IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/vision/v10y2006i3p11-21.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Visionary Leadership: A Survey of Literature and Case Study of Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam at Drdl

Author

Listed:
  • R. S. Dwivedi

Abstract

Visionary leadership has emerged as a key determinant of corporate survival, success and growth in today's turbulent environment. Successful leaders of the 21 st century have the capacity to create vision and also translate it into reality. Visionary leadership is transformative and based on the power of inspiration. It is characterized by: a commitment to core spiritual values, with a clear vision, respect for empowering relationship, followed by courageous and innovative action. From an Indian perspective, it is marked by an act of leading from the front, benevolence from within, respectful pluralism, continuous introspection and focus on legacy. It involves a dynamic, interactive process. As a visionary leader, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam substantially changed the organizational climate of DRDL prior to launching Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) using effective communication and providing clear direction to the various teams involved. Later on, a highly performing climate emerged, when he used further indigenous techniques to manage technology for accomplishing outstanding performance. The techniques used were technology-oriented structure, search for capable project leaders, Science Council (Panchayat), collaborative (partnership) effort, transformation of organizational dynamics by empowering scientists, motivation, etc. The outstanding success of DRDL is evidenced by the fact that the country acquired the capability of making five state-of-the-art missile systems in record time. The visionary leadership style of Dr. Kalam is comparable to that of George Washington, the founding father of the USA, having far-reaching implications for the guidance of new age leaders engaged in developmental tasks globally.

Suggested Citation

  • R. S. Dwivedi, 2006. "Visionary Leadership: A Survey of Literature and Case Study of Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam at Drdl," Vision, , vol. 10(3), pages 11-21, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:vision:v:10:y:2006:i:3:p:11-21
    DOI: 10.1177/097226290601000302
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/097226290601000302
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/097226290601000302?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Frances Westley & Henry Mintzberg, 1989. "Visionary leadership and strategic management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(S1), pages 17-32, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alessia Berni & Luigi Moschera, 2021. "Performance and Competences in Call Centre: The Effect of Leadership Style," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(10), pages 204-204, July.
    2. Neil Abramson, 2007. "The Leadership Archetype: A Jungian Analysis of Similarities between Modern Leadership Theory and the Abraham Myth in the Judaic–Christian Tradition," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 72(2), pages 115-129, May.
    3. Rosas Saila & Jussila Iiro & Tuominen Pasi, 2012. "Leading Together for Mutual Benefit: Shared Leadership in the Context of Co-operative Banking," Business and Management Research, Business and Management Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 1(4), pages 99-108, December.
    4. Verena Komander & Andreas König, 2024. "Organizations on stage: organizational research and the performing arts," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 74(1), pages 303-352, February.
    5. John Holmberg & Johan Larsson, 2018. "A Sustainability Lighthouse—Supporting Transition Leadership and Conversations on Desirable Futures," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-25, October.
    6. Prithwiraj Choudhury & Dan Wang & Natalie A. Carlson & Tarun Khanna, 2019. "Machine learning approaches to facial and text analysis: Discovering CEO oral communication styles," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(11), pages 1705-1732, November.
    7. Maria Giovanna Confetto & Francesca Conte & Claudia Covucci, 2021. "Empirical Evidence on CEO Reputation: Perspectives, Actions and Influence," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(12), pages 215-215, July.
    8. Robert R. Wiggins & Timothy W. Ruefli, 2002. "Sustained Competitive Advantage: Temporal Dynamics and the Incidence and Persistence of Superior Economic Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(1), pages 81-105, February.
    9. Dennis Hanlon & Chad Saunders, 2007. "Marshaling Resources to Form Small New Ventures: Toward a More Holistic Understanding of Entrepreneurial Support," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(4), pages 619-641, July.
    10. Francesca Conte & Agostino Vollero, 2018. "CEOs of dual marketers organizations: Communication and reputation management issues," MERCATI & COMPETITIVIT?, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2018(3), pages 21-39.
    11. Johnson, William H.A. & Bicen, Pelin & Zhu, Zhen, 2023. "Being lean: Conceptualizing and operationalizing the Lean Innovation Capability (LIC) of innovative companies," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    12. Allal-Chérif, Oihab & Guijarro-García, María & Ballester-Miquel, José Carlos & Carrilero-Castillo, Agustín, 2021. "Being an ethical leader during the apocalypse: Lessons from the walking dead to face the COVID-19 crisis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 354-364.
    13. Pirinsky, Christo, 2013. "Confidence and economic attitudes," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 139-158.
    14. Ukko, J. & Tenhunen, J. & Rantanen, H., 2007. "Performance measurement impacts on management and leadership: Perspectives of management and employees," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(1-2), pages 39-51, October.
    15. Rikkonen, Pasi & Mäkijärvi, Essi & Ylätalo, Matti, 2013. "Defining foresight activities and future strategies in farm management – empirical results from Finnish FADN farms," International Journal of Agricultural Management, Institute of Agricultural Management, vol. 3(1), pages 1-9, October.
    16. Isobe, Takehiko & Makino, Shige & Montgomery, David B., 2002. "Performance Impact of Technological Assets and Reconfiguration Capabilities: The Case of Small Manufacturing Firms in Japan," Research Papers 1768, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    17. Avinash D. Pathardikar & Sangeeta Sahu, 2014. "Can Visionary Leaders be Role Models for Collaborative Style of Conflict Handling among Teams in IT Organizations?," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 39(1), pages 103-120, February.
    18. Smith, Anne M., 1999. "Some Problems When Adopting Churchill's Paradigm for the Development of Service Quality Measurement Scales," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 109-120, October.
    19. Fu, Xiaolan & Helmers, Christian & Zhang, Jing, 2012. "The two faces of foreign management capabilities: FDI and productive efficiency in the UK retail sector," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 71-88.
    20. Miguel Acosta Molina & Idaira Barrios del Pino & Alicia Correa Rodríguez, 2004. "Industry, management capabilities and firms' competitiveness: An empirical contribution," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(5), pages 265-281.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:vision:v:10:y:2006:i:3:p:11-21. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.