Purchasing managers have a significant stake in the operations of most private sector companies and need to lead by example.
The subject of the expectations to which managers have is one that needs to be discussed on several levels. First of all, there are the primary or fundamental expectations that are associated with respect to a purchasing manager’s position as well as other managerial positions in large companies.
Second, there are expectations relating to the manner in which an office or authority will be discharged, or the manner powers will be exercised.
Third, there are expectations that are associated with respect to a particular individual. For obvious reasons, expectations of the third case are unique to each manager.
The fundamental expectations to which managers are subject are self-evident. An elected official is expected to contribute to domestic and internal security and prosperity.
A business leader is expected to make his or her company profitable.
A player in the sports world is expected to win.
At a more general level, however, there are common expectations that seem to cut across all levels of management in nearly all fields: society does not expect leaders in management to be easily shaken, to react without proper consideration, to be unable to explain what they are doing when called upon to do so by their constituency.
They are expected to be able to deal effectively with a crisis, to manage the resources entrusted to them with prudence, to give a good accounting for their use of those resources and to deal fairly with their internal and external customers.
Expectations related to the manner in which power and authority are exercised are of a different class.
Such characteristics as justice, integrity and sportsmanship are often understated considerations in the assessment of leadership.
However, it would be a mistake to conclude they are mere “window dressing.”
They often serve as negative criteria for assessment rather than positive. Failure to possess and demonstrate these characteristics makes management look bad.
Yet only rarely is their exercise by itself sufficient to lead to a high assessment of the leadership team.
There are qualities that leadership is expected to possess and exhibit. As such their importance should not be ignored.
Character is developed through the experience of suffering that strengthens the soul through trial, clear vision and inspires ambition.
But power, more than the ability to overcome adversity, is the true test of character.
Individuals who behave with scrupulous honesty when exercising great power are rare indeed. Leaders who behave in a way that calls into doubt their integrity risk trying the patience of their constituency, no matter what their success.
Far too often, when the character of a perspective person in a leadership role is evaluated in the run-up to a promotion or appointment, too much emphasis will be placed on such magical qualities as charisma and wit, and far too little on the basic qualities that go towards making a person a decent human being.
In part this is because the general public has become confused as to what leaders can or ought to do. We expect them to work miracles all the time.
Senior management in large private sector companies can inspire people to achieve at a higher level than they have previously done and overcome old prejudices or fears.
By inspiring the rank and file of the organization, leaders do not effect a magical increase in the resources on which the organization may call, nor the environment or situation.
Instead, inspiration may have a magical impact upon the members of who comprise the organization itself. The impact is psychological, not physical.
For leaders of industry to inspire, they must possess those attributes of character and command respect from leading by example.
Stephen Bauld is a government procurement expert and can be reached at swbauld@purchasingci.com. Some of his columns may contain excerpts from The Municipal Procurement Handbook published by Butterworths.
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