Mahatma Gandhi is recognised as one of the greatest spiritual and political leaders of the twentieth century. Mahatma Gandhi pioneered and practised Satyagraha and he is honoured as the father of the nation. Mahatma Gandhi showed resistance to tyranny against British through mass nonviolent civil disobedience in India. Mahatma Gandhi led nationwide campaigns in India to remove poverty, to build ethnic harmony, to expand the women’s rights and to eliminate injustice of the race and caste system (Dhawan, 2016). Gandhi was well known for the application of principles of nonviolent through civil disobedience and he played a significant role in freeing his nation from British bondage and domination. His leadership was accepted as a model of moral and ethical leadership and he showed an example of the rare blending of non-violence and culture in the principles and practices. Mahatma Gandhi was a source of inspiration for struggles to achieve rights for the common people of India. Mahatma Gandhi considered his life to be integrated whole and he connected the life from immediate and eternal.
As stated by Radhakrishnan, (2015), employing non-violent national movements as his sharp weapon, Mahatma Gandhi poured his words to Indians to fight for the independence and snatch their rights without shedding blood. Gandhi led the civil rights movement in India and before Gandhi entered Indian national freedom, India was a country which had multiple diverse nationalities. India needed a leader who can unite the country under one umbrella. Gandhi saw that Indian people were deprived and British Government plundered Indian wealth and oppressed the people of India. Gandhi felt the urge to unite the people to protest against British colonialism and demanded equal rights. India was known as a rich nation across the world before British people came to India and British made the colony and looted India to rags. The British government made the policies of ‘divide and rule’ to gain control over India. British colonists took all the Indian treasure to treat Indians with utter disdain (Andrews, 2016). India needed a leader who can unite the people against British colonist to revolt. Gandhi emerged during this anxiety and crisis of India and Gandhi helped Indians to unite together to do the unified struggle for Independence. Mahatma Gandhi first implemented the non-violent approach in South Africa. Mahatma Gandhi was very hurt and he was angry when he observed exploitation and discrimination of coloured people under White people. Therefore, Gandhi started the non-violent movement in India which gained him fame. His point of dissent with British people was taxing which placed on Indian nationals. Mahatma Gandhi organised the working class to protest against social discrimination and taxes. Gandhi became the leader of the Indian National Congress and he started demanding equal rights, eradicating non-discriminatory laws, the overthrow of the caste policy, peaceful inter-religious relations (Nair, 2014). Mahatma Gandhi carried three national movements in India to protest against British colonialism.
As stated by Northouse (2018), leadership is a process where the leader influences a group of people to achieve a common objective. Gandhi showed a willingness to confront the major anxiety of Indian people as he showed persistent and consistent about what he thought. Mahatma Gandhi was very determined in following the non-violent and honesty in his leadership. He wore just white dhoti and shawl to lead an entire nation and Gandhi showed the basic element of leadership by keeping the promises. Gandhi also followed the religious notion of ‘ahimsa’ (doing no harm) which was common to religions. Crisis and anxiety of the people before the independence of India made Mahatma Gandhi as a master strategist along with an exemplary leader who had ideas and strategies to make India free from British bondage. Mahatma Gandhi inspires the people of India to follow his principles and he showed creativity and innovation to lead the mass to win the fight.
Mahatma Gandhi was very visionary and empowering leader who made the oppressed people unites to learn and understand non-violence and civil disobedience. Gandhi provided Indians with a new spirit, feeling of pride and a sense of self-respect as Gandhi was a man of vision and a great statesman (Nahavandi & Krishnan, 2017). Mahatma Gandhi’s inspiring leadership empowered the general public and he made the policy on what he preached to the common public. He believed in simple living as he used spinning yarn to make his clothes. Gandhi had made his recognition by doing the protest in South Africa and the people of India had hoped due to the success of the protest in South Africa. His leadership and principle were based on non-violence and honesty and these were respected within Indian society. According to Dhawan (2016), the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi had the solid foundation of self-development and his leadership was achieved through understanding, self-sacrifice and education. Gandhi believed in discipline as it is more than great intellect which can help the people to reach the objective. Mahatma Gandhi had the disciple to be patient enough to strive and work to accept the temporary defeat. Mahatma Gandhi led the people with discipline rather than just the emotion and Gandhi believed in the long-term result. Gandhi was sentenced to prison in four terms and Gandhi has great ability to walk his talk at each and every level.
Gandhi possessed transformational leadership as Gandhi was inspirational, charismatic and trustworthy who liked to lead the common people through example. Transformational leaders inspire the members who greatly motivate the people and it increases the chance to succeed. Gandhi had a strong vision which helped to guide the common people in the process of making a change. Transformational leaders identify the desired change and they create a vision to follow the change through inspiration (McCleskey, 2014). Transformational leaders can execute the change in tandem with committed members of the group. Gandhi performed his leadership when the common people of India were under the oppression and anxiety. Being a transformational leader, Gandhi could make the people powerful and confident. Gandhi empowered the people of India to start believing in them to cause the change in the country. He started Non-cooperation movement, Civil Disobedience Movement and Quit India Movement to unite the people of India and he was always open to new ideas which were implemented in the campaigns. Mahatma Gandhi has intellectual stimulation which means he had the capability to challenge the basic norms along with status quo which enables the common people to think creatively. Gandhi used individualised concern that means Gandhi showed personal care and concern for the well-being of the Indian citizens.
The contribution of power distance to culture variations between the eastern and western world can impact on the leader in generating the altruistic behaviour amongst the followers would be affected by these cultural values (Mead, 2014). Before the era of independence, the British Government made reform in the social and religious system to make India poor. British government’s political domination increased with time and trading interest was also enhanced. White people did authoritarian treatment to the Indians an there was a distinct difference between White and Black people. There was a binary opposition between Indian people and British people. India had the history and culture which is dynamic in nature, the British Government tried to manipulate the culture of Indian.
In Hofstede Model, Power Distance (PD) deals with individuals in a society which is not equal as it generally expresses the culture and attitude towards the inequalities amongst the people (Hofstede-insights.com, 2018). India scores 77 in Power Distance which shows India has hierarchy along with top-down structure in society. Control was familiar in India from the British Government and the communication was top-down in nature showing the directive style. Individualism is the degree of interdependence in a society which is maintained among its members. In an individualist society, members of the society are looked after themselves and India scored 48 in individualism index. Therefore, since the time of bondage of British rule, India showed the collectivist nature. Gandhi used the collectivist nature of the people with the high preference of belonging was shown to the larger social network. Masculinity dimension shows the society is driven by the achievement, competition and success. The success of the members is shown by the value system (Hofstede, 2014). India scores 56 as it has been a more masculine society in terms of visual display of success along with power. India has always been a spiritual country and caste system was prevalent in nature in India. Uncertainty avoidance shows that society deals with the fact that the future can never be known as the people want to control the future. The Indian culture was threatened by British culture which had created institutions and beliefs which tried to be avoided by Indians. India scores 40 in uncertainty avoidance as this score is low showing acceptance of imperfection which cannot be made perfect. India is a traditionally patient country where British colonialism made a tumult. Mahatma Gandhi took the measure of an action-initiative footstep to establish an establishment of own government. Long-term orientation shows that each of the society has to maintain links with its own past (McKenzie, 2017). India scores 51 and it shows dominant preference in Indian culture and most of the western society scores low in this dimension. Gandhi tried to make India tolerance through non-violence and Gandhi wanted to make an amalgamation of ideas, esoteric beliefs and practices. Indulgence is about how far people can try to control their desires along with impulses. India scores only 26 n indulgence as it shows that Indian culture is restraint. Gandhi broke the social stigma and made the Indians unified to participate in the independence movement.
Conclusion
Mahatma Gandhi started practising passive resistance as he used mainly peace, integrity and love to bring change. Gandhi was ‘the man of action’ with following the principles of envisions, enable, energize and empower. Transformational leaders assist the followers to transcend their own self-interest for the sake of the objective set by the leaders. Transformational leaders motivate followers to indulge in extra-role behaviour. Gandhi was a transformational leader and he tried to unite the people who were sharply divided. Gandhi always spoke from his point of view and he got support from entire the nation. His leadership and determination helped India to come out from the darkness.
Reference List
Andrews, C. F. (2016). Routledge Revivals: Mahatma Gandhi’s Ideas (1929): Including Selections from his Writings. Abingdon: Routledge.
Dhawan, G. (2016). The political philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. Navajivan Publishing House (1951), 8(3), 23-35.
Hofstede Culture. (2014). Retrieved from: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/india/
Hofstede, G. (2014). Cultural dimensions in management and planning. Asia Pacific journal of management, 1(2), 81-99.
Hu, J., & Judge, T. A. (2017). Leader–team complementarity: Exploring the interactive effects of leader personality traits and team power distance values on team processes and performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(6), 935.
MacKenzie, J. M. (2017). The persistence of Empire in metropolitan culture. In British culture and the end of empire. Manchester University Press.
McCleskey, J. A. (2014). Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5(4), 117.
Mead, R. (2014). International management: Cross-cultural dimensions. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
Nahavandi, A., & Krishnan, H. A. (2017). Indo-European Leadership (IEL): A Non-Western Leadership Perspective. In Global and Culturally Diverse Leaders and Leadership: New Dimensions and Challenges for Business, Education and Society (pp. 105-123). Emerald Publishing Limited.
Nair, K. (2014). A higher standard of leadership: Lessons from the life of Gandhi. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice. London: Sage publications.
Radhakrishnan, S. (Ed.). (2015). Mahatma Gandhi. Jaico Publishing House.
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