Essay on Transformational Leadership

Introduction

The supply chain management system of most contemporary organizations is dictated by specific leadership styles, approaches, and strategies that are adopted by the top management. Leadership styles are centered on the management techniques that the company adopts on its employees for the achievement of goals and objectives. Some leaders are subscribed to a specific leadership style while others adapt to more than one leadership approach. Leaders who use multidimensional leadership approaches often oversee operations in companies with high workforces. The focus evaluation of this report revolves around 'Avoid Clinging to the Status Quo: A Case Study on Amazon’s Jeff Bezos”. The case study is adapted from “21 Success Sutras for CEOs” by Professor Rao. Jeff Bezos is the CEO of Amazon Inc. which specializes in professional digital and online marketing of books (Rao, 2017). Jeff Bezos’s transformational leadership style has been crucial in the global starling performance of Amazon Inc. The success of Amazon can be attributed to the inspiration, motivation, and encouragement of employees by Jeff Bezos

Evaluation of the context in which the leadership approaches, styles, and strategies are acted out

Jeff Bezos has majorly subscribed to the transformational leadership theories in the achievement of goals within Amazon Inc. Transformational leadership is a management strategy that people in leadership positions use to inspire, encourage, and motivate employees toward the innovation of changes that are crucial in the achievement of successful endeavors of the company. Transformational leadership emphasizes organizational change through the efforts of employees (Hughes et al., 2011). The transformational leadership style demonstrated by Jeff Bezos in the chosen case study is designed to motivate employees. Jeff Bezos further asserts that employers should avoid leaning on the status quo and apply new leadership styles (Rao, 2017).

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Jeff Bezos's leadership strategies are acted out in different contexts that demonstrate the prevalence of issues within Amazon Company. Team management is a major issue that prompted Jeff Bezos to subscribe to a transformational leadership strategy. The CEO asserts that the firm’s success is bestowed upon teams that are committed to the overall organizational objectives. A leader may not necessarily achieve the goals alone. They will require the services of teams to work together towards stipulated goals and objectives (Rao, 2017). It is true Jeff Bezos's philosophical opinions towards team management in rolling out transformational leadership in the team setup have similarly been adopted by most contemporary organizations in the United States. According to McKeown and Carey, (2015), approximately 65% of the top 500 Fortune companies in 2018 had overall leadership that emphasizes transformational leadership.

Emphasis on customer satisfaction and not money is also a context in which transformational leadership approaches are acted out in the provided case study. The CEO asserts that the organization should consider the needs of customers first. Succinct attention to customers is a clue that the overall goals of the institute are attained (Rao, 2017). Even though money is always the motivating factor that keeps the top management of most organizations in action, Jeff Bezos dispels this belief and embraces that there is the need to consider the needs of customers first then money later. Perseverance is a perspective in which Jeff Bezos strives to demonstrate transformational leadership advances, methods, and tactics are acted out. According to Banks et al., (2016), perseverance is a virtue that is often demonstrated by leaders who subscribe to the transformational ideology. Perseverance is centered on consistency and being ready to face challenges that come with overall leadership. In the provided case scenario, Jeff Bezos started the company through perseverance whereby he focused on creating an organization that would depend on the internet at a time when most people did not know more about the internet. The CEO went ahead to raise $1 million to get Amazon on the ground.

Emphasizing efforts and not outcomes is also a context in which the transformational leadership approaches are acted out by Jeff Bezos. According to Hoch et al., (2018), most contemporary organizations are focused on the outcome at the expense of efforts. Jeff in his efforts is engaged in constant experimentation with various products and services. At the inception of Amazon Inc., very few companies valued the internet as a marketing tool. Through the experiment, the process of using the internet for successful outcomes is what contributed to the current state of Amazon in the world. Finally, the fear of taking risks is also an issue that transformational leadership approaches by Jeff Bezos, he emphasizes that one can only be successful when one can take risks. Fear of risk-taking is an indication that specific strategies would not be likely achieved in the organizational setup.

Evaluation of the successes and failures of the identified leadership styles, approaches, and strategies

Based on the case study chosen, Jeff Bezos’s leadership is built on transformational management. However, articulation of the transformational leadership style is reliant on various approaches that the leaders candidly identify to be essential in the overall achievement of goals and objectives. This is a similar case scenario in other organizations whereby leaders have introduced leadership styles that are guided by strategies and approaches. It is the difference in the strategies and approaches that distanced one's leadership approach from the other. Most of the contemporary leadership theories emphasize that a leadership style adopted by a leader at any point in time should have the ability to prompt the overall achievement of organizational goals.

Transformational leadership is successful as it enhances learning and development in an organizational setup. As the leader emphasizes transformational leadership, it is evident employees will also be reformed in ensuring that they achieve successful acquisition of goals and objectives. Transformational leaders work to ensure that new goals and visions are acquired in placing the organization on the required track (Ghasabeh, Soosay & Reaiche, 2015). Jeff Bezos identifies that communication is a key activity in rolling out transformational leadership. This is a successful feature in the approach in which the CEO bestows his philosophical perspective of leaders in the organizational setup. Through transformational leadership, managers' communication is a tool for success since leaders will have constant interaction with junior employees. Jeff Bezos's philosophical subscription to leadership is successful as it lowers turnover costs.

Under the umbrella of the transformational leadership style, Bezos identifies specific strategies and approaches that are often crucial in achieving the overall objectives of the firm. The successful nature of Bezos's approaches is based on how corporate visions and missions are easily articulated as opposed to other leadership styles and strategies (Rao, 2017). Transformational leadership articulated by Bezos is also founded on successful endeavors based on its enthusiastic nature. If the manager emphasizes transformational leadership, there is a very high probability that other employees will be enthusiastic about maintaining the culture that had earlier been articulated. Transformational leadership is successful in its ability to boost morale in the changing environment of an organization. Passion and enthusiasm can inspire and guide people toward success in an organizational setup. Whenever there is a situation that demonstrates indifference in a workplace setting, transformational leaders should be capable of breaking the team out of the existing routine.

The transformational leadership theory supported by Jeff Bezos also has some flaws and inconsistencies. The negative outcome is a failure that is often associated with the transformational leadership style. In the application of most leadership styles, managers are often motivated by positive outcomes. However, there are situations whereby the expected leadership style can yield negative outcomes which may not be an expectation. There is a probability that leaders who tend to be more radical may not have the capability to acquire the positive outcomes of their management structure (Tepper et al., 2018). In the provided case study, Jeff Bezos states that managers should have the ability to understand the individual needs of junior employees.

The leadership strategies recommended by Jeff Bezos in the provided case scenario require constant and consistent feedback, which may be an uphill task to roll out in an organizational setup. Constant communication and feedback may not be easily achieved in an organization with a very high number of employees. Embracing communication in organizations with very few employees as opposed to firms with a high number of employees. Jeff Bezos's leadership style may not be applied best in the organization since it requires the agreeability of the employees. This may not be an easy task, especially in an organization that has a culture of employees who are often resistant to change.

The relevance of power, influence, politics, and culture in shaping or rewarding specific leader behaviors

It is true beyond a reasonable doubt that power, influence, politics, and culture are relevant in shaping or rewarding specific leader behaviors. Power, influence, politics, and culture are often interrelated in that leaders demonstrate such qualities more than once. For instance, a trade union leader should always have an influence on the employees that they are leading. It is the influence that is perceived to be powerful in the long end (Huffington, James & Armstrong, 2018). Based on the provided case scenario, it is evident Bezos's leadership style is founded on power, influence, politics, and culture which has consequently been rewarding to his overall behavior at Amazon Inc.

Bezos's leadership is centered on theories that are essential in manifesting the concept of culture, influence power, and politics on his employees within the giant company Amazon (Rao, 2017). Thinking of exercising power in rolling out leadership theories is influenced by external and internal conflicts. Through the concept of transformational leadership theory, Bezos is connected to his followers within the firm which is a situation that has also motivated morality and commitment to the collective good of the employers. The culture, influence power, and politics bases that Bezos has subscribed to in the provided case scenario are rewarding in maintaining his resilience behavior of motivating employees within the firm.

Any apparent contradictions in the intentions, actions, or behaviors of the leader or leaders in this case

In the context of Amazon, the theory of leadership defines Bezos on different approaches that are crucial in achieving overall organizational goals. However, there exist approaches and strategies that contradict Bezos' philosophical theory of leadership. As a leader and the CEO of Amazon, Bezos asserts that leaders should always follow their heart to break the status quo (Rao, 2017). This perception is contradicting as transformational leadership is reliant on the interest of employees and their ability to change. When a leader is constantly working on the ability to follow their heart in rolling out transformational leadership, it would be irrelevant since it is perceived that the transformational goals of the leaders will be fueled by selfish demands that do not take into consideration the ability of employees to change.

Employees undertake a central mandate in making certain that theories of transformational direction are effectively achieved. When a leader is encouraged to follow their heart, they will focus on forcing the employees with ideas that may not reflect the true value of the organization. Bezos also perceives that there is a need to be an explorer and not a conqueror. He believes that in exploring and experimenting, one will easily take on their competitors. However, this perception is contradicting since being an explorer and not a conqueror is less radical in achieving transformational goals.

Recommendations for improving the leadership capabilities of the key individual/s in this case

The key individual in the chosen case scenario is Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon Inc. Even though Bezos has demonstrated resilience in his overall capability as a leader, there is a need for him to integrate other leadership approaches, styles, and strategies in different contexts within the organization. Even though the transactional leadership style is the opposite of a transformational leadership style, Bezos should also integrate this leadership style in other different corporate regions (Rao 2017). The integration will provide a basis for comparison and resilience in leadership. Equally, Bezos needs to be dynamic as opposed to being rigid as a leaders. Bezos's focus is adopting change mechanisms through employee transformation, it would be crucial for him to also embrace other industrious leadership theories such as democracy. Finally, Bezos's leadership should be based on articulating changes that are resilient to a specific point in time. This should be based on an evaluation of the operational nature of the organization at each point in time. For instance, avoiding clinging to the status quo may be misleading in an instance whereby the same leadership style has been crucial in the prior achievement of organizational goals and objectives.

Conclusion

Leadership theories are the core drivers of the overall supply chain management of any organization. This has been evidenced by the ability of leaders in such organizations to adopt management strategies that are distinct from others. 'Avoid Clinging to the Status Quo: A Case Study on Amazon’s Jeff Bezos by Professor Rao is a perfect reference material that demonstrates the applicability of leadership theory. In the selected case study, Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon) integrates transformational leadership approaches in different contexts. In all contexts, the application of the transformational leadership approach is inspired by the need to motivate employees to become responsible members in gearing Amazon Inc. towards the quest for change. The driving force that is pegged on transformational leadership is change ignition. Weakness is a common characteristic among leaders in contemporary organizations. Even though Jeff Bezos is depicted as a successful leader, some contradictions are associated with his transformational leadership style.

References

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