Leadership Team at We Make Widgets Inc - Research Paper Example

Leadership team at ‘We Make Widgets Inc’ Abstract Stress is one of the common things for the people at present across the world, irrespective of the gender, age or economic condition of the people. Today’s human being is tied up with so many commitments with respect to the family, society and workplace responsibilities compared to our old generation. The competition in the business world is stiff and the struggle for existence is more. Because of this increased competition the employees irrespective of executives or labors are forced to spend more time at their workplace sacrificing their personal interests and other commitments. Such over workload often create problems to working people. This paper briefly explains such a scenario in which the workplace interest conflicts with the family interests with respect to the organization, ‘We Make Widgets Inc’ through the perspectives of an organizational consultant. Introduction Yes, workaholism is an addiction, an obsessive-compulsive disorder, and it's not the same as working hard or putting in long hours," says Bryan Robinson, PhD, one of the nation's leading researchers on the disorder and author of Chained to the Desk and other books on workaholism."Hard work put us on the moon and discovered vaccinations and built this country," he tells WebMD. "But hard workers generally have some balance in their lives. They sit at their desks and think about skiing. The workaholic is on the ski slopes thinking about work."Their obsession with work is all-occupying, which prevents workaholics from maintaining healthy relationships, outside interests, or even take measures to protect their health (WebMD, 2009) ‘We Make Widgets Inc’ was blessed with some of the finest executives at their top level who value the workplace interest more than their life interests. The problems associated with them can be summarized in one word; workholism. The top three, Maria Visionaria, (Chief Executive Officer -CEO), Mujibar Delhi (Chief Operating Officer -COO), and Wanda Sharp, (Chief Financial Officer -CFO), all have their own family issues which they postponed for the interests of the company. Maria worked for six to seven long days per week at the age of 50 because of her drive for success. Mujibar (age 62) was also an excellent executive, but rapidly approaching towards the end of his career and life. His wife was already retired and she needs his company as much as possible during their last years of life. Wanda Sharp was comparatively the youngest of the three. But she was forced to divorce her first husband and married another person. She had a 15-year-old son who was struggling with substance abuse issues which she came to know recently. Moreover, she along with her new husband was planning to adopt a baby to make their marital life more meaningful. Looking at the above persons and their issues, being an organizational consultant, I would like to give the following advices to each of them. Advice to Maria Visionaria Being the CEO of the company, it is a fact that Maria need to look all the aspects of the functioning of the company. It is true that a CEO has the fullest responsibility of preventing the organization from derailing and streamlining it in the right direction. At the same time Maria should remember that working lengthy hours without rest is not the only option available to her for accomplishing the above missions. Creative ideas can take birth in peaceful minds only and Maria should remember that. Taking a break or relaxing a bit in between the busy work schedules is necessary for her to revitalize her energy and to generate creative and innovative business ideas. Maria should remember that she is trying to find solutions for everyday problems while she is spending her time in the company and she is not getting any time to think fresh about the future strategies of the company. In other words, she is not thinking ahead while solving daily problems. Maria should be able to foresee or forecast the future trends in her business line in order to make necessary corrections in the company strategies. In order to analyze such things she needs a peaceful mind free of commitments which she can attain only by taking a break from her responsibilities. She should remember that even machines need some servicing or overhauling periodically to sustain its performances. What Maria needs to do is take at least 2 months break from the company after distributing the responsibilities to her assistant. This would enable her to study the abilities at the junior level along with giving her the much needed break. She should remember that it is not possible for her to lead the company infinitely and developing a leadership at the bottom level is essential for the company’s future prospects. Advice to Mujibar Family is a place where most of the human being relaxes. It is a place which determines whether your life is meaningful or not. Family problems can affect a person’s all other endeavors. At the age of 62, Mujibar needs to concentrate more on his family life because of the fact that his wife is already retired and she needs his company badly. Moreover, it was difficult for his wife alone to look after her mother who has Alzheimer’s. There is no point in spending the full life at the workplace. Human is a social animal having commitments to his/her family, society and workplace. Workplace is only one entity which the human need to concentrate. Apart from workplace, a human has other commitments as well which are equally important. Mujibar has already crossed his sixties and it may not be possible for him to concentrate on his profession as vigilant as before. At some point of time he needs to quit the workplace to spend his full time with the family. A chief operating officer’s job is not easy. It involves all the ingredients of the duties of the CEO. So Mujibar should think of a retirement after ensuring that the bottom level was capable of taking and executing his responsibilities successfully. Moreover, whenever the company needs his help on critical matters he can provide that by staying at the convenience of his home rather than workplace. In other words, his experience and knowledge can be utilized time to time on part time basis by the company even if he quits his full time responsibilities. Advice to Wanda Wanda’s case is entirely different from that of the two mentioned above. She was handicapped with lot of family issues. Moreover she was in her 40s which means that she is just at the mid level of her life span. She already had a divorce and she should remember that in order to lead a successful married life she needs to spend more time with her family. In her case the commitments are double as far as family is concerned. She has to concentrate the matters of her children from her initial marriage and also to think about adopting a baby for satisfying her second husband. She should remember that either her first or second husband might not take much interest in treating her 15 year old son who is a victim of substance abuse. It is better for Wanda also to take a break for settling her family issues. She needs to treat her son and also assist her second husband in adopting a baby. It is her duty to keep her second marriage intact since she failed in her initial marriage. In my opinion, she might be a workaholic in nature which cost her initial life. So she must take immense care while dealing with her second marriage to avoid further failure. Conclusions Workholism is not a healthy phenomenon though it is socially labeled as a respected addiction. Hard working and workholism are entirely different. In the given case study all the top three executives were wokholic in nature. They failed to give attention to their family and social matters because of their workholism. They should remember that human is a multifaceted living thing who has other important commitments, apart from their workplace commitments. Giving more care to family matters and other social matters is advisable to all the three in my opinion as an organizational consultant. References 1. WebMD, (2009), Workaholism: The 'Respectable' Addiction, Retrieved on 09 November 2009 from http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/features/workaholism Read More