Leadership and Change Management of Jeff Bezos - Case Study Example

Leadership and Change management Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 3 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 3 3. COMPANY HISTORY 4 4. HISTORY OF THE FOUNDER 5 5. LEADERSHIP STYLE USE BY JEFF BEZOS 6 6. PROBLEM SOLVING COMPETENCIES OF JEFF BEZOS 8 7. EXAMPLES OF BAD LEADERS ON THE MARKET AND COMPARING THEM WITH JEFF BEZOS 8 8. RECOMMENDATIONS 9 Works Cited 10 1. INTRODUCTION The notion of leadership can be termed as a set of competencies or traits possessed by an individual that tends to influence a group towards the accomplishment of the organizational vision or predetermined business objectives. An effective form of leadership can be recognized as one of the chief determinants for an organization to attain competitive position in the fiercely growing business market (Andriopoulos and Dawson 197-199). The report aims to demonstrate the fundamental concept of leadership and its major significance in organizational success or failure. With regard to proactively recognize the roles and importance of leadership, the discussion of this project report enables to understand the leadership styles and functions of Jeff Bezos, the founder and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Amazon.com, Inc. 2. LITERATURE REVIEW With regard to the study of Collins (2002), certain crucial factors like increased level of internationalization along with globalization and prevalence of extreme business market competition denote the emerging need of performing effective leadership practices within an organization. These effectual leadership practices can encourage the employees to perform better than the existing efforts perform by them. Moreover, the practices help in enhancing the empowerment skills of every organizational member and generating new ideas in the workplace, resulting in accomplishing predetermined business targets of the organizations (Collins, “The Effectiveness of Managerial Leadership Development Programs: A Meta-Analysis of Studies from 1982-2001”). According to McCauley (2008), certain effective learning methods can be apparently observed which certainly enables the organizations to identify and select appropriate business leaders. In this context, the learning method include (1) previous experience of developmental approaches, (2) learning about the framework of the recent activities and (3) learning about the challenges of working responsibility that occurs during the development level of leadership in an organization. Relating to this significant concern, the above discussed methods clearly define the selection of appropriate individuals as leaders who possess the ability to endure the indistinctness, relativity of knowledge along with the possessiveness of determining and continuing to learn innovative methods of working tasks (McCauley, “Leader Development: A Review of Research”). 3. COMPANY HISTORY Amazon is regarded as one of the foremost and renowned online retailers, which deals in selling various sorts of products over the web (internet). The company was founded by Jeff Bezos in the year 1994 and started its e-commerce business in the year 1995. With the rapid pace of technological developments along with the fiercely growing online business market, the organization has been recognized to develop its brand position through developing quality products or services to the global clients through online. Currently, the organization tends to offer a huge collection of products or services that include books, electronic goods, computer parts and accessories along with clothing and furniture items to the global customers over the medium of internet (Krishnamurthy, “Amazon.Com - A Business History”). 4. HISTORY OF THE FOUNDER Jeffrey P. Bezos (Jeff Bezos) is viewed to be a highly renowned name in the global online retailing business industry. The leader became much popular for his exceptional leadership skills that eventually made Amazon to become one of the successful and giant online stores in the respective business industry. Relating to the earliest days of Bezos, the leader graduated from Princeton University as computer science and electronic engineer in the year 1986. With regard to the professional life, Bezos started working in the computer science division of ‘D. E. Shaw & Co.’ after completing his graduation. With the gaining momentum of globalization and the adoption of innovative technological advancements, the history of Amazon has started to make transformational changes in the global online retailing and service providing industry (Stone, “The Secrets of Bezos: How Amazon Became the Everything Store”). The leadership tenure of Bezos demonstrates a remarkable footprint of Amazon in the global online retail and service providing industry. The incessant interventions of conceptual and technical skills eventually enable the leader to be the “Time Person of the Year” in the year 1999. The visionary and the transformational leadership styles that possess by the leader i.e. Bezos enabled Amazon to gain a substantial number of existing and new customers for the products or services that offer by the organization. The customer base of the company has raised considerable which can be recognized from its existence for several years in the online business industry. With the past statistical data of the company, it can be apparently observed that the company grown its customer base from 1.5 million in the year 1997 to 24.7 million at the finish of the year 2001. Moreover, the total number of the existing customers of Amazon has also been viewed to experience a steady growth which accounted for 78% in the year 2000 (Krishnamurthy, “Amazon.Com- A Business History”). With regard to the continuous growth of organizational performance and increased level of customer base, it can be affirmed that the leadership skills of Bezos play a decisive role for the organization to attain immense growth in the growing online business market (Stone, “The Secrets of Bezos: How Amazon Became the Everything Store”). 5. LEADERSHIP STYLE USE BY JEFF BEZOS The leadership style of an entrepreneur defines a set of skills that significantly enable him/her to efficiently develop the overall performance of the organization. The set of skills encompasses range of functional attributes that include managing, controlling along with leading each activity which perform by the members within their respective organizations. In relation to determine the leadership style which use by Bezos, it can be stated that the transformational style enables the leader to efficiently manage, control and lead the company towards achieving its business goals (Burrows, “Jeff Bezos Leadership at Amazon”). The transformational leadership style of Bezos generally reflects three major skills that encompass human skill, conceptual skill and technical skill. The human skill relating to the style of transformational leadership style facilitates Bezos to increase his ability in performing different business operations with a number of diversified employees. The skill also enables the leader of Amazon to increase the capability of developing effective customer-centric approach within the organization. Moreover, the conceptual skill further enables the leader to emphasize developing different ideas and concepts of each individual and creating effective plan for attaining predetermined organizational goals. The skill also facilitates in strengthening the decision making ability of Bezos along with effectively managing employees from rising operational and managerial conflicts. Additionally, the transformational leadership style of Bezos also incorporates adequate technical skills that significantly help the leader to perform effective operational functions. The transformative leadership style of Bezos demonstrates his capability of using different advanced and appropriate technological tools along with techniques, resulting in enhancing the competitive position of Amazon in the growing online retailing business industry (Krishnamurthy, “Amazon.Com- A Business History”). With regard to analyze the leadership style which use by Bezos to run the company, it can be stated that the notion of visionary leadership is regarded as the indispensable factor of a successful entrepreneur. A clear vision along with a strong commitment towards the attainment of organizational objectives can certainly enable a leader to develop competitive strategies and implement effective business practices. In relation to the leadership approach that use by Bezos to run the company, certain visionary attributes can be viewed influencing the leader to increase the overall performance of the organization. In this regard, a few of the major visionary attributes that possess by Bezos are defining clear vision, possessing charismatic quality and effective communication skills that empowers the competitive position of the organization in the global online retailing industry (Andriopoulos and Dawson 197-199). Most significantly, the utmost focus on customer satisfaction associated with the deliverance of quality products and/or services also defines an exceptional leadership approach of Bezos in the fiercely growing online retailing market. Owing to the stated concern, the quality of maintaining transparency, honesty, integrity and adequate consideration of customers’ interests significantly defines the leadership approach of Bezos to promote customer centric approach in the business operations (Burrows, “Jeff Bezos Leadership at Amazon”). 6. PROBLEM SOLVING COMPETENCIES OF JEFF BEZOS In relation to the leadership styles and functions that use by Bezos to run the company, the charismatic attributes are the major dimensions that help the leader to efficiently manage conflicts along with various problems that exist within the organization. In this regard, the capability of managing people by Bezos through building effective communication amid the organizational members can be regarded as one of the effective problem-solving competencies of the leader. Moreover, sharing of ideas and thoughts of each individual concerning the development of organizational functions further facilitate the leader of Amazon to minimize the possible internal conflicts that rise within the organization (Burrows, “Jeff Bezos Leadership at Amazon”). 7. EXAMPLES OF BAD LEADERS ON THE MARKET AND COMPARING THEM WITH JEFF BEZOS From the previous few decades, several business leaders have been viewed failing in efficiently performing effective leadership practices towards the attainment of organizational targets. A few of the failed leadership approaches that performed by the leaders has been discussed hereunder. Example of Enron. The leadership style which has been followed in Enron can be duly considered as one of the major failures or the bad leadership practices performed in the twenty first century. The leadership style in Enron can be found to be highly involved in conducting unethical practices that led the organization to face bankruptcy. In relation to the leadership style of Bezos, the leader tends to maintain adequate transparency and performance of ethical values associated with every vital decision that he adopts (Bonazzi & Islam, “Agency Theory and Corporate Governance a Study of the Effectiveness of Board in their Monitoring of the CEO”) Example of Merrill. The leadership style of the CEO Stanley O’Neal of Merrill Lynch can also be duly considered as practicing poor leadership approach. During his tenure, numerous issues associated with internal conflicts, unclear vision and lack of communication among others can be viewed, imposing unfavorable impact upon the company to accomplish its desired objectives (Hollander, “Inclusive Leadership”). However, the leadership strategy of Bezos tends to reflect visionary attributes that enable the organization to avoid various sorts of internal conflicts and problems. 8. RECOMMENDATIONS The concept of leadership has long been recognized to play a decisive role in successfully implementing effective business strategies and enabling the organizations to attain their desired business targets. In relation to the rapidly growing competitive scenario in the business environment, a poor and ineffective leadership style may significantly create severe challenges for the organizations. In relation to the present day context, lack of communication process, unclear vision and deficiency in understanding along with practicing unethical activities are few of the major examples of poor leadership approach. Therefore, the leaders in the present business world should highly focus on adopting and developing the principles associated with maintaining a clear vision along with adequate transparency and sharing along with, prioritizing the ideas as well as thoughts of each individual within the organizations (Kelloway, Sivanathan, Francis and Barling, “Poor Leadership”). Works Cited Andriopoulos, Constantine and Patrick Dawson. Managing Change, Creativity and Innovation. London: SAGE, 2009. Print. Bonazzi, Livia and Sardar M. N. Islam. “Agency Theory and Corporate Governance: A Study of the Effectiveness of Board in their Monitoring of the CEO.” Journal of Modelling in Management 2.1 (2007): 7-23. Burrows, Morgan Alexa. “Jeff Bezos Leadership at Amazon”. 2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. Collins, Doris B.“The Effectiveness of Managerial Leadership Development Programs: A Meta-Analysis of Studies from 1982-2001”. 2002. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. Hollander, Edwin P. “Inclusive Leadership – The Essential Leader-Follower Relationship”. 2008. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. Kelloway, E. Kevin, Niro Sivanathan, Lori Francis, and Julian Barling. Poor Leadership. Sources of Work Stress (2004): 89-112. Print. Krishnamurthy, Sandeep. “Amazon.Com- A Business History”. 2002. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. McCauley, Cynthia D. “Leader Development: A Review of Research”. 2008. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. Stone, Brad. “The Secrets of Bezos: How Amazon Became the Everything Store”. 2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. Read More