Challenge of Leadership Information 2022

Running Head: CHALLENGE OF LEADERSHIP 1
Challenges of Leadership
Name
Institution Affiliation
Challenges of Leadership
The leadership of the BlackBerry came into criticism when the telecommunication giant
collapsed. The failure of this company is attributed to its culture and the lack of efficiency in its
leadership. As a result, it failed to keep the pace in the field of innovation like other competitors
such as the Apple and Android phones. The co-founders, Mike Lazaridis, and Doung Fregin
started with a loan of $15000, and by 2008, BlackBerry as worth $ 77 billion (Hayward, 2014).
The competition for this company was moderate until Apple entered into the market after a long
period of reinventing itself by examining the market trends and the desires of the customers. The
reinvention of BlackBerry and its strength in the market remains questionable because the
company failed due to the failure in its leadership. The following paper addresses the problem of
the company and how the failure of the leadership led to its collapsing.
The Leadership Problem and Blackberry
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CHALLENGE OF LEADERSHIP 2
The collapsing of the Blackberry signified the failure of the leadership in the theory of
behavioral leadership. This framework concentrates on the actions of the leaders rather than their
qualities. It assumes that leaders can be made and successful leaders are not necessarily born
with leading skills. The behavioral theory of leadership behaviors can be learned from the
context in which the leaders are subjected to, and depending on the specific stimulus (Marshall,
2012). The leadership of Blackberry did not learn from the environment and the trends in the
market competition. They remained over complacent and failed to identify the efforts of Apple in
reinventing itself, and the threat that was posed by Google Inc. as it introduced the Android
market. Even after Apple launched its iPhones, the leadership was still overconfident that they
would persist in dominating the market. On the other hand, Google collaborated with other
mobile phone companies such as Samsung by giving away its Android operating system to
compete with the OS of Apple. The market for the smartphone was instantly flooded. Consumers
could by Android phones at cheaper prices or buy relatively expensive iPhones that were
designed to suit their demands. Blackberry remained rigid holding on to the plastic designs of
their phones, which had small screens, inconvenient apps, and physical key buttons. The
leadership failed to understand that the consumer preferences had changed and the company
needed to meet the changes in these preferences. They missed the opportunities for addressing
these threats until it was too late when the company was phased out of the market.
The behavioral theory of leadership is based on the principle that ideal leaders can
observe and adjust to certain behavioral patterns. The leadership of Blackberry failed in this
principle. The market of the smartphones was changing with consumers preferring sleek
designed phones that could easily fit into small spaces such as pockets. Apple and Android
manufacturers had identified this trend and were designing small, thin and rectangular phones
that easily fit in pockets (Marshall, 2012). In contrast, Blackberry was still based on the squared
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CHALLENGE OF LEADERSHIP 3
phones such as the BlackBerry Passport that was now being considered as ridiculous and
uncomfortable phone by some consumers. Even after the leadership of this company identified
this challenge, they did not respond to the demand, and soon enough, Blackberry was becoming
uncompetitive. The leadership was overconfident in continuing to dominate the market but
shortly, the market for the smartphones revolutionized. The American, Asian and European
markets were flooded with phones that had faster browsing and other additional features such as
the ability to tap servers that were providing data over the upgraded networks. Apple was
launched its SDK network in offering their services while Google Android was becoming
rampant. In 2011, the company suffered significantly due to its ineffective and inferior
applications, where it has since then lost 82% of its company value, to a current net worth of $ 8
billion (Marshall, 2012). The Blackberry had to redefine its operating system but remained
unresponsive.
The Organizational Culture and the Failure of Blackberry
Initially, the Blackberry had an organizational culture of engineering which served in the
immediate market. This culture led to the efficiency of the market by manufacturing low-power
devices for customers. It eventually made the company to dominate the market. As time
progressed, the company developed a culture of ignoring the customers (Obasanjo, 2016).
Instead of investing in market research and development to identify the needs of the consumers,
the leadership of the company assumed that they knew the market demands and that the
company was sufficient in satisfying these needs. They capitalized on the power of the devices at
the expense of their convenience. The leadership thought that they had the best strategies to
address the challenge of stiff competition that was roaming. However, the organizational culture
was not sufficient for Blackberry to address these challenges. The company emphasized on
businesses and carriers as the primary customers since they were paying for the services and
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CHALLENGE OF LEADERSHIP 4
devices. The carriers were not interested in high-speed browsers to avoid high cellular data
usage, which could overload their networks. On the other hand, businesses that purchased phones
for their employees did not want very convenient apps that could attract the attention of the
employees at the expense of their productivity (Obasanjo, 2016). As a result, Blackberry ignored
the needs of the other consumers. In contrast, Apple and Android manufacturers approached the
market in a different way by developing devices that could give the best experience to the users.
Blackberry also had an organizational culture of complacency and rigidity. It was
described as a dungeon and resembled an insurance company instead of being a technological
organization. The culture did not promote innovation, which dominates its rivals companies such
as Google and Apple, where the employees are encouraged into teamwork, creativity,
experimentation, and development of ideas outside the organizations (Obasanjo, 2016). A typical
technological company is characterized by innovation, competition, and connections between the
market trends, and the capabilities of the company. This culture prevented the company from
delivering value to the customers. The leaders lacked a connection and insight with the
consumers and failed to cultivate for the idea of competitive advantage of the company. The
organization culture did not allow taking risks, experimenting and making mistakes which are
important aspects of improving innovation.
Solutions for the Company
Blackberry can solve its problems by privatizing the company. This has been the trend
that has been used by various technology companies such as Dell to re-launch. This strategy can
allow the owners to make long-term and tough decisions to fix its challenges by conceptualizing
on the necessary requirements to increase its competitiveness in the market. The company can
form a partnership with other technology companies to increase its capacity in penetrating the
market. It is working on the establishment of BlackBerry 10, which can easily be achieved
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CHALLENGE OF LEADERSHIP 5
through licensing the operating system to other smartphone manufacturers to facilitate in
regaining its market share.
A Successful Organization- Apple Inc
Apple Company exhibits the trait leadership theory. This theory focuses on the
identification of various personalities and characteristics that are attached to successful
leadership in different situations (Meyer, 2018). It values specific traits such as intelligence and
action-oriented judgment that facilitates leaders in making choices. Under the leadership of Tim
Cook, the company has been effective in utilizing its strengths such as the talents of the
workforce. The common leadership style used in the company is democratic which is contrary to
the autocratic leadership style that was used by the Steve Job, the former leader. The leadership
promotes consensus building especially in the highly experienced employees with an aim of
creating mutual decisions. The leadership has its own strength and upholds charisma and great
focus on the current products while fostering business and employees’ relationships.
Organizational Culture of Apple
The organizational culture of Apple has been a key factor towards its success. It
establishes the values, beliefs and the business philosophy of the company, and the relationship
between the employees and the management. The company has an organizational culture of
creativity and innovation. It focuses on maintaining high levels of innovations and nurturing
creativity that challenges standards and conventions (Meyer, 2018). The business depends on
cultural support and coherence among the teams to increase its competitiveness and leadership in
the market, specifically in addressing the aggressiveness and dynamics in product development
and innovation. The culture is characterized by secrecy, combativeness, top class excellence, and
creativity. The combination of these features in the culture plays a major role in supporting the
company as a leader in the industry specifically in the line of innovation and designing their
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CHALLENGE OF LEADERSHIP 6
products. It facilitates the competitiveness of the company and strengthens its brand which has
been an important component in the success of Apple.
Traits of the 21st Century Leaders to Succeed
The 21st-century leaders need to be visionary and have the ability to communicate these
visions. They need to articulate their visions and energize teams towards the achievement of their
goals. The leaders are tasked with inspiring others and taking their personal interests into their
teams through offering responses that are related to their visions. Inspired employees have the
potential of achieving great things, but they must be appreciated and recognized for their jobs.
The leaders need to be people of character and trustworthy individuals (Masterson, 2018). The
current business environment is characterized by leaders that are being tested frequently to
strengthen their characters, which is considered as the root of ideal leadership. The values and
beliefs that the leaders bring into organizations determine their success or failure, and therefore,
they should have integrity, honor, and ethics. Effective communication is a great skill that is
required in the leaders of the 21 st century. This skill determines the relationship of the leader and
other teams and paints the picture of the organization in public. It determines the appropriate
approach to different media including the traditional and modern media platforms.
Communication drives the process of leadership from strategy and vision to the recognition of
values, coaching, and delegation of responsibilities.
Conclusions
The above discussion addresses the challenge of leadership. The main issues covered
include the failure in leadership model of the Blackberry, the contribution of the organizational
culture of this company and the possible solutions to its problems. The paper also covers the
success of Apple Inc., the leadership theory of the company and the contribution of its
organizational culture to its success. Another issue addressed is the requirement of the 21 st
century to succeed, which includes being visionary, people of character and having effective
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CHALLENGE OF LEADERSHIP 7
communication. The leadership of an organization plays a major role in determining its success
or failure as signified in Apple Inc. and the Blackberry.
References
Hayward, S. (2014). How to save BlackBerry. Retrieved from
https://www.managementtoday.co.uk/ save-blackberry/article/1218886
Marshall, M. (2012). BlackBerry’s leadership failure: The symbol of software’s triumph over
hardware. Retrieved from https://venturebeat.com/2012/01/22/blackberrys-leadership-
fail-the-symbol-of-softwares-triumph-over-hardware/
Masterson, A. (2018). What it takes to be a great leader in the 21st century. Retrieved from
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/work/what-it-takes-to-be-a-great-leader-in-the-21st-
century-1.3365951
Meyer, P. (2018). Apple Inc.’s organizational culture & its characteristics (an analysis). Retrieved
from http://panmore.com/apple-inc-organizational-culture-features-implications
Obasanjo, D. (2016). Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Retrieved from
https://hackernoon.com/culture-eats-strategy-for-breakfast-a293a4d7d4e7
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