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. Gladys Merma-Molina & Mayra Urrea-Solano & Salvador Baena-Morales & Diego Gavilán-Martín, 2022. "The Satisfactions, Contributions, and Opportunities of Women Academics in the Framework of Sustainable Leadership: A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-23, July.
    4. Cam Caldwell & Linda Hayes & Do Long, 2010. "Leadership, Trustworthiness, and Ethical Stewardship," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 96(4), pages 497-512, November.
    5. Rifat Sharmelly, 2016. "Innovation for Emerging Markets Confronting Institutional Environment Challenges: Perspectives from Visionary Leadership and Institutional Entrepreneurship," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 11(6), pages 108-108, May.
    6. Korzynski, Pawel & Kozminski, Andrzej Krzysztof & Baczynska, Anna & Haenlein, Michael, 2021. "Bounded leadership: An empirical study of leadership competencies, constraints, and effectiveness," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 226-235.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. Evren Ayranci, 2017. "Relationships between Leadership Perceptions and Attitudes towards Innovativeness: A Research in a Technopark in Istanbul," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 7(3), pages 171-181, July.
    10. Lejarraga, Tomás & Lejarraga, José, 2020. "Confidence and the description–experience distinction," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 201-212.
    11. 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.
    12. Cho, Sam Yul & Kim, Sang Kyun, 2017. "Horizon problem and firm innovation: The influence of CEO career horizon, exploitation and exploration on breakthrough innovations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(10), pages 1801-1809.
    13. 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.
    14. John N. N. Ugoani, 2017. "Strategic Management and Business Success in Nigeria," Business, Management and Economics Research, Academic Research Publishing Group, vol. 3(3), pages 26-33, 03-2017.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    17. Sandra Waddock & Erica Steckler, 2016. "Visionaries and Wayfinders: Deliberate and Emergent Pathways to Vision in Social Entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(4), pages 719-734, February.
    18. 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.
    19. Luisa Gagliardi & Myriam Mariani, 2022. "Trained to lead: Evidence from industrial research," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 847-871, April.
    20. 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.

    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.