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leadership models and theories comparison
comparison between leadership theories
leadership models and theories comparison
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Hands-On Labs (HOL) is an online science education organization that produces and sells science “wet” labs for distance learners in higher education. This company has undergone several leadership styles, as well as high employee turnover, and an identity crisis. Considering HOL’s instability and that “Culture helps us cope with uncertainty” (Trice & Beyer, 1993), HOL needed a positive culture change. Consequently, HOL’s president brought in new leaders who adopted the mentality that the employees should come first and a culture of unity should be formed. Therefore, the culture involved rituals such as regular happy hours, company lunches, barbeques, holiday parties, and company gatherings that included team-building games. In addition to the rituals, HOL’s leaders created a bonus incentive that would be divided amongst all employees at the end of the year based on the final revenue of the company.
Cultural Artifacts
The cultural artifacts that surround HOL involve the product lines of LabPaqTM and LabBridgeTM, as well as a symbolic frog named Einstein Frog. The Einstein Frog character was built from the original poison dart frog in the logo. He became a personality rather than a frog. Einstein Frog walked on two legs, had Einstein’s white, crazy hair, wore glasses and a lab coat. This character was created to form a connection with the students, as well as move the focus away from the company’s president onto the product. Einstein Frog originally appeared in the lab manuals to walk the students through the lab instructions. As Einstein Frog became more popular, he appeared in advertisements, packaging, trade shows, and the new logo. In addition to adding a connection to the students, Einstein Frog also became the office personali...
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... subcontractors. HOL outsourced areas including large portions of the I.T. department, Human Resources, and our Research and Development but maintained a liaison within the company to coordinate the projects.
Conclusion
In summary, HOL was an interesting and challenging company to work for due to the constant evolution of organizational styles and culture. Nonetheless, the adaptation the company took with the new matrix, network organization was a positive influence on the company culture. Once the culture became more unified and team-oriented, the company was able to lower the employee turnover as well as increase revenue.
Works Cited
Conrad, C. R., & Poole, M. S. (2012). Strategic organizational communication: In a global economy (7th ed.). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Trice, H. & Beyer, J. (1993). The cultures of work organizations. Prentice Hall, New Jersey.
Poole, c. a. (2005). strategic organizational communications in a global economy. belmont ca: wadsworth cengage learning.
Geert Hofstede, Gert Jan Hofstede and Michael Minkov, Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. Revised and Expanded 3rd Edition. McGraw-Hill 2010.
Deal, J. T., & Kennedy, A. A. (1992). Corporate cultures: The rites and rituals of corporate life. Reading, MA: Addison- Wesley.
Conrad, C. 1994. Strategic Organizational Communication – Toward the Twenty-First Century.Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.
Cardon, P. W. (2014). Business communication: Developing leaders for a networked world. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
O'Reilly III, C. A., Chatman, J., & Caldwell, D. F. (1991). People and organizational culture: a
As we learn from the case study, the Lincoln Electric Company is the largest global manufacturer of machines for welding, which are used in all kinds of construction projects. This means that the company has a large global presence and many employees, so its culture affects thousands of its workers. Even though it is now 2014, the company still has a large market share and very satisfied employees, so clearly the culture leaves employees satisfied and motivates them to work hard for the company.
Conrad, C. R., & Poole, M. S. (2012). Strategic organizational communication in a global economy. Chichester, U.K: Wiley-Blackwell.
The culture of an organization along with the diversity within the organization can speak volumes as to how a company operates, not to mention the level of satisfaction that employees of the company possess. As stated by Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn (2005, p. 9), "Organi...
This essay gives a basic idea of what organizational culture is, and emphasis on the controversial issues of managing organizational cultures. As there are various definitions for organizational culture, and none of them are universally agreed. Therefore, for an easier understanding by readers, the definition of organizational culture given in this essay focusing on levels of culture, and will be discussed t together with Schein's(1983) framework. Before talking about managing organizational cultures, the types will be introduced first. Because, there are some descriptions about managing different types of organizational cultures, in the following content.
In the business environment, culture is often perceived as “the way we do things around here” this includes : “the way we deal with customers” ; “the way we treat other employees”; and even the way leaders relate to, develop, give incentive and motivate people.” (Deal and Kennedy, 1982).
Organisational theorists, depending on their school of thought, hold differing conceptions of organisational culture. Most theorists attempt to use a variety of metaphors, or images, to bound, frame, and differentiate that category of experience referred to as an “organisation” (Smircich, 1983). The most common comparisons made of organisations
Gibson, J.W. & Hodgetts, R. (1991). Organization communication: A Managerial Perspective. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.
Hofstede, G . (1983). The cultural relativity of organizational practices & theories. Journal of International Business Studies ,14 (2), 75-89.
Thompson, P & Mchugh, D 2002, Work organisations: A critical introduction, 3rd edn, MacMillan Palgrave, New York, viewed 4 April 2014, http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.uow.edu.au/lib/uow/docDetail.action?docID=10038997&p00=organisational+behaviour.