Leadership in the management of companies is designed for the purpose of helping the company achieve its set goals. Leaders must consider beyond themselves and take responsibility for gaining competitive advantage for their companies. A charismatic leader motivates his team to be better and happy at work. However, to stand out the best and leading firm in an industry, leaders require empowerment. Top management is tasked with the role of empowering their leaders to give them more authority and a sense of responsibility beyond teamwork. In reference to the business case of Modern Fitness Club, Larry as the CEO of the venture recognizes the charismatic nature of Ray, his manager of a local Modern Fitness Club, however, Larry is not pleased with the lack of enrollment in the club during the time that Ray has been managing the club. Therefore, Larry decides to empower Ray so that he can boost enrollment in the club. Larry employs a direct approach by informing Ray that he is empowered to boost enrollment in the club. The approach is very effective as it serves to inform Ray of the exact powers he has and the free authority. Its effectiveness is also boosted by the fact that it is the CEO himself empowering the leader thus boosting behavioral integration (Carmeli et.al, 2011).
Empowering Ray to take up decision-making roles and strategizing ways to boost enrollment is not enough to make him beat the competition. Ray has proved to be charismatic and effective within the organization but in the marketing field, he stands a failure. Rays assert to Larry that he has done everything he could to enroll athletes and therefore expects some help from Larry. Within the limits of empowerment, Larry might help Ray to boost enrollment by offering advice and allowing him to go beyond the allocated budget. Ray surely needs going beyond basic marketing strategies of flyers, social media marketing, and word of mouth advertising. To gain a competitive advantage, Larry should allow Ray to have a freewill of budget so that he can fully enjoy empowered leadership. Working under a predetermined budget may lead Ray to lose out on a marketing strategy, idea, or marketer because of not meeting the financial requirement.
Mostly bosses set goals to their managers with assumptions that they have all the necessary skills and resources to achieve the target. However, in most cases, the manager needs more than it is allocated to them to effectively meet the goals set for him. In the case of Ray, he needs advice and a wider budget to beat the competition. Achieving such extras from the boss, Larry needs the application of tactics necessary to gain the favors. Politics in organizations serve the purpose of embodying the tactics of gaining favors from top management. Ray should employ political tactics in attempts to favor the accomplishment of his set tasks. The first political tactic I would recommend to Ray is accepting the change that CEO Larry has proposed. By accepting change and embracing the new roles given to him, Larry will feel the positive vibe within Ray and will be willing to be fully committed to his efforts (Morrison, 2007).
Moreover, Ray should be quick to show the results of his efforts. A quick display of efforts and results achieved thereof, is a political tactic that will catch the attention of top management. By showing Larry the results that could be achieved will make Ray earn the full support needed in terms of resources and advice where necessary as there is the hope of attaining set goals. Another political tactic I would suggest to Ray is doing what the political environment demands. The target of the club to boost enrollment and therefore, Ray should invest efforts in knowing what their competitors are doing to enroll athletes in their clubs and apply the same and more at his club. Nevertheless, Ray may opt to develop a positive psychological capital. Ray is naturally charismatic which makes him positive and optimistic. Making effective use of his charisma in gaining hope and showing positive efforts towards boosting enrollment will act as an incentive to lure Larry into investing more in attaining the boost. Political tactics are necessary to bring down barriers and challenges that could affect the attainment of set objectives. The rightful application of political tactics will help the tasked manager gain favor with the top management which comes with intended resources and back up (Morrison, 2007).
References
Carmeli, A., Schaubroeck, J., & Tishler, A. (2011). How CEO empowering leadership shapes top management team processes: Implications for firm performance. The Leadership Quarterly, 22(2), 399-411.
Morrison, J. L. (2007). Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills. Journal of Education for Business, 83(1), 52.