Leadership and Organisational Behaviour - Essay Example

Produce a Reflective Report addressing the following questions on Leadership and Organisational Behaviour Contents Produce a Reflective Report addressing the following questions on Leadership and Organisational Behaviour 1 Contents 2 Introduction 3 A. Discussion 3 a. Eric Schmidt and his leadership style 3 b. Behaviours and Specific Traits of Eric Schmidt 5 c. The Impact of Leadership Style of Schmidt on Organization and Employees 6 Conclusion 7 References 8 Introduction Organizational Behaviour is concerned about those processes which deal with how individuals, groups, and people cope among themselves in organizational structures. In this regard, organizational behaviour follows an approach which can be termed as systematic. It interprets the relationship between people and organizations in terms of the whole organization, whole group, whole social system, and whole person. It strives to achieve a better relationship between people by achieving objectives such as social, organizational, and human. Organizational behaviour comprises numerous topics such as leadership, change, teams, and human behaviour. It must be noted in this regard that the base of an organization depends on its management’s values, philosophy, goals, and vision. These factors play an important role in driving the culture of an organization which consists of informal organization, formal organization, and social environment. The culture of an organization plays an important part in determining the type of communication, group dynamics, and leadership within an organization. A. Discussion a. Eric Schmidt and his leadership style Eric Schmidt belongs to a corporate background and the leadership style that he adopted has many things in common to the culture that is followed in the organization Google Inc. He is currently the Chairman and CEO of Google Inc. He is also a PhD holder in the field of Computer Sciences. His leadership practices can be summarized in the following manner: I) He has an inclination to know his employees in a better manner, II) He consistently find new ways to promote and reward the top performing employees, III) He also let his employees find their own solutions for their problems that they are facing relating to their work, IV) He also permits his employees to function in a manner which is outside the hierarchy of the company, and V) The review of performance of his employees is done in an impartial and objective manner. In this regard, it can be said that Schmidt is in the practice of listing down his best employees and communicate with them in a personal manner to encourage them to perform better. There are also numerous systems in the organization to reward top performing employees such as stock option, financial incentives, etc. He makes his employees feel that they are the owners of their work and to facilitate such an environment he provided a broad definition of the goals of the company (Cohen and Schmidt, 2013, p. 36). Schmidt leaves the implementation part of achieving the goals of the organization entirely to his employees. He doesn’t prefer to interfere in this regard. Schmidt reinforced the entire system of his organization such that the hierarchies of the organization do not get in the way of employees with regard to their performance. Google Inc is in the practice of following a “distributed leadership” culture for its employees. Distributed leadership culture states that people living in the environment are primarily responsible and also accountable for group and personal development. Team work is the best alternative to find the path that is best suited for an organization. It is concerned about the fact that each member of an organization must take a different role and that there must be demonstration of collective responsibility in this regard. Google Inc expects its employees to share their expertise and ideas in this ever changing environment to achieve constant growth. Distributed leadership at Google Inc helps the organization in building its capacity (Elmore, 2000, p. 44). It also acts as an important mechanism which supports collaborative relationships and networks in building interpersonal capacity. It also facilitates questioning, critical reflection, and expertise sharing. It is not enough for an organization like Google Inc to have only a vision. The employees of the organization and the management must take equal responsibility in this regard. The systems and structures of the organization must be such so as to support a strong foundation for its employees to work in a collaborative manner. The values and ideals of distributive leadership have played an important part in the success of the organization Google Inc (Hamen, 2011, p. 53). The development of leadership capacity in Google Inc is made through a system which primarily invests in relationship building and professional learning. In this regard, it may be noted that Schmidt is a person who possesses quintessential intellect with forward thinking capabilities. Schmidt combines visionary leadership, sound business skills with prophetic futurism. He is considered to be a person who is very much flexible. He does not show any remorse in dropping an unprofitable project. He thinks that technology will play an important part in changing the needs of consumers in the future. He also considers this as the factor which will determine how businesses will change in the future. At Google, Schmidt is considered to be at the forefront of progress with regard to technology (Lambert, 2002, p. 31). He also considers that cultural factors will play an important role in determining the way business may change its course in the future. In this regard he thinks that internet will play a significant role in influencing the attention of public on some specific brands, celebrities, businesses, etc. b. Behaviours and Specific Traits of Eric Schmidt Eric Schmidt is said to be a person who has quintessential intellect with forward thinking capabilities. He tries to know his employees in a better manner. At Google Inc, he consistently finds new ways of rewarding his most successful employees. He allows his employees to find their own ways of dealing with a particular situation or problem in an attempt to increase the performance of the organization as a whole. He makes a serious attempt to keep in touch with those employees who have performed at a consistent level in the organization. He tries to motivate them so that they can discharge their duties in the organization in a more efficient manner in the future. He has also established numerous systems in the organization to reward those employees who are consistent performers with stock option, financial incentives, etc. He does not prefer to interfere in the work related issues of employees. He makes them feel that the work of the organization is their own and also leaves the implementation part with respect to achieving goals of the organization to its employees (Nehls, 2013, p. 39). He considers his human resources as something which is priceless. He also has a significant desire to be known as an organization builder. He places a high level of importance on self improvement and on setting high expectations. These factors can be considered as his strengths. But he is considered to be inflexible in the use of leadership styles and also places too much importance on individual talent which can be termed as his weaknesses. c. The Impact of Leadership Style of Schmidt on Organization and Employees Schmidt considers the wisdom of the general public as important and he leads Google by his consensus. He uses strict deadlines in an attempt to create a crisis and encourages disagreements and dissent in this regard. At Google, innovation is considered as an important factor. Schmidt in this regard thinks that innovation can be achieved only through thinking of new ideas and by pursuing them on a consistent basis. It can only be achieved if employees do not have to think about other obligations (Owens, 1987, p. 47). He considers that the ability to think outside the box can be developed only if there is no managerial oversight. Schmidt also considers that small companies sometimes have new ideas that can be considered as great. Hence he acquires small companies in an attempt to facilitate in house innovations of the company. He also does not consider the 10 to 6 model of business as appropriate. Businesses of today have gone global and so it is very much necessary for a leader of business to be ready to work 24 hours in a day. At Google, executives must fall in love with the continuous work intensity because otherwise he would not find any way to reach the top. Innovation can be considered as the key for Google’s success. So everything that Schmidt does has a touch of creating increased innovation for the company. The employees in this regard must also demonstrate the capability of taking different roles and also collective responsibility. The employees of the organization must be very much receptive to learning. They must also share their ideas and expertise in this ever changing business environment to achieve constant growth. The organization is very much focused on innovation as a means to achieve constant growth. Conclusion Eric Schmidt is considered as an excellent leader who has taken the company Google Inc to new highs. The leadership abilities of Schmidt can be termed as legendary. He has demonstrated an innovative approach while leading the organization Google Inc. At Google, Schmidt is considered to be at the forefront of progress with regard to technology. He is considered to have a sound intellect and also the ability to foresee events in an exact manner. He focuses on knowing his employees in a better manner and allows them to deal with organizational problems in their own way to increase the performance of the organization as a whole. References Cohen, J. and Schmidt, E., 2013. The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business. London: Hachette UK. Elmore, R.F., 2000. Building a new structure for leadership. Washington: The Albert Shanker Institute. Hamen, S., 2011. Google: The Company and Its Founders. Minnesota: ABDO. Lambert, L., 2002. Beyond instructional leadership: A framework for shared leadership. Educational Leadership, 59(8), pp. 37-40. Nehls, E., 2013. A Business Analysis Project on Google Inc. Norderstedt: GRIN Verlag. Owens, R.G., 1987. Organizational behavior in education. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Read More