Defining Leadership and Providing a Brief Overview of Leadership Theories - Essay Example

?Contents Page 0 Introduction – Defining Leadership and Providing a Brief Overview of Leadership Theories 2.0 Case Study Analysis 2.0 Leadership at Swatch 2.0.2 Swatch Culture 2.0.3 What’s Unique about Swatch? 2.0.4 The Future of Swatch 3.0 Conclusions 4.0 References Fundamentals of Leadership Case Study based on the Swatch Group 1.0 Introduction Leadership as defined by the Oxford Dictionary is the action of leading a group of people or an organization, or the ability to do this1. Thus, a leader may also be described as a person with the authority and/or the position within an organization capable of influencing the people around them and making decisions that people around them are willing to follow. There are 5 different types of leadership styles2 namely Directive (Authoritative), Delegative (Free Reign), Participative (Democratic), Consultative and Negotiative. Directive (Authoritative) Leaders are characterized as individuals who instruct their employees on the ways to perform a task without allowing them much leeway to give their own thoughts or display independence. The leader exercises firm authority over his employees and makes sure that they follow his rules and guidelines in performing a task. Delegative (Free Reign) Leaders, segregates and hands out the tasks to their employees and allows them to make decisions and decide on how a task should be performed. However, as the leader will still be held accountable for the decisions made and the fact that this style is not entirely democratic, situations may arise whereby employees may be assigned work rather than being allowed to participate actively on how a task should be done or completed. Participative (Democratic) Leaders on the other hand allows their employees to participate in the decision making process and believes that a pooling of ideas and reaching a consensus together will best benefit the whole team. In the Consultative Leadership style, you will find traits from both the Directive and the Participative styles. A leader practicing this style of leadership will allow for group discussions and value the insights and contributions of the team in the decision making process but will be the one making the final decision. Negotiative Leaders tend to be very persuasive in nature or have good persuasive skills. They often motivate their employees with incentives or words of encouragement to push them in the same direction as the rest of the team. 2.0 Case Study Analysis 2.0.1 Leadership at Swatch In my opinion, the leadership paradigm displayed at Swatch is that of the Consultative style. Although the leadership lies on both Hayek Senior and Nicolas Hayek Junior to drive the organization forward, they allow their employees to contribute and participate in brainstorming for new ideas and allows for new project teams to come up with ideas. Leadership seems widely distributed across the Swatch Group with only a small number of positions existing to ‘head’ different sections. The Group does not believe in bureaucracy and has very little formal hierarchy. The employees are given the discretion to develop ideas and lead project teams in their own areas. There is room for growth and independence for the employees working with Swatch. Based on the case study, it would seem that the organization is quite dependent on the energy and influence of the Hayeks as both senior and junior Hayeks are very involved in the business. They are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide ‘hands on’ assistance to various levels of needs in the Group. Although leadership seems widely distributed across the divisions at Swatch, it is mentioned that if the Hayeks dislike a product or idea, the company’s morale is said to decline but morale is notably high if the Hayeks are behind an idea. That clearly shows how important the Hayeks are in the organization. In terms of securing the future leadership of the organization, Hayek Senior has placed members of his family in significant positions within Group to ensure the longevity and growth of the organization. I believe that because the leadership paradigm displayed at Swatch is that of the Consultative style, leaders are being developed throughout the organization and they will be able to assist future leaders in growing the business. No doubt the Hayeks have a strong influence over major decisions, but they allow their creative young employees with good ideas to lead project teams and through informal interactions, temporary leaders emerge to lead new projects. This freedom to brainstorm, communicate and lead teams allows the employees to develop leadership qualities and one day step up to whatever role may be assigned to them. 2.0.2 Swatch Culture From the case study, I would describe the culture at Swatch using the words the employees used to describe it, ‘spontaneous’, ‘chaotic’, ‘cool’, ‘casual’, ‘simple’ and ‘unsophisticated’. There are the Hayeks who are available 24/7 to guide if the employees run into any issues, there is minimal red tape and bureaucracy because of the lack in hierarchy and the encouragement they give to the employees to be creative and have fun while doing their job and if something fails, to move on. I would love to be given an opportunity to work and develop myself in the fast-paced yet encouraging environment that the Swatch Group offers. It may be quite taxing to keep up with the fast-paced nature of the Group but I believe that the experience gained would be exponential and very beneficial for personal growth. Although the environment in Swatch may seem chaotic but the teams work using clear-but-flexible boundaries and targets and are encouraged to communicate with each other to resolve conflicts. The various units have their own delineated responsibilities and rules but they are required to interact with other units in order to get their job done. Swatch is a very evolving, innovative and creative organization and has always strived to maintain their strategic independence by being self-reliant, for example, manufacturing their own 1.5 volt semiconductor rather than purchasing it from the Japanese companies and later selling them to external markets in 35 countries. These external markets contribute to over two-thirds of the revenue generated from the 0.9-1.5 volt chips. I firmly believe that the leadership in Swatch is able to adapt to the evolving change in business because of their ability to embrace change and the culture that has been cultivated within the organization allows the employees to be able to speak their mind and not be afraid to be shut down if an idea is not feasible. There are constantly new hires in the organization and this will also mean that there are constantly a new generation of ideas, of employees that are more adapt and more in-the-know of the current trends and wants of the consumers. Swatch is a fast-paced environment that constantly requires new ideas; hence the employees tend to leave after a period of time. Swatch is, however, an attractive place to work in given the leadership style of the organization and the ability to develop self-growth, independence and gain mentorship. The constant need for fresh, new ideas and the pressure of not being able to deliver new ideas may be the result of the high attrition since it’s mostly employees in the marketing and more creative parts of the company that tend to leave in a shorter duration of time. Organizations such as Swatch in a business environment such as now have to be creative and fast-paced, so I don’t believe that the problem lies in Swatch’s culture. I believe that Swatch is both a teaching and a learning organization because there’s always an opportunity to coach a new hire and also to learn from each other. Mentoring in a climate of rapid staff turnover is not a very pleasant experience because of the constant need to coach someone but given the fact that Swatch is an environment whereby employees are encouraged to be themselves and not be afraid of mistakes, the situation will be more pleasant. Knowledge is shared and managed through communications and documentation of projects done and also the guidance of the Hayeks. 2.0.3 What’s Unique about Swatch? Swatch is unique because their core business is to continually engage the emotions of the buyers. Because of their continued effort to engage the emotions of their buyers, they strive to innovate products that will move their buyer’s emotions. The Swatch experience is something that’s always new and always different. Whether one is a customer or a staff or the organization, Swatch offers a wide array of unconventional designs for customers and always a fresh outlook or new idea for the staff. Everyday is exciting because there’s always something new to be anticipated. 2.0.4 The Future of Swatch Future sustainability at Swatch is addressed by the fact that it is a vertical enterprise in the watch production industry. Swatch has the capability to manufacture all the components for the production of both mechanical and quartz watches and that allows them to design, produce and distribute their brands exclusively. Swatch also employs people from all over the world to ensure diversity. They claim to employ people from over 50 nationalities and the average age of the people at Swatch is 30 years old. Diversity is very important for Swatch if they want to continuously stay on top of the market. By employing people of diverse nationalities and background, Swatch is able to tap into their understanding of their own cultures, market trends and demands and different creative ideas and create products or tailor marketing strategies that will generate the impact required. Swatch controls all it’s design, production and distribution line via its vertical enterprise, which in turn lowers the cost of the product manufactured. Swatch has taken Asia by storm once and is still a big presence in Asia but to continuously capture the Asian market, the team at Swatch will have to think of more ways to produce innovative yet fun designs and ideas for the Asians to wear their watches. The leadership will have to engage their Asian employees to brainstorm new ideas and marketing strategies that will target the Asian market. The market is huge and with the right marketing tools and Swatch’s funky watches, Swatch may repeat its success in Asia once again. 3.0 Conclusion The case study on Swatch clearly demonstrates the benefits of the Consultative Leadership style. The organization is able to flourish and grow under the leadership of Hayek Senior because he allows his employees to participate, discuss, generate ideas and still be there to offer them guidance and five the final decision. This proves that the Consultative Leadership style should be a paradigm that organizations should choose to adopt. It provides mutual respect and understanding while allowing independence and creativity to flourish. References 1. 1,Oxford Dictionaries. Oxforddictionaries.com, n.d. Web. 19 May 2011. 2. T. Ashraf, n.d, Organizational Behaviour, Unesco.org, pg 164-165, viewed 19 May 2011, http://www.unesco.org/education/aladin/paldin/pdf/course02/unit_14.pdf Read More