Part 1
The National Environmental Policy Act, NEPA, governs the environmental policy in the US. It is a legal requirement that NEPA be invoked before any major federal investment is undertaken. This requires that the environmental impact of the investment under impact assessed. Federal laws that have fixed requirements in the energy management requirement govern energy management. These requirements are geared at energy efficiency, alternative energy use, and efficient water conservation. This is possible through the Requirements and Guidance by Subject and Requirement and Guidance by Regulation. These laws provide different perspectives with the former providing regulatory requirements and are guided by a sub-program called FEMP. The latter gives an in-depth analysis of laws. On the other hand, the energy management policy aims at ensuring efficiency in the use of energy and ease of energy audits. In line with current trends, it is necessary to put green office solutions in place. This is important to ensure environmental conversation as well as to ensure client confidence hence big profit margins and client base.
The modern world has seen a diversification of the working culture and arrangement. This is marked by the adoption of high technology at workplaces. This is in the form of telecommuting, and in flexi time. Flexi-time and teleworking allows employees to work outside the traditional standard of fixed time such as 8.00am or 9.00 am to 5.00 pm depending on the country. Teleworking has an additional advantage of location; employees can work from any location. It is recommended that the company abide to the stipulated laws as regards energy use and management and to adopt current technological trends.
Part 2
Leadership is a social process that involves exerting influence in a particular environment, it gives one person the authority to muster up support or aid from others; all this is with the aim of accomplishing a common task. There are several forms of leadership styles. They include democratic, autocratic, and delegative leadership styles. In order to appreciate the different leadership styles, two companies will be taken into account. The companies chosen for analysis in this paper are the Coca-Cola Company and Apple Inc. Limited. In the corporate world, a couple of sources of power can be analyzed. The sources can be looked at in different perspectives; this is because leadership is exhibited in two directions, towards the shareholders, towards customers and towards employees. It is crucial that the leadership takes into account all this. A focus will be placed on the leadership style adopted towards the employees as it determines relations at the workplace. The main source of power in such a case is the fact the employees will get a numeration upon the delivery of the work done.
Coca-Cola adopts the democratic style of leadership in management of day-to-day affairs at the company. Different departments adopt one of the leadership styles. The style is aimed at empowering employees through allocation of responsibilities and their participation in decision making. This is done through the allocation of tasks to teams (groups) that will execute them. If mistakes, omissions, commissions, and failures, it will be their responsibility. These teams are required to make choices that they deem suitable and fit in to the company’s policy. The company’s management is comfortable with employees executing their duties, as they deem comfortable and suitable for them. In such a form of leadership, all that the management desires is feedback from the employees. It ensures high productivity of employees as well as making employees be highly motivated. Therefore, Coca-Cola manages to be one of the best beverage companies through appreciating employee suggestions and thoughts of employees. Two variables can be taken into account for this leadership style: assimilation and time. This leadership style is good in cases where an organization is undergoing changes or where new workers are being assimilated. On the other hand, the variable of time required for implementation is
The other company under scope is Apple Inc. Apple Inc. under the leadership of Steve Jobs before his demise is a phenomenal case of leadership. Despite being a transformational and visionary leader, Steve Jobs enforced an autocratic style. This style is characterized by the way Jobs stated what he wanted done, his expectation, and the employees were expected to follow the line and meet the expectation. Autocratic leadership is marked by an individual check on all the decision-making. The style does not welcome contribution from the employees or group members. It only expects output from them but not decision input from them. With Jobs at the helm, Apple employees were expected to follow his ideas and judgments, he led based on his intuition. With the absolute control over his employees, Steve Jobs rarely accepted to be advised by his employees. This leadership style is marked by two key variables that ensure the efficient delivery of the desired end-result. The variables include supervision and quality. It ensures that the deliverables of the company are in par with the expectations. It is also fundamental in cases where employees require close supervision to deliver.
The two styles herby analyzed play a crucial role in the realization of TQM; this is because they contribute to it in one way or another. In democratic leadership, through the wide consultation and brainstorming in groups, the highest quality of products is realizable. This is because the style allows situations be analyzed from different perspectives. Furthermore, On the other hand, autocratic leadership always contributes to high standards of TQM. This is attributed to the fact that if the leader sets a particular standard (high), quality has to be delivered.
The two styles may influence group dynamics in a different way. Autocratic leadership style makes the realization of efficiency in the achievement of efficient tapping of task and maintenance functions of group dynamics. On the other hand, democratic leadership relies heavily on group dynamics to achieve its functions. This is because the pillars of democratic leadership are similar to those of group dynamics; they include opinion giving, clarification, facilitation, encouragement, and evaluation among other principles.
References
Layzer, Judith A. The Environmental Case: Translating Values into Policy. Washington, D.C: CQ Press, 2012. Print.
Northouse, Peter G. Leadership: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage, 2004. Print.
Schein, Edgar H. Organizational Culture and Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004. Internet resource.
