Control and Leadership Paper
Introduction
Sears Holdings is a company in transition. Now, faced with adversity and the threat of bankruptcy looming its leadership has come under scrutiny. “Great leaders not only have drive; they want to lead. Also important is a high need for power, a preference to be in leadership rather than follower positions. A high power need induces people to attempt to influence others, and sustains interest and satisfaction in the process of leadership. When the power need is exercised in moral and socially constructive ways, rather than to the detriment of others, leaders inspire more trust, respect, and commitment to their vision (Bateman, pp 399, 2007).”
According to the text, “Control is defined as any process that directs the activities of individuals toward achievement of organizational goals. It is how effective managers make sure things are going as planned (Bateman, pp 520, 2007).” The combination of these two concepts, leadership and control help formulate an ideology that becomes an integral part of the success or failure of any business entity. This paper will give Team D an opportunity to delve into Sears Holdings’ leadership and control mechanisms. The focal point of this paper will be to identify the current CEO of Sears Holdings, and gain insight on his background, i.e., training, education, and previous employment. To identify his style of leadership, evaluate the effectiveness of this leadership style based on Sears Holdings’ performance, and to explain the various control mechanisms used in the organization to determine the effectiveness.
Across the globe, there are CEO’s, managers, and several other individual’s in leadership-type roles that have the expectation of making their company successful in the eyes of the investors, the employees, and the customers that they serve. This may be measured by a company’s gross profitability, employee engagement or overall customer satisfaction. Most companies have leadership models and strategies in place that leaders are expected to use in order to drive the expectations of the company while maintaining consistency across the business. In an effort to examine various types of leadership styles, I have conducted interviews with two individuals that are or have been previously tasked with leading their teams and their company towards success.
In a firm, management and leadership are important and needed. Leadership and management are similar. Actually, leadership and management are totally different. The leadership would influence the firm. The leader would have difference leadership styles to lead the subordinate.
Mlls, D. Q. (2005). Leadership How to Lead, How to Live. Boston: Harvad Business School Press.
Yukl, G. (2002). Leadership in organizations. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. p. 1-19. Retrieved from http://www.blackdiamond.dk/HDO/Organisation_Gary_Yukl_Leadership_in_Organizations.pdf
It is important for us humans to know that we must take full responsibility for our actions and maturely deal with any consequences that those actions may lead to. According to Ryon and Gleason (2013), “the first conceptualization of control was developed in 1966 by Rotter,” which is currently referred to as locus of control. Rotter defined locus of control as “the degree to which an individual expects that a contingent relationship exists between one’s behaviors and outcomes” (Ryon & Gleason, 2013). Fournier and Jeanrie reference Rotter’s study by explaining the two types of locus of control: “external control” and “internal control” (as cited in Rotter, 1966, p. 1). The purpose of Rotter’s theory was to examine “what causes reinforcement” whether it be an intrinsic or extrinsic factor (Kormanik & Rocco, 2009). Rotter measured “people’s general control expectancies” by using what is known as the “Internal-External Locus of Control Scale” (Fournier & Jeanrie, 2003).
Leaders: Strategies for Taking Charge is an organizational management book written by Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus for those who aim to become better leaders. The authors emphasize that having executive positions or being a manager does not automatically make one a leader. A leader is one who inspires his staff, help them find purpose in their work, and effectively implement their plans. They separate the book not quite into chapters on different topics, but rather by four strategies that they have determined are vital for any leader to take on. The strategies are effectively concluded as attention through vision, meaning through communication, trust through positioning, and the deployment of self. A prominent feature of Leaders is the various
Leadership at times can be a complex topic to delve into and may appear to be a simple and graspable concept for a certain few. Leadership skills are not simply acquired through position, seniority, pay scale, or the amount of titles an individual holds but is a characteristic acquired or is an innate trait for the fortunate few who possess it. Leadership can be misconstrued with management; a manager “manages” the daily operations of a company’s work while a leader envisions, influences, and empowers the individuals around them.
The role of leadership can impact an organization performance in many ways. Excellent leadership can propel a company to the fortune five hundred list. For Example, Harpo Incorporated Oprah Winfrey’s company is a successful business that has made billions of dollars over the years. The business consists of several different entities such as the Oprah Show, Oprah Winfrey Network, and The Dr. Phil Show to name a few. This could not have been accomplished with a weak or uneducated leader. Many years ago I heard her give advice to the Williams Sisters. The a...
The literature generally suggests that effective leaders express their needs and motives in ways that benefit the organization. These needs or motives, are considered to be; tenacity, power, drive and work ethic (DuBrin et al. 2006). The power motive is significant, as it plays a major role in the relations taking place within the organization. Power over others is an inevitable part of leadership, but it also carries with it the risks associated with the misuse or abuse of power (Wikipedia, 2008).
There can be no leadership without influence, because influencing is how leaders lead. “At the end of the day, what qualifies people to be called leaders is their capacity to influence others to change their behavior in order to achieve important results.” (Grenny, pg. 6). Using the two books, Influencer and The Three Signs of a Miserable Job, bridges the relationship between the principles of leadership, power and influence. The Three Signs of a Miserable Job tells the story of recently retired executive, Brian Bailey, who discovers the three signs of disengaged employees.
Morgan, T. (2007). Overpower Weak Leaders. Business Journal (Central New York), Vol. 21 Issue 16, p26-26. Retrieved from EBSCOhost
Setting the strategic vision of the company is a prime example wherein a CEO can be solely responsible for leading a company to glory or unleashing a catastrophe. An example of successful strategy formation by the CEO alone rests in the case of Intuit’s CEO Scott Cook who was directly responsible for Intuit’s success in 1991 when he unveiled his new company vision and strategy. Cook dreamed that Intuit would become the nucleus of computerized personal finance in the world and infected all his employees with this strategic vision, which led Intuit to be a knockout company success taking it from having 120 employees and one product to a mega company with thousands of employees, a myriad of products and a billion dollar net worth. The sole power of the CEO as an agent of change success, in this example, is evident as Scott led Intuit in becoming the worldwide victor in matters of personal finance (SOURCE) by forming a great vision and strategy. Scott was a successful example of a CEO that established and created a mood or character of the company, then determining the corporate strategy to bolster his mission and merging the resources and maneuvers wih opportunities to execute it. On the other end of the success spectrum we face John Aker, CEO of IBM who paralyzed IBM with his lack of decisiveness at a critical point in the tech industry’s evolution, which led to a loss of several billion dollars. Bob Allen, yet another CEO who lacked solid strategic direction, singlehandedly forced not only a disastrous merger of AT&T and NCR Corp but also lost the company 12 billion in a few months, laying off 50,000 poor AT&T workers. So much to the power of the CEO in being the undoing or the saving grace of a company.
One of the most important components of leadership is the leader. A leader is responsible for his or her followers and the overall goal of the group or organization. Leaders are the people held accountable or everything that happens, good or bad. On the other hand, the second major component of leadership is the followers. Without followers, a leader would be worthless. Followers make up the backbone of a leader because they are the masses that get goals accomplished. A leader is just one person, but the number of followers is countless. In order to be an effective follower, there are a countless number of characteristics that allow a follower to be the best they can be. Five of these characteristics include a positive attitude, communication skills, being part of the process, being open to new ideas, and patience.
Leadership is one of the most important facets in organizations. In most cases, leaders act with respect to organizational culture as well as the codes of conduct that determine the manner in which leaders relate with subordinates. Leadership entails the use of effective communication skills to get activities done in the workplace and to ensure that employees shelve their individual interests for the sake of their organizations’ shared targets. It is the role of leaders to ensure that consumers attain high quality products and services by making certain that members of their firms’ workforce are fully motivated to work effectively and utilize resources in an efficient manner (Bass, 22). With the increasingly sophisticated nature of the corporate world, leadership should not be based solely on the desire to control and coordinate affairs within the workplace, but leaders should also exhibit positive examples and continually monitor the changing trends in corporate governance to initiate the most relevant guidelines. Competitiveness can only be attained when leaders are in a position to set the right standards in their firms and coordinate affairs appropriately by understanding consumer and employee needs.
Leadership and the study of it has roots in the beginning of civilization, Egyptian rulers, Greek heroes, and biblical patriarchs all have one thing in common-leadership (THE HISTORY OF LEADERSHIP FOCUS,2005). There are numerous definitions and theories of leadership, however there are enough similarities in the definitions to conclude that leadership is the effort of influence and the power to induce compliance (Wren,1995).The organizational focus of the leader has evolved over this same period, early organizations with authoritarian leaders who believed employees were intrinsically lazy transitioned into way to make work environments more conducive to increased productivity rates (THE HISTORY OF LEADERSHIP FOCUS,2005).