Organizational Behavior and Leadership - Case Study Example

Organizational Behavior and Leadership Student’s Name Instructor’s Name Course Code Date of Submission Introduction Mark Zuckerberg and why is he important Mark Zuckerberg is a role model of the business leaders today. This is because at the age of less than 30 years, Mark has managed to start and make Facebook a very successful company. In the world today, Mark is so important in that he can be used as a point of reference of what leaders go through today and the importance to remain focused disciplined and showing willingness to comprehend and overcome his own personal challenges. From Mark’s character, it can be said that he is one such person who cannot be swayed away by others on what he believes is not correct or worthy undertaking. This can be seen from the project groups he worked with while in school. Whenever, he was not convinced suggestions by others, he could just say “No.” From Mark’s contribution to the development of Facebook, it could also be learnt that listening to unconstructive ideas could be major obstacle in one’s agenda and also listening to information and data but not trying to bet life with it is very critical as some important aspects may be left out (Jessica 2012). Mark Zuckerberg’s Role Despite analysts maintaining the view that those who want to run technology companies should not drop out of school, because they believe that education is fundamental in sharpening one’s abilities in terms of leadership, this idea could easily be challenged by a number of entrepreneurs who have actually excelled even after dropping out of school. Among those who have dropped out of college but managed to excel in their entrepreneur goals include Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and the latest on the list being Mark Zuckerberg. What this depicts in the society is that leadership is not limited to education and that even those without university degrees could greatly contribute to organizational success. Finally, in leadership, one can move from good to great. This is to mean that one can move from a very humble approach to organizational leadership to high level success. This can certainly be the case of Mark Zurkerberg who is a person that rarely attends world conferences on leadership but sits down and brainstorm on what real matters in developing a great service and product for the customer. Themes about Mark as a leader From Mark’s case, a number of leadership themes can be derived and they include education, achievement, experience, failure and commitment. Education: Mark is average person in with regard to education even though he could finish his college course after dropping out of school to work on his social network software project. Achievement: In terms of achievement, Mark could be easily labeled as an achiever and this can demonstrated with the software he developed throughput his life. Experience: Despite the major contribution Mark has made in the field of technology despite starting and running and very successful global company, his experience was very small as he had not worked in any organization before launching the Facebook. Failure: Failure in the case of Mark was eminent. However, despite all that Mark could be termed as a person who never gives up. This can be learnt from his move to launch the Facebook software from his room in college after his project test had been banned in college. Commitment: Commitment in the case of Mark could be seen from his move to see what is missing in the society and making a pledge to make a difference from the rest by following his own way. Analysis of leadership themes Theme 1: Education Mark Zuckerberg was born on 14th May 1984 in New York in the United States. Zuckerberg was born into a very well-educated family with his father working as a dentist with his mother working as a psychiatrist in New York. Mark’s interest on computers started at very early of 12 years. Seeing his interest, his parents decided to hire him a private computer teacher David Newman. Later on, Mark could enroll at Philips Exeter Academy preparatory found in New Hampshire. While at the Academy, Mark continued to show great talent and in particular in fencing which led to his appointment as the school captain. In the Academy, Zuckerberg did excel in literature something that earned him his first Diploma in classics. In high school, Mark also managed to create his own version of music software which he called Synapse. After Mark graduated from Exeter, he went further to enroll at Harvard University where he majored in computer science and Psychology. It is at the institution where Mark, did manage to gain great reputation in computer software development and where he invented the CourseMatch and FaceMash programs. Based on his great talent, Mark was faced with three of his colleagues to work on the idea of social network before dropping later on to work on his social networking site which led to the development of the Face book in 2004 (Dodd 2012). Organizational behavior (OB) is defined as the study of human behaviors in an organizational context with a particular focus on the individual and team processes and activities. The theory of OB can be traced back to Fredrick Tailor’s work on The Principles of management where he extensively described various scientific management approaches that could be used to enhance productivity in organizations. This concept according to Yukl (1994), go hand in hand with organizational leadership. This is because good leadership should always take into account the organizational behaviors to ensure consistency in processes and actions within an organization. Organizational behavior is derived from various disciplines such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, social psychology and political science. Basically, these disciplines are all learnt in institutions and are aimed at helping students make good leaders in their endeavors after school. This is because organizational leadership is considered very fundamental for any firm’s success. Several authors such as Hatch (2006), Ivancevich & Matteson (1996) and Sutton (2009), have widely talked about the concept and its role in ensuring high level productivity in firms operating in different sectors. As various firms are striving to be leaders in their industries, understanding the concept of OB and leadership and the relationship that exists among the two, has become the debate for the day. However, the tussle is emerging whether managers are always are leaders or a leader is always a manager. According to Indra Nooyi who is the immediate former Chairperson of Pepsi, leadership strength is characterized by a number of activities such as being career focused, highly adapting and strategically thinking, excellent communicating and being charismatic. It is from this perspective, that education is known to play a very central role in good organization leadership that should usher in a direction that can lead the business into greater prosperity. This is because leadership is a process and should be used to influence people and create an environment through which organizational goals and objectives can be attained. According to Jackson and Perry (2008), there are both those qualities that can be founded on common sense and those that are scientific and are important in ensuring effective leadership. The leadership qualities founded on common sense include confidence, connection, resilience, aspiration and integrity. On the other hand, scientific traits include high internal self-control, medium need to attain achievement, high need to have power and low need for any affiliation (Tompkins 2005). While some of these can be natural some of them can be gained from academic institutions where various disciplines such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, economics social psychology can be learnt and all of which are important in understanding human behaviors and ways to offer effective leadership (Rollinson and Ayşen 2002). This can be clearly demonstrated clearly from the case of Mark Zuckerberg. Despite, Zuckerberg having demonstrated great talent in computer programming from an earlier age, he could make himself a great programmer without working with other people. It is through education and more especially at Harvard that Mark managed to major in psychology which helped him understand groups’ dynamics and at the same gave him the opportunity to work with and lead teams. This is what led to high level management of Face book. Theme 2: Achievement Mark Zuckerberg is one of the greatest achievers in innovation in the world today. This is after working with three other friends of his, managed to develop software that has seen millions of people now become lovers of use of social media as a means of communication and interaction globally. From childhood, Mark has been seen to have great inspiration to excel in computer programming and make an impact in the field of communication using the new information technology devices available (Time Magazine 2011). At the age of 12 years, Zuckerberg managed to develop a simple messaging program which he named Zucknet by making use of Atari BASIC. This program proved to be a very big achievement in his life when his father chose to use it for his dental office in order to facilitate communication with the receptionist when there is a client without having to moving or shouting while in the room. The Zucknet was also used by Mark’s family to facilitate communication within the family. Further, working together with his friends, Mark also managed to create numerous computer games out of curiosity. Mark was once quoted saying that various friends who were artists could come to him with different kind of staff and out of which he could create different games. While in school, Mark could also demonstrate that he was a good leader when he was appointed the school captain. In area of academics, Mark was also a great achiever, after showing good results in literature which led him to be awarded with a Diploma in Classics (Wurtzel 2009). While at Exeter Academy, still it could be noted that his inspiration to be a great achiever could continue when he managed to develop an early version of music software which he labeled as Synapse. It is from this achievement that such companies as AOL and Microsoft did develop great interest to have Mark as one of their employees. However, because of the high ambition to make great achievements, the offers by both companies were dropped. In an organization, the purpose is to achieve good results. This is by employing the concept of OB and leadership whereby different people-organizational relationships are interpreted in terms of individuals and various personalities and the whole organization as well as the social systems (Tompkins 2005). The intention is to ensure that good relationships are created between OB and leadership with the sole aim of ensuring that human objectives and organizational objectives as well as social objectives are achieved. Organizational behavior according to Yukl (1994) encompasses quite a number of topics which include human behaviours, organizational change, leadership and teams. Understanding of all these topics, provide an opportunity what the firm wants to achieve and how to it and the various relationships that ought to be put in place to boost one’s desire to achieve great results. In the case of Mark and Facebook Plc, the organizational behavior and leadership has been influenced by individual behaviours such as values, personalities, perceptions, emotions, attitudes and the stress towards achieving results. All these are factors are related to individual behaviours which translate into individual motivation, abilities and role perceptions to achieve results (Rollinson and Ayşen 2002). Organizational behavior can also be described from one’s personality which is the description of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others and those measureable characteristics a person may exhibit. Personality traits can be described as a characteristic that endures that can lead to a certain behavior. According to Clugston (2000), there are numerous personality traits that can OB and they include core self-evaluation, Machivavelism, Narcissim, self-monitoring, risk taking, type A and Type B Personalities and proactive personality. However, what has led to the great achievement by Mark is the core self-evaluation. This is because a part from believing that what he is doing is what, he has also has also come to understand himself as a master of his own and he can control what he wants (Shafritz et al 2005). This is what has led Mark to desire for more results and take control of what he wants to achieve. Theme 3: Failure Failure can be described as the inability to attain the intended goals and objectives either by an individual or an organization. Failure can be as a result of internal factors and in particular the OBs of an individual or the external factors which may be exerted to the organization by change in operating environment. Despite the fact that Mark managed to complete many of his projects successfully, failure was not uncommon phenomenon in his life. It is his behavior and determination that made him to overcome every obstacle (Time Magazine 2011). While at Harvard for instance, Mark did manage to create photo network within college, through which students could participate by voting on the attractiveness one’s photo attractiveness as posted in the Facemash software. Even though the project could not last longer before it was closed down by the university administration, the setback could not deter him from pursuing his dream. Actually, what could be seen as Mark’s determination to complete his project for developing a comprehensive social media network, he could use the templates of the project to develop the Facebook which he launched from his dormitory. This is one situation where Mark failed but chose to persist in his quest to start a company that a few years later will grow to become a multibillionaire firm (Tom 2012). It is from this kind of move, that Mark Zuckerberg is considered as one of the most visionary leader in the 21st century given their recommendable job in the world of innovation. This is because he was willing to put whatever put ahead of as long as he could reach his dream to develop the largest social network on the planet. Mark’s persistence to develop a global social network media has been as a result of motivation he had towards developing software that could be used by internet users to interact globally. Motivation under OB can be explained as the psychological process that drives an individual’s behavior towards attaining a given object or goal. An object in this case can be assumed to be a person, relationship, love or even material benefit like money. In many occasions, people do behave differently (Tompkins 2005). Many theories have been developed to explain the concept of motivation but the most commonly used are content theories and process theories. According to the content theories, tries to explain what motivates the behavior of an individual while, the process theory seeks to explain how behaviors are motivated. Examples of content theories include hierarchy of needs, McClelland’s learned needs, Herzberg’s two factors theory and McGregor’s theory X and theory Y (Rollinson and Ayşen 2002). On the other hand, the process theories include expectancy theory, goal-setting theory, self-efficacy theory and equity theory. In the case of content theories, the McClelland’s learned needs approach, is well placed to explain the force behind Mark’s motivation despite, the major setback to develop his social network while at School in Harvard. According to McClelland’s learned needs approach, people come to learn about the value of three needs which are important both for them as individuals and their organizations. The first need to be valued in this approach and that is very important in influencing one’s motivation and behavior, is the need to make an achievement. In this case, the one develops a very strong desire to achieve a certain goal or objective in the best way possible than in the past (Cheng and Margaret 2003). This can be clearly demonstrated from Mark’s behavior throughout his live from childhood. Despite having developed various software from childhood and throughout his school live which could be used in small scale business and in family households for communication, his main goal was to do a perfection from what he had done in the past and deliver the best on his objectives (Shafritz et al 2005). This is what led Mark to the major development of Facebook Plc. Mark has also managed to work with and provide good leadership for the teams that he has worked with (Clugston 2000). This can be explained from the point of need for affiliation under McClelland’s learned needs approach while working on different networking projects with fellow students at Harvard. Finally, need for power and become influential in a team and take control of a given environment, can also be explained as a factor for Mark’s motivation despite failure. According to McClelland, striking a balance among these three needs is what determines the pattern behind someone’s motivation and this is what has been behind Mark’s motivation to develop software for social networking by use of internet called Facebook. Theme 4: Experience Experience can be termed as past encounters for an individual that can play a role in informing his next course of action. In an organization, experience is gained from daily interaction with the team members, the duties and responsibilities carrier out and the various situations that affect an organization’s leadership styles. In the case of Mark Zuckerberg, experience can be said to have played a very significant role in his endeavor to develop social network software. Mark Zuckerberg is a young-man in 14th May 1984 in New York in the United States where he schooled and brought up (Time Magazine 2011). What can be learned about Mark even being the CEO of a multibillion worthy firm, his experience both to OB and leadership, is very limited. This is because at the age of 19, Mark had already started brainstorming about a computer program that could facilitate and interaction in the world community. He is well known to be the co-founder of the social-networking site called Facebook. Prior to developing this software, Mark had neither worked in any organization nor appointed a CEO of any company except being a member of various project teams at Harvard. Despite his age and all the money he could make, Mark could not actually be talked of as a leader of a billion worthy company but as a very young person who could do and manage marvelous projects (Doug 2012). One time Mark at age of 19 was quoted saying that he new nothing about business and leadership back then but however, managed to learn very quickly on how to make Facebook a world brand despite negligible experience. The question could be asked is how a 19 year old child with no any kind of experience in OB and leadership could turn out to be a very great leader of more than 2,000 staff in a very competitive industry. This dilemma thus opens a discussion on the role of experience in OB and leadership. The ever asked question in many organizations and in particular with regard to organizational behavior and leadership is the kind of leadership being practiced. This is because in an organization, goals do exist and their execution is almost a must, however, where the difference lies, is the process of execution (Rollinson and Ayşen 2002). In an organizational there are those leaders who despite prevailing politics and business environment, remain static to their leadership approaches and those who demonstrate willingness think and be sensitive to the environment and ready to modify goals and objectives when need arises. Leadership can be said to be efficient and effective if it can deliver good results. In an organizational context, according to (Cheng and Margaret 2003), understanding of the pattern of OB is particularly important in employing an appropriate leadership approach that can ensure that good results are sustained for relatively long period of time. This is because constant changes in organizational behaviors call for change of team’s direction which requires high level of sensitivity in leadership as argued by (reference). However, this is only possible if the leadership has adequate experience on various patterns of OB and leadership as demonstrated by Robbins (2004). On the contrary to this idea is (Shafritz et al 2005), who argues that experience will only play a role to a certain point from where competence to strike a balance between efficiency in results and context is the key characteristic of an effective organizational leadership. Despite the recognizable role of experience, the fact is that, organizations are always dynamic and will to remain so as the needs for various stakeholders including shareholders and clients (Clugston 2000). This therefore calls for the need to ensure high level of flexibility in the priorities of the team in relation to those of the organization by making appropriate adjustments to OBs to ensure relevance and competitiveness. To provide this kind of leadership not necessarily demands for great experience, but a pragmatic approach to leadership in dealing with emerging issues in a very straight and particular way. Rather than experience, this is where Mark leadership’s leadership is based on. This can be demonstrated from the way he chooses to do things and the path that he believes is effective and can deal with perplexing issues and value to his leadership style (Tompkins 2005). Theme 5: Commitment Commitment in simple terms can be described as the pledge that one has to doing something or following a certain direction. Commitment in leadership is especially important in getting to have all the employees’ efforts and behaviours geared towards a given goal. Mark Zuckerberg is one such person that has demonstrated high level of commitment in his quest to developing social network software. Even though there are those who can see Him as somebody arrogant, stunted and calculating as reflected in the ‘Social Network’ movie, there are those who see him as somebody who is charming, quick and ever present kind of person (Time Magazine 2011). Mark in 2010 was named the Time’s 2010 person of the year. He is an outstanding person whose name is synonymously used with Facebook. He is the second youngest person to become the Time’s person of the year and in addition one of the youngest billionaires in the globe at the age of 27. Mark has demonstrated that is some that is visionary, objective and committed person in his work. This can be seen from his ability to develop the fastest growing social network despite all the obstacles on the way. From Mark’s success in starting the Facebook Plc, it is clear that he is person who is committed and willing to become a pioneer in his work and as a leader. For any person that is member of Facebook and used Facebook with interact with other people, it is very possible to label Mark as person who for long has been committed to make difference. His determination to step into greatness is as result of the spirit of commitment (Samberg 2012). This is because even though there are chances of succeeding, failing or even being labeled as weird person, Mark chose to remain on course no matter what until his dream is reached. Mark’s motivation to develop social network software has been motivated with what he has wished to achieve something that had real triggered his behavior. First and foremost given the circumstances that Mark has developed the social network software, can be explained in the process theories that seek to explain behaviors of persons are motivated towards a certain goal. The expectancy theory which explains that motivation within an individual or organization is factor of how much one wants to achieve and the likely chance that it could be achieved. According to Robbins (2004)), the probability that one will attain the intended results is the first part of the expectancy theory whereby an individual motivation founded on the probability that the intended goals will be achieved. The probability that one’s good performance will translate into the desired outcomes is the second step in the expectancy theory. Finally, for an individual expectancy value to work and remain relevant in an individual and motivate one’s actions there must be some value attached to the results and that will accrue to the person or the team involved (Cheng and Margaret 2003). To explain further on Mark’s situation, The Myers-Brigs Type Indicator is an important measure that could be used. This indicator seeks to explain how one perceives the environment in which one lives in and how it affects the decisions being made (Clugston 2000). For instance in the case of Mark, his behavior and actions have been informed by the fact the socialization is a very important aspect in one’s life and doing anything in life that could facilitate the process would definitely fulfill his dream. This is actually after realizing that there existed a gap between what the society needed for interaction and the medium for interaction which actually was available. By committing to work towards developing the social network, Mark was in no doubt that the discovery will earn him respect and recognition in the world of leadership but also provided an avenue through which the world could become one small social setting with high level of interaction. According to Bolman & Deal (2008), in organizational behavior and leadership, core self-evaluation is used two main components of personality traits that influence on one’s behavior namely self-esteem and locus of control. Self-esteem is the behavior exhibited by individual by showing some kind of worthiness to self while locus of control refers to the situation where an individual believes that he is the master of his fate (Shafritz et al 2005). This is what has caused Mark to believe in himself and worked towards making a difference in the field of socialization through the development of the social network. Conclusion Analysis of main points This analysis has tackled a number of issues related to organization behavior and leadership in reference to Mark Zuckerberg who is the founder of Facebook Plc. First and foremost, in the essay, the reason as to why Mark is important in leadership today, his role in leadership and various leadership themes have been discussed. In the world today, Mark is especially important point of reference of what leaders go through today and the importance to remain focused disciplined and showing willingness to comprehend and overcome his own personal challenges. Further, Mark is important after demonstrating that strong leadership is a factor of knowing which is the right direction and how should behave towards attaining a predetermined goal. This analysis of Mark’s case also provides that listening to unconstructive ideas could be major obstacle in one’s agenda and also listening to information and data but not trying to bet life with it is critical as some important aspects may be left out. On the other hand, Mark has played a very significant role in the world of leadership by demonstrating all individuals have leadership capabilities and that in no way education could be used as a factor to measure somebody’s leadership capabilities. This is because even though Mark did not complete his university education, he has managed to start and manage a multibillionaire global company. Significance of themes In the analysis, five leadership themes have been identified and which include education, achievement, experience, failure and commitment. Each of these themes has a very significant role organizational behaviors and leadership. For instance, despite the significant role played by education in learning various theories related to organizational behavior and leadership, it is emerged that not only individuals with high levels of education can make good leaders. This is because with the level of education, Mark has managed to make a good a leader of a very successful company. This is because personality has a role to play in leadership. On the other hand, achievement is as a result of motivation one has. This is because desire to achieve something is what drives one’s behavior and leadership style. Further, experience is the past encounter on a situation an individual has. However, in the case of Mark experience is not something that can be talked of. This is because despite Mark had no experience. What this implies is that, even though experience may be of great significance, some organizational contexts, goals and objectives derives its own experience and behavior as is the case of Mark. 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