Arnold Schwarzenegger: Leader of California - Case Study Example

Running Head: Leadership and Motivation Arnold Schwarzenegger: Leader of California. A Review of Leadership and Motivational Styles This essay aims to proffer the leadership and motivational styles applied by Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor of California. An evaluation of his leadership style would be presented to determine its effectiveness in attaining both personal and professional goals. Introduction Leadership seeks to bring people and groups from where they are to where they have not been. It enables people to go beyond the confines of mediocrity and tread into the realm of excellence. In the process, it induces people to define their desires and to pursue them with passion. Ultimately, leadership transforms potential into reality. Two of the most exciting and challenging theories encompassing human behavior in organizations is leadership and motivation. Motivation is the intrinsic inducement that propels an individual to behave in specific ways. Leadership, on the other hand, “is the process of influencing people to work or act towards the attainment of specifically defined goals”. (Martires & Fule 2000: 569) There have been a significant number of literatures covering the nature, theories and applications of leadership and motivation and its effect to job performance and satisfaction. An interesting and thought provoking personality that exemplifies the application of both leadership and motivational theories and styles, is Arnold Schwarzenegger. As a famous action celebrity and now, governor of California, an evaluation of his leadership and motivational styles would be presented to determine its effectiveness in attaining both personal and professional goals. Definition of Leadership This topic of delving into human behavior in organizations intrigued many scholars that Ken Valenzuela, the Chief Editor for BeALeader.Net collected various definitions of leadership, to wit: “Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal”. (Northouse, 2004). His own definition is hereby presented as “the ability of developing and communicating a vision to a group of people that will make that vision true” (Kenneth Valenzuela, 2007). Authors Lussier & Achua (2004) define leadership as “the influencing process of leaders and followers to achieve organizational objectives through changes”. (Lussier & Achua, 2004) My own personal definition of leadership is similar to Martires & Fule, Northouse and Lussier & Achua in presenting it as a process. All authors share the same conviction except Valenzuela who perceived leadership as an ability. Further, all authors conform to the following factors as relevant components of the leadership process: (1) influencing people; (2) towards the achievement of a goal. Valenzuela was just different in the use of words for goals, where he replaced it with ‘vision’. But still, there is the component of influence by exerting the ability to develop and communicate that vision to a group of people who would make that vision come true. I also believe that leadership entails some talent to convince a group of individuals towards the attainment of a specifically defined objective. It is a process for me because in order to achieve a goal, a series of actions should be undertaken gradually. In the case of Arnold Schwarzenegger, his application of leadership and motivational theories would be possible through an initial assessment of his personality, characteristics and traits. Eventually, the types of power that he exudes would likewise be examined to provide an assessment of the theories indicated herein. The following assessment are made possible after reading the following articles, to wit: B. Morris, A. Gil, P. leering, and O. Ryan, "Arnold Power," Fortune, August 9, 2004, 77-87 and R. Grover and A. Bernstein, "Arnold Gets Strict with the Teacher ," BusinessWeek,May 2, 2005, 84-85. Arnold Schwarzenegger"s Personality Arnold Schwarzenegger can be described using the following words: charismatic, approachable, extrovert, confident, goal-oriented, agreeable, conscientious, focused, driven, determined, not easily dissuaded, hardworking, dependable, reliable, careful, thorough, organized, persistent and achievement oriented, among others. Arnold fits in the categories of extroversion (being an extrovert), highly agreeable and highly conscientious. People exhibiting these personality traits are proven to have high job performance in most, if not all occupations, and endeavors (in Arnold’s case). They conform to exhibiting enhanced leadership style, as well as higher job and life satisfaction. This can be exemplified by the number of times he set his mind and heart to pursue clearly defined goals and was able to reach or attain these goals (as a bodybuilder, an actor, and now, a governor). His personality traits such as his being goal-oriented, focused, driven, hardworking, thorough, organized, persistent and achievement oriented exemplify leadership skills which are skewed towards concern for tasks more than concern for people. These traits, especially, his clear vision of how he wants to improve things (goal and achievement oriented) as well as his charismatic personality (conscientious, agreeable and being an extrovert) gave him the drive, determination and inner strength to get to where he is now. Arnold is also exhibiting a proactive personality which identifies opportunities, show initiative, take action and persevere until meaningful changes occur. Actually, his childhood experience of being treated harshly by his parents provided the impetus for him to strive and leave the environment where he experienced hardships. This experience challenged Arnold to go beyond his dreams and expectations in life. Schwarzenegger’s Types of Power As governor, Arnold is already exhibiting Machiavellian style in his desire to win his constituents and persuade others to conform to his reforms and economic plans. He employs both referent powers, which is based on his charisma. With referent power comes personal power due to his sources of potential influences. In the case, it was stipulated that due to his being an actor, he was able to form a network of powerful friends and advisors, who he constantly seeks advice from. As the governor, Arnold utilizes a variety of influence tactics depending on who his target market is. He uses inspirational appeals, humor injected in his speeches, rational persuasion in trying to pass a bill or his proposed budget, and of course, consultation in much needed areas such as consulting with his ally, the economist Milton Friedman, to assist him in improving the economy of California. Assessment of Leadership and Motivational Styles First and foremost, Arnold exhibits a charismatic leadership style by conforming to the following characteristics: acknowledges the importance of a vision, being articulate, willing to undergo personal risks to achieve the vision, and sometimes exhibit unconventional behavior. He can also be considered a transformational leader in his quest to inspire followers to transcend their own self-interests for the good of the local government. His leadership skills are skewed towards concern for tasks more than concern for people as shown in his being goal-oriented, focused, driven, hardworking, thorough, organized, persistent and achievement oriented. This is shown in his agenda of pursuing economic reforms for California in terms of cost cutting measures, passing a bill overhauling workers’ compensation and expressing ideas which were considered abhorrent to teachers. Based on case facts and the theories of leadership learned in this module, it is my conviction that Arnold’s leadership style would be effective in achieving goals for California. However, his utilization of unconventional ideas and behavior solicits negative responses in specific groups (teachers, workers’ whose compensation were overhauled). In addition, he exhibited tendencies of giving conflicting promises to parties on state and local budget linkages which resulted in his original budget proposal to be put on hold. This simply means that there are possibilities that his consultation tactic could have accorded him conflicting views of economic reforms which confused his agenda and therefore also confused his delivery of proposed plans. As long as he continues to utilize his strong personality traits and utilize appropriate influence tactics and leadership styles conforming to the personalities and characteristics of his subordinates and the situation at hand, Arnold would be an instrumental leader who would reform and lead California into a better future. Conclusion The value of a reward to an individual is subjective or relative. The personality of each individual shapes his values, skills, preferences and perceptions of factors which affect both job satisfaction and performance. Further, motivation is not a simple matter but rather, a complex process that needs frequent evaluation and update. It is also not enough to know the nature, theories and concepts that a study of human behavior in organizations provide. A more important and challenging learning experience would be to apply these concepts in diverse situations with diverse personalities – without compromising the achievement of organization’s goals. As timely recommended by O’Neil (2008), the leaders should create and head the teams to solve the problems. It should be a direct application experience. Leaders should not be wary or afraid to get their hands dirty for the sake of saving lives. By being part of the action team, only then can these leaders be assured that the solutions carefully drawn and crafted are efficiently and effectively implemented. References Grover, R. & Bernstein, A. "Arnold Gets Strict with the Teacher ," BusinessWeek,May 2, 2005, 84-85. Lussier, R.N.; Achua, C.F. (2004) “Leadership: Theory, Application, Skill Development” (2nd Ed). South-Western. Martires, C.R. & Fule, G.S. (2000). Management of Human Behavior in Organizations. National Bookstore. Philippines. Morris, B., Gil, A., Leering, P., & Ryan, O. “Arnold Power," Fortune, August 9, 2004, 77-87. Northouse, P.G. (2004) “Leadership Theory and Practice” (3rd Ed). Sage Publications. O’Neil, M. (2008). Human resource leadership: the key to improved results in health. Human Resource for Health, open access article. Retrieved 04 Dec. 2009. Read More