My Vision of Leadership

The success of leadership begins with the leader’s vision. History reveals that John F. Kennedy envisioned of putting a human on moon. Eleanor Roosevelt dreamed of equal opportunity provided to women and minorities. Wendy Kopp was a college student when she had a vision for betterment of American high schools by creating a cadre of young and passionate teachers (Ryan 2009). Having a strong vision is the key to bringing change through leadership. But the challenge lies in staying invested in that vision under all circumstances.

Everyone in his/her career work for a manager with different set of leadership skills. The leadership styles are broadly categorized under four leadership theories (Mind Tools n.d.):

Other examples include Transactional Leadership which focuses on designing tasks and rewards system assuming people do things to gain rewards. (Mind tools n.d.).

(BSBM 2014)

My vision of leadership is to combine a number of leadership’s styles depending upon circumstances. Therefore, I am a supporter of Situational Leadership.

During my personal work experience as well as my student life, I have come across many leaders in the form of managers at work and lecturers in universities, each of whom have demonstrated distinct leadership styles. For example, one teacher demonstrated autocratic behavior by delivering the lecture and not welcoming questions. Whereas, the other teacher encouraged class room discussions to motivate the students. Similarly, I have worked for a manager during my early career stages who merely delegated the tasks and but never appreciated the efforts. On the other hand, my last senior manager had a mixture of leadership styles i.e. he was a situational leader. He used to be very welcoming at times, appreciating the input from other team members but sometimes he used to just delegate the task and have it checked upon completion. But he was very efficient in his work and also effective in managing his team.

Therefore, I believe that there is no single ideal of management style, as the best approach may vary according to circumstances and individual characteristic (CMI 2013).

My choice of Situational leadership is inspired by Jack Stahl, former CEO of Coca Cola and Revlon. Jack Stahl believes that leadership heavily relies upon the situation and circumstances. At one time of the day, he may focus on the long-term business goals and at other times, he may be focusing on minute details of the business. He is famous for delegating tasks to others and trusting his sub-ordinates but also taking steps back and exercising control as the situation changes (Anon. n.d.b).

As I approach the end of my MBA’s second semester, I can confidently say that I have learned many important aspects required to become an effective leader. I learned the significance of Ethical Leadership and the impact poor ethics can have on sub-ordinates and ultimately the business. In the end, it is the values demonstrated through leader’s actions that sub-ordinates will follow (Mullins 2016).

I have also learned the challenges a leader faces to manage a diverse team and whenever there is any change in normal course of operations. Benefits of having diversity at workplaces are out-numbered with business reputation and increased exposure being the most notable (Mayhew n.d.). Also, change management is a difficult process but a strong leadership tackles this challenge by carefully listening to the resistors and explaining to them the need for the proposed change (Lawrence n.d.).

During my first seminar of module Leading in a Changing World, I volunteered to be the team leader for the group activity named ‘Treasure Hunt inside the Liverpool station’. My team was named as Brainiac’s and comprised of members of different nationalities. The team had a number of tasks to perform in a very limited time. I lead my team by dividing the tasks among team members and asked them to contact the other members once they are done with their tasks so that they could assist others. I also set appropriate timings (5 minutes earlier than the deadline) by which we all returned to the campus and secured 1^st position. Later on, all team members shared feedback and I was happy to see that my team members were comfortable working with me and gave positive feedback about my leadership. They were happy about careful planning and appropriate tasks given to them along with specific time to report.

Activities such as above and my work experience has provided me with confidence that I have abilities to lead others effectively, keeping them motivated and getting the job done. However, there is always a room for improvement. And in my case, I think I need to work on quick decision-making when there is a time constraint so that proper guidance can be given to my sub-ordinates in a short span of time and get them on board.

References

Anon. (n.d.b) ‘Famous Participative Leaders’ [online] available from < http://www.adviseamerica.com/famous-participative-leaders/>  [10 September 2016]

BSBM. (2014) ‘Core Theories of Leadership’ [online] available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRrC67py-4E [10 September 2016]

Lawrence,  P. (n.d.)’ How to deal with Resistance to Change’ The Harvard Business Review  [online] available from https://hbr.org/1969/01/how-to-deal-with-resistance-to-change> [9 September 2016]

Mayhew, R. (n.d.) ‘Why is Diversity in the Workplace Important to Employees?’ Huston Chronicle [online] available from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/diversity-workplace-important-employees-10812.html> [9 September 2016]

Mind Tools. (n.d.) ‘Core Leadership Theories’ [online] available from < https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/leadership-theories.htm> [9 September 2016]]

Mullins, L. and Christy, G. (2016) ‘Management & Organisational Behaviour’.  11^th Edn.UK: Pearson Education Limited.

Ryan, J (2009) ‘Leadership Success Always Starts with Vision’ the Forbes’ [online] available from http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/29/personal-success-vision-leadership-managing-ccl.html> [8 September 2016]

 

LEADERSHIP AND CHANGE

“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).

Change in any organization is inevitable. In today’s fast-paced global environment, organizations that fail to bring change in their ways of operation may either lose competitive edge or their loyal customers (Richards n.d). Many factors, both internal and external, lead to the need of change such as

This article discusses the reaction of people to change, role played by managers to overcome resistance to change and the value resistance can bring. It also discusses Lewin’s change management model and Kotter’s 8 step change model along with its pros and cons. It further talks about real-life example of change management in Energy sector concluded by how change should be managed

REACTION OF PEOPLE TO CHANGE

Companies like Kodak, Blackberry and Nokia lost their presence in market because they failed to keep up with the drastic changes that were taking place in the outer world. Blackberry and Nokia lost to Samsung and iPhone as new customers were attracted towards smartphones which the former two companies failed to cater (Rick 2012). Kodak lost to digital revolution. In fact, the first digital camera was invented by Kodak’s engineer

Steve Sasson but the company was resistant to challenge the status quo as they perceived it to be killing of the film – their golden egg. Contrarily, Canon and Fuji switched to producing digital cameras and survived (Usborne 2012). Thus, it is right to say that response to change depends upon the individual’s personality.

ROLE OF MANAGERS IN OVERCOMING RESISTANCE TO CHANGE

Not everyone in the organization is willing to adapt to change leading to resistance which make the change process challenging. Management may use one of the following models in overcoming such resistance.

LEWIN’S CHANGE MANAGEMENT MODEL looks at change management as a process and breaks it into three phases

KOTTER’S 8 STEP CHANGE MODEL

Similarly, a detailed framework was put forward by Dr. Kotter comprising of eight steps for leading change

Advantages of Kotter’s Model

It emphasizes the leaders to communicate the need for change to employees and create a group for leading the change so that people are convinced to have the change in organizational processes. It also ensures that systems are aligned with the change vision to be accomplished through its step 5. Additionally, it encourages leaders to reward employees through step 6 so that they are motivated to implement the strategies (Gough 2009).

Disadvantages of Kotter’s Model

However, the model has a top-down and is slightly mechanistic using a step-by-step process. In real, organizations are communities of people rather than machines and model may fail to work (Gough 2009).

 

RESISTANCE BRINGING VALUE TO ORGANISATION

But the interesting thing is that resistance from employees may sometime bring value to the organizations. Whereas in some organizations, change is dictated from the top and the rest follows, such behaviour is a demonstration of compliance, not commitment. Contrarily those resisting may be doing so for the sustainability of their organization i.e. demonstration of commitment (Nickols 2012).

Resistance is often based on valid points which may have been overlooked by the leaders (Nickols 2012). Since resistance slows down the entire change process, the management may utilize this time to make any necessary changes in infrastructure or technology required for post-change situation (Berube 2014).

 

CHANGE MANAGEMENT IN ENERGY SECTOR

 

UK Energy’s sector has been undergoing many changes over the last few years. Energy providers are constantly trying to improve customer service, maintain cost and invest in infrastructure (Alium Partners n.d.) Moreover, UK energy sector needs an ‘Energiewende’, German word for ‘Energy Transition’ where the sector gives up on coal and moves toward renewables (Evans 2016).

In January 2016, E-on – energy giant of Germany- has undergone a major restructuring. It separated its fossil fuel assets into a separate company named Uniper, with E-on concentrating efforts on renewables, energy networks and energy efficiency services (Timperley 2016). This split was triggered by German’s stringent policy of cleaner energy (Chazan 2016).

According to CEO of E-on, Johannes Teyssen, they failed to realize the change being brought by Energiewende and continued to invest heavily in conventional energy generation. This tells that E-on had been resistant to change its operations back then but Mr. Teyssen managed to bring change by the spin-off (Chazan 2016).

E-on gained support by actively engaging employees in decision making during spin-off. For example, employee representatives were involved in deciding on the new headquarters’ locations so that minimum number of employees face longer commutes (Eon 2015). Also, there was no cut in headcount. About 40,000 employees were made to stay with E-on while the remaining 20,000 were transferred to Uniper (Vasagar 2014).

Mr. Teyssen successful gained 99.7% of shareholders’ approval for this change by convincing them of its need as world is moving towards green energy and Germany has implemented stringent laws to support it (Amelang and Wettengel 2016).

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Although the willingness to change or not varies from individual to individual, but management has a key role to play in leading and managing the change process.

Making use of Kotter’s change management model, management should listen to the group of people resisting change and clear any possible misunderstandings. Everyone likely to be affected should be encouraged to participate in the change process. This will not only motivate the employees but also bring valuable contribution as every individual thinks from a different bent of mind.

Management should clearly explain the reasons behind the proposed change and the benefits expected from the post-change conditions to gain support of employees.

References

 

Alium Partner. (n.d.) ‘Energy & Utilities Expert Interims in energy & utilities’ [online] available from http://www.aliumpartners.com/energy-and-utilities [29 August 2016]

Amelang, S. and Wettengel, J. (2016) ‘E.ON shareholders ratify energy giant’s split’ [online] available from https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/eon-shareholders-ratify-energy-giants-split [30 August 2016]

Berube, D. (2014) ‘Are Your Employees Resisting Change? It May Be a Good Thing’ [online] available from https://www.lce.com/Are-Your-Employees-Resisting-Change-It-May-Be-a-Good-Thing-1291.html [30 August 2016]

Chazan, G. (2016) ‘A painful split- Johannes Teyssen, Eon CEO’ Financial Times 5 June [online] available from < https://www.ft.com/content/9c7df6fa-12ea-11e6-91da-096d89bd2173> [29 August 2016]

Chazan, G. (2016) ‘Eon and RWE pursue radical restructurings’ Financial Times 18 May [online] available from https://www.ft.com/content/316ce884-1cdc-11e6-a7bc-ee846770ec15 [29 August 2016]

Eon, Energy. (2015) ‘EON moves forward with transformation: key organizational and personnel decisions made’ [online] available from < http://www.eon.com/en/media/news/press-releases/2015/4/27/eon-moves-forward-with-transformation-key-organizational-and-personnel-decisions-made.html> [29 August 2016]

Evans, S. (2016) ‘UK needs an ‘Energiewende’,says energy industry chief’ [online] available from https://www.carbonbrief.org/uk-needs-an-energiewende-says-energy-industry-chief [28 August 2016]

Gough, V. (2009) ‘Organisational change: Which Model should I use?’ [online] available from http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/lead/culture/organisational-change-which-model-should-i-use [28 August 2016]

Kotter International. (n.d.) ‘Kotter’s 8-Steps Process for Leading Change’ [online] available from http://www.kotterinternational.com/the-8-step-process-for-leading-change/ [30 August 2016]

Mullins, L. and Christy, G. (2016) Management & Organisational Behaviour. UK:Pearson Education Limited

Nickols, F. (2012) ‘Embracing Resistance to Change’ [online] available from http://www.nickols.us/embracingresistance.htm [28 August 2016]

Richard, L. (n.d.) ‘Why is Change Important in an Organization’ The Huston Chronicle [online] available from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/change-important-organization-728.html> [30 August 2016]

Rick, T. (2012) Top 11 Companies that are struggling with Disruptive change (10 July 2012] available from http://www.torbenrick.eu/blog/strategy/companies-that-struggle-with-disruptive-change/ [30 August 2016]

Timperley, J. (2016) ‘E.ON completes split of fossil fuel and renewable operations’ The guardian 4 January [online] available from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/04/eon-completes-split-of-fossil-fuel-and-renewable-operations [29 August 2016]

Usborne, D. (2012) ‘The moment it all went wrong with Kodak’ The independent 20 January [online] available from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/the-moment-it-all-went-wrong-for-kodak-6292212.html [29 August 2016]

Vasagar, J. (2014) ‘Eon to spin off its fossil fuel assets as big losses loom’ Financial Times 30 November [online] available from < https://www.ft.com/content/9c358caa-78cf-11e4-b518-00144feabdc0> [30 August 2016]

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Most Effective Leadership and Management Styles & Approaches

“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).

A very fine line distinguishes between ‘Do it!’ and ‘Let’s go do it!’ but the impact each has differ considerably. While both leadership and management are inseparable and must go hand-in-hand to run a business smoothly, but they are very different from each other (Anon n.d.a). Similarly, there are different types of leadership and management styles. According to CMI, there is no single ideal and the best approach to effective leadership may vary according to circumstances and individual characteristics.

This blog discusses the differences between Leader and Manager and various kinds of Leadership styles. It further discusses the Situational Leadership framework along with its advantages and drawbacks and highlights the situational leadership demonstrated by two famous leaders – Jack Stahl (former CEO of Coca Cola and Revlon) and General George Patton (high-ranked US military officer).

 

LEADER	Vs.	MANAGER
Develops and Innovates		Monitors and Maintains
Concentrates on people		Focuses on things
Inspires trust		Depends upon controls implemented
Motivates others		Orders others
Does the right thing		Does things right
Brings new ideas		Copies the tradition

Despite such distinctive features, it will be wrong to say that a good manager does not need to be a good leader or a good leader does not need to be a good manager. For example, when an organization sets a certain financial target, although it’s a manager’s job to supervise the progress but it also requires that manager to lead the team and motivate them towards the achievement of the target set (Ratcliffe 2013).

LEADERSHIP STYLES

Leadership style can be either of the following (Johnson n.d.):

Autocratic style gives managers the entire control over decision making with no input from sub-ordinates.

Democratic or Participative style also gives managers the decision making power but input from every individual is welcomed and given due importance.

Laissez-faire or Genuine style enables the employees to work without direct supervision from the managers.

But out of the above three leadership styles, I believe that every situation demands a separate set of leadership skills as demonstrated by the Situational Leadership theory.

SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP THEORY

The situational leadership framework was developed by Dr. Paul Hersey in 1960s and is the most flexible model that allows leaders of every kind to influence others. It is based on the following three factors

According to this framework, a leader may be following one of the following styles at a particular point in time

Telling – One-way communication. Decision is made by leaders and sub-ordinates are expected to accept them. It works well in disastrous situations requiring close supervision.

 Selling – Decision is made by leaders but suggestions are welcomed. Leaders ‘sell’ their ideas to gather support.

Participating – Leader is involved in decision-making but ultimate decision is made by sub-ordinates.

Delegating– When the task is delegated to the team without stringent direction and socioemotional support (Sphar 2015).

A situational leader learns to demonstrate four core competencies (The Centre for Leadership Centre n.d.)

PROS AND CONS OF SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP

 

JACK STAHL’S LEADERSHIP STYLE

Jack Stahl, former President of Coca Cola and CEO of Revlon, demonstrates situational leadership style. During his initial career stages, his mentor Ivester asked him to prepare a prospectus for Coca Cola bottling division’s public offer. Stahl delegated the task but got into trouble as the draft was not up to the mark. Both had to work together overnight to complete the project by the deadline. From this experience, Stahl learned and later incorporated in his leadership skills that delegating work to others does not free a leader, but a close supervision is also required for effective performance (Nayab and Edward 2011).. He brought companies to profits through his detail-oriented approach, delegating the work and trusting others but also by stepping back when necessary i.e. leading according the arising situations (Anon n.d.b). Stahl believes that leadership is highly dependent upon the situations. In the morning, he may focus on the long-term business goals and by the afternoon, he may be focusing on the details.

(The Street.com 2007).

GENERAL GEORGE PATTON’S LEADERSHIP STYLE

Another example is of US military’s General George Patton who not only led his army in battlefield but also wrote papers on war strategy as a guidance to his army. His famous quote is “A leader is a man who can adapt principles to circumstances” His philosophy for winning the war was to concentrate on analysing the current situations and then plan the course of action to be taken. He also believed in amending the plans to cater the unexpected situations – trait of a situational leader (Dems and Edwards 2010).

Thus, I choose to agree with CMI’s viewpoint that there is no single way to effective leadership. It always depends upon the circumstances such as the nature of task and skill level of employees. I might like someone to lead me in situations regarding which I have no prior experience. On the other hand, I may want to do tasks on my own where I am confident about my expertise. Thus the key is to analyse the situation and then decide on the leadership style to be adopted.

 

References

Anon, (n.d.a) ‘What is the Difference Between Management and Leadership?’. The Wall Street Journal available from http://guides.wsj.com/management/developing-a-leadership-style/what-is-the-difference-between-management-and-leadership/ [10 August 2016]

Anon, (n.d.b) ‘Famous Participative Leaders’ [online] available from http://www.adviseamerica.com/famous-participative-leaders/ [12 August 2016]

Dems, K. and Edwards, G. (2010) ‘A Look at the Situational Leadership Model’ [online] available from http://www.brighthub.com/office/home/articles/83323.aspx [11 August 2016]

Johnson, R. (n.d.) ‘5 Different Types of Leadership Styles’ Huston Chronicle available from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/5-different-types-leadership-styles-17584.html [9 August 2016]

Kelchner, L. (n.d.) ‘Situational Leadership and Its Effectiveness in Leading an Organization’ Huston Chronicle available from < http://smallbusiness.chron.com/situational-leadership-its-effectiveness-leading-organization-26324.html> [11 August 2016]

Nayab, N. and Edward, G. (2011) ‘Five Real-World Examples of Successful Leadership’ available from http://www.brighthubpm.com/resource-management/120498-five-real-world-examples-of-successful-leadership/ [11 August 2016]

Ratcliffe, R. (2013) ‘What’s the difference between leadership and management? The Guardian 29 July available from https://www.theguardian.com/careers/difference-between-leadership-management> [9 August 2016]

Spahr, P. (2015) ‘What is Situational Leadership? How Flexibility Leads to Success’ available from http://online.stu.edu/situational-leadership/ [10 August 2016]

The Centre of Leadership Studies, (n.d.)’ Situational Leadership’ available from https://situational.com/the-cls-difference/situational-leadership-what-we-do/ [10 August 2016]

The Street.com, (2007). ‘Former Coke, Revlon Chief on How to Be a Leader’ [online] available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y2yYqkCXyg [11 August 2016]

Wile, E. (n.d.) ‘Negatives of a Situational Leadership Style’ Huston Chronicle available from < http://smallbusiness.chron.com/negatives-situational-leadership-style-18606.html> [11 August 2016]

 

 

 

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).

As the world is becoming a global village and organisations are expanding beyond their national boundaries, diversity at workplace has not remained to be something that organizations show off in their annual reports, but it has become a necessity (Mayhew n.d.). But managing a diverse team and deriving the benefits it offers require a unique set of leadership skills.

This article talks about the benefits of having diverse teams as well as the challenges they pose. It further discusses the Tuckman’s stages of group development along with real-life examples of managing diversity in energy sector followed by few recommendations to the energy sector’s managers on effective diversity management.

Diversity bring numerous benefits to the organizations such as (Mayhew n.d.):

Respect for Others

Working in teams comprising of members from different cultures and working styles teach to respect the differences and enjoy the benefits of synergy.

Resolution of Conflicts

Conflicts at workplaces cannot be ruled out. But the mutual respect that arises as a result of diversity helps to understand the differences and find an easier way to resolve such conflicts.

Business Reputation

Organisations promoting diversity generally maintain good reputation in the industry and succeed to attract qualified individuals.

Job Promotion

Organisations cherishing workplace diversity creates opportunities for existing as well as potential employees when entering new markets. Employees familiar with foreign languages and culture bring value to the business by engaging in the foreign projects of the organisation.

Increased Exposure

A diversified team comprising of members from both generation X and Y learn a lot from each other such as older employees learn new technology and processes from the millennial.

Challenges in managing diverse teams

However, managing a diverse team is easier said than done. Why go far to see the challenges posed by diverse team when a team of people from uniform background also present difficulties to work efficiently and effectively as illustrated by the Tuckman’s team theory – “Stages of Group Development”

The theory links the focus on the tasks with the relationship team members have with each other (Anon n.d.).

To derive the benefits that a diverse team offers, effective leadership is a must-have without which the organisation may have to face one of the following challenges.

Communication Gap

It may arise if the first language of the hired individual is different than the local language common among existing employees (Johnson n.d.).

Opposition to Change

Few staff may resist to accept the changes in their work environment and make it uncomfortable for the foreign employees, rejecting their ideas and ultimately reducing the productivity (Johnson n.d.).

Generation Gap

Organisations with teams comprising of teenagers as well as older employees may find it difficult to bridge this gap as both units find each other different (Renee n.d.).

Cultural Variations

Few people may hold prejudices against certain ethnicities and may resist to work along with them (Renee n.d.).

The energy industry is perceived to be made for males who are more suitable to work with heavy-engineering. But the energy sector has been very actively taking steps to create diverse teams at work and has seen growth in women becoming part of the industry.

POWERful Women (PfW) was launched by Baroness Verma to help females in energy sector who are close to top-level management positions in achieving those positions (Lloyd 2014). PfW is a good example of leading women to manage diversity in energy sector.  Although the proportion of women occupying the senior positions is still low, but people in energy sector admit that the situation needs to change. The Industry Chair of PfW speaks on gender diversity in the energy sector in the following video.

PWC UK 2016).

EDF Apprenticeship Scheme has seen a growth of 19% in female entrants where they are trained to become nuclear technicians – an occupation which was thought to be held by males only (Matthews 2015).

British Petroleum (BP) has several networks running to support the minorities such as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) network, disability network and ethnicity network. These networks arrange various events and meetings where members and employees of BP can participate and seek meaningful advice (Fox 2012).

BP also has a women network which strives to maintain male and female balance in the workforce and provide females with development opportunities (Fox 2012). These groups are not only active on-the-job but also work with external groups at investment banks or other energy companies so that members can benefit from a wider network.

Recommendations

Thus, in energy industry where women have also started to join in, a strong leadership is very essential. Leadership should explain the benefits a diverse team can bring to the organization and also the reason behind the need of diversity to the existing staff so that they are motivated to welcome diversity (Johnson n.d.).

Also, energy companies can hire experienced staff who are specialized in advising the leadership on steps and activities to be carried out to blend the new and existing staff (Johnson n.d.).

 

References

Anon, (n.d.) ‘ Team Work Theory: Tuckman’s Stages of Group Development’  [online] available from http://the-happy-manager.com/articles/teamwork-theory/ [30 July 2016]

Fox, T. (2012) ‘Diversity and inclusion developments in the energy industry’ The Guardian [online] 25 July available from < https://www.theguardian.com/careers/diversity-inclusion-energy-industry> [2 August 2016]

Johnson, R. (n.d.) ‘Examples of Diversity Problems in the Workplace’ Huston Chronicle [online] available from < http://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-diversity-problems-workplace-19389.html> [29 July 2016]

Lloyd,C. (2014) ‘Female talent in the UK energy sector’ [online] available from < http://www.energyglobal.com/upstream/exploration/12062014/UK_initiative_encourage_women_to_engineering/> [30 July 2016]

Matthews, V. (2015) ‘Powering the nuclear energy industry with diverse talent’ The telegraph [online] 26 February available from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/education/stem-awards/11437242/edf-apprenticeship-scheme-nuclear-industry.html>  [01 August 2016]

Mayhew, R. (n.d.) ‘Why is Diversity in the Workplace Important to Employees?’ Huston Chronicle [online] available from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/diversity-workplace-important-employees-10812.html> [29 July 2016]

PWC UK. (2016) ‘Igniting Change 2-Building the pipeline of female leaders in energy’ [online] available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWsDjIhsWZo [01 August 2016]

Renee, M. (n.d.) ‘Top 10 Diversity Issues at Work’  Huston Chronicle [online] available from < http://smallbusiness.chron.com/top-10-diversity-issues-work-24939.html> [28 July 2016]

 

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 behaviour can have important positive effects on both individual and organisational effectiveness” (Rubin et al 2010: 216-17).

Ethical leadership is knowing your fundamental values and daring to live them in all parts of your life to serve the common good (CEL n.d.).  This article aims to explain the two perspectives towards Ethical Leadership along with their pros and cons and by making use of the 4-V model, discusses how leaders can lead ethically. It further highlights the examples of good and bad ethical leadership in the Energy industry and concludes by making recommendations on how energy companies can improve on.

The term Ethical Leadership sounds really interesting but becoming an ethical leader is quite difficult. It sometimes contrasts with the primary duty of a leader i.e. to maximise profits for the shareholders for e.g. making donations to a charity means taking a chunk out of shareholders’ profit. Thus, Ethical Leadership is not only about leaders being honest and of upright character but also requires such values to be reflected in their actions, both on and off work, so that their followers also incorporate them in their lives.

There are two major theories to Ethical Leadership – Deontological and Teleological.

Deontology is based on stringent rules which are meant to be followed by individuals irrespective of the circumstances and the consequences (Kerns n.d.). It can be summarised as

It provides certainty to its believers – one must act if it is a right action and must not act if it is a wrong action. Every person is treated equally since rules are rules for everyone. But, it fails to cater the actions for which no previous rules are set and may reduce the overall good to people since it does not focus on consequences (BBC n.d.).

Teleology is based on the consequences of actions. If the results are likely to be favorable, the act is considered to be ethical and vice versa (Dr. Kerns n.d.).

It tends to be applied universally as decisions are made on the basis of one’s moral judgement and provides flexibility to its followers to choose actions which are morally right (Dontigney n.d.). But an individual can have limited knowledge about the consequences to make impeccable judgments about decision.

A 4-V model on ethical leadership was produced by Dr. Bill Grace and  connects the inner beliefs of a leader with his outer actions. The 4 Vs are described below:

(Parsons 2013).

According to this model, leaders who want to work for the common good should first commit to their core values and practice them regularly so that they are communicated to others as well and together – leader and sub-ordinates- strive towards the common good (CEL n.d.).

Ethics play a significant role in the progress of individuals as well as of organization. Time has revealed the consequences of unethical behaviors faced by huge organizations in various industries. Taking example of the Energy sector being ruled by the ‘Big Six’– E-on, British Gas, Scottish Power, SSE, Npower and EDF Energy- many of their loyal consumers have been exploited by being charged yearly rates £234 higher than those who switch suppliers because they were either too old, disabled or struggling financially that they did not prefer to switch (Farrell 2015).This act is equivalent to deceiving others as per the Deontological school of ethics and thus unethical

With these Big Six occupying the larger part of market share, when one changes the tariffs, the other one follows and thus charge high prices to consumers in UK resulting in lower trust by consumers in energy suppliers as discussed by Ofgem representative in the following video

(Today’s World News 2014)

Furthermore, E-on collaborated with the charity Age UK to provide cheaper rates to the elderly. But was later found out to be paying £6 million/year to Age UK for promoting E-on rates, which were £245 higher than the cheapest yearly rate E-on launched in 2015 (BBC News 2016). E-on was also fined by Ofgem £12 million for mis-selling. But the CEO, Dr. Tony Cocker, did not take any personal responsibility and only took one-fourth cut in his annual bonus (Campbell 2014).This irresponsible behaviour of CEO delivers negative message to his sub-ordinates, which as per the 4-V model communicates his vision of taking no responsibility for the harm caused to others.

Contrarily, the emerging smaller ones are following an ethical approach with their fair price policy and appreciable customer service. Ecotricity not only provides 100% green energy but also provides the best customer service as witnessed that the company contacted the customer itself via email and phone to find out the reason for unusual high amount of bill (Brignall 2014).Such a service is evidence of upright morals being practiced and communicated by the leaders and followed by their sub-ordinates.

Conclusively, deceiving customers by charging higher rates and showing care towards elderly but actually misleading them may bring revenue to the business but is against the ethical values. Even from teleological viewpoint, if higher rates do generate profits for the business and shareholders but more harm is done to a larger public, thus the act is totally wrong and unethical.

Managers should align the corporate goals with ethical values in a way that revenue generated is not at the cost of harming customers. Equal and fair prices should be charged all around UK so that customers are not misled.

References

BBC (n.d.) Ethics guide. [n.d.] available from <http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/duty_1.shtml#top> [20 July 2016]

BBC News (2016) ‘Age UK energy deals with E.On to be examined by regulators’ BBC News [online] 4 February. Available from <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35488204&gt; [22 July 2016]

Brignall, M. (2014) ‘Ecotricity deserves praise for great customer service’. The Guardian [online] 17 July. Available from < https://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jul/17/ecotricity-praise-energy-supplier-customer-service > [21 July 2016].

Campbell, P. (2014) ‘E.ON boss keeps £500,000 bonus… desite £12m fine: Energy watchdog caught firm mis-selling to hundreds of thousands’ The Daily Mail [online] 16 May. Available from <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2630193/E-ON-fined-persuading-thousands-households-switch-deals-cost-MORE-customers-35-each.html> [20 July 2016]

Dontigney, E. (n.d.) Pros and cons of ethical theories [n.d.] available from <http://www.ehow.co.uk/info_8404891_pros-cons-ethical-theories.html> [21 July 2016]

Farrell, S. (2015) ‘Big six energy firms overcharging customers by up to £234 a year’. The Guardian [online] 18 February. Available from <https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/feb/18/big-six-energy-firms-overcharging-customers-by-up-to-234-a-year> [21 July 2016].

Kerns, T. (n.d.) ‘A Brief Introduction to Formal Ethics’ [online] available from <http://www.bioethicscourse.info/lecsite/ethicsintro.html> [20 July 2016]

Ofgem (2016) Sottish Power to pay £18m for customer service failings [online]  available from <https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/scottishpower-pay-18m-customer-service-failings> [19 July 2016].

Parsons, M. (2013) The Importance of Ethical Leadership [6 March 2013] available from <http://www.theworkplacecoach.com/the-importance-of-ethical-leadership/>  [20 July 2016]

Today’s World News (2014) Ofgem: Consumer trust in energy suppliers is ‘low’. Available from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-RxcWw-j24 > [24 July 2016].

Williams, Z. (2014) ‘Good Energy: it’s not about technology anymore, it’s about people’. The Guardian [online] Available from <https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/may/20/good-energy-eco-technology-people-electricity-gas-bills> [22 July 2016]

APS WEEK 4

Date	What I did	Why I did it	What I learned	How or where I could apply it	Any improvement or development required
13.05.16	Today class was real fun I showed my literature review to Stella, she guided me what amendments needs to be made for improvised version. Focus was on how to create a questionnaire and what open and close questions needs to be put on questionnaire. Principle of presenting data and how to make data easier to understand by using different graph and charts was also highlighted. Stages of team development was also discussed. In addition, a good insight was given about how to do good communication in team. Lastly we also visited LUSH store at Liverpool Street Station.	The reason for doing the survey at lush was to find out about the brand image of LUSH hand made cosmetics. All team member went to LUSH and discussed from their staff about their products and what age customer normally visit their store. We also observed how they treat their customers	This lecture gave me good insight about how to create a questionnaire using primary sources or secondary sources. I also learned about factors to be considered for successful team work. Also how to present data in graph and pie charts.	I could apply this knowledge in various aspect of my life not only in my academic but also in my professional career	Improvement on communication skills is must and also need to develop skill to be a good team member.

APS Week 3

Date	What I did	Why I did it	What I learned	How or where I could apply it	Any improvement or development required
07.05.16	My tutor Mr. Craig continued with lecture from last week about use of research engine such as locate and also discuss about designing research methodology .	Conducting a good research is important. In order to do that it is important to set up a research methodology which helps to understand primary and secondary data collection and also quantitative and qualitative data	What I learned from lecture 3 was different aspect of research data collection, merits and demerits of quantitative and qualitative data, what are the research secondary sources such as books, journals, government reports. A good insight was given about how to create a questionnaire and what process needs to follow to make a good questionnaire. Different type of questionnaire such as Open, List, Category, Rating, Quantity, Matrix were discussed and their application were also taught.	All of this guidance will helps for my future assignments and research projects. I could be applying these theories when I will be starting by own business in future. Having good insight of creating questionnaire will play a key role for my business and helps me to understand the market and also what consumer wants and demands.	Development and improvement is requiring to Identify what type of questionnaire should be made and what question to be asked is essential. Reading journals and articles will also help to develop these skills.

APS WEEK 2

Date	What I did	Why I did it	What I learned	How or where I could apply it	Any improvement or development required
29.04.2016	I attended a lecture on different sources of  information and research techniques.	During my MBA, I will be working on a number of assignments that require extensive research on wide range of topics. It is very important for me to know about various reliable sources of information and also about the correct research techniques to use so that I get relevant information on the research topic.	I learned about various sources of information, some of which I was never aware of.  I also learned about many useful databases such as academic search complete, business source complete, Emerald, Fame, Key Note, Mintel, One Petro, Passport, Science direct that I may use in my current as well as future research assignments.	My learning from week 2 has many applications. The foremost is that I am aware of many databases that will be useful in my research assignments.   It will help me to choose the relevant and reliable source of information.   I can gather useful information and also evaluate it critically which will gain me good scores in assignments.	Identify the sources of information relevant to my assignment.   Keep the desired result in mind while researching so that relevant information is gathered.

APS WEEK 1

In the first lecture of Learning Style and Personal Development, it was taught that learning is a never ending process and individuals tend to learn through different ways. Different models were taught to identify different learning styles such as Kolb’s learning cycle, Honey and Mumford learning styles and Visual Auditory Kinaesthetic (VAK) learning styles. It has been taught that depending upon distinct human nature of individual, learning styles vary from person to person. My learning style, a blend of both Visual and Auditory, has been identified using VAK learning style questionnaire. A good insight of millennial and how they set their targets has been given through an article from Harvard Business Review. Marketing jobs I might be interested in and the skill set required to get such jobs were identified through the activities held during the class. Different cultural backgrounds existing in the classroom were brought to light during the group discussions. My personal strengths and weaknesses, the skills that I already acquire and the areas where I need improvement have been highlighted using the Skills Audit Template. Improvement areas for my personal development have been tracked using Personal Development Plan for the accomplishment of my goals in future.  How such improvements can be made and what resources will be required have also been noted in my Personal Development Plan. Moreover, target dates have also been set to keep myself enthusiastic towards achievement of my personal development objectives.

In a nutshell, my learning style, skill set and development areas were identified during the first week.

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