Module One Assignment Topic Two: Evolution, Leadership and Followership
With the development of information technology, firms trend to decentralize power and empower employees. That means the companies are going from a top-down vertical pattern to a horizontal model. The evolutionary leadership theory (ELT) can explain well the phenomenon. Hundreds years ago, in China, the emperor concentrated all rights, for example, he can decide people’s life or death. Emperor was born, not made. Today, some companies’ leader is still like an emperor, they do not accept other people’s opinions when they make decisions. Particularly, after they succeed, they have a superiority complex and they think they are always right when they different opinions with others.
Sometimes, I have the superiority complex because of more work experience. In my previous work, I am the leader of data team which is responsible for the maintenance on database. My team members are all newly hired, so they do not know much about our system, but they have high professional skills. Depend on the condition of my team members, I think they should follow my order for no reason. However, I made a mistake by the style of leadership. One day, one of my team member told me there is a code error in our system, I replied him immediately:” No, our system is perfect, it has been already operated trouble-free in two years.” After one month, our system crashed by the code error.
From the study of the evolutionary leadership theory (ELT), I understand leaders cannot control everything. They need to decentralize their power and try to apply the horizontal model to their company or organization. In my story, I should take advantage of my team members’ high professional skills and consider their opinions carefully. In the future, first, I should establish some policies which everyone must follow. Second, let every team