Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

Question: Discuss about the Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. Answer: Introduction Leaders are the ones who are responsible not only to shape an organization but also shape the future of the employees (Neumann and Neumann 2013). Hence, it is important that a leader is able to understand the need of the organization as well as the employees and then plan the actions so that the business is benefitted (Du et al. 2013). The report will evaluate the leadership style of Andrew Penn, the CEO of Telstra and his way of working when it comes to handling the business and the employees. His ideas will be extracted from various online sources. The leadership style will then be put into the theories of leadership. A personal reflection will help the reads to understand the changes that could be done in Penn if there is another person in place of Penn as the leader. The report wills start with the description of Penn. His activities and ideas will throw light on the actions he has taken in the past and the way he transitioned in the present. The leadership theories will be discussed next. The actions taken by Penn will be compared with the leadership theories and models. It will be helpful in understating the style that Penn followed in the organization. Finally, the personal reflection will talk about other ways of handling the employees and some other aspects of leadership styles that might have affected the employees in a better and different manner. The personal reflection will not point out the negativity in Penn but will talk about actions that might have been better than Penn. Description of the leader, industry and context Telstra is one of the fast growing telecommunications and Technology Company in Australia (telstra.com.au 2016). Telstra provide over 7.0 million voice services, 17.2 million mobile services and 3.4 million retail fixed broadband services in Australia. Andy Penn worked as the group executive international and chief financial officer of Telstra before becoming the chief executive officer on 1st may 2015. The career span of Andy Penn is for 30 years. Andrew worked with AXA before joining Telstra. It was due to the leadership of Andrew Penn that AXA was able to build strong platform in Asia. The platform was sold to the parent company in the year 2011 for $10.4 billion. Penn has the fellowship of the chartered association of Certified Accountants. He holds a MBA degree from Kingston University, London, he graduated from Harvard business school in the advanced management program. Andrew Penn not only thought about business but also looked after the corporate social responsibility of an organization and contributed in a number of charitable activities. He is serving the position of the life governor and foundation board member in the organization very Special Kids. In addition to his engagement with Very Special Kids, he is serving as the member of the bug issue advisory, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Advisory Council and he is also an Amy Gillet Foundation Ambassador. In addition to his CSR activities, Andrew Penn is interested with visual arts as well. He is always supportive towards the programmers of Telstra with national gallery of museum, the national aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders are award and the museum of contemporary art (telstra.com.au 2016). Penn mainly believes in the growth of the organization where he is serving (Ramli 2015). He believes that if they are able to win the trust of the customers, then they will be able to develop a long-term relationship with the customers. Once the customers will be satisfied with the business of the company, they will be loyal to the company and the company will be able grow with the help of the loyalty of the customers (Garca-Morales, Jimnez-Barrionuevo and Gutirrez-Gutirrez 2012). He believed in team building and has threatened the competitors that they are ready to sacrifice the profit of the company to build a strong customer base. Penn is ready to give short term sacrifices to gain long term results. As Telstra is having a number of competitors from the market, he is aiming at developing a strong mobile network that would help them to gain more customers. It might result in losing out to the competitors in the short run. As he wants to develop a strong mobile network, hence the company has to wait for long until they are able to develop a proper network that would be helpful the customers with a better experience of the mobile than other brands that are currently operating in the market. Andrew Penn loves taking challenges. He hailed from a financial background when he joined at Telstra. In a meeting he said that he had the choice to continue in the financial market in his career but he chose to switch to Telstra, which is into telecommunications (UNSW Australia Business School 2016). Thus, it can be seen that not only the employees to take up challenges but he takes up challenges and tries to prove him in tough situations. He takes the inspiration from many of other leaders and never steps back from appreciating others. He talks about Elon Musk and mentioned that the person is younger than him, yet he achieved much more than him. He openly said that he takes inspiration form a person who is younger than him, yet achieved more than him. The idea that Andrew Penn likes to think about the society and it is clearly visible when he says that the world has advanced in terms of technology, however, one entity should not leave behind another entity for moving ahead. He talks about the fact that the adoption of technology helps an organization to move ahead of another. The one who adopts the technology in a better manner goes ahead and functions well. On the other hand, there are people who are unable to keep track of the technology, which may not be intentional but may be for the lack for the resources. However, it is the duty of the people who are able to avail the technology to help the people who are not avail the same (Choudhary, Akhtar and Zaheer 2013). Telstra suffered a major loss before David Thodey took over as the chief executive. The flagship of David Thodey is now being carried out by Penn. Penn is open to the innovations. From the fixed line to the mobile services, he understands the fact that the industry is constantly changing and prepares him as well as the employees with the changing environment of the industry Evaluation of the leader Andrew Penn operates the situational leadership when it came to managing the employees and handling the situation. He understood that the market for the mobile network is not right as there are a number of competitors present in the market (Aydin, Sarier and Uysal 2013). Hence, he thought to wait for the moment and suffer loss rather than jumping into the competition. He believes that they need to develop themselves so that when they come into the market, they will be the best in the market. The four main division of the situational eldership are: Delegating Supporting Selling Directing It starts when the leader just comes in the group and the members of the group have least idea about the leadership style and qualities of the leader (Lin et al. 2015). The leader is neither directive nor supportive. This phase is called the delegating stage. In the second stage, the leader and the members start knowing each other. The leader supports the members of the group and the leader is low on direction (Choudhary, Akhtar and Zaheer 2013). The second stage is called the coaching stage. The third stage is the coaching stage where the leader is highly supportive as well as highly directional. The individual understands the problems with the employee as well as the market and guides the employees how to go about in the market (Garca-Morales, Jimnez-Barrionuevo and Gutirrez-Gutirrez 2012). The final stage is the directing stage where the leader is highly directional but not so supportive. The employees by the fourth stage have a clear idea about the work and might not need the sup port. Penn believed that the competition for the mobile network in the market is tough and they need to prepare themselves to get hold of the market. Thus, he found the situational leadership style the best suited style that will help him to tackle the employees and the business (Moriano et al. 2014). Traits of transformational leadership in Andrew Penn The traits of transformational leader are also present in Andrew Penn. He not only makes the employee to take up works of challenges but himself gets involved in the challenges (Shahhosseini, Silong and Ismaill 2013). He did not continue in the same field for long and joined a completely new industry mainly to try out a different field. He took up the challenges to try his career in a new field, which is the biggest trait of a transformational leader (Rajbhandari et al. 2014). A transformational leader always talks about changes for the betterment (Giltinane 2013). A transformational leader never wants anything to become stagnant and find out way to make things interesting for self and for other who are working with the leader (McCleskey 2014). He breaks away from the traditional ways of working and looks for new ways to do business. Andrew Penn has all these qualities and hence he can be rightly called a transformational leader. Some other qualities of transformational leader is also present in Andrew Penn. Andrew Penn talked about the fact that the entity who is moving ahead of the others should also take into consideration the entities that are not able to keep a pace. A transformational leader not only thinks about the progress of the self but also thinks about the progress of other (Rabarison, Ingram and Holsinger Jr 2013). Similarly, Penn not only talks about the self but also about other entities that might not be able to get the help of the technology. A transformational leader trains the co-employees so that the co-employees are able to work in a better manner and able to work in better positions (Pashiardis 2014). Andrew also told in a meeting that the entities that are able to use the technology well should think about those entities that are not able to get hold of that and should never leave the other entities behind Personal reflection According to me, the steps taken by Andrew Penn are commendable but there are certain loopholes in the steps taken by peen. It is good that Penn thought about the longer relationships and was ready to sacrifice the short-term profit but he should also think about the short term profit. The employees should feel motivated by achieving the short-term goals, which will help them to get motivation for achieving the long-term goals (Gregoire and Arendt 2014). To keep the employees motivated about their work, it is the duty of a leader and hence, being the leader of an organization, he should think about the ways to keep the employees motivates in their work (Chemers 2014). If I would have in the place of Penn, I would have worked for the short-term goals as well as long-term goals. The employees need to feel motivated that they are able to achieve the shorter goals, only then they will be able to concentrate on the long-term goals(Neumann and Neumann 2013). It could given more preference on the long-term goals but should have kept short-term goals to make the employees motivated for the future. Along with the transformational leadership, Penn also followed the situational leadership. The situational leadership is mainly about guiding the employees towards proper management of the task. At times, the employees become over-dependent on the leader when every tight situation arrives in the organization (Du et al. 2013). The employees turn to the leader for every support and helped. If I was the leader, I would have encouraged the employees to solve the issues themselves rather than taking all the decisions myself. In this way, the employees would have known the ways to solve their problems. Once the employees become over-dependent on the leader, it harms the company in the long run (Aydin, Sarier and Uysal 2013). The first three stage of situational leadership helps the members as the leader is guiding them and helping them in their work. In the final stage, the employees do not get any support (Wang et al. 2013). This might hamper the business as the employees will get used to the directions and support that have been provided by the leader. If at the final stage, suddenly the employees have to work by themselves, they might not be able to tackle the situations (Lin et al. 2015). As a result, I would have guided the employees but let the employees take the decision. If they were not able to take the decision properly, I would have guided them but not entirely and helped them to develop their confidence in work. Conclusion After going through the activities and the steps taken by Andrew Penn, it can be concluded that Penn follows a situational and transformational leadership. Penn mainly thought about the long-term goals in the organization rather than the short-term goals. He guided the employees win such manner so that they are able to handle the immense pressure that will come from the competitors. Penn believes that it is the duty of the stronger entity to support the weaker entity. He feels that none of the entity should be left behind if something is not accessible by any entity. Penn likes to challenges and hence he shifted to Telstra from an entirely different field to Telstra. It has been found that the traits of situational and transformational leadership. He guides the employees of the organization to deal with the competition in the external market, which is the trait of the situational leadership. On the other hand, he only thinks about the development of himself but also about other membe rs, which is a trait of transformational leadership. However, my personal reflection regarding Andrew Penn is quite commendable. He handles the employees well and takes intelligent decisions for organization. However, I felt that guiding the employees in every step will result in over-dependency of the employees on the leader. They might not be allowed to take decision in the final stage and hence, if I would be in the place of Penn, I would have asked the employees to take decisions by themselves. The final decision might not be of the employees but unless they will be confident in their work, they would not b able to develop properly. In addition to this, I would have kept short-term and long-term goals. the employees would have them motivated by achieving the short-term goals and would be more prepared for the long-term goals. References Aydin, A., Sarier, Y. and Uysal, S., 2013. The Effect of School Principals' Leadership Styles on Teachers' Organizational Commitment and Job Satisfaction.Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice,13(2), pp.806-811. Chemers, M., 2014.An integrative theory of leadership. Psychology Press. Choudhary, A.I., Akhtar, S.A. and Zaheer, A., 2013. Impact of transformational and servant leadership on organizational performance: A comparative analysis.Journal of Business Ethics,116(2), pp.433-440. Du, S., Swaen, V., Lindgreen, A. and Sen, S., 2013. The roles of leadership styles in corporate social responsibility.Journal of business ethics,114(1), pp.155-169. Garca-Morales, V.J., Jimnez-Barrionuevo, M.M. and Gutirrez-Gutirrez, L., 2012. Transformational leadership influence on organizational performance through organizational learning and innovation.Journal of Business Research,65(7), pp.1040-1050. Giltinane, C.L., 2013. Leadership styles and theories.Nursing Standard,27(41), pp.35-39. Gregoire, M.B. and Arendt, S.W., 2014. Leadership: Reflections over the past 100 years.Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics,114(5), pp.S10-S19. Lin, P.Y., MacLennan, S., Hunt, N. and Cox, T., 2015. The influences of nursing transformational leadership style on the quality of nurses working lives in Taiwan: a cross-sectional quantitative study.BMC nursing,14(1), p.1. McCleskey, J.A., 2014. Situational, transformational, and transactional leadership and leadership development.Journal of Business Studies Quarterly,5(4), p.117. Moriano, J.A., Molero, F., Topa, G. and Mangin, J.P.L., 2014. The influence of transformational leadership and organizational identification on intrapreneurship.International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal,10(1), pp.103-119. Neumann, Y. and Neumann, E.F., 2013. The president and the college bottom line: The role of strategic leadership styles.Library Consortium Management: An International Journal. Pashiardis, P., 2014. Modeling School Leadership Across Europe.search of new. Rabarison, K., Ingram, R.C. and Holsinger Jr, J.W., 2013. Application of situational leadership to the national voluntary public health accreditation process.Frontiers in public health,1, p.26. Rajbhandari, M.M.S., Loock, C., Du Plessis, P. and Rajbhandari, S., 2014. Leadership Readiness for Flexibility and Mobility: The 4th Dimensions on Situational Leadership Styles in Educational Settings.Online Submission. Ramli, D. 2015.Telstra CEO Andy Penn to sacrifice profits for growth. [online] The Sydney Morning Herald. Available at: https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/telstra-ceo-andy-penn-to-sacrifice-profits-for-growth-20150930-gjyjal.html [Accessed 28 Dec. 2016]. Shahhosseini, M., Silong, A.D. and Ismaill, I.A., 2013. Relationship between transactional, transformational leadership styles, emotional intelligence and job performance.Researchers World,4(1), p.15. telstra.com.au, 2016.Andrew Penn. [online] telstra.com.au. Available at: https://www.telstra.com.au/aboutus/our-company/present/leadership-team [Accessed 28 Dec. 2016]. telstra.com.au, 2016.Proud Past, Bright future Our history, leaders and values. [online] telstra.com.au. Available at: https://www.telstra.com.au/aboutus/our-company [Accessed 28 Dec. 2016]. UNSW Australia Business School, 2016.Meet the CEO Checks-In With Andrew Penn. [online] UNSW Australia Business School. Available at: https://www.business.unsw.edu.au/news-events/news/meet-the-ceo-checks-in-with-andrew-penn [Accessed 28 Dec. 2016]. Wang, A.C., Chiang, J.T.J., Tsai, C.Y., Lin, T.T. and Cheng, B.S., 2013. Gender makes the difference: The moderating role of leader gender on the relationship between leadership styles and subordinate performance.Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes,122(2), pp.101-113.