Leadership Styles Of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, And Kim Ki Nam Essay.

Critically argue that a style of leadership as developed by a business leader has been successful in terms of responding to the current changing environment.

In analysing your case, an assessment should also be made based on the performance of the business and employee motivation/engagement for the longer term. In addition, organisational culture factor should be considered where the leadership style has influenced the organisational culture or where the culture has impacted on the leadership style.

Your arguments should be supported by authenticated evidence and by comparison with the styles of leadership used by TWO (2) other business leaders. This means that the assignment should contain 3 styles of leadership as deployed by THREE (3) business leaders.
 

Introduction to Leadership Style

Leadership style refers to manner that helps in providing direction to an organization. The leadership style helps in implementation of plans and the motivation of the people within an organization. The leadership style comprises of the explicit along with the implicit actions that are performed by leader (Renko et al. 2015). Steve Jobs was the name of a business magnate along with investor of America. Steve Jobs was the co-founder and the chairman of the company Apple Inc. Steve Jobs is the pioneer of that of microcomputer revolution of 1970’s along with the 1980’s. This report throws light on the leadership style of Steve Jobs and contrasts it with other business leaders like Bill Gates and Kim Ki Nam.

The applying of the management along with the leadership theory has an effect on the leader behaviour and the performance of the organizations.  The theories pertaining to leadership helps in determining the strategy of an organization and it has an effect on the performance of an organization. The situational style of leadership of Steve Jobs has a positive influence on the organization and it helped the organization in achieving success.

 The leadership style of Steve Jobs was unconventional and it can be termed as the situational style of leadership. This style of the leadership focuses on influence of environment along with situation on the aspect of leadership. Steve Jobs used to instruct people regarding what is to be done that can help his company in rising above the competition. Steve Jobs convinces the followers so that they can believe his ideas along with messages. The management style of Steve Jobs was not consultative and he did not believe in the approach of consensus building. He always asked for excellence from the members of his staff and he was popular for his manner of delivery of the criticism (Holten and Brenner 2015). Steve Jobs could articulate the vision that helped him in bringing along the staff and the investors in his journey. He was able to found the company Apple along with his friend Steve Wozniak. Under his able style of leadership, the company was able to make immense amount of profit that speaks of his successful leadership style (Nguyen et al. 2017). Market value of the shares of Apple grew from that of $ US 5 billion in the year 2000 to that of $ US 351 billion in the present age that made it one among the big public listed company within US (Apple.com 2019).  Steve Jobs acted as a great business strategist that helped his company in spreading its influence in the market. Steve Jobs acted as a futurist who was able to predict future within business setting that helped his business in achieving success. 

Steve Jobs' Situational Leadership Style

Steve Jobs initially started the company having investment of $ US 1300 and by the end of the year 1983 the name of the company appeared in the Fortune 500 list. The leadership style of Steve Jobs was able to influence the culture in the organization and he could adapt his leadership style on the basis of the culture that helped his organization in making profits. Steve Jobs had the ability of inspiring trust that made the culture of his organization very dynamic where all the employees were willing to give his best so that it can serve the organization (Mash and Cohen 2018). Steve Jobs created higher purpose for his company that was able to encourage the employees of Apple. Steve Jobs showed his expertise in the arenas of marketing along with product design that helped his company in earning large amount of revenues. The fact that the employees were motivated can be seen from the fact that his employees were willing to work hard for the growth of the organization and used to spend extra amount of time in their work so that they could be of service for the organization (Covin and Slevin 2017). Steve Jobs responded to the changes of the environment and he was able to buy Pixar on account of his unique style of the leadership. He also started the computing firm called Next that was later on bought by the company Apple. Apple had a work culture that believed in developing the skills and the abilities of the employees (Mulki, Caemmerer and Heggde 2015). This also helped the leader in honing his skill set and learning essential aspects from the organization. Steve Jobs acted with a lot of sincere efficiency that was imbibed among the employees of his company. 

The leadership style of Bill Gates can be called as participative style of the leadership. Bill Gates believed in value of the input from the employees that can help a company in achieving success. The leadership style of Bill Gates helped in driving the success of Microsoft. Bill Gates knew the fact that business would have fluctuations and the business leader should adapt to the changes that can ensure his success (Klenke 2016). The leadership style of that of Bill Gates is different from Steve Jobs who did not abide by the participative style of the leadership. Steve Jobs created the vision for the company and he was the one who took all the important decisions in the organization. Bill Gates on the other hand used to delegate the tasks in the organization that helped him in developing the company (Graham, Ziegert and Capitano 2015). Bill Gates utilized the skill set of the employees of Microsoft that can ensuring the success of the company. Microsoft was able to earn a revenue of $ 93.6 billion in the year 2015 and the company was able to earn gross profit that amounted to $ 60.5 billion (Microsoft.com 2019).  The leadership style of Bill Gates can also be called democratic leadership as he allowed the subordinates to make vital decisions within the organization (Mash and Cohen 2018). Bill Gates was dependent on the contributions that were made by the subordinates that helped in growing the reputation of Microsoft. Bill Gates used to delegate authority to the other people that helped in the creation of an organisational culture that was flexible. Bill Gates ensured the fact that there was fairness along with honesty in relation to the organizational practices that helped the company in earning a large amount of the gross profit. He was able to bring forth creativity along with courage in the employees of the organization that helped the organization in improving the performance of employees. 

Bill Gates' Participative/Democratic Leadership Style

The leadership style of the CEO of Samsung, Kim-Ki-Nam can be called authoritarian leadership as he provided clear expectation to the company regarding what should be done for the improvement of the company (Shamir and Eilam-Shamir 2018). He used to command the management of the company that helped in bringing about positive effects for the company. Authoritarian leaders make the decisions in an independent manner and he does not listen to the advice of the other employees of an organization (Bolman and Deal 2017). The employees could not express their ideas and opinions in the company that hampered the professional growth of the employees of the company (Tannenbaum and Schmidt 2017). The leadership style of the CEO made the organisational culture rigid as the employees of the company could not work on the basis of their ideas. The employees had to abide by the decision of the CEO and the senior management of the organization (Antonakis and Day 2017). The style of leadership of Kim-Ki-Nam can also be referred to as transformational leadership as he was able to bring about changes in the organization with the help of his dynamic personality (Nguyen et al. 2017). He was able to motivate the other people in Samsung as he was able to use his distinctive personality in convincing the employees about his management style. Kim-Ki-Nam used to set the challenging expectations for the subordinates that helped his employees in achieving higher performance. Kim-Ki-Nam was able to create followers who were committed that helped in bringing about efficiency in performance of employees. The style of leadership helped him in acting as role model for the followers that helped in raising the interest of the employees in the projects. He understood the strengths along with the weakness of the followers so that they can be utilised for the welfare of the organization. 

Conclusion

Leadership style is indicative of manner which can help in directing an organization. Leadership style proves to be useful in implementing plans and it can motivate people in an organization. Leadership style consists of explicit and implicit actions which are performed by that of a leader. Steve Jobs had the unconventional style of the leadership that can be called situational style pertaining to leadership. This style of the leadership lays importance on the environment that helps in guiding the behaviour of a leader in an organization. Steve Jobs gave instruction to the people which can help an organization in surviving within the competitive environment. Steve Jobs was able to convince followers that made the people believe in the ideas and the messages. Leadership style in relation to Bill Gates can be said to be participative and he used to listen to the voice of the employees in his organization. It helped the company in becoming successful and rise above competitors. The leadership style of Bill Gates can also be called democratic leadership because he offered opportunities to other people for making decisions in company. The authoritarian style of the leadership was adopted by the CEO of Samsung and he used to state his expectations clear in front of the employees that helped in the functioning of the company. The CEO of the company Samsung used to provide guidance to management of company that had a positive influence on the company. The leadership style of the CEO can be stated to be transformational as his personality helped to bring changes within the ambit of organization. 

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