Organizational Leadership - Term Paper Example

 Thousands of empirical and conceptual research and studies have been adopted and implemented regarding one of the major topic in psychology that is ‘Leadership’. However with such an extraordinary effort various parts of the literature regarding leadership is dimensionless and disconnected as very low consideration to variables that influence the nature and impact of leadership is given. Examination of studies including leadership within organizational contexts mainly from the strategic management literature is incomplete as they ignore the cognitive, interpersonal and social richness of this phenomenon. Examination of leadership occurring at the upper organization levels is the prime focus while building models in the strategic management literature. One reason which can be attributed for the lack of progress in the synthesis of an integrated understanding of organizational leadership is that the theorists have provided generic leadership theories and models that use many of the same constructs to explain leadership across different organizational levels. The assumption of the approach reflects the similarity of the psychological and sociological dynamics of the top of the organization as well as at the lower level of organization. This deficiency of consideration to organizational levels and other factors has given rise to the need of empirical research on organizational leadership particularly at the executive level. This paper focuses on the organizational leadership and its in-depth analysis of one of the top information technology organization of USA that is Hewlett Packard (Zaccaro & Klimoski, n.d.). Considering the complex transformation of today’s nature and economy of market the transformation of the business organization has become a very common issue. So the issue of transformation in the organizational leadership in Hewlett Packard will be the prime focus in this paper. Company profile Hewlett Packard Company or HP is an American multinational corporation with its headquarters in Palo Alto, California. The sectors where the company caters are mainly small and medium sized businesses and large enterprises as well as customers in the government, health and educational sectors and the products delivered by this company are software, technologies, solution s and services (Hewlett-Packard Co, n.d.). Description of situation The organizational transformation Before moving into the realms of the organizational transformation a clear picture of the main parameters regarding the organization entails a necessary significance. The prime parameters encircling the transformation of the organization depend upon people, technology and structure (School of Business, n.d). People Connection to the external environment is done by the people and people are the holders of multi identity in different environment. People can be directly influenced by the external environment despite the fact that the public pressure groups or culture can divert the people’s behavior and attitudes. So people play a dominant role in the organizational transformation. To what extent people play an important part in the company profile of Hewlett Packard (HP) will be discussed in the analysis section (School of Business, n.d). Technology: Technology plays a significant role in the discussion of transformation of organization. Depending upon the complexity and level of technology adopted by the competitors firms must formulate its strategies accordingly in order to develop its technology and simultaneously formulate the profit structure. Although the main concern will be to look upon development of technology depending upon the customers’ need (School of Business, n.d). Structure: The structure of the organization is usually affected by the external environment. It has been found out that when external environment is highly skeptical or uncertain then the optimal requirement is to adjust the internal environment and make it flexible so that it can easily adapt to the uncertainties of the environment. In today’s modern technology the structure needs to be normally fast and flexible in order to respond to the adjustments of the fierce competition and environmental change (School of Business, n.d). Analysis The above discussed parameters are the external factors leading to the organizational transformation. In the analysis section the internal factors are also incorporated in order to discuss the organizational structure and thus leading to the structuring of organizational leadership in Hewlett Packard (School of Business, n.d). Major paradoxes and HP’s dilemma Fierce competition and lack of technological development and severe bureaucracy HP was facing several paradoxes like fierce competition from the traditional competitors as well as new competitors entering into the market. HP’s biggest rivals were Dell and IBM in the domain of computer and corporate computer fields. It also faced obnoxious threats in the market of competition of data storage. Apart from that HP was also facing major problems in technology and innovation field. It was found out that the growth dynamics of the technology adopted by HP was moving at a very slow pace. HP lost its competitive edge among its competitors like Dell and IBM with the chance of not being able to develop new innovative technological knowhow with the introduction of the internet. Bureaucracy of HP was very serious and it practically paralyzed the daily operation of the corporation which led to the severe inefficiency of the corporation and decrease in sales (School of Business, n.d). Having discussed the loopholes and restrictions hampering the development of the growth of the organization there was a serious need for development of a concrete leadership system for the proper and smooth functioning of the corporation. The development of the organizational leadership will be discussed from three broader yardstick of judgment used in this paper that are systems perspective keeping in pace with Senges 5 discipline, Organizational behavior perspective(communication, organizational culture, motivation, hierarchy needs) and Organizational development perspective with relevance to Kotter’s 8 step change model ( School of Business, n.d.) Systems perspective -Senges 5 discipline and organizational leadership in HP Peter Senge, a senior lecturer from MIT in his famous, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization has exposited different problem solving methods by which companies can convert themselves into leading organizations. He advised various models and theories for the development of the firms in gaining leadership. According to him structure in an organization plays a crucial part in the development of an organization. He states that structure influences behavior .According to him “Different people in the same structure tend to produce qualitatively similar results” (Senge, n.d., p.12). He also adds that leverage comes from new ways of thinking but they create extreme instability. The five disciplines of the learning organization discussed in his book are personal mastery which deals with the discipline of continuously clarifying and deepening of personal vision of an individual and then strengthening on the energies of developing patience. Secondly the mental models which are adopted in order to generalize a picture about the understanding of the world by the people. Thirdly Building shared vision which entails a future picture of genuine commitment for building up a rock solid organization. Then he stated team learning which involves the formulation of optimal strategies by the team of an organization and executing them into real life situations which are connected with cost minimization and profit maximization. And lastly he states system thinking which is an amalgamation of the above four criterion discussed. Now our approach is to analyze the organizational leadership in HP compatible with Senges 5 discipline (Senge, n.d., p.12). Leadership style in HP A major part of HP’s leadership success story can be attributed to the contribution of Carly Fiona in her tenure from 1999-2005. HP had three major businesses before the arrival of Carly Fiona. They were test and measurement instruments businesses, the computer business and the imaging and printing businesses. HP was renowned for its professional manufacturers of printers but it was not professional and did not provide inexpensive supplies to the customers like IBM or DELL. HP was often regarded as ‘a reliable but dull manufacturer of expensive hardware.’ It was also known that the target clients were mainly business executives and engineers and did not heed focus on the huge demand of teenagers and the students (School of Business, n.d) For the ultimate success of the business in a broader perspective the role of a leader plays a very significant role. In case of Hewlett Packard also leadership of Carly Fiorina is noteworthy. When Fiorina was appointed as the chief executive officer of HP, the company was with its pale performance and unsure future inculcated with its ‘HP way’ culture. Different dynamic policies were taken by her in order to restructure the working condition of the organization. One of the important policies formulated by her is the policy of ‘dismissing sales representatives with poor records’ and rewarding the people who performed with excellent endeavor. She injected into the working force of the organization that exchanging productivity among each other leads to effective performance and leads to growth dynamics. Motivating the people to work and rewarding them was the basic agenda of Fiorina. She infused within the working culture a policy of telling (high task-low relationship) type of leadership instead of facilitating or sharing with her subordinates that she merely defined their job roles and assigned them their tasks. These attributes can be said to have maintained parity with the mental models of Senge as discussed earlier. Fiorina also took crucial managerial decisions of the organization all by herself rather than depending upon the consultation and advices of the other people for attaining solutions. In this case it can be said that she faced tremendous pressures from opposition from inside and outside although she remained stunned in her decision to merge with the rival company Compaq which turned out to be a success in the long run. This can be said to be compatible with the personal mastery criterion of Senge. Fiorina’s regime brought a new dynamics to the leadership paradigm of the organization (School of Business, n.d). Despite of this Fiorina’s leadership was criticized as her organization failed to meet targets financially and in operational matters. Fiorina’s attempt to merge HP’s 82 separated units into a single face was proved to be inefficient and insufficient with little transparency in the profit and loss structure of the company. Fiorina estimated that the profits will surge again and there will be recovery financially. But she overestimated as it was found in 2004 the Personal Computer (PC) division only had a profit margin of 1%. So the role of a new leader was expected to bring about the transformation in the leadership of the organization concerning the issues of people, structure and technology. This will occur in subsequent stages. Firstly the change will lead to innovation of technology increasing the competitive advantage of HP. Secondly people will synthesize themselves with the HP culture and eventually it will lead to the development in the future. After Fiorina the new CEO who took over HP is Mark Hurd. It was believed that low key profile and intense technical experience of the new CEO can bring the focus and actual progress to the organization. Fiorina’s educational background was from History and Philosophy and Mark is a more technology focused person which was thought to be a competitive advantage and thus bringing in the transformation based on technology and innovation (School of Business, n.d.). Organizational behavior perspective Motivation Motivation is what makes people do things, which imply what make them put the ultimate effort in the work they undertake. It varies in nature and intensity from people to people, which depends on the source of motivation at any given moment during the tenure of work. This is the situation were leadership comes into effect. A leader in a management of an organization can effectively motivate his subordinates and team members to achieve the desired goal of the organization. It is important for a leader to get the people to do willing the work that has to be done in order to enhance the performance of the organization. Motivation is significantly important in any job. Assuming the fact the fact that an employee has the necessary skills to perform efficiently in an organization, the effectiveness of the implementation of their skill depends on the motivational techniques adopted by the leader of the organization (Simpson, n.d.). Hierarchy needs Abraham Maslow is best known for the formation of the hierarchy of needs. Maslow imposes the fact that human beings are motivated by the desire to achieve their needs. Maslow classified the need of an individual into physiological, safety, love, esteem, self actualization. He emphasized that physiological needs are the basic needs of an individual that includes need for air, water, food, sleep, sex and others. Safety needs implies the need of stability and consistency in this chaotic world. The need for love and belongings are next on the list of needs for a person which implies the social needs. Esteem needs of a person comes in tow form, first is the self esteem need and the other is the attention and recognition that is received from others. At the end of the cycle comes the need for self actualization, which implies the desire to achieve everything that is within the potential of the individual (Smoke, 2009). Communication Communication in an organization is significantly important from leaders pointy of view. It is essentially important for a leader to communicate with his subordinates and group members. The leader plays significant roles while communicating with his subordinates. He plays a role of a supporter when he praises the achievement of the work of his group members. The leader also participates as a harmonizer while resolving the conflicts amongst its team members. Leadership communication qualities also implement the role of an aggressor, in which a leader aggressively resolves issue amongst his team members, and motivates them to achieve its goals. This implies communication as an essential means of enhancing leadership in an organization (Mnemonic, n.d.). Organization structure Organizational culture symbolizes the set of values that are imbibed within the organization and deals with the nature of operation that is maintained in the organization and the important factors that the organization focuses on. The organization culture helps in predicting the nature of the organization, and also the nature of its decision making process. Organizational culture also determines the behavior of the employees in the organization based on the values incorporated by the organization. People in the leadership position in an organization significantly affect the changes evolved in the culture of an organization. Leaders are entrusted with the duty to provide Proper training to the employees so that they can significantly enlighten the cultures which are aimed by the organization and act accordingly to give shape to it (School of Business, n.d). Organization behavior and leadership in Hewlett Packard Leadership communication in Hewlett Packard Motivational leadership was evident in Hewlett Packard when Angie Yim was the technical it team leader in HP, which involved core team members from, the United States of America, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia. Angie acknowledged the fact that in the past she was engulfed in a habit of using “I” instead of “WE” while addressing to her team members, and found that the team did not respond eagerly. But when her addressing technique changed to “WE”, she found more eager response and behavior from her team members who were effectively motivated by the changed approach of their leader and essentially felt as a team. Since then Angie herself has recommended other leaders in the organization to portray and use the same method in order to effectively communicate and extract work from their respectable teams (Genentech, n.d., pp.20). Organizational culture in Hewlett Packard In Hewlett Packard, the former culture which signified the “hp way”, underwent a significant change due to today’s environment which focuses on a group of competitors focusing on leveraging their technology and devoted in finding new products that satisfies the increasing needs of the customers.. although due to the legacy of Hewlett Packard, the employees were provided with freedom, trust and openness, and ideal time, as policies, such as open door management, flexible work hours, and profit sharing, were encouraged, and the people-oriented cultures improved the corporate integrity and employee loyalty, the overall organizational culture was too mild and lax compared with those of HP’s competitors. Due to this factor HP was unable to match up to its competitor’s like IBM and DELL, and failed to cement a place in the new market. Hewlett Packard also effectively degenerated in aggressiveness and confidence due to lack of effective leadership in organization culture. Due to these facts, HP underwent significant changes to improve its condition. The new set of leadership and organizational culture was imposed, which was named as “Rules of the Garage”. This was implicated to promote trust and openness amongst employees with their leaders, and to enhance the willingness to take up challenges and risks. Although the transformation was not effective as the change made received a cold welcome from the employees due to the long lasting and deeply rooted corporate culture of Hewlett Packard (School of Business, n.d). Organizational development perspective in HP using Kotter’s 8 step change model In today’s dynamic business world diverse concepts like political systems, competitive forces, product ideas, human fates, etc have to be kept in mind by the business managers for the proper functioning of the organization. For the smooth performance of the organization Harvard Professor John Kotter introduced an eight stage model which the managers can adopt in order to bridge the gap between a current undesirable states to a desirable one. The eight stages are as follows: 1) Create a sense of urgency: This notion requires the introduction of new changes in time crisis into the organization. The situation occurs when 75% of the leadership is convinced that there is a need for restructuring. 2) Put together a guiding team: This criterion requires the criteria of forming a powerful group of enthusiastic people in order to promote and carry on effective leadership. 3) Create vision and strategy: An optimal vision and execution of that vision in real life are required essentially for the progress of the organization. 4) Communicate for buy in (of the change vision): The vision formulated should be infused among the people in a convincing manner. 5) Empower people: The prime focus will be on removing the barriers and obstacles for people to effect the change. People may get motivated by the idea but until they get enough resources and encouragement to materialize that idea the results of the idea will not be accomplished. 6) Produce short-term wins: To see the change in reality may take long time and efforts. For that reason people needs to be encouraged and endorsed through short term and organizational wins like rewards, payouts, promotions, celebrations etc. 7) Build momentum by consolidating achievements and enabling further change: A momentum is required to be maintained by enabling people to generate new projects and activities that will keep the flame within and can bring an everlasting change. 8) Implant the new approaches into the organizational culture: Changed processes, behaviors, activities and norms are to be ingrained in the organizational culture in order to maintain consistent success over a long time. Hewlett Packard also adopted the eight stage model in order to make it a worldwide company and also increase its global competitiveness. The model was used by the company for the promotion and institutionalization of a customer-centered approach to product development in designing tape drive products. The company developed a concept of Total Customer Experience (TCE) in the organization. In the process, HP found out that the TCE improvement was the Tape Drive Storage (TDSD) where a huge change was required. The change management actors of the organization used the eight stage model in the following ways as: Firstly creating a sense of urgency where they assessed the stakeholders to form a guiding coalition and made a special presentation to them. Secondly the management adopted the policy of Put together a guiding team where they presented the TCE benefits to the Division manager who acknowledged the potential of the TCE. Thirdly, the policy adopted was Create vision and strategy. In this there was a development of a ‘Customer Experienced Roadmap’ where it showed how all the components of the customer, marketing, business and technology requirements could be integrated into the tape drive development. Fourth policy which was adopted was the Communicate for buy in (of the change vision) where the management executed crucial programs. The fifth policy which was taken was the Empower people concept where there was a development of customer experience design requirements (CEDR) for empowering the people. Sixth policy adopted was the production of short term twins where prototypes were developed and tested successfully with the customers. In the seventh policy of momentum building the organization enhanced product design and team members developed new ideas. The team members also worked on ‘TCE lifecycle and tools’ for ‘future tape drive versions’. In the last policy of the new approaches to the organizational culture, in 2002 the TCE and ‘customer-centered approach became institutionalized’ at the Tape Storage Division. Now, future tape storage device included TCE as an integral part of the development process and as a result bringing in the massive change in the fields of product, organization and culture (Tcherpokov, 2006, pp.1-5). Conclusion Organizational leadership is an integral part of any business organization in today’s world of complex business processes. Efficient leadership followed by the real life implementation of the theories exposited by eminent scholars have been seen to be functioning properly in the United States based company Hewlett Packard. From its notion of ‘I’ the concept was changed to ‘we’ by the extraordinary leadership of Carly Fiorina. Extraordinary specimen of dynamic leadership was found in her tenure. Although after identification of some loopholes she was replaced by another CEO Mark Hurd and also added to the success story of the organization in his own way. Lastly the adoption of the Kotter’s Eight stage model in the tape device mechanism was really phenomenal and it took the business altogether in a new summit. References Genentech, A.K. (n.d.), The five practices of exemplary leadership retrieved on April 8, 2012 from: http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/22/07879849/0787984922.pdf Hewlett-Packard Co, (n.d.), retrieved on April 8, 2012 from: http://in.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=HPQ.N Mnemonic, J. (n.d.), ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION, leadership retrieved on April 8, 2012 from: http://www.its.caltech.edu/~e105/readings/team/communication.pdf Smoke, C.H. (2009), Company Officer, Cengage Learning Simpson, W.A. (n.d.), Motivation, Universities Press Zaccaro, S.J. & Klimoski, R.J, (n.d.), The Nature of Organizational Leadership, Understanding the Performance Imperatives Confronting Today's Leaders, retrieved on April 8, 2012 from: http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/07/07879529/0787952907.pdf Senge, P. M. (n.d.), ‘The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization’, retrieved on April 8, 2012 from: http://www.audubon-area.org/NewFiles/sengesum.pdf School of Business (n.d.), Term paper on HP case, The University of Hong Kong, retrieved on April 8, 2012 from: http://hdd.webncode.com/hdd/[Source]busi1007%20Finalized%20termpaper1%20(1).pdf Tcherpokov, M. (2006), The Eight-stage Managing Process of Major Change: A Quality Management Perspective, retrieved on April 8, 2012 from: http://www.freequality.org/documents/knowledge/ManageChange_MiniTutorial_MT%20_2_.pdf Read More