Great Man Theory, Behavioral and Situational Leadership - Case Study Example

Student’s name Institution Course Professor Date LEADERSHIP AND GLOBALISATION The leader I highly admire due to his good leadership and communication styles is Howard Schultz. Howard Schultz is the Chairman of Starbucks Company. Starbucks is a successful fast growing international firm that specializes in coffee serving. This firm has its origin in the United States of America and has branches in over 35countries that include Japan and Singapore. Howard was among the founders of the company and contributed towards its listing in the stock market. Leadership is the process of being able to influence and guide people in order to achieve certain objectives. Leadership does not involve an individual alone; there must be followers who the leader guides towards the achievement of certain predetermined goals. Northouse (2004: 3) identifies themes of leadership as: leadership as a process, leadership involves influence, leadership occurs in a group and leadership involves attainment of goals. Leadership occurs in an environment comprising both microeconomic and macroeconomic variables that influence it. Leadership style in the other hand is the manner or approaches the leader uses to fulfill his or her leadership roles. It is the style of implementing plans by providing direction to the followers he or she has influence over them. Howard uses a wide range leadership styles that has made him able to lead the company to success and also be able to overcome financial crisis that deeply affected related companies. He led the company into listing in the American stock exchange. He uses democratic, transformative, participative among other kind of leadership to guide his followers. According to Goleman (2000) there exist no specific leadership style that makes a leader exhibit success, he argues that for them to achieve success they must use a combination of different styles depending on different situations. Howard has used a combination of leadership styles to achieve his success. After his appointment as the chief executive officer, he transformed the company into a successful company despite the global financial crisis that caused many companies to be destabilized (Schultz & Gordon, 2011: 1-171). Through such good leadership, he was able to drive the company into profitability and expansion while being the CEO. He has continued to foster his good leadership as the chairperson of the company. Global environment are the exogenous variables in other sovereign nationals that directly affect the operation of an organization. Global environment has been caused by globalisation that has brought many people from different parts of the world together in undertaking economic, cultural and social interactions. Globalisation of the world economy has made it possible for variables or market conditions in different countries to influence decision making of an organization. Global economy has necessitated change in leadership to tackle its aspects and challenges. The world has experienced wide changes in leadership due to countless challenges resulting from global economy and its impacts to countries and organizations. This has redefined leadership and called for new form of leadership in order to succeed. Conventional leaders and leadership styles are insufficient to overcome the challenges of this century. Today’s leadership is faced with wide demands than before. The decisive, strong, charismatic and independent leadership formerly idealized, strived and depended upon and longed for prove to be counter-productive in this century and are undermining sustainable future. The current globalized economy calls for new leadership styles and new and different thinking about leadership and developing the future leaders. Leadership from the past has continued to undergo various changes from the past to present. Leadership styles undergo changes to fill the current and future gaps in the market (Hays & Kim, 2002). This essay looks at the way leadership has transformed from the past to the current leadership in the globalized economy. It looks at how leadership changed from the traditional trait oriented to the current transformational leadership. LEADERSHIP CHANGES FROM THE PAST TO PRESENT Leadership has changed from the traditional conventional and contemporary leadership to the current emerging non-traditional leadership. Leadership has passed through the following phases: Great man theory The earliest established form of leadership was the great man theory. This form of leadership believed that leadership and leaders are born with the potential of greatness, endowed with great and special personalities and abilities that made them to succeed in their roles. They gain power, courage and wisdom naturally (Yukl, 2002: 160). This theory of leadership was prevalent amongst leadership scholars in the 19th and 20th century and it was influenced by inherent view of leadership and manifested in trait theories that gained ground in early decades of last century. This leadership view did not able to overcome the challenges of globalization. It was not possible to identify traits explaining and predicting leadership under all conditions (Nye, 2008:100-122). The presumption that leaders are born did not make it possible for the developmental aspects of leadership to be incorporated in leadership. For instance, what education and experience added to leadership? Leadership in this era did not take into consideration followers interests and environmental variables resulting from globalisation and hence was not successful. Behavioral leadership Dissatisfied with great man theory/ traits theory scholars developed the behavioral theories (Nye, 2008; Yukl, 2002). These theories gave much emphasis on the interactions between leaders and followers. This was pervasive between 1940s and 1960s. Research on leadership behaviors during this period were centered on knowing the kind of leadership behaviors that was effective in dealing with a wide range of situations. There were no persistent and consistent effective behaviors (Schiro, 1999: 67). Globalisation forced leaders to have different behaviors and leadership was not consistent with behaviors inherent in the leaders. Situational leadership Focus then shifted to situational aspects of leadership in 1960s, leadership style and behavior was seen to be determined by the context or to be contingent on the situation (Nye, 2008; Yukl, 2002). This theory is consistent with the path-goal theory. It was thought that situations and leadership style in the interaction with followers determines effectiveness of group performance. This hence led to the conclusion that different leadership styles are effective in different types of situations. Leaders thus vary their focus on job performance and behaviors while dealing with different followers and situations of the global environment. The challenging nature of the micro and macro environment made it impossible for the dependence on the situational leadership style. Transactional and transformational leadership styles Due to the need for the consideration of workers’ grievances and the desire for high performance to cope with other global competitors, transaction leadership style emerged. Transactional leadership largely involves contingent reinforcement. Those in leadership posts praise and use rewards in motivation of followers while correcting negative outcomes through disciplinary actions. Leaders come into consensus with followers on job performance and reinforcement mechanisms (Bass & Steidlmeier, 1999). If the leader is satisfied with the work he receives from the follower, he will reward the follower with a resource he wants, typically compensation, (Judge, 2004).This style is objective since it assumes leaders and their followers act rationally in their contractual relationships. Transformative leadership includes charisma or idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation and individualized consideration in leadership (Humphreys 2005: 1410, Avolio & Bass, 2004: 315). Transformative leadership attempts to align the needs of the followers and his or her goals and objectives. It is considered as moral leadership that is based on values, charisma, vision and leadership concern for other stakeholders in the organization. This modern leadership forms is more democratic and vision oriented. Transformative leadership and transaction leadership styles are the current leadership means that successfully provide solutions to the challenges of globalized society. According to Perrin (2009), current leadership must be able to show exemplary in the following area: society, diversity, ingenuity, people, business and reflection. HOWARD LEADERSHIP STYLES In his leadership, Howard uses a combination of various leadership styles to achieve his goals and objectives. He uses the following leadership styles: Participative leadership style Participative leadership is the leadership where the leaders seeks to involve peers, superiors, subordinates and other stakeholders in the process of decision making and implementation (Kouzes, 2007: 140). Involvement in decision making by the various stakeholders improves the understanding of the issues by those who implement them. Howard in his leadership has been able to involve all the stakeholders in major decision-making. This has created teamwork in striving towards achievement the company’s targets and goals. This form of leadership has reduced autocracy in the company. There is no dictatorship in the management structures of the company. Howard has promoted consultation empowerment, management by objectives and power sharing in the company as part of his participatory leadership style. This has contributed in the formulation of quality decision in the company that has seen become competitive in the market and be a leader in its line of operation. Democratic and team work leadership style Howard takes people’s opinions in decision-making. He usually collects opinions when it comes to cross cutting measures that requires critical measures to solve. After consultation, the final decision making solely rested on him, thus making it possible to facilitate consensus among the various stakeholders in the company. The combination of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and competency in Howard has enable him to effective be democratic in necessary matters and making quality final decision after taking into consideration their views. Sometimes he has faced problematic times when he gets a wide range of opinions that make it unclear to reach an equitable final decision. He usually tries to avoid cynicism and feelings of betrayal by making sure that he does not ignore the opinions sort from other stakeholders in the company (Cookie, 2009). Howard likes teamwork in achieving the set goals. He fosters the employment of team player workers with the passion of working for Starbucks. He likes the culture of working in a team with united objectives. This has made him to ensure the formation of teams in the several branches of Starbucks that he gives due respect in job performance and decision-making. This style of leadership ensures reduction of individualism and fostering of professionalism through sharing of ideas while working in teams. Transformative leadership style This is a leadership style where the followers have faith, esteem and respect on the leader to lead them in achievement of set goals. Howard practices this leadership style through the utilization of four aspects: Idealized influence- this is whereby he has developed confidence in other leaders and followers in the company. This has made the followers to identify with him. He has developed this through making the company to be employee focused by taking great care in recruitment of promoters, employees and partners. He was able to guide the firm in stock option plan while giving ownership to employees of the company. This guidance has made the employees to be loyal to the organization while being an example to employees to follow. Inspirational motivation- Howard has been able to offer inspirational leadership to the organization. Leaders having inspirational motivation confront followers with clear optimism about future, high standards and explaining the meaning for their work and opportunity (Mullins, 1996). Howard has designed effective benefits schemes, training and development programs and mission statements in the organization that motivates the employees. Employees in the organization are able to see great futures in the organization and thus inspired by his leadership to perform exemplary. Intellectual stimulation- Howard is creative in his strategy implementation. He is able to solicit creative new and novel approaches in performance of various tasks in the company. This gives works to explore creative and new ways of doing things in the company for its continued productivity, growth and profitability. This for instance, leads to the establishment of “Frappuccino” a cold coffee that was a thriving innovation. Individualized consideration- Starbucks under his influence fosters the culture attaining to unique characteristics of individual followers thus making sure they are included in the implementation of the organization goals through its transformation process. It assists employees through respective training programs. Transformational leadership has made it possible for him to sell the vision of the company to the workers and be able to get the support of the other stakeholders in driving the company to its current position in the global market. He continues to lead from the front instead of setting and watching the changes occurring. He gives supports, while motivating and energizing followers towards transformation in the company. Change implementation with transformative leadership style is easier since majority of the stakeholders have shared visions. Situational leadership style The best actions of a leader depends on wide range of situational factors and when a decision need to be made, effective leader does not fall into his single preferred style, (Kouzes 2007: 160). Forces in the leader, follower and leader influence the adoption of leadership style in various situations. Situational theory tends to focus more on behaviors that a leader should adopt given situational factors. Howard has guided the company effectively through implementation of decisions that deals will various issues that arise. During its initial stage, he led the company in entering into takeovers of other companies. He led the company in 1990s in undertaking stock option to obtain more capital. During recession period as the CEO, he led the company solely in undertaking drastic changes in nearly all aspects of the company. For instance, he led the cutting of cost by at least $500 million, shutting 800 stores and the laying-off of employees. He also conducted more customer research, offer discounts and advertise to aid the company in overcoming the effects of the financial crisis of leadership. During this period, he acted in autocratic way. STARBUCKS COMPANY Starbucks Company is a big company with branches in over 35 nations worldwide. The company has a culture of being innovative in its production thus being the leading company in the coffee sector. The company believes in teamwork in its operation thus employing team oriented members in its workforce. It is consumers ethical and quality oriented in provision of its services. Globalisation has made the company to grow into a multinational company with branches in both the rich and poor countries. Globalisation is the process whereby a wide range of economic, cultural and social activities is carried across the national borders. Growth of the company into different geographical area as made its leadership to adopt different leadership styles in different branches and to foster democracy and participative management and leadership in order to deal with various challenges and advantages of the expansion. Global economic conditions resulting from globalisation like economic depression has made the leadership of the company to change its leadership styles during such times. HOWARD COMMUNICATION STYLES A leader cannot be effective without being a good communicator. To achieve good leadership Howard Schultz has been effective in his communication in the company. He has been clear in communicating the vision and mission of the company to all stakeholders as well as defining the responsibilities of various parties in the company. He has achieved this through his charismatic and good communication skills. Howard effectiveness in leadership is due to the use of the following communication styles: Assertive communication style This is the healthiest and most effective style of communication and born with high self-esteem. Howard communicates with confidence without being too passive or aggressive. He does not resort to the use of manipulative or submissive means to pass across the intended message. This has enabled him to achieve the intended goals without hurting others. This style of communication has enabled him to be able to take compliments from other parties, accept the possibility of rejection of some ideas as well as taking responsibility for various outcomes under his control. Direct communication style and charismatic style In his communication, Howard is very clear in formulation of his messages. In both written and unwritten communication, he formulates the intended message in such a way that they are straight to the intended idea. This makes it easily understood and thus avoids the chances of being misunderstood. He is also charismatic in his communication to the audience and followers. Charismatic leaders are effective and efficient in guiding the people portraying visions and strategy to the followers (Yulk, 2010: 160). Charismatic leaders find it easy in gaining trust in the followers since they are good in convincing them to support their objectives (Conger et al, 2000). Charisma enables him to demonstrate courage and conviction in his leadership as the role model of his followers Consultative communication style Before passing on the intended message, it is good to have taken into consideration various peoples stands in order to reduce resistance and the possibility of being portrayed as dictatorial in communication or issuing of orders (Jackson & Bosse-Smith, 2008: 20). Howard takes into consideration this aspect and thus gets little resistance from his followers; this is despite the transformation and turn-around strategies he has been implementing in the company. Various factors have impacted upon Starbucks Company running. Globalisation is one of the factors. Globalisation is the process whereby a large number of people and communities come together to jointly-enjoy economic, social and cultural environment. Globalisation has resulted to increased interactions of people from various parts of the world in different spheres of life through the sophisticated communication and transport means. The world has been turn into a global village with people of different views, technological innovations and more skills and knowledge. Initially, the company operated in the USA alone but due to globalisation, it started branches in various countries and by now, it has branches in over 35 countries. Globalisation as enable the company to change its policies to cope with its aspects. The company culture has changed to accommodate the various aspects of people from various aspects of operating areas. Coffee brands have been innovated to accommodate tastes of different people since globalisation has brought a wide range of tastes among people from different spheres of life. Employees, customers and other stakeholders in the organization has been accommodated in its culture. Globalisation challenges like recession, financial crisis, security and competition threats have forced the company to change its management and policies to cope with them. For instant, challenges of global financial crisis of 2008-2009 caused the company to undertake cost cutting and other revival measures. The company is listed in Stock exchange and markets in various countries. This is due to the need of maintaining competitiveness. The company has entered into collaboration with a wide range of suppliers and promoters from different parts of the world. In the expansion of its business to new areas, the company has sometimes undergone merging and takeover of other companies in this area of operation. All of this has impacted the company and can be attributed to globalisation of the world economy. Howard as the chairperson of the company is responsible in guiding the board of governors in implementation of various policies and the general running of its business. He is suppose to ensure the company continues his profitability while expanding and maintaining stability in the global market. Howard leadership style has been fluctuating depending on the situation existing in the globalised environment. For instance, during recession the company was forced to shift from democratic and participative leadership style to more of autocratic implementation of cost reduction methods in order to lead the company through such hard economic global times. Howard leadership style has continued to improve within the globalised economy. His transformative leadership style has changed from just considering expansion of the company within USA and its neighbors to expansion to nearly all continents. Good leadership of the company has made it to be successful in the market. Starbucks Company is a learning organization. A learning organization is an organization that promotes that facilitates learning of its members and continuously transforms-itself. Starbucks likes to be the leading company and it has achieved this through promoting continuous training and development of its workers and through innovations. Innovation and good leadership has made it to be the leading company in their sector. Expansion of the come to being a multinational company has contributed to it being competitive. Ways like mergers and takeovers has assisted it in overcoming stiff competition in the market. Restructuring the company and implementation of cost cutting measures has enabled it-overcome challenges of economic downturn and recession that are associated with globalisation. These measures among others have enabled it to be competitive in the globalised environment. Howard has really planned to steer the company through change that stemmed from globalisation. Howard is creative in formulation and implementation of policies and measures in the company that help in overcoming challenges resulting from globalisation. His plans in expansion have continued to pear fruits given the competitive advantage the company enjoys in the market. His plans in leading the company to success after the 2008-2009 economic downturns show his capability. Through his leadership, there is continuous training and development of employees that helps in keeping up to date with world events. Good leadership and communication styles that he has makes make it possible to steer the company to greater profitability, sustainability and expansion; this is necessary to overcome challenges in the globalised environment. Conclusion Changes in the world and globalisation have necessitated changes in leadership over time. Leadership has drastically undergone positive transformation to result to good current leadership styles. Leadership has changed from the trait lead form of leadership, to behavioral, situational and now the transactional and transformative leadership styles. The changes in leadership styles have been caused by the existence of gaps in leadership or defects of the old forms of leadership. The emergence of transformative and transactional leadership styles have effectively aided in the leadership framework by overcoming most of the defects of traditional leadership styles. Globalisation has brought various changes in organization culture that requires the use of different leadership styles. In Starbucks Company, transformative leadership is largely used in achievement of its objectives; however, other styles of leadership like democratic, situational and autocratic styles are used in specific situations in order to facilitate implementation of certain objectives in the globalised environment. Good communication styles of the leader in his leadership aids in the implementation of the leadership roles entitled to implement. Good leadership has enable Starbuck Company to operate well as a multinational company while adopting and overcoming some challenges global environment. References Avolio, B. J. & Gardner, W. L. (2005). Authentic leadership development: getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 16: 315-338.. Barendsen, L. (2006). The three elements of good leadership in rapidly changing times. In F. Hesselbein, & M. Goldsmith (Eds.). The Leader of the Future 2: Visions, Strategies, and Practices for the New Era. 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