Representation of Management and Leadership in the Media - Blackberry Limited - Report Example

Representation of Management and Leadership in the Media By: Introduction In any firm that seeks to becompetitive, management is crucial. According to experts, good leadership is a prerequisite for business’ success. Good leaders are supposed to make the best decision for their organizations and be in a position to exploit any opportunities open to their firms. Firms with the best leaders have been able to build mutually beneficial relationships between their firms and their publics. The media plays a very important role in building these relationships because it often anticipates, analyses, and interprets public opinion, attitudes, and issues that might affect the operations of an organization (Ausgabe, 1982). This article will conduct a detailed analysis of the interview between Research In Motion (RIM)’s CEO Mike Lazaridis and a BBC journalist in which Mr. Lazaridis was asked about the issues affecting his firm and how he deals with them. The analysis will be used to explain how the media represent management and leadership. 1.1 Overview of RIM RIM is another name of Blackberry Limited. It is a company well known for developing Blackberry products, including smartphones and tablets. Financial results indicate that the company was a powerhouse in the early 2000’s, but due to various issues, the corporation’s dominance declined precipitously (McQueen, 2012). In 2011, the company laid off over 1,000 employees because of poor financial results. This was the beginning of the company’s troubles. The company has been struggling to appeal to mainstream customers. More interestingly, many of the firm’s employees use iPhones and other Android phones over Blackberries. A survey in 2014 indicated that, Blackberry commands slightly 1.1% of the U.S Smartphone market, whereas iPhone commands a staggering 51% (McQueen, 2012). In an interesting interview conducted by a BBC journalist, Blackberry’s CEO was freaked out by the questions he was asked, especially those that touched on the company’s performance. In fact, he cut short the interview after he was asked questions about the company’s issues with security in India and the Middle East. Before the interview with BBC, Mr. Lazaridis had complained in an interview with the New York Times that the media have disrespected his company. According to experts, this was not expected from a CEO since a leader is expected to demonstrate responsible management and effective problem-solving skills at an instance (Ausgabe, 1982). 2. Methodology This paper will rely on information from previously researched works to discuss management theories based on the interview. This paper will look at various published reports, surveys, and data from the internet. In broader terms, this is a ‘desk research’ since it uses information previously researched and which is publicly available. 3. Theories There are various theories that will be used to analyze the interview. The first theory concerns corporate governance. Corporate governance is hugely dynamic (Cole, 2004). It focuses more on corporate risk. The ideas around corporate governance are paramount to both small and big businesses. Despite being complex, it is very useful when explaining what is expected from leaders, how ego should be controlled, ways of minimizing risk, highlighting perspectives of ethics and morality, how to deal with market dynamics, the environment, and the welfare of the society at large (Gernot, 2011). The second theory concerns the psychological contract. The ideas surrounding psychological contract gives perspectives on workplace relationships and general human behaviour (Bush, 1995). The third theory is complex. It entails all the core leadership theories. These leadership theories are fundamental when learning the foundations of leadership. There are four core theory groups, which are: trait theories (what type of a person makes a good leader), behavioral theories (what does a good leader do), contingency theories (how does the situation influence good leadership), and power and influence theories (what is the source of the leaders’ power) (Curran, 1996). 4. Discussion Analysis of the piece Before the interview that was aired on BBC, Blackberry was all over the news for all the wrong reasons. The company started strategizing on ways of improving their performance, and this included laying off the majority of their employees and hiring a new CEO, Mr. Lazaridis (McQueen, 2012). This was his second interview, sitting with BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones. This was not a very long interview, but rather a quickie interview. During this interview, Mr. Lazaridis demonstrated leadership trait theories by just the appearance. One who was watching the interview could acknowledge Mr. Lazaridis was a leader by his likability, assertiveness, and empathy (Cole, 2004). He was stout, sharp and wore a grey Blackberry polo shirt to demonstrate his loyalty to his company. Furthermore, he was grey-haired and this was an indication of how experienced he was (Hatfield, 2012). Throughout the interview, he avoided questions that concerned iPad’s dominance in the market, and solely concentrated on blackberry’s performance. Despite not being a compelling presenter, he explained in context all the questions asked (Fiske, 1982). After the brief introduction, Mr. Lazaridis was asked on the problems Blackberry is faced in terms of security. This question narrowed down to the security problem faced in India and a number of states in the Middle East. The interviewer wanted to know if Mr. Lazaridis had any solutions to this problem (Finkelstein, 2010). From the mention of the word ‘security’, Mr. Lazaridis became restless. The answer from the CEO was expected since he said he was sorry and that the question was not fair. The response from the CEO was a clear indication that the company was in big trouble in relation to operations in India and Middle East at large. According to an article by McQueen (2012), blackberry in 2011 was facing pressure from the Indian and Middle East governments to allow their calls to be monitored. It has been always a policy in Blackberry that governments should not monitor any calls made from blackberry devices. This did not go well with some governments, especially India, which blocked the use of blackberry in the country’s network (McQueen, 2012). Many Blackberry subscribers in India and the Middle East were left without services. Mr. Lazaridis during the interview did not even give hopes to the over 10 million Blackberry customers who were out of service. As a leader, one has to adhere to contingency theories, that is, situations need to influence real leadership (Senett, 1998). Good leaders depend on the situation. In this case, Mr. Lazaridis was supposed to give solutions to the problems faced by blackberry on matters of security. However, he did not answer the question and called off the interview. As a leader, one has to make quick decisions, and fully support the team, which was expected of Mr. Lazaridis during the interview (Cole, 2004). As the CEO, Mr. Lazaridis is expected to protect the team. The Path-Goal Leadership theory notes that leaders have to help employees, identify and achieve their goals clear away obstacles, and offering rewards along the way. In this case, Mr. Lazaridis during the interview could clear away the obstacles that were impeding the success of Blackberry, which is the security problem in India and the Middle East (Northouse, 2012). He could offer supportive leadership whereby he focuses on relationships. Since the problem was a political matter, Mr. Lazaridis could show sensitivity to the individual team and government members’ needs. He tried to demonstrate his supportive leadership traits when during the end of the interview; he said he would request the US government to intervene in the matter. However, he was not comfortable with the idea of collaborating with the US because the US intends to be allowed to eavesdrop on India’s and Middle East network (McQueen, 2012). Media houses expect firms to ensure Corporate Social Responsibility. This means that organizations need to be responsible towards their effects on the environment and social welfare. A company like Blackberry has a lot of power in the community. The company generates many revenues that can boost the economy by concentrating on socially conscious investments (Miles, 2012). During the interview, Mr. Lazaridis confirmed that the company had lain off a significant number of employees and many users in India and the Middle East do not access blackberry services. Mr. Lazaridis lack of response and solution to this outage is a very bad corporate social responsibility (Vijayaraghavan, 2011). Many Blackberry users were inconvenienced in India and the Middle East, and the company has been regularly updating them that the services will be back. These customers have not been receiving their emails, no access to browsing, and poor or little messaging services. Some customers noted that they received updates from blackberry on the progress of restoring the server, while others did not receive. This is not right because it is RIM’s responsibility to update all customers. The processes of updating customers have been handled poorly, and this demonstrates poor customer services which is against CSR (Parker, 2002). Companies are not perfect. In fact, Apple has been through many crises, but their leaders have managed them effectively. What Mr. Lazaridis could do during the interview was first to apologize to all the customers who were without service. He should have apologized straight away and state the incentives in place aimed to address the problem. Moreover, he could promise some compensation to the customers for the inconvenience caused (Sweeny, 2009). Employees of organizations have many expectations towards their leaders. As stated in the psychological contact theory, workers often believe they have some obligations or rights owed to their leaders in return for excellent output. When the blackberry services were blocked in India and Middle East, many employees were left devastated since majority of them would lose their jobs (Vijayaraghavan, 2011). These employees felt that their employers had some obligation of protecting their jobs. Leaders often represent owners of organizations and, in this case, Mr. Lazaridis during the interview was expected to reflect the aims and purposes of blackberry owners (Rhodes, 2008). The questions asked by the interviewer wanted to demonstrate how Mr. Lazaridis has failed to reflect the aims and purposes of blackberry owners. The Blackberry employees played their part in India, and after the cancelation of their services, the top leadership had to play their roles. To ensure success in organizations, there need to be a series of mutual obligations between the employers and the employees. However, the employers of blackberry failed their employees, and this is the reason most Blackberry employees left for Apple. The obligations are not contracts but are rather subject to perception. In this case, since the employees helped Blackberry employers generate many profits; these employees expect job security and handsome rewards (Sweeny, 2009). 5. Conclusion The interview demonstrated how managers and top leadership sometimes can fail organizations. It has shown that despite having a very successful company, leaders can make the firm lose its market share. In the early 2000’s Research in Motion was very successful and influential firm. The early leaders had been able to make transform blackberry into a global powerhouse. In fact, Blackberry was the first technology company to deliver mobile email, and this sparked a revolution in the mobile sector (Sweeny, 2009). However, things turned sour in the late 2000’s when new management came into place. The company CEO himself during the interview demonstrated how he has lost confidence in the markets, and showed his ‘do not care’ attitude (Sweeny, 2009). The highlights of 2011 were clear signs that the company was actually losing its market share. First, the company delayed its latest line of smartphones, issued profit warnings very early, laid off a lot of staff, and more disturbingly, it was hit by service outrage for a very long time (Vijayaraghavan, 2011). The same year, Mr. Laziridis was invited to BBC for a quick interview. He was expected to offer solutions to the problems his company is facing. Instead of offering the solutions, Mr. Lazaridis was upset by the questions asked and he cut off the interview. After that interview, Mr. Lazaridis was never available for any other discussion, leaving many critics to argue that the company has grown unwieldy. The meeting demonstrated how Mr. Lazarisid lacked an explicit solution for the difficult situation the company was facing (Hassard, 1998). Reference List Adetule, P. J. (2011). The Handbook on Management Theories. Author House, Ausgabe, G. (1982). Leadership Theory and Research: Perspectives and Directions. London: Academic Press Inc. Bertocci, D. I. (2009). 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