Blog 5: My Vision of Leadership

Figure 1 (Google Source)

The Nature of Leadership

There’s a clear distinction on how leadership can be acquired. Most people cultivate it through lifetime experiences by getting involved in activities that require problem solving and leadership applications skills. On the other hand, there are the unique individuals that are born with this virtue with lack of experience but they naturally shine through thanks to their charismatic nature and often influence individuals through their vision of the future. Nevertheless, leadership is something everyone can acquire, whether you are unique or not, you are your own master of a chess game. It is crucial however that future leader imprint a sense of morale in their leadership qualities as they embark into the concrete jungle of the business world. Two models one should take into consideration, firstly is the 4V model which portrays the kind of ethical leader a person should be, secondly is Hofstede 6 dimensions which is understanding people and culture within an organization. Having grasped these two models is already beneficial in the initial stage of the leadership journey.

Figure 2: Malalah Yousafzai (Google Source)

Leadership as a Philosophy

 Leadership at its very core is being able to bring a vision that no one else dares to envision and make it a reality. From a personal perspective, leadership is not a quality, it is a philosophy, which consist of a set of values and belief system that conforms an individual’s vision. Lets step out of the organizational shoes for a moment and look at Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani schoolgirl who wrote an anonymous diary about life under Taliban ruling in North-West Pakistan who got shot in the head but survived because she had a vision of female rights towards education (BBCNews, 2017). The story of her life had the attention from world media and now her life is drastically different from the life she was previously living. It all started with her philosophy of female rights towards education, and everything else from there is history. Back to the subject matter, staying true towards your values and belief system can catapult your sense of vision to inspire a domino effect that can impact the world in ways one may not comprehend. Leadership is therefore a thematic philosophy

Figure 3: Tesla, Solarcity, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk

Elon Musk, A True Leader in Technology

Elon Musk, a person well known for taking exponential risk. From a personal standpoint, an effective leader shows no attachment to personal belongings and goes beyond the dimension of the materialistic world. Here is man who had 200 million USD in cash, invested his last cent into his businesses in 2010 and went broke, stuck in a dilemma to either do a rushed private stock sale or borrow money from friends; he went for the latter (CNBC, 2017). According to Bloomberg billionaire index, Musk is now worth 13 Billion USD. He’s philosophy in “asset rich” and “cash poor” is what differentiate him from most wannabe entrepreneurs and leaders out in the business world. In terms of how he manages the organization, he inspires employees by motivating them to succeed and helping them feel like they are part of a larger team (CNBC, 2017). He also stressed that any managers leading a team should bear in mind to serve their team first by helping them do the best possible job in the company (CNBC, 2017). Based on this statement, Elon’s selflessness attitude towards leadership reflects much of the transformation leadership style, which has brought much success to empire that he has built and is the impeccable reason I perceive him to be an effective leader.

Improving Leadership Through Feedback

Feedback is a fundamental statement for improvement, being able to take criticism and churning it into positive results is how leaders improve themselves. Based on my experience as a Visual Content Developer in Gyrodata international, most of the feedback is in relation to the content that I produce to develop engaging videos and animations for the Oil and Gas industry. Key aspects of feedback such as being creative and thinking out of the box are insights to the strengths that I currently hold and other feedback such as exploring into new technology and new ways to communicate content has inspired me to push into new technology such as virtual reality and augmented reality to create more engaging content for engineers to consume.

Figure 4 (Google Source)

Conclusion

 In conclusion, as I progress through the MBA course, I wish to build on skills such as being able to communicate my vision with confidence and charisma, being able to lead a team and delegating task effectively so the end goal is reached with satisfactory and finally being able to execute concepts and ideas through intellectual research and management skills. There a various ways on achieving these skills but most prominent of them all is to set a behaviour and attitude to participate, engage and contribute in all activities of the MBA course which in effect will lead me to develop these skills.

Word Count: 797

References

BBCNew (2017) Profile: Malala Yousafzai [online] available from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-23241937 [19 November 2017]

CNBC (2017) Musk’s out of cash’ dilemma many business founders love to share [online] available from https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/27/the-crucial-decision-teslas-elon-musk-had-to-make-when-he-was-broke.html [19 November 2017]

CNBCMakeIt (2017) The tactics self-made billionaire Elon Musk use to motivate his teams [online] available from https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/05/2-major-ways-executives-like-elon-musk-are-trying-to-stop-you-from-quitting.html [19 November 2017]

Blog 4: Leadership and change

Figure 1: Buddha Quote (Google Source)

Resistance is part of change and change is part of resistance

Change is an inevitable process in life; it occurs as means of transformation, which could either be good or bad. It is how leaders translate and structure the process that determines the outcome. In a globalized era where change is unavoidable to adapt to environmental needs of an organization, it does not necessary happen due to exterior environment factors such as meeting with competitive market or expanding portfolio. Often change also happens internally to enhance collaborative efforts and work efficiencies. Conflicts may arise in forms of resistance between the people who implement the change and the people who have to adapt to change. Both parties having viewpoints of their own and often deemed as self-beneficiary. So how can a leader or manager use resistance to their advantage to increase productivity and efficiency? To determine a solution for this, one should first understand why does it happen? Resistance usually occurs when members of a team are either comfortable with the habitual routine due to status quo, or the fear of the unknown that welcomes new challenges and skills to be mustered. If resistance were handled in a manner that sparks aggravation, then the result would be disastrous.

Lets examine the role manager’s play when avoiding or overcoming resistance. When a manager avoids resistance, it only makes the change process more difficult and intangible. However if the manager facilitates in problem solving and guidance, then the change process will produce accelerating results. For example, if a manager takes resistance as a form of positive feedback, it can provide them with insights to why the resistance is happening in the first place, it does not necessarily mean that they are resistant and don’t want to comply; it may be because that they foresee the negative implications that can occur when the change takes place. By knowing this, a leader can strategies a win-win solution to accommodate the needs of the organization and the needs of the concerned employees (Ford, 2009: 3).

Figure 2: Becker’s Positive Deviance Model (Google Source)

The Positive Deviance Model

A useful model a manager or leader can to challenge the traditional approach to change is the Positive Deviance Model. As proposed by Pascale and Sternin (2005) the positive deviance model introduces problem-solving approach from the viewpoint of mid or lower level employees. This approach is in contrast from the traditional viewpoints of top managerial levels and urges mid and lower levels to take ownership and accountability in problem identification. This model consists of six steps, first step is to make the group the guru and urges leaders to facilitate employees to step up and take ownership in solving a problem. Second step is reframe through facts, which requires a leader to solve a problem using data as a form of back up to strategies on a solution. The third step is to make it safe to learn, status quo of a person may often resolve to blindness and ignorance due to fear of being subjugated, ridiculed or being exposed. Leaders should encourage employees to embrace the learning curve for a greater good rather than let ignorance disempower them. The fourth step is to make the problem concrete and the center of attention regardless of its sensitive content. Avoiding the issue at hand may constitute to vague solutions, whereas dealing directly with the concrete truth welcomes new ideas in problem solving. The fifth step is to leverage on social proof, the power of social proof is not to be undermined. An employee facing a problem that is viewed to be absurd but is forced to practice it can be detrimental. To counter this, gathering like-minded people facing the same absurd problem can spur about new development and changes. The final step is to confound the immune defence response; this step requires a leader to introduce existing ideas without the use of excessive authority on monitoring. By doing so, employees working together can go beyond the normal conventions and ignite fresh ideas that are often obscured by higher authority due to behavioural ignorance.

Figure 3: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella (Google Source)

CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella believes the driver of change is self accountability and Ownership

Lets look at Microsoft for example as facet of change. Satya Nadella the CEO of Microsoft who stepped in 2014 set out to do two things, first is to maintain what Microsoft is good at which is build new technology, secondly is to get company team’s to work together rather then hold each other hostage (BusinessInsiderMalaysia, 2017). In a interview conducted by the New York Times, a question was raised to Nadella on how is he going to create a unified “One Microsoft Culture”, his response was “recognizing innovation and fostering its growth. It’s not going to come because of an organization chart or the organizational boundaries. Most people have a very strong sense of organizational ownership, but I think what people have to own is an innovation agenda, and everything is shared in terms of the implementation” (NewYorkTimes, 2014). Based on his response, Satya Nadella is a firm believer in stepping outside of organization boundaries as innovations usually occur when leadership is shared between two entities rather than just a one-way communication. Since the time of his takeover, Microsoft added 250 million to its market cap (BusinessInsiderMalaysia, 2017)

Future Managers should Participate, Facilitate and Engage

In conclusion, the technology sector is ever expanding and the need for change has to tally with organizational objective not just in terms of profit but also in workforce collaboration. It’s crucial for change agents to participate engage and facilitate their subordinates when the change process takes place.

Word Count: 898

References

BusinessInsiderMalaysia (2017) Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella explains the ‘not universally loved’ changes he made to luxury executive retreat [online] available from http://www.businessinsider.my/microsoft-satya-nadella-company-culture-2017-9/?r=US&IR=T [2 November 2017]

Ford, J., D., Ford, L., W. (2009) ‘Decoding Resistance to Change’ Harvard Business Review, 1-7

NewYorkTimes (2014) Satya Nadella, Chief of Microsoft, on His New Role [online] available from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/21/business/satya-nadella-chief-of-microsoft-on-his-new-role.html [ 2 November 2017]

Pascale, R., T. Sternin, J. (2005) ‘Your Company’s Secret Change Agents’ Harvard Business Review 1-11

Blog 3: Most effective Leadership & Management Styles & approaches

Figure 1 (Google Source)

What Leaders and Managers do

The role of a leader is to communicate ideation and vision in a coherent manner that will influence subordinates to reach a common objective. Manager steps in as an administrative entity that governs and provides structure to the organisations initiative by promoting workforce efficiency to meet with objectives. Both of them work hand in hand, sharing similar traits such as communication and being influential. However they vary in certain ways, according to (Raducan, 2014: 809) leaders are linked to the verb “change” a characteristic that resonates the capability of being adaptable, identifying hierarchy priorities, versatile and uniting collaborators efforts. Where as, managers are linked to “action” verb such as, to do, to develop, to interfere, to manage and so on. In a simplified context, a leader provides a direction and the manager aids in communicating that direction through strategic task delegations to subordinates.

There is much debate on leadership and management styles in the current era. The more complex the organisation becomes, the more crucial for both leaders and managers to form effective approaches. Lets touch on some leadership and management styles to discover how a person can better equip in handling problems in diverse situations. In a generalised perspective, there are three leadership types one may choose to practice, which is Authoritarian, Democratic and Laissez-Faire leadership. According to eNotes (2017) Authoritarian style constraints followers and give no control to their environment. Democratic gives their follower a portion of control over task and decision-making. Laissez-Faire gives full control to followers over their environments. Although these styles may work as a stepping-stone for leadership and management approach, they do not provide in-depth elaboration of tackling the complexities faced by subordinates in an organisation and to maximize their performance. The transformational leadership style will address this issue.

Figure 2: Transformational Leadership (Google Source)

Transformational Leadership Theory

Transformational leadership as described by McCleskey (2013: 120) is to convince followers to transcend their self-interest of lower level concerns for safety and security to higher-level needs for achievement and self-actualization. TL consists of four components in order for it to work, which is idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration (McCleskey 2013: 120). Idealized influence through a subordinate perspective is to emulate outstanding qualities of a leader, which in effect will impress them and make the leader more idealized. Inspirational motivation then takes place as the leader provides enthusiasm and optimism by framing a common goal for both leader and subordinate to achieve. Intellectual stimulations is to increase subordinates innovation by allowing them to question problems and assumptions by introducing new ideas and problem solving frameworks to challenge typical belief systems. Individualized consideration involves a leader to act as a coach or mentor to elevate subordinates to reach their fullest potential (McCleskey 2013: 120). In totality of TL, it’s an effective approach to lead subordinates within this generation because it cultivates leadership through aspects of being influential and admiration of a leader rather than forcefully telling them what to do and how to do it, which could spur about undesired outcomes.

Following on, CMI 2013 suggests that, “there so no single ideal as the best approach may vary according to circumstances and individual characteristics”. Based on this statement, it is agreeable that there is no single ideal approach to tackle leadership issues because it always presents itself in different complexities and it requires a gradual process of evaluation of certain circumstances to develop an efficient approach. At times, the combination of different leadership approaches is required to handle the situation.

Figure 3: Tesla CEO Elon Musk (Google Source)

Elon Musk enhancing human capabilities through leadership

Elon Musk is one leader that exemplifies great leadership qualities. A true visionary of our time, he puts passion and vision into practice by using his natural skills to communicate to his supporters and subordinates about his vision of the future. For example, after selling Paypal, one of the largest internet payment company to e-bay, Elon then took all the return of investment and invested into other passion projects such as SpaceX, Tesla and Solarcity (Leaderonomics, 2016). One thing all of these projects have in common is that it is ahead of our time. Using sustainable energy resources to enhance the way human beings live and interact with one another. What’s unique about Elon Musk is that while many leaders and managers of our time are concerned about keeping stakeholders pleased and pushing organisational profits, Elon is pushing for the advancement of the human race for a better tomorrow using his expertise in the technology and engineering sector.

In conclusion, managers and leaders that practice transformation leadership are of great value. Especially in present 21^st century where information is shared instantaneously. Employees are more rebellious, confident and sometimes misguided from wrong information. A leaders capability to be more empathetic and yet resourceful in terms of inspiration and leadership will be the future leaders that will revolutionize industries.

Total Words: 795

References

eNotes (2017) Authoritarian, Democratic & Laissez-Faire Leadership Research Paper Starter [online] available from < https://www.enotes.com/research-starters/authoritarian-democratic-laissez-faire-leadership> [20 October 2017]

Leaderonomics (2016) The Leadership Qualities of Elon Musk [online] available from < https://leaderonomics.com/leadership/leadership-qualities-elon-musk> [20 October 2017]

McCleskey, J., A. (2014) ‘ Situational, Transformational, and Transactional Leadership and Leadership Development’ Journal of Business Studies Quarterly 5, 117-130

Raducan, R., Raducan, R. (2014) ‘Leadership and Management’ Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 149, 808-812

Blog 2: The challenges of managing a diverse team

Figure 1 (Google Source)

Diversity in a global age

The emergence of technology and globalization has opened up avenues for workforce to combine and contribute their expertise from various backgrounds, disciplines and cultures. Workplace diversity refers to the variety of differences among people in an organization (Shaban, 2016: 77). The differences among people come in form of knowledge, expertise, gender, culture and background. Utilizing these assets are crucial for contributing to an organization strategic objectives and goals. So how can a manager form strategic approach to develop an effective diverse team? Various theories and models such as the Tuckman model of development stage elaborates further on developing a high performing team

Figure 2: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing (Google Source)

Tuckman model of development stages

Tuckman model consist of 4 stages that is, Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing. The forming stage is where leaders take the center role to provide guidance to team members who are uncertain about their delegated task. Storming takes place when boundaries are pushed in the Forming stage, at this stage misconception of task delegations will arise amongst team members due to differences in ideation and working styles and it’s the leaders role to align and structure them accordingly. Norming takes place after all the indifference’s between team members are countered and the leader has a better grasp on the differences in diverse talents. Performing is the final stage whereby all team members are in sync and they become more independent and motivated in achieving a certain task (MindTools, n.d.)

This model acts a guideline for managing teams in various aspects of a project timeline. From idea to delivery phase, a team will gradually start from the bottom to top on a bumpy road. However, As Tuckman and Jensen stated (1977: 1) there are “several limitations to the model, such as not being able to truly represent small-group development process due to overrepresentation of therapy and training group and an under representation of natural or laboratory settings, making generalizing difficult.” In other words, data and research collected from testing this model was not concrete and natural enough to be considered as empirical data and there’s a need for further review. But it still remains the most logical approach in managing teams and diversity.

The negative and positive implications of diversity

Furthermore, lets explore the positive and negative implications of a diverse team. Studies have concluded that the inclusion of various nationalities in a team would mean more debate, creativity and variety of information, which leads to increase productivity and performance. This is because inclusion of nationalities is able to add to the groups experience and knowledge (Syaban 2016: 77). An example of how diversity can bring a negative facet is usually acknowledged in terms of adverse behavioural and affective outcomes such as less social cohesion, relational conflicts and higher staff turnover due to employees’ perceived dissimilarity and adverse stereotypes about dissimilar employees. (Syaban 2016: 77)

Figure 3: Google CEO Sundar Pichai (Google Source)

Google setting diversity examples

In reference to current technology industry, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission published a report concluding the tech sector employs fewer women and fewer minorities than other private sector (TheGuardian, 2017). Because this industry is relatively new and is still booming, many companies are only recently starting to take steps to create a more diverse and inclusive space.

An example of such companies is Google, who recently discovered that their diversity numbers was low at 2% percent for African American workforce and 30% for female workforce (TheGuardian, 2017). They countered this issue by sending their local engineers to various universities to equip students with knowledge to be competent in the tech industry in hopes of recruiting young women and minorities (TheGuardian, 2017). Why is it important for Google to foster such an initiative you may ask?

According to Brand Finance, Google is worth 109 billion USD and is ranked one of the top tech companies beating amazon and apple (Fortune, 2017). For this very reason, their presence in the global market has an influence to many individual all around the world. If they do not counter this issue of lack of workforce diversity, their brand image will be at stake and it’s crucial for them to reflect a positive brand image in order to continue to make an impact in the global market.

Conclusion

The lack of proper management could lead to on going conflicts, miscommunication, higher levels of employee turnover and other unintentional effects (Syaban 2017: 77). On a personal recommendation to avoid such incidents, managers should practice correct performance and business-orientated mindset, which allows them to make appropriate use of the diverse workforce without being biased. Furthermore, establishing awareness programs that expose teams to multiple experiences, attitudes and perspectives of other cultures within the team may enhance the understanding of one another and build an atmosphere that is free for sharing different ideas and perspectives. (Syaban, 2017: 79)

Word Count: 775

Mind Tools (2017) Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing: Understand the Stages of Team Formation [online] available from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_86.htm [6 October 2017]

Fortune (2017) Finance:Google beat apple as Americas’s most valuable brand [online] available from http://fortune.com/2017/03/30/apple-google-amazon-name-brands/ [6 October 2017]

Shaban, A. (2016) ‘Managing and Leading a Diverse Workforce: One of the Main Challenges in Management’. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 230, 76-84

Tuckman, B., W., Jensen, M., A., C., (1977) ‘Stages of Small group revisited’. Group and Organization Studies 2 (4) 419-427

The Guardian (2017) These five tech companies are trying to solve Silicon Valley diversity problem: Silicon Valley has a major diversity problem Google, Netflix and Buffer are among the companies who say they’re trying to do better [online] available from https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/jun/06/silicon-valley-diversity-problem-tech-industry-solutions [October 7 2017]

Blog 1: Leadership and Ethics

Figure 1 (Google Source)

The facet of Ethics and Leadership

Ethical leadership is defined as “the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement and decision-making”(Rubin et al 2010: 216-17). Based on this statement, to really understand Ethical leadership, we must first expand on what is ethics and leadership individually.

Ethics from a general viewpoint is the concept of practicing a universal code of conduct that benefits all people and the environment that they are in. Leadership on the other hand is having the ability to influence people on meeting with objectives and vision of the leader, two entities working hand in hand to achieve a common goal.

In regards to organizational practices, ethical leadership comes into significance. It is not just about knowing the surface of acting upon what is morally good and bad as a leader, its also taking into account personal actions and decision-making compromising values and principles that benefits both the organization and the employees in a ethical manner. But to what extend can ethical practices be justifiable as ethical or unethical. Two companies will be illustrated in this blog to demonstrate ethical and unethical practices and the impact that has brought to the environment.

Figure 2: Cadburry Scweppes (Google Source)

Cadburry Scweppes on Ethical Responisbilities

Cadburry Schweppes was voted as one of the ‘most admired companies for the community and environmental responsibility’ by Management today magazine in 2013 (Cadbury Schweppes Corporate and Social Responsibility Report, 2002). Example of their ethical practice is supporting cocoa farming communities in Ghana through programs on sustainable tree crop management and building wells for drinking water. Furthermore establishing the international cocoa initiative that’s aimed to support field projects in West Africa and will act as a clearinghouse for best practices to ensure that cocoa is grown responsibly (Cadbury Schweppes Corporate and Social Responsibility Report, 2002). In return of their practice, not only they help build communities but also they simultaneously increase the quality of their product through sustainable crops of quality beans.

Figure 3: Enron (Google Source)

The Dark Side of Enron

An example of unethical practices is Enron, which is an energy, commodities and service company that used Arthur Andersen, an accounting company to conduct fraudulent loopholes to increase their revenue through employee pensions and money laundering (Bien and Carsten 2007, p 187). The effect of this unethical practice has left a dent in terms of employees lost pension and damaged relationships, finally the company was announced bankrupt on 2001. This was due to leaders, bankers and advisors that aided the company that focused more on satisfying stakeholder by reaping profits unethically which finally led their doom.

Figure 4: Immanuel Kant (Google Source)

Deontological and Teleological Ethics

Using the two frameworks of Deontological ethics and Teleological ethics, we can identify how ethical leadership can wear a dual mask in providing different impacts to organizations and stakeholders. Deontological ethics, which was formulated by Immanuel Kant, is an ethical decision-making based on duty or rules. Teleological frameworks, also known, as “Consequentialist” are ethics based on the outcome of a result rather than duty based. Hoover and Pepper (2014, p 608) states that Utilitarianism, a form of teleological ethics is mainly used by corporate managers to conduct decision making ethics corresponds to the maximization of economic value, such as cost –benefit analysis and profitability.

4V model Framework

The 4V model framework is another ethical leadership framework that expands on moral development, human development, leadership development and community development. Best practiced on an individualistic manner, this framework consists of values, vision, voice and virtue. Value carries an individual’s ideas, principle and direction that are able to influence behavior and perception. Vision is the ability of a leader to frame and commute their actions in the service to others. Voice is the process of articulating the vision with explicit clarity to motivate other people. Virtue are personal principles that differentiate one person to another, it is the collective output of their practices in daily lives.

Figure 4 (Google Source)

Two-Way Communication in Organisation Structure

These frameworks are foundational pillars that propel future leaders to embed a tone of trustworthiness, respect and responsibility to organization leadership. However in current times, ethical leadership is also bounded with on going issue of hierarchy structures and authority. Due to this phenomenon, there are misconceptions between making right decisions and doing the right thing. Current scholars and business executives are continuously conceptualizing on implementing ethical leadership practices that requires both the higher ups and subordinates to problem solve together and come up with solutions that benefits the organization without hierarchy structure (Bien and Carsten, 2007, p189).

For future recommendation, it is suggested that future leaders imprint Upward Ethical Leadership in their policies and code of conduct. (Bien and Carsten, 2017) explains that upward ethical leadership will encourage two-way communication rather than just one way. Which can be quite beneficial due to the reason that two parties are working together providing different avenue and perspective of ethical decision-making. This approach also known as shared leadership.

(Word Count: 796)

References

1. Bien, M.U., Carsten, M.K., (2007) ‘ Being Ethical When the Boss is not’. Organizational Dynamics 36 (2), 187-201
2. Hoover, K.F., Pepper, M.B., (2014) ‘How did they say that? Ethics statements and normative frameworks at best companies to work for’.
3. Rubin, R, Dierdorff, E, & Brown, M (2010), ‘Do Ethical Leaders Get Ahead? Exploring Ethical Leadership and Promotability’, Business Ethics Quarterly, 20, 2, pp. 215-236.
4. Business case studies (2002) Ethical Business Practices: A Cadburry Schweppes Case Study [online] available from < http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/cadbury-schweppes/ethical-business-practices/the-importance-of-ethics-in-business.html&gt; [27 September 2017]