Types of leadership FINAL YEAR

What are the three types of leadership styles

Autocratic
Participative

Delegative

What did Lee do for autocratic leadership?

Merger of the 2 universities, Nantah and the University of Singapore.

Dealing with the pilots from Singapore Airlines in the 1980s.

Elaborate: Merger of the 2 universities, Nantah and the University of Singapore.

Lee Kuan Yew demonstrated autocratic leadership when he merged the 2 universities, Nantah and the University of Singapore.

• Initially, he wanted to make English the language of instruction at Nantah, but the task proved too difficult as the staff were Chinese-educated and could not teach English.

• In the end, Lee decided to move Nantah into the campus of the University of Singapore and all staff and students would be forced to learn English.

• Lee Kuan Yew did so despite knowing that the move would be politically costly.

Many of his cabinet colleagues were not supportive as they were concerned over the political backlash from Nantah supporters and donors in Singapore and Malaysia.

Yet, Lee Kuan Yew did this as he believed that the English-educated university graduates could make bigger contributions to Singapore. Therefore, Lee’s autocratic act of closing Nantah down was borne out of his genuine care for Singapore.

Elaborate: Dealing with the pilots from Singapore Airlines in the 1980s.

Lee Kuan Yew demonstrated autocratic leadership in dealing with the pilots from Singapore Airlines in the 1980s.

The dispute began when the SIA Pilots’ Association demanded a 30% salary increase and better working conditions.

In protest, they launched an illegal work-to-rule, where employees did the bare minimum required.

Following this, 3 SIA pilots and a flight engineer disrupted a flight by refusing to work beyond their 12-hour duty limit during a stopover.

Lee Kuan Yew met the SIA pilots face-to-face, offering them two choices: stop the disruptive actions or face severe consequences.

He made it clear that he was willing to ground the airline and rebuild it if necessary, using every means at his disposal to teach them a lesson.

The pilots chose to back down after 65 minutes, knowing they would lose.

Lee’s action emphasised that leadership requires unwavering resolve, and at times, instilling fear in others in order to make the best possible decision for Singapore within the shortest possible time.

This shows how Lee was autocratic and uncompromising in dealing with the SIA pilots in order to resolve the matter promptly.

How did Lee demonstrate participative leadership?

When discussing policies with his younger ministers

When selecting his successor as Prime Minister

Elaborate: When discussing policies with his younger ministers

Lee Kuan Yew was participative, especially when discussing policies with his younger ministers.

• In the 1st half of 1984, Lee introduced the Graduate Mother’s Scheme, which gave better-educated mothers more benefits, in hopes of raising fertility rates among better-educated mothers.

• One of the benefits was that graduate mothers would receive tax breaks and their children priority admission to schools. The uproar from the public, including the graduate women, was immediate and fierce.

• Lee, despite being the Prime Minister, consulted the views of the younger ministers after the policy was rolled out. The younger ministers felt that the policy was not sustainable as it would divide society, and the political costs were high.

• Hence, when the new Education Minister wanted to dismantle the policy, Lee Kuan Yew did not resist the rollback by the cabinet.

As former PM Goh Chok Tong said about Lee, “He left it up to us, that was his style.”

This showed his participative style of leadership, as he shared the decision-making process with his cabinet ministers.

Elaborate When selecting his successor as Prime Minister

Lee Kuan Yew was participative when selecting his successor as Prime Minister.

• As Lee Kuan Yew prepared to step down in the 1980s, he wanted Dr Tony Tan to succeed him as Prime Minister, calling Tony Tan a man with “a quick brain” and “a decisive quality about him. He listens, takes all points of view and decides.”

• Despite this, he allowed the Second Generation (2G) leaders to choose their own leader, understanding that they would better support a leader they selected themselves.

• This was because he had seen the examples of Winston Churchill and Deng Xiaoping, both of whom handpicked successors who later struggled to govern effectively.

• When the 2G leaders chose Mr Goh Chok Tong due to his strong background in economics, Lee accepted their reasoning. He did not dispute the decision, and instead made Goh Deputy Prime Minister, collaborating with him on succession planning.

• Thus, Lee demonstrated participative leadership as he consulted his 2G leaders on the decision but retained final say as to who would be appointed DPM

How did Lee demonstrate delegative leadership

Entrusted the construction and development of the HDB to Lim Kim San and left him to solve the housing problem without his interference.

Lee had big dreams for modern Singapore, but he could not do it alone.

Elaborate Entrusted the construction and development of the HDB to Lim Kim San and left him to solve the housing problem without his interference.

Lee Kuan Yew entrusted the construction and development of the HDB to Lim Kim San and left him to solve the housing problem without his interference.

• To allow Lim to tackle this problem, he appointed Lim as the 1st Chairman of the Housing and Development Board,

• In the first two years of Lim’s leadership, over 2000 units were built, more than what was built in the previous decade.

• In particular, during the Bukit Ho Swee Fire in 1961, 16000 people became homeless. Under Lim's guidance, the relocation and reconstruction of the lost housing was completed in just over four years, and 1200 housing flats were made available to those who lost their homes in the fire.

• Part of Lim’s success was Lee’s trust and confidence in him. Lee allowed Lim to cut through the bureaucratic red tape and rigid regulations which would otherwise have hindered Lim’s housing programme. For example, even though then National Development Minister Ong Eng Guan did not agree with Lim’s programmes, Lee would often overrule Ong.

• By entrusting this project to Lim Kim San, a person known for his organising and planning abilities, Lee Kuan Yew was able to solve the large-scale housing problem at the time by simply stepping back and allowing someone more suitable to take the lead.

Elaborate Lee had big dreams for modern Singapore, but he could not do it alone.

Lee Kuan Yew had big dreams for modern Singapore, but he could not do it alone.

• For example, Lee Kuan Yew’s vision for Singapore was this: “In 10 years, let us have fishing in the Singapore River”

• But Lee Kuan Yew knew that he could not pull off this task alone. Therefore, he delegated it to the Ministry of Environment and in particular, Permanent Secretary Lee Ek Tiang.

• Lee Kuan Yew even incentivised ENV officials by promising to give each officer a solid gold medal if they managed to pull off the feat. Perm Sec Lee Ek Tieng set up a team of 10 engineers (including himself) and embarked on a massive operation to re-site and rehome the hawkers, bumboats and squatters.

• They drafted a master plan to clean up the catchment areas and also coordinated efforts between 8 – 10 government ministries. They also relocated hawkers to hawker centres and bumboats to Pasir Panjang and phased out the pig farming industry.

• Within a week after the sources of pollution were removed, the stench coming from the Singapore River disappeared miraculously. This was a testament to Lee Ek Tieng and his team’s effectiveness. It was Lee Kuan Yew who gave the vision but delegated it to the civil servants. This shows that Lee trusted his bureaucrats to implement good policies for him

What did Goh do for autocratic leadership?

When he discovered that the government was almost broke, he expected a budget deficit of $14 million that year.

He anticipated significant obstacles in cooperation between the Singaporean and Malaysian governments.

Elaborate When he discovered that the government was almost broke, he expected a budget deficit of $14 million that year.

When Dr Goh Keng Swee took office as Finance Minister, he soon discovered that the government was almost broke, and expected a budget deficit of $14 million that year.

• Prudent by nature, Dr Goh immediately introduced drastic and unpopular measures to cut spending, including cutting civil service salaries.

• When he delivered the Budget at the end of the year, he proudly declared that the government had achieved a small surplus of $1 million.

• He had drafted the speech personally, after secluding himself on the remote island of Raffles Lighthouse to concentrate on the task. This shows that he made those decisions himself without accepting any input from others.

Elaborate: He anticipated significant obstacles in cooperation between the Singaporean and Malaysian governments.

In the months leading up to the Merger, Dr Goh Keng Swee anticipated significant obstacles in cooperation between the Singapore and Malaysian governments.

He took decisive action by directing the Economic Development Board to expedite tax exemption applications, ensuring as many approvals as possible before the Merger, ignoring objections from senior civil servants.

Similarly, he instructed Ngiam Tong Dow to compile a list of foreigners applying for Permanent Residence without requiring detailed analysis. Against Ngiam’s disagreements, Goh signed off on granting Permanent Residence to all applicants without the usual individual justification memos, releasing deposits for them to invest in businesses during Singapore’s time in Malaysia.

By adopting a firm and autocratic approach, Goh effectively and directly countered the Malaysian government’s attempts to complicate matters.

When did goh demonstrate participative leadership

When he commissioned a group of system engineers, the daring dozen, to tackle a failing education system.

When he solved the common issues Singapore faced, such as unemployment and economic woes.

Elaborate: When he commissioned a group of system engineers, the daring dozen, or the “Goh” team, to tackle a failing education system.

In 1978, Goh commissioned a group of system engineers, the daring dozen, to tackle a failing education system.

Together, they came up with a ‘Goh Keng Swee report’, which identified the underlying causes as high dropout rates and the poor implementation of the bilingual policy. To tackle this issue, the study team

1. Interviewed and consulted more than 260 education officials, principals and teachers. This showed that Dr Goh and the team consulted widely in the decision-making process.

2. One of the recommendations made was: Streaming different pupils into different courses at the upper primary and secondary levels depending on their language proficiencies and academic abilities at Primary 3 and 6, respectively.

Dr Goh studied and discussed the issue with his subordinates and even presented the report in parliament for his colleagues to discuss and debate the matter, before coming to a final decision.

Elaborate: When he solved the common issues Singapore faced, such as unemployment and economic woes.

When Goh Keng Swee took office as Finance Minister, he started work on a five-year economic plan to solve the common issues Singapore faced, such as unemployment and economic woes.

On 1st August 1961, Goh set up the Economic Development Board and appointed Civil Servant Hon Sui Sen as the EDB’s first chairman, E. J. Mayers as the Director of EDB and Ngaim Tong Dow to head the Technical Consultant Service Department.

For the first economic plan, he did not come up with the idea all by himself but instead accepted input from other ministers and government departments, as well as the World Bank.

Goh displayed a participative style of leadership in the sense that the creation of the EDB was the result of the input of many people and organisations, while he still retained the final say.

How did goh demonstrate delegative leadership?

Setting up of the Electronic Warfare Study Group.

Building a credible national defence force

Elaborate Building a credible national defence force

Goh Keng Swee recognised the importance of building a credible national defence force.

• However, he did not know anything about building the army since his background was in economics, not national security.

• Therefore, he enlisted the help of the Israelites, who were referred to as “Mexicans” to disguise their identity, to train the newly recruited soldiers.

• For example, Goh Keng Swee entrusted Yaakov “Jack” Elazari and his 6 men, who were split into 2 groups. One was to set up Singapore’s defence and internal security ministries, while the other was tasked with training and building up the Singapore Armed Forces.

Hence, Goh Keng Swee assumed a delegative style of leadership while implementing NS due to his inadequacy in the field, entrusting the Israelites with Singapore’s defence.

Elaborate: Setting up of the Electronic Warfare Study Group.

Goh Keng Swee exemplified Delegative leadership in the setting up of the Electronic Warfare Study Group.

• In 1971, Goh put together the Electronic Warfare Study Group, a team of newly graduated engineers that was headed by Tay Eng Soon, then a university lecturer.

• The group worked on Project Magpie, a secret project to develop Singapore’s defence technology capabilities.

• In 1997, the group was renamed the Defence Science Organisation, which now conducts research on future warfare and develops technological solutions for national security.

• However, Dr Goh did not in any way interfere in the project but just provided the overall vision for the team, since he had no experience nor was he an expert in the field, hence demonstrating the trust he had in the team and showing his delegative style of leadership.

Why was Goh Keng Swee a better leader than Lee Kuan Yue? (12m, if it says lee disagree.) Intro

Goh Keng Swee and Lee Kuan Yew had long and successful political careers that enabled Singapore to become one of the richest and stable countries in the world. Through the process of shaping the nation, both Leaders faced a multitude of economical, social and political problems, showcasing their problem solving skills.  Goh was in charge of finance and defence, while lee was in charge of economic and social development. I agree to a larger extent with the statement. 

Give the peel points

Firstly, Goh showed strong leadership through his insight and decisiveness during the breakdown of Singapore’s merger with Malaysia. → goh

Goh fixed the broken education system with the implantation of the Goh report of 1979. → Goh

Lee proved that he was a better problem solver than Goh in terms of having multinational corporations (MNCs) in investing in Singapore. → Lee

Firstly, Goh showed strong leadership through his insight and decisiveness during the breakdown of Singapore’s merger with Malaysia.

Firstly, Goh showed strong leadership through his insight and decisiveness during the breakdown of Singapore’s merger with Malaysia.

Lee tasked Goh to seek a “looser merger” so Singapore could remain in the Federation while easing existing tensions. However, Goh concluded that a clean break was better, as the merger’s expected economic benefits had not materialised and tensions continued to worsen.

In July 1965, Goh secretly negotiated with Tun Razak and Dr Ismail, arguing that Singapore should “secede, completely” rather than prolong the conflict. This led to the Separation Agreement on 7 August 1965 and independence on 9 August 1965.

Thus, Goh showed stronger problem-solving by recognising that the drawbacks of merger outweighed its benefits and pushing for separation.

Goh fixed the broken education system with the implantation of the Goh report of 1979. → Goh

Secondly, Goh fixed the broken education system with the implantation of the Goh report of 1979.

Lee had insisted that bilingualism would be an integral part of the education system, but by the 1970s, there were high levels of illiteracy and drop-out rates due to the inefficiency of the education system.

Goh and his team of “daring dozen” investigated, identified the problems and introduced the streaming system which would allow students to learn language at their own pace. This solved what Lee had asked to be implemented early in his tenure as Prime Minister.

In addition, Dr Goh also studied international education systems and considered foreign expert input like the Netherlands to guide local reforms.

This led to Singapore's’ PISA score for math and science in the present-day being 1^st. 

Therefore, Goh demonstrated that until he was appointed the education minister, Lee couldn’t resolve the problems of the education system in the ministry. 

Lee proved that he was a better problem solver than Goh in terms of having multinational corporations (MNCs) in investing in Singapore. → Lee

However, Lee also showed strong problem-solving by attracting foreign investment to Singapore.

 

 When Jurong Industrial Estate was first developed, foreign investors were hesitant because Singapore had little manufacturing experience and was seen as risky. Lee travelled overseas, including to the United States, to build Singapore’s international credibility and strongly promoted an MNC-led industrialisation strategy. This helped attract major American firms such as Texas Instruments, Hewlett-Packard and General Electric, bringing capital, technology and jobs to Singapore.

 

Thus, Lee’s ability to build foreign confidence helped overcome Singapore’s shortage of investment and accelerated industrialisation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Goh was the better leader as he solved a failing merger and education system. If Goh had pushed for separation from the chaotic merger, and solved the failing education system, Lee would not have had the chance to go to the United States to convince MNCs to invest in Singapore due to the lack of skilled local workers and economic hardship. This shows that Goh was in fact the better problem-solver than Lee/better leader than Lee