Bill Gates Leadership - Case Study Example

Bill Gate’s Leadership Name Student No Course Date Introduction Leadership is marred with opportunities and challenges which are distinctive to each organization’s customer changes, market segment, technology and history. The challenges and opportunities that face each leader are as a result of rapid globalization. Globalization has played a major role is spreading management and leadership in addition to reforming the organizational culture all over the world. This is particularly in nations where there is democracy in governance. Leaders usually have unique qualities which help them to flourish. An example of such a leader is the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates. Alongside Paul Allen, he started a company which is among the most successful organizations globally. Bill Gates frequently appears on Forbes 100 richest people in America (Forbes, 2014). Of late, he appeared on the list of global billionaires for twelve successive years. Bill Gates has received major awards like Mary Woodard Lasker Award for Public Service, Bower Award for Business Leadership, Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society, National Medal of Technology and Innovation plus many others. Bill Gates is also a known philanthropist. It is evidently clear that the leadership of Bill Gates has had a considerable impact globally due to his leadership skills and qualities (Forbes, 2014). This paper will discuss how leadership of Bill Gates has change in relation to globalization. Organizational culture and leadership Organizational culture mainly refers to the behavior of individuals in an organization and the interpretations that people have to those particular behaviors. Culture is inclusive of the organization’s norms, values symbols, system, vision, habits, assumption, beliefs and language, it also includes the ideas of what the objectives should be. The main idea in organization culture is to make individuals reflect on the collective good of the organization because the flourishing of the organization in return also benefits its employees as well. Organizational culture has an effect on the way individuals and groups intermingle with one another, stakeholders and clients. As stated by Ravasi and Schultz (2006), organizational culture is an assortment of collective mental hypothesis that direct interpretation plus achievement in businesses by indentifying suitable behaviors for different situations. Even though a company may at times posses its own distinctive culture, bigger companies have contradictory cultures which co-exist due to the individuality of various management panels. Employee’s classification within an organization may be affected by organizational cultures (Schrodt, 2002). Organizational culture has a crucial effect on the performance of the organization. Leadership Leadership is defined as a process through which an individual has the ability to influence other people with the vision of attaining personal and organizational objectives. Leadership is a process of social influence; leadership is a vacuum without a leader plus followers (Bush & Bush, 2003). Leadership inspires intentional activity from adherents. The willful nature of agreeability divides leadership from different sorts of impact focused around formal power (Rowe, 2007). At last, leadership brings about adherents' conduct that is intentional and objective steered in a sorted out setting. Numerous studies of leadership concentrate on the way of authority in the work environment. According to Bass & Bass (2008), there is a difference between leadership and management. Leadership is involved with influencing people to do what the leader thinks is right in order to accomplish the organizational objectives. Management deals with staffing, organizing, controlling, directing and planning (Shriberg, Shriberg & Lloyd, 2002). A manager performs these functions and has official authority and power through the office or position held. Many a times, the managers are not effective leaders. The ability of the leader to influence other individuals is founded on other factors exclusive of official position or authority (Vecchio, 2007). For effective leadership, the leader should always act confidently. The leaders should have confidence and should posses’ good communication skills especially when communicating with the employees and other stake holders. The successful Microsoft co-owner Bill Gates is a humorous and confident leader; he transformed himself into a convincing talker who can clarify complicated issues simply and clearly. Due to polite and confidence of the leader, this can assist the organization form a relaxed and harmonized environment for the employees. Gates came to his senses that in order to educate, inspire and inform, he should tackle the complicated issues in a compelling visual and simple style. From the definition of leadership, it is clear that the focus of both leadership and organizational culture is similar. The focus is to make the employees be dedicated and influence them to share the organizational goals and objectives. Bill Gates Leadership Style: Bill Gates vision when he founded Microsoft was that each and every desktop needs a computer. He was not reluctant to take risks as an entrepreneur. He abandoned his studies from Harvard University to begin the software programme writing. He is among the most successful people in the globe (Forbes, 2014). At the beginning, Gates used a model of leadership known as transformational leadership. When the organization became a large company; he shifted the model to transactional leadership. Although he was the source of power in the organization, he employed a participative style of leadership (Forbes, 2014). Gates involved all of his junior employees during decision making. Bill Gates was a supple individual and he was aware of his task to be the futurist of the organization. Gates employed specialized managers to manage and improve the organizational structure. At Microsoft, he was an energizing and strong individual. The hardworking character, judgment skills and enthusiasm illustrated gates personality (George, 2008). Gates had a policy to of developing his people so that they can perform their tasks better than him. He was a strong believer that the manager’s skills should always be transferred to the minor employees. It was his believe that numerous smart administrators would love their subordinates to take up extra tasks in order for the administrators to handle any upcoming tasks that were challenging (Forbes, 2014). Gates communicated with his employees personally to try and dig out whether the employees had any reservations concerning the organization. He was keen to understand what the employees thoughts were concerning the organization. Individuals working as a team in harmony and sharing their ideas was the joy of Gates. Bill Gates advocated for different teams to share knowledge amongst them (George, 2008). Microsoft underwent two successful transitions; from programming through to graphical computing was through the help gates involving people, and also the transition from desktop to internet. It was through the directive of Gates that Microsoft diversified from programming languages to applications, games, enterprise software, MSN online and desktop operating systems. He was a charismatic leader through which the employees sought inspiration, but never used his charisma to manipulate the behavior of his employees. He learned the management, delegation and leadership of talented smart individuals. Up to date, Gates has continued to set values for other entrepreneurs and CEOs. Gates hired the best available talents. He used contingencies theory and shifted autocratic leadership to extra less autocratc approach (George, 2008). Bill Gates is nowadays a philanthropist. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a charity foundation which is largest in the world. This charitable foundation is exceptionally transparent. The sponsors are given full access to the data concerning the money spending (Forbes, 2014). Changing organizational culture To Change an organization's culture is a standout amongst the most troublesome leadership challenge. This is on account that the corporate culture includes an interlocking set of objectives, processes, techniques, values, interchanges practices, state of mind and suspicions (Daft & Lane, 2005). The components fit jointly as a commonly strengthening framework and join to keep away any endeavor to transform it. This is the reason single-fix progressions, for example, the presentation of groups, Incline, Light-footed, Scrum, learning administration, innovative process, may seem to make advance for some time, however in the end the interlocking components of the corporate culture assume control and the change is inevitably stepped reverse to the previous corporate culture. The process of culture Change is a vast scale process, and in the long run the majority of the organizational instruments for altering personalities will need to be placed in action. However the request in which they conveyed has a basic effect on the probability of achievement (Daft & Lane, 2005). All in all, the most productive achievement technique starts with leadership devices, inclusive of a future story or a dream. The change is further cemented with administration apparatuses, for example, role descriptions, estimation and control frameworks, and utilizes the unadulterated force instruments of punishments and coercion if all else fails. Impact of Globalization on leadership through culture Globalization can be described as a process through which all communities and people experience a common social, culture and economic surrounding. This process has an effect on each and every individual globally. A world community which is integrated brings forth both problems and benefits to all people. Globalization affects the political, cultural and economic power balance among communities, individuals and nations. It can mutually develop and limits human rights and freedoms (Daft & Lane, 2005). Due to globalization, increasing number of connections between people, events, activities and technological innovation, the current speed of change is unrelenting. Nowadays, individuals worldwide blend and mingle at a very high rate. They create new relationships and create a diverse culture in their places of work. Progressively more, organizations join together to explore innovative prospects and new markets exploitation. Technology comes up with new ideas daily some of these ideas can shape up the whole organizations within a short period of time. In these unstable, controversial and uncertain times, it is critical to have effective leadership. Change and leadership are immensely related. At the same time as the swiftness of change increases, effective leadership is greatly needed. But the big question is whether leadership has changed too. Below are various ways in which globalization has effected leadership and management (Daft & Lane, 2005). A related idea in regards to the learning capacity and limit of an association is the term learning organization which is an important element and necessity of the multinational enterprises that work in a much globalized business surrounding. In the new century, the learning organization is likewise a part and gimmick of the organization culture (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2003). Learning organization alludes to courses of action of individual and aggregate learning – both inside and among organizations. At the point when the learning organization as a component of the organization culture gets to be generally connected in the organizations, there will be a few real ramifications to the leaders which will be explained below (Daft & Lane, 2005). Innovative and creative At the point when a leader gets to be exceptionally imaginative and innovative, the leader might turn into the wellspring of new information creation for the devotees to learn. Imaginative people have a couple of different gimmicks that differentiate them from their companions: They possess a rich assemblage of space applicable information and overall created aptitudes; additionally they discover their work characteristically persuading. They have a tendency to be autonomous, offbeat, and risk takers, and to posses greater interests in additional to a more noteworthy openness to innovative encounters (Simonton 2000). Bill Gates clearly fit the portrayal of an exceptionally imaginative individual. He headed the outline of the Microsoft which got a worldwide client inclination. By keeping up high inventiveness, Bill Gates figured out how to create thoughts and plans that are new to the world for the workers and center groups to learn and afterward made them help the advancement exercises. Consequently we can see that with the expanding prominence of the learning culture (George, 2008). It is important for the leaders to be more imaginative and innovative to create more information to educate the followers Bill Gates is a visionary leader. He was inspired by his vision to follow the graphical interface creation which later turned out to be the Microsoft software. It has always been the plan and vision of Gates to have more than one product. The company had to recruit extra software individuals in additional to developing a complete product line. Since the word go, Bill Gates acknowledged the potential for opportunity and growth. The capability of Gates to envisage objectives also helps him accomplish his philanthropic goals. The abilities of this great leader to plan strategize and envisage provides a platform for other people to go after him (Mor-Barak, 2005). Planning According to Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee (2003), for any organization it is essential to have effective planning. It is critical for leaders to institute an imaginative route for the company. The management has a mandate to make sure that the plans are on the right track. Where there is a closed environment, apart from setting up the vision, it may be a fairly simple procedure due to the fact that the variables that affect the process of implementation can be forecasted and are more likely to be in categories which are easy to indentify (Mor-Barak, 2005). Due to globalization the process is greatly complicated, For example when Microsoft was planning to expand its line of production. When you understand the customers and the environment, as a leader, you are able to establish a clear plan for that particular market. This is a simple process for a company like Microsoft which has been in business for a long time. Due to globalization, the process turns out to be complicated because of the different customer’s base and the environment which have to be considered. The same way, the leadership of the organization has to strike a balance between diversity and competing factors (Bell, 2007). Open to new encounters Apart from the need for leaders to be exceedingly creative, an alternate ramification of the learning culture pattern of organizations to the leaders is to be extra flexible to new encounter. As I would like to think the levelheadedness for the leaders to be flexible to new encounters in encouraging the learning procedure appears to be straightforward, however leaders with the current expert information and a feeling of business openings could create some new learning in terms of new item outline and casing thoughts etc. There exist more new information some of which have as of now been created and proposed by different organizations and specialists and this new information have to be learned by the leaders by means of the new learning or rehearsing knowledge (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2003). For example, the success of Microsoft provided a fortune to Bill Gates which he felt he had a responsibility to use it the right way. He therefore founded an institute in which researchers would do their research in a move to offer a foundation for innovations of the next generation (Mor-Barak, 2005). Leadership implications and Culture diversity The diversity of culture has made different cultures to respect the difference of each other. The differences are in the dimensions of color, race, sex orientation, religion and age. The culture diversity within an organization has key repercussions to the leadership as discussed below. Willingness to learn and listen In a move to solve the challenges which are related to the diversity of culture, first and foremost the leaders have to recognize how challenges come about. In order to accomplish this, the leaders have to understand the different beliefs and values of the employees. This can be done through the use of two main methods: systematic learning in addition to active listening of the various cultural systems (Mor-Barak, 2005). Curiosity about the world Youngsters have a tendency of being curious, creative and open hence they are more cultural diversity inclusive. The strategy of being curious to various things and about the globe can be used by adult leaders in a move to help them amplify their capacity as leaders to engulf the diverse labor force. Instructional classes in a relaxation and unwind way about the society differences and the diverse social traditions of the distinctive employees can help the pioneers get to be more adequate to the diverse social standards and keep them inquisitive about the new ideas (Mor-Barak, 2005). Ease organizational communication In living up to expectations, the relationship between gatherings from various social foundations it is imperative to oversee multifaceted correspondences adequately. In my real living up to expectations experience, I have watched that representatives at the starting have a tendency to be very agreeable and correspond with everybody, except with time passing, they have a tendency to gathering up by distinctive social foundation and it is essential for leaders to energize and encourage the corporate correspondence between them (Mor-Barak, 2005). Conclusion Bill Gates was a successful leader and his style of leadership has is a legacy. The leadership of Bill Gates has made him to be among the prominent influential leaders. He inspired a lot of people and shared his vision. Through his charity foundation, he is impacting a lot of lives positively globally and influencing masses. Bill Gates boasts of considerable leadership power (George, 2008). With constantly expanding change and globalization, leaders will be tested to oversee connections more than previously. This will incorporate the capacity to associate successfully with assorted qualities of accomplices and different organizations and inside the bigger connection of varying societies. Forecasts are that the aggregate exchange between nations will surpass the aggregate estimation of exchange inside nations with time. This will positively require worldwide leaders. As we have examined in this paper, the changing worldwide environment is liable to keep on stimulating the change and revitalization of open and private establishments. Little and big U.S. organizations remember they will need to change to contend in the worldwide commercial center. They have left on projects of broad change that must be fulfilled in brief times of time. Such changes oblige another set of leadership aptitudes and a decent meeting expectations meaning of leadership (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2003). It is obvious that the fruitful leaders of the 21st century will be those who pushes leadership advancement and urges laborers to accept their part as a pioneer. People working in 21st century worldwide companies should be creative and imaginative, polish consistent learning, have principles which particularly incorporate trustworthiness, posses individual visions, be responsible for their own particular vocations, inspire from inside, plan, impart, and look for concordant associations with stakeholders (Daft & Lane, 2005). References Bass, B., & Bass, R. (2008). The Bass handbook of leadership: Theory, research, and managerial applications (4th ed., Free Press hardcover ed.). New York: Free Press Bell, M. (2007). Diversity in organizations (1st ed.). Mason, OH: Thomson/South-Western. Bush, T., & Bush, T. (2003). Theories of educational leadership and management (3rd ed.). London: Sage Publications. Daft, R., & Lane, P. (2005). The leadership experience (1st ed.). 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