Organisational Behavior Assignment Help
Choose two business leaders who have held CEO positions in Fortune 500 companies – one who is presently leading a company and another who has led within the past 20 years. They may or may not have led the same company.
Develop a profile of each of the leaders using the leadership theories studied in class and those found through external research. What type of leaders were they? What was their leadership style?
Research the performance of their respective companies during the time they were leading. Based on your analysis, were they effective leaders? Why or why not?
Compare and contrast the two leaders – do you believe one was more effective than the other? Why or why not?
Based on your research, do you feel the leadership styles required to effectively lead a Fortune 500 company have changed in recent years? Why or why not?
Assess your own leadership style. Do you believe you have what it takes to lead a Fortune 500 Company?
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Introduction
A business leader is a person known for leading a business and a group of people involved for the attainment of a common objective which can be welfare of people and earning profits. A leader is known to be persistent, inventive and confident in business. One of the outstanding features of a business leader is it talent for inspiring people. They are known to be good communicators and know the way of implementing business policies. Business leaders always strive for success actively and persistently. They set objectives on the long-term basis and strive for reaching them in the earliest of time. Such a dynamic approach of reaching the objectives helps them in quickly promoting in developing their business. The following assessment would be focusing upon two business leaders who have been serving as the chief executive officers of two retail giants of the world. It focuses upon their leadership style and discusses the way they have read these companies to reach the position they are currently at.
Description of leaders and leadership styles
Carl Douglas McMillon is a 52 year old American entrepreneur and the chief executive officer and president of the retail giant Walmart Inc. He is a part of the board of directors of the retailers as well as the Consumer Goods Forum of the US-China council of business. Carl first joined the joined during his high school as a summer associate. On February 1, 2014, he was announced as the CEO of the company (LinkedIn, 2019). As the CEO of the company Doug has been helping people around the globe to live a better form of life and save money. The global stores, digital commerce capabilities and the logistics network of Walmart are being brought together by the company in new ways and methods for making daily life easier for its customers worldwide. Every week, more than 270 million members and customers visit more than 11,700 clubs and stores under 60 banners (Bloomberg, 2018). Its banners are spread in 28 nations.
Jeff Bezos is a 55 year old American philanthropist, investor and technology entrepreneur. He is the founder, president, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the retail giant Amazon. Being a retail tycoon and pioneer, he has a net worth of more than $144 billion, as of 2019 (Bloomberg, 2019). After becoming the CEO and founder of Amazon.com, he changed the way books and other consumer goods were bought by Americans. In 1994, Jeff quit his job at Wall Street where he had become the youngest vice president, for establishing a virtual bookstore named Aamazon.com. The company became a huge success story over the internet within a few years. In 2013, the Washington Post as bought by Jeff for $250 million. The initial success story of the business was quite an experience. Within the first month of its establishment, the business was able to sell across all states of the Unite States as well as foreign nations.
The various characteristics of a leader while motivating, managing, directing and guiding groups of people are collectively known as a leadership style. Social changes and political movements can be inspired by great leaders. They have the ability of motivating others for performing, creating and innovating. There are mainly three types of leadership styles, namely, authoritarian (autocratic), participative (democratic) and delegative (laissez-faire) leadership. The authoritarian leaders provide a clear expectation for the things that should be done, when and how. Such a leadership style is focused upon the control of the followers as well as the leader's command. One of the most effective styles of leadership is the participative or democratic leadership. Here, the leaders apart from providing guidance to the groups of individuals participate in the group themselves as well. Finally, delegative leadership is the least productive of all the three. Here, the members have high demand, show little cooperation and fail to work independently.
Jeff Bezos has a mixture of authoritarian and participative leadership style. According to the retail tycoon, the success of any business is impacted by customer satisfaction. He has an unconventional style of leadership, by whose means he links customer satisfaction to increasing profitability of the company. The two ways by which Jeff set Amazon apart with his leadership style are: Making the customer the king and expecting more from the employees. Marketing experts around the world believe that it is the obsession of Amazon with customer experience which has helped in placing them at the top. A great deal of emphasis regarding what the consumers want and what they do not want has been placed by Bezos. Customers do not like delays, old products and defects. Jeff has continuously worked upon addressing all these issues. The next metric is more expectations from employees. Jeff has very high expectations from his employees. His strong preference for raising the employee and work standards has made the achievements and success of the company possible. Apart from these, Jeff had various beliefs such as - Provide the employees with work, but moreover provide them with the confidence of doing it; the people should be rallied, and a vision and unifying message should be conveyed; the company should put itself in the shoes of the customers; always be certain of failure; obsession with hiring the best workforce and; never waiting.
Doug McMillon leads a powerful management team which has been working hard for promoting the slogan and core corporate mission of Walmart. In Doug's belief, boosting the employee's morale helps in bringing better business and he opines that today's cashiers are tomorrow's managers. McMillon has a mixture of autocratic and democratic leadership style as he is known for making the employees slog hard and also has participated in the company's objective attainment. The goals and leadership style of the CEO have not changed over the years. He possesses global sensibility and manages to find consistent ways of developing new markets domestically as well as internationally.
Company performances and effectiveness of leaders
Under the leadership of Jeff Bezos, Amazon has been able to grow exponentially by the means of canny innovations and aggressive acquisitions for becoming the retail giant of the United States as well, as the world. The business has developed more than just in the retail sector. Amazon has been able to create a market for e-readers and e-books, develop a tablet and smartphone business. Under the leadership of Jeff, Amazon has taken over every consumer market, including fashion, groceries, electronics, music, movies, television series, etc. The business has been able to outclass all of its competitors with its quick service.
Under the leadership of Douglas McMillon, Walmart has seemed to become more profitable and developed over the years. He took over the company during a time when the business was suffering from slow growth and high competition from its rivals. In order to boost the commitment of the company and revamping the executive team, McMillon went on raising the wages of the hourly workers of the United States. According to the CEO, search a move was initiated for making the vocal happy year and providing better customer service and giving a footing in the dynamic market of retail. He made huge amounts of investment in to the wages of associates, their training and benefits. Such an action impacted more than 40% of the workers of the company. Greater investments for made in the e-Commerce field for creating a seamless shopping experience. Douglas aimed at improving the environmental sustainability of the company and eliminating the waste produced by its operations. According to Forbes (2019), Douglas McMillon was listed among the most powerful people of the world for 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Leaders comparison and contrast
The comparison and the contrast between the two leaders are portrayed below:
Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos is an eminently efficient leader of the contemporary era. Today Amazon is the world's largest online shopping retailer. This has become possible solely because of the leadership styles of Jeff Bezos. His leadership styles include the giving of supreme priority to his customers. He has improved the customer service in a big way. He believes in creative and innovative methods of conducting business. This would ensure that his customers and his employees are not bored. His believes in being a leader of a small team but a team of expertise. His style of being the most wanted leader includes the giving of supreme priority to the demands of his customers. He takes the important risks for implementing market leadership. He is farsighted and thinks long term (Stone, 2013). He believes in invention, patience and serving customers like God. He makes the working ambience fun for the employees so that they can give their best.
Doug McMillon
From February 2009 to 2014 Doug McMillon has proved to be an effective leader of Walmart. He has successfully given a new success lit path for Walmart by extending its business across the globe. Being a leader his target was to live in a better way by saving money. His leadership styles included ecommerce and accumulating logistic networks to digitalize his market. He believed to have a team of sincere, smart working and optimistic people. He kept communications specific and also possessed clear understanding of the culture of his organizations. Doug McMillon is the leader of a sturdy management team which works for the promotion of Walmart's slogan and fulfills all the targets of the corporate mission. Having revenue of $488 billion in 2014, approximately 11000 stores have been set up in 28 countries across the globe (Spicer & Lambdin, 2012). The number of employees is 2.3 million. He also believes in encouraging all his employees to bring out the best from them.
The leadership of Jeff Bezos is proved to be more effective than Doug McMillon because, he has trained himself to be the best leader having the utmost appropriate qualities to be one. To add to this, he has brought about a consistent development in Amazon. Being farsighted and having an innovative style of conducting business, he has excelled to be a better leader.
Have the leadership styles changed in the recent years
The recent years have witnessed an alteration in the leadership styles. The primary cause which has attributed to this is the advancement of technology. This cause has also brought about many changes in the minds of the leaders. The stereotypical ways are emerging to be more innovative and creative. Earlier, the policy was to serve to the customers alone. The contemporary era adds more to it. The present leaders opt for innovation in their business and creativity to serve their customers. They make the working place a happier place to stay to attract more employees and derive the best from them. Sometimes, the motive is not only to earn the profits. But sometimes, it is the spreading of goodwill across the globe. The inclusion of improvement in the customer service is also a major change in the recent leadership trends. To widen the options for the customers is also a big step towards the effectiveness of the leadership skills of the modern times. In the recent years, another change which has been introduced is making the employees like they are the heads. Their inclusion in the important decision making procedures, unequivocal communication between the management and the staff and giving time oneself has proved to be more effective in the modern times.
Assessment of own leadership style
After having a close perusal of the styles of leadership skills, it has become very helpful to assess my own leadership style. Being a true leader of a company and with the motive of increasing my business I have to be an expert in handling my employees in the most efficient manner and bring out the best from them. I have to focus on my targets, and make the communications clearer. Having the appropriate qualities can be highly beneficial for the company. I possess a smart and a creative team whereby all the team members are hard working. I have to apply more of innovation practices and give more importance to my consumers. My leadership style consists of free mode of communication between the executive and the management team. There is also free access to employees to consult with their team mangers regarding any doubts of the company. The employees work in the most suited conditions and feel they are important to the company. I also undertake risks for the improvement of my company and for the marketing sector. I aim for the best service provision to my customers and think about the long term effects.
Do you have what it takes to lead a Fortune 500 Company
After having a look at the assessment of my leadership style, I can state confidently that I have what it takes to lead a Fortune 500 company. In my opinion, I possess the required qualities and the work force to run a Fortune 500 company. I can assure that I can enable the smooth functioning of this business and satisfy my customers well and my employees as well. In my opinion I possess the required man force that could carry on the job and achieve the desired profits. To add to this, the Fortune 500 company requires a risk undertaking management. As a leader I believe in the same. The Fortune 500 company, in order to expand, needs to provide utmost importance to the consumer. The demands of the consumers must be fulfilled with ease as well as prompt service should be provided to them. I am ready to provide such service. This would not at all be any challenge for me because I possess similar leadership styles. I am also very focused about my targets and apply every bit of creativity and innovation to achieve the same. Thus, I have what it takes to be the leader of Fortune 500 company.
Conclusion
After a close perusal of the above leadership styles of the leaders, it can be concluded that that the foremost criteria for the development of a business is the possession of the appropriate temperament to be a good leader. In order to be good leader, one must be focused, pay heed to the needs of the consumers and maintain a good relationship with the employees, who would foster his business. It is also important to be creative and be speculative about the future of the company. To add to this, it is pivotal to take risks. These qualities create the best kind of leadership style. Both Jeff Bezos and Doug McMillon are remarkably good leaders of Amazon and Walmart respectively. But the subtle contrasts between them in their leadership styles make Jeff Bezos a better leader. The future of the company depends upon the leadership styles of the leaders and thus, plays a pivotal role in the same.
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