Blog 5: My Vision of Leadership

Introduction

Throughout the past ten weeks, I’ve been exposed to various important leadership components in the INTM05LON Leading in a Changing World module in my MBA programme by my lecturer Dr Poh Phaik See. Firstly, I would like to thank her for sharing so much of knowledge and for encouraging other MBA students who are working to share their experiences on leadership. I’ve gained so much by just listening in this class. After reading and writing blogs on various leadership components such as ethics, diversity, change management and leadership styles, my vision on leadership is to not become a good leader but a great one. According to Jeff Mask (2015), good leaders will have followers, but great leaders make more leaders. Good leaders are people with a wide range of skills, good communications, strategists and constantly encourage their followers to excel (Brandon 2015). Great leaders are surrounded by great people (Brandon 2015).

Figure 1: Tom Peters’ quote on leadership (Source: Spagnuolo 2013)

My Vision of Leadership

I believe that the transformational leadership style is the most suitable and closely related to my vision of leadership. The personality test that I have taken also suggests just that. Based on 16Personalities.com (2018), I have the “ESFJ-A” also known as “The Consul” personality where they mentioned that I am a people person, supportive and a leader who leads their team to victory. According to the personality test, I am a leader who wants to feel appreciated, happy to help others and a leader who would include everyone in an organization to achieve something and create the sense of togetherness. This test surprised me as I do agree with their analysis of my personality and the truth in it. Relating to that, I believe I can be a good transformational leader.

Figure 2: My personality test (Source: 16Personalities 2018)

However, I would like to revisit and address my Blog 3 on “Most Effective Leadership & Management Styles & Approaches”. In that blog, I have mentioned that there is no single ideal leadership style and the best approach depends on the situation and behaviour of individuals in the organization (CMI 2013). In my opinion, a blend of transformational and situational leadership style is important to be a great leader.

Hersey & Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Model

Hersey & Blanchard’s situational leadership model proposed that the leaders need to choose the best style according to the situational variables (Cherry 2017). This model suggests that there is no one single best leadership style. According to this model, effective leaders are those capable of adapting their leadership style based on the situation, nature of the task, group and other key factors that contributes in getting a task done (Cherry 2018). Hersey & Blanchard’s situational leadership model below matches the leadership styles according to the suitable maturity levels:

Figure 3: Hersey & Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Model (Source: Tools4management n.d.)

Hersey & Blanchard stressed that there are four key leadership styles:

Table 1: Leadership styles (Source: Cherry 2018)

Table 2: Maturity levels (Source: Cherry 2018)

My Role Model?

Figure 4: Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group (Source: Middleton 2016)

Richard Branson is a British entrepreneur and investor who founded Virgin Group which controls more than 400 companies around the globe (Wachman 2012). He founded and invested in a many array of businesses from media, music, entertainment to airline and telecommunications (Wachman 2012). Branson inspired me a lot because he has good situational leadership skills. He constantly looks for opportunities to form new feasible ventures and perfected the art of controlling situations in his organizations (Chris 2015). He has proven his ability to implement changes at an incredible rate in multiple occasions. On top of that, Branson is also a transformational leader who can adapt quickly to changes in cultures within his organizations (Chris 2015). He has bought multiple firms and successfully moved to new locations with his staff over the years. Richard Branson always puts his staffs’ interest first as he believes it inspires and motivates them to perform better and feel appreciated.

A short video of Sir Richard Branson explaining his leadership style:

Source: Unfiltered (2017) Leadership Style Of Sir Richard Branson [online] available from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bAf9WEdkxw&gt; [16 July 2018]

Feedbacks from My Colleagues

Below are the feedbacks I have received from my colleagues where they have rated me based on my leadership skills and individual characteristics that they have noticed in me for the past ten weeks.

Table 3: My colleagues’ feedback on my leadership

I am surprised and thankful to my colleagues for their feedback and good support. Based on their feedback, I believe I do have good leadership skills. I also understand that I need to work harder to perfect my leadership skills. I aspire to work in a large tech company such as Google or Samsung one day. I want to lead and inspire people in my organization to create and innovate products that can change people’s life.

Conclusion

My goal is to learn as much as I can on leadership, management and critical decision-making skills throughout the remaining two semesters in my MBA programme. I’ve learned a ton from my first semester and I hope to do the same the next semester. I will continue to volunteer myself to be the group leader for group assignments in upcoming modules to improve my leadership and decision-making skills. I plan to reflect on my blogs to remind myself the importance of ethical leadership, managing diverse teams, effective leadership styles and change management to improve my leadership skills. On top of that, I also plan to write more blogs related to tech and business in the future as I find it to be an interesting way to learn and share the knowledge I learned with others.

 

References:

16Personalities (2018) ESFJ Personality (“The Consul”) [online] available from <https://www.16personalities.com/esfj-personality&gt; [16 July 2018]

Brandon, J. (2015) One Big Difference Between Good Leaders And Great Leaders[online] available from <https://www.inc.com/john-brandon/one-big-difference-between-good-leaders-and-great-leaders.html&gt; [16 July 2018]

Cherry, K. (2017) The Major Leadership Theories [online] available from <https://www.verywellmind.com/leadership-theories-2795323&gt; [26 June 2018]

Cherry, K. (2018) Situational Theory Of Leadership [online] available from <https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-situational-theory-of-leadership-2795321&gt; [26 June 2018]

Chris, J. (2015) Richard Branson Leadership Style Commandments [online] available from <http://www.josephchris.com/richard-branson-leadership-style-commandments&gt; [16 July 2018]

CMI (2013) Understanding Management Styles Checklist 236, Chartered Management Institute: London

Mask, J. (2015) Why Good Leaders Have Followers And Great Leaders Make More Leaders [online] available from <https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-mask/good-leaders-vs-great-lea_b_6509314.html&gt; [16 July 2018]

Mullins, L. (2010) Management And Organisational Behaviour. 9^th edn. Harlow: Pearson

Wachman, R. (2012) Virgin Brands: What Does Richard Branson Really Own? [online] available from <https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/jan/08/virgin-brands-richard-branson-owns&gt; [16 July 2018]

Image Sources:

16Personalities (2018) ESFJ Personality (“The Consul”) [online] available from <https://www.16personalities.com/esfj-personality&gt; [16 July 2018]

Middleton, Y. (2016) Richard Branson Founder Of Virgin Group [online] available from <https://addicted2success.com/quotes/76-intelligent-richard-branson-quotes/&gt; [16 July 2018]

Spagnuolo, V. (2013) Tom Peters Quote On Leadership [online] available from <http://www.hashslush.com/live-from-wbfmi-world-of-business-idea-milan/&gt; [16 July 2018]

Tools4management (n.d.) The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory – A Study [online] available from <https://www.tools4management.com/article/the-hersey-blanchard-situational-leadership-theory-a-study/&gt; [26 June 2018]

Blog 4: Leadership and Change

“Change is nothing new and a simple fact of life. Some people actively thrive on new challenges and constant change, while others prefer the comfort of the status quo and strongly resist any change. It is all down to the personality of the individual and there is little management can do about resistance to change”. – (Mullins 2013: 712).

Introduction

According to Hurn (2012), we are living in a constantly changing world and environment whereby it is getting more complex and diverse. Due to this, Hurn (2012) suggested that companies should be open and willing to take on the challenge to change. Deutschman (2008) stressed in his book that organizations must be able to make changes or else they will eventually die. Mullins (2010: 753) stated that moving forward with a change can be challenging to achieve due to the personalities of individuals within an organization exclusively those who pose resistance to the change. Ultimately, a skilled leader who can influence others will have a better accomplishment in managing and leading a desired change within an organization (Long 2011).

Importance of Leadership and Change

I strongly agree to Mullins’ first statement where he mentioned that some people thrive for new challenges and continuous change while others choose the comfort of existing environment and resist any change completely. In my opinion, I believe change is important as it is part of development. For example, I’m always open to learn more, develop my skills and experiences because I aspire to become a good leader. Similarly, I believe organizations need constant change for growth and to stay competitive by differentiating themselves from their competitors. However, I disagree with Mullins’ second statement saying that there is nothing much the management can do when there is resistance to change. I believe that good leadership and management will be able to overcome any resistance shown by individuals in an organization. Many big organizations such as Microsoft, Shell and Wal-Mart have successfully implemented major changes and overcome resistance (Everwise 2017).

Role of Managers in Change Process

Managers play an important role in avoiding and overcoming resistance to change in organizations. Managers should always explain the reason for a change to their subordinates to avoid any misconceptions and negative rumours from spreading as this might harm employees’ morale (Dukes 2017).  To overcome resistance, managers and other top officials should show their interest for the change and show employees how the change can benefit the organization (Dukes 2017).  If the management shows any sign of hesitation to the change, employees will eventually notice it and they will be hesitant too. Dukes (2017) also stated that the managers should keep their employees informed on the progress of change all the way. It is important to communicate how quick the change is needed or how much time is required to implement the change to the employees to ensure they have trust and confidence in their organization.

Values from Resistance to Change

Resistance to change within an organization is not entirely a bad thing. Organizations and managers can learn a ton from understanding why the resistance is taking place to improve the changes. Some of the positive values from resistance are such as (Myers et al. 1953):

Table 1: Values from resistance

Kurt Lewin’s Change Management Model

Figure 1: Kurt Lewin (Source: Goodreads n.d.)

Kurt Lewin developed the change model back in 1940s and this model is still utilized widely today as it is simple and easy to understand. The change process is broken down into three stages to assist leaders in managing change without neglecting the processes and people involved (Mulholland 2017). Unfreeze, change and freeze are the three stages in Lewin’s model.

Figure 2: Lewin’s Change Management Model (Source: ScienceSoft 2017)

Table 2: Lewin’s model explained

Advantages and Limitations of Lewin’s Model

Table 3: Advantages and limitations of Lewin’s model (Mulholland 2017)

Real-life Industry Example

Figure 3: Microsoft logo (The Verge 2012)

Software tech giant, Microsoft, is a great example of a company that successfully managed to implement major changes within their organization. The company was becoming stagnant, had poor work culture and the key business units within the company was competing with one another rather than working together (Troyani 2017). The company was solely dependent on regular refreshment of existing Windows operating system and Office software without making any new major innovations as it was restricted due to the toxic environments within Microsoft. They struggled to keep up with their major competitors, Google and Apple. The organization decided that they need a major change to survive and named Satya Nadella as the new CEO.

Figure 4: Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft (Source: Weinberger 2016)

Under the leadership of the newly appointed CEO back in 2014, the company underwent major changes in terms of organizational restructuring to overcome internal competition and eliminate the need for different groups to focus on products and platforms (Troyani 2017). Satya Nadella believed that all Microsoft staffs should be focusing on a set of mutual goals to succeed.

By 2016, Nadella made more ambitious change by merging Microsoft Research Group with Cortana, Bing and Information Platform Group to form a new research group focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI). Their new goal was to integrate AI across all Microsoft products (Troyani 2017). Throughout this change, Nadella portrayed great leadership and shared with employees about his mission to empower people and organizations to accomplish more. His actions and changes were received well by Microsoft employees in the bid to win back customers and get back on the right track (Weinberger 2016). All this enabled them to innovate and come up with better products in the form of Windows 10, Surface Book (Microsoft’s first laptop), Cloud Computing Solutions and Office application for Apple’s iOS which surprised everyone (Weinberger 2016). They’ve once again managed to attract millions of customers across the globe with their new innovative offerings.

A short video of Nadella on Changing Microsoft’s Culture and LinkedIn:

Source: Bloomberg Markets and Finance (2017) Nadella On Changing Microsoft’s Culture And Linkedin [online] available from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsODQzeX4t0&gt; [11 July 2018]

Conclusion

Leaders and managers need to realize that change is a necessary and eventually it needs to take place either for survival or improvement. They need to keep in mind that there will be resistance against the changes and it will take some time for the organization to adapt. Applying proper change management model such as the Lewin’s model, management theories and together with a great leadership, it will be easier to facilitate the changes in an organization.

 

References:

Deutschman, A. (2008) Change Or Die. New York: Collins

Dukes, E. (2017) 3 Strategies To Overcome Resistance To Change [online] available from <https://www.inc.com/elizabeth-dukes/3-strategies-to-overcome-resistance-to-change.html&gt; [11 July 2018]

Everwise (2017) Organizational Change: Success Stories To Learn From [online] available from <https://www.geteverwise.com/human-resources/organizational-change-success-stories-to-learn-from/&gt; [11 July 2018]

Hurn, B. J. (2012) ‘Management of change in a multinational company’. Industrial and Commercial Training 44 (1), 41–46

Long, S. (2011) The Future Is Guaranteed To No One [online] available from <https://opexsociety.org/body-of-knowledge/change-or-perish-the-future-is-guaranteed-to-no-one-by-stephen-long/&gt; [11 July 2018]

Mullins, L. (2010) Management And Organisational Behaviour. 9^th edn. Harlow: Pearson

Myers, C., Ronken, H. and Lawrence, P. (1953) “Administering Changes: A Case Study Of Human Relations In A Factory.”. Industrial And Labor Relations Review 6 (4), 619

ScienceSoft (2017) Lewin’s Change Management Model [online] available from <https://www.scnsoft.com/blog/the-downside-of-change-management-and-how-to-address-it-with-mobile-technology&gt; [11 July 2018]

Troyani, L. (2017) 3 Examples Of Organizational Change Done Right[online] available from <https://www.tinypulse.com/blog/3-examples-of-organizational-change-and-why-they-got-it-right&gt; [11 July 2018]

Weinberger, M. (2016) The Rise Of Satya Nadella, The Game-Changing CEO Of Microsoft [online] available from <https://www.businessinsider.my/satya-nadella-the-rise-of-microsoft-ceo-2016-11/?r=US&IR=T&gt; [11 July 2018]

Image Sources:

Goodreads (n.d.) Kurt Lewin [online] available from <https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/33053.Kurt_Lewin&gt; [11 July 2018]

Mulholland, B. (2017) 8 Critical Change Management Models To Evolve And Survive[online] available from <https://www.process.st/change-management-models/&gt; [11 July 2018]

The Verge (2012) Microsoft Logo [online] available from <https://www.theverge.com/2012/8/23/3262517/microsoft-new-logo&gt; [11 July 2018]

Weinberger, M. (2016) Satya Nadella [online] available from <https://www.businessinsider.my/the-rise-of-microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-2016-1/?r=US&IR=T&gt; [11 July 2018]

Blog 3: Most effective Leadership & Management Styles & Approaches

What is management and Leadership?     

The management and leadership activities within an organization plays an important role in achieving the mission and vision set by the organization. Mullins (2013) stressed that the managers are responsible to monitor the development of his/her team when they’re working on a task assigned to them. According to Yukl (2010), leaders are responsible in influencing the attitude and decision making involved in an organization to achieve organization’s vision together. The tables below will further explain on the similarities and differences between a leader and a manager to give a clear picture:

Similarities:

Table 1: Leadership vs Management – Similarities (Source: Juneja n.d.)

Differences:

Table 2: Leadership vs Management – Differences (Source: Arruda 2016)

Leadership styles

There are many kinds of leadership styles that leaders follow when leading their organization. Some common leadership styles include Laissez-Faire, autocratic and democratic. In my opinion, transformational leadership style is the best for today’s generation as people are more motivated and comfortable with leaders who challenge, engage and inspire them (Frith 2017). Transformational leadership style will motivate and inspire the employees in an organization to give their best when working. Transformational leaders understand their followers and show concern for them. Furthermore, transformational leaders are great role models as they tend to support their followers to think for themselves and encourage creativeness (Next 2014).

Transformational Leadership Model

Figure 1: Transformational leadership model (Source: EBA n.d.)

Transformational leadership was introduced by James MacGregor Burns (leadership expert) and he mentioned that this style can be seen when “leaders and followers enable each other to develop into a higher level of moral and motivation” (Cherry 2018). Researcher Bernard M. Bass later worked and expanded this idea into what is known as Bass’ Transformational Leadership theory/model (Cherry 2018). In his transformational leadership model, Bass introduced four different components that he believed is vital for a transformational leader as below:

Table 3: Components of transformational leadership (Source: Cherry 2018)

Advantages and Limitations of Transformational Leadership Model

Like any other theories/models, Transformational Leadership Model do have its advantages and limitations that leaders need to be aware of. Table 4 below addresses some of the advantages and limitations of transformational leadership:

Table 4: Advantages and limitations of transformational leadership style

Real life industry examples

Figure 2: Steve Jobs (Source: Wikipedia 2018)

The late Steve Jobs is good example of bad leadership style. Initially in 1985, he was kicked out from Apple by the board members due to poor sales of Macintosh computers and for his hard management approach (McInerney 2011). In 1997, Jobs had a second chance with Apple as an interim CEO and he took a transformational leadership approach this time around. Even though he shared his visions with his employees and motivate them to achieve his visions, he was too controlling and demanding still (McInerney 2011). Steve Jobs openly labelled people who don’t impress him as “bozos”.  Williams (2012) in his article explained in detail why future leaders should not try to emulate Steve Jobs’ autocratic leadership style although he was very successful by doing so and referred to as one of the most iconic leaders.

Williams (2012) stressed that Steve Jobs introduced the culture of secrecy and surveillance within Apple’s organization where employees are constantly monitored using cameras. Williams (2012) also pointed out that Jobs was an extreme micromanager with a “carrot and stick” leadership style whereby his demand for absolute perfection can bring down even the most driven employee in Apple. It is undeniable that his leadership style worked but it might have developed a bad culture within the organization and diminish trust between employees and top management. Future leaders should not try to copy his leadership style and force to recreate the success he had unless they are confident and believe that their company need such leadership style to succeed.

Figure 3: Bill Gates (Source: Schoeller 2017)

On the other hand, Bill Gates is a great leader who practices transformational leadership style to inspire people in Microsoft to be creative and positive. He always cared for his employees and people in general. He founded Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which focused on saving lives and improve global health (Domanska 2018). He worked hard and gave his best to be a good leader to not only achieve success for himself but also to ensure that people around him grow together. Bill Gates avoids overconfidence and always look past his success whenever he is making key business decisions because he believes that it is disastrous to have “I’m not going to lose” mentality (Domanska 2018).  Other than that, he is a vision orientated leader who always push himself higher to achieve more and believes that time management is an important aspect of leadership. He values time and avoids attending meetings that do not matter if he was absent (Domanska 2018).

Conclusion 

In my opinion, I would prefer to work under a leader such as Bill Gates because his leadership style is more flexible, motivating and supportive compared to Steve Jobs. I also agree to the statement made by CMI (2013) where they stressed that there is no single ideal leadership style upon further research on leadership styles I did for this writeup. It is important for leaders and managers to focus on the strengths of their subordinates to leverage them efficiently to improve the organization’s performance and at the same time develop their skills. Leaders should be an example to the rest of the people in the organization and have a clear vision to be able to lead others to achieve the organization’s goals.

 

References:

Arruda, W. (2016) 9 Differences Between Being A Leader And A Manager [online] available from <https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2016/11/15/9-differences-between-being-a-leader-and-a-manager/#325fb7ee4609&gt; [26 June 2018]

Cherry, K. (2017) The Major Leadership Theories [online] available from <https://www.verywellmind.com/leadership-theories-2795323&gt; [26 June 2018]

Cherry, K. (2018) What Is Transformational Leadership? A Closer Look At The Effects Of Transformational Leadership [online] available from <https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-transformational-leadership-2795313&gt; [26 June 2018]

Domanska, A. (2018) 5 Important Lessons Leaders Can Learn From Bill Gates[online] available from <https://www.industryleadersmagazine.com/5-important-lessons-leaders-can-learn-bill-gates/&gt; [26 June 2018]

Faris, S. (2018) The Disadvantages Of Transformational Leadership [online] available from <https://bizfluent.com/info-7749368-disadvantages-transformational-leadership.html&gt; [26 June 2018]

Frith, B. (2017) Millennial Workers Prefer Transformational Leaders [online] available from <http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/millennial-workers-prefer-transformational-leaders&gt; [26 June 2018]

Juneja, P. (n.d.) Leadership And Management – Relationship & Differences [online] available from <https://www.managementstudyguide.com/leadership-management.htm&gt; [26 June 2018]Mullins, L. (2013) Management And Organisational Behaviour. 10th edn. Harlow: Pearson

McInerney, S. (2011) Steve Jobs: An Unconventional Leader [online] available from <http://www.executivestyle.com.au/steve-jobs-an-unconventional-leader-1lcmo&gt; [26 June 2018]

Next, W. (2014) Transformational Leadership: The Most Effective Leadership Style?[online] available from <https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/transformational-leadership-watts-next&gt; [26 June 2018]

Northouse, P. (2016) Leadership: Theory And Practice. 7th edn. Los Angeles: SAGE

Root, G. (n.d.) The Benefits Of Transformational Leadership [online] available from <http://smallbusiness.chron.com/benefits-transformational-leadership-10577.html&gt; [26 June 2018]

Williams, R. (2012) Why Steve Jobs Is Not A Leader To Emulate [online] available from <https://business.financialpost.com/executive/careers/steve-jobs-is-not-a-leader-to-emulate&gt; [26 June 2018]

Yukl, G. (2010) Leadership In Organizations. 7th edn. New Jersey: Pearson

Image Sources:

EBA (n.d.) Transformational Leadership Model [online] available form <http://www.educational-business-articles.com/transformational-leadership/&gt; [26 June 2018]

Schoeller, M. (2017) Bill Gates Photographed For Forbes By Martin Schoeller [online] available from <https://www.forbes.com/sites/randalllane/2017/09/20/bill-gates-tech-revolution/#eef021d22c67&gt; [26 June 2018]

Wikipedia (2018) Steve Jobs [online] available from <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs> %5B26 June 2018]

Blog 2: The challenge of managing diverse teams

“Research has consistently shown that diverse teams produce better results, provided they are well led. The ability to bring together people from different backgrounds, disciplines, cultures, and generations and leverage all they have to offer, therefore, is a must-have for leaders” – (Ibarra and Hansen 2011: 71).

Introduction

What is the meaning of diverse team? According to Ibarra and Hansen (2011: 71), diverse team refers to a group of people from various backgrounds, disciplines, cultures and generations who are brought together and leveraged for their expertise. Ibarra and Hansen (2011: 71) stressed that diverse teams perform better than others if they are properly led and all leaders should be capable of doing so.

In a research done by an international management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, it was clear that organizations with more diverse employees perform better financially (Hunt et al. 2015). In another global study which included 2,400 companies carried out by an investment banking company, Credit Suisse, the study showed that companies with a minimum number of female board members generated higher net wage growth and return on equity compared to those which did not have any female on the board (Rock and Grant 2016).

Advantages and challenges of having diverse teams

Table 1: Advantages of having diverse workforce

Table 2: Disadvantages of having diverse workforce

Bruce Tuckman’s Team Building Model

From the previous section, we can conclude that having diverse teams in organization can be beneficial and challenging. It can have both positive and negative impacts on organizations depending on how they are being led. Psychology professor, Bruce Tuckman (1965), initially identified 4 stages of life cycle for working teams which consists of forming, storming, norming and performing. Tuckman later developed another stage called ‘adjourning’ in his follow-up research on the team development model (Tuckman and Jensen 1977). Refer to the Figure 3.1 & 3.2 below to get a better understanding of the components and flow of the Tuckman’s model:

 

Figure 1: The Tuckman model flow (Source: Hillary n.d.)

Figure 2: Stages of group development (Source: Nestor 2013)

Unfortunately, Tuckman (1965) also acknowledged the presence of several limitations in his model for team development. First and foremost, Tuckman designed the model to cater for the development process of small teams. It will be difficult to implement this model for the development of large group of people within an organization. Moreover, Tuckman’s team development model is in a hierarchical form which simply means that the next step cannot be attained if the previous one is not achieved (Miller 2009). Rickards and Moger (2000) stressed that the model failed to explain how teams change over time and stated two significant concerns related to task performance. Firstly, they pointed out that the model failed to address the impacts of team development on creativity in problem solving. Secondly, they realized that the model is not discussing either ability to show excellent performance or failure to attain success.

Example of industry with diverse teams

The world-renowned footwear and sports accessories brand, Nike, is a great example of successful company with diverse workforce. They recently featured in many articles and news for disclosing their workforce diversity ratios to the public (Chen 2017). As of 2017, over 56% of their employees in the United States comprised of people from racial and ethnic minorities (Nike 2018). Moreover, Nike’s workforce gender equality is also balanced whereby female employees make up 48% of their total workforce (Nike 2018). On top of that, Nike is also practicing Global Pay Equity to equally compensate all genders and all races/ethnics who take on similar jobs, experience and performance (Frauenheim 2016). Figure 3, 4 & 5 below shows the impressive statistics of diverse workforce within Nike:

Figure 3: Nike ethnic diversity ratio in U.S (Source: Nike 2018)

Figure 4: Nike global gender diversity ratio

Figure 5: Pay equity changes in U.S and globally (Source: Nike 2018)

Figure 6: Mike Parker CEO of Nike, Inc. (Source: Samad 2018)

Nike’s CEO, Mark Parker, believes that “diversity fosters creativity and accelerates innovation” (Nike 2018). Mark showed great leadership skills where he ensured that the company values people from different backgrounds and experiences. His vision was to bring everyone in the organization together to demonstrate the full potential of diversified workforce and to show that different perspectives generate the best ideas. Nike is getting more diverse and inclusive every year as their data suggests just that.

Recommendation & Conclusion

Leaders and managers can consider using Tuckman’s team development model in their organization to manage and overcome the challenges of diversified workforce. In a diversified workplace, managers must remember to support every individual, resolve conflicting requests and opinions within teams. All employees should be given an equal opportunity to be heard and respected by managers and other individuals in the organization.

Managing diverse teams can challenging and hard but it is proven to be very beneficial in the long run as the findings above suggest. In my opinion, a good leader should be able to identify the negative impacts caused by diversity in their organization and solve it as soon as possible before it gets worse. Cultural and ethnic diversity together with the presence of many perspectives will eventually benefit an organization if the leadership is focused on team-building environment and positive results.

A brief video on The Challenges of Recruiting, Creating & Managing Diverse Teams from a Consulting Excellence Academy:

Source: Management Consultancies Association (2017), YouTube

 

References:

Chen, D. (2017) How The Best Companies Are Improving Workplace Diversity [online] available from <https://www.prosky.co/talkingtalent/articles/how-the-best-companies-are-improving-workplace-diversity&gt; [6 June 2018]

Deering, S. (2017) What Are The Benefits Of Diversity In The Workplace? [online] available from <https://theundercoverrecruiter.com/benefits-diversity-workplace/&gt; [5 June 2018]

Frauenheim, E. (2016) Why Nike’S Diversity Disclosure Is Just The First Step [online] available from <http://fortune.com/2016/05/16/nike-diversity-transparency/&gt; [6 June 2018]

Futureofworking (2016) 11 Advantages And Disadvantages Of Diversity In The Workplace | Futureofworking.Com [online] available from <https://futureofworking.com/11-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-diversity-in-the-workplace/&gt; [6 June 2018]

Gaille, B. (2015) 8 Pros And Cons Of Diverse Teams [online] available from <https://brandongaille.com/8-pros-and-cons-of-diverse-teams/&gt; [5 June 2018]

Hillary, M. (n.d.) The Tuckerman Model (1965) [online] available from <http://margarethillary.com/team-work/&gt; [6 June 2018]

Hunt, V., Layton, D. and Prince, S. (2015) Why Diversity Matters [online] available from <https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/why-diversity-matters&gt; [6 June 2018]

Ibarra, H. and Hansen, M. (2011) ‘Are You a Collaborative Leader?’. Harvard Business Review [online] 89(7/8), 68-74. available from < http://www.ebscohost.com/ > [5 June 2018]

Image Sources:

McGrath, J. and Bates, B. (2013) The Little Book Of Big Management Theories … And How To Use Them. 1st edn. Harlow, Essex: Pearson

Miller, D. (2009) “The Stages Of Group Development: A Retrospective Study Of Dynamic Team Processes”. Canadian Journal Of Administrative Sciences / Revue Canadienne Des Sciences De L’administration 20 (2), 121-134

Nestor, R. (2013) Bruce Tuckman’S Team Development Model [online] available from <http://file:///D:/My%20Downloads/bruce_tuckman_s_stages_of_team_development_%20(1).pdf> [6 June 2018]

Nestor, R. (2013) Stages Of Group Development Diagram [online] available from <http://file:///D:/My%20Downloads/bruce_tuckman_s_stages_of_team_development_.pdf&gt; [6 June 2018]

Nike (2018) Diversity & Inclusion [online] available from <https://jobs.nike.com/inclusion&gt; [6 June 2018]

Nike (2018) NIKE BY THE NUMBERS [online] available from <https://jobs.nike.com/inclusion&gt; [6 June 2018]

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Blog 1: Leadership and Ethics

“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”… [and] the evidence suggests that ethical leader behavior can have important positive effects on both individual and organizational effectiveness” – (Rubin et al 2010: 216-17)

What is Leadership?

Kruse (2013) stated that leadership is the process of guiding, supervising, motivating, and inspiring employees (followers) towards the realization of defined organizational goals. A leader with good leadership skills will be able to socially influence the people working under them and maximize the organization performance to reach the organizational goals as planned (Kruse 2013).

Ethical Leadership

In comparison, ethical leadership slightly differs from leadership whereby it is focused more on an individual’s actions, moral and social relationships. Ethical leadership in an organization is vital as it influences others to be more ethical in their actions that affects the organization and society. On top of that, people in an organization tend to show respect and the willingness to follow leaders who practice ethical decision making (Brown et al. 2010: 216).

Deontological vs Teleological

Deontological and Teleological are the two principle theories used to get a better understanding of the ethical behaviours in organizations. Based on the philosopher Immanuel Kant (1785), Deontological emphasizes on duty-based ethics which focuses on what people do rather than the outcomes of their actions (BBC 2014). In simpler words, doing the right thing without neglecting the moral law is more important than the consequences of an action. Teleological theory on the other hand, focuses more on the consequences or outcomes from an action. The action is considered to be righteous when the outcome of that action is justified by the end result (BBC 2014).

Table 1: Explains the benefits and limitations of Deontological and Teleological theories

Bill Grace’s 4-V Model

The 4-V Model developed by Bill Grace, one of the founders of the Center for Ethical Leadership, is a great example to express the ethical leadership in more detail. He created this model to help leaders and organizations align internal values and beliefs with external actions and behaviours for mutual benefits (Mulder 2017).

                                            Figure 1: The 4-V Model of Ethical Leadership                                             (Source: The Centre for Ethical Leadership 2016)

The 4 pillars of this leadership model consist of:

• Values: A leader first needs to search and understand his personal core values.
• Vision: A leader’s ability to execute his activities in a way which will lead to a specific objective.
• Voice: Important for a leader to have a voice which can articulate the vision for others in a clear way which results them to act.
• Virtue: Understanding that we become what we exercise, we encourage righteousness by exercising virtuous behaviour.

Real-life Industry Examples

Example 1:

Figure 2: Elon Musk (Source: Lam 2017)

A great example of ethical leadership is shown by the latest and very popular tech business icon, Elon Musk. He is the CEO of Solar City, SpaceX and Tesla. He is determined to change the humanity and make the world a better place with his companies, and he is already influencing millions of people across the globe with his innovative ideas (Williams 2017). Apart from innovating environmental friendly technologies such as Tesla which comprises of high quality electric cars, Elon Musk has contributed to many charitable organizations. His work will influence his employees and future leaders to be more ethical.

Example 2:

Figure 3: Mark Zuckerberg (Source: Senn 2017)

In comparison, the Founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, is a great example of unethical leader. Mark Zuckerberg once quoted “You can be unethical and still be legal, that’s the way I live my life”. Apart from labelled as a thief for unethically stealing the idea of Facebook from a few of his friends, he is also accused of using Facebook login information to break into private email accounts (Call 2017). Furthermore, he failed to appear in person on several occasions that needed his leadership most notably when he used his Virtual Reality (VR) avatar to address hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico and initially failed to appear personally in front of Congress to give his testimony on the Russian infiltration of Facebook to swing the United States presidential election (Dishman 2017). In all the cases mentioned, he decided to avoid public confrontation and address the issue online. This shows poor and unethical leadership skills.

A brief video of Apple’s CEO Tim Cook’s view on Ethical Leadership:

Source: Duke University – The Fuqua School of Business (2013), YouTube

Conclusion

In conclusion, I believe a mix of Deontological and Teleological theory can be applied by leaders to exercise ethical leadership efficiently. Both theory discussed have their benefits and limitations, and it is up to the leader to decide which one to follow when making decisions depending on the issue. Ethical leaders should be the example and convey the importance of ethics to their peers. Actions often speak louder than words and a leader should always act ethical around their employees to influence them and make them follow. An ethical leader must focus on all aspects of ethics when making decisions and must not ignore how these decisions affect the society.

 

References:

BBC (2014) Introduction to Ethics [online] available from < http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/ > [23 May 2018]

Brown, M., Rubin, R., and Dierdorff, E. (2010) ‘Do Ethical Leaders Get Ahead? Exploring Ethical Leadership and Promotability’. Business Ethics Quarterly [online] 20(2), 215-236. available from < http://www.ebscohost.com > [23 May 2018]

Call, K. (2017) Broken Pedestals: The Dark Sides Of 5 Popular CEOs [online] available from <https://www.business.com/articles/broken-pedestals-the-dark-sides-of-5-popular-ceos/&gt; [23 May 2018]

Dishman, L. (2017) 2017’S Best And Worst Moments In Leadership [online] available from <https://www.fastcompany.com/40504118/2017s-best-and-worst-moments-in-leadership&gt; [23 May 2018]

Kant, Immanuel. 1785. “First Section: Transition from the Common Rational Knowledge of Morals to the Philosophical”, Harper and Row Publishers, Inc. ISBN 978-0-06-131159-8.

Kruse, K. (2013) What is Leadership? [online] available from < http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2013/04/09/what-is-leadership/ > [23 May 2018]

Mulder, P. (2017) Ethical Leadership [online] available from <https://www.toolshero.com/leadership/ethical-leadership/&gt; [23 May 2018]

Number Of Monthly Active Facebook Users Worldwide As Of 1St Quarter 2018 (In Millions) (2018) available from <https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/&gt; [23 May 2018]

Williams, D. (2017) 10 Influential American Business Leaders Today [online] available from <https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkwilliams/2017/01/03/top-10-list-americas-most-influential-business-leaders-today/#457a40126e67&gt; [23 May 2018]

Image Sources:

Lam, S. (2017) 5 Books About The Future Elon Musk Thinks Everyone Should Read [online] available from <http://www.businessinsider.com/5-books-about-the-future-elon-musk-thinks-everyone-should-read-2017-12/?IR=T/#structures-or-why-things-dont-fall-down-by-je-gordon-1&gt; [23 May 2018]

Senn, S. (2017) Mark Zuckerberg Should Really Listen To Himself [online] available from <https://www.wired.com/2017/05/mark-zuckerberg-really-listen/&gt; [23 May 2018]

The Centre for Ethical Leadership (2016) Concepts and Philosophies [online] available from < http://www.ethicalleadership.org/concepts-and-philosophies.html > [23 May 2018]