organization's leaders are effective critically affects all aspects of the business, today a more strategic and integrated approach which broadens the traditional view of leadership development and training is an absolute must ([60], p. 4; [61, 62]).

Leadership development is a highly personal learning experience that can provide new and relevant insights into one's strengths as a leader as well as the key areas to work on for further development [63]. As previous research on generational cohorts suggests that managerial practices, human resource management practices, and development strategies should be generation-appropriate [64–66], the human resources executives should architect millennial specific development avenues that accelerate professional growth and streamline success [67].

As millennials are aces at discovering information and they do not value a piece of information for its own sake, rather for its relevance to their lives [68], they are characterized as active learners, sharing the active learning style [69–71]. Research reveals that millennial leaders want experiences, not training. Rather than traditional classroom lectures, they prefer to take action and practice in the context of their real work. They find the traditional leadership development strategies too slow and believe that there is a need to redesign the leadership strategies [72]. Maybe this is because that the Millennials never accept how things were done before and always seek a new way of doing things. Innovation is one of their most attractive stereotypes [73]. The research also revealed that they believe that their organization's leadership development programs were aligned with its business needs. They stated that "poor content, insufficient thinking and expertise from outside sources, and a failure to make a compelling return-on-investment case" were the biggest barriers to training program effectiveness [13]. These findings reveal that the organizations require innovative solutions to create leadership development programs that the employees want and need. Focusing on what participants want is very important to designing any type of learning environment, so researchers and human resource executives need to design contemporary learning methods for the new generation leaders. Traditional leadership development programs generally offer classroom-based instruction pertaining to the theories, attributes, and behaviors of leaders ([74], p. 69). However millennials quickly tire of such training methods, especially if they do not see clear connections between the content and their day-to-day responsibilities. The classroom oriented training is now seen as obsolete, while the modern view is that the new design of training should be personalized, learner-directed, collaborative, interdisciplinary, offering strong connections to business and setting the stage for lifelong learning. Millennials are a cohort that constantly seeks inspiration and want to have fun [75, 76]. Besides, many of them are driven by competition. Thus the idea of incorporating game elements into training may keep them motivated and engaged in their continuous development. The organizations should consider offering this generation of leaders more diverse

#### *A Contemporary Approach to Learning Transfer from the Perspective of Constructivist Theory… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99428*

and engaging programs which will lead to an evolution in the leadership training and development approaches over time. These programs will not only make them better leaders, but will also excite them [4, 11]. These findings are consistent with the findings of the research which revealed that leadership development should not be simply an exercise in information download but the facilitation of a more selfdirected learning process [63] and these programs need an update to reflect today's working world [77]. Research also revealed that 80 percent of business leaders believe that greater innovation was needed in learning techniques used in leadership development programs [13]. While today's world of the millennial leaders calls for a renewed focus on what constitutes genuine leadership development programs aiming to develop leaders ready to get ahead of tomorrow's challenges, it is time to challenge the status quo and push the leadership development efforts to the next level [78]. It is a fact that a leadership development program is only as good as its practical applications [79] and effective leaders learn from significant life experiences, such as inspirational experiences. The strategy of reflection used by leaders in significant life experiences can be utilized as an effective learning tool in leadership development [80].

The organizations should respond to these issues with the enhancement of existing leadership development programs that aim to develop this new generation of leaders. In light of the above discussion and following the notion of thinking about new and creative methods to reach the hearts and minds of the millennial leaders, the present study proposes a novel approach to alleviate the problem of the traditional classroom leadership development programs. More specifically, it aims to integrate the leadership and the learning research and make a contemporary approach to learning transfer from the perspective of constructivist theory in articulating the variety of leadership behaviors desired and clarifying the way learning by an inspirational experience such as marathon running influence those behaviors.

#### **2.5 Marathon running as a leadership development strategy**

A marathon is not just a 26.2 mile endurance race to run. In fact the marathon journey is a lot longer than that and it involves a lot more than just running [81].

Leadership is in many ways like marathon running. Numerous characteristics are adequate for both. From boardrooms to meetings, successful leaders often have many marathons against them when it comes to running, literally. Running a marathon which is seen as one of the greatest feats of human endurance [82] and the ultimate human challenge ([83], p. 348), requires continuous learning as does leadership [84]. As leadership development is a process that occurs in contexts, which are value-laden environments ([19, 85], p. 344; [86]), determinants of marathon running success may apply to leaders and offer them parameters of a life-long training regimen for success in this challenging profession of leading. Thus marathon running may constitute 26.2 miles of leadership lessons.

The most fundamental ideal required to understand learning transfer is that two tasks may differ yet share some common components, which provide the basis for intertask transfer ([87], pp. 15–16). Based on this claim, the present study offers a comprehensive list of leadership lessons one can learn by training for and completing a marathon, as well as commentary on the reasons of learning and living those lessons are a requirement for anyone who wants to be a leader.

A marathon is not just running 26.2 miles on race day. It is about putting in roughly 600 miles over a four to six month training period leading up to race day [33]. Crossing the finish line of a marathon is a great feeling. But for many, the journey of getting to the start line is more important than crossing the finish line. If a runner has decided to take up running or signed up for a marathon, he/she has completed the first step to becoming a marathon runner. A runner should not shy away from taking that first step because he/she is afraid he/she will not be able to achieve his/her goal exactly how he/she pictures it. The first step to goal setting is to have absolute belief and faith in the process [88, 89]. A runner, who gets to the start line, will get to the finish line. While we all are capable of more than we think we are, although to take the first step is also the hardest one for the leaders, a leader should not wait for the moment when everything is in perfect alignment. Once a start is made, the following steps will be slightly easier, and there begins the journey towards achieving the goal. The leader shall align with his/her leadership goal and reach forward by placing one foot in front of the other. Before he/she knows it, he/ she will gain momentum and move to the next phase called "second wind". Thus, a leader should focus a lot on getting the projects to the start line. With the support of his/her team, he/she will get it to the finish line [81, 90–92].

Running a marathon is a major commitment. It requires long periods of meticulous planning and a strict physiological and mental training regime [93]. This means several months of arduous, painstaking preparation which includes a careful diet and a regimented program of progressively longer runs [82, 94]. This is a must for the runners so that they know where they are going and that they are focused on establishing and reaching their goal. Aside from focus, it is also important for runners to have a race-day strategy which is based on training data such as total mileage, average pace and races completed during the training period. A solid strategy, careful planning, a strong focus and the ability to stay on the course are keys to success not only in running but also in leadership [95]. Goals do not only maintain motivation and desire to meet targets, but they also give the individual something tangible to aspire for and create a blueprint to stay focused and disciplined [32, 96]. Leadership involves skills, competencies and strategies that focus on collective action to achieve common goals [97, 98]. To achieve these goals, leaders should make plans so that they do not go in numerous directions, trying to figure out what to do next [34, 99]. The leaders focus their own attention because attention is the basis of the most essential of leadership skills - emotional, organizational, and strategic intelligence [100]. They also focus on ensuring the sustainable productivity of the ones in their organizations [101, 102]. By being able to remain focused at work and by careful planning, the leader gets connected to his/her sense of purpose and values.

To rise to the challenge of the marathon and complete the 26.2 mile can require speed and endurance, but most of all; it requires a huge expenditure of effort and determination [25, 95, 103]. Leadership is not different. Research shows that selfdetermination is essential to effective leadership based on the frequency with which attributes of self-determination are identified as elements of effective leadership [98, 104]. Leaders should have abundant passion and high intentionality. For leaders it takes steadfastness to stay determined in the face of challenges and successes ([105, 106], p. 235; [107]).

Experienced runners advise the beginners to expect the unexpected and to be prepared for it when it comes to running a marathon. Most unexpected things that happen during a marathon are like; breaking a shoelace, a heart rate monitor that will not stay on, messing up the GPS watch, chafing, wearing too little or too many clothes, cold symptoms or heat exhaustion, potty problems, blisters and black toenails, getting tripped by another runner or getting to a water station only to find out that they are out of liquid. When the unexpected occurs during a race, the runner should try not to get too upset and keep running [32, 108–110]. It is also possible that the worst happens on marathon day and the runner has to pull out, or gets injured. In such a case, he/she should try to think positively and focus on what

#### *A Contemporary Approach to Learning Transfer from the Perspective of Constructivist Theory… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99428*

he/she has achieved and not on what he/she has not. Top performers look at these things as learning experiences and let it be a motivation to get themselves in shape for the next opportunity. This is the time to start questioning "If I were going to do it again, what would I learn from that? What would I do differently?" and look for areas of improvement. That fires the brain towards a newer goal rather than away from it [111]. This happens also in leadership. Even the most experienced and skillful leaders have been confounded and frustrated by the inconsistent outcomes of careful planning [112]. Leaders need to keep an open mind and adjust their plan if necessary. It is the key to react to external changes, such as competition, customer feedback and new technologies [34]. A leader should also acknowledge that there will be setbacks. It is important to keep in mind that there are lessons learned from each failure [20, 113].

Although running is considered as an individual sport [114, 115] and not a team sport, no one gets to the finish line without support. Even though the runners compete individually, they often train with a training partner or in a team environment and often in opposition to their partner or teammates [116, 117]. By drawing inspiration and energy from each other, they push each other in order to achieve greater levels of performance. Furthermore, the training regimen of a runner includes gym trainers, masseurs to keep supple, pilates instructors, nutritionists, coaches and podiatrists. On the day of the marathon, there is a large psychological and small drafting advantage to running in a group, so it is better to stay with other runners [113, 118]. Besides, the committed individuals from fellow runners to friends, volunteers and spectators cheering on the marathon runner, lift the runner's spirits and her/his chances of success by their engagement. It would have been much harder to cross the finish line without all this support [26]. Leadership is also not a solo mission; it is a team sport. Leading an organization is so complex and multi-faceted that it is dangerously misguided to believe that one person has all the superhuman qualities that some may often claim they possess. The essence of leadership is accomplishing worthy goals through the combined effort of others [24, 119–121]. Without a diverse team and broad support, the victories can be somewhat hollow [21, 122].

A key requirement for optimal marathon performance is optimal pacing. A runner needs to become a master at pacing himself/herself in order to maximize his/her potential on the marathon day [118, 123]. To avoid getting burned out he/she should not go too fast on running or should not push himself/herself too fast in the beginning or for too long [24]. Pace also matters for long-term performance in an organization. A leader should recognize that everyone in the organization is not working at exactly the same speed and while achieving results he/she should vary the pace. In order not to use his/her own individual work pace as the standard which may usually lead to unrealistic expectations and frustrated co-workers, he/she should sometimes pause the action and create some space in the intervals between major events. In this way, energy may be conserved across the organization to lead high levels of performance for the long haul [124–126].

Marathon runners are not born. They are made. They train to become marathon runners. When a runner starts training for a marathon, unless he/she regularly runs that kind of distance (26.2 miles), he/she starts off being unable to run it. As capabilities build over time; the body transforms slowly to handle more running at faster speeds. That is the way of becoming a better runner [113, 127–129]. What makes runners and leaders is their willingness to learn and push themselves. Leadership also takes practice. The effective leaders grow in their roles. Through continuous learning and practicing, they enhance their strength, stamina and effectiveness as a leader. As they practice and develop their leadership endurance, they can run a bit longer than their last time [22, 28, 34, 84, 130].

Running a marathon requires a set of principles regarding physiology, psychology, nutrition and training [131, 132]. Like marathon runners, leaders require a set of principles that guide their actions and activities. This set of principles can be referred to as leadership ethics [84]. As ethics is the heart of leadership ([133, 134], p. 14), leading without ethics is no leadership at all [135].

Many spectators will see runners hunched over throughout the marathon, but even more so near the end. The reason is the increase in the amount of lactate in their muscles, which results in cramps. Lactate builds up when a runner burns glucose at a faster rate than he takes in oxygen, for instance, during the final sprint. Towards the end of a marathon is also when the effects of tissue damage on the muscles and joints really start to be felt, too. Unfortunately this damage is unavoidable. Resilient runners can cope with adversity and complete the marathon because they have the psychological ability to cope with both physical and mental fatigue. As the mind has great influence over the body, if the mind does not give up, the body will follow no matter how tired. Once the runner hits her/his stride, those thoughts will go away and he/she will experience a "runner's high" ([21, 136, 137], p. 23; [138, 139]). Like marathon running, leadership will also empty one's tank. At some point, the leaders' natural energy which keeps them running, influencing, stable and encouraged diminishes. As a result they need to make a lot of effort with all their resources and they burn out. In order to be able to respond to challenges and finally not burn out, a leader should keep in mind that they have unused reserves and push themselves, often one mile at a time. Otherwise, they will not realize or experience the depths of those reserves [28, 33, 140, 141].

A marathon is a massive physical challenge for the body. Recovery and selfrenewal are absolutely essential and as important as activity [20, 142, 143]. Thus, following the marathon training cycle, a runner needs to spend a fair amount of time not running and instead resting, recovering and recuperating, both mentally and physically. Furthermore he/she should prevent injury and maintain hardearned fitness by slowly and gradually building back up. Muscles need time off to heal and strengthen themselves. More rest and recovery is better than less, and a recurring theme is to listen to the body and back off until it says it is ready to go. This is the time to celebrate the past success and plan for future ones. Although similarly, leaders cannot attempt to be active all the time, recovery and renewal are often ignored in business. The research shows that working long hours on a continuous basis reduces overall effectiveness [144–146]. As the leaders cannot deal effectively with challenges and cannot manage stressful situations without a baseline level of emotional well-being, they need to give themselves time to relax and recharge [130, 141, 147, 148].

The glory of the most recent run remains with the runner only for a short time. Then comes the time to do it once again. The finish line of a marathon is the start of a new one. After the recovery is over, it is time to start the next season or cycle to set new goals and build on the strengths and weaknesses of past training. As goals are made to be achieved, either for a runner or a leader, it is suggested to decide on a greater and longer term goal. For a marathon runner, this may be to run another marathon or do one in a new and exciting location. For the leader, this may be a new project or a greater organizational success. New goals are set and the cycle of "challenge and accomplish" is repeated [149].

This review reveals that there is no one trait that will guarantee the runner a marathon success, but several rules of thumb that come together to give him/her the best chance. Likewise, many studies were conducted in the area of leadership trait theories to discover a list of physical and psychological traits or qualities that account for leadership effectiveness. However, none of them has come up with a universal list of traits that all successful leaders possess, or traits that will

guarantee leadership success. Although there is no list of traits that guarantees leadership success, traits that are related to leadership success have been identified ([150, 151], p. 16; [152, 153]).

#### **3. Conclusion**

This research deals with the leadership development concept from the perspective of constructivist theory from a viewpoint of learning transfer and reveals that the participants of a marathon which is regarded as one of the greatest feats of human endurance [82] and the ultimate human challenge ([83], p. 348) can develop their leadership skills which can directly be applied to today's organizations.

Marathon running has become a popular sport globally in recent years. This can be partially reflected by the rapid growing number of marathon participants all over the world [154]. Although marathon running is one of the most demanding sports in the world, highly successful people enjoy this sport. While they have character traits such as focus and persistence, they can achieve success both in a marathon and in the business world [155]. Several studies revealed that a character trait of the millennial generation is also a desire to succeed [156, 157] and being a runner is part of their identity [158]. Thus, it is no wonder that they have been dubbed "the running generation" [159].

Sport, as a sphere of human life which is dominated by the continuous competition, naturally creates and shapes leaders [160]. Business leaders are keen to understand the athletes' passion for excellence and translate this formula for success into the corporate world [121]. While leadership is a lifelong marathon that one must endeavor to run with distinction so that he/she may get his/her due reward [161], the leaders know that they have a long distance to run and it is not speed but other traits like stamina and endurance that will carry them through [113].

In today's rapid-paced organizations, dynamic leaders are needed more than ever. The qualities that one has to replicate to thrive as a leader and to run a marathon are the same and marathon running has a structure similar to today's business environment with its compelling and dynamic conditions. Today the companies are looking for ways to offer their millennial leaders enough opportunities to develop and grow in ways that fit their preferences and styles. This study provides guidance on how marathons constitute more experiential while less didactic and thus unique learning environments for the millennial leaders to develop new perceptions of what they are trying to accomplish, what are the obstacles that stand in their way, and what they can do to overcome them and thus observe the challenges they will face. Today organizations seek to extend training beyond the basics. The present study wants to encourage them to break the traditional mold in their leadership development processes to open up to new and innovative ideas on these programs by the development of a methodology of marathon running to be translated into a mindset that will improve leadership performance.

Today leaders have to go through various learning processes which have both cognitive and behavioral complexity [162]. Previous research has emphasized the value of leadership development, offered insights on leadership preparation and revealed that leadership encompasses a learned set of knowledge, skills and attitudes [163, 164]. Leadership training and development programs which include a process of learning for problem solving, decision making and strategy formulation, have become a popular technique [165, 166]. As Covey [167] claims: "No person can persuade another to change. Each of us guards a gate that can only be opened from the inside." To ensure a positive learning transfer, a leadership development program must create the appropriate learning environment by providing learning

experiences that are applied beyond the specific conditions of initial learning and make learners learn by observation, interpretation, analysis and questioning.

Running a marathon helps to build the mental skills and attitude necessary for traversing the challenges of the business. It does not only have profound benefits for mental health [168] but it also helps the individuals to develop mental toughness [169] which is a skill that the magnitude of the success of a leader depends on [170]. Furthermore, it offers a dynamic, experiential course for leadership development and opportunities to develop one's personal leadership style to inspire his/her team, motivate the staff and transform the organization. As learning environments with strong applicability to future experiences have greater potential for a more positive transfer of learning ([171], p. 230) marathons have a positive effect on the leadership skills of the participants and contributes to leadership development. Runners also claim that marathons provide vivid leadership development lessons [23, 33]. The findings of the present study suggest the Millennial professionals, the next generation of leaders who were raised by the concept of "team dynamics" and "everyone's a winner" in the school classroom [172], to take on new athletic challenges and run a marathon in order to make it a part of their leadership development. Although running a marathon is not on everyone's bucket list, it is a fact that the ones in leadership roles are (metaphorically) training for marathons every day they turn up for work.

The present paper presents a contemporary approach to leadership development and suggests the organizations to design leadership programs that will benefit from the learning transfer that identifies the common factors between marathon running and leadership. Marathon running may be a brilliant idea for the leaders to undertake leadership exercises in order to stretch their leadership skills. When coupled with training classes for developing leadership competencies and specific development goals, such an assignment may constitute a wonderful platform for leadership development and a rich growth opportunity that yields many benefits to the leader as a learner. Although scholars claim that it is difficult to predict whether transfer of learning will be positive or negative in particular cases because of incomplete knowledge of what was learned originally and how the transfer task is represented ([173], p. 4), the findings of the present study support the idea that the implementing of descriptive processes of marathon running programs in leadership development programs possesses relevance to leadership development issues with elements of valuable context. The results of this study, therefore, may help break new ground in comparing the effectiveness of traditional approach versus constructivist approach in leadership development programs.

The particular frame presented in the present study supports the experiences of several others (e.g. [20–34]) that marathon running and leadership development share experiential commons. Regarding the findings of the present study, it is suggested to the human resource executives who will decide to organize such leadership development programs, to choose running programs which have levels of difficulty that suits the participants' athletic levels and to encourage the individuals to participate these programs, even a marathon. As training for a marathon, takes planning, discipline and serious preparation, the challenge will be incredible and deliver several lessons for a leader. The leadership development programs which will combine traditional corporate classroom lessons with marathon training sessions will make the corporate leaders develop their leadership skills with their constructivist sessions. This approach also helps to eliminate the transferability issues that are typically present in leadership development programs in the corporate world and in academic settings.

There has been a considerable increase in the number of participants running marathons over the past several years [174]. Many leaders believe that a motivation

#### *A Contemporary Approach to Learning Transfer from the Perspective of Constructivist Theory… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99428*

to keep running is that it leads to business success by reducing stress, creating a balance in their lives and fostering a mental toughness that can bring rewards in the boardroom [175]. They are also running marathons because they are very successoriented people and the marathons make them experience an even greater sense of achievement [176]. Previous research revealed that there is a positive relationship between leader fitness and firm value [177] and participation in sport influences leadership skills, style and career development and constitutes a powerful motivator for executives [178]. Previous research also revealed that despite the negative stigma associated with burnout resulting from marathon training, 85.7 percent of marathon runners believe that training did not negatively impact their ability to do their job. As the dedication and commitment involved in training can actually equip participants with a whole range of transferable skills that they can apply in the workplace, it can have a positive impact on overall career success. This makes marathon runners possibly even better employees [93]. These findings are consistent with the findings of the present study which reveal that marathon runners become better leaders. Despite the pain of it, running a marathon and testing the limits of the body and mind helps the leaders build the mental skills and attitude necessary for beating leadership challenges.

Written in 1908, the Olympic Creed states "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well." [179]. True leaders understand that leadership development is a journey that never ends. And they keep in mind that success is not about finishing on top or making the most money. They are in a learning journey of constant growth, evolving and developing creative thinking capabilities and competencies. As the one who runs a marathon, runs against the distance, not against the other runners, it is more important for the leaders to learn from the journey and reach their potential [33, 180–182].

#### **4. Practical implications**

Previous research suggests that leader development programmes should be realistic and challenging while providing an opportunity for growth in knowledge and skills through self-reflections and external assessments [104, 183]. Leadership development programmes which are poorly matched to participants' expectations can be harmful and create negative experiences ([184], p. 435). The researchers should suggest a new paradigm of leadership that will operate for the new generation leaders of the 21st century, not the old paradigm of leadership that has dominated the literature for years. Taken together, the findings of this study have significant implications for the understanding of how marathon running promotes leadership development.

#### **5. Limitations and further research**

Regarding the findings of the present study, the corporate marathon running programs are expected to demonstrate the ability to produce beneficial outcomes in critical areas of leadership development. However, some scholars and human resources executives may question whether these programs truly benefit leaders and their respective organizations. While the findings of the present study may speak favorably for these programs, how these changes are affected by differing cultures and organizations remains unclear. The future research should focus on the lack of

#### *Leadership - New Insights*

clarity around these variables as well as the effectiveness of certain facilitation practices in achieving desired leadership development objectives for the organizations.

As the primary purpose of the present study is to offer new insights into leadership development of millennial leaders, the researcher hopes that the findings could help the design of these programs to become more effective in leaders of the new generation leaders.

### **Author details**

Elif Bilginoğlu Independent Researcher, Turkey

\*Address all correspondence to: elifb@ada.net.tr

© 2021 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

*A Contemporary Approach to Learning Transfer from the Perspective of Constructivist Theory… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99428*

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#### **Chapter 2**

## Turning Bad Leaders into Good Leaders: Diminishing the Theory X Style

*Lindall Elaine Adams, Marion Williams and Ibrahim Al Zaabi*

#### **Abstract**

While not everyone is born with the talent to lead, many businesses have been plagued by accidental leaders. Such leaders have no prior experience managing others. A bad leader can do more harm than good to a company. They are frequently the cause why employees decide to leave a company. Controlling and manipulative leaders have a negative influence on employee morale and have the potential to damage the organization's corporate culture. Furthermore, employees do not depart because they are unsatisfied with their jobs. They leave the company because they are unhappy with their leaders. This chapter explores micromanagement as a Theory X style and identifies indicators such as lack of trust and high-staff turnover as the primary reasons why leaders fail to "lead" the "ship." The chapter concludes that effective leadership necessitates leadership skills and training.

**Keywords:** Theory X, micromanagement, trust, staff turnover, disease

#### **1. Introduction**

This chapter begins with a quotation from President Theodore Roosevelt: "*The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it*" [1].

Humans are born with an innate need to follow leaders. The earliest leaders are documented in historical and religious artifacts, from ancient civilization to modern-day leaders [2]. The ability to lead groups of people has been a highly valuable and highly sought-after skill from early times.

Good leadership forms an essential part of managing employees and directing the organizations' objectives, directing individual and group goals, guiding employees effectively, and increasing employee productivity [3]. Effective leadership as noted by [4] resulted from desirable characteristics and qualities and the ability to influence employee performance. A good leader exhibits qualities such as providing employee support, two-way communication, knowledge of problem-solving, effective decision-making skills, interpersonal behaviors, empathy for subordinates, and providing solutions. Leadership is an essential feature of employee productivity as noted by Osundina and Owoeye [5] to direct employees to set and reach goals and objectives of the organization; therefore, it helps to develop teamwork and integrate individual goals and group productivity. However, management cannot develop

leaders, as argued by Peter Drucker [6], it can only establish the environment necessary for the development of potential leadership traits.

#### **2. Theory X and Theory Y**

The term leadership was only coined in the 1970s [7], referring to the Theory X and Theory Y understanding of leadership effectiveness. These two theories, both developed by Douglas McGregor [4], used these insights to build two opposed managerial scenarios. Theory Y assumes that effective managerial leadership refers to the kind of direction a leader can give to a group of employees to enable the group to achieve goals [4]. Good leadership is measured by what qualities it possesses and how effective it is in the performance of the job. The measure of leadership effectiveness is the extent to which the group leader does the job and achieves the required goals and satisfaction achieved by employees [4]. Productivity is an overall measure of the ability to produce a good service [5]. However, Theory X leadership views the employees as "lazy," unmotivated, and in need of an intimidating person to coerce them into working. Theory Y is perceiving the employer as highly driven and self-motivated. Theory X is a style of leadership in which the employee is subjected to strict control and monitoring [8]. This type of leadership is more prevalent in management, which is more representative of the current workforce [9], especially to those employees who do not want to take responsibility [7]. This style of leadership views the organization as a chain of demand, with employees either being punished or rewarded for their efforts. In this chapter, Theory X is evaluated from a micromanagement standpoint [10] to identify and investigate two essential indicators for "leader" and "ship"—trust and staff turnover, which is the ability to lead the ship. Or would poor leadership cause personnel to abandon ship? We determined that self-ethnographic case studies are appropriate for demonstrating the victim's experience with micromanagement.

#### **3. Micromanagement**

Micromanagement is classified as a "disease" [10]. This leader is what Roosevelt would see as "meddling" [1]. This "disease" has been observed in the workplace, and several studies have examined its impact on the workforce. Symptoms include the following:

#### **3.1 Emotional manipulation**

Machiavellianism is a context-specific domain characterized by a belief in manipulation to achieve work-related goals when necessary. Managers who are comfortable manipulating others are known as Machiavellians. The primary premise of the organizational Machiavellian is that they will only use manipulative and dishonest practices when it benefits them. These managers are not necessarily vengeful or brutal, but they may be quite charming and sympathetic when their objectives are served [11].

Leaders may use manipulation methods to inspire trust and confidence in others. While it can be used for benign purposes, it can also be used to commit malicious acts. Managers intimidated by manipulative techniques abstain from modern and convincing techniques. All these rhetorical strategies such as "storytelling,

#### *Turning Bad Leaders into Good Leaders: Diminishing the Theory X Style DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.100455*

scenario planning, or emotional appeals" can be used to benefit the organization [12]. However, manipulation of others is an unethical and unprofessional strategy to influence others, as in the findings by Auvinen et al. [13]. The authors gathered data for their qualitative study using thematic interviews, which featured anecdotes presented by managers to influence their employees. The authors identified four types of manipulative storytelling:

#### *3.1.1 Humor*

Humor has traditionally been related to a sense of superiority, rapid changes in situations, and the coexistence of opposites such as pleasantness and unpleasantness, joy and misery, power, and pointlessness. Additionally, humor typically combines the aspects of drama, as it is frequently associated with strong emotions. The humorous narrative has educational and moral implications. Through the story, employees are taught to cherish their working conditions. False information is the type of manipulation used in this case since the management exaggerates irrelevant and unfamiliar circumstances out of context [12].

#### *3.1.2 Pseudo-participative manipulation*

The management gives the false appearance that the subordinate shares their thoughts and concerns through pseudo-participative manipulation. As a result, participation is fictitious and unidirectional. The stories portray a predetermined strategy for meeting and guiding persons through the instillation of a misguided perception of free will.

#### *3.1.3 Pseudo-empathetic*

This idea is closely tied to power and the ability to manipulate other people's emotions and is known as the capacity to sense and understand another person's sentiments. Although Lidow [12] are discussing pseudo-empathy, they are not denying that genuine and sincere empathy can manifest as well. Pseudo-emphatic manipulation is frequently associated with consequence-based ethics, in which managers deceive employees to terminate them. Managers make a concerted effort to mitigate the repercussions of termination. Additionally, this strategy carries a cost, which includes pseudo-empathetic subordinate management. Managers are viewed as immoral by virtue ethics due to their seeming lack of empathy and selfinterest. The actual reason leaders do not exercise control over their subordinates is to absolve themselves of culpability if something goes wrong. Additionally, it provides managers with a means of survival in the intensely unpleasant circumstance of dismissals [12].

#### *3.1.4 Subjective manipulation*

The phrase subjective manipulation describes the situation in which employees are encouraged to notice and report only the positive happenings in their workplace. The panoptic narrative is subjective manipulation since the story can only be perceived one way [12].

However, emotional manipulation techniques gone wrong might spark "gaslighting" [14]. Gaslighting is a form of control that uses authority to manipulate employees into feeling as though they are reliant on their manager for their employment [15]. Manipulative leaders are deceitful.

#### **3.2 Obsessive control/overparenting**

Control is the mechanism put in place to guarantee that employees act in the best interests of the organization, and a system of controls must be designed to guard against undesirable behavior and to encourage desirable activity. Control systems, on the other hand, may cause managers to treat their subordinates as if they were children [11]. The author asserts that this kind of management requires compliance and over-policing of personnel. Machiavellianism is a term that refers to this obsessive control [11]. According to the authors, Machiavellianism's optimal strategy for exercising power is to "tell the people what they want to hear."

#### **3.3 Bullying**

Bullying is one of the micromanagement practices in the workplace [16]. Bullying in the workplace has gained international attention as a relevant research topic [17–19]. Bullying creates a hostile working environment [20]. The author indicates that bullying consists of several activities such as mocking and criticism with the objective of producing anxiety or stress [20]. Bullying may also include giving unfair workloads, personal insults, and prohibiting professional development opportunities [21].

These micromanagement practices can be damaging to the organization and frequently contribute to high employee turnover. As is frequently the case, senior management is unaware of the reasons behind their companies' high employee turnover, which is a result of ineffective line manager leadership styles [22]. The following symptoms should raise alarm, as they suggest that the employee is considering leaving the organization.

#### **3.4 Lack of delegation**

Micromanagers are unaccustomed to delegation [20], while Kivimäki et al. [21] assert that micromanagers struggle with delegation. Effective leaders understand that distributing work does not imply relinquishing control. This means they are allowing themselves more time to devote to tasks that require their focus and attention while also contributing to the organization's professional development by diversifying the skill sets of others [23].

The following part outlines the methodology employed and gives actual evidence to support the theoretical assumptions made previously.

#### **4. Methods**

The study is qualitative in nature, with data acquired through interviews with "victims" of poor leadership. Ethnographic studies are the most effective method for correctly portraying bad leadership [24, 25], and the stories are typically delivered by someone who has personally experienced bad leadership.

The following is a self-ethnographic narrative about the subjective manipulation, control, and bullying of four people. The participants were all employed by large corporations with between 5000 and 12,000 employees. The setting is fictious and we used pseudo-names to protect the identity of the participants.

*"The mother" better known as the controller, bully or Pseudo-participative manipulator*

#### *Turning Bad Leaders into Good Leaders: Diminishing the Theory X Style DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.100455*

Anna worked for a multinational corporation that had a positive global image and was frequently referred to as one of the most prominent organizations in terms of research output. Anna had joined the company shortly after graduating and was one of the company's youngest employees at the time. Anna described Mary, her manager, as someone who cared about her and her well-being. She frequently informed them that her door was always open and that she believes in transparency. Anna was content to work under Mary's supervision, whom she frequently addressed as "the mother" and her employees as "children." She always asked Anna about her family and their health, showing an interest in the life of her staff. During her staff meetings, Mary routinely used the phrase "today I'm going to smack you on the wrists." That day had come for Anna when she tried to get hold of Mary during a crisis at work. It was a Saturday, and Anna called Mary several times, but she did not respond to her call. Not finding Mary, Anna called another manager to seek advice on how to resolve the situation. This manager phoned Mary, who immediately responded to the other manager's call, informing her about the lurking crisis. Mary was so upset with Anna phoned another manager to resolve the problem, claiming that she oversteps boundaries and had no right to call another manager. Never, did she acknowledge Anna's calls to her. The now-friendly "mother" turned vengeful, making Anna's life at work intolerable. Anna was compelled to resign because she was unable to deal with Mary's mood swings, her disregard for Anna's input, or her refusal to sign Anna's leave request.

#### *"You got fired" better known as the bully*

Toni, Lily, Greg, Marvin, Dylan, Daisy, and Bobby were all managers in a wellknown international organization, and their senior boss was "You got fired." Toni dreaded Wednesday manager meetings because she never knew who his next victim would be. "You got fired" made a habit of picking out one manager based on their performance and weekly reviews and insulting them to the point of tears. Toni had seen adult men cry at those talks. "You've got fired," threatened to fire managers. Toni could no longer manage the stress, as she developed bad leadership skills and the staff covertly referring to her as "Miranda Priestley," a character from Lauren Weisberger's novel The Devil Wears Prada. Toni's staff, on the other hand, was unaware of the added pressure to perform that "You Got Fired" imposed on managers and that they may be fired at any time. Toni became emotional and held pointless staff meetings whenever she was in a foul mood, which was generally after the weekly manager meeting. She ceased smiling and being friendly and began sending emails to her staff at 3 a.m., becoming enraged when they did not instantly respond to her emails. She was rapidly establishing a hostile workplace climate. Not only did she strike out at her staff, but also at her family. Toni eventually resigned from her work due to the stress and verbal abuse associated with "You got fired."

#### *"The Selective responder" or the emotional manipulator*

The selective responder, the line manager who ignores your emails. Even emails you submit with suggestions for improvement go unanswered. That was the situation with Dolly, a charming young woman in her late twenties. She consistently obtained the most favorable assessment comments from the "Selective responder," yet her correspondence with the "Selective responder" was ignored. Dolly indicated that she wanted to speak with the "Selective responder" about her current duty, and she had summoned all her bravery to send an email requesting a meeting to address her position. She saw the "Selective responder" daily, either going by their office or the staff area, but she was never informed that they had

received her email or intended to discuss the concern with her. Interestingly, when Dolly went around the office to see if anyone else was having trouble with "Selective responder" and if anyone else had gotten a response to their emails. At least three of her colleagues said that they never had to wait more than a few minutes for a response. This prompted Dolly to inquire as to what was wrong with her, as she was now suffering feelings of self-doubt, and whether the "Selective responder's" nonresponse indicated that the "Selective responder" had a personal vendetta against her. Weeks passed into months, and she attempted one final time to send a follow-up email requesting a meeting. At the time, she felt as though she was merely a "worker" who added no value and that the "Selective responder" lacked the civility to acknowledge her email as a matter of ordinary courtesy. Dolly resigned a year later, and she never got the meeting she had worked up the courage to ask.

#### *"You cannot take initiative" better known as a controller and bully*

Barry was continually told how to conduct his job by his manager. Even though this manager had no prior knowledge of the job, he received daily guidance on how he should do his duties. Barry was so frustrated with his manager that he felt compelled to agree with whatever this manager advised him, even if it made no practical sense. Additionally, the manager used to speak to Barry in a childlike manner, with slow tones and plenty of emphases. While his line manager was the cause of Barry's anxiety, another manager would approach him and request that he create online content for her, even though she never acknowledged Barry's presence at work. She would only greet him when she needs a workplace favor. Barry is still employed by the company, but he maintains an unusually low profile.

#### **5. Discussion**

Self-ethnographic narratives about micromanagement in the workplace revealed a tendency for viable control, bullying, and manipulation as fear tactics. Anna's workplace "mother" became angry and vindictive after Anna attempted to contact another manager during a crisis. She accuses Anna of crossing her limits, but she never recognizes the phone calls on the Saturday following the incident. Rather than praising Anna for being proactive in averting a potential crisis and contacting another manager on her level, she treated her as an adversary. Simultaneously, Anna became depressed and terrified that the incident would result in her termination. Although Anna spent another year in the same department, she resigned because she knew the bullying would continue if she stayed another year at the company.

Toni and her coworkers were bullied at work and were terrified that their names would be announced as the person with the lowest performance during the weekly staff meeting. Additionally, "You got fired" implied that he may terminate the managers' employment at any time. Toni had treated her department's workers similarly harshly because of this tension, but she recognized that she was beginning to change and decided to step away from this stressful work environment.

Dolly was sure that her manager is pleased with her work since she had received good scores on her performance appraisals. However, Dolly that always had a positive impression of her manager slowly turned to self-doubt and negative feelings against her colleagues.

Barry was not only manipulated but also controlled by another manager. He was asked to do work favors even though the other manager never noticed his existence.

The damaging actions created by the micromanagement disease drove educated and experienced employees to reconsider their position in the organization and depart. Three of the participants, except Barry, did not leave the company; instead, they left their manager. The findings indicate that the leaders were unable to "lead" the "ship."

#### **6. Connecting micromanagement to trust and high staff turnover**

Micromanagers often display a lack of trust in their coworkers [26]. The reason for this is that they want to control the situation alone. However, failure to delegate also means that there is no mutual trust between the supervisor and the subordinates. According to Mineo [27], trust acts as the binding agent for leaders to their followers, and this promotes leadership and organizational success. The author argues that true success is not reached through a single event, but rather as the cumulative outcome of numerous investments made over time. Managers must reciprocate trust, and delegating is one approach micromanagers can use to demonstrate their confidence in the staff [28].

High staff turnover is the result of bad leadership. Managers that act as bullies and refuse to accept the viewpoints of their subordinates are the reason why good employees jump the ship. Employees might exhibit signs that they are preparing to abandon ship. They would become withdrawn, would still do their job, but will become disengaged [29].

Micromanagement presents itself in several ways, including manipulation, control, bullying, and a lack of delegation, as demonstrated in this chapter. Additionally, each of these symptoms is associated with two indicators: The manager lacks trust in their subordinate, and micromanagement might result in high employee turnover. On the other side, micromanagement does have a cost. Investments in recruiting new staff, compensating them reasonably, and training them may prove to be costly in the long run if the issue of micromanagement is not addressed. While micromanagers can be advantageous in that they exhibit a manager's dedication to their job and organization, they must be controlled properly to avoid being viewed as a disease. Managers who receive enough training will be able to switch easily between manager and subordinate.

#### **7. Conclusion**

Organizations exist within unique environments that seek good leadership styles in order to build and uplift employees and company goals. To achieve this, organizations should ensure that suitable leadership training is provided. Theory X and Theory Y are contrasting theories in view of employee performance, and the relevance of Theory Y is based on technological innovation and changes affected in a modern organization where leaders following the Theory Y leadership style value their contributions and commitments to the organization and view these as a positive impact on work performance and organizational performance. It is evident that within an organization that McGregor's Theory Y, which is an open management system as well as changing leadership, is used within an organizational setting to ensure success for employees and the organization.

Instead of abandoning Theory X with its limited assumptions, it is important for leaders to consider the needs of employees, develop teamwork, encourage a spirit of participation, consider multidisciplinary teams [30], and change low morale to high morale as suggested by Theory Y according to McGregor [31].

#### **Acknowledgements**

Dain Luke Adams is acknowledged for his assistance with the literature search.

### **Conflict of interest**

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **Author details**

Lindall Elaine Adams1 \*, Marion Williams2,3 and Ibrahim Al Zaabi4


\*Address all correspondence to: lindallelaine@gmail.com

© 2021 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

*Turning Bad Leaders into Good Leaders: Diminishing the Theory X Style DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.100455*

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#### **Chapter 3**

## Humane Leadership in Islamic Approaches

*Mohd Faridh Hafez Mhd Omar*

#### **Abstract**

A leadership style that meets the interests thus ensures the sustainable development of humanity would be a key factor in the current disruptive world. Leadership in Islam prioritizes human values and that becomes a founding principle as stated in the Qur'an and the *hadith* of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Using a descriptive method from previous studies, this study found that three issues would make the country a failed state. Prior to that, a leadership that values humanity is identified as a new approach that deserves attention as it was shown successfully through the leadership of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Such approaches were proven in the following events: 1) to make peace between communities; 2) recognizing the right to life and prohibiting murder; 3) no coercion in religion and social problems; and 4) *da'wah* activities which are inviting to goodness and forbidding evils. This study concludes that humane leadership that incorporates with fundamental principles of Islam while upholding the universal values of humanity should lead a new narrative in the current disruptive world.

**Keywords:** humane leadership, Prophet Muhammad, the Islamic approaches

#### **1. Introduction**

Islam views leadership as the most important element that would drive organizations or states forward. Good leadership has a great responsibility in ensuring that the governance of the organization or state meets and preserves the rights of civil society with the guidance outlined by Islam in terms of policies and approaches. Trust from the public is the only pillar that deserves attention to build a sustainable development where the benefit of society is the main concern of leaders. This is because, leadership according to Islam has two direct relationships at one time, namely obeying the ruling of Allah (SWT) and fulfilling the interests of the society at large. Explaining further about the two relationships as Allah (SWT) recorded in surah Ali-Imran: 103, Samsudin [1] stated that this verse can be a stimulating factor in increasing motivation and subsequently has a greater impact on leadership performance.

However, these two elements seem increasingly neglected in today's leadership setting despite both are proven as unseparated coin in solving human crisis [2]. Even worse when the term "Islamic leadership" is only fluent on the lips but increasingly vague in implementation at all levels of organization and state administration. Muhammad [3] found the Islamic leadership system, especially in the political system in Malaysia, has caused various wrong perceptions that lead to suspicion and scare toward Islamic leadership. As Malaysian political development has formed

upon the dualism of Islamism-nationalism and conservative-progressive and always colored by the religion which is Islam, thus these splits were not at all surprising given the fact that the battle between these two schools of taught has been ongoing since the early 1900s [4]. In the global scene, failure in coordinating the ideology of political Islam has contributed to the rise of terrorism and violent extremism [5] thus affected the narrative to Islam as a religion of peace and security.

As a result, leadership with Islamic values that uphold the principles of divinity and recognize human relations is seen as failing to create sustainable development within the Muslim society as well as the society as a whole. Therefore, the depravity of evils in society, as well as the occurrence of leadership crisis on its understanding and application, has become causes to the deficit of trust in bringing peace and preserving human values, although Islam is recognized a peaceful religion. Analyzing reality where appreciation on values-based leadership is important yet not overwhelming, Islam is consistently seen very much intact in defining the meaning, concept, and impact of leadership toward the development of society as well as the state.

However, as these issues might influence the notion of humanistic values in the long run, it could worsen the true understanding of Islamic leadership and ultimately also affects human development, economic justice, and national well-being after Islamic leadership, and Muslim leaders were seen as a leading cause to global crisis. Therefore, this paper's objective will explain in detail the concept of Islamic leadership that has had evolved since the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) where human values work as focal point in his leadership in sustaining peace and security within the society. Bringing current crises in today's leadership that deprived the values of humanity need great attention to be solved by Islamic leadership approaches.

#### **2. Islamic leadership according to previous and contemporary Muslim scholars**

Scholars in the past have discovered various definitions to explain the meaning of Islamic leadership. Imam al-Mawardi's (d. 422H) definition on the term has been referred by many scholars after him, as he said "Islamic leadership is a task to replace the prophetic duty in preserving the religion (Islam) and managing worldly life." Such a novel definition of al-Mawardi's was repeated in the classical works of Muslim scholars like al-Ramli (Nihayah al-Muhtaj fi Syarh al-Minhaj and Ibn al-Azraq (Badai 'al-Silk fi Tabai' al-Malik) [3].

In addition to that, Ibn Khaldun is also one of the scholars who unraveled the basic definition of Islamic leadership in his magnum opus *al-Muqaddimah*. Muhammad [3] says Ibn Khaldun defined leadership has the same responsibility as the caliph where it should lead all human beings to live according to *Shāri'ah* for the balanced well-being in both this world and the hereafter. This is because every command set by Allah (SWT) in this world is measured by God's acceptance and mercy. Instead of calling for doing good and stopping evils, thus as a caliph, the vital role should be played is ensuring the implementation of religious teachings in daily life. In fact, it should transcend into diverse community that celebrates diversity and differences within commonalities. Hence, the definition of a leader explained by Ibn Khaldun has emphasized on the religious aspect as an undeniable guiding principle in the humanistic management and administration of the country.

In addition to that, Muhammad [3] has elaborated another definition of Islamic leadership from the point of view of other scholars such as Rashid Rida, Ibn al-Azraq al-Qalqasyandi, and al-Juwayni. In his summary, it can be understood that

#### *Humane Leadership in Islamic Approaches DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.103735*

all these scholars translate Islamic leadership by including the administration task with the interest of public is at top priority. Preservation of Islam and ensuring the implementation of *maqasid Syariah* (the highest objectives of Islam) must be advocated, while the welfare of the society in social, economic, education, and politic are developed justly and peacefully. Muhammad [3] then summarizes al-Juwayni's view with the following statement:

*"Leadership must be an 'exemplary leadership', which has comprehensive approaches in preserving public matters in accordance to religion by prioritizing perseverance of national security, the interests of the people, overcoming malpractices with da'wah (calling to goodness) with discussions and dialog as a tool for helping the oppressed, ensuring that those who have the right get their rights, also ensuring that those rights are not taken away by any party [including the government or leaders]."*

The definition of Islamic leadership has evolved and been broadened over the centuries. This is important to counter Moten's [6] examination as he said leadership from an Islamic perspective which has so far been neglected or misrepresented because it is studied based on European experiences. Responding to this, Gazi [7] emphasizes the pivotal to examine the root of why the concept of leadership in Islam is different from the West. Thus, the views of contemporary Islamic scholars on the definition the term deserves to be discussed.

For example, Beekun and Badawi [8] view leadership in Islam as a basic two-way relationship between an individual and Allah (SWT) directly. The existence of a relationship between two individuals which in turn is translated in the aspect of leadership is upon their faith in Allah (SWT). So leaders had responsibilities to achieve the high-end demand of leadership. Apart from that, leadership in Islam is also referred to as a noble moral activity and communication process toward achieving a common goal [9]. Thus, leaders are distinguished from followers in terms of knowledge, commitment to the teachings of Islam and holding higher moral values. Altalib [10] and Chowdhury [11] shared the view of Islamic leadership combining the process of volunteerism in inspiring and mentoring followers to achieve the vision together.

Leadership or *al-Qiyadah* is generally associated with *al-Siyasah, al-Siyadah, al-Imamah, al-'Umara', alRi'ayah, al-Wilayah, al-Ri'asah*, *and al-Khilafah*. All these words are defined as leadership. Thus, leadership in Arabic language covers a wide area and is not limited to state or racial (group) leadership but extends to leadership in the fields of knowledge, worship as well as custody and guardianship of a trust [12]. Leadership is the influence exerted by an individual in a situation directed toward achieving specific objectives, mission, and vision [13].

Upon that understanding, leaders are warned that they cannot imply autocratic leadership but must act humanely in leading a state or an organization. In many Islamic works, explained leadership in Islam is a trust that binds the leader from abuse of power or deviance in making the decision. Instead, the leader is responsible for providing guidance, preserving, and fulfilling the rights or demands of the followers fairly and justly [14]. As leadership in Islam is a combination of relationships – with human beings and Allah (SWT), Gazi [7] asserted that Islamic leadership is to lead achieve and compete to be ahead of others to seek the measure of Allah and success in this life and hereafter. Therefore, Kader [15] emphasizes that the focus of Islamic leadership is to promote good deeds in the name of Allah (SWT), the Muslim community, and mankind as a whole.

Therefore, it is clear that previous and contemporary Muslim scholars have similar perspectives on the meaning of "Islamic leadership" and its impactful toward societal development. In fact, their statements are complemented, although they come from different centuries while maintaining the fundamental, preserving *maqasid syari'ah*, promoting goodness, and forbidding evils which are basic values of humanity that must be attended by leaders. In other words, this concept reflects that the Islamic notions of *tajdῑd* (renewal) and *islāh* (reform) are basic goals for Muslim leaders to attain [16]. The leaders who promote these two concepts are the people who occupy themselves in the things conducive to goods, not the things conducive to evil or bad in the light of Islamic essences. Upon these notions, Malik, Safarudin, and Mat [17] acclaimed that putting the best leaders to lead the country will justify Islamic leadership attributes in places.

#### **3. Values of humanity in the leadership of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)**

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the best role model in all aspects of life, including leadership. His leadership ability had a great impact on Meccan people both before and during his appointment as the Messenger of Allah (SWT). Prophet Muhammad's leadership received extensive acknowledgment from many researchers mainly the West despite they have different views on his personality [9]. For instance, Hart [18] in his book "The 100: A ranking of most influential persons in history" listed the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the top place in the 100 influential leaders throughout human history.

Prophet Muhammad's leadership style can be referred to the Al-Qur'an and *hadith*. From these two main sources, there are three principles that form the leadership framework of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): the element of *Tauhid*, the element of *ibadah* (obedience to the Shariah or the law of Allah), and the element of *akhlaq* (the personality of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) on a daily basis). It is believed that the goal of leadership highlighted by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) either before he was appointed as the Messenger of God or after is only to elevate the human's dignity to deify Allah (SWT) by obeying the *shariah* as enshrined in the Qur'an and *hadith* thus make the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as an example to follow. Each of these elements is explained by Allah (SWT) in the Qur'an through verse 70 of surah *al-Isra'*, verse 4 of surah *al-Tīn*, and verse 52 of surah al-Zāriyyāt. It can be concluded that these three principles show that the value of humanity is the main focus in the Prophet Muhammad's leadership style. This leadership style is the key to get true happiness for human beings in this world and the hereafter.

Discussing this matter further, Abbasi et al. [19] explained value and accountability that created by the creation of man are two basic things that are emphasized by Allah (SWT) in the Qur'an many *hadith* of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

In surah al-Isra', verse 13 and 14 says.

*We have bound every human's destiny to their neck.1 And on the Day of Judgment, We will bring forth to each "person" a record which they will find laid open (13). And it will be said, "Read your record. You ˹alone˺ are sufficient this Day to take account of yourself."*

Meanwhile, the *hadith* of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), Ibn Umar said, he heard from Nabi Muhammad (peace be upon him) who says:

*"Everyone of you is a guardian and answerable with regard to his trus'" (al-Bukhari: 212).*

#### *Humane Leadership in Islamic Approaches DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.103735*

Syahansyah [20] highlights four values of humanity that can be learned from the character of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) thus shaping his leadership style. First, the peaceful agreement between races and tribes is the backbone of the leadership of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in Medina which he was refusing to continue the tradition of ignorant practices that are fond for fighting or war. Explaining this matter further, verse 107 in surah *al-Anbiya* emphasizes as "*We did not send you, O Muhammad except as a mercy for all the worlds*" is a special declaration from Allah (SWT) to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who is responsible to ensure prosperity and mercy to all creatures created by Allah (SWT).

Elaborating further the definition of "*rahmatan lil-'ālamīn*" generally means loving and caring. Ar-Raghib al-Ashfahani (d. 502H) described the word *al-rahmah* as *al-riqqah* (gentleness) or *al-ihsān* (virtue) or *al-khayr* (goodness) and *al-ni'mah* (enjoyment). Therefore, Syahansyah [20] explained this word is *musytarak*, which is an indication to use the meaning of the word that tied or determined with something else after it.

In addition, *al-Imam Ibn Jawziy* gave 16 literal meanings to describe the meaning of mercy based on the al-Quran [21]. The 16 meanings are (1) heaven, (2) Islam, (3) faith, (4) prophethood, (5) the Quran, (6) rain (*al-matar*), (7) sustenance, (8) pleasure, (9) health (*afiya*), (10) bestowal (*al-minnah*), (11) delicacy (*al-riqqah*), (12) forgiveness (*al-maghfirah*), (13) vastness (*al-si' ah*), (14) love *(al-mawaddah*), (15) maintenance (*al-'ismah*), and (16) light (*al-shams*). So in general, most of the meanings expressed by Ibn al-Jawzi describe the nature of love and mercy brought by Allah and His Messenger in this worldly life until the day of judgment (*akhirah*). Therefore, it is very clear that the value of humanity through peace and avoiding conflict in leadership is very important to every Muslim leaders as has been shown by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Secondly, Islam consistently prohibits the killing of any individual. This stance is a value that must be considered in leadership while realizing any leader holds the power to start a war or can give an order to take anyone's soul without clear justification. The consequence of killing any individual and its prohibition was reminded by Allah (SWT) in surah *al-Maidah* verse 32 which means:

*"That is why We ordained for the Children of Israel that whoever takes a life unless as a punishment for murder or mischief in the land—it will be as if they killed all of humanity; and whoever saves a life, it will be as if they saved all of humanity. ˹Although˺ Our messengers already came to them with clear proofs, many of them still transgressed afterwards through the land."*

The above-mentioned verse clearly forbids one person to kill another individual. Not only that, taking away (killing) the life of human beings, is considered the same as killing humanity as a whole. Islam never teaches to kill anybody and never made emotional be a justification or motive in any action. Killing here means taking the one's right to live. While living in the world is necessary to be accountable to Allah (SWT). Peace in Islam becomes something that cannot be negotiated with anything else. Even so, war is allowed to take place if to obtain peace and to defend the right of territorial sovereignty by fulfilling the conditions as prescribed in the Al-Quran and *hadith*.

Preserving life is one of the five objectives of *al-maqāsid al-syar'iyyah*. Imam al-Syatibi explained that the preservation of life or *hifz al-nafs* is the second most important thing that needs to be preserved after religion (*hifz al-din*) [22]. In line with that goal, Islam was revealed with the aim of elevating and preserving human values based on compassion and community [23]. It is understandable that the

objective of preserving life has to do with the protection and implementation of the universal principle of human rights, namely the right to life (Al-Isra: 31–33). In another surah, the Qur'an also emphasizes the importance of providing protection to the weak and oppressed (Al-Balad: 12–16). Thus, it is very clear that the principle of preserving life also includes the following understanding; everyone has the right to life, has the right to live, and improve the standard of living, everyone also has the right to live in peace and well-being physically and mentally, and everyone has the right to feel safe and secure from the threat of violence and destruction. Arummi [23] concludes that all the aspects mentioned include the guarantee of safety of life, limbs, and also human dignity.

The third that become a pillar of values of humanity in the leadership of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is there is no compulsion in religion. Syahansyah [20] refers to the whole understanding of surah *al-Kāfirūn* verses 1 to 6 which is the basis of understanding there is no compulsion in religion and also social problems. Syahansyah explained that this surah is a proposition on no coercion in all matters related to individual life including in the question of governance of life affairs where each individual is given the freedom to choose what is best for himself.

According to Friedmann [24], no compulsion in religion in Islam is a trait of tolerance inherited since the early days of Islam. Although the people of Mecca and Madinah were not forced to choose Islam, but what happened was that a group of Muslims who believed in Allah (SWT) and the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) were forced to leave Islam while in Mecca before the Hijrah. Such incidents happened on Bilal bin Rabah, Ammar bin Yasar, and several other companions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and this shows that tolerance did not exist among the Quraish people in Mecca ([24], p. 103). Having said that, al-Qur'an is a proof of the implementation of tolerance without coercion in religion, thus the *Sahīfah Madīnah* treaty made by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) immediately after leading the city of Madinah proves that the Islamic leadership recognizes peaceful coexistence where indirectly rejects racism and preserving equality as well as guaranteeing the right to freedom of religious choice [25].

*Sahīfah Madīnah* signed in 622 AD between the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the leaders of the Arab tribes in Medina was considered to be the earliest document of statehood in the history of human civilization [25]. In addition, the agreement reached in the *Sahīfah Madīnah* is also recognized as a guiding model of coexistence in the diversity of society's different races and cultures in this modern era [26]. The *Sahīfah of Madīnah* has 47 articles, and the following are the things that need to be agreed upon while respecting the principle of no religious compulsion:


#### *Humane Leadership in Islamic Approaches DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.103735*

It is very clear that the leadership style led by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has the highest interest of values in humanity. With the *Sahīfah of Madīnah* as an example, it shows that the Muslim population must respect and treat the non-Muslims with good consideration and generosity. In a situation where the non-Muslims does not do any harm or become a threat to the Muslim population, then tolerance should be shown. This matter is explained by Allah (SWT) in surah *Al-Mumtahanah*, verse 8:

*Allah does not forbid you from dealing kindly and fairly with those who have neither fought nor driven you out of your homes. Surely Allah loves those who are fair.*

Fourth, the value of humanity that can be emulated from the personality of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is from the command to call to Islam (*da'wah*) with three basic principles: wisdom, good advice, and debating or discussing politely and kindly. These three basic principles are based on verse 125 of surah *al-Nahl*:

*"Invite ˹all˺ to the Way of your Lord with wisdom and kind advice, and only debate with them in the best manner. Surely your Lord ˹alone˺ knows best who has strayed from His Way and who is ˹rightly˺ guided."*

*Da'wah* aims to invite people to obey Allah (SWT) in accordance with the Qur'anic mission as mentioned in surah *al-Zāriyyāt* verse 56. This verse emphasizes that the duty and responsibility of human beings are to serve Allah by following all His commands and abandoning all His prohibitions. Therefore, the implementation of *da'wah* which is the task inherited from all prophets must be used methods or approaches that are appropriate to the target group so that it does not become a slander to religion. This is important in ensuring the effectiveness of *da'wah* and its development continues effectively. The importance of proper approaches and methods in doing *da'wah* is due to the nature of Islamic *da'wah* assured human life by ensuring eternal goodness in the hereafter [27].

*Da'wah* is one of the noblest acts that entail a high reward. *Da'wah* is one of the means to propagate Islam to others. This is unanimously agreed in Islam and the Qur'an itself which absolutely go against compulsion in religion. People need to be convinced the truth that Islam brings to mankind. According to Račius [28], the word "*da'wah*" in the Qur'ān has three primary meanings, namely (1) worshiping God or idols, 2) addressing, asking, and calling (God, idols, and people), and (3) inviting to religion (Islam or other). The first two meanings of "*da'wah*," worshiping and calling, are frequent in the Qur'ān, for example, in 2:186, 3:38, 6:40, 11:22, 11:106, 19:48, 19:91, 22:12, 72:18, and others. Meanwhile in the last meaning, the Qur'ān urged the Prophet Muḥammad to appeal to pagan Arabs and (occasionally) Jews and Christians, for example, in 12:108, 13:36, 16:125, 23:73, 40:10, 41:33, and 70:17.

Ismatullah [29] explains the method of *da'wah* from verse 125 of surah *al-Nahl* where Hamka states that this verse is a basic guide to the prophets in conveying the message of Islam so that people have straight path toward Allah (SWT). The word wisdom in this verse carries various interpretations among scholars. For example, commentators such as Imam Fakhrul al-Radzi explained the word *al-Hikmah* in the verse is the basic approach in inviting people to do goodness effectively. It should be based on the revelation of the Qur'an and refer to the *sunnah* of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and it must be based on true religious understanding in ensuring that the target group understands the essence of what is to be conveyed [30]. Meanwhile, Wahbah al-Zuhailiy thinks that the wisdom (*al-Hikmah*) in the verse has been bestowed on a chosen and pious servant such as Luqman al-Hakim, as a great gift from Allah (SWT). This attribute was given to justify the deep understanding and intelligence level anyone had in considering the best decision to make ([31], p. 2024). Furthermore, wisdom can also be referred as a noble attribute that describes activity of *da'wah*. Thus, the wisdom in *da'wah* includes any behavior and manners, speech, community service, and leadership [32]. So it is clear here that the element of wisdom is important in the management of humanity which is not limited to religious questions but also covers the welfare of society.

The second element in the same verse is *mau'izah al-hasanah* or a good advice. In conveying the message of *da'wah* through the method of good advice is important. This is because human beings have soft heart and instinct; hence, good speech and advice are more easily to be accepted than hurtful messages and feelings [33]. In this regard, Hamka in his tafsir Tafsir al-Azhar explains that the element of good advices should start from the home where education and teaching from parents in the home have a direct impact on *da'wah* activities outside the house and on the various target of *da'wah* [29].

In addition, there are many examples of good advice used by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in conveying the message of Islam in Mecca and Madinah. Abdul Fattah Abu Ghuddah [34] explained that the method of giving good advice shown by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has a positive effect where the noble values are successfully normalized among his companions and family members and then show that his leadership style has high human values [17]. In the meantime, Mohamad et al. also listed the important elements that must be present in conveying good advice, namely gradual delivery, contextual, be exemplary, repetitive methods, direct communication, metaphorical methods, and stories ([17], pp. 7–15). For example, when the Prophet (peace be upon him) spoke about something, he would repeat the matter three times so that those who heard the matter could understand it well, as narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari, meaning:

*"From Anas bin Malik, and Prophet (peace be upon him) says; verily whenever Prophet (peace be upon him) spoke, he will repeat it three times so that people can understand" (no.94, Sahih al-Bukhari).*

Having good discussions or giving good arguments has an intrinsic human value that defines the relationship with leadership style. It is worth to note from the mentioned verse, Don [33] through Fu'ad Ifram al-Bustani explains the meaning of "*mujadalah"* is a method of debate with politeness and proficient in the issues discussed where the purpose is only to reveal the truth. Zin [35] emphasizes that the arguments must be reasonable, appealing to reason and refrain from indulging in polemics, sophistry, and controversy. Elaborating further on this, he points out that "one should adopt a comprehensive method to convince the addressee which includes: arguments and appeal to his feeling; condemnation of evils and deviations as well as repugnance to all that lies embedded in the human nature, warning of the consequence of evil; soundness of argument, excellence of guidance and righteous deed." Another point mentioned is that "admonition should be administered in such a manner as to show sincere concern for the welfare of the addressee."

The goal of having a good debate for truth is also recorded in surah *al-Ankabut* verse 46 which means:

*"Do not argue with the People of the Book unless gracefully, except with those of them who act wrongfully. And say, "We believe in what has been revealed to us and what was revealed to you. Our God and your God is ˹only˺ One. And to Him we ˹fully˺ submit."*

And from surah *al-Fussilat* verse 34:

*"Good and evil cannot be equal. Respond ˹to evil˺ with what is best, then the one you are in a feud with will be like a close friend."*

Based on above three keywords – wisdom, good advice, and good argument - the priority is to bring rational dialog and discussion with all parties. Thus, it is important for a leader to have these skills to debate or discuss with facts and evidences in revealing the truth so that none is persecuted at the end of discussion. Abdullah Nasih Ulwan [36] stressed that it is important for the preacher (*da'wah* activist) owned two strengths in debating or arguing which can help them to convey the true message and then be accepted with an open heart. The two strengths are satisfactory strength (*quwwah al-iqnaiyyah*) and factual strength (*quwwah al-hujjah*). In Syed Qutb's view, these two strengths belong only to the prophets and some of the *da'wah* scholars and activists only because the mission is to elevate the rank of *da'i* and quality them to the degree of *al-'azīm* [33].

Based on the discussion through the descriptive method of literature review, it can be understood that the leadership style of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) when in Mecca and Madinah has signified the values of humanity as requirements to meet the basic human nature as the best creation (Al-Quran, Al-Tīn: 4). So many explanations are shown in the Qur'an and the hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) regarding the value of humanity which is the cornerstone in leading people toward goodness and abandoning evil for the sake of eternal prosperity in the hereafter.

Even so, the world today faces leadership problems that stem from a misunderstanding of evaluating the human aspect in human beings. The next discussion will discuss some of the current problems that stem from leadership styles that do not give priority to the humanitarian aspect. Failure to prioritize human values in leadership has the potential to jeopardize the development of the global society and further destroy the civilization of a country.

#### **4. Crisis of human values in today's leadership**

The exemplary leadership inherited by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is to strengthen the practice of Islamic teachings that elevate the human dignity in this world and in the hereafter. It is appropriate to Muslim leaders today to pay attention to the advancement of society by values-based development. This is because the value of humanity that already exists in each individual, without limiting on one's background of race, religion, culture, and language, is the key to the successful development of civilization as well as a state.

Francis Fukuyama in his book The Great Disruption explains that the strength of civilization and the development of a country depend on the paradigm shift of human values (humanity) on the changes that are happening globally in various sectors such as economic, social, information, and political leadership structure. Assessing these factors, he asserts that social law and universally shared moral values do not lie in individual choice; instead, it also depends on the social system and the strength of the leadership structure ([37], p. 85). Therefore, he also thinks that the value of humanity in an uncertain global environment will be determined by the political factors of power compared to the values that exist in religion ([37], p. 126).

For example, "trust" is the most important value that binds togetherness between civil society and leaders or administrators within the national structure as well as public and private organizations. Yet, the world today faces a crisis of trust at all levels of organizational and national leadership. A report from the Edelman Trust Barometer shows from 2016 to 2020, four sectors: governments, business organizations, NGOs, and the media, which are facing a crisis of public confidence despite the growing global economic sector. In addition, the same report also states that clerics are in the same group as politicians and businessmen, who have the lowest "believe" scores compared to the media and NGO activists. This crisis of trust stems from the public view that these three groups are not convinced that they are able to solve the problems they face, including managing the country out of the global crisis. Although most studies state that the ability to manage the economy is the biggest factor influencing public trust, the ability to lead by focusing on the well-being of human values also contributes to increased levels of trust in leaders. If this matter is not given priority, then slowly the value of humanity will erode from the compass of leadership and will eventually collapse the social system as a whole [38].

Corruption has had a major contribution to the collapse of human values in the current leadership setting. The worse of corruption can bring down a strong civilization, and rebuilding a destroyed civilization needs time. The Corruption Perceptions Index 2021 report states that since January 2020, the global has not only faced a health and economic crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic but also faced a protracted corruption crisis. According to CPI 2021 spokesperson Delia Ferreira Rubio, "the crime of corruption is the only problem unsuccessfully solved by most countries compared to health problems." Apart from that, the failure to manage the crime of corruption is because there is no precise definition to describe the meaning of "corruption" [39]. On that basis, some of the corruption cases that occur involve the top leadership of a country. This means that the human values glorified by Allah (SWT) are not respected by leaders, thus willingly involve in corruption. On that basis, to stop one from involving corruption needs a proper planning. For example, in Indonesia, coworkers and leaders are the main factors that contribute to a person engaging in corruption and at the same time these two groups are also the main indicators in ensuring that corrupt practices do not occur [40].

Generally, researcher views corruption is a domestic crime in any country. It is a local cultural phenomenon that depends on the level of understanding and cultural values of the society [41]. Thus, in modern perspective, a person who is not involved in corruption is not able to justify another person who is involved in a crime of corruption because he or she has different values of belief and point of view. However, in the Islamic point of view, corruption is a major crime that can damage the whole system and structure of a prosperous society, thus demean human dignity [42]. Human dignity held high position in Islam and has direct connection to leadership. Azra [43] explains that Islam places great emphasis on the concept of *akhlāq al-karīmah* or moral par excellence. In this regard, Islam strongly opposes all types of activities that violate the values of human dignity such as corruption, theft, and robbery which can result injustice to others.

Of equal importance, abuse of power is also a problem in today's leadership. Many reports state that world leaders from both the Western and the Islamic world are involved in abuses of power. Noam Chomsky in his book Failed State states that a leader who fails to preserve his citizens from violence and destruction can be considered a failed state ([44], p. xi). Not only that, for the leader of a country who abuses his power and commits violence or brings harm to another country, is also categorized as a failed country. This is because, every life has the right to live in peace and prosperity as enshrined in the declaration of human rights (UNDHR). Therefore, the power in the hands of leaders should be used in preserving universal human values and rights as prescribed by law (international and local). Take the

#### *Humane Leadership in Islamic Approaches DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.103735*

example from Muslim world where many were associated with the act of abuse of power in their leadership. In fact, abuse of power has originated from a misinterpretation of religion and leadership concepts that Willy, Karwur, and Karouw [45] found as a major cause to violent extremism and terrorism that happened in Iraq and Pakistan.

Having said that, abuse of power can occur anywhere including at the highest levels of the nation and also in the workplace in small organizations. Based on 20 years of study, Dacher Keltner [46] stated that the workplace or company/ organization is the easiest place for abuse of power to occur without being noticed by the individual involved. This is because, within an organization, a person has the authority or can be empowered due to promotion or change of department based on the job performance. Yet, having such power has slowly made him or her irritable, unethical, and selfish which eventually at last engages in abuse of power. To Dacher Keltner, this situation is called "the power paradox" and it is just as dangerous as the country's leaders abusing power for personal gain. In other words, the abuse of power can erode the value of humanity in oneself and fail to respect the value of humanity in others. On that basis, one good example made by Manuela Priesemuth as she launched the "Time's up for toxic workplace" campaign and accordingly this campaign was expanded to the election of national leaders who openly abused power to the public.

Concurrent to these crises in today's leadership that obstructed the development of global society, at times Muslim population is expected to rise to 2.2 billion by 2030, Shadi Hamid [47] argues Islam and Muslim readiness in reshaping the world outside the Arab world play a major role in governance, law, and politics. He further emphasizes the exceptionalism of Islam in the leadership manifestation that can be played by Muslim leaders in a value-neutral sense in response to twentieth- and twenty-first-century challenges. Such notion has firstly been analyzed by Sardar's *Islamic Futures: The Shape of Ideas to Come* as the future is controllable and common societal desires and goals have influenced in shaping future Islamic resurgence and realization [48]. Realizing that, Hasan [49] reminds that the *ummah* is in dire need a new breed of leaders who committed to lead Muslim societies and nations out of valley of despair and indignity to a better future civilization of Islam. Inspired by the Prophetic model of leadership, the future leaders that Muslim must produce shall embed the following characters: high moral integrity, *taqwā*, and deep spiritual and moral awareness (*ihsān*) of Divine omnipresence and omniscience. In fact, Rafiki [50] had done great work by simplifying 56 leadership attributes from Quranic verses that celebrate the value of humanity. These can be a future consideration in determining Islamic leadership approaches toward humane leadership framework.

#### **5. Conclusion**

The concept of Islamic leadership is built on principles and concerns for human values. From the discussion of the literature, it shows that Islamic leadership is blended with human development in an integrated manner with an emphasis on four values that can be emulated from the leadership of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The elements of humanity found in the leadership of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) are peace between communities, recognizing the right to life and prohibiting murder, no coercion in religion and social problems, and the practice of da'wah calling to good and forbidding evil.

Nonetheless, today's leadership is seen not to adhere in elevating the dignity of human values in their leadership style. The problems of corruption, abuse of power, and deficits of trust in leaders both at the national and organizational levels are becoming a global trend today [51]. The involvement of key national leaders in corruption and misuse of power for personal gain has slowly resulted in the country's development being disrupted and had bad impact on the well-being of civil society. Therefore, the Muslim community firmly rejects leadership that ignores and debunks the basics of human values as highlighted by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) where such examples can be referred in the Qur'an and *hadith*.

To sum up, it can be concluded that the future of balanced society lies on a leadership style based on human values which are embodied in the basic principles as outlined by Islam. This is not optional to Muslim leaders except agreeing to practice Islamic leadership within these frameworks and making them a policy in the administrative and leadership approach. With that application of human values, it would definitely elevate "human leadership" as a new approach of human development in a comprehensive and holistic manner now rather to wait in the future.

#### **Author details**

Mohd Faridh Hafez Mhd Omar Universiti Sains Islam, Malaysia

\*Address all correspondence to: faridhomar@usim.edu.my

© 2022 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

*Humane Leadership in Islamic Approaches DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.103735*

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### Section 2
