Contemporary Management Capabilities

The report evaluates the leadership skills of the CEO on the basis of leadership competencies. It recommends three measures that the alleged CEO should take in order to cope with his leadership quality and behaviour. The report identifies the degree of focus that the alleged CEO must take on the basis of five competencies.

Running Head: CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT CAPABILITIES
CONTEMPORARY MANAGEMENT CAPABILITIES
Name of the Student:
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Author Note:

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Executive summary
Leadersihp0 in business is identified as a dynamic and important aspect for not only enhancing
the profitability of the organisation but also encouraging the employees effectively. The present
case study states that the CEO of the company is alleged with sexual harassment by two of the
ex-employees. Therefore, the report tries to evaluate the leadership skills of the CEO on the basis
of leadership competencies. Based on the evaluation, it is stated that the CEO of the organisation
did not follow right leadership quality. Henceforth, three recommendations are made for making
a suitable leadership trait.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Findings...........................................................................................................................................3
Ethics and safety..........................................................................................................................3
Self-organising.............................................................................................................................4
Efficient learning.........................................................................................................................5
Growth and nurture......................................................................................................................5
Connection and belonging...........................................................................................................6
Communication............................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
Recommendations............................................................................................................................8
Reference List..................................................................................................................................9
Appendix........................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Ethics and morality are considered to be part and parcel of the business organisations
especially for the managers and top level executives so that it will energised the subordinates and
the employees with positive energy and mind set. Based on the article of Giles (2016) there are
six potential competencies that the organisational leadership must follow in terms of the ethics
and safety, self-organising, efficient learning, nurtures growth and connection and belonging. On
the basis of this, this report is going to identify the degree of focus that the alleged CEO must
take on the basis of those five competencies. In association with this the report also recommends
some important measures that the alleged CEO should take in order to cope with his leadership
quality and behaviour.
Findings
Ethics and safety
The ethics and safety of a leadership practice is associated with the role of the leader to
assure the employees about the safety of their interests and health. The research of Schulman
(1999) advocated that it is within the leadership quality of the managers that made them adequate
knowledge of the safety and interests of the employees because the employees are relied on the
managers for the benefits. It is resembled with the ethical standpoint of the managers. Shin et al.
(2015) pointed out the specific characteristic of leadership was associated with ethics. Therefore,
establishing high ethical and moral standards is always a pertinent aspect of the characteristics of
leadership quality.

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However, the case study certainly raises question about the moral standards of the leaders
that pushed the subordinates to complain against his attitude. Apart from dealing with stories of
sexual violations, it can be stated that there was something unethical or unprofessional about the
leadership traits of the manager that provided the opportunity for the subordinates to make
complain. From a neutral point of view, it is important to identify the reliability of the issue as
sexual harassment is a very serious allegation against any of the top management personnel.
Nevertheless, it can be stated that even if there will be no credibility of those stories, the role and
attitude of the CEO is definitely under the scanner because there are certainly a flaw within the
leadership practice that provided opportunity for the subordinates to file a complaint.
Self-organising
From the research of Jing and Avery (2016) it can be stated that understanding the
significance of the leadership ethics is also a pertinent aspect for the managers in order to shape
an effective3 and efficient leadership practice. On the contrary, Williams (2010) remarked that
the notion and definition of ethics has been changed in course of time and the millennial are not
bothered about the traditional value of leadership qualities. As a result of that planning and
setting the goals and objectives of the organisation are also identified as important aspect for the
leaders with the change in time. The success of the leaders is also a crucial point to understand.
Schulman (1999) opined that there is a sharp difference between the ability to succeed and the
desire to succeed. Therefore, the goals and objective of the leader will help to guide to the right
path of success.
In the context of the case study, it can be stated that using unethical practice should not
be a desired practice for the leaders. The role of morality and ethics are still attached with the
paradigm of leadership despite of changing nature of perception about ethics in business

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organisations. Henceforth, it is important to question the leadership traits and methods that the
CEO had practiced erstwhile.
Efficient learning
The perceptual difference about the role and responsibility of leadership is also a n
essential aspect that the leaders must consider. In this regard, the article of Aktas, Gelfand and
Hanges (2016) pointed out that learned optimism and positive expectation is the most
determining factor that shaped the mind-set of the leaders to achieve the desired targets and fulfil
the objectives. In respect to this, work ethic is also identified as an important factor. It means the
learning process and the desired result will definitely base on an ethical standpoint (Wells 2018).
It is the only process through which the leader can transform his abilities and skills towards a
moral characteristic.
The case study shows that there is no such efforts made by the CEO after hearing the
allegations. It should be the first reaction of the convicted leader to reply against the conviction.
The moral learning definitely provide him enough knowledge regarding morality and ethics.
Therefore, he must be eligible enough to face the consequences without skipping to face the
situation. It raise some question about the real intention of the CEO and his link with the
allegation.
Growth and nurture
There are considerable amount training and development practice that the business
organisations are provided to its employees so that they can compete with the change in the
market and the meet the demands of the market (Iqbal, Anwar & Haider, 2015). In this respect,
the role of the leaders should also be highly adaptive to pursue the interests and objectives of the

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organisation with the change in market demands. Higgs and Dulewicz (2016) opined that the role
of the leaders is to develop an effective personality, attitude and ability so that they can lead the
workforce by example. In this regard, training and development of the leaders is also identified
as important aspect and their commitment towards training is also considered to be important
aspect for the business organisation.
In response to this, the case study shows that dearth of understanding the importance of
the situation and the urgency of developing a better leadership quality, the CEO exposed his
frustration and un-leadership approach that is never expected from a senior manager. Therefore,
it is obvious that the efficacy of the leader is under speculation of the company governance
board. There are certainly some firm and matured steps that the CEO should take pro-actively so
that the message would be different and the media also got interested to listen to his side of the
story. It could be an opportunity for him to wash away those allegation in a professional manner.
Connection and belonging
Relationship with the subordinates and provide a positive impact on the employees is
always identified as an important aspect for the leaders in corporate organisations. Ma and Tsui
(2015) mentioned that creation of open and liberal organisational environment with encouraging
the employees to think out of the box is always proved to be a strategic advantage for the
company. It is the role of the leaders to ensure the business sustainability and profitability of the
organisation to a great extent (Freeman, 2016). As a result of that demonstrating a positive and
constructive approach is always expected from the leaders.
Based on this perception, it can be stated that CEO of the respective company failed to
create an optimistic environment for the employees and as a result of that two of the employees

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filed a complaint of sexual harassment against him. In fact, for the sake of the argument if it is
believed that the story was falsified and a conspiracy then too scepticism against the leadership
quality of the CEO was still prevailed. Therefore, the CEO must reply in his self-defence.
Communication
According to Forquesato (2016) it can be stated that communication between the leader
and his subordinates is very important for the development of the leader himself because from
the conversation he can gauge the strengths and weakness about his leadership practice. Wells
(2018) stated that continuous communication with the employees is considered to be a practical
field for the leaders to demonstrate the efficacy and skills of the leadership qualities. Therefore,
communication plays a pivotal role in projecting the efficiency and ability of the leader.
Moreover, communication is also responsible to make the workplace environment amicable and
professional enough. Therefore, it is essential for the leaders to continue communicating with the
employees proactively.
In the case study, the CEO denied to make any comment with media or taking any effort
to communicate with the harassed employees. It could be under the observation of the
governance board to come with a solution. However, all those efforts can be applicable if the
CEO is innocent. Isolating himself from any kind of communication intensified the situation
against him and led people to believe in the story.
Conclusion
The above discussion proved that there are number of issues that the CEO was practiced
as a leader despite of knowing the allegation of sexual harassment. There are six potential factors
based on which this report tries to develop a deep insights into the important steps that the CEO

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should take as a course of action but he did not. It embolden the story of the two ex-employees
and compelled the governance board to take legal actions. Therefore, it can be stated that
leadership characteristics are very important for top management for the success of the
organisation as well as himself.
Recommendations
 Proper training and development for making a good leadership practice.
 Self-evaluation of the importance of ethics and morality in leadership.
 Communicate with the employees in a continuous basis.

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Reference List
Aktas, M., Gelfand, M. J., & Hanges, P. J. (2016). Cultural tightness–looseness and perceptions
of effective leadership. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47(2), 294-309.
Forquesato, P. (2016). Social norms of work ethic and incentives in organizations. Journal of
Economic Behavior & Organization, 128, 231-250.
Freeman, R. E. (2016). Ethical leadership and creating value for stakeholders. In Business ethics:
New challenges for business schools and corporate leaders (pp. 94-109). Routledge.
Giles, S. (2016). The Most Important Leadership Competencies, According to Leaders Around
the World. Retrieved 11 September 2019, from https://hbr.org/2016/03/the-most-
important-leadership-competencies-according-to-leaders-around-the-world
Higgs, M., & Dulewicz, V. (2016). Developments in leadership thinking. In Leading with
emotional intelligence (pp. 75-103). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Iqbal, N., Anwar, S., & Haider, N. (2015). Effect of leadership style on employee
performance. Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 5(5), 1-6.
Jing, F. F., & Avery, G. C. (2016). Missing links in understanding the relationship between
leadership and organizational performance. The International Business & Economics
Research Journal (Online), 15(3), 107.
Ma, L., & Tsui, A. S. (2015). Traditional Chinese philosophies and contemporary
leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(1), 13-24.

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Schulman, P. (1999). Applying learned optimism to increase sales productivity. Journal of
Personal Selling & Sales Management, 19(1), 31-37.
Shin, Y., Sung, S. Y., Choi, J. N., & Kim, M. S. (2015). Top management ethical leadership and
firm performance: Mediating role of ethical and procedural justice climate. Journal of
Business Ethics, 129(1), 43-57.
Wells, K. (2018). Is Managing Getting in the Way of Leading?. Professional Safety, 63(3), 58-
59.
Williams, E. (2010). Debunking The Millennials’ Work Ethic “Problem”. Retrieved 11
September 2019, from https://hbr.org/2010/04/the-millenials-work-ethic-prob

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Appendix
Figure 1: Components of leadership competencies
(Created by the author)
Leadership
competency
Ethics & safety
Self-organising
Efficient learning
Growth &
nurture
Connection &
belonging
Communication