Effective Communication and Teamwork Competencies at Virgin Group - Case Study Example

? Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group, Ltd Lecturer: Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group, Ltd Leadership is defined as the process of developing vision and ideas and living by values in order to influence and embrace the behavior of an individual. Branson, the Chairman of Virgin Group Limited employs unique management and leadership styles in order to achieve successful organizational goals. This has enabled him to turn the company into a multibillion-dollar multinational company and one of the most recognizable brands across the globe. The company has ventured into varied business, and it has more than two hundred conglomerates that operate across the globe. The company has about 50 thousand employees, and it receives approximately 20 billion dollars in annual sales. Many people admire the Virgin brand and Branson always believes that by treating employees effectively, they will become productive; thus attract customers who in turn would reward stakeholders. Branson believes that effective communication and teamwork competences will yield better results. He devotes himself towards motivating and rewarding employees as well listen actively to them in order to create organizational value. Branson employs a mixture of leadership styles in order to improve the organization value; thus achieving organizational goals effectively. First, Branson employs authentic leadership because he is genuine with his work. He is always ready to offer a solution in a genuine way to any employee who approaches him. Hellriegel and Slocum (2010, p. 291) argue that authentic leaders have the highest integrity and are always committed towards improving organization performance. Branson is one of the leaders who are committed towards constructing enduring organizations and who are genuine to the company core values. He develops his own leadership styles that are consistent with his personality. For instance, many organizations concentrate in designing innovative brands that meet the expectation of customers and they treat customers as the king in the market. However, Branson does opposite by treating employees first, and the customers follow later. This is because he believes that by motivating employees, they will work hard and become productive; thus meeting the expectations of customers. Therefore, Branson is an authentic leader because he holds on the beliefs he espouses; thus revealing ethical behaviors in business. This is essential because it will lead to successful organizational performance. Secondly, Branson employs transactional leadership because he pays attention to his subordinates and he cooperates with them through agreements. Transactional leadership styles are among the valuable leadership management styles in an entity. This leadership style acknowledges leadership dynamics and recognizes leaders as being responsible for the actions of their subordinates (Hellriegel and Slocum (2010). In this case, leaders motivate employees through offering them bonuses as a way of motivating them to work hard. Branson focuses on teamwork performance, and he focuses on the supervision roles in an organization. This is essential because a transactional leader is a leader who is focused to keep things alike, but they are not ready to change anything in the future. This leader pays attention to employees or the followers in order to solve any problem that might arise. Branson employs transformational leadership model and this style is of significant benefit in the company. This is because this leadership style emphasizes on unity and joint effort in creating organization change. Branson encourages employees to work together and introduces a new set of goals that can enable an organization to create change. Transformational style emphasizes on shared values and joint efforts towards increasing performance level (Hellriegel and Slocum 2010, p. 329). Branson works hard in order to solve the problem of each employee, and he always makes sure that he has the answer for every problem. He works hard in order to adjust the personal needs of each through listening to each employee carefully and responding to the needs of each employee. Another leadership styles that Benson employs in the Virgin Group Limited is Theory Y leadership model. This style focuses on motivation of followers, and it emphasizes on effective communication. It also focuses on effective listening skills, but the model emphasizes on motivating employees through rewarding them according to their performances. Motivation of employees can be in form of rewards in terms of cash or gifts. Branson believes that employees are human beings; thus, they deserve the best in order to become productive. Therefore, he motivates them and offers them the first priority as a way of motivating them to improve organizational performance. Motivation of employees is essential because this is also explained in Theory X of Herzberg where he argues about motivating employees either by rewarding or punishing them (Hellriegel and Slocum, 2010). In case employees are not committed with their work, it means that something is wrong. This reveals why Branson is always committed in reading e-mails every morning before anything else. This is because he wants to identify the problem impacting employees; thus understanding the needs of employees. This will enable him to offer an effective solution and motivate them to work hard to improve the performance of an organization. Behavioral model in the case study of Branson is revealed where he emphasizes on concrete goals through increased productivity levels. He also recruits workers with strong collaboration competencies and efficient communication. Branson believes that effective communication and listening is significant in an organization. Therefore, he listens carefully to any problem presented to him and allows all employees who have problem to communicate with him through e-mails. Branson understands the significance of effective communication, and this is what is emphasized in Theory Y. Northouse (2007) argues that promoting effective communication in an organization is one the significant roles that managers can employ; thus improving organizational performance. Successful leaders should establish mutual rapport with their employees; thus, leadership turns a relational property as explained in Theory Y leadership style. This means that leadership does not centre in one person, but it is influenced by varied factors. This may include individual characteristics and behaviors, attitude and the social or environmental context. Therefore, despite all the risks that the Virgin brand underwent, Branson was able to improve the organizational performance through employing unique leadership skills in organizational management. The leadership models that Branson employs are efficient in the contemporary U.S society. These leadership styles are desirable because they all contribute to successful organizational performance. For instance, Branson employs reward and legitimate power, and this are among the leadership traits that are effective in the current U.S society. Various corporations in the U.S are trying to achieve competitive in the international competitive market. Therefore, employing effective leadership styles such as behavioral, transactional, authentic leadership and Theory Y are essential in creating organizational change. Moorhead and Griffin (2012) argue that managing organization behavior through employing effective leadership behaviors will create organization change. This will enable leaders to accomplish their organizational goals successfully and increase organizational revenues. Therefore, in the current U.S market economy, managers should employ unique leadership styles that can help them to create change in a business environment. For instance, use of reward power is one way that can motivate employees to become productive, and this is desirable in the competitive U.S market. One of the leadership models that can make Branson an effectual leader is the democratic leadership style. Branson should use democratic style because this leadership style enables leaders and subordinates to share decision making in a group; thus promoting the interests of everyone in the group. This style encompasses discussion and debate as well as encouraging people to offer their opinion in the work environment. The democratic periphery should be influential value towards improving the thoughts and skills of individuals. Democratic leadership style will enable teamwork to make effective decisions that can benefit everyone than benefiting an individual (Schein, 2010). This style is significant because it will enable the group to make clear decisions, which everyone can appreciate. It can also offer room for judgments and provision of new ideas that can enable the company to create change. This is vital because it provides people with plenty of time to make their contributions and it is easy for them to reach into an effective conclusion. Coaching leadership style is another style, and it involves training people in order to enable them become successful in the future. The coaching leadership style works effectively when the leader wants to support teamwork in building a lasting individual strength. Other than motivating and solving problems affecting employees in an organization, training them will contribute to change of organizational behavior (Moorhead and Griffin, 2012). This is essential because it will make employees more productive; thus improving organization values. This style will help in the case when the teamwork is unwilling to change their behaviors; thus, coaching employees to learn about organizational needs will enable them change their behaviors. In this case, coaching will help employees to improve their performance, and it will enable them to understand the significant of treating customers as the king. Branson can develop and lead a global team working on a major project such as space tourism through employing varied steps. First, he can initiate the project through determining the motives, project goals and the span of the venture. Branson can also commence the project team and delineate the milestones for the financial plan proposal. Another pace is planning for the venture, and this involves scheduling for project supervision through creating a plan that will direct the group throughout the venture development. He will recruit employees with effective project development skills, plan for non-labor resources as well as risks associated with the project. Another step is project execution and this involves providing building deliverables, evaluation and controlling the venture. This is through communicating effectively, performing risks, costs and change management. Lastly, Branson can include project enclose, which encompasses the release of the final project and documentation. One can include some of the Branson' leadership behaviors in his or her roles school in various ways. First, one can employ authentic leadership at school in order to provide genuine work. For instance, a student may use authentic leadership in providing genuine assignments or fair work that is not plagiarized or one can acknowledge the work of another writer through citing the words borrowed from the work of another writer. Authentic in the work place yields effective results, and it enables one to handle difficult issues; thus providing solutions effectively. Secondly, one can incorporate behavioral leadership style at school through motivating other students to work hard or communicating effectively in order to avoid conflicts. For instance, in most cases, conflicts always arise in schools whereby students differ because of poor communication. Understanding the way to communicate with others is essential because it will help one to avoid conflicting with others. This model can also help one to become a good listener in lecture room; thus employing Branson’s leadership styles can be beneficial to a student in school. References Hellriegel, D., & Slocum, J. W. (2010). Organizational Behavior for Strayer University 2011 (Custom Edition). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Moorhead, G., & Griffin, R. W. (2012). Managing organizational behavior. Andover: South- Western Cengage Learning. Northouse, P. G. (2007). Leadership: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Read More