Leadership and Globalised Environment, Communication Styles of Steve Jobs - Coursework Example

Leadership and Globalised Environment Name Institution Course Professor Date Globalisation is a phenomenon that has affected many sectors in the economy. Organisations are among those affected by globalisation at different levels. Unprecedented challenges are presented to the organisation’s strategic leadership. Impacts of globalisation affects all the organisations hence the extreme importance of steward leadership needed for organisational success in a globalized environment. In essence, leaders in organisations have to deal with reality of globalised economy on a daily basis. Regardless of this fact, Black and Mendenhall (2007) asserted that majority of the leaders have not received training, education, and preparedness in dealing with the complex global environment. In dealing with this, Story (2011, p. 375) provides development of global mindset, self-authored identity and adaptation overview as the three steps necessary in becoming a global leader. This essay discusses the way leadership has changed within the context of a global environment over time. It also profiles the leadership and communication styles of Steve Jobs. Leadership has evolved over time particularly in the 20th and 21st centuries. It is a reflection of the changing economic policies, cultural, social, and political events. In addition, it also reflects on changing business strategies with business demands shifting leadership styles. New approaches to leadership have come up in keeping up with new expectations. Gitsham, Wackrill, Baxter and Pegg (2011, p.27) explain that early good leadership ideas were revolving around the concept of an organisational leader as a heroic leader, ‘great man’. This leader was charismatic and he possesses power and influence out of his natural abilities. In this era, there existed a strong belief that men are superior as compared to women and were inherently born to lead. Additionally, white people were seen as superior to others. In 1950s to 1960s, it was characterised by an era of ‘rational manager’ (Gitsham et al., 2011). Standardised procedures, rules and impersonal approach were the leadership style used in directing and controlling people in the organisation. By 1980s, effective leader was an individual seen to be leading change. They relied more on team-working and interpersonal skills. These ideas were brought as a result of changing times as effects of the first major recession after the post-war period required different leadership style. Flexibility became an imperative for organisations and effective leaders that could bring change were needed. In 1990s to 2000s, more attention was given to how leaders understand the way networks works and importance of emotional intelligence. Change was seen as normal and leadership was recognised as not being confined to any given select group. Furthermore, globalisation encouraged more emphasis on leading across many cultures (Gitsham et al., 2012). Today, a leader is seen as a ‘global citizen’. In an increasingly globalised society, power structures are shifting bringing new roles to organisational leaders. Leaders are adopting broader strategies constituting success by leading across conventional organisation boundaries and partner with others in bringing systemic changes to society. Globalised world is characterised by different people, organisations and countries. They have different cultures and practices. In order for a global leader to excel, leveraging these differences is necessary in creating appropriate methods for development of global leadership mindset. In the last two decades, dramatic changes to domestic businesses have been realised in many countries. Nonetheless, these changes can be described as a pale reflection to the numerous challenges that are presented in undertaking successful business operations in a global environment. As Mendenhall, Kuhlmann and Stahl (2001) (as cited in Murray, Poole & Jones, 2006, p. 224) noted, interdependencies and variables that individuals must consider in their decision making are multiplied in a global marketplace operations. In a global organisation, strategic plans and decision that a leader makes today may be outdated in a couple of days or months. Global business environment is a dynamic one which creates extreme time pressures for leaders’ necessitating them to act with no sufficient information and situation analysis (Murray, Poole & Jones, 2006). A leader managing in a global environment can be likened to a chess player. He is required to observe partial unknown rules that can be changed without any announcement while playing against a number of participants that are ever changing. Globalisation has necessitated change in leadership paradigms. Technology has enable organisations to deal with spatial space challenges (Murray, et al., 2006). It has provided a tool for conducting of real-time communications as well as access to information. Global economy has provided numerous opportunities as there is increased marketplace for goods and services produced by organisations. Workforce has also increased with people of diverse cultures working in an organisation being a common phenomenon. These developments have brought changes to leadership. Daft (2008) asserted that old assumptions pertaining to power distribution are not valid anymore in this globalisation era. Emphasizing control and rigidity in organisations acts as a tool that kills morale, innovation and motivation rather than producing the desired results. In the present context, leaders are sharing power as oppose to hoarding it and are looking for ways of increasing the level of employees involvement and commitment in decision making. This is brought about by the world that is increasingly moving towards diversity. As a result, organisations must bring diversity and inclusion for attraction of the best human talent and in development of organisational mindset that will be successful in a global environment. In fact, organisations are losing when leaders are not responding to realities of the present diverse and global environment. It has been argued that leadership is not the same as management. Yukl (2008) argued that leadership does not depend on title, position or privilege like management. Instead, it is a set of skills that is observed, understood and learned and anyone can master them so long as they are willing to put effort and time in learning them. Leadership is dynamic as circumstances force an individual to create a solution to the prevailing situation and communicate it to others. It is ability of influencing others through setting of an inspiring example (Prewitt, Weil & McClure, 2011). An example that is set here is that gives people motivation in pursuing goals for organisational benefit. Typically, as Prewitt et al., (2011, p. 13) assert it, leadership involve creation of vision concerning the future of the organisation, devising a strategy to achieve it, and communicating the vision to all organisational members. Leaders must ensure that the vision communicated is clear so that every individual in the organisation are able to understand it. One of the significant challenge that organisations faces today is globalisation. It is not a recent phenomenon having started as people started moving across their national and geographical boundaries (Hernez-Broome & Hughes, 2004). Early expeditions of trade led to development of trade by linking the participating nations. The growth in global trade has been heightened by unprecedented growth in technology and infrastructural transportation. Technology has been a big influencer of globalisation as it has power to process and transmit information across the world in a very little time. Flexible forms of organisations that operate 24 hours a day has been on the rise hence further driving globalisation. Multinational corporations have increased and they sell their products to worldwide consumers. Raw materials, technology and workforce are being moved swiftly across regional and national boundaries. As a result, there is integration of economies, laws, social movements, and cultures at international level (Harris, 2000). Complexities are bound to occur due to this integration as the world is disengaged physically through the use of online means for conducting trade. Increase of globalised economies has positive, negative, direct and indirect impacts on all levels of the society. Organisational leaders have been presented leaders with numerous challenges by globalisation. It has allowed increase communication, access to infrastructure and greater transportation speed. This has made it possible for more mobile, diverse and cosmopolitan population as well as workforce all over the world. Due to this, leaders are faced with various challenges. In a multicultural setting, organisations must strive to achieve leadership diversity. Leadership positions should have an element of cultural mix and status of one’s job has no correlation to his or her background. Biases need to be eliminated in the organisation and leadership should be tailored towards minimisation of intergroup conflict. In this case, leaders are required to ensure that all members in the organisation are aware of the issues that are culturally sensitive. Furthermore, Harris (2000) asserted that today’s leaders have the challenge of creating new models for managing organisational systems. In order to achieve this, they must recognise each individual contribution and become more innovative for effective working of the entire organisation. The competition from foreign countries and the need of conducting overseas trade in a more effective way are forcing organisational leaders to have a global minded and be more culturally sensitive. The world is more interconnected than ever before with access to different parts of the globe being easier and faster. As a result, globalisation breeds complexity to how leadership is carried out. Shifting of competition bases, innovation drive, and boundary spanning are some of the factors contributing to increase of complexity of challenges in organisations as identified by various leaders in the research conducted by Martin (2007, p. 5). A leader must achieve the desired results through innovation, teamwork and collaboration. Integrating all these factors is a difficult challenge to leaders in the organisations as they are the vocal point of the organisation. Multitude of standards has developed that governs business behaviour due to increased globalization (Saner, 2001). Leaders are required to know the legal and business conditions of different countries. Industry standards are increasingly being defined by intergovernmental and multilateral organisations that are becoming a mandatory framework conditions required of global companies at places where they might undertake their operations. Leadership has changed in the globalisation era. Global leaders are managing businesses but have no necessary technical know-how on how management of non-business stakeholders need to be undertaken (Saner, 2001). There is an urgent need for leaders to learn how to undertake management in complex political-economic environments. Failing to cope with issues that are not related to business has the ability of easily leading to organisational crises, missed business opportunities or open conflicts. Faced with these challenges, global leaders are requiring business competencies that most of them do not possess. These competencies are needed in dealing with various pressures from domestic and foreign groups, foreign country interests or international conflict demand (Saner, 2001). Furthermore, leaders are required to know how to conceive business strategies globally and undertaking business internationally. Globalisation is a trend that seems to overwhelmed many organisational leaders. Global organisations are interconnected which is amplifying the pace of changes and flexibility ideas are becoming imperative in global leadership competencies. Prewitt et al., (2011) contend that with no flexibility, an organisational leader cannot change and steer the organisation towards the future. A leader should possess some specific skills, abilities and knowledge in order to lead across cultural divide. Relationship competence is a skill that leaders in a global leadership environment needs. Leadership has changed with leaders having to deal with numerous external set of factors such as managing the organisation interface with trade, political, regulatory and media groups (Hernez-Broome & Hughes, 2004). Steve Jobs Leadership and Communication Styles Entrepreneurship is part of human characteristic and entrepreneurs exhibit some typical characteristics. They are passionately in search of new opportunities; pursue identified opportunity with focus and discipline; focuses on action and execution; and exploits resources and expertise of other people through energized networks of relationship (Bessant & Tidd, 2008). One such great entrepreneur is Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs is credited for revolutionizing personal computer industry through his great innovations such as Apple I and II in 1970s at Apple Computers Inc. The innovations created by Jobs were as a result of his visionary entrepreneurial skills, great leadership and communication styles, and the love for computers. Steve Jobs entrepreneurship skills in gadgetry and electronics can be traced back to his early high school days when he requested Hewlett-Packard Company co-founder and President to assist him the electronic parts he needed for a school project. Hewlett was impressed by Jobs enthusiasm and he obliged to his request by giving him the parts but he also offered him summer internship at the Company. During the internship, Jobs met and became friends with Steve Wozniak who he later co-founded Apple company together. Steve Wozniak was an engineer and he was five years older than Jobs. Jobs graduated from high school and he was enrolled in Reed College where he dropped out after he was fascinated by Eastern spiritualism. This fascination of Jobs about Eastern spiritualism drove him to take a part-time job at Atari Company where he designs video games in order to get the necessary finance to study Eastern religion and culture In India (Letaifa & Rabeau, 2013). Steve Jobs was to return later to United States of America where friendship with Wozniak was renewed. At this time, Wozniak was attempting to build and assemble a small computer. The computer to be built by Wozniak was not to be commercialized but was just a hobby to him. Jobs visionary traits came into play here when he convinced his friend that he could market the product. At 20 years old, Jobs and Wozniak embarked on setting up a shop in 1975 at Jobs parents’ garage. He form business partnership with Wozniak and named the venture Apple. Jobs and Wozniak later showcased their product at the club where they were both members called Homebrew Computer Club which was located in California, Palo Alto. It was a marketing strategy for Jobs to showcase their innovation to the club members and it turned out to be a successful strategy. The Apple computers innovation by Jobs was successful because of many factors. The Apple computers innovations we have today are owed to a large extent to Jobs passion and his visionary abilities (Galindo & Mendez, 2013). Jobs vision when he co-founded Apple Company with Wozniak was to enable people to have affordable personal computer. In 1979, Jobs saw demonstration of graphic user interface at Xerox research facility in California and took the opportunity by turning the crude graphic interface into an appealing technology to people by creating Macintosh computers. The facility did not realize the potential of what they were displaying but Jobs was visionary and exploited the opportunity in what became one of his greatest innovations by changing how people interact with computers (Okpara, 2007). Apple Computers innovations were first of their kind and Jobs did not replicate what was in the market. Jobs innovations were and still characterized by distinctive features. He was a transformational leader. Jobs Apple personal computers innovations success can be attributed to the company’s exceptional customer relationship. Jobs hired people who were both passionate and loved what they were doing and in turn will offer support to customers about every facet of Apple products. Apple computers innovations succeeded as a result of commitment and love for computers by the innovators. Jobs dropped out of school to pursue what he enjoy doing in electronics. Apple I computer was made out of this passion for electronics. Innovations made by Jobs such as Apple I, II, and III are distinctive to others and value was always added to new brands. He was a leader who regarded value of a product as very important. Apple II personal computer had graphic colors which Apple I did not have and this clearly shows that Jobs innovations became successful because value was always added to a product. Jobs personal characteristics and Leadership Styles Entrepreneurs and innovators are people who have unique characteristics that drive them to success. Steve Jobs is one of such individuals. He is regarded as one of the greatest innovators and entrepreneurs that brought revolution to the personal computer industry. One of the Jobs characteristics that made him successful is his talent of aligning himself with people who had great talents that would eventually turn imagined products into reality (Lazonick, Mazzucato, & Tulum, 2013). Steve Jobs befriended Wozniak who had a great talent in electronics and convinced him to make the first personal computer, Apple I. Jobs had no knowledge in electronics but he was a great marketer. In 1978, Jobs identified great talent in Jef Raskin, who was a computer scientist. Earlier in 1967, Raskin had identified graphic user interface as a potential replacement for text in computers operating systems which he authored in his PhD dissertation. Steve Jobs offered him the opportunity to implement his idea by working at Apple Company. Steve Jobs was a great marketer who saw opportunities where others did not see. This is one of the characteristics of an entrepreneur. In 1970s, there was a gap in personal computer industry and Jobs saw the need to develop a gadget that will impress the masses. His marketing skills is exhibited when he convinced his partner Wozniak to demonstrate their new innovation Apple I personal computer to their Homebrew Computer Club members. Jobs managed to sell 100 parts of Apple I computers to the only computer shop owner in his neighborhood during this meeting (Ko & Butler, 2007). Steve Jobs had the ability of taking calculated risk. In 1970s when Jobs began his innovation at Apple Company, personal computers were gaining popularity owed to a large extent to the Windows Operating Systems standardized user friendliness. Steve Jobs was able to grab the opportunity to innovate the operating systems. He took calculated risk by adding small attractive designs and features to Microsoft products which gained popularity. Microsoft was the leader at the time in operating systems but Jobs Apple computers innovative ideas and designs has since saw Apple become the number one leader in Computers Operating Systems in the market (Lazonick et al., 2013). Flexibility and ability to adapt to a given situation characterized the life of Steve Jobs at Apple Company. He was fired in 1985 from the company he co-founded but he was able to adapt and started NeXT Computer. In conclusion, increased globalisation has changed how leadership is managed and carried out. The changing global environment is changing the leadership style of many leaders in the organisations as it is stimulating the transformation of corporations. A set of new leadership skills are required for such transformations to take place. A successful leader in this global era is the one that encourages its followers, recognise diversity and promotes leadership development (Prewitt et al., 2011). Individuals assuming global leadership in the 21st century must have creative and innovative skills, motivate, communicate, and practice continuous learning. Globalisation is further complicating the complexity of leading in organisations. It is no more valid to be a heroic leader as changes in the world necessitates new kind of thinking and leadership. 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