"Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right." - Professor Warren G. Bennis
"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it." - Dwight D. Eisenhower
The word "leadership" can bring a variety of images to mind. For example:- An army officer, charging forward to meet the enemy.
- An explorer, cutting a path through the jungle for the rest of his party to follow.
- An executive, developing her company's strategy to remain ahead of the competition.
Leaders help themselves and others to do the right things. They set direction, build an inspiring vision, and create something new. Leadership is about mapping out where you need to go to "win" as a team or an organization. Leadership is dynamic, vibrant, and inspiring.
Yet, while leaders set the direction, they must also use management skills to guide their team to the right destination in a smooth and efficient way.
In this article, we'll focus on the process of leadership. In particular, we'll discuss the "transformational leadership" model. This model highlights visionary thinking and bringing about change, instead of management processes that are only designed to maintain current performance.
Note:
Leadership means different things to different people around the world, and different things in different situations. For example, it could relate to community leadership, religious leadership, political leadership, and leadership of campaigning groups.
This article focuses on the Western model of individual leadership, and relates to workplace leadership rather than to other types.
Leadership: A Definition
According to the idea of transformational leadership, an effective leader is a person who does the following: - Creates an inspiring vision of the future.
- Encourages and motivates people to engage with that vision.
- Manages delivery of the vision.
- Coaches and builds a team, so that it is more effective at achieving the vision.
To become an effective leader, you need to learn the skills needed to do these things. We'll look at each element in more detail.
- Creating an Inspiring Vision of the Future
In business, a vision is a realistic, convincing and attractive "best case" depiction of where you want to be in the future. With a clear vision, you can provide direction, set priorities, and establish targets, so that you can tell that you've achieved what you wanted to achieve.
To create a vision, leaders focus on an organization's strengths by using tools such as Porter's Five Forces
, PEST Analysis
, USP Analysis
, Core Competence Analysis
and SWOT Analysis
to analyze their current situation. They think about how their industry is likely to evolve, and how their competitors are likely to behave. They look at how they can innovate successfully
(Club members), and shape their businesses and their strategies to succeed in future marketplaces. And they test their visions with appropriate market research, and by assessing key risks using techniques such as Scenario Analysis
(Club members).
Therefore, leadership is proactive - problem solving, looking ahead, and not being satisfied with things as they are.
Once they have developed their visions, leaders must make them compelling and convincing. A compelling vision
is one that people can see in their minds, feel, understand, and embrace. As such, effective leaders provide a rich picture of what the future will look like when their visions have been realized. They tell powerful stories, and they explain their visions in ways that everyone can relate to.
Here, leaders combine the analytical side of vision creation with the passion that comes from emotional engagement and shared values, creating something that is really meaningful to the people being led.
- Motivating and Inspiring People
A compelling vision provides the foundation for leadership. But it's a leader's ability to motivate and inspire people that will help him or her deliver that vision.
For example, when you start a new project, you will probably have lots of enthusiasm for it, so it's usually easy to support the project's leader at the beginning. However, it can be difficult to find ways to keep the vision alive and inspirational, after the initial enthusiasm fades, especially if the team or organization needs to make significant changes in the way that they do things. Leaders recognize this, and they work hard on an ongoing basis to connect their vision with people's individual needs, goals, and aspirations.
One of the key ways they do this is through Expectancy Theory
(Club members). Effective leaders link together two different expectations:
- The expectation that hard work leads to good results.
- The expectation that good results lead to attractive rewards or incentives.
This motivates people to work hard to achieve success, because they expect to enjoy rewards - both intrinsic and extrinsic - as a result.
Other approaches include restating the vision in terms of the benefits it will bring to the team's customers, and taking frequent opportunities to communicate the vision in an attractive and engaging way.
What's particularly helpful here is where leaders have expert power
. People admire and believe in these leaders because they are expert in what they do. They have credibility, and they've earned the right to ask people to listen to them, and follow them. This makes it much easier for these leaders to motivate and inspire the people they lead.
Leaders can also motivate and influence people through their natural charisma and appeal, and through other sources of power
, such as the power to pay bonuses or assign tasks to people. However, good leaders don't rely on these types of power to motivate and inspire others.
- Managing Delivery of the Vision
This is the area of leadership that relates to management
(Club members). According to the Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Model
, there is a time to tell, a time to sell, a time to participate, and a time to delegate. Knowing which approach you need to use, and when you need it, is key to effective leadership.
Leaders must ensure that the work required to deliver the vision is properly managed - either by themselves, or by a dedicated manager or team of managers to whom the leader delegates this responsibility - and they need to ensure that their vision is delivered successfully.
To do this, team members need performance goals that are linked to the team's overall vision. Our article on Performance Management and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
(Club members) explains one way of doing this, and our Project Management
section explains another. And, for day-to-day management of delivering the vision, the Management By Wandering Around
(Club members) approach will help to ensure that what should happen, really happens.
Leaders also need to make sure they manage change
(Club members) effectively. This will ensure that any changes required to deliver the vision are implemented smoothly and thoroughly, with support and full backing from the majority of people affected.
- Coaching and Building a Team to Achieve the Vision
Individual and team development are important activities carried out by transformational leaders. To develop a team, leaders must first understand team dynamics. Several well-established and popular models describe this, such as Belbin's Team Roles
approach, and Bruce Tuckman's Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing theory
.
A leader will then ensure that team members have the necessary skills and abilities to do their job and achieve the vision. They do this by giving and receiving feedback
(Club members) regularly, and by training and coaching
people to improve individual and team performance.
Leadership also includes looking for leadership potential
(Club members) in others. By developing leadership skills within your team, you create an environment where you can continue success in the long term. And that's a true measure of great leadership.
Note:
The words "leader" and "leadership" are often used incorrectly to describe people who are actually "managing." These individuals may be highly skilled, good at their jobs, and valuable to their organizations - but that just makes them excellent managers, not leaders. So, be careful how you use the terms, and don't assume that people with "leader" in their job titles, people who describe themselves as "leaders," or even groups called "leadership teams," are actually leading.
A particular danger in these situations is that people or organizations that are being managed by such an individual or group think they're being led; but they're not. There may actually be no leadership at all, with no one thinking about the medium term future, no one setting a vision, and no one being inspired. This can cause serious problems in the long term.
Key Points Leadership can be hard to define and it means different things to different people.
In the transformational leadership model, leaders set direction and help themselves and others to do the right thing to move forward. To do this they create an inspiring vision, and then motivate and inspire others to reach that vision. They also manage delivery of the vision, either directly or indirectly, and build and coach their teams to make them ever stronger.
It takes time and hard work to develop the skills needed to be an effective leader. However the returns - whether in terms of physical reward or of personal satisfaction - are enormous. Enjoy the leadership journey!
A Final Note: Just think about how good you'll feel when you've made a real, positive impact in the first three month's of your new role! Often time, surviving those first months successfully is far harder than landing the new job or promotion in the first place. Mind Tools resources and support are a great help, especially during important times like this.
Crude oil varies widely in appearance and viscosity from field to field. It ranges in color, odor, and in the properties it contains. While crude oil is essentially a hydrocarbon, the differences in properties, especially the variations in molecular structure, mean that a crude is more or less easy to produce, pipeline, and refine. The variations may even influence its suitability for certain products and the quality of those products.
Crudes or crude oil is roughly classified into three groups, according to the nature of the hydrocarbons they contain.
Paraffinic base crude oils: A crude oil containing paraffin wax but very few asphaltic materials. This type of oil is suitable for motor lubricating oil and kerosene. These contain higher molecular weight paraffins which are solid at room temperature, but little or no asphaltic (bituminous) matter. They can produce high-grade lubricating oils.
Asphaltic-Base Crude Oils: Contain large proportions of asphaltic matter, and little or no paraffin. Some are predominantly naphthenes so yield a lubricating oil that is more sensitive to temperature changes than the paraffin-base crudes.
Mixed-Base Crude Oils: The "gray area" between the two types above. Both paraffins and naphthenes are present, as well as aromatic hydrocarbons. Most crudes fit this category.
Crude oil is a complex mixture of many different components. The separation of these components into useable products is known as refining. Refineries must be designed to handle the type of crude oil they are going to process. Crude oil from the Appalachian Basin (Pennsylvania Grade Crude Oil) contains a lot of wax and paraffin. The amounts of gasoline and fuels that are produced or distilled are relatively small, and in some conditions are by-products of the refining process. The lubricating stocks and waxes that are obtained from Pennsylvania Grade Crude oil are the most desired portions. Other crude oil, such as that from Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, contain much less wax and far more fuel. The bottoms or residue left after the distillation are very asphaltic and very good for making road tar and heavy burner fuel.
Pria, please note - which sort of crude source would be used is depend on what products you are intended for. You can not use Pennsylvania grade crude oil for the product intention of diesel, petrol, or methane, ethane, propane, butane requirements.
From the analysis of the crude oil, it can be determined what the basic composition of the crude is and what applications it is best suited for, (API) gravity methodology determines these differences.
The Pennsylvania Grade Crude oil can be broken down into the following basic fractions, or components: Gasoline, Kerosene and Fuel Oil, Gas Oil, Wax Distillate, and Cylinder Stock or Bottoms.
The gasoline fraction is further refined and through a variety of processes is converted into the fuel we power our cars with. Certain portions of the gasoline fraction are removed and others have their chemical structure changed (isomerized). Some impurities are removed (desulfurized), and others have components added to produce the final product (reformulated gasoline).
The kerosene and fuel oil fraction is basically unchanged and used as fuel for the trucking and construction industry. This fraction can also be processed into some of the specialty solvents used in manufacturing.
The gas oil fraction is a heavy, relatively slow burning, non-volatile fuel, or it is frequently used as a light lubricating oil. This fraction can be used either as a fuel or as an oil. If the gas oil fraction is hydroprocesssed, it can be made into white oil (sewing machine oil) or high quality oils for use in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
The wax distillate is a valuable source of lubricating stock and paraffin. By removing the wax or paraffin one of the basic components of lubricant is produced (neutral). Neutrals can be further refined through distillation (fractionation) and hydroprocessing (catalyzation) to produce a series of specialized components used in the manufacture of engine oils, gear lubricants, and greases. The addition of additives to control oxidation, thermal degradation, and viscosity produce the high quality lubricants used today. Paraffins are used in many different aspects of our daily life. They are used not only in candles, but in cosmetics, paper coating, inks, fabrics, and even on our foods.
The Cylinder Stock or Bottoms fraction is what is left over after the crude oil has been put through the distillation tower. The wax portion is removed to create a product called Micro Wax. Micro has a much higher melting point than paraffins and is therefore suitable for a variety of products we use daily, such as a component of many plastics, candy, and in building materials. Many types of candy that would be too soft otherwise, have their form because of the inclusion of micro wax. A Canadian company has even developed a process to form micro wax and polymers into a structural material that does not require maintenance, in essence it is a wax brick. The oil portion of the cylinder stock is further processed to remove the resins. These resins are used to create many different products ranging from high temperature insulations to undercoatings or fuels for ocean going barges. The oil portion of cylinder stock is then a heavy lubricant base stock used in heavy duty gear oil applications and many industrial lubricants.
The refining of crude oil is a complex and involved operation that generate many different components that are the building blocks for virtually every product we use in our daily lives. As you can now see, the products of the refining process are not just limited to the automotive industry, as many people would think, but are important components in almost every modern convenience manufactured today.
Types of Crude Oil accoridng to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. The petroleum industry often characterizes crude oils according to their geographical source, e.g., Alaska North Slope Crude. Oils from different geographical areas have unique properties; they can vary in consistency from a light volatile fluid to a semi-solid. Classification of crude oil types by geographical source is generally not a useful classification scheme for response personnel because they offer little information about general toxicity, physical state, and changes that occur with time and weathering. These characteristics are primary considerations in oil spill response. The classification scheme provided below is more useful in a response scenario.
Class A: Light, Volatile Oils. These oils are highly fluid, often clear, spread rapidly on solid or water surfaces, have a strong odor, a high evaporation rate, and are usually flammable. They penetrate porous surfaces such as dirt and sand, and may be persistent in such a matrix. They do not tend to adhere to surfaces; flushing with water generally removes them. Class A oils may be highly toxic to humans, fish, and other biota. Most refined products and many of the highest quality light crudes can be included in this class.
Class B: Non-Sticky Oils. These oils have a waxy or oily feel. Class B oils are less toxic and adhere more firmly to surfaces than Class A oils, although they can be removed from surfaces by vigorous flushing. As temperatures rise, their tendency to penetrate porous substrates increases and they can be persistent. Evaporation of volatiles may lead to a Class C or D residue. Medium to heavy paraffin-based oils fall into this class.
Class C: Heavy, Sticky Oils. Class C oils are characteristically viscous, sticky or tarry, and brown or black. Flushing with water will not readily remove this material from surfaces, but the oil does not readily penetrate porous surfaces. The density of Class C oils may be near that of water and they often sink. Weathering or evaporation of volatiles may produce solid or tarry Class D oil. Toxicity is low, but wildlife can be smothered or drowned when contaminated. This class includes residual fuel oils and medium to heavy crudes.
Class D: Nonfluid Oils. Class D oils are relatively non-toxic, do not penetrate porous substrates, and are usually black or dark brown in color. When heated, Class D oils may melt and coat surfaces making cleanup very difficult. Residual oils, heavy crude oils, some high paraffin oils, and some weathered oils fall into this class.
These classifications are dynamic for spilled oils; weather conditions and water temperature greatly influence the behavior of oil and refined petroleum products in the environment. For example, as volatiles evaporate from a Class B oil, it may become a Class C oil. If a significant temperature drop occurs (e.g., at night), a Class C oil may solidify and resemble a Class D oil. Upon warming, the Class D oil may revert back to a Class C oil.
A method with pulsed electric or magnetic field to reduce the viscosity of crude oil is developed. Specifically, for paraffin-base crude oil, a magnetic field pulse can effectively reduce its viscosity for several hours, while, for asphalt-base crude oil or mixed-base crude oil, an electric field pulse can do the same. The method does not change the temperature of the crude oil; instead, it temporary aggregates paraffin particles or asphaltene particles inside the crude oil into large ones. This particle aggregation changes the rheological property of the crude oil and leads to the viscosity reduction. While this viscosity reduction is not permanent, it is suitable for many important applications, such as oil transport via deep-water pipelines, since it lasts for several hours and is repeatable.
