Organizational Leadership and Performance, Definition of Leadership and Globalization - Literature review Example

Organizational Leadership and Performance Name Course Tutor Date Organizational Leadership and Performance Introduction Business leaders have several issues to contend with in the 21st century. As the century unfolds, globalization is increasing greatly, and technology advancing rapidly (James, 2005, p.194). Such factors have led to increase of businesses crossing borders to look for new markets. Ships and planes are crossing borders to ferry exports to new markets, while people are moving to new countries to work. Pease (2008) contends that in the process, different cultures meet and interact and exchange ideas. It is not easy as it sounds, because managers are compelled to face challenges of political, social and economic risks of new markets. This is just a demonstration of how leadership has changed from managing a business in one country to managing business in many countries (Pease, 2008). Therefore, this essay discusses the way that leadership has changed within the context of a globalized environment, over time. The essay will profile the leadership and communication styles of a global environment, and use Mark Elliot Zuckerberg and Bill gates as some of the most admired to provide a true picture of global leadership. To put this discussion into perspective, this discussion will define both leadership and globalization. Definition of leadership and Globalization Since the start of human existence, leadership has remained a major topic for social and political theorists (Ruggieri, 2009, p.1018). Nonetheless, the subject stands out as one of the discussed and least understood issues even today. With more than 350 definitions, there is only one acceptable definition of leadership. Wright (2007) holds that this definition encompasses fundamental components of the term “leadership” and holds that leadership is the social influences a person have over the other which include support and aid to realize a common goal. Research on leadership have resulted to theories taking dealing with traits, situational relations, behavior, vision, charisma, intelligence and function among others. According to van Eeden, Cilliers & van Deventer (2008, p.257), a key fundamental basis for studying of leadership is because it holds that leadership enhances performance of an organization, and actions and influence of leaders build a change climate in organizations. Today, outstanding and most admired business managers are regarded as great leaders. This is why leadership definition is sometimes synonymous with that of ‘management’. It is in this context that Mark Elliot Zuckerberg and Bill gates are considered great leaders. James (2005, p.196) defines globalization as the process of worldwide integration, emerging from the exchange of views, ideas, products and other cultural aspects. In the globalized, societies are grappling with how to reconcile its prehistoric and new cultures so as to make the world speak with volume. Mark Elliot Zuckerberg leadership Zuckerberg remains an iconic figure in the business circles. Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American internet entrepreneur and computer programmer born in 1984 (Pilkington, 2011). Currently, he is renowned for popular and leading social networking site; Facebook Inc. Hi is the founder and CEO. In 2014, Forbes magazine ranked Zuckerberg as the youngest billionaire with personal wealth approximated at $33.1 billion (Forbes, 2014). According to Antonas (2009), his high risk taking tactics, charismatic persona, amazing business acumen and other traits and skills have made him one of the most admired leaders globally. According to Jasmine (2010), Time magazine has several times ranked Mark Zuckerberg amongst most influential and top 100 richest people globally from 2010. The title “most influential” is enough to warrant Mark Zuckerberg as an effective leader in the business arena. An important attribute of a leader is a trait which he can use to shape his or her leadership style to improve the performance of an organization (Daft, 2007). Traits influence behavior and attitude. His traits and attitude towards technology has made him one of the transformational leaders today. Some of the traits that are admired from Zuckerberg are conscientiousness and openness to experience. His conscientious nature has made to seek challenge and solve problems for achievement. One the other hand, openness to experience has made him willing to make change, attempt new ideas, be creative and have a wide range of interests. Antonas (2009) posits that his creativity earlier in school laid a foundation to get and grow in the field of information technology. This confirms the truth of the old saying claiming that “a person’s personality when three years of age can actually be his fate later in life” (Antonas, 2009). As a transformational leader, Zuckerberg is wanted to eliminate status quo by bringing revolutionary changes in the social networking world. This is confirmed by interest written in his Facebook page. The page list openness and revolutions have some of his interests. Antonas (2009) argues that His aspiration to change the technological world started in high school, Phillips Exeter Academy, when he created a student social site where students interacted. This is what he perfected in College to become the most popular site called Facebook. Wright (2007) portrayed transformational leadership which devotes itself to serving for the welfare of others and beyond self-interest. Zuckerberg typifies this leadership by creating Facebook which has a worldwide presence and help people across the world to interact, share ideas and conduct business (Fowler, 2012). Just most of the transformational leaders, Mark Zuckerberg has been revolutionary, take risks and attempt to mold ideas into opportunities. According to van Eeden, Cilliers & van Deventer (2008, p.259), transformational leaders normally convey a vision aligned with long term goals, just like that of Facebook which is to continue connecting people across the world since 2004. Over the years, other networking sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter and other sites have come up. Due to such competition, Mark Zuckerberg has always focused on innovation to make Facebook a long lasting project and gain a competitive edge in the market (Fowler, 2012). Changes made to Facebook led by Zuckerberg have made it popular in based on its consumers and revenue. Also, he has prepared his company’s workforce for the contingencies which arises in ever-changing environment. In 2014, the competition saw Zuckerberg buy rapidly growing social networking site WhatsApp to suppress such competition (Reed, Douglas & Evelyn, 2014). After the death of Steve Jobs, Zuckerberg has been considered as the new Jobs due to the fact that he too had the same traits and life experiences. For instance, just like Jobs, Mark created his business at the age of twenty years. Also like Jobs created Apple in a garage, Zuckerberg Mark created Facebook in a dormitory in Harvard (Womack, 2011). Unknown to people, he also listened to other business influential leaders on how to transform his business. Womack (2011) reported that in an interview in 2011 with PBS following the demise of Jobs, he claimed that Jobs suggested him how to build a sustainable management team which focus on high quality. Ruggieri (2009, p.1019) believes transformational leadership is built on the premise of employee motivation and involvement, creating teamwork and recognizing the contribution of employees. People think that being open to opinions from his workforce is Zuckerberg’s weaknesses, yet this has helped define the culture of the company. Being open to employees, grant them a chance to talk to him on ideas and improvement for Facebook Inc. Also, Mark Zuckerberg conducts a question and answer meeting for Facebook workforce for one hour each Friday (Vargas, 2010). He is also admired for interpersonal role across the world by giving public speeches in business forums and conferences. As such, he is considered as a leader who loves debates through challenges. Globalization and Communication style in leaders Globalization and new market has made leaders to be articulate and convincing, so as to create brand awareness (James, 2005, p.195). Globalization has also made leadership, in particular to cross borders to talk to the consumer. Across the borders, there is new lingos and how communication is conducted to achieve a desired goal. Barrett (2006, p.391) maintains that business leaders need effective communication more than before because most businesses now operate globally, and they interact on a daily basis with other business leaders and employees from different nations. Inter-cultural communication needs being aware other culture lest you pronounce what is offensive in other cultures. Fowler (2012) explains that Zuckerberg has mastered the art of communication and has severally called upon to give a speech about leadership and business. Such forums provide an opportunity to improve as a leader, gauge his brand strength and continue marketing Facebook. Based on influence, communication and other skills, Mark Zuckerberg was the keynote speaker in Barcelona during the 2014 Mobile World Congress (MWC) which took place in March 2012 and where 75,000 delegates were in attendance (Grundberg, 2014). According to Gregory (2014), his speech was an expansion on the objective which he expressed during the TechCrunch forum in 2013, in which articulated his desire to expand coverage of internet and social networking into developing nations. Barrett (2006, p.385) contends that his consistency in his communication skills portrays him as an effective leader. Consistency demonstrates long term goals that a leader would like to bring into his organization. Communication skills are very important in articulating shared goals and negotiating deals and creating partnerships Barrett (2006, p.387). Within the global environment, communication and negotiations expectation and style and normally change depending which countries of the parties. Knowledge of different cultures increases efficiency and effectiveness of communication and negotiations. One case can be when there is a negotiation between an American and a Chinese. A negotiator from the US would require the signing of the contract straight away, while Chinese citizen would want to have more time engaging in non-business functions, hospitality and creation of a strong relationship before an agreement is made (Barrett, 2006, p.387). The negotiation for takeover of WhatsApp by Facebook did not take long because the founders of WhatsApp are from America just like Zuckerberg (Reed, Douglas & Evelyn, 2014). Zuckerberg’s focus on communication has improved his skills a great deal. This manifested itself when interviewed in 2012 by D8 conference organized by Wall Street Journal. Appearing on the interview together with Facebook Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg, he showed improvement through the directness in his answers, active facial expressions, eye contact, stronger vocal articulateness and calmer pacing (Johansson, Miller & Hamrin, 2014, p.147). Communication skills should also be displayed in product manufacturing and marketing. Ethical communication in marketing determines the success of the company. Vargas (2010) postulates that even though Facebook have been accused of being strict on what people update on their status, the company has implemented urging its consumers to report abusive and discriminatory updates. How leadership has changed within the context of a globalized environment, over time With increase in competition in the business environment, organization is forced to look for new markets to increase their customer base and improve their profits (Pease, 2008). In the process, different cultures interacts and business ideas are exchanged. In some instance, cultural diversities have resulted in tension between employees from different cultural background who are working together on an international stage. Such difference which has caused tension are described by different scholars such as Hofstede, Edgar Schein, Deal and Kennedy, and Charles Handy among others. It is important to look closely Hofstede’s Dimension of culture and how various components of this dimension can cause tension among the workforce in a globalized environment in relation to changing leadership and globalization. The Components of Hofstede’s Dimension of culture which cause tension include individualism versus collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity–femininity and Long-term orientation (Soares, Farhangmehr & Shoham, 2006, p.279). As a company which operates worldwide, Facebook Inc., cuts across all cultures hence it must be conscious on how it handles cultural issues. Womack (2011) holds that by 2011, Facebook Inc. had already employed more than 7,000 people to work in its offices across 15 nations. In some countries, employees are inclined in individualism as opposed to collectivism. For instance, in the US where Facebook Headquarters is located, are known for the culture of individualism in the workplace more so in technology companies. On the other hand, people from Eastern countries have high collectivism orientation (Soares, Farhangmehr & Shoham, 2006, p.278). This means if Facebook ferry programmers from the East to work in the headquarters in California, they are likely to be lonely and perceive American citizens as cold. As a result, they will have low morale for work, and may resign to go back to their country. US Citizens can easily work in UK which rates very high in individualism. According to Soares, Farhangmehr & Shoham (2006, p.279) on power distance front, US citizens who forms a largest group in Facebook scores lowly in power distance, while South Koreans scores highly in power distance. This implies that US Citizens are motivated when they are close to the power. In that case, organizational structure must not be tall so as to make be able to close to their managers. Being close to power enable US workforce to express their opinions and be involved in decision making (Graetz & Smith, 2010, p.137). Hence, they feel valued and motivated when their contribution is recognized. On the contrary, Korean organizational culture considers that in society and at work, people are not equal, so they do not bother being close to power. For that reason, US citizen sent to work in Facebook offices in Seoul, South Korea may feel not listened thus not valued. It is such perspectives that have compelled Bill Gates to change his leadership style so as to fit and be effective within the globalized environment. How Bill Gates has had to change leadership style so as to be effective globally Lesinski (2008) describes Bill Gates is a business tycoon, computer programmer, inventor, investor and philanthropist. Bills Gates is one of the admired leaders in the technology sector as a founder, former chairman and CEO Microsoft Corporation. Under his leadership he steered Microsoft to a greater height to the leading manufacturer of personal-computer software (Heller, 2000). His need for achievement has driven him to the top rich list. He has been consistently rated as the wealthiest person in the world by Forbes magazine (Forbes, 2014). Gates is best admired for leaving a mark in the technology industry as one of the entrepreneurs in the revolution of the personal computer. In most cases Gates has been regarded as an entrepreneurial leader who spots the opportunity take the risk to mold to its perfection. His curiosity for technology made him drop out of Harvard University to concentrate on developing of software. He founded Microsoft in 1975 and, under his leadership it has grown to an international company with up to 128,076 people in 2014 (Microsoft, 2014). Competition in the software and technology market has made him to change his leadership style to suit the global environment. He has had to abandon old styles of leadership which were fronted by Max Weber and Fayol’s to adopt more relevant styles. In the past, Gates adopted Fayol’s 14 principles of management to lead Microsoft workforce. Elements of this principle include division of work, authority, discipline, unity of command, unity of direction, subordination of individual interests to the general interests and remuneration. Others include centralization, scalar chain, order, equity, stability of tenure of personnel, initiative and espirit de corps (Pryor & Taneja, 2010, p.490). He had been known to be autocratic leader and embraced American culture which is known for its promotion of division of labor among individuals, hence resulting to individualism. Under his leadership, work used to be divided amongst individuals to make sure that everybody pays attention to his project (Parker & Ritson, 2005, p.183). This culture made workforce to work longer on one project thus causing delay in launching of a new product in the market. With time he had to change to adopt team setting which ensure ideas are achieved. Team environment also improves the pace and accuracy of projects. Ruggieri (2009, p.1020) claims that team setting enables members to be adapted to brainstorming issues, and the organization gains from several suggestions which arise from these teams. Gates likes Fayol’s, believes in total authority. Autocratic leaders prefer taking control of the organization and even meeting. Actual narration of the meetings depicts Gates as verbally confrontational, scolding managers for the alleged gaps in business proposals or approaches which put Microsoft long term goals at risk (Heller, 2000). Some management and leadership experts see the strong criticisms and shouting at managers as disrespectful and have no chance in the current business world. Discipline expressed in the principle of Fayol does not mean shouting and scolding junior managers as way of discipline. In an organization where both top management and lower level staff are disciple and respect each other and their work, people work with a common goal of improving the performance (Brunsson 2008, p.36). Presently, many US organizations, especially one belonging in Technology industry such as Dell, Samsung, Apple and HP among others pay less authoritarian boss in management of employees, and many practices employee involvement and group empowerment while making decisions. Research reveals that in companies where participative management is encouraged, employees feel motivated and valued (Parker & Ritson, 2005, p.179). Fayol also claimed that for an organization to be effective, power must be centralized at the top (Rodrigues, 2001, p.883). This is the route that Gates followed after Microsoft establishment in 1975. Business leaders led by Sir Richard Branson and Mark Zuckerberg among others are finding this concept to autocratic rendering middle level managers powerless as far as making decisions are concerned. Glenn (2008) posits that Gates needed much control and power; a condition which made him to relieve off Steve Ballmer some duties who was ranked number two in the command structure. The organization structure of Microsoft centralized the power at the top (Lesinski, 2008). Pryor & Taneja (2010, p.491) contend that centralization denies the middle level capacity to make decisions, and such situation they perceived themselves as powerless and less valued people. Microsoft has had a very rigid organization culture which is deeply aligned with the old form of management which may not be relevant today. In fact, the company corporate culture has been criticized limiting change and monopolistic. Globalization, interaction of cultures and increase in competition has made Microsoft Corporation management to reinvent their leadership style to be more of participative to reduce employees’ turnover (The Economist, 2008). New style of leadership may work best because Bill Gates has since stepped down from management to work as Microsoft technology advisor. The Economist (2008) states that as the changes take place in a global environment, Microsoft Corporation leaders will be compelled to use contingency theory to remain competitive within the market. The theory hypothesizes that there no one suitable method of leading since the internal and external forces needs a leader who can settle in different situation. Such change is represented in the mind map below (figure 1). Division of work Authority Centralization Autocratic leadership Participatory leadership Teamwork Employee Involvement Decentralization Figure 1: Mind map of Organization change at Microsoft Corporation Conclusion The research is a reflection of earlier styles and how it has changed over time. Number of businesses in the technology market offering similar products has increased greatly; this has made organization look for new markets all over the world. Cultural diversities, political set up and social orientation has seen many companies struggling to penetrate the markets and increase profits (Daft, 2007). Leaders have had to send researchers to conduct market research on the fundamental culture, language and needs so as to make products which satisfy the market needs. This is an indication that modern leaders can never rely on old forms of leadership which are complex and authoritarian in nature. Fayol’s 14 principles, including centralization, division of work and authority are no longer relevant despite shaping up management. Hence, this research concludes that leaders must stay informed and know which leadership style they can use in every situation. References Antonas, S. (2009). Did Mark Zuckerberg's Inspiration for Facebook Come Before Harvard? ReadWrite Social. 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Retrieved from https://sp.eths.k12.il.us/wilburnm/PMLA/PMLA%20Class%20of%202014/Unit%20Information/Leadership%20101/%28Team%201%20and%205%29%20Transformative%20Transactional%20Laissez%20Faire.pdf Wright, P.J. (2007). Effective leadership: An analysis of the relationship between Transformational leadership and organizational climate. Doctoral dissertation, Capella University. Proquest Information and Learning Company (UMI No.3264296). Womack, B. (2011). Facebook’s Zuckerberg Says Steve Jobs Advised on Company Focus, Management. Retrieved on 25th September 2014 from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-07/facebook-s-zuckerberg-says-steve-jobs-advised-on-company-focus-management.html Read More