The Key Role Players in Malin Global Company - Essay Example

? Leadership and Management Contents Contents Introduction 3 Key role players 3 Leadership Styles of the key stakeholders 3 Motivational Tools 5 Evidences of discrimination in the case 6 Strategies to manage the issues 6 References 9 Introduction Malin Global was standing at the cross roads of a situation of crises. A large number of incidents that occurred within a very short span of time have led to this situation. First of all the organisation during its initial days was run with highly skilled experts who were extremely conceited. They did not acknowledge the importance of the support staff that was as indispensible as the top class traders of the company. Secondly issues of gender equality and gender abuse have taken place in the company which has caused the staff to show their disregard towards the other employees. Along with these cases of racial discrimination has also been reported in the company. Thirdly, the new team leader had been keeping the employees on their toes and the team members are not happy with the way she is ordering the employees at odd hours of the day. Key role players The Key role players in Malin Global are Hugo Friennes, the CEO of the company, Marina Guedeline, the head of the London Operations, Geraldine Highmore, who was newly recruited by Marina for a period of two year for looking after the administrative infrastructure of Marina Global, and Li Piung Ho who has been appointed as the team leader. All of these four people have some significance in the decision making of the company as well as in the day to day activities. Leadership Styles of the key stakeholders In the case of Malin Global the different people in the various positions have exhibited different style of leadership. First of all Hugo Friennes has shown a Delegative Leadership style. This is because at the time when he had decided to shift to New York he had entrusted the duty of the London office with the new employee Marina Guedeline. The CEO did not interfere into the activities of the London office when such problems arose. Therefore it is an example of delegation of the duties. On the other hand Marina has exhibited a participative leadership style (Porter and Lawler, 1968, p. 71). The London head, Marina had to handle various adverse situations in which she had always tried to discuss the issues with the concerned employees. Marina has shared the responsibility, control and decision making with the employees with whom she has been working (Bradley and Frederic, 1997, p. 337). She had not imposed any decision on the others and has tried to personally address the problems of the employees. However, Geraldine Highmore and Li Piung Ho both have demonstrated authoritative behaviour. Geraldine has been looked upon as someone who is extremely outdated and who imposed her decisions on the others. This was the perception of the younger employees. On the other hand Li was perceived as an annoying team leader who would always call up the team members for getting the work done even when the employees would be out of office or on a holiday. This kind of work culture that Li was injecting into the organisation was also not acceptable (Carver and Scheier, 2001, p. 460). The most acceptable style out of these was the participative or the Democratic type of leadership. This is because all the employees could communicate their problems to the participative leader rather than the remaining ones. While the CEO and the Head of London Operations have shown a Transformational style, the Team lead and the Administration manager showed a Transactional style in which the employees had to accept the authority of the leader. The authoritative attitude was not acceptable to the organisation where mostly the young people work. So a more collaborative attitude towards the employees would be appropriate for handling the different issues arising. The top management has to look into all the issues and not keep it only to one manager to handle it. Marina has shown a supportive style of management getting the employees more involved in cases of the critical issues. However, she did not have goal clarity. When the situation of tension and conflict arose in the organisation and too many issues cropped up on the same day, the London head did not know what should be done (Robbins, 2004, p. 312). She had to too many problems to deal with in a very short span of time. The CEO was also risk taker as he had taken several unconventional steps for the day to day running of the organisation. He had incorporated a female leader from outside into an organisation which was mainly run for the male and by the male. Thus the sudden subjugation under the female leadership was not acceptable to the male counterparts in the organisation (Morgan, 1986, p. 45). The sexual harassment of the female employee also reflected the same mentality of the chauvinistic employees. Motivational Tools A comprehensive training and development programme in the organisation would act as the most important motivation tool (Parker, 1990, p. 341). Since in this particular case most of the clashes and problems with the employees are arising due to the power allocation or the imbalance in the distribution of power, counselling sessions have to be arranged that would help the more skilled employees accept the importance of the support staff as well as the male employees acknowledge the female employees (Maslow, 1954, p. 92). The disregard among the employees has to be stopped. Along with this the people who have come from different culture and ethnicity have to be trained in a standardised platform so that a typical set of organisational norms are formed. The motivation for work comes from the organisation culture. Since Malin Global needs to restructure their entire organisation hierarchy and the organisation culture some young blood has to be infused into the management (Mohr, 1982, p. 97). It is difficult for an aged person like Geraldine Highmore to handle a young organisation. For a dynamic person like Hugo and his team, conservative ideas would not work. Evidences of discrimination in the case Stereotyping is a situation in which an issue is looked from a very conventional point of view without the scope for any new perspective. In the particular case a situation of stereotyping arose when Geraldine had expressed her need to take major disciplinary action for the sexual harassment of Emily. According to Geraldine, any complaint of sexual harassment has to be taken at the face value and needs no further clarification (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975, p. 248). This is however not acceptable. Secondly an unpleasant incident of racial discrimination was also noticed. Damilola Adibole who had come from a humble background had faced this from the other employees along with the lack of cooperation in the work that they had been doing (Hofstede, 1980, p. 73). All the employees regardless of ethnicity, race, colour of the skin has to be treated with the same respect. The highly skilled employees were also prejudiced about the abilities and importance of the staff that provided the other back office administrative activities. It can also be seen that the top clients were discriminating the newly entered women of the organisation and were not ready to accept the services from women although Marina was proved to be a capable leader and manager (Shein, 1992, p. 9). Due to the intelligent strategies of Marina and her wide range of contacts the company could increase the client base that was necessary for the growth of the organisation. Strategies to manage the issues Various situations had led to an issue of employee imbalance in the organisation which needed to be immediately redressed. First of all, Malik is a high net worth client for the company. Thus his account has to be entrusted with a male counterpart in the organisation. Marina should not deal with this particular issue (Barber, 1998, p. 38). Secondly, since Marina has potential contacts and strategies to increase the client base, she has to be retained in the organisation. The employees who have problems accepting her as their leader or someone holding a superior position in the office should be groomed properly. Marina also has to interact more with the other employees so that they develop a friendly relationship and any conflict with the head gets reduced. A collaborative and co-operative environment would generate more positive results for the organisation (Simon, 1997, p. 28). Problems of drop in motivation and absenteeism could be avoided if this is corrected. Thirdly, the strict notices and guidelines have to be issues against gender and sexual discrimination and disregard in office. Stringent actions have to be taken against the people who do not follow the regulations of the company. The body language and the behaviour of the employees should be monitored on a day to day basis and that should be reflected in the appraisals of the employees (Baumeister and Vohs, 2004, p. 574). Since it is a young organisation with the majority of the employees below the age of 40, the restructuring exercise has to be done by someone who will understand the young minds and would present operation structures and strategies that would suit their needs. Since Geraldine has already entered into a contract with the company she cannot be terminated. But a young person has to be taken to bring a balance in the work done. If the experience of Geraldine be incorporated with the smart and fresh strategies of Marina the company would be able to achieve what it intends to (Cole, 2000, p. 158). Finally, Hugo the CEO has to take initiative in both the operations in New York and London. He has to frequently visit the London office or make arrangements so that the day to day activities of the overseas operations can easily be monitored. References Parker, G. M., 1990. Team Players and Teamwork: The New Competitive Business Strategy. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Bradley, J. H., and Frederic, J. H., 1997. The effect of personality type on team performance. Journal of Management Development. Vol.16(5) Maslow, A., 1954. Motivation and personality. New York, NY: Harper. Porter, L. W. and Lawler, E. E., 1968. Managerial Attitudes and Performance. Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin, Inc. Carver, C.S. and Scheier, M.F., 2001. On the self-regulation of behaviour. New York: Cambridge University Press. Fishbein, M. and Ajzen, I., 1975. Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Hofstede, G., 1980. Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work Related Values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications. Robbins, S. P., 2004. Organizational Behavior - Concepts, Controversies, Applications. London: Prentice Hall. Shein, E., 1992. Organizational Culture and Leadership: A Dynamic View. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Mohr, L. B., 1982. Explaining Organizational Behavior. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Barber, A. E., 1998. Recruiting employees. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Baumeister, R.F. and Vohs, K.D., 2004. Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory, and applications. New York: Guilford Press Simon, H. A., 1997. Administrative Behavior: A Study of Decision-Making Processes in Administrative Organizations. New York: The Free Press. Morgan, G., 1986. Images of Organization. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications Cole, G.A., 2000. Organisational Behaviour: Theory and Practice. Cornwall: Cengage Learning. Read More