The benefits of studying leadership

“As much as I love Apple, Inc, I would happily give up my iPhone to put food on the plates of starving children” (Business week 2011).

Above statement shows grate humanity of ideal leader Steve Jobs and proves that leaderships is not all about power, position, and authority , but can be considered as a ‘soothing tool’ in a person that motivates and indicates meaning to follow them. Leadership is not a limited process to the business or for higher level executives, but it is a life time process that all individual can learn through day to day life experience.

Source: Rainey (2006:351)

The above model demonstrates the nature of leadership process by preferable CEO in current business environment. Current leaders practice continuously learning from the past experiences and applying new ideas or experiment in the business environment according to their learning.

This model can be exemplified by our team work experience in Coventry University. Studying leadership has been an opportunity for us to identify deficiencies and strengthen our skills. After studying leadership we are no more the rigid minds that were joined the Coventry University as students. The key aspect in leadership which has significantly motivated our team or as an individual to me is adaptability to the changes.

Being MBA students our futures role will be to perform as a leader who manages a group or team. According to Tuckman 1977) to build a model team skills of “forming –storming- norming” and performing are crucial. During our leadership study our team has practiced group activities like team simulation exercises, presentations, brainstorming, group discussions etc. Meanwhile these activities, we identified our weakness and strength through peers assessment and feedback process. Feedback practices reflected my lake of skills in Planning, assessing and allocation of work as a team leader. Some common deficiencies as a team, we found are lake of coordination, personal ego, lake of involvement and communication gap.

Awareness about our lake of abilities motivated us to enhance our skills. We followed Adair’s (1988) model of leadership that includes features of Team, Individual and Task needs. This model was relevant to our actions which were decided to fulfil our goal of being an ideal team. We resolved our disputes with each other and bound a team spirit to perform better tasks. We discussed our individual problems and solved those problems. This team was led by me, in a manner where all the members were given equal consideration and motivated to participate equally. This framework satisfied all the team members’ wish to contribute and get appraised for their dedication.

Our commitment to adapt changes was the key driver for the success of our team.  Learning of leadership developed our skills competences like cooperation, cohesion, view sharing, decision making and active involvement. These skills will be helpful us in our future goals of leading and managing people.

In conclusion, study of leadership and our above discussed experience fits in the business models by Rainey (2006:351), which demonstrates leadership is a process that contains continues learning from experiences and is helpful to identifies weakness and improve the capabilities, which  helps to achieve vision or future goals.

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Adair, J. (1988) Effective Leadership John Adair [online] available from <http://www.inclentrust.org/uploadedbyfck/file/2%20Research%20Methodology%20(Presentations_Monographs_Guidelines)/11/effective%20leadership.pdf&gt; [02 Mar 2012]

Business week (2011) Idolize Bill Gates, Not Steve Jobs [online] available from <http://www.businessweek.com/management/idolize-bill-gates-not-steve-jobs-11012011.html&gt; [22 Mar 2012]

Mullins,L.J. (2010) 9th edn. Management & Organisational Behaviour. Essex: Pearson Education Ltd.

Reiney, D.L. (2006) Sustainable Business Development. New York: Cambridge University Press

Tuckman, B.W. (1977) ‘Stages of small group development Revised’. Group and organisational studies 2 (3), 419-27

Ethical relationships between leaders and their teams

Leader and followers are interdependent on each other and the success of any organization projects the effect of their relationships and ethics. According to Hollander (1995:1) ethical concerns are among the valuational elements essential to developing loyalty and trust in this relationship. Some people are born with leadership traits, some have their charisma over people and then there are who stagger in leadership have grate mind and ideas. All these leaders have something in common, that is their ability to demonstrate vision through personal actions and built interpersonal relationship with followers. The ways or manners, how such leaders communicate or reinforce their goals to achieve with followers, discussed below.

1. Communicating vision

Leaders do not do extraordinary thing by themselves, but they involve other to get vision comes true. They communicate vision to the followers. For example, Microsoft’s vision statement is “A computer on every desktop and in every home” (Kelly 2010). This is a simple statement, through which leaders of company are communicating with employees to put their efforts on the expected way. Leaders endeavor the vision by looking at coming future and emotionally attach followers for the completion of it. If we look at apple’s symbol, it reminds us for Albert Einstein that demonstrates apple’s expectation towards innovation or creativity to serve its stakeholders and especially from its employees.

1. Building trust

To make people follow, it is essential for the leaders to built trust and credibility in stake holders. Successful leaders assure their followers to actively contribute and decide the best course of action to achieve the goals. Jill Cleveland, finance manager at Apple Inc. Opened up lines of communication with her team by supporting face to face interactions(Kouzes and Posner 2007:222). Such actions applied by leaders create trust and security and motivate their team to come with successive outcomes.

1. United Spirit

Kouzes and Posners(2007) explored this as practices of ‘encouraging the hearts’ when people act in the ways that are consistence with each others’ expectations of them.  The members in a team expect their own recognition and appraisal for their individual contribution. To create a model team, leader needs to pay attention to everyone. Disney land sets best example for building team spirit. They are organising sets of events which brings employees together and encourage participating in different sports and games activity (disneylandparis 2012). These actions by the company motivate healthy competition among the employees.

1. Sharing  values and norms

It’s all about values and principals which make thousands of people to follow a Gautama Buddha and maintained devotion and reliance in him for thousands of years. In the business each organisation has its own rules and norms. The leaders and followers work together in the boundaries of norms with sustaining their values and principal for long-time.

Source: Kouzes and Posner (2007:55)

Above figure demonstrates effect of values in organization.  Commitment in the organization measured on a scale of one (law) to seven (high). This survey indicates that, if the people in organization are clearer about the values, their commitment for getting things done will be higher.

1. Continues learning – development

The business environment and culture change time by time. Good leaders prepare their teams to adapt the change and produce ideas according to that change. For example, cell phone companies launching new mobile designs with distinctive features according to the age of technologies. The Microsoft Corporation launches its operating system year by year to be stable in the market position. These companies are launching their products with new features and do experiment in markets. If the products not get positive response they quickly cease the idea and diverse on other innovations. In this way the leaders and followers continuously learn from the experiences and try to avoid mistakes in the next future.

In conclusion, ethical behaviour in the organization is the key drivers which carry organisation to the highest pick and lake of these practices in leaders or followers can cause worsen circumstances. Leadership is ongoing process where the vision and goals are achieved through individual contribution as a team in the organisation.

Referances :

disneylandparis (2012) Team- Building activities [online] available from <http://www.disneylandparis-business.com/en/parks_leisure_events/team_building_activities&gt; [20 Mar 2012]

Hollander, E.P. (1995) ‘Business Ethics Quarterly’. Ethical challenges in the leader- follower relationship 5 1

kelly, R. (2010) My Favorite Vision & Mission Statements [online] available from <http://robdkelly.com/blog/leadership/vision-and-mission-statement-examples/&gt; [20 Mar 2012]

 

Analysis of leaders in global business

In the current economic climate, giant organizations are in throat cut competition and in the race of achieving large market shares.  The success of such organizations mainly depends on the distinctive features they are offering in the aspects of product quality, services, projection of product, designs etc. In the word of Mullins(2010:777) ‘Organizations need to be more creative in their approach to recognizing, nurturing and turning innovative ideas into business reality and managers are the key to that process’. The leaders’ capability to maintain a link between innovation and management process get the organization to positive outcomes. Below explanation highlights well known leaders’ features and style of leading in organisations.

Steve Jobs – Apple

“I have always said that if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s C.E.O., I would be the first to let you know” (nytimes 2011)  .

Above statement released by Steve Jobs demonstrates his ‘charisma’ (Durbin  2010:77) over the people and creates extreme emotions to the stakeholders. He had ability to keep audience engaged in communication by ideas using analogies, stories and metaphors.  For example, during the launching a product he was used to create original feel of usage of Apple’s product (dlugan 2012). To convince use of IPad he was used to sit and read news papers by opening its WebPages as we read during our free time. These features mention him as a charismatic leader.

Some critics about him about violating rules of management project him as an autocratic leader. He was not a consensus-builder but a dictator who listened mainly to his own intuition (forbes 2012). The reporting structure at apple was maniacal in manner. Nearly 100 people were directly reporting to Jobs and he alone had participated to recruit more than 5000 employees (cnn  2012). This indicates his uncompromising attitudes for quality of employees.

Richard Branson- Virgin

According to Richard Branson of Virgin ‘he (jobs) wanted to involve himself in every detail, which is the opposite of my own approach’ (telegraph 2012).  Style of leadership that Richard contains contrasts, that was of Steve Jobs. To make employees feel their responsibilities, attend the challenges and develop confidence to overcome, Richard decided to move in house boat to separate himself from the company. He believes in giving freedom and inspiration to the employee to flourish new ideas and innovation. These attributes mentions him as a transformational leader who adapts quickly to the changes (Bass 1985).

The organisation culture in Virgin depends on Bronson’s personal style and behaviour. He always engaged with activities like travelling through balloon around the world, doing dangerous stunts to break world records and his style to wear colourful jumpers creates charisma over Virgin’s stakeholders. (Weiss 2003). His charismatic features create a sense of being competitive, innovative, fun loving and risk taking to the employees of Virgin.

Considering above discussion the famed leaders generally drives organisation by five practices mentioned by Kouzes and Posner(2007:26). They model the way for other people to follow for a long time. Individuals get affected by such leaders having their own principals and values on which they strongly stand. They imagine the future, identify common objectives for people and inspire a shared vision for organisation. Leaders challenge the process by making changes and innovating new ideas and concepts. They experiment with new ideas and asses it in the organisation. They make their team enable to act by building the environment of trust and relationship. Leaders strengthen their team by giving a space to develop abilities and confidence. Successful leaders have art of winning the heart of people. They constantly demonstrate the importance and values of the employees in organisation and recognise their contribution for the success.

Finally, in the uncertain business environment leadership has become more adaptive to change rather than a private process. Current leaders insist on the consideration of all the people in the organisation and put efforts to bring out the skills and abilities that can be contributed to the success of organisation.

References :

Bass, B.M. (1985) Leadership and performance beyond expectation. New York: Free Press

dlugan.com (2012) You Can Learn to Present Like Steve Jobs [online] available from <http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/steve-jobs-presentation-tips/&gt; [17 Mar 2012]

forbes.com (2012) Steve Jobs Broke Every Leadership Rule. Don’t Try It Yourself. [online] available from <http://http://www.forbes.com/sites/frederickallen/2011/08/27/steve-jobs-broke-every-leadership-rule-dont-try-that-yourself/&gt; [17 Mar 2012]

nytimes (2012) Apple’s Visionary Redefined Digital Age [online] available from <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/business/steve-jobs-of-apple-dies-at-56.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all&gt; [17 Mar 2012]

telegraph.co.uk (2012) Virgin’s Richard Branson: Apple boss Steve Jobs was the entrepreneur I most admired [online] available from <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/steve-jobs/8811232/Virgins-Richard-Branson-Apple-boss-Steve-Jobs-was-the-entrepreneur-I-most-admired.html&gt; [18 Mar 2012]

Weiss, W. H. (2003)  [online] available from <http://www.centreofexcellence.ie/Sectors/sfa/SFANCEDocLib.nsf/441763b04b0320b68025722e003fb55a/bc12f53469df45728025722e003f060f/$FILE/Leadership.pdf&gt; [18 Mar 2012]

Change and resistance to change

“For  society at large, and organisation in particular, the magnitude, speed, impact, and especially the unpredictability of change, are greater than even before”(Burnes,2009:1). In recent business environment economic uncertainty, internationalisation, increasing competition, technology expansion, and globalisation of workforce are the basic factors which are causing rapid change. There are wider criteria of alternatives for organisations or managers regarding how, what and when they change. The below analysis of JC Penny and its change in organisational culture illustrates role of leadership in delivering changes.

Above graph indicates the position of JC Penney before change and the outcomes achieved after change in the organisation. The organisation cultural earlier was rigid and was reinforced for long decades. The employees were not open to the organisation. The organisation was based on rigid and complicated rules. The new C.E.O. Ullman jointed in 2004 and found need to shake up the organisation with change in culture and started initiative by gradually applying set of actions.

Actions to Secure Effective Change….

Firstly, to create friendliness in the organisation ‘call me myk’ campaign was launched and the employees were admitted to call their dominants with their first names. Dress code was relaxed and employees were allowed casuals on Friday. Top management encouraged the employees to decorate their cubicles. Even office police disbanded to create sense of freedom. Art work in the organisation was replaced with photos of employee to show the importance of them. Management launched ‘Winning together principals’ and introduced 7 principals to succeed organisation.

Leaders contribution…

The above mentioned sets of actions were launched gradually by the top management. Especially, The C.E.O. Ullman performed a significant role as a democratic and transformational leader who share vision with employees, appreciated ideas, create friendly environment and brought employees closer to the management and organisation by implementing drastic change in organisation culture. However, it was not easy process. Management had to pass through many challenges of resistance from exist employees.

Resistance….

Resistance from the organisation and individual are common problem while implementing significant changes.  When Ullman was appointed as CEO, some lawyers and director, who had signed past contracts and agreements with the company, concerned about this decision and commented it as meaningless. Such resistance comes from threats to power or influence of new leader on the existing structure. Marketing manager admitted that despite of his insist to call him by first name employees continued to call him by Mr. Boyson(7). This was the effect of old habits of employees for long time. Organisation was desisted about hiring employees from outside. theilman(8)Because JCP had selective perception about their capacity and wrong sense of having all solutions.  This mindset changed after year of 2000 when JCP recruited ullman as CEO. Moreover, COO was fired in 2006 and company had to pay $10 million for this decision. Many questions had been raised when this action taken. These kinds of actions some time create fear of inconvenience and job security which leads employees to raise questions.

Fits in model…

The process and set of actions for changes in JCP best fits in levin’s 3 step model. The management in JCP identified situation. There was a rigid culture and employees were in comfort zone with old tradition.  There was no scope of new ideas from employees. Management decided to unfreeze the culture. Management moved the culture by implementing one by one action in a way that does not destroy stakeholder’s trust and expectations towards the organisation. For the assessment of the applied change JCP conducted an associate engagement survey with appreciation of employees’ feedback. As shown in the graph the financial performance also increased. These positive outcomes stabilise and refreeze the planned actions.

In conclusion, the change in the organisation depends on the leaders’ ability to implement set of actions in a way that doesn’t project a sense of destroying the traditions and still gradually change the nature and beliefs by showing better prospective for all the stakeholders of the organisation.

Referances :

Burnes,B. (2009) 5th edn. Managing Change. Essex: Pearson Education Ltd.

Dlugan (2012) You Can Learn to Present Like Steve Jobs [online] available from <http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/steve-jobs-presentation-tips/&gt; [17 Mar 2012]

Purkayastha, D. (2007) Remarking JC Penney’s Organisational Culture. Hyderabad: ICMR Center for Management Research

Theories and Models of Leadership and Management

“Leadership is the behaviour of an individual directing the activities of a group toward a shared goal “(Coons and Hemphill, 1957:7). The leadership is a key activity where purposed influence is applied to structure, motivate and facilitate the activities and management in the organisation. It’s varies in the different aspects including the objectives, the people and the work environment. The good leaders try to reduce cultural difference and put efforts to make their team diverse in a way to adapt the changes. Models mentioned below explore the features and analysis of some leadership styles.

TRAIT APPROACH

Traits model of leadership supports an argument that “leaders are born and not made” (Mullins, 2010:376).  Trait in a people contains inherited characteristics or personality including self-confidence, physiological appearance, intelligence and social characteristic. These features inside the leaders make them to influence on others. Examples of such leaders are Martine Luther king, Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi etc. These leaders brought people together and tried to remove the cultural difference in their society. They united people and share common objectives for the society to change it in better prospective.

A person born with personality traits needs not to be trained as a leader at certain level. It is more convenient for the theorist who believes that ‘leadership cannot be created or promoted’ (Drucker, 1989:156).

However, there is no justification of positive leaders or negative leaders by the traits they contains. A person having traits or personality may not always take to positive outcomes. For example, Adolf Hitler was having good leadership traits but his outcomes were proved negative for the majority of human beings.

Some leaders create the feel of loyalty, trust, respect and admiration to motivate followers to do more than they required doing for the sake of organisation. These kinds of leaders are known as transformation leaders discussed below.

TRANSFORMATIONAL Vs TRANSACTIONAL APPROACH

This concept was influenced by Burns (1978), who contrasted transactional with transformational leadership. Transformation style of leading addresses the moral values of the employees in an effort to mobilize their strength and energy to reform the organisation. While transactional approach of leading motivates by offering self interest like remunerations with exchange of benefits or return of work. The features offered by these models mentioned below.

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Individualized Consideration: Leaders shows affinity, support and maintain open communication to attend employee’s needs and interests. They appreciate subordinate’s attitude and desire for self development.

Intellectual Stimulation: The employees in organisation supposed to comprehend  tasks deeply to find out ways to reach to superior output. Leaders expect innovation and creativity and take risks by applying follower’s assumptions and ideas in the organisation.

Inspirational Followers are expected to understand purpose for work and are challenged to fulfil the organisational objectives and goals. Leaders perceive the vision towards followers in a way that makes followers involving and willing to apply their full strengths and efforts.

Idealized Influence – Leaders create model or ideal that unite followers to achieve goals. For example, “We can be a winning team because our faith in each other and I need your support to achieve our vision” (Bass and Riggio, 2008:12).

These features are helpful in organisation to bring new ideas. The development of ethics and morals in followers are worthy for sustainable development of organisation. However, some time team of such leaders can take disadvantage of their freedom and found inactive. Information overload by ideas and view points from team members might cause difficulties in decision making process.

Below discussed transactional futures contrasts the nature of transformational leading.

Contingent reward: Leaders motivation is based on rewards like remuneration or incentives paid on the condition for the quality or quantity of work done. For example, in a bank, employees get account opening targets and receive incentives based on how many customers’ accounts they have opened.

Active management by exception:  Leaders monitor and control the task of their subaltern, identify the variations from given guidelines, rules, or orders and track it back or correct actions. This kind of management can be easily found in supervisory work especially in labour work.

Passive management by exception: Leader interferes when the task not done according to the requirements or directions and some time use force or punishment, when subordinates not fulfil the standards.

Transactional style of leading contains strict administration and assign particular task for which specific person is responsible. It is comfortable in the management structure where tasks are time bound or mechanistic. However, it contrasts the views and suggestion from the subaltern and not provides space for innovation or creativity.

The mentioned model varies in its style to fulfil objectives. Traits in a person promote him or her as a leader and make people to follow it. The transactional style is well known in most of the organisation where motives are to get the things done with exchange of personal benefits. Transformation style believes in sharing vision and involvement of followers with addressing their ideas and interests.

Above discussion indicates diversity in styles to fulfil objectives. However the purposes of these models are to bring the people together and get the things done.

References:

Bass, B.M. and Riggio, R.E. (2008) Transformational Leadership. New Jersy: Lawrence Erlbaum Asso.

Burns,J.M. (1978) Leadership. New York: Harper & Row

Coons A.E. and Hemphill,J.k. cited by Yuki G. (2010) 7th edn. Leadersship in Organisations. New Jersey: Pearson Edu. Inc.,Pg . 21

Drucker, P.F.  (1989) The practice of Management. Portsmouth,: Heinemann Professional

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