Introduction
Management is known as one of the most important things that associated with an organization, and no organization can attain effectiveness in their operational and other aspects without managing their organization in a perfect and organized manner (Burns and Peltason, p,90). Management is about managing the things in an effective manner, and it is equally applied over the management of the companies as a whole. The stance of management is totally different than that of the leadership. Leadership is all about lead the company from the front in an effective manner. Organizations are made to earn economic profit and increase the financial belongings in an effective and organized manner. Managing the things is all about the leading and controlling the things in an effective and organized manner (Komives, p.56).
Leadership is basically a strategy cum behavior which usually associated with a single individual which has the tendency to enhance the productivity in particular (Polelle, p.89). There are certain leadership theories and models are there along with the leadership styles which are the key for effectiveness for these companies and their effective behavior, and these leadership stance is the one from which they can enhance the core productivity of the companies as well as for the employees. A Chief Executive officer (CEO) usually termed as the leader of an organization because they are in the direct behavior and settlement of the company. The main theme of this paper circulates around the leadership and leadership based styles which are essential for the companies in all over the world. It is required to analyze the different style of leadership of some of the dominating leaders found in the Medical Industry in particular. The assignment has been distributed into three different aspects known as introduction, analysis & findings and conclusion.
Analysis & Findings
Leadership has been described as a core process of the social influence in which a person can enlist the aid and support of the others in the accomplishment of the task. Leadership is all about managing the people and makes them effective as far as achieving the long term goal. The stance of goal is extremely important for the sake of an organization, and to enhance the productivity of the things in particular. Leaders have the power and guts to enhance the productivity of their company by managing their employees in a perfect manner. Leaders are the one who will lead their employees from the front, and give a sort of effectiveness to the company as far as enhancing their effectiveness is concerned.
There is a marginal difference found among the managers and leaders, as managers is all about managing the employees and increase the financial belongings of the company, while leader is all about leading from the front and lead accordingly in the market. According to certain theories of management and leadership, leaders cannot be made, as they are born. Leadership and management are some of the most important aspects that associated with the organizations, and they are associated with the financial and strategic position of the company. When it comes to organization, then the strategic and financial performance are more than essential to deliver the things in the right manner for the companies. There are certain leadership traits and styles associated with each of the leaders, and some of them will be looking forward in this analysis.
Jack Welch: Leadership Style
Jack Welch is a retired American business executive, authors and the Chemical Engineer. He was a Chairman and CEO of General Electric (GE) between 1981 and 2001. The company’s value rose by 4000% in particular. In the financial year 2006, the net worth of Jack Welch was $ 720 million in particular. General Electric is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in the main hub located in New York, the United States. There are certain segments that associated with the company which are Energy, Technological infrastructure, Consumer and Industrial (Polelle, p.89).
In the year 2011, the company ranked at the 26th largest company in the net of Fortune-500 Company in terms of Gross Revenue. It is also rewarded as the most innovative company of the world. The company earned net revenue amounting to US$ 146.045 Billion in the financial year 2013 with net income provision of US$ 13.057 billion in the same year (Polelle. 90). The company is also having its recognition in the Healthcare industry as well. Jack Welch is an educated professional who joined GE as a CEO in the year 1980. During his time of leadership, General Electric increased its market value from US$ 12 billion to US$ 280 billion in the current timings. Jack Welch is an important professional for the company, and the leadership style adopted by Jack was DEMOCRATIC LEADER.
Democratic leader is a type of leader which makes decisions by consulting their each and every employee. They are very effective and attractive in their future aspect, and value their teams in an effective manner. Democratic Leaders are the one who can enhance the level of creativity among the people in particular, and they are highly engaged with the project management and decision making in particular. Democratic leader are known as the Employee’s friendly leaders who will work for the satisfaction of their employees in an organized and effective manner. From the core analysis, it is evaluated that the leadership behavior and style of Jack was exactly the same of a Democratic Leader (Polelle, p.78).
It is found from the analysis that Jack was very familiar with each and every processing of their segments and he unexpectedly went for the inspections and visiting different plants and officers to get an idea about the working of their employees. Jack has a great charm as far as enhancing the value and effectiveness of their employees by enhancing the level of appreciation among them. He was the one who provide appreciation and positive feedback to all of their employees merely to enhance their productivity. Jack Welch was one of those leaders of the world who knows that employees are very important for them, and they cannot derail them from any standpoint. Any behavior of the management that will hurt the employees should be banned forever. There are number of cases in which Jack communicated directly with their employees and induced them to come up with their problems and ambiguities while working in the company (Schein, p.12). This is the best thing that associated with a democratic leader, and Jack Welch complied with the same leadership style while his working in the GE as a CEO. Jack Welch was totally against the laying off the jobs of the employees, and that is why the amount of employees remains almost the same during their span of time. The leadership style and method can be extremely essential for the organizations, and it is equally beneficial for the company as far as enhancing their productivity and efficacy is concerned. The method certainly works perfectly for the company in terms of productivity and in terms of management of employees as well. The current CEO of GE Jeffery Immelt, who is also an educated professional, but not like the one of John Welch, and It certainly requires time to him to be on the same place like John Welch in the future,
Earl E.Bakken: Leadership Style
Earl E. Bakken, was born in the year 1924 is an American based engineer and businessman. He was known as the founder of Medtronic. He was the one who invented and developed the first external battery operated transistors. Bakken had a great inclination towards the electronics and electrical based items which induced them to think over the business and pursuing his career line in the future. Bakken was charming and have a charismatic personality that attracts lots of people in the world. The pleasant and confident personality of Bakken is the one which is like the role model for most of their employees, and the employees of the company are more towards the analysis in particular (Schein, p.12).
One of the basic characteristics that associated with Bakken is its effective and valuable personality and a can do approach. Bakken always train their employees in the same way that nothing is impossible in this world, and it will become impossible if the person quit their core efforts particularly. Bakken was the one who formed Medtronic and then lifted up towards the sky in the future. Medtronic Inc that has its physical main location in Minneapolis, the United States is known as the 3rd largest medical device company of the world, and it is also found in the list of Forune-500 companies of the world. The company has great and huge operations in their hands which spread in around 140 countries of the world. The company is currently operating with more than 5500 scientists and employs over 49,000 workers in the company. The research and development stance of the company is really amazing, and it cannot be derailed from any other aspect. The shares of the company are activity trading in the Standard and Poor (S&P) 500 Index. It is a financially strong company of the United States which reported net revenue of US$ 17 billion in the financial year 2014.
Bakken was one of those leaders who have a great nature with the employees. It can be said that the leadership behavior of Bakken and John Welch was comparative up to some extent, because both of these great leaders value their human resources in an effective manner, and found that the employees are very important for them in the future, and they cannot accomplish growth and effectiveness without managing their employees in an effective and organized manner. The leadership style which has been associated with the company and used by the company is Transformational Leadership Style. It is one of the most widely used leadership styles by the leaders in the large organizations of the world, as it more towards the satisfaction level of the companies. Big and multinational organizations always like to have transformational leadership style and approach into account for their long term prosperity and economic growth in the market with satisfying the needs of their employees. In the transformational leadership style, managers and leaders are in the fact that employees would like to work in the company and there is no coercive behavior is required to increase their productivity. Bakken was in the fact of providing sound and thorough product knowledge to each and every employee of the company, as it is one of the most important aspects for their future consequences and growth. Having transformation leadership style is all about trusting the employees of the company. Bakken introduced the system of interaction among the employees and the management to furnish the problems and issues which employees are facing while working in the company. That was the most important strategy which currently known with the name of Management Bi Objective (MBO). Bakken was one of those leaders who have certain greatness in their mind to enhance their core productivity and level of efficacy. Having a transformation leadership style is extremely essential and effective in an organization, and Medtronic get certain appreciation with this style of leadership of Bakken, the most effective and sound leaders ever had by the company. The only thing which is different among Bakken and John Welch is their decision making capability, as John Welch consult with all of their employees before taking any sort of decision for the company, while Bakken left everything on their employees but monitored them accordingly.
Alex Gorsky: Leadership Style
The third personality which has been taken into consideration for the same analysis is Alex Gorsky, associated with the organization Johnson & Johnson (J&J). Alex is an American based businessman. From the year 2012, he has been the Chairman and CEO of the company. IBM also selected him as the Board of Directors particularly. Alex has a Bachelor of Science Education from the US Military Academy, and he has enough experience in terms of management roles and effectiveness. Johnson & Johnson faced certain problems in their time period; however the company is still one of the largest in the world (Schein, p.22).
Johnson and Johnson (J&J) is an American based multinational medical device, pharmaceutical and consumer packaging goods manufacturing company founded in the year 1886. The company is financially sound, and it is found in the Fortune-500 companies of the world. The company has its main hub in the New Jersey, the United States. It is a very big organization of the world which has its active operations in more than 57 countries of the world with around 250 subsidiaries. Apart from this, the selling of the company is spread in around 175 countries of the world. The most renowned products of J&J are the baby products and healthcare products. The shares of the company are currently trading in two different financial markets of the United States, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard & Poor (S&P)-500 Index. J&J reported a high revenue and net income provision in the year 2013 amounted to US$ 71.312 billion and US$ 13.831 billion respectively.
After a critical evaluation of the leadership behavior of Alex, it is found that the leadership style and behavior associated with Alex is totally different than that John and Bakken, because an essence of restrictions and strictness found in the nature of Alex. One of the major reasons behind the same is his schooling in the Army School. Alex is very determinant and very strict in terms of the discipline which is indeed a perfect sign for an organization, but most of the times, it will bring problems for the companies particularly. There are two different leadership styles which have been associated with the core personality of Alex known as Autocratic Leadership Style and Transitional Leadership Style.
Transitional leadership style is the opposite of transformational leadership style, and leaders are not in the right mood with their employees. Leaders having transitional leadership style always think that employees don’t want to work and coercive behavior should have been taken against them to compel then towards the work. Autocratic leadership is all about taking decisions without any sort of consulting with other players of the company. Autocratic Leaders also be referred as the Monopolist leaders, because they initiated a sort of monopoly in the market while leading and managing their team. Alex has a transitional leadership style in which the management becomes coercive and influential over the employees, which is more likely as a stress for the employees rather than a strategy from which the companies can enhance their core productivity and level of efficacy particularly.
The employees of J&J are not as active and productive as they were once in the history because they are not getting the desired result and reaction which they are expecting from their CEO (Alex). Alex has to change their behavior instantly otherwise the stance of high employee’s turnover would come over the screen for the company. It is an important thing which Alex has to deliver for the best of their services and for the best of the company in particular.
Conclusion
Planning, organizing, leading and controlling are the four pillars of management on which the entire situation of an organisation depends upon. All of these four elements can transform such a strategy for an entity from which they can take the most out of it. The real productivity of an organisation lies on the way that how reactive they are in terms of adopting a change in the company as well as in the industry. Without any doubt, an entity that has the ability to lean according to the situation would be comparatively more productive and effective as compared to an organisation that doesn’t have the same ability.
The upper management is held responsible for the planning and executing the strategies. The existence of leaders or CEO is extremely important and valuable for an organization, and their behaviour certainly talks a lot for the existence of the company in the future. In this assignment, the leadership behaviour of three leaders of the market has been analyzed and compare. The names of the CEOs are
- John Welch (General Electric)
- Earl Bakken (Medtronic)
- Alex Gorsky (Johnson & Johnson)
All of these professionals are effective and powerful in their nature, however the leadership behaviour of all of these individuals are different from each other. Bakken and John has a similar sort of behaviour with each other, as both of them care for their employees, while the behaviour of Alex is bit influential and harsh with their employees.
Work Cited
Burns, James MacGregor, and J. W Peltason. Government By The People; The Dynamics Of American National, State, And Local Government. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1966. Print.
Komives, Susan R, and Wendy Wagner. Leadership For A Better World. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass, 2009. Print.
Komives, Susan R. The Handbook For Student Leadership Development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011. Print.
Polelle, Mark. Command And Control. Prince Frederick, MD.: Recorded Books, 2010. Print.
Polelle, Mark. Leadership. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2008. Print.
Schein, Edgar H. Organizational Psychology. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1980. Print.
