February 2010 - Indian Airforce

MANY people use the terms ‘leadership’ and
‘management’ interchangeably. However, these
words imply a number of different things in
spite of being quite similar. Management in the simplest
words means getting the job done through others.
Hence a manager is a person who gets work done. From
the functional perspective, a manager is the one who
plans, organises, controls and directs. Leadership can be
defined as the art of inspiring and influencing people
so that they work willingly towards achieving goals laid
down by their leader. Thus every manager is a leader to
that extent. But the question is, “Does the Air Force need
leaders or managers?”
Often it is said that so and so leader has brought a
dramatic change e.g. Lee Lacocca credited with turning
around the loss making American
auto giant Chrysler. Thus leadership
is associated with change or
transformation. A manager on
the other hand is identified
more with ensuring stability
and predictability in the
organisation. In the Air
Force context, if we say
‘so and so person was
instrumental in the
smooth conduct of
the Op exercise’, we are
referring to the person
as a manager rather than a
leader.
Leadership is visionary
whereas management is rational. A
leader can see the ‘big picture’ and lay
down the goal which the organisation
should reach in the future. Personal vision of Ratan Tata
could be summarised as “I will build a motor car that
will cost not more than one lakh rupees so that the
Indian masses can enjoy a four wheeler ride.” It was the
managers in TELCO who through rational planning and
other activities implemented the vision of their leader
and produced the Nano car. The leadership of the Royal
Singapore Air Force has the vision of “Zero Accident” and
has laid it down as its primary goal. Thus, a leader creates
vision and a manager implements it.
A leader is warm, radiant and inspiring. A manager is
often seen as cool and reserved. A leader relates himself
with people who in turn identify themselves with him
or her. A leader reaches out to people, penetrates their
hearts and touches their soul. People start considering
A leader can see
the ‘big picture’ and lay
down the goal which the
organization should reach
in the future. Personal vision of
Ratan Tata could be summarized as
“I will build a motor car that will cost
not more than one lakh rupees so that
the Indian masses can enjoy the four
wheeler ride.” It was the managers
in TELCO who through rational
planning and other activities
implemented the vision of
their leader and produced
the Nano car.
the vision and ideas of the leader as their own. In contrast,
a manager is often seen as a person sitting in his chamber
who maintains a distance from his subordinates. Field
Marshal Rommel used to fight along with his soldiers
in the trenches. A leader can be a source of inspiration
to millions. We often hear many great men saying, “I am
inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and his ideology of nonviolence.”
We talk of the Mahatma as being one of the
greatest leaders (not the managers) of the world.
A leader needs to be innovative and imaginative
whereas a manager is more deliberate and analytical. A
leader often uses simple but new and creative approaches
to solve the profoundest of the problems. A manager
on the other hand uses the existing framework of tools
and practices for his day to day work. Leaders love
experimentation but managers hesitate
in doing that. It can be safely said
that a manager uses the existing
framework, approach and ideas
whereas the leader creates new
framework, approach and
ideas.
Now the question
arises “Should the air
warriors be leaders
or managers?” The
Air Force has a well
designed system of rules
and regulations in the form
of various orders, instructions,
policies and directives. Rules
and
regulations are needed
to maintain
order, stability and
predictability in the system. In this
context, the Air Force needs ‘managers’.
A commanding officer or a flight commander has to lead
his team to fight the enemy or accomplish a mission. In
this context, the Air Force needs ‘leaders’. We are often
reminded of many of our great leaders like the Marshal of
the Air Force Arjan Singh who led the IAF outstandingly
during the 1965 air operations.
The IAF still has a long way to reach the ultimate goal
of ‘Zero Accident Rate or ZAR’. To achieve such goals we
need leaders who can bring a dramatic change in the
attitude and working culture of our air warriors and make
them really believe and follow the motto ‘Perfection and
Zero Defect in whatever we do” so that ZAR becomes a
reality.
Wg Cdr Arvind Kumar AE(L) is posted to 5 Wg AF.
INDIAN AIR FORCE 2 01 0 F e b r u a r y Flight Safety 17