Leadership and the Management of Human Capability Development Processes

Abstract

Students of economics see human beings as resources, focusing attention on their ability to contribute their labour and knowledge to the production of goods and services. I am uncomfortable with this conceptualization. Managed as “resources”, people do what other resources do: they become depleted — they burn out easily and become less motivated to develop their capabilities. The concept of “human assets” has, therefore, been introduced into the literature to emphasize the inherent positive characteristics of employees. Managed as “assets”, human beings nurse their intrinsic motivation to flourish, growing in value for themselves and adding value to their societies. It has been suggested in the management literature that this human development process is facilitated by specific types of leadership qualities in societies. This chapter therefore explores the link between leadership styles and human capability development processes. It does so by providing an overview of dominant leadership theories and their implications for the behaviours of followers.