Introduction
The Virgin Group is popular in Britain and around the world because it is known for using some of the most dynamic systems. Richard Branson is the founder and President of the Virgin Group and he has been able to grow the group to over 400 companies which operate in Britain and beyond. The purpose of this essay is to critically analyse and review the leadership system of Richard Branson. This will be done by examining the process through which Branson leads his group and how this is done in relation to dominant leadership theories studied in the management course.
The essay will examine the organisational theory that Branson seem to embrace in his leadership and this will be done under discussions about his post-heroic and shared/distributed leadership. This will be followed by a discussion on Branson’s leadership perspectives as well as how he approaches his followers – whether transformational or transactional.
Richard Branson is a revolutionary. He utilises a form of leadership that is appropriate for the 21st Century and this system ensures that he achieves his goals and builds strong relationships with his followers. This enables him to move the Virgin Group from one point to another in order to attain optimal results. This system can be examined from a theoretical analysis and evaluation of leadership concepts and theories in order to deduce and document Branson and his style of leadership.
Post-Heroic, Shared & Distributed Leadership
Times have changed significantly and as such, the command and control form of leadership is not the same as the leadership we have in today’s world. Leadership is post-heroic because there is the need to create a form of leadership that involves collaboration, emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and contingent because they change to fit the situation within which they find themselves.
Gronn identified that leadership must be viewed in the context of distributed leadership whereby a leader is to be assessed on the basis of processes and how a leader applies them in the running of an organisation. This theory asserts that there are different social constructs that are used to define the leadership of a person and this has to reflect many different needs.
In a transcript interview with Richard Branson, he stated that his form of leadership is one that is based on the formal rules. When asked what describes his organisational system the most he stated that he is a “ Rule-breaker – because I never learned the rules in the first place. To change the game is at the heart of what Virgin stands for, so the company culture has always been: “Don’t sweat it: rules were meant to be broken””.
This shows that Richard Branson is a person who is not sensitive to the standardised rules and regulations of society. Thus, he is not one that is willing to follow rigid regulations on how he should treat his followers or define an organisational system and organisational structure. On the other hand, he is a person who presents some of the most innovative and revolutionary systems to guide his followers by setting up an organisational structure and system that had to operate for the best results in the company.
In line with this, he can be said to be a leader who did not have a “command and control” form of leadership. This is one that was followed by numerous leaders like the management of the old British Telecom which followed some rigid rules and regulations like the need to stay within some formal organisational systems and processes. These led to bureaucracy which caused a lot of waste, requests for subventions and the eventual divestments of such old organisations.
On the other hand, Branson can be more accurately described as a post-heroic leader. Unlike the old system of leaders who were focused on meeting objectives and following rigid rules, Branson was guided by results. This shows that the post-heroic leaders were those that were focused on following rigid absolute rules and regulations. This included doing things that were considered the norm. This included getting followers to work within a set of expressly defined rules and regulations that was to guide conduct and affairs at all levels. Richard Branson on the other hand, focused on a teleological approach to leadership. This meant that Richard Branson led by identifying what was best and what could advance his approach to leadership and this led to a system of promoting the best things and the most approached method of dealing with the goals of the organisation.
Being driven by the ends in sight led to the utilisation of a system of leadership that that was meant to promote collaboration and emotional intelligence to inspire followers to work to achieve specific goals that would help the company to meet its end. This is because Branson sought to create a system of innovation whereby the workers had to be challenged consistently. And this meant that he had to guide them and give them the right guidelines and processes for the attainment of optimal results.
In terms of distributed leadership, Branson is viewed by many as a risk-taker because he is driven by innovation as opposed to trying to build on some already achieved end. Richard Branson is respected in the UK for his ability to identify new opportunities, draw a plan for making the best of that opportunity and involving other people by getting them to tie their own interests with the goal at hand. Branson started his first business by identifying an opportunity and making an offer to a petty trader who was willing to hire a floor of his trading point in return for new clients to his company. This was not something he paid for, but rather presented an offer that could be of mutual benefit to both parties. This caused the two parties to buy into the system and approach and led to a process of undertaking things in ways that was productive and symbiotic.
Branson seem to be an innovator and he knows what to do to integrate and utilise the skills and competencies of his followers. He says in his book, that a leader must have the ability to delegate authority effectively and this involves inspiring followers and guiding them throughout all the stages in order to achieve the optimal results and also integrate elements of innovation in the process of following.
The activity theory component of the distributed leadership concept indicates that Branson is one individual who is focused on achieving results through the directing of workers to achieve innovative goals and ends and this is done through the examination and review of important pointers. This is because Branson fundamentally pursues the core goals and objectives of creating something competitive and challenging from the onset.
Distributed cognition is about the ability of Branson to lead and guide his followers in the area of inspiration and delegation. He is able to promote and ensure that delegation is done in a perfect way and manner that promotes the best and highest form of performance of workers. The delegation process involve telling the workers what their best interest from the project will be and guaranteeing that. From there, the followers are encouraged to work towards it and they are monitored although they are given a lot of room to be innovative and productive on their own.
Leader-Centred Perspectives
Leader-centred perspectives presented by Hook indicate that there is an eventful leader and an event-making leader. It appears that Richard Branson has both qualities. He is known for being an eventful leader because he is able to find strange and unusual opportunities and capitalize on them. His airlines find innovative ways of getting customers to fly from less busy airports, use techniques to cut down on waiting times and ensure that there is an efficient service on offer that consumers will find very important and necessary to utilise. However, Richard Branson goes further to create a system through which he appoints a leader who is equally competent and monitors the leader to continue making the event happen. This monitoring and mentorship of Branson makes him more of a result-oriented leader. Thus, Branson has a combination of innovative traits and inspirational and supervisory attributes that enables him to delegate to achieve optimal results.
Transformational & Charismatic Leadership
Leadership has been placed in a continuum of transformational and transactional leaders. Transactional leaders often view their followers merely as a factor of production and they are to contribute to production by selling their services so it is all about production with no effort to better the lives of workers apart from paying salaries. On the other hand, transformational leadership is based on the fact that the leader is able to integrate the developmental and long-term growth and betterment needs of the followers to the production and compensation system of the company.
Richard Branson is one of the leaders of the 21st Century who lives above the limits of doing business and treating workers as a means to an end. Branson is known for ensuring that he presents a good deal to everyone – from workers to customers to business partners. This is because he has a concern for people. He believes that people have deep desires and needs and managers and business leaders should not dictate terms and processes for people because they have the power. On the contrary, Branson argues for the identification of the inner essence and inner joy of people and satisfying it. This includes followers and the consumers and other parties connected to an entity and benefits from it.
Transformational leaders and transactional leaders have their place in the organisational and business setting. It is identified that transformational leaders change the way the people connected to them see the world. On the other hand, transactional leaders are result oriented and they are interested in implementing strict ethics and ensuring high levels of accountability. Richard Branson is a successful manager. He has been able to blend different styles of leadership and has achieved great levels of success in everything he has done and this has led to major positive goals and ends.
Transformational leadership is important because Branson’s own style of doing business is revolutionary. Therefore, he has to ensure that he gets workers and his followers to change the way they view the world. This include the fact that Branson is able to mentor his followers and give them different forms of guidance and challenge them to grow and improve. However, like all other successful leaders, he believes in responsibility in delegation and accountability. This is because Branson states openly that where there are no rules, things fail and as such, he has rules albeit flexible, they always work to achieve the final goals and objectives of improving and enhancing the best needs and goals of projects they undertake. This gives him a balanced perspective and a balanced approach to leading and carrying out various activities at the helm of affairs in the Virgin Group.
Conclusion
Branson, like most CEO’s of his time have a strong blend of risk taking and innovation which leads to various positive goals and ends. He uses a democratic system in which he is able to focus on the long-term interest of workers. This makes Branson a transformational leader with some aspects of concern for production to achieve core organisational goals and objectives. He can be viewed as a charismatic leader but at the same time, he has attributes of emotional intelligence which complements his desire to genuinely transform the lives of people, from his workers to consumers and everyone else.
Branson utilises various approaches of motivating, guiding and inspiring his followers. This way, the followers get an understanding of what is going on and they are challenged and transformed to meet the obligations ahead. On the other hand, Richard Branson is able to guide and lead the workers and followers he has in ways that are interesting and positive. This includes the establishment of a framework of rules that are used to provide monitoring and accountability. This is because accountability and compensation are important aspects of leading. Thus, Branson is able to organise a transactional framework for the company. However, this is done within a framework of transformational leadership where the main goals and interests of workers are taken into account and made a central objective for the company.
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