Leadership and Governance - Essay Example

Name: University: Instructor: Date: Report on Leadership and Governance Abstract After its entrance in 1999, Netflix pursued to distinguish its DVD rental-by-mail service from its competitors through introduction of “No late fees.” This connoted that customers could hold onto the disc without a time limit, and undoubtedly this turned out to a rallying cry and finally Blockbuster, its main competitor was forced to follow suit. At that time, no one had clue that this policy, which critics like Michael Pachter believed could be harmful to the success of the inexperienced service, was actually its undisclosed weapon and would possibly help Netflix save indescribable millions of dollars. The theories of leadership as well as governance as exhibited at Netflix include; strategic policies, plans, and direction, effective motivation, regulation, as well as partnerships that incorporate all organisational building blocks so as to realize the needed results. Netflix leadership has exhibited a fondness for possessing the appropriate policy to continue being a market leader.  Precisely, deciding to swiftly cannibalize its DVD business by ferociously supporting streaming proved that Hastings preferred growth rather than defensiveness. This report talks about leadership and governance based on leadership principles and Big Five model of personality leadership traits. Table of Contents Report on Leadership and Governance 1 Abstract 1 Table of Contents 2 1.0 Introduction 2 2.0 Communication and Conflict Management Styles 3 2.1 Use of Communication 3 2.2 Use of Feedback 4 2.3 Use of Coaching Guidelines 4 2.4 Conflict Management Style 5 3.0 Improve Netflix’s Product Offerings and Processes 6 4.0 Leadership Paradigm 7 5.0 Big Five Model of Personality Leadership Traits 8 6.0 University of Iowa leadership styles 9 7.0 Power, Organisational Politics, Networking, and Negotiation 10 8.0 Conclusion 11 9.0 Works Cited 13 1.0 Introduction Netflix is evidently a fast growing market considering that contemporary people have voracious craving for entertainment. So the market has not just grown at a magnificent speed, but is projected to continue growing very fast in the coming days.  Netflix is currently the only openly traded organisation, which deals almost completely with licensed digital media streaming (Lussier and Achua 222). This proves that Streaming is a crucial business segment, which will in the future outdo CDs and downloads. However, profits are vague considering the reasonable doubts that streaming music is excessively challenging for a standalone corporation. In this report, Hastings use of communication, feedbacks, and conflict management styles will be discussed, and the report will further discuss Hastings’ leadership paradigm, use of coaching guidelines, and personality traits he exhibited in both companies. As it will be evidenced, Hastings leadership has been the main driver behind Netflix success. 2.0 Communication and Conflict Management Styles 2.1 Use of Communication Two years after graduating, Hastings in 1991 established Pure Software, which grew to become among world’s top 50 software companies, but he considered the results of the company as unexceptional. So he sold the company and started Netflix with the intention of transforming the movie rental industry (Lussier and Achua 222). The use of communication at the two companies was extremely different considering that while at Pure Software, Hastings was hard headed, could not take criticism, and always criticised workers, particularly those with dumb ideas. At Pure Software, there was little or no communication since he never asked advice or ideas from workers. As mentioned by Men (264), scores of entrepreneurs and leaders cite the significance of teamwork, but when practically their behaviour often intrudes upon their personal championed beliefs. According to Hadley, Pittinsky and Sommer (634), scores of leaders fear being seen as irresolute, and so, they make lots of decisions individually without involving other people. Such leaders always impose blame against every person, and this result not just in poor performance, but also reduce motivation amongst workers. When he moved to Netflix, Hastings changed to become participative, and improved communication since he always seek ideas and advice from his employees. A participative leader as stated by Mehrabi, Safaei and Kazemi (141), instead of taking tyrannical resolutions, they seek to involve employees in decision making process. So, when workers are listened to they feel individually responsible for the accomplishment and success of the organisation. 2.2 Use of Feedback At pure software communication, Hastings never offered feedback to his workers, but this changed at Netflix where he begun responding to comments (Lussier and Achua 222). Goff, Guthrie and Goldring (684) point out that regardless of how thriving leaders are performing at workplace, instinctively they are inclined to fear feedback, and may regularly delay, evade, or fear their twelve-monthly performance review. But this is not the case at Netflix, since Hastings realized that getting feedback and acting on it was a vital element for business success. Without doubt, it is hard for leaders to ask to be judged and criticized, but as mentioned by Goff, Guthrie and Goldring (685) the benefits are vast. So it is vital for organisation leaders to be inquisitive regarding the feedback and not be defensive concerning it. Goff, Guthrie and Goldring further note that using feedback is a good method of learning, since a leader can get new ideas from opinions presented by the workers. 2.3 Use of Coaching Guidelines Coaching workers at Pure Software was non-existent, but at Netflix learning became a culture. Coaching is imperative since it is associated to a number of benefits such as employees’ empowerment and promotion of accountability; it offers workers a tool kit for making their individual decisions, and becoming decisive (Hon and Chan 201). Other benefits that use of coaching guidelines could bring to Netflix include; improved job satisfaction, motivation, and performance as well as it offers business results. Exposure to coaching as indicated by Hon and Chan (200) enables the leader to espouse this approach when working together with employees, and as a result, it helps in building a learning culture in the company. 2.4 Conflict Management Style When conflicts arose at Pure Software, the architects were always sacked, but this changed at Netflix where Hastings endeavoured to create a conflict free environment for workers. In this case, the conflict style used at Pure Software was avoiding, where Hastings simply avoided an issue arising in the company.  He never helped organisation teams to realize their goals, and he never aggressively pursued his own goals.  According to Trudel and Reio Jr (402), leaders use this approach when the issue is inconsequential or when the leader is certain that there is no chance of winning.   What is more, this approach is effective when the leader believes the existing issue is exceedingly expensive or when the atmosphere is unbearable. However, at Netflix he used accommodating style of conflict management. In this approach as per Trudel and Reio Jr (405), the leader’s cooperation is very high, and they may work against their personal goals, so as to achieve the organisation’s desired results.  This approach is useful when the workers are the expert or have an effective solution as evidenced at Netflix. 2.5 Conflict Management Style Used To Strike A Deal with Epix A deal that was stricken between Epix and Netflix saw the company’s stock prices increase thanks to collaborative approach of conflict management. In this approach, a company pair up or partners with another company with the intent of achieving goals of both parties.  Through this approach of conflict management, Netflix managed to cut loose from the “win-lose” model and pursued the “win-win” paradigm.  According to Trudel and Reio Jr (403), collaborating approach is effective for multifaceted scenarios where a company must find a new solution.  This may as well connote re-framing the issue so as to produce a larger room and space for every person’s ideas.  Thanks to the high-degree of trust that Epix had on Netflix, they managed to reach an agreement, but the consensus needed lots of time as well as effort to get everyone aboard and to integrate every idea. 3.0 Improve Netflix’s Product Offerings and Processes Basically, improving the quality of Netflix’s product as well as productivity will lead to increased employee as well as employee satisfaction. Therefore, Netflix’s product processes and offerings can be improved through use of quality management system methods like benchmarking, process mapping, in addition to cost-benefit analysis, which enable an organisation to realize consistent improvement in all its work-flow processes. So as to achieve this, Netflix should stop focusing on employees, and start concentrating on the tasks performed by them. So, Netflix will have to standardize its procedures and policies so as to maximize efficiency, and train all every worked sufficiently in order to get high-quality products. Six Sigma as a business strategy can as well be utilised to improve product processes by creating projects, which define a problem and designing solutions so as to optimize or improve the processes (Oliya, Owlia and Shahrokh 59). Netflix can as well utilise customer feedback in order to improve present product offerings and impact the designing of new products, by so doing, this can help the company to concentrate its efforts on the most profitable business areas. 4.0 Leadership Paradigm Classical leadership paradigm has widely been presented in the case study, and it was as well utilised by Hastings at Pure Software and Netflix. Classical leadership as per (Jing and Avery 70) is undoubtedly the first leadership paradigm sourcing from ancient times, and the modern organisations still use it. Classical leadership as per Jing and Avery (70) connotes supremacy by a well-known individual or an elite group of persons. Furthermore, leaders using this leadership paradigm can be compassionate or coercive or both. This occurs for the reason that the elite group or person orders or help employees to act towards realizing the organisational goal. In this case, employees typically abide by the orders of the leader, they are not required to question these orders, and mostly carry out the directives mostly due to fear of the penalties of failure to follow the orders, or due to admiration for the leader, or both. Classical leadership according to Jing and Avery (71) has a number of drawbacks; for instance, a leader has no ability to control and command every action, especially as situations turn out to be more multifaceted and further than the ability of one individual. Another drawback is that classical leadership paradigm regular depends on the ‘great person; idea, suggesting that not everyone can become creative, and this notion may inspire employees to become deskilled and start idealizing the leaders. This as a result leaves the leader responsible for outcomes in the organisation, and employees start making little or no contribution to the company. 5.0 Big Five Model of Personality Leadership Traits Hasting as evidenced in the case study is without a doubt an influential, self-driven, determined entrepreneur who transformed a small idea into a company worth billions of dollars. Basically, Hastings has taken a distinct approach to victory by being time conscious since as an entrepreneur, there was need for accuracy in choosing the correct timing to Netflix. Besides that, Hastings exhibit high self-efficacy as evidenced by the confidence he has on Netflix since he is not afraid of competing companies, like Google, Amazon, and Apple. In using the Big Five model of leadership personality traits, Hastings has almost all the five traits. The Big Five personality traits as highlighted in Barrick, Stewart and Piotrowski (43) study include conscientiousness, extraversion, emotional stability, agreeableness, and openness. As Netflix leader, it is imperative to demonstrate such behaviours at workplace so as to make the company successful. Based on the “Big Five” traits, to be a top performer, particularly in customer service one must have emotional stability trait. Besides that, Barrick, Stewart and Piotrowski (47) assert that extroversion is an imperative trait that a leader must have because it is useful in measuring an individual’s social attitude. So in this case, Hastings is a resilient extrovert who motivates his followers to follow an ethical path for success. Moreover, Hastings’ openness to experience is exemplified by his lifetime story. Hastings’ conscientiousness is exemplified by the day after day decision making, being aware that in the world of business, there is a hype of drive for creativity and new ideas and so if he fails to act fast it may easily disappear. For that reason, Hastings is extremely conscious of technology, time, as well as the manner in which the society functions. Hastings as well demonstrates agreeableness trait through his continuing determination to serve people by being ready to learn new ideas and to be advised by his workers. All the above mentioned personality traits make Hastings a great leader and has contributed largely to the growth of Netflix. 6.0 University of Iowa leadership styles Studies, by the University of Iowa found three key leadership styles: autocratic, democratic, and Laissez-Faire style of leadership. Autocratic style as per (Puni, Ofei and Okoe 178) is where leaders command work techniques, make one-sided decisions as well as reduce worker involvement. In democratic leadership style, leaders use feedback, delegate authority, and involve workers in decision making while in laissez-faire style, leaders permit teams to make decisions and complete work regardless of the ways used. At pure Software, Hastings used autocratic style (there was no feedback, made all decisions himself) but at Netflix he used democratic style of leadership (used feedback, allows employees to make decisions, and was no more confrontational). According to Puni, Ofei and Okoe (178), autocratic leadership may be helpful in a number of instances, like when decisions must be carried out with no consultation. On the other hand, democratic leadership functions well in circumstances where employees are skilled and ready for knowledge sharing. Autocratic leadership at Pure Software made Hastings consider the company’s performance as mediocre, but when he changed to democratic leadership at Netflix he has proved all critics wrong by making the company the most successful streaming company in the world. 7.0 Power, Organisational Politics, Networking, and Negotiation Power has extensively been discussed in the case study, considering that comprehending power in all its pretexts in the context of the organisation is important for every manager as well as leader. Power as defined by Gagnon and Collison (645) is the actual ability or likelihood to sway others towards the looked-for direction: Power sources from the control of resources, knowledge and information, which are desired by others such as how workers at Pure Software were controlled by Hastings. Organisational politics has not been highlighted in the case study, and it involves unofficial, informal and from time to time behind-the-scenes efforts exerted by leaders to influence the organisation, sell ideas, intensify authority, or attain other sought after goals. Nowadays, organisational work needs expertise in managing contradictory agendas as well as ever-changing bases of power. Furthermore, business networking has not been discussed in the case study. Networking entails creating models of business, which upon following enable the leader to create novel business relations and produce business opportunities all together. Negotiation has not been extensively discussed in the case study, but the deal between Epix and Netflix can be considered as a product of negotiation. As mentioned by Halevy (1689), the capability to negotiate successfully as well as overcome conflict is amongst the most valued sets of skill that can be developed in the organisation. Such skills do not just enable leaders to negotiate good deals by generating value, but it as well allows them to manage teams more skilfully and effectively manage conflict. 8.0 Conclusion In conclusion, Hastings’ personality as evidenced in the report has facilitated him to become a very successful entrepreneur. Hastings is visionary, a person who cares about the future and can make hard-hitting decisions like selling of Pure Software to start Netflix. The corporate culture at Netflix is different as compared to other companies considering that the structure of workplace mirrors the style of leadership used by Hastings, and the personality traits that have enabled him to remain successful. Unlike at Pure Software, the staff morale at Netflix has been at high level, and this has been attributed by indebtedness for the opportunity to be part of the decision-making process. 9.0 Works Cited Barrick, Murray R, Greg L Stewart and Mike Piotrowski. 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"Team Creative Performance: The Roles of Empowering Leadership, Creative-Related Motivation, and Task Interdependence." Cornell Hospitality Quarterly 54.2 (2013): 199 - 210. Jing, Fenwick Feng and Gayle C. Avery. "Missing Links In Understanding The Relationship Between Leadership And Organisational Performance." International Business & Economics Research Journal 7.5 (2008): 67-78. Lussier, Robert N. and Christopher F. Achua. "Reed Hastings – Netflix." Leadership: theory, application & skill development. 5th. Sydney: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2012. 222-223. Mehrabi, Javad, Nematollah Safaei and Ali Kazemi. "Studying the Effect of Leader's Participative Behaviors on Employee's Effectiveness Perception and Performance (Kohdasht Municipality as Case Study)." International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences 3.1 (2013): 140 - 152 . Men, Linjuan Rita. "Strategic Internal Communication: Transformational Leadership, Communication Channels, and Employee Satisfaction." Management Communication Quarterly 28.2 (2014): 264 - 284. Oliya, Ebrahim, et al. "Improving marketing process using Six Sigma techniques (case of Saman Bank)." International Journal of Lean Six Sigma 3.1 (2012): 59-73. Puni, Albert, Samuel B Ofei and Abednego Okoe. "The Effect of Leadership Styles on Firm Performance in Ghana." International Journal of Marketing Studies 6.1 (2014): 177-185. Trudel, Jeannie and Thomas G Reio Jr. "Managing workplace incivility: the role of conflict management styles ; antecedent or antidote?" Human resource development quarterly 22.5 (2011): 395 - 423 . Read More