Creating the entrepreneurial organization - a values-based leadership algorithm

The paper aims to position entrepreneurship within a leadership and values paradigm. This knowledge will equip business leaders, who may wish to evoke a more entrepreneurial culture within organisations, to proactively create conditions that support entrepreneurial initiatives. As psychology provides numerous theoretical models that explain personal development, this paper integrates these into a comprehensive model applicable to the development of business culture. As any organisation is a composite of the individuals comprising it, the developmental process followed by individuals also applies to organizations. Since it is known that the dualistic human capabilities of autonomous decision making and rational considerate conduct are developed alternately and sequentially, it follows that organizational development is dependent on the composite progress of those working in it. A six-step journey representing the staged progression of organizations has been plotted around the two axes of maturity and autonomy. The paper explores the characteristics of the six steps, introducing a Values-Based Leadership Algorithm, which informs how an organization may be induced toward the requisite entrepreneurial culture. As this research paper is conceptual, research should be undertaken to empirically test the Values-Based Leadership Algorithm. The paper will be of value to those who wish to increase leadership effectiveness, including business leaders and academics in the areas of leadership, organization development, and entrepreneurship. The Values-Based Leadership Algorithm adds a unique perspective to the notion of leadership effectiveness by providing a way for firms to design leadership practices that are conducive to the paradigm of thinking best suited to their employees’ developmental needs as well as the firm’s stage of growth and transition.