Demonstration of Leadership within the The Rise and Fall of Carly Fiorina by Johnson - Article Example

Student’s Name: Professor’s Name: Subject: Date: How leadership is demonstrated within the article, ‘The Rise and Fall of Carly Fiorina’, Johnson (2008) Introduction Leadership can be defined as a social influence process where an individual enlists the support and aid of others to accomplish a common task. It is a mobilizing process that is reciprocal (Rajendran 2015). A leader always has a certain value and motive. Each person within an organization has actions that influence others. Everyone, therefore, has the ability of contributing (or detracting from) an organization’s leadership. According to Diana, leaders have various political, economic and other resources in a conflict and competition context. That helps them realize goals that are mutually or independently held by both followers and leaders. Leadership is hence measured by effectiveness and success. Leaders are viewed as successful when the people they are striving to influence demonstrate the behaviour that is desired. This essay discusses leadership as demonstrated in the literature and how gender affects leadership (Rajendran 2015). How leadership is displayed in the given article The study examined the former HP Chief Executive Officer Fiorina controversial tenure using the contrast of the ethical leadership (Johnson 2008). Fiorina quickly rose at Lucent Technologies and AT & T though ranks and became a businesswoman that was most powerful in 1999, in the US, when she took the HP helm. The woman prevailed in a fight proxy that was bitter over the emerging of the firm with Compaq Computer. She was however in 2005 abruptly fired. Both the members and the CEO of the board of HP failed as moral managers and persons. This led to the ouster of Fiorina and the subsequent scandal of HP spying. HP moved from being one of the most admirable companies in the world to the public criticism and criminal investigations target. Leadership ethics implications are obtained from HP experience and the leadership construct limitation are identified (Johnson 2008). The first leadership quality that was displayed by Fiorina was the fact that she entered AT & T as a sales manager who was of low level but in no time drew top management attention. Fiorina took on assignments that were tough and quickly became among the greatest sales personnel of her industry. Her forward looking nature made her rise to becoming the North American sales president (Johnson 2008). She played fundamental roles in the spin-off of AT & T of the Technologies of Lucent and was named to head the marketing and sales group of Lucent. Through her leadership qualities, there was a significant dramatic rise in the value of stock and revenue. Fiorina was in 1998, first named the most powerful American executive female of America by the Fortune magazine. Fiorina continued to top the list throughout her HP tenure. Another leadership quality of Fiorina was the confidence she possessed. She was, unlike Lew Platt, a person that shunned attention largely. She was a media savvy that epitomized a celebrity Chief Executive Officer. A celebrity CEO is a bigger-than-life figure that is called upon often to rescue an organization. Fiorina was a source of excitement to the other employees as well as the media (Johnson 2008). The announcement of her hiring was made at a huge press conference. Fiorina took a whirlwind HP tour so as to introduce herself. According to business writers, she had brought new energy to the company and the manner in which she was to take the firm in direction that is knew and badly needed. Fiorina signalled a welcome change according to many employees, and she was a role model to several women. Most leaders are role models of the people they lead or serve therefore Fiorina had the true characteristics of a leader (Johnson 2008). Johnson (2008), states that as a leader, Fiorina did away with the HP Way that was traditionally established by the pioneers of the company. She believed that the major cause of the mediocre performance of the company was the HP Way. Fiorina treated any worker who stood for the HP Way as her opposition. According to her, the company was being jeopardized by the cultural ties that the workers had in the past. As a leader, therefore, she had a conviction to change that by doing whatever it takes for sake of the company. The persons who totally resisted the change were removed. One day Fiorina told a reporter that if a quarter of the HP employees did not want to journey with her, with her new principles then they risked being removed. As a leader, Fiorina particularly instituted three changes that majorly affected the culture of the HP. The first change she made was that she shifted her priority from employee nurturing to financial performance (Johnson 2008). Under her leadership, the primary value included financial results for instance revenue growth and sales and stoke price. When she had first meetings with the top managers, she was observed interrupting a presentation saying that; she needed to make it clear that the managers will make their numbers. That there will not be any excuses. And that if the managers failed to make their numbers, she was going to find someone who could. Fiorina was more concerned with the growth of revenue than the people predeceased her. Fiorina always continued promising increases in revenue and double-digit sales even in 2000-2001 when there was an economic downturn (Johnson 2008). Her second main initiative was to alter the metrics reward of HP. She made a replacement of the profit sharing plan of HP with a program of incentives, providing bonuses to every employee in case HP hit its target. Thirdly, the cultural changes that she imposed had a focus on the structure. Initially, the company operate mainly as an independent business with a focus on sale and development of a particular product. The structure operated units that were smaller in maintaining the person-centred culture of the firm (Johnson 2008). Theoretical perspectives of the characteristics and motives of leaders evident in this literature The Big Five- effective leaders Traits have been depicted in this literature to demonstrate the leadership characteristics of Fiorina (Rajendran 2015). The first theoretical leadership characteristic of an effective leader displayed in literature is that Fiorina demonstrated assurgency. She dominated over her employers and convinced them to support the interests of the organization. She is seen coming up with strategies and principles that she puts forward for the sake of the organization. She had the energy and determination and hence conditions the employees to abide by them lest they risk losing their employment. Another theoretical trait displayed was provision of direction (Rajendran 2014). Fiorina provided directions to the employees. She told them to stop going the HP Way because it was traditional and out dated hence hindered the development of the company. She termed it as mediocre (Rajendran 2015). Fiorina was also seen setting challenging objectives and leading the charge of archiving them. This is a key characteristic of an effective leader. Fiorina always continued promising increases in revenue and double-digit sales even in 2000-2001 when there was an economic downturn. Fiorina was sociable and agreeable hence enjoyed working with those people that abided by her new principles. She therefore encouraged people to worker harder so as to meet the targeted objectives of the organization. Fiorina made a replacement of the profit sharing plan of HP with a program of incentives. She provided bonuses to every employee in case HP hit its target. The other trait that she had was adjustment. She was emotionally stable and had a lot of self-confidence. During some first meeting she had with her managers; she needed to make it clear that the managers will make their numbers. That there will not be any excuses. And that if the managers failed to make their numbers, she was going to find someone who could. That showed a lot of confidence (Johnson 2008). Differences between female and male leaders There are a few differences in terms of the results women and men achieved by leaders. Findings indicate that leadership styles have got very little contribution in terms of the results achieved by leaders (Paustian-Underdahl, S. et al. 2014). If a leadership style of a woman is different from that of a man, yet the results achieved are similar, then it depicts that a leadership style did not have much to do with the result. Glass ceiling is a phenomenon referring to a barrier of discrimination and prejudice that excludes a woman from leadership positions that are top. Formal and informal systems are said to create an impact that is an impediment to the women advancements to the top positions. Studies show that there may be different leadership styles employed by women and men that account for promotion to top positions disparity. Women and men use the same leadership styles (Blickhauser& Bargen 2007). The notion “female advantage” is highly supported in leadership because it is considered that women are more likely compared to men to adopt collaborative as well as empowering leadership styles. On the other hand, men seem to be disadvantaged because their leadership styles tend to involve a number of command-and-control behaviours as well as assertion of power Studies indicate that a number of skills required in lower level supervisor roles are more associated with cognitive skills, for instance, effective communication, critical thinking and participative learning. Therefore, due to the gender neutrality of such skills particularly at the lowest hierarchical levels, it can be argued that a gender advantage may not exist for either men or women as far as leadership effectiveness is concerned (Samantha, Walker & Woehr, 2014, p.1129-1132). Cultural differences have been seen to distinguishable across countries in Europe accounting to the leadership prototypes (Allen 2013). The prototypes are opinions held by followers concerning the ineffective and effective leadership traits. The prototypes predict lack of readiness or readiness to follow a certain leader. Therefore, it is assumed that women, whether as effective as men or not, have traits that never fit the prototype of leadership a follower holds. That gives an explanation, however, partial for the “glass ceiling.” A woman continues to fail to access leadership positions that are powerful as compared to a man despite the changes that dramatically occurred in gender roles in the 20th and 21st centuries. Scholars have suggested that the leadership of a woman is different from that of a man because of a number of reasons. The gender socialization of a woman, the bearing ability, and the bearing consequences, caring responsibilities for family, and their inclination to connect are some the reasons (Allen 2013). Conclusion In conclusion, the difference between female leaders and male leaders is not determined by the leadership styles of the two genders. Both genders use leadership styles that are the same however men get higher ranks and fill to positions and not women. The inequality in leadership comes from the perception the society has put on the women. The structure of the society position women to be more involved with rearing and taking care of families. Bibliography Allen, S., 2013, ‘Gender-Inclusive Leadership: A Dominican Model of Values, Relational Authenticity, and Dominican Presence’, International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, Vol. 3, No. 19, November (2013), pp.9-14. Blickhauser, A. & Bargen, H., 2007, Gender dimensions of leadership behaviour: Fit for Gender Mainstreaming. Retrieved March 23, 2015 from, Johnson, C., 2008, ‘The Rise and Fall of Carly Fiorina: An Ethical Case Study, Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies’, Vol.15, No. 2 (November 2008), pp. 188-196. Kent, T., et al., 2010, ‘Gender Differences and Transformational Leadership Behaviour: Do Both German Men and Women Lead, in the Same Way?’ International Journal of Leadership Studies, Vol. 6, Iss.1, School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship, Regent University. Paustian-Underdahl, S. et al., 2014, ‘Gender and Perceptions of Leadership Effectiveness: A Meta-Analysis of Contextual Moderators’, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 99, pp.1129–1145. Rajendran, D., 2014, ‘Use of Film to elucidate Leadership Effectiveness Models: Understanding Authentic Learning Experiences’, Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, Vol.11, Iss.1, Article 8, pp.1-13. Rajendran, D., 2015, ORG30002 Leadership in Context Lecture 3; Leadership Behaviours, Attitudes & Styles (attached power point). Samantha,C.P & Walker, l.S & Woehr, J.D., 2014, ‘Gender and Perceptions of Leadership Effectiveness: A Meta-Analysis of Contextual Moderators’, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 99, No. 6, 1129–1145. Read More