Criteria For Leadership And Its Importance For The Firm's Success - Essay Example

Criteria For Leadership And Its Importance For The Firm's Success The case study focuses on the presentation of the problems faced by Paul Kennedy, a manager in a fast – growing firm, when trying to improve its position within the organization – more specifically, to become a leader. The case study refers to the values and the qualities of Paul – as they can be identified mostly in his behaviour towards his colleagues and the firm’s customers. The initiatives taken by Paul are analytically presented – reference is made to a project currently in progress, the expansion of the firm in Europe, in the development of which Paul has a key role. However, the presentation of the project to Paul’s boss, Larry, did not have the expected effect. The position of CEO would be offered to another colleague of Paul, probably George since Larry believes that Paul is not tough enough in order to become the firm’s leader. The disappointment of Paul, as noted in the case study, can be explained by referring to the criteria on which the relevant judgment – regarding the ability of Paul – to become a leader was based. The events described in the case study are related to a series of issues, which have been extensively examined in the academic literature. Particular emphasis seems to be given on: a) the concept of leadership, which has been related to specific qualities; in accordance with Daft et al. (2010) the leadership can be characterized as ‘a process by which a person exerts influence over other people and inspires, motivates and directs their activities to help achieve group of organizational goals’ (Daft et al. 2010). The above definition makes clear that leadership is not a position; rather it is a process, which has specific phases/ parts. The specific definition helps to understand the decision of Larry regarding the inappropriateness of Paul for the specific role; b) the concept of management, as being differentiated from leadership; the former focuses on practical aspects of the organizational activities; the latter focuses on the promotion of the firm’s vision and spirit; it is at this point that manager is differentiated from the leader; a successful leader need to be able to promote the organization’s vision without being restricted by personal thoughts or the views of his environment (Millmore 2007), c) also, through the case study, the need of management theory for understanding the firm’s strategic priorities is revealed – reference is made especially to the theory of Kirkpatrick & Locke (1991) who set 6 criteria for identifying the ability of a person to become a successful leader: ‘ambition and energy, desire to lead, honesty and integrity, self confidence, intelligence and job relevant knowledge’ (Kirkpatrick & Locke, 1991); moreover, reference can be made to the theory developed in the Ohio Studies (1957); in accordance with the specific theory, two different modes of management can be developed within organizations: a) a management style that emphasizes on the promotion of respect across the organization and b) a management style which is based on the success of organizational projects (Ohio Studies, 1957). The review of the events described in the case study, reveals the following problems: a) the efforts of Paul within the organization have not been adequately appreciated – at least not at the level expected by Paul, b) the communication between Paul and Larry has been really poor; Paul has not understood Larry’s preferred style of leadership, believing that Larry would have in mind to suggest him (Paul) for the CEO’s position, c) the communication between Paul and his colleagues is also poor; up to the last minute Paul was not aware for the problems related to the project which was going to be presented in the meeting with Larry. The above problems have been caused because of the following reasons: a) in general, Paul seems to avoid conflicts with his colleagues – as also with the customers, in accordance with his relevant statements, b) Paul compromises easily; he tends to accept alternative solutions and he does not insist on the achievement of the target set by the beginning, c) Paul has been influenced by his own perceptions on values and ethics and has not aligned his thought and behaviour – at least in the workplace – with the organizational interests and goals – this is made clear at the point where Lisa notified him on her failure to prepare the document necessary for the presentation of the project on which Paul has been working for quite a long; the reaction of Paul was to show sympathy to Lisa, even if the success of the proposal for the expansion of the firm’s activities in Europe was set under risk. In my knowledge, the role of CEO is related to specific qualities; one of the key criteria for a person to be appointed as a CEO is his ability to ‘motivate and coach’ (Ellis, 2005, 9); moreover, it is necessary that this person is able to successfully handle cases of organizational crisis (Daft et al. 2008). Another important characteristic of a successful leader is his ability to prioritize the organizational needs and take measures for the allocation of resources and the time required for serving these needs (Kreitner 2006). If I was given an opportunity to solve the problems related to the particular case – referring especially to the failure of Paul to improve his position with the organization, I would take the following measures – the suggestions address Larry, as the current leader of the organization: a) provision to Paul of a period of time in order to change his practices and his behaviour in regard to the tasks allocated to him – a view aligned with that of Manvel (p.30 of the case study), b) change of the tasks allocated to Paul for the particular period; Paul would be asked to promote a wide range of tasks – rather than specific projects, in order to fully understand the actual capabilities of Paul to support organizational projects, c) change of Paul’s supportive staff – replacement of Lisa; an employee that would be more actively involved in the Paul’s tasks could help him more effectively and d) if positive signs in regard to Paul’s behaviour were identified – if Paul managed to pursue more aggressively the achievement of the firm’s goals, then a suggestion could be made to Paul to be appointed to the position of CEO for an initial – trial period – of 1 year; in this way, it would be ensured that the change in Paul’s attitude in regard to the promotion of organization’s interests is permanent. Through the above case, I have learnt that the limits for developing personal thoughts and beliefs within the organization can be narrow – especially if referring to important positions, such as the CEO position; moreover, I have learnt that different views can exist regarding the organizational priorities; that view which is taken into account when a key organizational issue occurs is that of the leader’s – even if in common sense, the opposite view is more well justified – as Paul would support. Case Study 2 – Change of culture at Westcode Semiconductors The case study refers to the effects of changes in organizational culture and the responsibility of the managers who are involved in the relevant plan. In the firm under examination, Westcode Semiconductors, the change of organizational culture has resulted because of the initiatives of Melanie Schmidt, a manager previously worked in the offices of the parent company in Germany. The efforts of Mrs Schmidt to apply the German business ethics and culture on the firm’s office in Britain have led to unexpected results: the development of a page in the Internet (social networking framework) by her current colleagues; in that page, the management style of Mrs. Schmidt has been set under criticism; the latter, even if it is positive, it could be resulted to severe organizational turbulences; the development of plans of action by Mrs. Schmidt is suggested, in the case study, as the only possible solution for preventing the expansion of the problem. In terms of its relationship with the existing management theories, the case study can be characterized as a reflection of the potential forms and effects of organizational culture, i.e. of those organizational elements which are necessary for the achievement of organizational goals – a target different compared to that set in the context of the organizational paradigm which focus on a specific organizational objective. Through the case study a series of important organizational concepts appear: a) the concept of the corporate culture, which has been related to ‘the willingness to achieving membership and gaining commitment’ (Linstead & Grafton, 1992), b) the concept of organizational culture, which is presented as linked with specific values and beliefs – as these values and beliefs can be influenced by the local ethics and values (referring to the national culture and its influence on the organizational culture), c) the concepts of organizational mission and vision – especially in regard to the tools available to managers for achieving the targets set in the organization’s mission statement, d) the concept of integrity as an element of the managers’ efforts to communicate values to employees, e) the theory of Douglas McGregor, also known as Theory X and Theory Y, which emphasizes on the potential weakness of employees to perform well unless they are closely supervised. Through examining the events described in the particular case study the following problems could be identified: a) employees in Westcode Semiconductors have not fully accepted the changes developed within their organization; in fact, their reaction to develop a page in Facebook for criticizing the changes in their organization’s culture can be characterized as a form of resistance to the changes attempted by the new manager – even if the opposition of the employees to the changes initiated by the new managers is not clearly stated, b) - the forces that the organizational change would have to face were not appropriately evaluated (Alvesson et al. 2007), c) the relationships among employees in the internal organizational environment have been negatively influenced by the new manager’s initiatives. In fact, the existence of the organizational hierarchy seems to be ignored; the development of friendship between the manager and the employees would be justified at the level that organizational hierarchy would be respected. The above problems can be related to the following facts: a) the new manager was appointed to the office of the firm in UK without being informed on the new office’s cultural characteristics, b) the new manager has tried to impose the German business ethics and culture without examining first the characteristics and the needs of the office of the firm in UK, c) the manager did not prioritize the firm’s strategic goals; the change of the firm’s culture would be attempted by the manager after a period of evaluation of the firm’s operational characteristics under the pre-existing culture, d) the manager gave the impression that hierarchy within the organization is not important – a fact which is not true, e) the fact that the manager was not aware of the existing page in the Facebook proves that the communication between her and the employees was not as successful as the manager believed. From my knowledge – as acquired through academic studies related to the management theory, the introduction of changes in a particular organization can have extremely negative effects if it is not appropriately planned – reference can be made for example, to the study of Senior et al. (2006, p.142) and to that of Harigopal (2006, p.227); problem seems to exist especially in the case that the manager who initiates these plans is not aware of the firm’s practices and culture – like in the case under evaluation. If I was given the opportunity to resolve the above problems I would proceed to the following initiatives: a) gradual limitation of the changes initiated by the new manager at a level that a balance would exist between the pre-existing and the new organizational culture, b) at the same time, I would develop a research regarding the compatibility of the proposed cultural changes with the firm’s environment (internal and external) - following the suggestions of Schein (2004) who emphasizes on the estimation in advance of the potential effects of the changes suggested to the stabilization of the organizational environment; at this point, an appropriate organizational culture assessment instrument would be used – as proposed by Cameron et al. (2006, p.143), c) set of a transition period for the fully implementation of cultural changes in Westcode Semiconductors, d) the respect in the organizational hierarchy would be supported by reducing the participation of the manager in the seminars and meetings accessible to employees of all levels; in this way also, the existence of supervision on the firm’s operational activities would be made clear, ensuring the employees’ attention on the development of their tasks (in the context of the Douglas McGregor theory mentioned above). Through the above case, I have learnt that the use of personal perceptions and thoughts for developing a firm’s strategies can have negative effects even if similar practices have been successfully attempted in organizations with similar operational characteristics. Moreover, I have learnt that organizational culture cannot be changed within a short period of time; rather, it should be attempted through policies that are gradually applied – aiming to ensure the successful implementation of each phase of the plan before proceeding to the next phase. I have also learnt that each leader is likely to use different approaches in order to enforce the achievement of organizational goals – the new manager in Westcode Semiconductors decided to focus on the change of the firm’s culture. Finally, it is made clear that the quality of communication within the organization cannot be precisely estimated, even if the relevant signs are positive – rather it is proved through the effectiveness of the organizational plans in the long term. References Alvesson, M., Sveningsson, S. (2007) Changing organizational culture: cultural change work in progress. Taylor & Francis Cameron, K., Quinn, R. (2006) Diagnosing and changing organizational culture: based on the competing values framework. John Wiley and Sons Daft, R., Marcic, D. (2008) Understanding Management. Cengage Learning Ellis, C. (2005) Management skills for new managers. AMACOM Division American Management Association Harigopal, K. (2006) Management of organizational change: leveraging transformation. SAGE Kreitner, R. (2006) Management. Cengage Learning Millmore, M., Saunders, M., Lewis, P. (2007). Strategic human resource management: contemporary issues. Pearson Education Schein, E. (2004) Organizational culture and leadership. John Wiley and Sons Senior, B., Fleming, J. (2006) Organizational change. Pearson Education Read More