Leadership And Management Assignment Case Study

Introduction of Leadership And Management Assignment

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In this globalized world, leadership is a necessity. Leadership essentially means leading a certain number of people to achieve aims and goals. It is required to have a platform where the employees can grow and have a fundamental vision about what they want to achieve which in turn benefits an organization as a whole. Thus, criteria might be provided by an organized leader. Leaders ensure the plans and how a business or a company might move. Leadership is required in every aspect of life and enterprises are no exceptions. There are various styles and models in which leadership processes can be divided and evaluated (Nawaz and Khan, 2016). These theories and models conceptualize the heterogeneous qualities and features of leadership found in companies and businesses. Pharmacy 2u is a big online pharmacy company in London. The company has 600000 patients at present in all over England. It was founded by Daniel Lee in 1999 and launched in 2000. The company provides the facility to search medicines online and order them. The company is quite ambitious and has used democratic leadership in their company. The company CEO Mark Livingstone is quite enthusiastic about hiring new and talented employees in his company to provide expertise in this sector. The Financial Times has ranked the company as the fastest-growing company in the health sector. It also has an online appointment service for doctors. So it helps elderly people a lot.

Summary of leadership

Any company-small or big is running on the leaders. So it is very important to understand the importance of the leadership models they follow to investigate the growth or fall of the company. Every company should follow the working knowledge of leadership theories to hire the right kind of people and to make the best team possible to get their job done without any delay. And to understand the whole leadership theory is needed to be understood clearly to improve the management style, and to improve goal-oriented behavior (Northouse, 2021). The leadership styles boost the morale, values, and engagement of the employees, they help to increase the vision of the company, supply appropriate resources, and it motivate the employees. If a company's leadership is perfect, it reduces the tension about the company’s cost and turnover. Strong leaders increase the company's ability to deal with the gaps in the talent pipeline. According to philosopher Plato, a good leader uses his reason and order to rule and the same logic goes for company leadership. The leaders need to be stern and empathetic at the same time to have a strong hold over the employees. If the leaders give an award to their employees for good work, then it will motivate them and the company will grow. Leaders can set a strong example for other bigger companies by creating a strong willpower to work and a strong wish to grow.

Background of leadership

Leaders of a company help the organization to run smoothly without any hassles and their main focus is to save the company from any negative impact. Companies like Tesla, Apple Inc., and Amazon have used different kinds of leadership for the smooth running of their companies.

Tesla's CEO Elon Musk has used Transformational leadership which increases the trust of employees towards the brand, their self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and motivation. Elon musk also uses Transactional Leadership several times through aggressive behavior to win the competitive market with Microsoft and Apple Inc (Case, 2013). Apple CEO Tim Cook uses a Democratic style of leadership which is in sharp contrast to Steve Jobs's Autocratic leadership style (Bhatti et al., 2012). He has emphasized giving importance to higher-level employees' opinions too, before finalizing a decision supported by everyone and as a result in his tenure, Apple has focused to develop its existing products and fostering business along with enriching its employee relationships. And Apple is still running well in the market. Another giant company Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos has followed Autocratic leadership for the company's growth (Bhatti et al., 2012). He emphasized employee turnover and as an autocratic leader, he never gave importance to employees' creative ideas and stuck to his ideas. But despite these, the company has flourished much during his tenure.

Various theories are being used by various leaders to manage the organization, every leader has their own style of leading a group or an organization that might be a success or a failure. According to Ricardo Semler’s Maverick, there must be an elimination of unnecessary layers that are present in the organization and challenges the organization’s old ways of thinking. The similar situation has been observed in the leadership style of Elon Musk, the recently appointed CEO of Twitter. The transformational leadership styles that are adopted by Musk have focused on bringing innovation in twitter and achieving the goals on a larger scale (McClellan, 2022). The strength that has been observed in the transformational leadership of Elon Musk is it helps the employees and the other management to think in an innovative way. Thus, the changes are observed in the social factors such as the employees being able to develop their thought process in an innovative way that helps in making the entire process creative (Manning et al., 2020). The plans that are being made by Musk along with the team are being executed that are helping in making the required changes that are helping the organization to move rapidly in the coming days in future. Similarly, Avin Rabheru has been able to achieve by making some of the strongest decisions like Musk. Thus, the organization has been able to achieve some of the impossible strategies and is one of the successful leaders.

According to Fons Tompennar’s ‘Riding the waves of culture’, it has been mentioned about the transformation that has been brought by the radical changes that has been observed to be bringing about positive changes throughout globe (Hampden-Turner et al., 2020). Similarly, Ronnie Sarkar has been successfully able to make the transformation through his approaches such as there is a clear vision that he has helped the employees to get through his communication about the strategy of SME Capital-Investment. Sarkar does communicate with the employees clearly that helps the employees to understand the strategies that are being followed by the organization. Sarkar has portrayed the courage in changing certain strategies that would be helpful for the employees in executing their decisions in the organization. Similarly, there is an empathetic nature that is in him that helps him in succeeding in every aspect of life regarding the organization. Most importantly, he has the capacity of generating energy among the employees who are able to provide the right solution and work for the development of the organization. Thus, his leadership has been hugely successful in taking the organization to one of the top notches among the other notable organization’s in the world. Thus, transformational leadership is highly acceptable.

According to the Dilemma of leadership by Tudor Rickards, there is a mention of strategic leadership. Strategic leaders help in strengthening the organizational leadership by evaluating the strategies that are followed by them. Thus, they understand the strategies that are followed by the leaders in the organization. Steve Jobs is an example of a strategic leader who has dedicated his life to inspiring and influencing the employees of Apple on the theories that he believes. The courage he has shown towards making this difference has helped in making some of the successful decisions that he has been able to implement. According to Ricards, the book has mentioned that the employees of the organization play the game called” Follow the leader”. Similarly, it has been observed that the employees of Apple follow Jobs like a student follows their teacher. Thus, the leaders are able to execute their decisions smoothly in such cases and the outcomes are always successful for the organization (Richards, 2018). The employees of Apple have been able to work smoothly, as it has been observed that under Jobs' leadership the employees follow him thoroughly. Jobs has a great influence on the professional development of the employees working in Apple. Similarly, Digby Vollarth the CEO of Feast It follows the same leadership styles that has helped the employees to get clear vision regarding the changes that are required to make. Thus, there is always a successful outcome that has been observed in the event planning that are being planned by Vollarath and his team. There are always long term plans that are being made by him that helps the organization in moving towards a particular decision. Thus, the organization has been successfully operating in the heart of the city with some great clients and great deals.

The book Against the odd: An Autobiography by James Dyson has mentioned about the incredible struggle that has been faced by the inventor of bagless vacuum cleaner that operates better than others. Similarly, it has been observed that Jenny Tooth of UK Business Angels Association has been struggling to make the significant difference in the entire fraternity that has been observed. There are certain critical moves that have to be made by Jenny that have helped the organization in making the right choices in terms of implementation of the financial factors. Thus, she has been able to successfully make the required changes that are required in the organization. Jenny has been involving the employees of her organization in the entire decision making process that has helped her in achieving the goals very rapidly. Her democratic leadership styles have helped the organization reach the best positions that were pretty difficult to achieve in very few days. Being the CEO of the finance company, she has involved all the employees in every decision making conference. Thus, there were various outcomes that had been observed in the final outcome. The organization has been able to succeed due to the strategies that have been adopted by Jenny Tooth.

Stakeholders affected

Transformational leadership help employees achieve the high result and this leadership tries to fulfil customer satisfaction and effectiveness. Transformational leadership improves the supply chain as it gives importance to its employees. As the whole system runs smoothly the cash flows in the market and the govt. Gets all its taxes and revenues within the proper time. Transactional leadership helps employees to give their best within certain rules and regulations and there is a possibility to earn the extra reward. But this leadership has a negative impact too as this follows a reward and punishment policy it creates low moral values within the employees.

Autocratic leadership sometimes leads to low moral values, stress, and disinterestedness among employees. But due to the strict rules and regulations, it can flourish a company. But to control a huge company leader often use this technique. Democratic leadership values every employee's decision so it boosts their energy and loyalty toward the company. The suppliers and the customers both feel satisfied doing their business with the company as in this system the company stresses establishing constructive relations between staff and customers. The cash flow and turnovers are good and as a result Govt. gets good revenue from these companies.

Evaluation of the models: 

Transformational leadership: 

This leadership model or theory enables a leader to bring massive changes in their employees and their organisation as a whole. The leaders who are categorised in this model have a greater cause or achievement to fulfil. They want to bring transformation in a particular sector. These leaders built their organisation with trust, solidarity, and ideals like courage, passion, confidence, and a steady mind ready to sacrifice for a cause. They believe creativity, innovation, and teamwork can bring changes and will add value to the company. These leaders also believe in the holistic development of their employees and under them. Leaders who fall in this category are mostly great entrepreneurs who brought a drastic change in society with their aim. They carry a clear image of aims and goals in front of them, and they encourage their employees to grow their full potential (Grint, 2005). Leaders who are considered to be falling under this category are Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple. 

Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple has been categorized as a transformational leader. The CEO had certain qualities which made him a transformational leader with significant success in his company. Jobs was visionary, creative, and innovative with an appreciation of the same in others. Analysts and scholars while analyzing put Jobs as a transformational leader. The model of leadership demands that employees be creative, innovative, and productive with a high level of performance. Steve Jobs and his leadership also advocated for these factors and demanded those from his employees. These demands brought betterment to the company. Teamwork in the company and holistic development of the Apple employees can be seen here inspired by the visionary leader Jobs. Innovation was highlighted in every project of the company which made Apple a large tech company in the whole world. Their constant pressure on innovation, especially from their leader, made Apple achieve its strategic advantage in the market. The tech and mobile industry is transformed by Jobs and his constant unique products. However, through this leadership style, certain issues require proper addressing. Jobs had leadership issues, such as a lack of trust in his employees and being unpopular in teamwork. The model followed here is not without drawbacks as it might bring problems within the company and also for leaders. 

Democratic leadership: 

This leadership style, as its name suggests, creates a democratic environment in the company. The leaders who are categorised here in this theory are democratic, as it implies they tend to share their responsibilities and duties with their employees. Deciding within a company is generally done by leaders. However, in this leadership model, the decision-making process is divided between the leader and their employees. The employees here are given a space in which they are allowed to grow their leadership skills. This is an inclusive style where employees are holistically engaged in the company with their high levels of performance and with a high demand for teamwork (AL Khajeh, 2018). Muhtar Kent, the CEO of Coca-Cola can be categorized as a democratic leader. 

Kent has brought a great deal of freedom to the company of Coca-Cola. Decisions are taken by most of the employees here and everyone takes part in the process of decision-making. The CEO has made the company a diverse place with inclusive policies. Employees came from various backgrounds forming teams. This feature of the democratic leadership model followed by Kent has brought fame to the company. Employees with diverse backgrounds helped the company to achieve insights into the demands across the globe. With a free decision-making platform, it made it easier for Coca-cola to get a solution to issues that require resolvement. As everyone here is a leader, many issues get quicker solutions without delay. However, with this leadership style, Coca-cola has been facing certain issues as well, for instance, with many employees acting as leaders, it delays the process of reaching any goals within a short period. With opinions coming from various sides it's difficult to conclude, rather it has created confusion and system failure within Coca-cola in recent years. 

Practical Implications: 

Bill Gates, the leader of Microsoft has been regarded as a transformational leader. He is visionary, and creative and inspired his employees to be innovative. The practical implications of the transformational model can be found in the example of Bill Gates. He was driven by a strong sense of passion and sacrifice that makes him a great example of a transformational leader. He sacrificed his opportunity to be a student at Harvard and rather took the opportunity of establishing his own company. His being a transformational leader, changed the tech industry as now the world cannot imagine a day without Microsoft and the facilities provided by it. He transformed society in this way. Microsoft since the day of its establishment has sustained its ability to innovate and create various unique products through the joint teamwork of Gates and his employees. However, there are usually drawbacks found in any leader and Bill Gates is no exception here. The leadership style has certain flaws like issues in teamwork. It is at the forefront that Gates is arrogant in the teamwork with his employees which necessarily impacted the work and decision-making process. Heavy focus on the performance of the team and employees at certain times makes it inefficient and this issue is faced by Microsoft under Gates' leadership (Lanaj et al., 2016).

Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple after the death of Steve Jobs has been considered to be a democratic leader. Many analysts have crowned Cook to be the democratic leader of the company which is, according to them, extremely different from the leadership style followed by his predecessor, Jobs. Cook has been following certain elements of democratic leadership, like shared decision-making, and also to provide an overall inclusive arena of work. Cook has focused on employee cooperation with a great deal of emphasis. Previously, decisions were taken solely by the CEO, and now post-Jobs time, employees of the company are joining to take decisions on the behalf of Apple without any issues.  This benefited the company to produce more products that are well-planned and well-discussed. Things are not only coming from a single source now. Innovation in Apple now found a new boost with this style of leadership by Tim Cook. However, with this division of leadership in the company, they face delays to reach conclusions and it has affected the performance of Apple. With a delay in the decision-making process, Apple has been losing certain values of its competitive advantage (Behrendt et al., 2017).

The leadership can fail sometimes. The leaders might fail to provide proper guidance to their employees which will create issues in the company. With its failure, leadership not only misleads the employees, but also jeopardizes the visions, management, strategic arrangements and goals of the company. This failure of the leadership might result in the reputation risk. The company will face the loss of its reputation or name in the industry. Leadership failure will result in a disorganized management in the company, with a reputation risk of the company. With the absence of the leaders, the company might enter a phase of anarchy, with no proper goals the employees must feel de-motivated and this in turn will result in the rise of conflicts and fights within the company. All these issues might result in the reputation risk. 

Conclusion: 

Leadership has been a prime or vital factor in this globalised world. For a business to run, or a company to sustain itself in this competitive world, leadership and skills are required. Leaders with their skills will bring forward changes and transformations that not only will change the business arena but also will carry elements of changes in society. Leadership theories and models help to conceptualise and categorise the qualities of a person. It enables us to understand how to categorise a person in which model of leadership. The theories and the models have features that they share. They also contain features that are contradictory ( Bass and RIggio, 2006). 

Recommendations:

The models have given certain qualities of leaders that they follow, however, the practicality or reality shows that the leaders have drawbacks and flaws. Teamwork, irrespective of the leadership model or theory, must be encouraged by leaders. This encourages a complete engagement of an employee for the benefit of the company. However, in matters of conflict leaders must take a role where they can easily solve the problem. Arrogance from leaders towards the employees is not correct. This recommendation emphasises on the behavioural drawbacks of a leader (Leithwood and Jantzi, 2005). A leader must not completely depend on the decision-making capacity of their team members. He must be a guide to the team members and under him, they will flourish and grow to be great as individuals. Total dependency of the leaders on others might create issues, so they must be independent and strong. Through these recommendations, leaders along with their qualities can do better. 

References

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