The Employees Function in Accordance With the Instructions for SAP - Statistics Project Example

Introduction Leadership forms an important function in the management of an organisation in order to increase efficiency and attain organisation goals. Without efficient leadership organisations moves slowly and eventually stagnate. “Leadership is a complex social process, rooted in the values, skills, knowledge, and ways of thinking of both leaders and followers” (Gallos, 2008, p.1). Leadership involves adaptive changes as put forward by Ronald Heifitz. The role of a leader involves understanding the present reality of the organisation and forging a bright future. The leader identifies the new opportunities and manages the complex and interactive process which enhances both collective and individual growth. During the process, leaders are faced with the critical choices which are based on the understanding of the present circumstance, the people involved and the opportunities they see (Gallos, 2008, p.1). The paradigms of leadership exhibits distinguishable characteristics which make them fit in particular contexts. The distinguishing factors fit into a broad continuum which changes across those paradigms. The Classical leadership involves a powerful leader while his followers have little power. They also have less accountability and responsibility of the job. This form of leadership is found to be effective only in stable and bureaucratic environments which are less complex and dynamic. The Transactional leadership allocates more responsibility and accountability to the workers. The leader enjoys the maximum power and influences his followers to achieve the set goals (Avery, et al., p.62). The Newtonian management concepts of developing order, looking for cause-and-effect, valuing control and predictability, forms the basis of transactional style of leadership. This style is also applicable in situations which are low in complexity. Scholars consider the visionary leadership most applicable in cases where organisations undergo transformation. Performance is enhanced in such cases because the leader inspires his followers towards achievement by motivating them. This paradigm accepts followers’ view and melds them into a single entity to follow a particular vision (Avery, et al., p.63). Under organic leadership, organisations can be either with or without a leader. Here no individual is vested with the responsibilities of a leader, although people may assume the role of a leader at times. Communication, interactions and relationships existing between individuals give rise to leadership in such cases (Avery, et al., p.63). Organisations choose their leadership styles based on its organisational structure. The purpose of this project is to choose the most appropriate leadership style for SAP. It provides reasons for choosing the same. The project answers a set of questions related to the choice of a particular paradigm of leadership for SAP. SAP (Systems, Applications, and Products in Data Processing) was founded by five former systems engineers in IBM. The purpose of developing the software was to provide solutions to the business problems. Development of SAP was considered to be a revolution at that time as most competitors were busy developing customised software for businesses which were extremely expensive. The benefit of using the SAP software is that it provides a wide range of software which can integrate the external and internal parts of the organisation. Case Study Analysis Leadership paradigm driving SAP The visionary style of leadership can be attributed as the driving force of SAP. It was founded by a group of engineers in IBM who had the vision of being the market leader in the development and delivery of software solutions to businesses. The company was initiated by the objective of a few men whose footsteps were followed by the rest of the organisation. It is defined as the networking framework for the implementation of protocols in seven layers. The seven layers of management are appropriate in this case because every layer would be able to control the layer beneath it. “Control is passed from one layer to the next, starting at the application layer in one station, proceeding to the bottom layer, over the channel to the next station and back up the hierarchy” (Escotal, 2010). In this way the work process would remain systematic and without stoppages. Moreover, each process would also be monitored easily. Followers and Retention at SAP Presently the company is faced with a number of external changes, like the changing technology, threat from competitors and changing needs of customers. This has been increasing the attrition rate in the company. In such a situation, it is very critical for the company to make its employees adapt to the changes. Competition also results in changes in the firm’s strategies and practices. It would be important for the employers to guide and direct their employees towards the new goals and strategies. Presently the company has been focussing primarily on adopting practices to remain competitive in the market with very little attention to its employees. This is instilling a sense of insecurity in the minds of the employees because of which they are moving out of the organisation. The company should focus more on human resource issues to retain the staff. Suitable training programs and performance monitoring would be effective in enhancing their involvement in the work. This way they would also be accountable for the consequences of their job and a reward system based on performance would surely enhance their performance significantly. Structure at SAP and changes recommended The organisation works through a number of teams. The teams comprises of sales staff, consulting staff, training staff and solutions architects. The teams form quality circles and work towards specific goals. They perform activities in accordance to meeting customer needs and aim to bring about competitive advantage to the company. Since there is a hierarchical structure in the organisation, it seems to hinder communication, collaboration and teamwork. The operations in the company are divided into two parts. The front end develops the business application software along with the sales and the pre-sales services. The back end implements services, conducts training and provides life cycle supports (Anonymous, 2010, p.4). In order to survive through tough competition, it is important that the company maintains cooperation among its employees and departments and remains focussed towards a common goal. It is recommended that the company implements a process of information exchange among departments and hierarchies to enhance collaboration between the two. Employees must be given greater say or opinion in the workings and their feedback should be given importance. Paradigms of Leadership, alignment of leadership between management, staff, systems and processes Leadership is considered to be a complex process which has multiple dimensions. Leaders are responsible for initiating relationships with followers, creating the communication linkages and carrying the burden of maintaining the relationships (Northouse, 2009, p.4). If people were looking for a change in leadership it suggests that the leadership prevalent has not been enough to bring out the best in people. It is important that the staffs work to the best of their ability to attain the organisation goal. Leadership plays a critical role in attaining this. Under the visionary style of leadership, it is possible is that the leaders would impose their visions on the employees without taking their opinion into consideration. Here the employees would have to do as they were asked. Such a style of leadership shows that the staffs would have to contribute much to the company’s benefits, however their opinion would not be considered. This reduces their accountability for the job and leads to fall in performance. Visionary leadership helps to move followers and influence them to achieve more than what is expected of them. It is concerned with the ethics, values, emotions, standards and the long term goals (Northouse, 2009, p.171). It must be noted that employees are the best people to know and indentify the loopholes in work processes and the changes that need to be incorporated. It is obvious that the employees would like to have greater share of the benefits of success in the organisation. This would be possible only if they had greater accountability. Thus, the leadership style should be such which would allow them to incorporate changes towards the betterment of the company. SAP- a learning organisation, knowledge management and the role of partnerships with customers and suppliers in knowledge management It is true that SAP has been evolving into a learning organisation. Its technical management team works towards upgrading the technologies and developing methods for minimising business disruptions for the clients. The company is trying to combine the front end and back end activities towards gaining competitive advantage. Initially the company had claimed that it would not require any partners. However, now the company has emerged as a global network. There are many evidences of the partnership arrangements made by SAP. The company has learnt to value the importance of relationships. That is why it has made extensive strategic partnerships ­with customers, suppliers and competitors (Anonymous, 2010, p.4). The partnerships were more focussed towards forming and improving relationships than as a venture to expand the business activities. It was felt that the spirit of partnerships and cooperation would be critical for the company’s competitive advantage. The partnerships have been adding to the knowledge management of the company. SAP’s customers come from retailing, banking, manufacturing, utilities, telecommunications as well as the public sector. SAP undertakes meetings and in-depth dialogue with its customers which enable the company to use the customers’ knowledge to industry specific solutions. The company’s partnership with suppliers allows speeding up the process of supply to the customers. Moreover, these partnerships prelude them from entering into partnerships with SAP’s competitors or other vendors (Anonymous, 2010, p.4). SAP as a truly global organisation, recommendations SAP has been confronting rapid changes in technology and competition resulting from globalisation. The company was able to capture 80% of the market in Germany. However, large corporations across the world adopted products of SAP. Presently the company has been aggressively upgrading its technology and minimising its deficiencies. The company’s products remain extremely popular across various companies in the world. It was ranked as the 38th largest company by the Forbes Global in 2001. “As the third-largest independent software company in the world, SAP counts more than half the world’s 500 top companies among its 13500 users in 120 countries” (Anonymous, 2010, p.1). It has entered into partnership with Microsoft which is one of the software giants in the world. It is recommended that SAP continues partnering with the successful companies as this would not only help to raise its standards but also improve its brand name in the field of software. Another critical way would be keep its strategies changing with the changing situations. This would help it from becoming obsolete. As the company has gained reputation from across the world, it would not be difficult for it to expand internationally. SAP as an organic organisation with self managing teams So far the organisation functions like any hierarchical structure. Each level is responsible for monitoring the level beneath it. This is likely to create gaps and miscommunication between the higher levels and lower levels of the organisation. Moreover employees work in accordance with the instructions given to them. They are not used to taking complete responsibility of the job and depend more on the employer. This is a common aspect of the organisations running through the visionary leadership paradigm. Employees usually have little say in the functioning of the organisation. Organic organisations may work with or without a leader. The company would have to attain the level of efficiency where the role of leader would be minimised and teams would be able to manage themselves successfully. Firstly, it is recommended that they begin to participate in the working of the company and their opinion is given greater priority and value. Gradually, they are required to take greater accountability for the job they are performing. This would help them to manage their own work and eventually develop skills for them to function like self managed teams. Advice to the top management for ensuring greater sustainability of the organisation The company has been working aggressively towards global expansion, technology upgradation and enhancing revenue. However, little attention is being paid to the human resource issues which form an integral component behind the success of a company. It is recommended that it aims towards attaining satisfaction of employees. This could be achieved through collecting feedback from them as to how their contributions could be improved. The company could improve collaboration between departments and focus more on improving the relationships existing between employees and employers. Employees must be given a certain amount of independence to perform their work rather than bound by instructions and constraints. The company should enter into greater partnerships to gather expertise in the fields of HR to apply them in the organisation. The company may also practice human resource development to improve functioning of the human resource department. Organisational culture at SAP, emotions and spirituality As revealed in the case study the organisation is greatly innovative and adapts itself to the changing technologies and user requirements. The management is innovative, open to take risks and creative. The management also remains focussed towards attaining long term goals and works towards it. Most importantly, the customers are given most importance in SAP. They also enter into partnerships with customers. However, management should focus more on the processes, techniques and methods used for attaining the goals. The company does not show much spirituality. It could impart among its employees a sense of spirituality which would help them to have a stronger focus and belief. Moreover, spirituality would enhance their power to concentrate and enhance performance. Enhancing emotions would result in interdependence among employees. They would help each other in the work processes and this would enhance teamwork and team spirit. Applicability of HR success factors in SAP Switzerland in SAP Germany and SAP US. Role of leadership to manage this change Human resource characteristics differ widely across nations and their organisations. Thus the HR success factors which have been effective in Switzerland may not be equally effective in US and Germany. The leadership styles also differ between regions and organisations depending on the culture of the place and the nature of the followers. Germany is characterised by a high degree of individualism and moderate power distance index. This means employees over here would concentrate more on their own performance and would look for greater distribution of power between employees and employers. The United States has greater individualistic characteristics and greater power distance. However, these factors are much low in Switzerland (ITIM International, 2009). Thus SAP needs to consider the cross cultural dimensions and design strategies suited for each country. However, it should set some common rules which should be followed by all nations. Conclusion As evident from the case study, SAP has been following the visionary paradigm driven by a group of individuals who had founded the company. Here, the employees function in accordance to the instructions provided to them. They work towards the company’s goals with very little opinion of their own. This reduces their responsibility and accountability for the work they are performing. However, the company has been working towards gaining greater participation from the employees by valuing their opinion. This would eventually help in instilling team spirit and evolution of an organic organisation. The company has been trying to adopt human resource expertise as its own human resource issues remain weak. However, since the cultural dimensions differ between nations and organisations, the practices must also be adjusted accordingly. Lastly, a sense of team spirit would go a long way to strengthen relationships between employees and employers. References Anonymous. 2010. Fundamentals of Leadership. MN2150. Case Study. Avery, G., Bell, A., Hib, M. & Witte, A. E. 2004. Understanding leadership: paradigms and cases. SAGE. Gallos, J. V. 2008. Business leadership: a Jossey-Bass reader. John Wiley and Sons. Escotal.com. 2010. OSI 7 LAYER MODEL. [Online]. Available at: http://www.escotal.com/osilayer.html. [Accessed on December 23, 2010]. ITIM International. 2009. Geert Hofstede™ Cultural Dimensions. Available at: http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_switzerland.shtml. [Accessed on December 23, 2010]. Northouse, P. G. 2009. Leadership: Theory and Practice. 5th ed. SAGE. Read More