Leadership styles of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs - Coursework Example

Leadership styles of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs Contents Introduction 3 Discussion 3 Conclusion 8 References 10 Introduction Leadership is considered as the ability to influence members of an organization toward achievement of organizational vision or set of organizational goals. The influence in this regard can be considered as formal which is provided by possession of any managerial rank in an organization. Management positions in an organization involve to an extent formally designated authority and as such it is quite possible that individuals may assume a leadership role simply because of their organizational position. But in this regard it is important to note that all leaders are not considered as managers. In the same way, all managers are also not considered as leaders. Organizations provide their managers with certain formal rights but there is no guarantee that those managers will also be able to efficiently lead a group. The ability to influence people outside the formal structure of an organization is considered as more important than formal influence. Discussion This report seeks to compare two business leaders namely Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. These two individuals are considered as leaders of Information Technology (IT) industry who have revolutionized the world of information technology with their innovation and thinking. Their educational record is considered not to be that good as they both were dropouts. They started their career at almost the same point in time and in the same industry. Bill Gates belongs to Microsoft while Steve Jobs is related to Apple Computers (Schein, 1992, p. 51). They both are considered to be very wealthy and successful in the industry of personal computing. Bill Gates is considered to be a true genius and brilliant businessman while Steve Jobs can be considered as a technological leader and true creative thinker. The competition between them was considered to be fascinating and at the same time enduring in the US business industry. According to traits approach, the traits are considered to be the parameters to determine the success and impacts of the leader. Early studies have identified certain traits of great leaders that set them apart from any average person. There are various theories that have been formulated by researchers in an attempt to explain the functioning of effective leadership. These theories seek to address several questions with regard to leadership such as relationship between followers and leaders, situational impacts on leadership, and leadership behaviour. Leadership is considered to be an important field of study in the world of today. There are numerous discoveries with regard to new aspects of leadership (Heath, 2006, pp. 533-537). It can be seen that Steve Jobs have been fast and determined in his decision making capabilities and is also independent in his ways of thoughts. On the other Bill Gates can be considered as risk lover or risk taker. His enthusiasm and the ability to see the future has imputed the qualities of leadership in him. The traits of Bill Gates with regard to leadership can be considered as a mix of participative, declarative, and authoritative elements. He is considered to be very careful in his control and judgement and was never found to have lost control of any situation. Intellectual capacity and persuasiveness are considered as other traits that Bill Gates is considered to possess (Bennis and Nanus, 1997, p. 71). The situational approach and the contingency model oppose to the theory of traits and put forward the opinion that there is no single leadership style that might be useful in all situations. Steve Jobs is believed to have strong focus on individual employees and had the ability to bring out the cream from them. Therefore it can be said Steve jobs had been charismatic in his approach. In contrast to it, the leadership approach followed by Bill Gates was more open and lacked focus on individual employees. He was more focussed on team works and tried to bring out the best efforts from the team. The positioning of Apple and its products at the forefront of the information technology industry was the main aspiration of Jobs. The leadership style of Bill gates is considered to have a mix of participative, visionary, and autocratic approaches (Daenzer, 2009, pp.131-134). He is considered to have an active involvement in technological development of new products and also has active participation in various strategic decisions of the company. Much of his time is spent with regard to staying in touch with employees and consumers around the world. He is considered to adopt a participative leadership style and expects his employees to take decisions assuming they are owners of the organization (Bass, 1985, p. 69). The leadership style of Steve Jobs is considered to be more concerned with participation and consulting. He is considered as a great leader because of his passionate and enthusiastic ways of communication of vision statements to his followers (Lussier, 2012, pp. 58-61). He used to inject a lot of energy into his team and as such is known as an inspirational leader. He used to show his employees the bigger picture and makes them understand how they fit into such a picture (Beugré, 2007, p. 79). Steve Jobs is sometimes regarded as an autocratic leader. He is considered as a successful because he used to be enthusiastic and passionate in his achievements and formulation of vision statements for the organization. He is regarded as motivator because he used to motivate people in his organization by rewards. He is also regarded as autocratic when he failed to integrate the vision of his organization with opinions of various people into his own ideas (Griseri and Seppala, 2010, p. 67). It can be said that Steve Jobs was a believer of maintenance of organizational culture. He tried to maintain a healthy organizational culture in each department of the organization and tried to consult with the employees on certain issues rather than putting his own views on them. On the other hand, Bill gates being the head of the company believed on power upon single hand and imposed his decisions upon others. This may have hampered the organizational culture to some extent but it cannot be said that it had any serious impacts since in most cases he had the brains to take the right decisions at the right time. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates both are considered to be genius in taking good ideas and developing them into a successful product. They are considered to be very adventurous and were not afraid in taking any kind of risks (Livermore, 2010, pp. 173-175). A suitable example in this regard could be MS-DOS for Bill Gates of Microsoft. The Lisa and the Page Maker could be considered as a similar example for Steve Jobs of Apple (Mintzberg, 1994, pp. 22-30). With regard to leadership style, Steve Jobs is considered to have a demanding and aggressive personality. He was very aggressive and used to be a trend setter with regard to style and innovation. The leadership style of Bill Gates later transformed to, participative, and democratic leadership style. He is not considered as a leader to follow the steps of organizational culture in the true sense of the term as the autocratic nature of his leadership remained with him till the end of his leadership period (Edewor, 2007, pp. 94-99). Steve Jobs is considered to be a motivational leader though he is considered to have autocratic ways of using his talents. Motivational leadership involves motivating and guiding followers in the direction of organizational goals by clarifying task and role requirements of employees. It involves inspiring followers to transcend their self interest for the betterment of the organization (Paul, 2012, p. 91). Motivational leaders are considered to have an extraordinary and profound impact on their followers. They are considered to pay attention to the developmental needs and concerns of individual followers in the organization (Muna, 2011, pp. 253-259). They guide followers in changing their awareness of issues by helping them to have a new way of looking at old problems. They are quite capable of inspiring, arousing, and create excitement in followers such that they put an extra effort with regard to achievement of organizational objectives. Bill Gates is considered to have efficiently discharged management roles as well as executive roles (Bennis, 2009, p. 83). He is considered to be somewhat verbally combative and can become aggressive in a significant manner when people in his organization place the long term interests of the company at risk. He is also considered to have a tendency to react sarcastically at times (Bonnici, 2011, pp. 67-71). Steve Jobs and Bill Gates both aggressively contributed to the development of their companies’ broad range of products and also achieved a considerable position for their organizations. Their achievement in this regard was attributed to their having managerial competences and broad vision (Stephenson and Bradley, 2009, p. 47). The two factor theory of Herzberg is considered as a renowned model which deals with motivational problems of employees in an organization. It states that there is existence of a set of factors that leads to dissatisfaction among employees in an organization while the existence of another set of factors cause satisfaction among employees. In this regard, Herzberg made an attempt to find the requirements of people with regard to their jobs. He found that intrinsic factors such as achievement, responsibility, recognition, and advancement tend to be associated with job satisfaction. It has also been observed that people when felt well about their jobs tend to credit themselves in this regard. In contrast, employees who are not that satisfied tend to cite extrinsic factors such as working conditions, organizational policies, pay, and supervision as reasons for their dissatisfaction. In this regard, it can be said that dissatisfaction is not considered as the opposite of satisfaction as is widely held. The removal of the characteristics that are considered as dissatisfying from a job does not necessarily make it a satisfying one. Bill Gates is considered to be known as motivator. He is considered to instruct people regarding what to do and also assigns task to them. A motivator makes it very clear to his subordinates what specific roles they are to play in the organization. He also communicates in a clear manner to his subordinates regarding the rewards that they are to get for obeying orders (Bertocci, 2009, p. 49). A good leader puts in place formal systems of discipline and punishment is implied for those who go beyond the formal systems of discipline that are there in an organization. The punishment or reward in leadership is based upon performance (Connerley, 2005, pp. 48-53). When a work is assigned to a subordinate by a motivator, that subordinate is considered to be fully responsible for that work that is assigned to him. If anything goes wrong in this regard, then that subordinate is considered to be personally liable and is punished for such failure. Bill Gates adopted the style of leadership by fear and used to have an autocratic way of instructing his employees (Adair, 2007, p. 59). It is considered that Bill Gates tends to empower people such that every person is able to make a positive impact and can contribute in a positive manner in making real difference for the organization. Microsoft is considered to be a flat organization and as such the presence of Bill Gates is felt in unique ways. The company is considered to have fewer layers of management and as such Bill Gates is considered to involve himself actively in recruitment of prospective employees for the organization. The employees of the organization are considered to have fun in their work and are considered to be provided with ample opportunities to be creative by the organization. Steve Jobs is also considered as a motivational leader though he is considered to use autocratic ways in using his talents. He is considered to inspire his followers such that they transcend their self interest for the betterment of the organization. Conclusion Steve Jobs is considered to be a good leader though he is considered to have autocratic ways of using his talents that are considered as inspirational. Motivational leaders are considered to have an extraordinary and profound impact on their followers. They are considered to pay attention to the developmental needs and concerns of individual followers in the organization. Bill Gates is considered to be known as motivator. He is considered to instruct people regarding what to do and also assigns task to them. The traits of Bill Gates with regard to leadership can be considered as a mix of participative, declarative, and authoritative elements. He is considered to have an active involvement in technological development of new products and also has active participation in various strategic decisions of the company. He is considered to adopt a participative leadership style and expects his employees to take decisions assuming they are owners of the organization. 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