Why Should Anyone Want To Be Led By Me ?

pallavi07culc12 Comments

A vision is clear, specific and definite assessment of future. Leaders form vision to achieve strategic developments for the organization.Success in leadership always begins from vision.

(Forbes 2015)

In my opinion vision is necessary because it gives a compelling image of future, where exactly you want to see yourself and your organization in future. According to Michael Hyatt (2015) it will help you form right strategy to achieve your targets.

1

As I am seeking to begin a fruitful career in hospitality industry, so the one name in the hospitality industry that I always look up to is Bill Marriott CEO of Marriott International. There is nothing showy about him as a leader, but his democratic leadership style and vision targeting strategic progress is commendable. He believes people you serve, comes first. You should treat the employees the way you want to get treat because it will define the way you treat your customers. According to Marriott’s Blog (2008) in today’s time, culture is very unique and strong. So to foster this culture you have to achieve strong customer satisfaction by making your customers happy and offering them bets services.

He is a successful leader leading one of the word’s largest lodging companies from past 51 years. The organization received an award by Ethisphere institute for world’s most ethical company. His core values focuses on pursuing excellence in its operations, embracing change, acting with integrity to serve the world. The group has set high ethical and legal standards leading to sustainable operations.

(Palavi07culc 2015: Blog 1)

After doing research for my previous blogs I came to know more about different types of leaders including authoritative, affiliative and democratic leader practicing autocratic, democratic or Laissez-Faire style of leadership.

Bill Marriott is know for practicing democratic leadership style He believes every individual working in the organization at different levels are leaders and says communication with the employees is really important and beneficial for the organization. His vision states, ’They should be treated in a way you want to get treated.’

(Pallavi07culc 2015: Blog 3)

https://youtu.be/vVVVfzYjFD8

The above video shows Bill Marriott talking about his leadership journey on the 85th anniversary of Marriott International Hotel.

I am writing this blog to evaluate my leadership track while studying in CULC and check whether I have certain skills encouraging me to practice leadership. During all my past terms I never ignored the feedback I received, whether its from my tutors or peers. Although my tutor’s feedback is almost similar to the one I got from my peers. According to my peer feedback I always showed traits of democratic leadership style allowing them to participate in every small decisions and tasks. And I did succeed in every group work or project and I also showcased my leadership skills whenever I got a chance to become a leader.

According to the feedback I received from my tutors, they say I showed some traits of democratic leader and I usually keep my clam in stressful situations. I never got aggressive or panicked on my team members. The feedback helped a lot to work on my weaknesses and improving them for my own good. It gave a better understanding of leadership and the skills it required to achieve success in future.

On the basis of feedback I got and skills possess, I would like to become a democratic leader practicing democratic leadership style. According to Guthrie (2012) Democracy is a creative form of leadership. It involves certain skills including forming vision, strategy, planning, focus and learning. The core of my degree of MBA in global business and the constant feedback from my colleagues and peers helps me to understand and develop such skills. The workshops provided by CULC are really good. I got an opportunity to learn a lot from them and it also helped me to work on my weaknesses.

In my views leadership cannot be learned or acquired, it comes to you on the basis of traits and skills you posses in yourself. These things encourage you to practice leadership for specific role, department or a company. Leadership is all about your mind state and the approach you adapt for your work, which leads to the valuable outcome making you a leader. It’s not about the position you hold.

REFERNCES

Leadership and Change

pallavi07culc14 Comments

“Change is nothing new and a simple fact of life. Some people actively thrive on new challenges and constant change, while others prefer the comfort of the status quo and strongly resist any change. It is all down to the personality of the individual and there is little management can do about resistance to change” (Mullins 2010: 753).

INTRODUCTION

Change is unavoidable and the only constant.

Mullins is trying to say that it depends on an individual and his personality regarding how to manage change. But accepting the change and working accordingly is not an easy job.

According to Ducker, one cannot manage change; One can only be ahead of it. Nowadays, in corporate culture, change has become a pattern. It is risky and uncomfortable and it takes a lot of hard work in dealing and managing it.

Studies still research about why few individuals resist changing and why few of them like and accept change. Therefore it is concerned with the individual and its attitude towards change; whether he embraces it or resist from it.

Manager’s role in managing and avoiding change

It is necessary for every Organization to manage change efficiently. Change is the only constant in the organization and keeping this in mind it become a driving force leading to corporate success and growth. Manager should embrace change and consider it as an opportunity to enhancing productivity and deficiency the organization.

(Mullins 2013: 711)

A manager should lead his team with confidence and embrace change. He should focus on several things while embracing change: (Trapp 2015)

  • Engage and initiate your leadership team as much as possible and as soon as possible. Manager should create process and start investing time in solving critical issues that lead to major changes in the organization. He should integrate more support from the team by ensuring sound communication among the members.
  • Vision Alignment: Manager should be able to covey his vision clearly to its team members and colleagues. It is important to achieve the set target with efficiency.
  • Leadership Clarity: A manager should lead his team with clarity of goals. And he should be accountable for these set goals that has to be accomplished.
  • Efforts made unambiguously: Leadership efforts should not be vague. Manger has to decide what is the planned strategy and what all resources are required to implement that strategy to achieve the set mission and goals.

(Glenn LIopis 2014)

Resistance to Change

Resistance to change is usually referred to the behavior of organization’s members allied with refusing to an organizational change. It is an employee’s action of either to delay change or to stop it to occur. Resistance to change includes occurrences of certain unforeseen delays, unanticipated costs and volatility in the procedure of strategic change. (Chew, Cheng, Lazarevic 2006)

How to Overcome Resistance to Change?

Resistance to change is a major challenge to the generation of new ideas.

Change management models. According to Peter Drucker it is an individual responsibility to overcome resistance to change. People have to self -examine their thoughts, behavior and operations and do some modifications when it comes to initiate and accept change. There are 3 steps, which will help an individual to know him or herself more.

  • Observing your own activities and behavior: By doing do so you get a change to know yourself more, how you react to new ideas, new views and new people. This will help you to do some alterations in your behavior, thoughts and actions.
  • Observing your team members and organization: Take some time to observe people you are working with and the organization. How do they react to the daily activities, uncertainties happening, new thoughts and ideas? This will help you to appreciate or change the following things that act as hurdle while embracing change.
  • Communication and converse with your team: After knowing your team members, organizations and yourself better you will have a meaningful content to with your team and discuss what will help you highlight key points and accepting change.

(Kennedy 2011)

Manger can use the Lewin’s model to avoid resistance to change and embrace it to attain future growth and corporate success.

change

(Mind Tools  2015)

Lewin acknowledged 3 simple stages to change:

Unfreezing:

At this stage barriers to accept change are being minimized to avail the opportunities to embrace change. Employers are prepared to face and accept change by challenging their attitude, actions, thoughts and behavior.

Change:

After creating uncomfortable situations for employers, at this stage they start finding new ways to fight and resolve such uncertainties. They accept change and understand that how it will provide benefits to them and to the organization to achieve success.

Refreezing:

When employers have accepted the change and embraced new methods to resolve it, then firm is prepared to refreeze it. This means that change is incorporated into the day-to-day business and its operations and ensured its usage wherever required.

(Thompson 2015)

Hospitality industry is much sensitive to internal and external environmental changes. To sustain competitive advantage and retain key talent Hospitality sector should be flexible enough and react instantly to embrace changes.

J.W. Marriott is known for accepting and embracing change. As there are strong connections between employers and managers so any change occurring in external ad internal environment have a direct impact on organization performance.

The Marriott group shown consistent growth by challenging organization’s position. They introduced new brands, new guest services and global locations to forestall customer needs. To initiate future growth and success in business they innovated and searched various new ways to serve their customers.

(Marriott Timeline 2015)

https://youtu.be/vPhM8lxibSU

CONCLUSION

I agree with what Mullins say. Individual personality plays major role in accepting change and embracing new ways to accept and apply it in everyday business. Individual’s thoughts, actions, behavior and attitude towards uncertainties and changes will help overcoming resistance to change and accepting it. Lewin’s change model helps a lot to deal with theses changes and embracing them to achieve corporate success.

REFERNCES

Most Effective Leadership & Management Styles & Approaches

pallavi07culc10 Comments

Please respond to the following statement: “Which personal style should managers adopt to ensure success? What is the most effective approach to managing the work of subordinates? These questions have been extensively researched and debated over the last century, and while the general consensus has moved away from ‘command and control’ to management and leadership towards more consultative and participative approaches, there is no single ideal, as the best approach may vary according to circumstances and individual characteristics” (CMI 2013)

Are leaders and managers same?

Leader is someone who is aware of his self-aware, efficient in his job role and capable enough to influence others and manage diverse workforce. An individual who accepts challenges and simultaneously cope up with the changing environment. (Mullins 2013)

Whereas, manager is known as a problem solver and a task doer. A manger is concerned with the problem and what is the best solution to solve that problem. (Zaleznik 1978)

In my opinion manger and leader are two different terms, but they are inter-linked with each other. Both work together the best. Strong leadership with weak management does not work and it goes same with efficient management but weak leadership. They both are two distinctive spheres with a common intercept. Splitting leadership and management will leave a manager with average skills and the leader as an ordinary individual. (Mullins 2013)

leaderhip

Leadership and its styles work simultaneously. Its important for every leader to convey thoughts and tasks to his employees in an efficient and effective manner. In addition the tasks consequences should be mulled over by the employees to have better understanding. Every leader has his own style of leadership, which directly affects employee’s tasks and outcomes of those tasks.

There are different leadership styles adapted by leaders to achieve corporate success which include:

  • Autocratic or Authoritarian Style
  • Democratic Style
  • Laissez-Faire or Genuine Style

Under Autocratic Leadership Style the main authority and power is with the manager. He’s the one who is held responsible for all tasks including policy formations, decision-making, setting up goals and other job tasks.

Under democratic leadership style the main authority and power is shared within the group as a whole. This style involves effective interactions among group members and before reaching to any conclusion or taking any decision. Group members share leadership functions and manger acts as a part of team.

Under Laissez-faire or genuine leadership style group members are observed and supervised by their manger to check whether they are working in efficiently and effectively or not? Mangers allow its team members to practice freedom of action which means they can do whatever they think is best for their tasks. Manger believes not to interfere and is always available if asked for his help.

(Mullins 2013:777)

Managerial Grid

 model

 

The Blake Mouton formed a model named Managerial Grid to highlight different leadership style suggesting which one is better under different circumstances. The model includes two main aspects:

  • Concern for your people
  • Your concern for tasks or production

Concern for your, is a people oriented form of leadership style which mainly focuses on management and organization of your team and it members. This helps the team to become more innovative and creative in their work producing efficient outcomes.

Task-oriented leadership style mainly, focuses on getting the work done and the way to get it done. Under this tasks are assigned to the employees, rules and policies are formed, decision is made and work is been monitored.

(Roberson, Arleane 2006)

 

Therefore, the best leadership style is, which consists high concern for both the aspects, people oriented and task oriented.

So in my opinion, Democratic leadership style is suited best for mangers leading teams, as it has a high concern for both people and Tasks oriented aspects. It focuses on getting the work done while keeping concern for its. team members.

 

For instance, Bill Marriott chairman of Marriott international adapted democratic leadership style. His believes that people are the most important asset of nay organization. According to him, if you take care of your associates, they will take care of your customers and treat them the way you like to be treated. (Marriott International 2015)

https://youtu.be/gIyIl-A2zyY?list=PLu_CKZK3SEq84bIIoasZFPDWBUcnqC_NV

The above video is related with the subject of core vales of Marriott International.

Marriott believes in sharing the major authority with its associates and team members and prefer to discuss with them before taking any decision and treating their employees fairly, equally. (Marriott News 2015)

CONCLUSION

In response to the CMI 203 statement, I would disagree with the statement to some extent. I think democratic leadership style is suited best as it involves it associated and people to get involve in every tasks whether its decision making or rules formation.           If I would get a choice that how should I be lead by my manger I will choose democratic leadership style as in this equal distribution of responsibility will be made leading to innovation and creativeness in the tasks and an efficient team.

 

REFERNCES

The Challenge Of Managing Diverse Teams

pallavi07culc10 Comments

ITRODUCTION

 

Diversity is a new phenomenon in the workforce. Diversity simply refers to ‘difference’ or ‘variety’. Diverse teams refer to any kind difference among individuals working in organizations. These differences include different ethnic, origin, gender, education qualification, family status, disability, social cultural backgrounds or personality and attitudes or anything that leaves an impact on organizational relationships and achievements. (Mullins 2013: 155)

Diverse teams make globalization easy. Nowadays each organization have diverse workforce coming from different parts of the nation and working under the same room to achieve the common goal. Organizations are focusing on managing diverse workforce to enhance their performance, which will lead to efficient results.

Companies have accepted the concept of managing the diverse workforce and agree that managing the diverse teams efficiently will lead to positive outcomes providing them competitive advantage, which will eventually lead to corporate success. A leader can be successful if he is able to run the organization by managing diverse workforce. Leaders put more efforts in managing diverse teams because it will add a value to their achievements and missions of their companies. (Joplin and Daus 1997)

Bruce Tuckman introduced a model to understand the stages of team building which a leader can use to understand and manage the diverse teams and helping its members to perform really well.

(Mind Tools Ltd. 2015) tuckman

The model involves 4 stages, which include Forming, storming, norming and performing. At each stage leader has to perform different activities to manage and motive its diverse team to perform well.

Forming

At this stage leader directs the team, from clear objectives for its team members as well for team as a whole.

Storming

At this stage some teams get fail because storm of conflicts arise due to peoples difference in their working styles and they get frustrated. So leader form structures to form good relationships and built trust among the team members to resolve the conflicts.

Norming

Slowly team moves at norming stage, at which people starts resolving their differences and appreciate their co-worker’s capabilities and strengths. People start getting to know each other better.

Performing

At this stage people work together really hard without any friction to achieve corporate success by performing really well. Close working relationships are formed among team members.

(Mind tools Ltd. 2015)

                                       

Managing diverse teams is really necessary for a leader to produce positive results and achieve corporate success. According to academy of Management Executive managing divers workforce efficiently serve as a competitive advantage for an organization.

It brings several advantages to an organization which include:

Managing diverse teams provide benefits to employers and associates both. Understating and respecting individual differences will help in increasing productivity as well. Diverse workforce should be managed to create marketing opportunities, improve brand image and to increase creativity and innovation in the organization. (Esty, et al. 1995)

Managing diverse workforce in not an easy task. It involves several challenges to mange a diverse workforce to achieve positive results.

These challenges include:

Managing diverse team is a lot more than simply accepting and recognizing individual differences. It also includes understanding the values of those differences, opposing discrimination and encouraging completeness. Leaders can also face losses in employers leading to decrease in work productivity because of complaints regarding discrimination and biasness against the company. Employers showing negative attitude and behaviors can act as challenge for the organization while managing diverse teams because this will create harmful impact on working relations and can ruin work productivity. (Devoe 1999)

(Green, Lopez, Wysocki and Kepner 2012)

Importance of managing diverse workforce in hospitality industry:

AboutMarriott_Inclusion_superhero_4.1_Global 

 

Recent study shows those organizations and its teams having heterogeneous members

in relation with skill sets, work experiences, educational status, views on issues, and social cultural background and so forth, have much higher potential for creativity and innovation than organizations and its teams having homogenous members. Diverse teams not only lead to more effective financial results but also increase performance levels of the organization. (Web.a.ebscohost.com 2015)

Marriott has been valuing diversity since 1927. Marriott was the first hospitality company to organize a formal diversity program 20 years ago. One of their core values is to embrace diversity and to serve the diverse world. This value helps them to create opportunities for its stakeholders including employees, guests, owners and suppliers.

Marriot diversity and inclusion policy sates that, the organization knows how essential it is for leaders to embrace diversity and get an understanding of different cultures. They develop their diversity goals to maintain global growth. Their core value is to put people at top of their priorities and to truly understand different cultures to create new opportunities for the people they are serving.

(Marriott International 2015)

In a study when UK has been compared to other countries, result shows UK is doing a much better job in managing workforce diversity in hospitality industry. (Hunt, Layton, Prince 2014) Tremendous growth has been observed in UK hospitality industry.

 

How manager use concept of diversity to produce better results?

If diversity is well managed, the organization can get benefits in the form of competitive advantage, flexibility, innovation and creativity and problem solving skills. Manager can manage a diverse workforce with his ability to acknowledge individual differences and its possible values and advantages helping in achieving corporate success. They should have essential skills required for accepting individual differences including cultural differences as well to manage diverse workforce leading to good coordination and communication and coordination among the members. (Kamal and Ferdousi 2009)

 

CONCLUSION

Diversity matters. Diversity management is necessary to survive in this changing world. It provides several benefits to the organization to earn competitive edge over others and achieve corporate success. While managing diversity the leadership skills plays a major role. Leaders should be flexible enough while managing a diverse team as the team members share different backgrounds; different views and opinions on problems and distinctive set of values and principles.

 

 

 

 

REFERNCES

 

Leadership And Ethics

pallavi07culc10 Comments

BLOG 1

“Ethical Leadership is defined as “the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement and decision-making”… [and] the evidence suggests that ethical leader behavior can have important positive effects on both individual and organizational effectiveness” (Rubin et al 2010: 216-17).

Introduction

In this blog discussion has been made regarding the above statement, in context with two types of ethical leadership approaches and how they effect personal actions and interpersonal relationships among members in an organization. The blog states proof in the form of debate indicating that ethical leader behavior can have positive impact on both individual and organizational effectiveness.

ETHICS

Ethics is concerned with the study of morality. Actions and performances which are measured in terms of right or wrong, Together with the rules governing these actions and the values to which these performances connect to. (Mullins 2013:676)

Types Of Ethical Leadership

186765080

According to Mullins 2013, there are two main ethical approaches related to ethical leadership approaches, which have to be understood, by a leader or a businessman to achieve positive outcomes.

DEONTOLOGICAL (Duty-based)

According to BBC Ethic’s guide, Deontological means Duty-Based ethics. This approach states that an organization should do right activities and actions without considering the outcome of these actions (BBC 2014).

For instance, J.W. Marriott adapted the deontological approach of leadership by conducting personal and interpersonal actions to achieve a common good.

Advantages:

  • It gives respect to the values of every human being
  • Provides a degree of certainty
  • Considers the factor of intentions and motives.

Disadvantages:

  • It forms absolute rules.
  • Sometimes it leads to acts whih makes the world less good place.

(BBC 2014)

TELEOLOGICAL (Result- based)

Teleological approach refers to result based ethics which state that the organizational activities are ethical or unethical does not matter, it is only concerned with the outcomes of these actives. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/duty_1.shtml ) (BBC 2014)

 

For instance, Contrary to deontological approach, in 1898 Caesar Ritz and his manager Auguste Escoffier were discharged from London’s Savoy Hotel for accepting less weighing food deliveries and exporting commissions from suppliers, thereby using hotel for their personal gain. (Fennel& Malloy 2008)

Advantages:

  • It is a flexible approach
  • It considers every single set of circumstances

Disadvantages:

  • It does not focus on the perspective of intentions and motives.
  • Brings a degree of uncertainty

(BBC 2014)

 

4-V Model Of Ethical Leadership Of Bill Marriott

 

Untitled                 

Bill grace’s 4-v model states that successful leaders are who travels the inner journey of honesty with dedication to achieve the common good. This journey comprises of 4 major components which has to be discovered which include:

Values

Values come at the top of the diagram, as it is necessary to discover the core values and treat them as a benchmark for organizational performance. J.W. Marriott’s core values include: putting people their first priority, pursuing excellence in their operations, appreciating changes while acting with integrity to serve the world. Bill Marriott runs his organization by keeping these values as the base for performance.

Vision

Vision helps leaders to visualize short and long term opportunities and how it will leave an impact on people’s life served by the organization.

Voice

Voice is necessary for every leader to announce its vision to its people to motivate them and to convince them that operations are being done efficiently

Virtue

Virtue comes in the center because it stands for the common good which has to be achieve by the organization by discovering its core values, visualizing its vision and to announce its operations to the people.

(Marriott International 2015)

Nowadays leaders in the organizations are facing issues and challenges regarding leading people ethically or unethically i.e. to choose ethical or unethical style of leadership.

According to Barker, ethical leadership style involves more complexities and does not resolve the issues of the organization. (Mullins 2013: 664)

Whereas some leaders contradict this view by saying that ethical leadership style is an honest characteristic of an organization, which leads to motivation for people working in an organization including leader and employees.

In my opinion Ethical leadership is the better way to lead the business. It involve ethical  awareness and ethical competition in a high content, which will help the organization to attain strategic advantage in the market.  Nowadays the concern for provisioned benefits to stakeholders is growing tremendously. So it is important to run the business operations in  an ethical manner keeping in mind the welfare for stakeholders. It will also have a positive impact on consumer loyalty. and if we see from HR perspective, running business ethically all help in retain and sustaining the finest talent which will eventually enhance the productivity and efficiency of the organization. (Reiss)

J.W. Marriott

I would like to support the arguments by stating an example of Hospitality industry, which is much massive industry and has broader aspects than most other industries.

J.W. Bill Marriott is chairman and CEO of Marriott International; Inc. Which is one of the world’s largest lodging companies. People know Mr. Marriott for management and leadership style he adapted which focuses on Marriott’s people and acknowledges the values they bring to the organization. The leadership span of Mr. Marriot is more than 50 years. In 2015 the company was awarded for the World’s Most Ethical Companies, Ethisphere Institute.

  • W. Marriott as leader adapted ethical leadership styles and practiced following actions:
  • Followed the tradition of integrity
  • Avoided the appearance of wrongdoing
  • Obeyed laws
  • Was accurate, honest and fair
  • Believes in treating others with dignity and respect
  • Took steps to promote Corporate Social Responsibility by promising to alleviate poverty, feeding the hungry, making corporate contributions and organizing fundraising campaigns
  • In 2014, the company scored highest among global hospitality companies for practicing sustainable companies.
  • Created customer loyalty
  • Employees love working and staying at Marriott for long term.

(Marriott News 2015)

Here’s a video of Mr. Marriott in which people who was and are still with him In his leadership years talking about him and his profile as a leader. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT1uvvNRqYI&feature=youtu.be

CONCLUSION

The above blog put light on a brief discussion on how ethical leadership leads to positive impact on personal and organizational effectiveness. Good and successful leaders should surround themselves with talented and skillful people and their action should inspire these people. According to the main objective if an organization should be to achieve its set targeted without doing wrong or unethical actions which can lead to harmful impact on the people serves by them.

 

 

REFERNCES

My vision of Leadership

pallavi07culc8 Comments

 Introduction

The main objective of this blog is to identify my own style of leadership and how the leader I inspire influenced me to develop my leadership skills. Followed by my vision an reflection on my personal leadership style and finally concluded by discussing about my leadership skills I target to achieve through my MBA course in Global Business.

Who has Inspired my Understanding of Effective Leadership?

Effective leadership is refers to a relationship through which one person influences the behavior and actions of other people. (Mullins 2013: 783)

Leadership involves different levels and styles which can be adapted in different situations and to performs various operations and a goof leader is the one who is self-aware, and have potential to influence others by managing and serving diverse people. (Pallavi07culc 2014: blog 3)

“When you boil it down to the basics, the hotel business is about service”

                                                                                                -Bill Marriott

Bill Marriott, The executive chairman and chairman of the board of Marriott international, portrays perfect image for the hotel lodging industry. His beliefs and values and vision towards hospitality industry, signifies the symbol of excellence. His core values aims to put people at the top of the priority list followed by embracing change and serving the diverse world. He believes in embracing change by innovation leading to growth of the organization.(Pallavi07culc 2015: Blog 4)

Bill Marriott started from a small family restraint and now he owns worlds most known and lodging company including 3,700 properties spread worldwide in hospitality industry.

He adapts democratic leadership style, which involves it group members while taking any decision, and the more power of focus is with the group as whole. Mr. Marriot always encouraged the opinions and views of his members. (Pallavi07culc 2014: blog 3)

His first and foremost priority is people. People he’s working with, people he is serving including customers ad people forming a society. He believes in acting with integrity and treating his workforce

In the above video Bill Marriott on 85th anniversary of Marriott International Hotel talks about his journey till date and teach some leadership lessons from his 85 years of running and succeeding in a business. He believes if its very important to take care of your people so they take care of customers well. It’s important to take care of minute details and get out to know what is actually going on. His workforce love and follow the way he works without sitting on the desk ever and consistently working hard. (Blog. Marriott 2015)

1

Bill Marriott received several awards and recognitions for his excellence. There are stories written on his awards of excellence. Marriott International has been recognized as a best place to work. It is known for its commitment to diversity, social responsibility and initiating community welfare.(Marriott News Center, 2015)

Who has inspired my understanding of effective leadership?

As I am seeking to pursue a fruitful career in the hotel sector of hospitality industry in future, Bill Marriott is a person who immensely inspires me with his effective leadership skills leading to efficient and successful business. His 85 years of experience in hospitality industry itself tells a lot about him and his leadership style. His passion related to hospitality industry, and views, moral and core values, beliefs inspire me to go give a kick-start to my career the similar sector by putting even greater efforts.

The democratic leadership style approach he adapted and his core aim to serve the people are the main principles, which I adore and want to follow in my business phase.

Leadership Skills I aim to develop through the progression of my MBA

Screen Shot 2015-06-23 at 4.06.40 PM

To be great and successful leader you need to have leadership skills within yourself, which include stating of ideas in the form of vision, forming a strategy, by planning and team working to achieve that vision. One should know to improve, focus and learn being capable enough to adapt changes.

The nature of my MBA course in global business helps me to develop these skills. I need to sharpen on my leadership skills while pursuing my MBA, so that I can synergies my skills while working in hospitality sector in future.

I can improve my leadership skills by receiving feedback from my tutors and peers and also getting involved in-group works, projects and presentations and giving my best.

 References

Leadership and Change

pallavi07culc9 Comments

“Change is nothing new and a simple fact of life. Some people actively thrive on new challenges and constant change, while others prefer the comfort of the status quo and strongly resist any change. It is all down to the personality of the individual and there is little management can do about resistance to change” (Mullins 2010: 753).

Introduction

Change is unavoidable. In my previous blog I discussed different leadership styles and suggested approach, which should be adapted by mangers to produce efficient results. In continuation this blog refers to leadership and change, and how mangers manage and cope up with this change. And will be illustrating an example of J.W. Marriott. Leader and founder of Marriott hotels and what he did to overcome this resistance to change.

Drucker stated, ‘One cannot manage change. One can only be ahead of it’.But in today’s period, change is a norm. Change is painful, risky and above all it requires great deal hard work. But in organization it is seen as a task of leading change. In a period of rapid change, the only one who survives is the Change Leaders. (Mullins 2013: 724) In a simple manner it is the leader who makes sure that the organization will manage to face the change and maintain its regular performance.

The most important changes we see in the theory and history of management are the weakening of the hierarchal, bureaucratic, autocratic management and the growth of cooperative self-management and organizational democracy. (Mullins 2013: 566)

The managerial script is rewritten everyday. Management has many faces- and each of them must continue to evolve if the organization is to survive way into the twenty first century. (Mullins 2013: 443)

Organization has to manage the change effectively. Change becomes a driving force, which leads to the future success and growth. In Organizations, change is accepted as an opportunity leading to increased efficiency and building new organizational success. (Mullins 2013: 711)

Understanding the external environment of organization in depth can attain organization efficiency. There are several forces of change which leads to a volatile environment. These factors include:

  • Uncertain economic conditions
  • Shortage of natural resources
  • Political interests
  • Rapid development in new technology
  • EU effects and world socializations
  • Globalization
  • Intense world competition
  • (Mullins 2013: 711)

Resistance to Change

In spite of possible positive results, people still resist to change at both individual as well as organizational level. Toffler referred change as ‘future shock’. People usually wary of change. Resistance to change can lead to many different forms.There are several reasons leading to change resistance at organizational level, which include:

  • Maintaining stability
  • Organizational culture
  • Investment in resources
  • Past contracts or agreements
  • Threats to power and influence

(Mullins 2013: 718)

How change can be managed?

Managing the change successfully is very essential to face competiveness and survival of the business. Manager plays an important role in facing the managing the change successfully.

  • Identification of current state of the organization, which involves identifying the key, issues, prioritizing the problems and then evaluating the kind of changes used to solve these issues.
  • Forming layout of the desired position of the organization, which involves designing an ideal position for the organization after implementing the change.
  • Change should be implemented in an orderly manner.

(Inc.com, 2015)

Change in the Hospitality Industry

J.W. Marriott embraces change. Innovation has always been the key part of their story by embracing change they were able to shape the modern hospitality industry.The group has driven consistently challenging the organization’s status and anticipating their customer’s needs by introducing new brands, new global locations and new guest experiences. They keep on innovating and searching different ways to serve their customers by delivering opportunities for their partners will help un growth of business. (Timeline.marriott.com, 2015)

 

Conclusion

This blog discussed about organizational change and how managers cope up with this change. Change is unavoidable. Organizations has to accept and manage the change, to face the competitive environment and for the survival of the business.

Studies have shown that management face failure in functioning of management due to resistance to change. Resistance to change must be overcome to ensure successful management performance. J.W. Marriott embraces change; he believed in innovation and welcomed change as an opportunity for the growth of the organization.

References 

Most Effective Leadership & Management Styles & Approaches

pallavi07culc9 Comments

Please respond to the following statement: “Which personal style should managers adopt to ensure success? What is the most effective approach to managing the work of subordinates? These questions have been extensively researched and debated over the last century, and while the general consensus has moved away from ‘command and control’ to management and leadership towards more consultative and participative approaches, there is no single ideal, as the best approach may vary according to circumstances and individual characteristics” (CMI 2013)

Introduction

In my previous blog I discussed about how organization manages diverse teams by illustrating an example of J.W. Marriott and how Marriott managers managed the diverse workforce efficiently.in this blog I am discussing about different leadership and management styles and approaches, and how these approaches affect organizational performance.

Journal of business studies Quarterly (2014, volume 6, Number 1) states “Manager is seen as an action character and the leader appears to be seen as a visionary.”

In terms of ethical behavior leaders are more important than managers. Management does not include definite moral and ethical dimensions, and it only focuses on individual groups and its interests, and it is only concerned with the process of survival, which includes planning, organizing, controlling and directing. Therefore, if there is no ethics in leadership, the residual part is management.

Though Management and leadership are two distinctive terms and are taught separately, but they are inter-related. Both aspects work together best. Separating leadership and management makes the manager mediocre bureaucrat and the leader an untouchable divine individual.

Manager without leadership will not be able to achieve organizational growth and the leader without management will bring the organization, as there will less usage of administrative skills, and more usage of power.

Manager is a person is someone who performs the tasks of management whether or not they have power over others. (Mullins 2013: 428)

Leader is an individual who is self-aware, capable enough to manage diversity, influence others, inspire challenge and capable to adjust and steady consistent behavior.

Leader’s behavior effects employee tasks, and outcomes related to those tasks. Therefore to determine the most effective form of leadership, there are different styles of leadership to achieve organizations growth. (Mullins 2013: 436)

There are different leadership styles to determine the most effective form of leadership.

  • Autocratic or Authoritarian Style
  • Democratic Style
  • Laissez-faire or genuine Style

Autocratic leadership style is where the main focus of power is with the manager. The manger is held responsible for decision-making and policy formulation, deciding goals, work tasks, control of rewards. There is no involvement of other group members. (Mullins 2013:377)

Democratic leadership style is where the more focus of power is with the group as a whole. This style involves greater interaction within the group before taking any decision. Manger is more part of a team and leadership functions are shared among group members. (Mullins 2013:377)

Laissez-faire or genuine leadership style is where the manger observes group members whether they are working well or not. Manager allows employees to practice freedom of action i.e. ‘to do as they think best’. Manger believes not to interfere and is always available if asked for any help. (Mullins 2013:377)

J.W. Marriott follows Democratic leadership style. His core values and culture is concerned with Marriott’s people. He believes that people are the main asset of any successful company. He states, “Treat your employees the way you would like to be treated- provide them every avenue to success. Get their confidence and respect. Have them like and be interested in their job.”

Marriott international have “Guarantee OF fair Treatment” policy, which is concerned with employees and their problems. This policy makes sure that their problems are heard and a solution is provided. (Marriott.co.uk, 2015)

In the above video Marriott’s core values are described. They believe that people are the most important asset of any organization. They embrace and adapt changes with an act of integrity. They believe in treating their employees equally, involve them in decision making. Marriott managers discuss with group members before taking any decision, or forming new procedures and policies. (Marriott News, 2015)

Managerial Grid

 

model 

 

Managerial grid is a model by ‘The Blake Mouton’, which highlight the most appropriate leadership style to use referring to two main aspects, which include concern for your people and your concern for production or tasks.

Leadership styles, which are people-oriented mainly, focus on organizing and managing your team members. This leads to effective and creative teamwork.

Whereas, leadership styles, which are task-oriented mainly, focus on getting the work done. The manger assign tasks, form rules and procedures, organize, take decisions, and monitor work. (Roberson, Arleane, 2006)

So, according to this the leadership style, which has both high concerns for tasks and for people, is best suited for managers to perform their functions in an organization.

Democratic leadership style is best suited for mangers, as it has both high concerns for people as well as for tasks. It focuses on getting the work done based on the concern of its group members.

Conclusion

In response to the CMI 2013 statement, I would not agree with it. To run any organization successfully democratic leadership style is most appropriate style any manager can adapt. Organization involves decision-making, assigning, managing and performing tasks, which positively comes under democratic leadership style. According to managerial grid model this style is highly concerned with people and tasks both, which is the most effective approach and it definitely ensures success for an organization.

References

Spirit to Serve Diverse World

pallavi07culc5 Comments

The Challenge Of Managing Diverse Teams

“Research has consistently shown that diverse teams produce better results, provided they are well led. The ability to bring together people from different backgrounds, disciplines, cultures, and generations and leverage all they have to offer, therefore, is a must-have for leaders” (Ibarra and Hansen 2011: 71).

In my previous blog I discussed my views on leadership and ethics and how J.W. Marriott followed the path of ethical leadership. In this blog am going to put light on how diverse teams and management will produce effective and efficient results, by using the example of JW Marriott and its diverse management in hospitality industry.

Diversity refers to any sort of difference between individuals. These could be differences in the ethnic origin, age, gender, disability, family status, education, social or cultural background, personality or attitudes -in fact, anything that may affect workplace relationships and achievements. (Mullins 2013:155)

Homan and Greer agreeing to statement says that These differences among teams have been observed to affect a huge array of important team outcomes, including team performance, satisfactions, creativity and innovation. (Homan and Greer 2013)

How Relevant are ‘Diverse Teams’ in Industry in the UK Today?

Social scientist have stated that teams and organizations whose members are heterogeneous in terms of skill set, educations, work experiences, opinions on problem, cultural background, and so forth, have a higher potential for innovation than teams and organizations having homogeneous members. Diverse teams are way more effective in producing better financial results and innovation. (Web.a.ebscohost.com 2015)

.Marriott has established a culture, which focuses on the value of Marriot’s people and acknowledges the worth they bring to the organization. Today there are 146,000 employees from different nations, from different cultural backgrounds, speaking different languages work under the Marriot Banner.

Marriott is known as a great place to work and it ha s mad a commitment to diversity, social welfare and responsibility. It has included in the names of Fortunes’ lists of most admired companies. (Csaba, 2015)

Screen Shot 2015-06-06 at 2.46.46 PM

Figure 1

In figure 1 study shows that when compared to other countries UK is doing a better job in managing workforce diversity in hospitality industry.(Hunt, Layton, Prince 2014)

The UK hospitality industry has shown a noticeable growth in recent years. British Hospitality Association conducted a labor force survey in 2010, according to which the hospitality and leisure industries workforce numbered approximately 2,150,000, leading to increase of 14% over 2005.

Is Managing a ‘Diverse Team’ the Most Important Skill for the Hospitality Industry

Academy of Management Executive states, ‘managing diversity serves as a competitive advantage for an organization’. Diverse management focuses on several areas including social responsibility, cost, marketing, creativity innovation, problem solving and so forth, and provide benefits to these areas, which forms a sound management leading to competitive advantage for the company. (H.Cox, Blake, 1991 Vol. 5 No. 3)

Benefits include:

  • Increase in productivity
  • Increase in productivity
  • Language skills
  • Language skills

(Johnson, 2014)

The Forbes study measured diversity in terms of gender, age and geography. The only countries to track employment by ethnicity are the U.S. and the U.K., where the hotel and catering sector ranked 1 in ethnic diversity. (Knutson, 2012)

If the diverse workforce is not managed effectively, it can minimize an individual employees performance and can destroy organization as well. Some organizations face several challenges while managing diverse workforce which include:

  • Resistance
  • Poor Communication
  • Disorganization

(Johnson, 2014)

How Might a Manager use Knowledge of Diversity to Produce Better Results?

Culture Diversity has become a very common in hospitality industry. Managers should use Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions to get an insight of culturally diverse groups and managing diversity in an organization.

 Screen Shot 2015-06-06 at 4.34.10 PM copy

 Figure 2

By using Hofstede model comparison has been done regarding differences in values of employees working in hotel industry in UK and India. Comparison is made in terms of power, authority, social inequality, ways of handling an issue and emotions of an individual. There is a noticeable difference among employees working in India as compared to those working in UK hospitality industry.

In diverse groups process of problem solving and decision-making results in good performance because the wide range of ideas and perceptions obtained from employees holding diverse life experience.

J.W. Marriott made a statement: – “We are broadening how we think about global diversity and inclusion, reaching across cultural borders to compete for customers and talent worldwide. In the competitive marketplace, we must continue to embrace the unique talents and experiences of our employees-who speak more than 50 languages in 66 countries and territories- to help us meet the changing needs of our customers.”

To date, there are 500 Marriott hotels which and operated under development by women or ethnic minorities. Approximately 3,000 Marriott mangers start their career in hourly positions.(Marriott.co.uk, 2015)

Managerial style differs from one manger to another, as it is a personal quality. Marriot’s managers have to maintain the balance between the organizations’ requirements and the style they want to adapt to get the desired performance. It is important for mangers working in Marriott to not only acquire skills and strategies to adjust and work in a effective manner with diverse workforce , but it is also necessary to provide the training to the members of the diverse workforce to work efficiently.

Conclusion 

Diversity matters. The most important asset any organization does have is people. This world is diverse and interconnected. So the organizations, institutions in any industrial sector require understanding, awareness and acceptance of the diversity to get desired results. Diversity can in terms of age, ethnic origin, gender, culture, and social background. These differences require a good understanding and acceptance by managers, to get better results. Many organizations, like Marriott use several training programs for cultural awareness to provide an understanding and to raise consciousness of these differences among the team members. Managing the diverse workforce will lead to better results and will serve as a competitive advantage for the organization. Since the rewards of diversity are increasing, Adapting the skills and strategies to manage diversity is a best plan to gain positive outcomes.

References

 

 

 

 

 

 

Serve The World

Aside pallavi07culc9 Comments

Ethical Leadership Ethical Leadership is defined as “the demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement and decision-making”… [and] the evidence suggests that ethical leader behavior can have important positive effects on both individual and organizational effectiveness” (Rubin et al 2010: 216-17). Introduction The […]