Empowering Women: Promoting Women to Leadership Positions in Global Organizations
-- Paul B Carr
Professor of Organizational Leadership,
School of Global Leadership and
Entrepreneurship, USA.
The author can be reached at
paulca2@regent.edu
Professor of Organizational Leadership,
School of Global Leadership and
Entrepreneurship, USA.
The author can be reached at
paulca2@regent.edu
-- Paula A Tucker
Captain, Academic for Staff Development,
Regent University, USA.
The author can be reached at
paultuc@regent.edu
Captain, Academic for Staff Development,
Regent University, USA.
The author can be reached at
paultuc@regent.edu
A woman in a leadership position has been a topic of great interest over the last several years. The avenues associated with women empowerment have also been in the forefront of discussion for human resource managers and human resource development practitioners. One caveat associated with this topic relates to who exactly empowers women (or anyone else) within an organization? It may be suggested that very often people assume that power is a construct that may be freely given by another individual or group of people—this construct will be investigated and examined.
Very often, when we speak of organizations, we appear to refer to them as living, breathing entities, and one caveat of paramount consideration is that organizations are comprised of people. These people come to work and go about their daily lives, in concert with other people, who arrive with different feelings, needs, wants, and very precise goals about their contribution to the organization. Organizational leaders are people with similar wants, goals and expectations, related to their contributions to the organization as a whole. These caveats may appear to be very basic but it should be noted that when one begins any discussion related to empowerment, people should conduct an in-depth investigation of these constructs. In essence, the organization is made up of people and the citizens of an organization (the people) are the greatest assets of the organization.
Power and Empowerment
Power and empowerment are two very deceptively simple constructs to examine. These constructs may very often be confused with entities that may be given or received. If one were to examine the constructs of power and empowerment, one may realize that someone may be in a position of power, yet she/he does not have the power that should accompany the position. It is of paramount consideration for the HR manager or HRD practitioner to make a distinction between the person who is empowered and a person in a position of power. In essence, power may not be a construct that can be given to an individual or group of individuals by another. It is a paramount consideration for these constructs to be examined and operationally defined, individually. Hopefully, this will foster some thinking and dialog within the members of an organization.
Empowerment
As we attempt to operationally define the construct of empowerment, several authors share different perspectives of the term. Ann Howard suggests that empowerment is motivating, however, motivation is not the only benefit (1995; see also Hickman, 1998). According to Ivanicevich, Konopaske and Matteson (2008), empowerment is encouraging and helps individuals and groups to make decisions that affects their work environment. Yukl (2006) also stated that empowerment is psychological, in that, the followers' intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy are influenced by: leadership behavior, job characteristics, organization structure, and their own needs and values (p. 108). Therefore, the gender of the leaders may not be a factor. However, empowered women in leadership roles continue to fight the war on gender biases among followers and empowered men. Some pertinent questions related to women empowerment follow.
Common Questions Related to Women Empowerment
Is there a difference in gender empowerment? Does it really matter if a women's leadership style is different from a man's style of leading, as long as the organization flourishes? Does society place greater emphasis if the leader is a male or female? Does it really make a difference who leads and who follows? The term empowerment has no stipulations on gender, race, religion, age or leadership positions. However, as society changes globally, it is undoubtedly a slower and often more complicated process for women in empowered leadership positions. Here again, should it matter that my manager is a woman or a man? Have you ever noticed that men in leadership positions are often more respected in their roles than women leaders? Why is this? Should it matter who is leading the organization? Thus, empowered women continue to struggle with followers in the areas of: respect, trust, and commitment to the organizations' missions, goals, and values. As an example, an empowered (male) leader may effectively: dictate policies and procedures, change the missions or goals, discover a new direction in which to take the organization, and strategize on implementing this process, with very little Monday morning quarterbacks or water-cooler conversations. However, if an empowered woman leader decides to make the same (or similar) choices mentioned above, she may be considered as: unorganized, moody, irritable, vindictive, or as one who lacks the experience to lead the organization. Why does gender play such a major role in leadership positions? A leadership role should follow the adaptive five senses, which assist empowered men and women to form relationships with followers and maintain consistency and productivity in the orga-nization.
A Likely Model
Leadership roles defined by Howard and Wellins (1994) and Hickman (1998) for empowered leaders are as follows: The empowered woman has the ability to lead with all five leadership roles in any organization just as the empowered man. However, the empowered woman has to tackle several obstacles during her role as leader. Should it matter that the leader is a woman? The gender of the person leading the organization should not matter. However, the empowered woman lives in a glass house as a leader with biases, discrimination, and glass ceilings that are attempting to block her way.
The Empowered Woman in the Business Sector - Biases
Howard (1995; see also Hickman, 1998) states that leaders must shape their organization through concepts and feelings, rather than through rules or structure, to collaborate employees and vested stakeholders. Empowerment is more than having power over others—it is also power sharing and participation from the perspective of: leader behavior, decision procedures, and the formal structure of the organization (Yukl, 2006). The empowered woman should have the requisite capabilities to lead any organization under the same yardsticks of an empowered man. However, society and followers consider gender in leadership positions as a major factor and the empowered woman may be scrutinized and overlooked for top-management positions. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (2008), women are more likely than men to work in professional and related occupations, but they are not well represented in the higher paying job groups, within this broad category: The Bureau of Labor Statistics also shares that only 9% of female professionals were employed in the high-paying computer and engineering fields, compared with 45% of male professionals. Professional women were more likely to work in the education and healthcare occupations, in which pay was generally lower. Sixty-eight percent of female professionals worked in these fields in 2008, compared with 29% of male professionals (2008).
Information gathered from the US Bureau of Statistics indicates that the empowered woman has cracked the glass ceiling. However, on the other hand, she is still not allowed to enter the hierarchy of the ruling body of the empowered man. What will it take for the empowered woman to break down the glass ceiling of division between the empowered man and society? According to Okanlawon (1994), strategic decision-making has become sex-typed as a masculine role. The same author also states that barriers facing women in strategic decision-making skills are as follows: reluctance of male subordinates toward female managers, isolation by male colleagues, exclusion from male-dominated informal networks, and the lack of mentorship (1994). In contrast, Schein (1976) argues that one major barrier impeding the progress of women may be the sex-typing of the managerial job. The token women are often expected to conform to the notion: "think managers, think male". Female managers are, therefore, pressurized to adopt the traditional male managerial skills and attitudes.
While many women attempt to ensure effective decisions are made through their particular gender qualities, their decision is often referred to as a distinctively female style of leadership, emphasizing care, informality and concern for the individual, these attempts are often, if not always, faced with the organizational stereotype (1976).
As we consider the alleged gender-typing of empowered women in society today, consider the experience of a top-tier executive of a top global computer and electronics manufacturer. The empowered woman was pulled aside by a well-meaning male manager, who said, "you are too aggressive; you are scaring people with your strategic decisions" she stated, "If I was a man there would have been no problem" her boss conceded. But as a woman, "I was outside the narrow band of acceptable behavior." Instead of "changing", as the boss suggested, she quit (Salvaterra, 2008). The biases of empowered women regarding competence to do the job are considerably higher in society. Many followers and male leaders stereotype empowered women leadership as subpar in top management positions. This view is also supported by Mills (1992) and Burrell (1992), plus the result of surveys conducted by the NHS Women's Unit and the Institute of Management (1992). The authors and the survey findings show that, not only are women often considered unsuitable for senior management positions, but, more importantly, their daily experience is one where their competence is continuously questioned (Okanlawon, 1994).
An Example
The 21st Century viewpoint of empowered men and followers requires change. The discrimination and biases against empowered women in top management positions are described in detail. For example, a female empowered leader of approximately 95 followers at a Central Virginia training academy moves through obstacles on a daily basis—sexist statements, derogatory slogans, inner office counterproductive attitudes, and the trickle-down effects of management decisions that one has to make, to improve the organization. This empowered woman refuses to `change' her stance on leading, to make a difference on a daily basis. She holds every employee accountable for their own actions, without biases or judgmental influences. Does it matter that she is an `empowered woman'? In the eyes of many followers, the answer is no; she is consistent, fair, and firm. Without her leadership, mentoring, and guidance, the training academy would not flourish with the infrastructure for neighboring training academies to benchmark. Hickman said it best in this quote, "The empowered leader's role is to help employees feel that they can perform their work competently, and inspire employees to believe that the work is worth doing well" (1998, p. 206).
Conclusion
Many of the questions proffered in this article can only be addressed by the follower who has worked for an empowered woman. Both empowered men and women may have the capabilities to lead any organization in the 21st century, if they have the opportunity and the requisite support for the position. In many instances, the resistance falls within the hierarchies of the organization, while it is seeking to fulfill the needs and profits associated with their perspective industry. The empowered woman must seek self-efficacy, self-determination, and must have meaning, with her impact to make a difference (Spreitzer, 1995). In short, it really does not matter if a manager is an empowered woman or man because when empowered leaders lead, they empower their followers by inspiring them directly and facilitating their performance in a way that motivates them to do more in any organization (Hickman, 1996). One premise of this article was to offer several aspects of empowerment, including empowered women, to act as catalysts for dialog and learning within an organization. The constructs need to be operationally defined by the organizational leaders, as well as by the members of an organization.
COVER STORY
2[ Women Governance: A Real Solution for Your Organization
-- Chaitanya Prasad Giri
Jr. Faculty Member (Marketing),
INC, Rourkela.
Jr. Faculty Member (Marketing),
INC, Rourkela.
The other day as I was reading the newspaper, I found that one lady police inspector had filed a case against the then Chief Speaker of Orissa for sexual harassment and, at the same time, in the Business Section, I found a fabulous article on Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo., as a world class leader and having a sharp strategic mind and tremendous market insight. What does it mean? Should we tell that women are no more on the back foot or is it happening occasionally? It will be quite exaggerating, if I say that the man-oriented world is no more. But still I can say, there are some women achievers who are giving a unique picture of women in society as a multitasker or a balancer, which may not always be the case with the opposite gender.
We face business crisis irrespective of the company, industry are time. Not just one industry or one country, business crisis can come anywhere. Only some change is needed in the organizational governance which may make things positive. Let us analyze some common crises, which business personnel face and let's try to find solutions for the same from the perspective of women governance.
Success Formulae for Small Entrepreneurs
Small scale industries have a significant role in any country's economy. Particularly, for a developing country that has opened its market for foreign players, they are crucial elements today, as small scale industries are facing stiff competition from big giants. It is a very difficult task for the government to protect small- scale industries. Then, should we conclude that in the liberalized economy, there is a limited scope for small-scale industries? Perhaps, no. Then, how can small-scale companies give equal challenge to big companies? Let us take an Indian company to analyze the question. In India, we were expecting that after liberalization, the Indian domestic company will be affected. And it is true to some extent. However, soon after the liberalization, Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad (SMGULP) a women entrepreneurial success has proved this wrong by having a turnover of Rs. 3 bn, which is several times higher than the turnover they were having before the liberalization of the Indian economy.
The key reason of SMGULP's success is the dedication of the workers towards the company. At SMGULP, workers are referred to as co-owners and the women who work there are referred to as sisters. Work is not considered as inferior or superior. The members are free to choose the work they like, starting from rolling papads to packing. Every job is given equal importance and quality is given the topmost priority. The sisters (workers) are working in a not only family-like ambiance, but also a stress-free environment. For better work execution, they have adopted a supervisor concept who will check the quality and weight of papads. The innovative thing on this is no one is a permanent supervisor. They do it on a rotational basis, which gives them a concrete platform of equal work for very one. And it is for this reason that in 2002, Jyoti Naik, President of SMGULP, was awarded as the women entrepreneur of the year by The Economics Times. Now, they have also extended their product line to bakery products, masalas, detergents, matchboxes, agarbatis, etc.
They have not only implemented the business concept, but also added the much needed concept for today's small scale industry, i.e., the family concept and devotion concept. And now, every household buys Lijjat products with complete trust and confidence. All these show a commitment to earn a legitimate income through quality products and honesty, which can be the readymade success formula for any small company.
Serve Unique to be Unique
Top management believes that to achieve the vision and goals, there is a need for market-driven strategies, product strategies and healthy investments on a promotional program. It is very correct that these are the fundamentals to get returns on assets and to get the maximum market share. However, these steps do not suffice for today's crisis.
What is the answer then?
The answer is: customer satisfaction.
It may not seem new, but today, every business organization is much more worried on this so-called generalized strategy.
Nevertheless, do you think that today companies are fixing specific quantitative corporate goals for customer satisfaction? There is no doubt that organizations are adopting different strategies for customer satisfaction, but they are hardly measuring the customer satisfaction. Therefore, today, we not only have to serve the customers in a very delighted way, but also have to formulate tools for tracking, measuring, managing and improving customer satisfaction.
For this concept, we have to look at what Anne Mulcahy (Chairman and CEO, Xerox) did for customer satisfaction. Xerox vision statement was, "100% of Xerox's customers are very satisfied or satisfied with our products and services through the elimination of defects and errors in our work progress and achievement of worldclass benchmark quality and value in our products and other deliverables to the customers."
To meet this vision, Xerox developed two tools to continuously measure, manage and improve customer satisfaction:
External survey consists of periodic survey of Xerox customers, a post installation survey off all Xerox customers within 90 days of new installation and a blind survey of Xerox and competitors' customers to establish benchmark levels of customer satisfaction.
On the other hand, internal measurement process measures the standards of work process and the output. This process includes the comparison on customer satisfaction to internal performance in terms of output. This is done to find out what qualitative and innovative products you have, if those are not meeting the customers' changing needs and expectations.
These strategies led Xerox to attain 100% customer satisfaction within the same decade of implementation of this strategy. This worked as a miracle to face the crisis in 1980s, when Xerox's share was declining continuously. Thus, customer service tool has made them unique. There was even a sharp competition between Xerox and other Japanese companies as they also had the same product with 40%-50% cost advantage on copier business and were selling machines almost at Xerox's cost price.
Economic downturn may take big brands into a risky position, but there is a way to maintain one's uniqueness and quality, by adopting cost-effective alternatives.
Moral Stimulus is More Powerful then Monetary Stimulus
If someone is calculating the productivity of a firm or office, the simple formula of productivity is the relationship between the inputs required to produce a product or service and the value of the output. Again, the productivity of the same input varies from time to time. What is the reason behind this deviation?
Probably, the most common answer would be some external factors like employee motivation. This shows that productivity and employee motivation are somehow interrelated. Figure shows the productivity and employee motivation cycle. Management has to take some initiatives to make the work easier, simpler, quicker and safer to develop a good reward system, which improves the employee motivation and further leads to productivity like employee productivity, organization productivity, etc.
Again, we have learnt from theory that motivation can be monetary or non-monetary. Since companies are on the path of cost control, it is difficult to think about monetary motivation. What could be the solution therefore?
Let us analyze Nooyi's strategy on PepsiCo. Nooyi said it is all about how well you speak in an open conversation and make people understand the situation in tough times to have a growth in the company. Success is not money, prestige, or power because net worth can never define self worth. True success is being happy with yourself. Always a good working culture make employees happy. If you provide them with good monetary motivation continuously, they may get motivated but, if you fail to develop a good working culture, even if you are a good pay master, employee productivity will not increase.
When somebody asks Nooyi how she made PepsiCo., so special, she answers that, it is due to her employee's effort towards the organizational goal. Perhaps, this is the best reward for any one being a part of any success. Once she expressed her views on how a company should understand and accept the fact that you are, not only employee of the organization, but also you are a mother/father and part of your family. For this, Nooyi goes on to say that there should be a link between the personal and professional life. We should not seperate the employee's family from the organization. She added that her younger daughter comes to office often after school to have fun with everyone out there at the office.
Morale motivation is not only essential for the organization's productivity, but is a process which stimulates teamwork. There is no doubt that monetary motivation supports the employees to a great extent, but morale support makes the employee happy and stimulates him/her do a job better than others.
Balancing Work and Life Through Soft Skills
If you hold a position of power in any corporate, you will be bound to compromise either at work or at the home. Thus, people face stress because of an imbalanced life. It is not an easy job to balance the personal and professional life. In most of the cases, it has observed that women who want both a family and a path of bright career face greater challenge than men. Sociologically, women face the burden more in the family. Employee stress is being recognized as a major cause for fatigue in corporate productivity. Interviews with women CEOs reveal that though they are very successful in their field, it is not easy to balance both professional and personal lives. Indra Nooyi, CEO and MD of PepsiCo., had once said in an interview that, you can walk away from the fact that you are a corporate executive, but you can't walk away from the fact that you are a mom.
Balancing the demands of work and family is a challenging job. We play a number of roles such as employee, manager, business owner, spouse, parent, community member, or student. One can master one or two of these but it is very difficult to manage all. This can be managed only through right aptitude with optimum attitude. Attitude and aptitude should be in a 80:20 ratio, respectively. Or in a broad sense, hard skills and soft skills should be in a 80:20 ratio, respectively. Hard skills are visible skills or tangible skills which represent the basic education and practical skills that individuals learn in school, universities and at the work place. On the other hand, soft skills comprise qualities like self-management, time management, communication, conflict handling, decision making, delegating skills, listening skills, and problem solving, etc. Once I said to my students, "women are far ahead in soft skills than men. That is the reason why they can balance their professional and personal lives so well." Some of the boys, however, had a different opinion. This can justified with an example. Surajja Firolia Motwani (MD of KINETIC Group of Industries) has given an interview to The Hindu Business about soft skills and women leaders. She believes that women managers handle interpersonal relationships more sensitively because they are more sincere. She observed that women are rarely involved in corruption or frauds. She added that women are good listeners and are open to criticism.
Nooyi is another example of women who successfully manage the equally challenging responsibilities of being a manager, a mother and a wife. During work, Nooyi is under pressure and when she enters her home she has to play a different role for her family. Carnatic music is played in her home 18 hours a day. You will be surprised to know that she was once a part of an all-girl band to play guitar. Nooyi plays the electric guitar at office parties. One wonders how she gets the time to perform different roles starting from the versatile role of an executive to that of a wife. Nooyi says that soft skills are the only method to do the job better than anybody else.
Given below are some probable solutions to overcome this stress, which have been adopted by different corporate women executives:
Go for Strategic Alliance but be Concerned About Stakeholders' Interests
Most of the companies have adopted the same route of strategic alliances for business domination and market leadership. For example, Procter and Gamble's acquisition of Gillette, Adidas's merger with Reebok, Mittal Steel's with Arcelor, HP with Compaq, JLR by TATA, etc. The increased competition in the global market has prompted the Indian companies also to go for mergers and acquisitions as an important strategic choice. Now, the question is, would strategic alliance always give companies what they want from the alliances? Looking at the above example, one can say, yes, it is very right. But it is quite interesting; McKinsey claims that only one in every five mergers and acquisitions actually succeeds. Not only McKinsey, but some other researchers also reveal the same. Let us look at some report on M&A in the box.
Now the question is: should one opt for strategic alliance as a strategic choice for today's business scenario. When you are going global from any local market, probably a joint venture is the best way to extend your presence. Ferrari has decided to enter the Indian market with TATA Motors, after getting a shock from the Chinese market. However, the merger should be a cautious step because you have to be concerned about the shareholder's interest. The primary role of any business entity is the enhancement of shareholder value.
The turning point for PepsiCo., was when it sold off its restaurant business KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut—and acquired the best-selling juice brand Tropicana and the food and drinks company, Quaker Oats. These two strategic decisions gave a 70% increase to the existing share price of PepsiCo's which is higher than what was six years ago, in contrast with Coca-Cola, which was trading 30% lower. Nooyi, the CEO of PepsiCo., said this had happened because she always believes in taking a mutual decision along with her employees. She told the toughest thing about this transformation was letting your best friends and people you worked with for years, leave the PepsiCo., family and go off on their own. "You know what we are spinning off the restaurant business because it makes financial sense," "Let's try to understand the underlying strategic reason why we should or should not be in the restaurant business." These polite words made the difficult thing so easy to do, like the spinning off of KFC and Pizza Hut.
When L'Oreal was offered to Anita Roddick (The former CEO of Body Shop) she decided to take this offer because she thought this could be the best choice to enhance the shareholder value. To protect the shareholders from future turmoil, she handed over Body Shop to L'Oreal, although everyone was expecting that Anita may reject the offer because she would not allow the big brother intervention.
This shows that if the strategic alliance about to happen is with the consideration of the shareholder's interest, there will be no problem in further success.
Find New Competitive Advantage
How you handle competition can be a direct link to the success or the failure of your company. Having a competitive edge means possessing an advantage over your competitor. A closer look usually reveals that winning companies aren't successful by accident. In order to get consistent success, organizations have to think for real time competitive advantage. If you are failing to identify the new sustainable competitive advantage, failure can embrace you, no matter how big you are. This is the reason why Ford and GM have lost their leader position. IBM is no more in the computer devices market.
Knowing or unknowingly, we have been using the strategy for competitive advantage to face any kind of competition. Let me share one experience I have undergone. There are many laundry shops in my colony where I have been staying since a long time. Since the last couple of months, a middle-age lady had also started a laundry shop in the same area. However, she sat idle with no work to do, which is not feasible for the profession. I always thought she could close the laundry and do something better. Once, when I returned from a business tour after a month, I saw a crowd in front of her shop. That lady was overloaded with work. I was unable to find what has made this happen so quickly. When I found the reason, I was left with nothing but a smile on my face. I remembered Michel Porter generic strategy model. She had adopted a new method to iron the cloth, i.e., by putting a wet white cloth over the pant or shirt and do the ironing for the same cloth, so that there are less chances of color fading. This made her different from her competitors and there is no doubt that a differentiation strategy gave her a competitive edge over her the rest.
Better Marketing = Less Selling
If somebody will tell me to derive the mathematical relationship between sales and marketing, I will definitely derive the above equation for today's business scenario because if you are only selling your product, you are in for a short-term vision. You may face trouble unless or until you do not adopt a better marketing strategy. If you are going for a better marketing strategy, you are definitely reducing the risk factors, which might come from adopting a selling strategy only. Better marketing might not give you instant profit of revenue, but in the long term, you earn much more, which may not be feasible in a selling strategy. Let us analyze the statement better marketing = less selling. In a company, the salesmen opine that without them the company would not survive. The marketing specialist says that one could not sell anything proper without them. Who is right? The role of salespersons is to sell a known product in known regions in known markets to customers. Salespersons are mostly technical experts in what they are selling. On the other hand, the marketing persons are more of generalists. They do the tasks like having the right distributors in the right places, at the right time, with the necessary qualifications, and to support sales by proper advertising. They do market research, watch the competition, and find ways for getting and generating profitable customers. They make the forecasts and devise strategies to overcome barriers, when the salespersons are in trouble. Now to find solution for the above dilemma, let us recall the statement of Dr. Albert Einstein "Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand." It can't be said that salespersons are not worthy for the company but here the issue is that selling activities focused by marketing strategies can create a difference for any company.
As part of the new strategy, Chanda Kochhar (MD and CEO, ICICI Bank) wants to increase low-cost current and savings accounts. This is around 26% of the bank's deposit portfolio now. If the Current Accounts and Saving Accounts grow, the cost of deposits comes down and the bank's net interest margin—or the difference between what it spends on deposits and earns on loans-goes up. She said, "We have been depending on public deposits, bonds and inter-bank borrowings to build assets. The cost of bonds is high. We will use deposits to replace bonds." This is a marketing strategy which may not bring much revolution but it is sure that it can give us profit in the long run. Chanda Kochhar said, "we have always done things ahead of time and believe in having the latest things which others were dreaming for. We started retail business when others couldn't even dream of it".
Business Ethics Should be the Main Adhesive to Create a Bond Between Customers and the Company
We know business ethics refers to the application of ethical judgments to business activities. However, what is the basic relationship between business and ethics as some consider profit to be separate from ethics. Nevertheless, for a company to survive, it has to think of profits. So, probably for this debate, it is concluded, "The term profit in business is appropriate but only profit is not acceptable." The definition of business ethics might vary from person to person and organization to organization but no one can deny that every step of corporate philanthropy and ethical behavior of company will lead to entrepreneurial success.
Anita Roddick, the founder of Body Shop has made it possible to build the company from a single outlet to 2085 branches throughout world, within a short span of time starting from 1989. The secret behind the success is being ethical in business. Body Shop has never compromised with the ethical dimension, irrespective of the situation. She believed that there is a need for an awareness campaign against animal testing of cosmetic products. Body Shop was against testing and did not carry out any such tests, since its inception. Anita believes that testing on animals is unethical, unnecessary and could be avoided since there are alternative testing methods. She also made a strict purchase rule that her company will not buy any ingredients that was animal tested for cosmetics purpose. She adopted the recycling procedure of cosmetic containers, which was highly appreciated by UK customers at that time. Anita believed one could run an entrepreneurial business to provide a return to the shareholders through ethical steps. About expenditure on advertisement, she says that this is about money being spent on the so-called cause-related marketing, which is dishonest. She never paid money for advertisements. She believed that high quality products sold themselves. This ethical management style makes L'Oreal to worry about its business. By looking at the stiff decrease in sale, L'Oreal offered to take over Body Shop.
Conclusion
Today, if we will look at the top 50 companies across the globe, a common problem would be economic crisis. Are you worried about such crisis because of poor governance? Are you thinking about a solution to increase productivity? Then, it is time to implement the strategies of these successful women. The hitherto male-dominated world has to change for the better.
3] LEADERSHIP
Leadership Style and Leadership Motivation : An Ad-Hoc Choice of Style to Meet Short-Term Organizational Goals
This article discusses how an organization's ad-hoc needs motivate the leader to choose a leadership style, such as authoritarian, participative or delegating that may or may not be typical or appropriate for long-term needs. These motives, which include the motivation to: a) control and limit variables, b) expand influence through others, and c) expand influence by replicating self, are influenced greatly by temporary changes in an organization's operations and may include emergency situations, as well as one-time revenue opportunities. Regardless of the situation, a leader's typical style, motivated by normal circumstances, must be flexible and change according to temporary needs. Scenarios are presented to examine possible situational or ad-hoc style changes and their accompanying challenges.
It is believed by many that, individually, leadership style is motivated by myriad variables. These include: organizational mission, personal career goals, cultural issues and a host of others. The choice of leadership style, however, is often developed over many years as conditions of employment, long-term organizational goals and business culture change. It is often overlooked that a fairly static choice of leadership style, while effective over long periods, is less effective in the short term, as specific goals and project need change, and as Winston states "leaders have different motives at work at different times". This article argues that short-term leadership style is, motivated less by the desired outcomes of the leader as an individual, and more by the conditions the leader deems as necessary to accomplish specific, short-term organizational goals. These short-term goals often require the leader to sacrifice personal time, family time and recreation, as well as set aside the long-term planning and focus of the organization, and narrow the focus, for a limited time, on very specific objectives. Certain projects may require the normally participative leader to delegate most tasks if, e.g., geographical distance is an issue. On the other hand, a normally authoritarian leader may need to participate with employees, when a project requires more "hands-on" work than what is typical for the organization. The reality is that leaders must be flexible and agile, particularly when handling short-term, high-stress projects, emergencies or other events outside the norm for the organization. Furthermore, this article addresses how an organizations' ad-hoc needs motivate the leader to choose a leadership style, such as defined by Clark as, "authoritarian, participative and delegative", that may or may not be typical or suitable for long-term needs.
Motivation to Control and Limit Variables
According to Norton, "Organizations may have hundreds or thousands of variables that are vital for success", because of the many organizations, or departments within a larger organization, which require an authoritarian style of leadership. This leadership style, which lends itself best to structured, bureaucratic organizations, is highly effective in large corporations, like General Electric, IBM and General Motors. These organizations desire, and often require, control over employees to ensure productivity, accountability and compliance. Laws, such as the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002, have increased the pressure on large, publicly traded firms to exercise control over even minor parts of operations. With employees of these large companies numbering in tens of thousands or more, control must be exercised in such a way so as to limit the variables, the company must deal with in daily operations, ensuring full compliance to regulatory agencies and the public alike. This powerful motivation does not allow much flexibility for leaders, requiring them to adopt a conservative, autocratic approach with their followers.
Motivation to Expand Influence Through Others
Smaller organizations, or departments within a larger organization, have leaders who are highly participative, involving themselves in daily activities of inspiring followers, increasing effectiveness and productivity. This style of leadership allows for some degree of control over followers, but is mainly focused on an "all for one, one for all" work environment, where the "boss" is seen as non-domineering and "part of the gang" when it comes to the daily grind. It is important to understand that this style of leadership, although less authoritative, is not from a position of weakness, but is instead motivated by the desire of the leader to exercise influence through others in a more participative, mentoring relationship, recognizing that there is a need "to expand the level of leadership influence". This motive may result from the leader's own style, or may be precipitated by the kind of work involved. In a more creative environment, the leader may be asked to lead a group who require time for reflection in informal meetings as they bounce ideas off one another. The leader may participate in this process, ultimately having to decide a direction for the team, but only after team members have an opportunity to provide inputs and believe that their own ideas are part of the ultimate product.
Motivation to Expand Influence by Replicating Self
Unlike the participative and authoritarian styles of leadership, the leader using a delegative style allows for a free-reign or laissez-faire operation, where employees are autonomous and are asked to "run with the ball" once projects or duties are delegated. This style of leadership works well when a leader is simply not able to participate in daily activities, either due to of knowledge in a particular field or due to geographical distance. Regardless of the cause, the delegative leader is motivated by the need to be replicated, putting followers in positions of some authority and influence over daily activities. The delegative leader is more vulnerable to poor employee decisions and performance, but is in position to expand their personal influence, ultimately raising the effectiveness of their leadership. The desired goal is to foster followers who will make decisions similar to the ones their leader would make, given similar variables. It must, however, be stressed that a delegative leader must have a keen sense when hiring individuals as only certain personality types perform well under this leadership style.
Motivation and Ad-Hoc Leadership Styles
Regardless of the preferred leadership style employed in an organization, it is unlikely that one style will fit all circumstances. This is definitely the case when temporary situations occur outside the norm for an organization. There are times when emergencies such as natural disasters, major epidemics, etc., occur but the more likely case is when a short-term assignment requires a major shift in the way things are normally accomplished. For the purposes of illustration, three hypothetical firms are considered. These firms represent scenarios often encountered, where a major shift in leadership style is required.
Scenario 1: Anthem Steel
Anthem Steel is a large steel producer, based in Wheeling West Virginia. Anthem is highly autocratic, having had major tensions over the years, as employees unionized, becoming members of the United Steel Workers Union. Due to these conditions, as well as the issues of safety, the management has instituted a highly structured environment, where every job and duty has written policies that must be strictly adhered to. This autocratic style is the norm for the steel industry and is accepted as such by the steelworkers employed by Anthem. However, the union contract negotiations have not gone well and the workers have decided to go on strike. The management is faced with the possibility of having to shut down all operations, which could be catastrophic for the company. The management has decided to scale back production, but keep the plant running while negotiations continue. Ninety percent of the management, including foremen and office personnel alike, will be required to work on the floor of the plant, as they are non-union employees and are not involved in the strike.
This situation is not uncommon in unionized companies. Having mostly white collar workers to perform, these blue-collar jobs will pose several challenges to the management. The lack of training and experience requires office personnel to work temporarily under experienced foremen, who seemingly were beneath them in the company hierarchy. Additionally, many of the office personnel are college educated and are not used to the working conditions of the floor operation.
In this situation, the management must make a major shift in leadership style to avoid catastrophic injuries as well as a general walkout from the white collar employees. An autocratic leadership style, in this case, would be a disaster, as management must instill in these temporary employees, a sense of camaraderie, as they stand together against the formidable union. At the same time, however, safety is of grave importance and employees must be protected from personal injury. To accomplish their goal, management should employ a highly participative leadership style; insuring employees who feel they are all "in this together". The CEO/CFO, etc., although mired in negotiations, should participate, at times, to reinforce this camaraderie. More important is the upper management's focus on the well-being of the temporary employees. Safety being the utmost concern, productivity must take the secondary position, so that foremen closely monitor operations.
Once a new union contract is agreed upon, it is necessary for the temporary workers to allow normal operations to continue. This begins during the walkout, not after, as poor attitudes toward unionized workers during the walkout will have lasting effects on the company. Management should be careful not to demonize the union, getting caught up in a hyperbole that will ultimately cause tension between union and non-union employees.
Scenario 2: Accion Oil Production
Accion Oil Production manages 75 oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, serving several oil companies. As with most oil platform workers, employees are tough and independent, and work extremely long hours in tough conditions. The typical platform that Accion manages, has 20 employees working two 12 hour shifts for 21 straight days, taking 21 days shore leave, while another crew mans the platform. Management of the platform is performed on shore through computer connections, making leadership on the platform very participatory, as everyone is part of the work crew to some degree. This leadership style works well as platform workers pride themselves on hard work and performance and require very little management on daily activities.
To take an example where, Accion has been notified that a major hurricane is likely to hit the Gulf within the next six days. Operations on the platform must be shut down and the rig must be protected against the high winds predicted. To accomplish this shutdown, the onshore crew must be called back to assist. Time is critical as they must be shutdown in time for them to exit the platform and get to safety onshore.
This scenario requires emergency procedures to be put into place. As time is so critical, there is little room for error. In this scenario, a highly autocratic leadership style is likely to be most effective. The autocratic style, although not desirable for the normal operation, can be employed on a very short-term basis with great effect. In emergency situations, stress is very high, but adrenaline assists employees in rising to the task. Even in considering the number of work hours required with the opposite crew, employees will understand the need for hard driving action and leadership in this situation. Management should consider sending high level leaders in the organization to be at each platform, reinforcing the urgency of the situation. Once the storm passes, crews will easily adjust back to normal routines. Management should, however, recognize and appropriately reward the employees during and after the emergency to help instill a sense of personal involvement in the emergency operation.
Scenario 3: Consolidated Consulting Services
The last firm, Consolidated Consulting Services (CCS), is a small national consulting firm, focusing primarily on custom IT solutions. CCS employs 250 consultants, who work from their home-based offices, reporting to the corporate headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. Consultants live in 40 different states and rarely work in teams of more than two or three on-site at any one time. CCS finds a delegative style of leadership necessary for nearly all levels of the company. Geographical separation makes structured, autocratic leadership implausible and participative leadership equally unlikely, as employees and supervisors rarely, if ever, work together in close proximity. CCS has been presented an opportunity to consult on a short-term project with the US government, that will require 50 consultants on-site for six weeks. Any extension of deadlines carries substantial financial penalties. This major, yet temporary, change in the `norm' for the consultants will not allow the employees autonomy, as time constraints are considerable and working conditions require several consultants working together. Upper management is faced with temporarily changing the way, the company normally operates. Furthermore, even though a new style of leadership is needed temporarily, managers do not want to change permanently and want consultants to feel respected and continue to be autonomous in the future.
Under this scenario, not at all uncommon for mid-size firms, the present leadership is faced with a dilemma. The culture of CCS not only allows, but encourages independence in employees. In fact, many employees considered themselves as self-employed and took the job due to the independent working conditions. This independence will be needed after the six week contract, and, therefore, the management must be very careful not to become too autocratic, while exercising some control of employee activities to ensure that the job comes in on time and is a financial success.
Under this scenario, CCS should consider a hybrid method of leadership that is highly participative, while having some autocratic features. The corporate leaders of the consultants should present themselves as part of the team and work closely on the project. By doing so, team members will understand the necessity for the change in style. Additionally, it is important for employees at all levels, to have a buy-in of the temporary situation. If these normally independent employees are given an opportunity to solve this temporary dilemma prior to beginning work, it is likely that they will agree that a change is necessary. With a buy-in, it is less likely that management will have a backlash, once the job begins. Even with this buy-in and participation by upper management, a certain amount of autocratic style will be necessary. While independence works well in the daily operation of CCS, it allows too much flexibility in work schedules, processes, etc., for this particular occasion. Therefore, management will need to exercise some control over daily activities for the duration of this job. It is imperative that management does not seem unwilling to exercise this control, as independent employees will sense this and be less likely to respond.
Conclusion
Under each of these scenarios, a major shift in leadership style was necessary and effective. Although companies will face unexpected challenges, emergency situations or one-time opportunities, ad-hoc leadership style can keep the organization on a solid footing, propelling it to another level of performance. Whether an organization finds an authoritative, participative or delegative leadership style to be the most effective one, temporary changes require flexibility and careful consideration, and should be considered as part of contingency planning, allowing foresight to examine possible negative outcomes. Effective leaders will recognize that the motivation of style may change with temporary circumstances and hence should be adjusted to meet the short and long-term needs of the organization.
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