Leadership Management Essay

Leadership Management代写 This reflective journal will first address the leadership profile of Tim Cook, the current Apple CEO.

Task I

Profile of Leadership:This reflective journal will first address the leadership profile of Tim Cook, the current Apple CEO. Tim Cook assumed the position six weeks before the death of the founder, Steve Job.  Tim Cook was an American developer who has worked under in Apple since 1998.

Leadership Theories:The two leadership theories that are discussed as relevant to this analysis include the behavioural theory and situational leadership theory. The situational leadership theory was first proposed by Hersey and Blanchard (1999). this theory proposed that  a situational leader can be one who understand the motivation of the leader and their ability to manage various situations.

McCleskey (2014) argued that a situational leader should be able to adapt to the capabilities of their followers and match the follower development.  Cook has been acknowledged as an individual who supports collaboration and has been focusing on ways to let his team drive creativity and innovation (Kane, 2015). Leadership Management代写

The second theory discussed is the behavioural leadership theory. This theory adopts the view that leaders are made not born with acknowledging the need for change in approach and leading (Trivellas and Drimoussis, 2013). Tim Cook faced a barrage of difficulties during his first two years of being the CEO with constant comparisons to Steve Jobs. Since then, Apple Inc has grown as he has learnt the need to look at alternative growth options and investments in technology companies (e.g. Beats) (Schuch et al., 2017). His leadership qualities developed and improved with time as a CEO exhibiting a behavioural leadership.

Leadership Styles: Leadership Management代写

The two leadership styles that can be attributed to this author include consultative leadership style and participative leadership style. Tim Cook very explicitly acknowledges the lead for team driven engagement and decision making. He acknowledges the need for diversity and recognises that diverse groups need to have autonomy to create innovative products.

The consultative leadership style on the other hand is one where the major decisions are made at the top management level but efforts are made to understand the views of the employees (Northouse, 2015). Tim Cook recognised the need for Apple’s employees to be part of a socially responsible company and took the decision to engage the organisation politically. He has advocated politically for reform on various aspects including cybersecurity, environmental preservation as well as surveillance.

Shaping Organisational Change:

Tim Cook has been essential to shaping the course of Apple beyond Steve Jobs.When performance of Apple showed a dip, he maintained calm and under pressure and admitted to errors and owned up to the need for a different approach. He even offered to reduce his own stock-based compensations to take account for the profit challenges of the organisation.

He has been instrumental in shifting the direction of Apple into various other technology growth forms including digital payment solutions, innovative vehicular solutions and other such ventures.  Apple has also emerged to become a more open and shareholder and other stakeholder friendly firm. There is an improvement in corporate reputation with more transparency in terms of sustainability ventures.

Task 2 Leadership Management代写

Leadership Approaches Applied by Percy Barnevik: The two key leadership approaches of Barnevik include two traits of transformational leadership. These are intellectual stimulation and idealised influence. A leader who can promote idealised influence is one who can act as a role model to influence others to become more like leaders (Northouse, 2015). Such leaders are able to inspire their employees through a vision of long term commitment to the goals of the organisation. Barnevik was able to see the future of organisation (Antonakis and Day, 2017). He wanted ABB (Asea Brown Boveri) to become a leader in the industry and see it grow a multi-billion dollar company.

This was achieved through the vision he set for his employees. The other leadership approach of Boveri was intellectual stimulation. Transformational leaders should be able to value creativity and autonomy amongst their followers.These leaders support followers by engaging them in the inherent decision making process of the organisation. Leadership Management代写

Strategies for Implementing Change:  The first strategy that can be recommended is the establishment of facilitative communication style. As  Beck& Cowan (2014) reported in organisations where there is sign of transformational leadership there is better communication. Leaders within ABB should build on the ethos set by Breveri and develop organisational experiences that foster collaboration and communication. The need for a change across the organisation can therefore be recognised at the top management as well as the lower management level.

The second strategy to respond to feedback. The corporate culture set at ABB was essential in creating and empowering autonomous decision making. This can create an environment where the employees may scruitinise the decisions of the leadership during any change implementation. At this time, efforts should be made to respond to the feedback given by the team. Feedback should betakenand the appropriate response where needed should be provided.The third strategy is to set goals and focus on continuous improvement. The overall change culture at the organisation can focus on creating an environment where the focus is on getting good results with constant feedback on ways to improve the organisational performance.

Leadership Management代写
Leadership Management代写

Task 3 Leadership Management代写 

Description of Project: This is an example of a project where I was a team member. There were a total of six team members working towards the completion of a portfolio development for a client in an advertisement firm who wanted to launch a new project. We had to develop a complete project plan including finances, resource management as well as time schedule of operation.

Analysis of Management of Project:

The project was assigned to the team to be completed within six weeks. We were allowed to do site visits and talk to the firm members. We were also allocated a budget of NZ$500 for the project.  As Burke and Barron (2014) argued, the best way to increase project success is through effective management of time and costs. However, this was missing from the project. There was no clear budgeting developed for the project and the team leader would simply hand out the requested money for site visits or conducting surveys.

This led to a budget overrun. We also did not use any time management tools to analyse our project goals (e.g. Gnatt chart). This led to time overrun. We were able to meet the needs of the project by using the last few days to complete various sections and by overworking the team. However, we were able to meet the scope of the project, i.e. a final detailed project plan for the client. Leadership Management代写

Two sources of power used for negotiation: The type of leadership followed by our project manager shows transactional approach. However, they did use referent power and legitimate power during negotiation of work tasks.  Legitimate power also know as positional power exists when the person wielding the power is deemed to have earned it legitimately. As the leader of the team, legitimate power was displayed to assign duties and tasks and therefore negotiate work agreements (Verzue, 2015). Additionally, the project manager also had referent power. This power is derived from interpersonal relationships where the project manager engaged with the team and got the team to like and respect them. The project manager was able to create a personal relationship with the members of the team.

Discussion of strategies for negotiation: Leadership Management代写

There were three strategies used by the project manager for negotiating work needs.  Firstly, the project manager was able to use  a BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement). When any team member did not like the task assigned or if the proposed approach was not approved, the project manager would highlight alternative scenarios which can cause significant problems.   Secondly, the project manager also made use of the right tangible motivators (Englund, 2010).

For instance, when arguments were made regarding the sharing of workload, the fiscal impact of the decision or the potential overtime that needs to be implemented were highlighted. It is important to point out that the project manager despite highlighting the need for such effective resource and time management did not follow these guidelines themselves.  Thirdly, the project manager used a win-win negotiation style where there was establishment of rapport and common goals. All the members of the team were convinced that the approach adopted was the best for the team as well as the project.

Three recommendations to improve achievement of findings:Management代写

This research recommends three important recommendations to improve overall quality of project management in the future. First two recommendations include efforts should be made to have better time and resource management. Given that the project was a student based academic one, the potential implications was limited. However, in real business scenarios this can have devastating efforts.

Therefore, the use of the right budgeting tool and the right time management tool (e.g. Gnatt chart) is important (Burke and Baron, 2014). Secondly, the project manager should try to create a better approach to project negotiation by focusing on the individual capabilities and needs of all members. Negotiation strategies could have been more effective if efforts to understand the other party’s issues were made more clear. For instance, team members could have been given the opportunity to discuss amongst each other their roles and responsibilities.

Two strategies to develop positive team culture : Positive team culture can be developed by creating a more open approach to team leadership. The use of facilitative or participative leadership role is preferred. A participative leader is one who can make use of participative methods to engage people in decision making so as to help work together (Lam et al., 2015). Secondly, efforts can be made to acknowledge the leader’s own mistakes. The project manager should be  a leader who is able to recognise the need to admit mistakes indicating his leadership traits.

References Leadership Management代写

Antonakis, J., & Day, D. V. (Eds.). (2017). The nature of leadership. Sage publications.

Beck, D. E., & Cowan, C. (2014). Spiral dynamics: Mastering values, leadership and change. John Wiley & Sons.

Burke, R., & Barron, S. (2014). Project management leadership: building creative teams. John Wiley & Sons.

Englund, R. L. (2010). Negotiating for success: are you prepared? Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2010—EMEA, Milan, Italy. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute

Hersey, P., & Blanchard, K. H. (1999). Leadership and the one minute manager. William Morrow.

Kane, Y. I. (2015). Haunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs. Harper Business.

Lam, C. K., Huang, X., & Chan, S. C. (2015). The threshold effect of participative leadership and the role of leader information sharing. Academy of Management Journal58(3), 836-855.

McCleskey, J. A. (2014). Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly5(4), 117.

Northouse, P. G. (2015). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.

Richtel, M., & Chen, B. X. (2014). Tim Cook-Making Apple His Own. New York Times, Technology15.

Schuh, C., Raudabaugh, J. L., Kromoser, R., Strohmer, M. F., Triplat, A., & Pearce, J. (2017). A CEO who thinks like a CPO who thinks like a CEO. In The Purchasing Chessboard (pp. 1-7). Springer New York.

Trivellas, P., &Drimoussis, C. (2013). Investigating leadership styles, behavioural and managerial competency profiles of successful project managers in Greece. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences73, 692-700.

Verzuh, E. (2015). The fast forward MBA in project management. John Wiley & Sons.