Leadership across the Organisation - Assignment Example

LEADERSHIP ACROSS THE ORGANISATION Provide Leadership Across the Organisation Customer Inserts His/her Name Customer Inserts Grade Course Customer Inserts Tutor’s Name 07/05/13 Provide Leadership Across The Organisation. Q. 1. The late Hayek was the proprietor of the Swatch, a Swiss company that makes watches that are sold all over the world (Lander & Ferry 1994). Hayek made the most famous comebacks in business world. Nicholas Hayek employed a classical method of leadership that is the autocratic way of leadership. In this type of leadership, the leader has most of the power and makes most of the decisions and influence. An autocratic leader will not seek the opinion of the staff and they are expected to follow directions from the boss without questioning their decisions. This style of leadership enables his Swatch Company to be successful in the watch market as he was able to compete with his Japanese competitors such as Seiko. This style of leadership is efficient especially in effective supervision presented through directives. It is also important in giving staff roles in particular when there are processes to be followed. This for instance can be seen in the case of Swatch where Hayek used his skill to transform the company into a world watch maker. This leadership style is also imperative in making swift decisions and when there are activities to be synchronized between departments in an organization (Lepore 2012). Even though the autocratic type of leadership has its strengths, it also has its own shortcomings. This method of leadership does not go well with staff specifically because their opinions are not taken into account by the management and this can be un-motivating to the employees. The staff contribution that may sometimes be very important may be dismissed and this can lead to loss of great ideas that could have been contributed by staff. This approach means that the employees are distrusted by the company. This method employs coercion and castigation to induce the employees of a company. Hence this approach may not work well in all organizations as the staff may not be motivated because the company does not seek their points of view in major decisions of the company. Q. 2. Through his leadership skills and business knowledge, Hayek came up with strategies that enabled Swatch to become a recognized watch company in the world. Hayek came up with a new watch model that would compete with Japanese models in the market. The watch that Hayek designed had a low-cost production unlike Japanese models. This was majorly because the new watches had plastic and fewer parts than those of their competitors hence it was cheaper to produce them. Hayek also employed his communication and marketing skills in ensuring that his products regained a huge market share that had been lost before. He used celebrities to endorse his products and put in place an aggressive marketing campaign. With all this moves the company gained a lot in terms of profitability in Europe and in the United States as their brands became a household name (Moran 2011). As can be seen in the case of Swatch, the leadership in place is very important in determining the capabilities of the company. Companies that have got the right leadership are in a position to hasten important company projects and make important revolutions in an industry and worldwide. An effective leadership style is imperative in identifying problems and coming up with the solutions to solve them and also identify the opportunities in the market. The leadership method in the organization is indispensable as the leader is tasked with ensuring capacity building in the organization and process. The leadership style is reflected by the company’s profitability because the better the leadership style the higher the profitability of the company. The leaders in the company are the drivers of change and this can be best seen in situation of the Swatch Company. The leader in the company plays an imperative role in inculcating the culture of the organization to the workers. The leaders promote teamwork in the company and ensure that they promote the team-spirit in the organization. Through the leadership of Hayek, the company transformed from a loss-making company into a major watch maker in the market and all over the world (Kim 2006). Q. 3. According to Reitz, Carr and Blass (2007), uncertainty is the inbuilt condition of nature that encompasses the culture of the organization and how it communicates. With the dynamism of the business environment there are bound to be changes in the business world and this calls for leaders and managers to make major decisions. All these bring about uncertainties and ambiguities’ in the company and the leaders have to deal with. Fast transformations in the company’s environment need inventive, innovative and reactions. Leaders are supposed to have the ability to assist the teams in the organization to understand the alterations in the company and the experiences that they go through. They should also help the personnel comprehend and work gainfully especially in situations of uncertainty. One important instance that leaders need to look into is economical crises where the leaders are supposed to help the stakeholders of the company to be aware of what is going on in the economy. They can do this by ensuring that the stakeholders are kept abreast with the on-goings in the market and the environment (Reitz, Carr & Blass 2007). Ethics means the desired and suitable ideals and principles pertinent to a human being or the whole community. Ethics has to do with the transparency of persons and their actions. Ethics has the function of showing can be considered as rightful or wrongful (Gustavson 2011). There is an important relationship between ethics and leadership and the role of leaders pertaining their roles. The ethical perspectives on leadership has two dimensions, one is the acts of the leader and their persona. A leader plays the role of influencing the personnel of the company to be ethical. This is because it is the leader that induces the workers to attain a universal aim or objective in the organization. A leader must always have respect for personnel because of their diversity in character. It is the leader in the organization that inculcates a culture of ethics in the company because they are the ones in a position to make the major decisions in the company. Ethical leaders should seek the opinions of staff and also be respectful to their values and beliefs. The subordinates must not be employed as agents to attain individual objectives. This means that what the subordinate say must taken into account and be involved in decision making. Leaders must have servant- leadership. They should be able to value the interests of their stakeholders. They should not be inhuman and should act in a manner that brings the highest gains for most of the people. Justice and fairness should also be practiced in leadership so as to ensure that all are given equitable treatment and biasness should be avoided. A leader should also consider the welfare of the immediate society and strive to make sure that the society benefits from their actions and decisions. The business should assist the society in achieving their goals. Honesty is also an imperative value in ethical leadership as this ensures that leaders are reliable and dependable. Honesty helps a leader to be truthful and ethical hence ensuring that there is no misrepresentation. Q. 4. Every leader must have some characteristics that ensure that their leadership is indeed effective. For one to be successful in leadership they must possess a combination of characteristics that will make them be said to be good leaders. Bodily grooming and physical looks are very important for any leader. They need to be impressive and appealing in their appearance. A leader must be visionary and have pathway to achieve the goals of the organization. The leader should put in place strategies to achieve the aims of the organization and provide for measures in case of deviations. They should have the knowledge to identify challenges and the ability comes up with possible or alternative solutions to a certain situation. Communication skills are also key in leadership as they ensure that the leader passes information in an effective manner especially supervision and transfer of important information. They should make sure that they communicate effectively and in a timely manner (Management Study Guide 2013). Fairness in leadership is also another element that is very important for every leader. Every leader must be fair to all in the organization. The leader should make all decisions basing of factual information and should also be rational in their actions. The leader must have good knowledge of how the organization operates and the roles of all personnel so as to have their loyalty. Leaders need to be responsible and accountable for all their actions and decisions that they make. By embracing self-responsibility a leader is able to inspire the employees to also be responsible and put all their energies in ensuring that the organization achieves its goals and objectives. Leaders should also express a high level of confidence in all their actions in the company to ensure that the workers trust their capabilities and decisions. Leaders need to be humane because they have to interact with people in the day to day operations of the organization. This is important for the leader as they must be compassionate to others in the organization. Finally a leader should be able to understand the position of the staff in the organization. they should be able to put themselves in the shoes of those below them as this ensures there is fairness in the treatment of employees the leader understands their perspective. Challenges faced by staff should be handled professionally and solutions made. This ensures a good relation among the staff of an organization. By employing the above leadership qualities, an organization can managed effectively to ensure success and attainment of organizational objectives. Q. 5. The sector that I wish to work in is the small business industry. The dominant leadership style in this industry is the autocratic kind of leadership. This is because in most small businesses, the owner or the manager makes most of the decisions in the firm. Most of the major decisions in the firm are made by the boss and their decisions are usually final and cannot be questioned by the staff. Any input that is made by the employees is not usually taken into account unlike in larger firms. They are expected to just take orders and they are not supposed to get any explanations. This type of leadership uses rewards and punishments in getting employee commitment. This type of leadership differs from my own style of leadership which is democracy-based. I employ a participative style of leadership in my leadership hence I encourage the input of other people and their position in decision making. This type of leadership assures the staff that they are part and parcel of the organization as they are part of the decision making in the organization. This type of leadership approach is meant to allow all the stakeholders to take part in the decisions that affect how they work. This differs from the authoritarian leadership in most small firms where the owner’s or manager’s decisions are usually final and hence may act as a de-motivation factor to the staff (Yassine n.d). Reference List Gustavson, D 2011, ‘Great Leadership’, Wide - Format Imaging, vol.19, no. 4, p. 6. Kim, S 2006, ‘Great Leadership’, The Wall Street Journal Asia, p. 15 Lander, R & Ferry, J (Director) 1994, Nicolas Hayek: a brief history of Swatch swiss (Video file) North Sydney, BBC Worldwide Limited. Lepore, M 2012, ‘Legends in Learning’, Training, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 32 – 35. Management study Guide. 2013 Qualities of a leader. Available from:< http://www.managementstudyguide.com/qualities_of_a_leader.htm>. [16 May 2013]. Moran, D 2011, ‘Great Leadership’, Leadership Excellence,vol. 28, no. 9, p. 18. Reitz, M, Carr, M & Blass, E 2007, ‘Developing Leaders - Innovative Approaches for Local Government’, The International Journal of Leadership in Public Services, vol. 3, no. 4, p. 56. Yassine, Q n.d., Swatch Group- Nicolas Hayek_s interview swatch-hour.blogspot.com. Available from:. [16 May 2013]. Read More