Technology and Collaborative Leadership - Essay Example

Technology and Collaborative Leadership The problem identified in this particular research centers on leadership and use of technology at the workplace so as to get the best out of one’s employees and be able incorporate them in the entire decision making process. Businesspeople and their employee in the present era are finding it easier to work collaboratively than ever, not just inside companies but also with their relevant suppliers, governments and universities. This has led to the emergence of global virtual teams which have become the norm and not the exception. Mediums such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, video conferencing and a wide range of other technologies have become the norm, putting connectivity on steroids and enabling new kinds of collaboration that would have been impossible few years ago. Many CEOs have realized that they require a new playbook for this kind of hyper connected environment. Those who climbed the ladder by use of silos while using a “command and control “style can have a hard time trying to adjust to the new realities. On the other hand, managers who attempt to lead by consensus can quickly see decision making and execution come to a stop. Thus crafting leadership that is right is not all that easy. As part of their research on top performing CEOs, two professors, Herminia Ibarra and Morten T.Hansen, examined what it means to be a collaborative leader. They discovered that it needs strong skills in four main areas; playing the role of connector, attracting talent that is diverse ,modeling collaboration at the top, and demonstrating a strong hand to keep teams from getting mired in the debate. They have found out that these skills can be learned-and can assist executives generate outstanding long-term performance (Goleman, Boyatzis, 2013). This study is quite appropriate to be studied at the MBA program becomes it entails aspects of leadership which are very important especially when it comes to the modern day executives. An MBA program is all about leadership and administration. It is important therefore that the modern day business leader be able to realize the various challenges that are outside of the classroom and be able to apply them in real life, so that s/he can navigate the rough waters of leadership smoothly without any bad incidents. This study is also quite applicable to the UAE/GCC environment since UAE is a rapidly developing environment which has of late seen several world-class businesses set shop in the region. A study such as this is quite timely since it is touching on the contemporary issues that are facing the corporate world today, such as technological advancement and the way to embrace the new technology without necessarily jeopardising the organizational culture. This therefore means that the region requires top-notch graduates to take over the running of these businesses. The methodology applied in this study is that of qualitative data analysis. Thus in this particular study there is no numbers involved and the two researchers have effectively utilised the qualitative data analysis (QDA) successfully so as to bring out their research findings in a manner that is concise, simple and easy to understand. Thus in this particular study, there is the theme of collaborative leadership and technology which is raised by the two researchers. They take us through a journey of a wide range of processes whereby we are moved from the qualitative data that has been collected to some kind of understanding, explanation or rather interpretation of the situations and people the two researchers are investigating. Normally we find that QDA is mostly on a basis of interpretative philosophy, the core idea being examination of the symbolic and meaningful content of the given qualitative data. In this case therefore we realize that the researchers are trying to find out the effectiveness of today’s executive in engaging his/her employees by use of technology (Wilson, Doz, 2013). Most executives are in agreement that various types of leaders are required in fat and lean times to oversee the retrenchment or growth, steer organizations out of a crisis or even guide a steady course in calm waters. Thus for those who have all the time, they can infinitely decide to be collaborative and for those who have to fix things in an important way and are also in a hurry, they have got to be extra directive. These are some of the common knowledge that makes collaboration to be criticized at the very top as a reasonable luxury in bountiful times but a costly and slow method especially when competitors heat up. Taking for instance the gigantic Indian IT company, Wipro, who recently staring at underperformance and increased competitors from both foreign and domestic peers, Wipro decided to do away with their so called joint-CEO model. Even though the structure of joint CEO assisted them successfully steer out of the economic crisis, Chairman of the company Azim Premji, believes that with market explosions that are taking place, it is imperative that there is urgent requirement for a leaner and simpler organization. This shift in organizational change definitely brought about faster growth and after economic recovery there was need for simplicity, speed and for all this to be effective, there was need to ensure that there was structure that was really easy to understand. In the case of our study above several assumptions have been made such as assuming that the organization has got a lot of time to go through all the comments and views given by the employees. This is a skewed view since organizational time just like its core business is very important in as far as the running of organization is concerned. And therefore making such an assumption would be detrimental to the overall business of the organization. Some of the limitations of this study is the fact that the researchers failed to factor in all organizations and uses data from only one firm. There are organizations that implementing collaborative leadership would ruin the whole idea of the ideals it stands for. For instance, organizations dealing with security matters usually have a control command and thus orders usually come from one person. Some research institutions too need a particular chain of command to ensure that discipline and the right chain of command are followed from the bottom up to the senior executives. Even though the two researchers tried, they do not exhaustively tell us the real solution either to over-collaboration or under-collaboration. There are known instances in history where over-collaboration wrecked havoc. The case of BP is one such. In this case, over collaboration went too far and thus goes haywire when employees collaborate on wrong things, or rather when collaborative efforts are bogged down in constant discussions and agreement decision-making, in which case nobody is clearly accountable. This leads to poor and slow execution. This happened at the gigantic oil producer BP some years back. Thus efforts aimed at promotion of collaboration across the several operating enterprises became so successful until employees did the unthinkable; they over-collaborated. BP employees began flying around the globe and mostly sharing ideas that never had a strong focus on the bottom line. This therefore means that not only does over-collaboration lead to underperformance in relation to the resources of the company; it can also on the other hand lead to slow execution and speed. The researchers have also failed to let us know the roadmap and future plans for the adoption of collaboration in organizations. Social media and other types of modern technologies have literary put interconnectivity on steroids, thus making collaboration very integral to any business enterprise than ever before. However without the right kind of leadership and guidance, collaboration can make the whole organization come crashing leading to untold of losses. This therefore means that employees of a business enterprise who try collaborating on every other aspect may end up stuck in meetings that never end, and struggling very hard so as to reach an agreement. On the other hand, CEOs who were raised during the hey days when command and control mode of management was everything may find it hard to adjusting to this new brave, bold and less serious style of leadership. In their unique research, on CEOs who perform well, Professors Hansen and Ibarra examine critically what it really takes to be a leader who collaborates. They have discovered that it needs connecting ideas and people outside of an organization to the ones inside of it, capitalizing and leveraging on diverse talents, making sure that collaborative behavior is modeled at the top and demonstrating a strong hand to ensure that teams are kept from involving themselves in mired debate. Ibarra and Hansen in this particular article describe tactics that are used by executives from GE, Akamai, Reckitt Benckiser and several other firms in those four aspects and how they promote high-performance cultures that are collaborative their respective organizations(Goleman, Boyatzis, 2013). The two researchers then go ahead to compare three types of leadership which include command and control, consensus and collaborative. The moment leaders get employees to collaborate, they may face a different challenge: which is overdoing it. This may result in the perils of over-collaborating which usually are demonstrated when people try to collaborate on everything, and thus winding up in constant endless meetings, debating ideas and often struggling to arrive at consensus. Collaboration therefore is a phenomenon that should be handled and nurtured with a lot of care especially in this day and age of social media and technology. Effective collaborative leaders therefore assume a very strong role as far as directing teams is concerned. They do this by maintenance of agility through formation and disbandment of them as opportunities come and disappear. Effective leaders also clearly assign decision responsibilities and rights so that at the suitable point, somebody can finish the discussion and make a final call. Thus even though confrontation that is constructive and disagreements that are tempered are allowed, battles are not left raging. And this is exactly what happens at Reckitt Benckiser. Every time teams meet, people are aware that it is alright-in fact even expected-to come up with proposals of ideas and offer challenges to each other. Debates are carried out loudly and furiously till the very best idea wins. If there is no obvious agreement that is arrived at the chairperson usually decides and the rest of the team falls in line. This not only ensures vigorous debate, but also clears decisions and quick action (Goleman, Boyatzis, 2013). In the modern day world, it is very imperative that every organization embrace the latest technologies not only as a competitive tool but also as a means of ensuring that there is sync between the organization itself and others operating outside of it. This is critical since this is the information age and for anybody to thrive s/he must be having lots of information at the click of a button. Interactions between employers and employee are very important since it is during these forums that the true relationship is revealed. There is a mutual benefit that takes place due to information exchange; employers are able to gather new and groundbreaking ideas whereas employers have the chance to let their employers know what they should improve on (Andrews, Franklin, 2012). Work cited Andrews John, Franklin David. Megachange:The World in 2050. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2012. Goleman Daniel, Boyatzis Richard. HBRs 10 Must Reads on Collaboration. Massachussets: Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, 2013. Sarah, Caldicott Miller. Midnight Lunch:The 4 phases of Team Collaboration Success From Thomas. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons,Inc, 2012. Wilson Keeley, Doz Yves. Managing Global Innovation:Frameworks for integrating Capabilities around the World. New York: Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, 2013. Read More