Strengths and Weaknesses of a Leader - Case Study Example

Running head: Strengths and Weaknesses of a Leader: Novell Case Study Strengths and Weaknesses of a Leader: Novell Case Study [Institution's Name] Leadership is an important aspect of managing. (Kotler, 1990) As the part of this paper will show what qualities a leader should posses in order to lead effectively. Managers must exercise all the function of their role in order to combine human and material resources to achieve objectives. The key to doing this is the existence of a clear role and a degree of discretion or authority to support manager's actions. The essence of leadership is follower ship. (Haller & Til, 1982) In other words, it is the willingness of people to follow that makes a person a leader. Moreover, people tend to follow those whom they see as providing a means of achieving their own desires, wants, and needs. Leadership and motivation are closely interconnected. By understanding motivation, one can appreciate better what people want and why they act as they do. The motivation given by the leadership makes the followers to depict certain behavioral attitudes. These values transformed by the leader in his/ her followers are different in men and women. As mentioned by Weber in his definition of charismatic leader Schmidt is an extraordinarily gifted person who emerged in situation of desperation for Novell and provided the organization with a set of ideas providing a radical solution to the crisis. Through his openness for change and volatility he succeeded to make the employees of the organization believe that he is the right person whom they should follow. They validated Schmidt's extraordinary gifts and which resulted in repeated success of organization. The want of good leadership can issue from physiological and security needs. Good leadership helps to assure that the organization and its jobs will continue to exist. In addition, the ego demands that one-respect person from whom orders and directions are to be received. It is very frustrating to be subjected personally to a command from an individual who is deemed unworthy and incompetent. Reasonable orders and directions: The order is the official communication of organization requirements. In general, it should be related to the requirements of the situation, capable of being executed, complete but not unnecessarily detailed, clear and concise, and given in a manner that stimulates acceptance. Unreasonable orders incapable of accomplishment serve only to increase insecurity and frustration. Unreasonable orders that work contrary to the best interests of the organization may lead to a form of malicious obedience; the employee takes great delight in following them to the letter in hopes of harming the superior who merits little respect. A socially relevant organization: The trend toward greater social expectations of private organizations has impact upon such an organization's employee's expectations. This want issues from human needs of self-esteem, and levies a highly challenging responsibility upon the organization's management. In a job environment where the most of the above mentioned conditions will fulfilled the employees will be more committed and productive. In the case of Networking software maker Novell Schmidt kept moods and emotions as a central point in the leadership process. More specifically it was proposed that emotional intelligence, the ability to understand and manage moods and emotions in the self and others, contributed to effective leadership in Novell's rebuilding. Schmidt kept his focus on four major aspects of emotional intelligence: The appraisal and expression of emotion, the use of emotion to enhance cognitive processes and decision making, knowledge about emotions and management of emotions. By manipulating these four aspects he developed collective goals and objectives. He instilled in his colleagues and sub ordinates an appreciation of the importance of new ideas, enthusiasm to work hard, confidence in himself and trust with in themselves and other teammates. He maintained a culture of flexibility in which change was welcomed which helped him in establishing a meaningful identity for Novell in the networking software market. Following the Leader-Member Exchange theory Schmidt developed a group of trusted smart people to whom he assigned responsibility of finding other intelligent employees in order to improve the productivity of company and to get rid of non performing employees. Hence the people of this in-group helped him in order to cull an employee base consisting of intelligent, enthusiastic, and hard working employees which resulted in shape of innovative products and higher profit levels. These in-group people shared the responsibility with Schmidt and made the management duties easier. Although the members of this in group had power sharing to some extent but Schmidt kept on nurturing the relationship with his inner circle whilst balancing giving them power with ensuring they do not have enough to strike out on their own. The individuals in the company were motivated by setting goal as Goal Theory suggest that it is the goal that an individual is aiming for which motivates, rather than just the satisfaction of attaining it. Locke's view is that what a person values or desires determines the goals he sets for himself, but that what actually drives him (motivates him) are the goals themselves. Locke's own researches indicated that individual performance was better when people had been set specific goals of a challenging or difficult nature, and when they received feedback on their performance. This approach clearly has implications for the practice of management-by-objectives of target setting. Which relies for its success on the mutual agreement of specific goals between a manager and his subordinate. A modern and a more permanent approach to motivation are through job enrichment. This involves putting meaning into jobs. In other words, it is putting Herzberg's two-factor theory into effect by building motivators into the job. These motivators include achievement, growth, responsibility, advancement and recognition. A number of research studies have indicated that the job content is an important factor in motivating people. So the content of a routine or repetitive task must be restructured to provide motivation to the performer of that job. One way of restructuring the job is through job enrichment, or making jobs more meaningful. Schmidt included more of Herzberg's motivators; people who performed jobs utilized their skills and potentials to the best of their abilities and became more productive on the job. Thus, the jobs became richer and not just bigger. Hence the use of the term job enrichment. Employee Involvement: Employee involvement should be encouraged on every step of organizational planning, from decision making to implement change in the organization. A program can be found effective when the employers guarantee the involvement of the employees at each and every step. The employers should encourage the involvement of employees in all the processes effecting the work place situation and the well being of employees. Following steps should be undertaken in order to get the involvement from the employees: Employees should be encouraged to give suggestions and should receive feedback from the employees with out any fear of consequences. The management should undertake effective reporting procedure regarding the employee's intentions regarding their well being. The role of the employees should be increased in order to evaluate, recommend and undertake the process of betterment in the organization. The needs of the employees should be analyzed regarding their skills and knowledge requirements. Employees must be given proper participation while planing for the process of change in the organization. In the hospitality industry programs should be introduced for "handling the hostile customer." Security of job: Because of threats from technological change, this want is high on the list or priorities for many employees and labor unions. The underlying need of general security is also high on the list of priorities in the suggested need hierarchy of Maslow. But in case of Novell, Schmidt completely ignored this need which definitely should had a negative impact on employee motivation. References ChangingMinds.org, (2007). Leader-Member Exchange theory, available at http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/leader_member_exchange.htm Fryer, B., (2001). Leading through Rough Times: An Interview with Eric Schmidt. Haller T., & Til, V., Jon, (1982) "Leadership and follower ship: Some summary propositions," Journal of applied Behavioral Sciences, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 405-414. Kotler, P., Marketing Management, Millennium Edition, Prentice Hall, 2000, United States. Read More