BMW Company Application of Leadership as a Competitive Edge - Case Study Example

Principle Management Practice Name: Course: Tutor: Institution: Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 1.0 Introduction 4 2.0 SECTION 1: BMW CASE STUDY ANALYSIS 4 2.1 Guiding Principles Case Analysis 4 2.1.1 Stakeholder’s Involvement 5 2.1.2 Team work 6 2.1.3 Ethical Leadership 7 2.2 BMW Leadership Challenges 8 2.2.1 Motivation Practice 8 2.2.2 Planning Practices 9 2.2.3 Evaluation Process 9 3.0 SECTION 2: PERSONAL REFLECTION 10 3.1 Personal Evaluation and Challenges 10 3.1.1 Strength Analysis 11 3.1.2 Weakness Analysis 12 3.2 Action Plan 14 3.2.1 Increased Teams Participation 14 3.2.2 Communication Training 14 4.0 Conclusion 15 References 17 1.0 Introduction With increasing global competition on the international market platform, it has become imperative and important for organisations to apply intangible aspects as their key competitive edges. One such applied case is the application of the leadership approach in the market (Samson and Daft, 2011, p.312). This report develops an analysis of the BMW company application of leadership as a competitive edge. The company has established a wide range of success in the automobile industry, a significant success proportion attributable to its leadership approach and the adherence to the relevant leadership principles and theories in the dynamically changing global automobile industry. Moreover, based on the learnt unit concepts, the report develops a personal leadership traits analysis evaluating both the established personal strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, as a response to the leadership challenges exhibited in the analysis the report develops and showcases an action plan through which I intend to improve on my leadership skills and experience into the future to enhance sustainability, efficiency and ethics in my 2.0 SECTION 1: BMW CASE STUDY ANALYSIS 2.1 Guiding Principles Case Analysis In order to establish an analysis of leadership practices and approaches applied by the BMW Company in its mitigation of challenges, the article developed a review of the organizational mitigation of the 2008 global financial crisis that saw the company registered the highest profitability levels in 2010. This report develops a critical analysis of the applied approaches and principles of management that accounted for the ultimate organizational success. 2.1.1 Stakeholder’s Involvement One f the strategic approaches through which the organization increased its leadership success. Xu, Tjoa and Chaudhry (2008, 1170) discussed on the concept of stakeholders involvement in an organizational operations. On one hand, the study established that stakeholders involve both the internal and external stakeholders in the market. In building on this topic, Glennie and Lodhia (2013, p.53) argued that internal stakeholders involved and included the managers and the organizational employees. On the other hand, the external stakeholders include the suppliers, government and even the competition. In this regard, as Ulrich and Smallwood (2013, p.24) stated, the principles of sustainable leadership dictate on the need for organizational leaders to incorporate all the stakeholders in the market in their strategies and decision making process. On its part, BMW application and inclusion of the employees in the decision making process was partly as a response to the German government regulation for over 50% representation of the employees on the management board. However, the organization applied a sustainable supplier’s inclusion in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. In this regard, the organization offered support both financial and expert and technical to its suppliers to ensure their stability in the market. In addition, the organization liaised with the German government to ensure that the employees were compensated 80% of their fifth day while the organization paid the employees for four days a week to reduce on unemployment. This practice increased the organizational application of the staff retention principle on sustainable leadership. 2.1.2 Team work The sustainable leadership framework classifies the various principles onto three categories on a pyramid. In this regard, the second tier of principle is based on the successful application of the first tier of the guiding leadership principles. One among them is the involvement of employees in an organizational decision making process. A wide range of reviews and strategies have been established. On one hand, De Leeuw, Holweg and Williams (2011, p.437) developed an evaluation on the merging trend of increased organizational decision making process diversification. In this context, a majority of the organisations have evolved and developed to increased decision making decentralization with employee involvement. To this effect, an evaluation developed by Henderson and McAdam (2001, p.463) analyzed on the advantages of the practice. In its analysis, the study established that with decision making decentralization organisations acquired increased employee motivation as well as reduction on organizational programs and projects resistance by the employees. Moreover, a study developed by Selart (2005, p.401) argued that with decision making and strategies formulation decentralization improved on their quality. Therefore, this allows for various employees perceptive inclusion making the strategies and decisions inclusive and applicable across the global markets. This has been the application scenario by the BMW management since the global financial crisis. In this regard, the organization as argued provided for increased decision making decentralization allowed for the ultimate employees participation in the decision making process. As such, this promoted increased and ultimate quality and appropriateness of the developed organizational decisions, contributing to its increased and expansive success despite challenges facing peers such as General motors’ in the global automobile industry. 2.1.3 Ethical Leadership Sustainable leadership as Fluker (2009, p.117) argued, is a synonym to ethical leadership. In this case, Miao, Newman, Yu and Xu (2013, p.646) argued that in order for any leadership to be sustainable it must apply the relevant ethical practices in the process. In a review of evaluating what ethical leadership entails, Mendonca and Kanungo (2006, p.27) argued that current globalization entails the virtual ethics approach through which the leadership perceives the benefits and implications both direct and indirect on both the shot and long term periods. This has been the case with the BMW Company that despite the challenges of the global financial crisis it offered its shareholders dividends. Moreover, the organization focused on long-term gains strategies in the market a move that differentiated this operation from peers in the industry (Gayle, 2011, p.13). As such, instead of focusing on the short term gains, the organization adopted the respective ethical approach of long term gains and prudence and accountability to all the stakeholders besides focusing on return on investments. Based on the above analysis and key principle application by the BMW Company, this evaluation report concludes that the BMW management has since the 2008 global financial crisis applied the sustainable leadership approach and principles in its operations. As such, this report seeks to apply and adopt the developed evaluation to develop a personal reflection of leadership skills. 2.2 BMW Leadership Challenges Despite the exhibited report analysis on the nature and extent of sustainable leadership application by the BMW Company management, this report establishes and develops an argument that the management approach is not fully sustainable. In this regard, the evaluation asserts that there a series of challenges facing the management structure despite its effort to apply the sustainable leadership approach. 2.2.1 Motivation Practice One of the organizational leadership challenges is evident in the review of its motivation system. Rahman, Mondol and Ali (2013, p.52) developed a study evaluating employee motivation. In the analysis, the study argued that employee motivation was directly related to their productivity levels as well as to the overall organizational performance levels. Further, DuBrin (2009, p.375) argued that in employee motivation process, there are a series of motivational theories alternatives. On one hand is the Maslow’s motivation theory. In its review, the Maslow’s theory asserted that employees have differing needs. As such, it argued on the need to motivate them through diverse approaches and systems. In addition, the Herzberg X and Y two factor theory argued that while a section of employees are self motivated and strive to improve their performance, another group must be pushed towards increased performance. Therefore, the theory argues that in order to increase respective employees’ performance and develop relevant motivation programs it should establish the unique needs of its employees. Unfortunately, this was not the scenario with the BMW Company in the post the global financial crisis period. In this regard, the organizational leadership developed the conclusion that all the organizational employees need and motivation was on finances and thus initiated the support program with the government Gayle, 2011, pp.14-15). Therefore, this approach disregarded the need for the organizational staff to increase and improve its overall training and employee support programs. Therefore, this evaluation report establishes that the generalization approach adopted by the BMW Company to motivate it employees was insufficient especially due to its generalization nature in the market. 2.2.2 Planning Practices One of the fundamental principles of a sustainable management is planning. In this regard as Aubry, Sicotte, Drouin, Vidot-Delerue and Besner (2012, p.183) discussed, planning involves the development of appropriate forecasts and strategies through which an organization operates in. As such, planning involves the establishment of laid out plans and systems to ensure eventual operational organizational success. In an evaluation in the implications of lack of proper planning, McAdam and Galloway (2005, p.283) argued that such lack led to increased organizational confusion and eventual funds misappropriation in the market. A case study evaluation of the BMW Company establishes that the organization lacked a strategic employee’s management plan. In this regard, despite the strategic adopted measures to overcome the human resource loss crisis in the post 2008 global financial crisis, the organization lacked appropriate strategic future plans. In this case, it is expected that organisations would have developed relevant HR policies to improve their performance into the future. Thus, this evaluation report establishes that BMW management has a challenge in its planning approach in the market. 2.2.3 Evaluation Process Finally, in the evaluation of the BMW company leadership sustainability approach, the report delved into the concept of evaluation. Barrett and Finch (2014, p.83) described evaluation in management as the strategic approach through which management practices success and failure are evaluated. In this case, the presence of relevant evaluation tools ensures that organizational managements develop the relevant and ideal proactive measures to overcome management challenges in the market. Therefore, Van (2002, p.28) concluded that for any organizational leadership to retain success and effectiveness in the market, it should have proper systems and practices evaluation practices. While developing a strategic evaluation on planning, Aldehayyat and Al Khattab (2013, p.13) recommended that organisations could apply the blue ocean strategy as a management evaluation tool. In this regard, a strategic evaluation of the BMW Company management a discussed in the case study analysis, establishes that the organization does not apply the blue ocean strategy. In this regard, the evaluation article does not list any of the apparent benchmark and evaluation systems adopted by the management to evaluate on the implication and success of the management approach. As such, this report establishes that failure to develop an evaluation process negates the possibility of ethical leadership as the implications are unclear and thus cannot be quantified (Roussel, 2013, p.52). As such, the report lists this as one among the aspects in which the management leadership should be improved to enhance sustainable leadership by the BMW Company management. 3.0 SECTION 2: PERSONAL REFLECTION 3.1 Personal Evaluation and Challenges Based on an evaluation of the BMW sustainable leadership, this evaluation report develops a personal analysis on personal leadership skills. In this regard, this report section explores on my personal leadership skills strength and weaknesses in the market. 3.1.1 Strength Analysis 3.1.1.1 Self control One of my personal strengths as a leader is self control. Rachlin (2000, p.25) argued on the concept of self control. On one hand, the evaluation argued that self control is an imperative leadership aspect. In this case, the evaluation concluded that through the exhibition of self control by leaders, there was the increased instance of reduced work related conflicts. Moreover, McGonigal (2013, p.107) stated that the lack of self control led to poor management and relationships between organizational management stakeholders. A case study of my self control as leaders can be evidenced in a past scenario where I was negotiating for a contract on behalf of my employers. In the process of the negotiation skill, the other negotiating team became hostile and our negotiations almost came to a standstill. However, due to my self control trait, I managed to retain my composure a virtue that enabled successful negotiations conclusion and the eventual acquisition of the contract by my organization. This explanation evidenced the merits and key leadership gains that my self control nature has earned me over the years. 3.1.1.2 Motivation An additional need for sustainable leadership is intrinsic motivation. In this regard, through intrinsic motivation, organizational leaders can successfully execute their mandate and perform the expected tasks with minimal supervision. In an evaluation of the merits of employees self motivation, Cherian and Jacob (2013, p.83) argued that employees with self motivation registered increased productivity levels at reduced administration costs, Therefore, based on this argument, Leonard, Beauvais and Scholl (1999, p.971) evidenced that an employee’s self motivation was a key virtual in the administration and establishment of absolute organizational sustainable leadership success. On my part, I am motivated and influenced to increased performance by the people I lead. In this regard, I seek to showcase their expected performance levels and approaches through active involvement. Through the course process I establish that the drive to create change and the aspect of the desire to achieve quality results has been my major driving motivational force. As such, once my target goals and objectives are set and clearly outlines, I require minimum push and supervision to ensure the execution process. In this regard, instead of benchmarking my performance against others in the market, I strive to benchmark the performance against my own previous and expected performance. As Kim and Mauborgne (2005, p.37) stated, through this application of the blue ocean strategy at an individual level, I am motivated to increase and enhance my overall performance both in the present and into the future. Consequently, the self motivation drive has over the years served as a critical personal leadership success aspect. Through this approach I have increasingly trained and motivated others to improve and perfect their leadership process. 3.1.2 Weakness Analysis Despite my strengths in leadership as the unit has enabled me outline and showcase, the unit has also enabled me evaluate and establish my weaknesses in leadership through a sustainable leadership approach in the market. In this case, key among the identified weaknesses included being authoritative and lack of proper communication skills. 3.1.2.1 Authoritative Mackenzie and Barnes (2007, p.94) discussed on the various aspects and leadership perspectives in the market. In this regard, the evaluation established that among other methods of leadership included authoritarian, democratic and participative leadership. In this regard, the analysis established that each of the leadership approaches have a series of both merits and demerits. However, for the authoritarian management approach, despite the merit of first decision making, it is inapplicable in the modern organizational and leadership contexts. In this regard, the leadership approach is inconsistent with the rising policies and approaches of decentralization through increased employee inclusion in the decision making process, which is on the second tier of the principle of sustainable leadership pyramid (Hargreaves and Fink, 2006, p.83). Therefore, my current style of leadership s increasingly inclined to a centralized decision making process where there is less employees involvement. Consequently, this has served as a major leadership for me in the light of changing organizational management and decision making platforms in the market. 3.1.2.2 Communication Skills An additional organizational sustainable leadership aspect is good communication skills. Leonard and Grobler (2006, p.394) argued that through increased communication skills, managers and leaders develop efficient management structures supplied with understanding and cohesion among the workforce. Therefore, a lack of good communication skills on my part has led to increased misunderstandings and disagreements. Therefore, I single out this challenge as a major weakness through which I should strive and develop a relevant leadership development plan to improve on my communication tools into the future. An example of an instance of communication challenges is the case of my participation in meetings where my opinions are often misunderstood by my peers. 3.2 Action Plan As already discussed in this evaluation report, it is evident that I have leadership challenges with respect to my leadership style as well as based on my poor communication skills. As such, this report section develops a strategic action plan through which I intend to develop and expand on my overall sustainable leadership aspects. In this regard, this evaluation section describes each of the intended improvement actions 3.2.1 Increased Teams Participation As already discussed in the report, my main leadership challenge is my approach. In this regard, I intend to improve and change on my leadership approach into the future (Aspinwall and Elgharib, 2013, p.671). As such, I will focus on increasing my involvement of other stakeholders in the decision making process just as outlined in the leadership success case of the BMW management (Mortimer, 2007, p.28). As such, in order to increase on the overall stakeholders’ involvement in my leadership style, I will seek to engage in increased leadership activities. In this regard, I will ensure that I actively participate in the respective teams. Team dynamics advocate for increased mutual relations as well as equal contribution by all members. Therefore, active participation in the teams will enable me acquire a respect trait for other people’s opinions as well as appreciate the merits of decisions and perceptive among different members. Hopefully, based on the gains of this approach, I will develop a more participative leadership approach thus changing my current authoritative approach. 3.2.2 Communication Training The report further identifies my poor communication skills as a major leadership weakness in the application of vision and systems alignment that is a key principle in sustainable leadership management. In this regard, In order to improve on this weakness I intend to enroll on communication training programs online (Fine, 2008, p.68). In this case, through the programs, that I expect will take at least two learning years, I will acquire and learn the relevant communication skills. In addition, In order to apply the learnt communication skills in the classes, I will employ the skills in the respective teams I have discussed above. As such, through the application of this approach and the learnt skills in the teams will enable me increase my overall skills. 4.0 Conclusion In summary, this report offers an evaluation of the principles of sustainable management. In this regard, the report is divided into two major sections. On one hand, the first section offers a summary review of the leadership approach adopted by the BMW Company management after the 2008 global financial crisis. As such, the section offers a review of both the strengths and the challenges of the adopted leadership approach. In this case, among the strengths included team work and stakeholders involvement. However, the challenges analysis argued on poor planning and evaluation systems as well as generalized motivation programs as key among the process challenges. On the other hand, the second report section offers a personal reflection demonstrating strength and weaknesses as well as improvement action plan. In this regard, the report identified both self control and motivation. On the other hand, a weakness analysis establishes poor communication skills and an authoritarian approach as the key challenges. Consequently, In order to mitigate the challenges, the evaluation report develops an action plan comprising of both team participation and communication skills training as the core strategic approaches to be executed in the next two years. 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