LEADERSHIP
Leaders exercise leadership when they mobilize organization resources to engage, arouse, and satisfy a group’s motives. Leaders influence their subjects by embodying values, articulating visions, and creating a conducive environment for the visions to be achieved. Leadership qualities are critical in influencing, motivating, and enabling others to be productive and successful. Managers and the chief executive officers influence their followers through memos, sharing ideas with small groups, sending e-mail messages, and interacting with employees (Yukl, 2010). Leaders can also influence their followers indirectly through a cascading process. Special programs such as promotions, recruitment, and selection programs are designed to influence employees’ performance, behavior, skills, and attitudes. However, not all managers are leaders because some lack subordinates. Again, leaders and managers present with incompatible values and personalities. For instance, leaders are more concerned about adaptation, innovation, and flexibility of employees, while managers tend to be impersonal, risk-averse and value efficiency, order, and stability (Yukl, 2010). Managers focus more on organization processes and employee productivity while leaders identify essential things and try to bring people to a consensus with the most significant things. Generally, managers try to do things right while leaders attempt to do the right thing.
Successful leaders portray exemplary leadership qualities and values, which influence the behavior of employees in an organization and shape the world view on effective leadership. One of the booming world-renowned business leaders who can be emulated is Tim Cook. Tim Cook is an American business executive who works as the chief executive officer (CEO) of “Apple Inc.” Since he joined Apple as the senior vice president (SVP) of Worldwide Operations in 1998, Cook has helped lead the technology company towards success (The Famous People, 2020). His ability to help the company recover from critical challenges at the recruitment time proves that cook is a great leader. Cook is a brilliant, creative, and determined self-made man who quickly rose through the ranks within Apple Inc. He used his values and attitudes to motivate and influence employees contributing to the significant success that changed the company’s fortunes within years of joining.
Tim Cook took over the management of Apple Inc. following the death of the former CEO, Steve Jobs. Although many people did not believe that Cook possessed the necessary leadership qualities, he was determined to fit in the shoes of his predecessor and take the company to the next level. It can be learned from Cook’s leadership that leadership can be challenging, and leaders make difficult decisions that influence the lives of those around them. As such, one should remain determined and be ready to take risks. Cook always believed that “people take risks knowing that they will sometimes result in failure, but without the possibility of failure there is no possibility of success” (Hayes, 2017). The extent to which Cook takes risks is seen where he chose to forfeit up to a third of his stock-based compensation when Apple’s stock was tanking.
Cook developed a good relationship with his subordinates with a mutual purpose of accomplishing real change within Apple Inc. According to Kotter (1990), leading is influenced by the situation (Yukl, 2010). As such, leadership becomes more essential where the environment becomes more dynamic and uncertain. As organizations grow bigger, managing becomes inevitable. Therefore, both leadership and management are indispensable for large dynamic organizations like Apple. Cook is both a good manager and a great leader. The critical issues that leaders influence include shared values, design of formal programs, mutual cooperation of employees, learning and sharing of knowledge, development of member skills, allocation of resources, choice of strategies to pursue, and motivation of members. Tim cook holds strong ethical vision and values in where he does not only focus on the business, but also considers its impact on labors, suppliers, and the environment.
Leadership theories revolve around three fundamental theories: characteristics of the situation, characteristics of followers, and characteristics of leaders. Most theories emphasize one variable as the basis for explaining effective leadership. Cook’s form of leadership can be described using the leadership theories. As such, the analysis can be limited to a single characteristic such as power, behavior, and traits (Yukl, 2010). Consequently, there are five leadership theories which include the integrative theory, the situational approach, the power-influence approach, the behavior approach, and the trait approach.
The traits approach emphasizes attributes of leaders such as skills, values, motives, and personality. This approach is centered on the assumption that successful leaders like Tim Cook are natural leaders, possessing exceptional traits absent in other people (Hayes, 2017). Traditional leadership theories linked managerial success with extraordinary abilities such as irresistible persuasive powers, uncanny foresight, penetrating intuition, and tireless energy. Some of the desirable traits that can be learnt from Tim Cook include trust, risk taking, humility, being oneself, and admitting when wrong. Although his predecessor was far much aggressive, Steve Jobs remained polite, calm, and self-reliant. Cook believes that succeeding a leader does not mean giving up your personality. Cook’s humility is seen when he visits the stores and engages with his customers. In an interview Cook once said, “Not allowing yourself to become an insular is very important-maybe the most important thing, I think, as a CEO” (The Famous People, 2020). Besides, Cook trust that the executive team that surrounds him is innovative and has brilliant ideas. He believes that the executive is successful.
The behavior approach gives more attention to what great leaders do on the job. Behavior research investigates common behaviors such as functions of managerial jobs, responsibilities, typical patterns of activities, and how they spent their time (Yukl, 2010). Researchers also investigate how managers cope with role conflicts, constraints, and demands. Cook believes in perfecting what he does. Apple Inc. creates only a few products that Cook chose to focus to guarantee continued success. As such, the company only produces a few Macs, two iPads, two iPhones, and four iPods (Hayes, 2017). Effective leadership partly relies on how well a manager overcomes constraints, recognizes opportunities, copes with demands, and resolves role conflict. Cook understands the opportunities that lie in embracing diversity. He was recently recorded saying that he wanted diversity of style, diversity of thought, and that people ought to be themselves. Cook understands the essence of innovation and has developed strategies to ensure that the company improves its foundation and the products that their customers love. Some of the constraints that Cook overcame include the previous criticism regarding the standards of Apple’s global employees (The Famous People, 2020). To overcome the negative criticism, Cook opened up doors to the public and allowed customers to understand how Apple’s operation really works.
The power-influence approach is based on the view that leaders act and followers react. Under this approach, leaders use their power to influence peers, subordinates, clients, and superiors. Participative leadership is centered on empowerment of followers and power sharing. Tim Cook uses his authority to formulate and enforce his own rules. He believes that for people to excel as leaders, they must write their own rules. Real life problems and scenarios highly differ with those found in textbooks (The Famous People, 2020). However, Cook likes focusing and listening to the people around him more than he talks.
Situational approach, on the other hand, brings into account contextual factors that influence leadership processes. Some of the factors considered in this case include the nature of the external environment, the type of the organization, nature of the leader’s duties, and characteristics of the followers (Yukl, 2010). This theory is centered on the assumption that different attributes are not universal in all situations, where each situation demands application of different attributes. Theories based on this relationship are referred to as contingency theories of leadership. Situational approach may also be used to identify conditions that invalidate hierarchical leadership. Self-concept theory of charismatic leadership combines several leadership variables and seeks to explain why followers of some leaders are willing to devote themselves to meet the group mission and objectives. The self-concept theory of charismatic leadership exposes how leaders behave, their skills and traits, and the conditions in which they are most likely to emerge (Yukl, 2010). According to this theory, leadership behaviors are manifestations of personal feelings, self-concept, values, and the ability to be goal oriented and pragmatic. Secondly, personal traits are such that they defend and enhance self-esteem and self-worth. The self-concept of a person comprises of a hierarchy of social values and identities.
Charismatic leadership theories were significantly influenced by the ideas of Max weber. Charisma is a Greek word used to refer to “divinely inspired gift”. According to weber (1947), charisma occurs during a social crisis when a leader develops a radical vision and attracts followers to believe in it (Yukl, 2010). For instance, the attribution theory of charismatic leadership argues that follower attribution of charismatic qualities to a leader is jointly determined by the leader’s expertise, behavior, and aspects of the situation. Cook is a charismatic leader because he sets his rules and strives to be himself. As such, he advocates a vision that is highly discrepant from the status quo but still within the followers’ acceptable limits. Charisma is associated with attributes such as self-sacrifice, taking personal risks, and incurring high costs to attain the vision they espouse. Again, trust is a significant aspect of charisma where the followers trust that the leader is more motivated with their concerns as opposed to self-interests. Similarly, Tim Cook excels in trust and showing concern for employees; a characteristic of a charismatic leader (Hayes, 2017). Much of Cook’s success can be attributed to his contagious enthusiasm and confidence which compels Apple employees to work harder trusting that the CEO is a performer. Cook understands that he does not have the monopoly of knowledge and skills and, therefore, gives some workload to other employees within the organization. According to McGregor Burns (1978), transformational leadership theory, leadership appeals to the followers’ moral values while trying to raise their consciousness regarding ethical issues and to marshal their resources and energy to reform institutions (Yukl, 2010).
Cook excels in both visionary and participative leadership. Participative leadership entails using more group supervision as opposed to supervising each employee separately. Consequently, employees are involved in decision making, facilitate conflict resolution, enhance cooperation, and improve communication (Yukl, 2010). Components of participative decision making include democratic management, empowerment, decentralization, power sharing, joint decision making, and consultation. Tim Cook uses a democratic managerial style. Apple employees often describe cook as being thoughtful and charismatic. He invests in fostering business, growing employee relationships and focusing on the existing products. Unlike Jobs who used autocratic leadership style, Cook emphasizes on advancing cooperation among Apple’s arsenal of talent (The Famous People, 2020). Cook embraces joint decision making approach. Under visionary leadership, leaders appeal to followers’ emotions and values. Cook appreciates diversity and trusts that his employees are able to make viable decisions and contribute to the success of the company. As such, he delegates some duties to his peers and subordinates creating an opportunity to empower employees and own decisions. Cook uses constant questioning to educate his employees and enhance their competence. Apple’s vice president of marketing recently described Cook as being calm, steady, but would slice someone with questions. Delegation is a form of power sharing process where managers give their subordinates the authority and a responsibility to make decisions formerly made by the executive. Empowerment plays a critical role in Apple Inc.’s success where employees are led by a notion that they have an opportunity to influence important events, accomplish meaningful work, and determine their work roles.
The influence of a leader is determined by their integrity and character. Leaders demonstrate integrity by fulfilling promises and agreements, strict adherence to their moral values, expressing a consistent set of values, and being truthful. Although Tim Cook has a weakness of being calm, demeanor, and less aggressive compared to Steve Jobs, he uses his calmness to earn respect from employees and embraces diversity and encourages innovation as a way of empowering his subordinates (The Famous People, 2020). Also, it is critical for leaders to maintain a reputation for technical expertise and strong credibility. Expertise can be sustained through continual process of education and practical experience. Credibility is promoted through the expression of strong and consistent convictions about a change and explains why it is critical without ignoring the costs or exaggerating the benefits (Yukl, 2010). Tim Cook’s credibility is seen when he does not wish to fit in the shoes of his predecessor but instead believes in himself; his new rules, and policies.
The behavior of a leader is highly influenced by the organization culture. Organization culture encompasses the assumptions, values, and beliefs shared by members of an organization. A leader can influence the culture in an organization through several aspects of behavior such as how the leader reacts to crisis, what he or she attends to, and the examples the leader sets. Modification of cultural forms, structures, programs, and management systems indirectly influences organization culture. Leaders facilitate desired change by guiding the implementation process, filling key positions with competent employees, articulating a clear vision, preparing employees for change, and making symbolic changes that affect the work (Yukl, 2010). For positive change to be realized, team building is inevitable. Team building is purposely made to enhance mutual cooperation, cohesiveness, and increase identification with the team. Identification is stronger where employees agree on the need for cooperation, strategies, priorities, values, and objectives. Tim cook effectively emphasizes on mutual interests, identifies the shared objectives, and persuades Apple Inc. employees to appreciate cooperation (The Famous People, 2020). Therefore, Tim Cook possesses exceptional leadership qualities which have significantly contributed to the success of Apple Inc. Managers should be encouraged to emulate Cook to develop strong ethical behaviors and values.
References
The Famous People. (2020). Who is Tim Cook? Everything you need to know. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/tim-cook-6713.php
Hayes, A. (2017). Tim Cook: Industrial engineer and CEO of Apple. The Rosen Publishing Group.
Yukl, G. A. (2010). Leadership in organizations (7th ed.).