Critical Evaluation of the Leadership of Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon
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This article critically evaluates the leadership of Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, using various leadership theories such as trait, behaviour, situational, transformational, transactional, distributed, ethical, and critical leadership.
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Critical evaluation the leadership of Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon
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Contents INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3 Theories of Leadership....................................................................................................................3 Trait and Behaviour Theor..........................................................................................................3 Situational and Contingency Theory...........................................................................................4 Transformational and Transactional Leadership.........................................................................5 Distributed Leadership................................................................................................................6 Ethical Leadership and Critical Leadership Perspective.............................................................6 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7 REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
INTRODUCTION Leadership is an activity of influencing and providing guidance to someone in order to provide them right direction so that they can achieve their vision. The great leaders have few leadership skills that helps in making business successful such as self development, tea, development, ethical practice, strategic thinking and innovation (Alkhatib and Arnout, 2019). Leaders plays an important role in improving the performance and efficiency of employees due to which they give productive outcomes while working in Company. The project is based on case study of Jeff Bezos in which critical evaluation of different leadership theories is determined. Theories of Leadership Trait and Behaviour Theor Trait Theory of Leadershipis to identify different personality characteristics and traits of leaders which can make them successful in variety of situation. According to this theory every leaders have personality and characteristics that makes them different and support their ability to mobilise other people towards shared goals. The successful leaders have unique abilities, skills and personality traits which are different form other people. There are six traits that differentiate leaders from non leaders thy are drive, desire to lead, honesty and integrity, self confidence, intelligence and Job relevant knowledge (Petrova, 2016). Jeff Bezos implements trait theory due to which the leader of Amazon gives high efforts in achieving the task and goals. By understanding the concept of trait theory, Jeff Bezos can select, develop and provide training to their leaders. One of the benefit for implementing this theory is that it is a naturally pleasing theory which gives detailed understanding and knowledge of the leader element in Leadership process. Through this theory Jeff Bezos can also identify the strength and weakness of potential leaders.Buttraittheoryalsohavesomedisadvantageswhichmustbeassessedwhile implementing this theory as it is a complex process and also there is a disagreement on which traits is important for an effective leader. Behaviour theoryis another theory of leadership in which the behaviour of leaders are being focused and it is also known as style theory. By implementing this theory Jeff Bezos can focus on the actions of leaders and also know how they act while working in Organisation. The theory has many advantages, leaders of Amazon can learn new things and also they can decide what actions they must implement in order to become the great leader. Through implementing
his theory, Bezos can encourage their employees that they are capable to become great leader. There are different types of behavioural leadership theories such as people oriented leaders, dictatorial leaders, task oriented leaders, sound leaders, participative leaders and many other (Mills and McKimm, 2016). The advantage which can be gained by implementing behaviour theory leadership in Amazon business is that it helps in promoting the value of leadership styles by focusing on employees and collaboration. It helps in promoting team development and participative decision making by supporting staff needs and aligning it with group objectives. There are also disadvantage of behaviour theory as it is a learned process which takes time and money and it is not always successful. Situational and Contingency Theory Situational leadershipis also a leadership theory which determine that there is no leadership style which is suitable and best. This theory depicts that the most effective leaders are someone that who has an ability to change their style according to the different situation and nature of task. The Situational leadership theory is not depend on skills of leaders as it is based on the abilities of leaders to adjust the requirement of Organisation and team inn order to become better leader. Jeff Bezos must implement this theory in order to gain more profit and increase the productivity of business (Mayfield, Mayfield and Walker, 2020). Bezos must use one of the leadership behavioural style according to the situation they are telling, selling, participating and delegating. In telling, leaders have to focus on team by keeping close supervision and guidance so that they can make effective decision and communicate it in effective manner. Selling leadership style is used when employees are unmotivated to achieve of perform any task. Participating is also a leadership style which can be sued by Bezos when team members are competent in achieving the particular task but don't have any willingness to complete it. Delegating is another leadership style which can be used by Jeff Bezos in order to provide its leaders little guidance so that they can perform in effective and efficient manner. If Jeff Bezos implements situational leadership style they have to evaluate teamand adjust their way of leading so that they can collectively meet the particular needs of Organisation and team. There is an advantage of situational leadership, it is a comfortable leadership theory for leaders who know how to use and implement in effective manner. But it also have cons as it cause confusion within Company because situational leaders change their approach in order to address employees needs.
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ContingencyTheoryofleadershipdepictsthattheeffectivenessofleadersare contingent they cannot be an effective leader in one circumstances and ineffective leaders at other situation. There are various factors that can affect the effectiveness of leaders in Amazon it could be size of team, expected delivery date and scope of project. There are various leaders in Amazon which perform their duties but they respond to these factors in different way (Anderson, Ford and Hamilton, 2017). By implementing Contingency theory Bezos can lead their team well and also the managers and supervisor can adapt leadership style according to the different situation and circumstances. The benefit of using this leadership style is that it has no particular leadership style which is perfect so they can define the leadership according to their way and set their on rules and regulation. The theory also have some disadvantages as it doesn't have any standard definition of effective leadership so leaders have no examples to learn from. Transformational and Transactional Leadership Transformational leadershipis a style that brings positive changes in leaders and Organisation. The transformational leaders are the person who are energetic, passionate and enthusiastic towards their work. They focus on helping employees and also provide guidance to their followers so that they can follow right career path. Bezos must use transformational leadership style as it put emphasis on empowerment, vision and support to inspire employees towards change and action (Stough, 2019). Transformational leadership theory determines the fewcharacteristicsofinfluentialleadertheyareintellectualstimulation,individualised consideration, inspirational motivation and idealised influence. Jeff Bezos is a transformational leader as he jumps from finance world and brought fresh perspective to e-commerce in different industry. There are various advantages of Transformational leadership as it helps in keeping company honest, open and ethical. The transformational leaders of Amazon can focus on authenticity, values and transparency. Sometimes it can be risky to implement this leadership theory in Amazon as leaders have to put more emphasis on using their charisma in order to become the role mode of their employees. So, transformational leaders have power to take their employees to new heights but they might face problem and can head into opposite direction. Transactional leadershipis another theory of leadership which focuses on role of Organisation, group performance and supervision. Jeff Bezos implement this style must focus on specific task and also give rewards and punishment in order to motivate their employees. By implementing transactional leadership theory, Bezos has to focus on results, measure success and
conforms the existing structure of Company according to the system of penalties and rewards. The leaders focus for maintaining routine by managing employee’s performance and facilitating group performance. One of the benefit of transactional leadership which can be gained by Jeff Bezos is that it can provide unambiguous structure for systems requiring repetitive task and also the reward and penalties are clearly defines to employees so that they can perform accordingly (Fiddy, 2015). But it also has some cons which must be assessed such as it doesn't reward personal initiate and the creativity is limited as the objectives and goals are clearly stated. Distributed Leadership Distributive leadership styleis another leadership theory in which the leadership accountability and responsibility are shared by the leaders who have calibre and relevant expertise rather than giving to someone who are not capable. The theory focuses on developing learning centred leaders in order to improve their quality and performance. Jeff Bezos must implementdistributiveleadership style as it createsan impacton traditionalhierarchical leadership models (Alefari and Salonitis, 2018). There are five strategies for distributive leadership they are rotate leadership responsibilities, hire well, don't micromanage, allow opportunities and make success. In order to implement distributive theory, Bezos have to generate more opportunities for the employees so that they can increase the productivity and growthofAmazon.TherearevariousbenefitswhichcanbegainedbyJeffBezosby implementing this theory such as it gives more options to company in order to make effective decision and also retain elements of traditional chain of command. The Other advantage of distributive leadership is that it shares the bigger picture with everyone and also allow employees to take ownership with their work. But there are some disadvantage which can be faced by Jeff Bezos while implementing this theory as the leaders have to maintain accountability due to which they might face difficulty. Distributive leadership style also slows down the decision making process of Company due to which the leaders can feel powerless and can't make effective decision on accurate time. For implementing distributive leadership, the leaders must have specified experience so that they can help their team in effective way. Ethical Leadership and Critical Leadership Perspective Ethical leadershipis also a theories of leadership in which leaders demonstrate and promotetheirconductthroughinterpersonalrelationsandpersonalactions.Theethical leadership is related to few concepts such as honesty, charisma, fairness, trust and consideration.
It helps in promoting employee engagement, enhance brand reputation and increase productivity of business. The leadership is based on ethical behaviour so that the leaders can do right thing. Jeff Bezos is also an ethical leader as he promotes and demonstrates the behaviour that respects the right of employees within value based boundaries (Hansman, 2016).Few characteristics which is in Jeff Bezos as an ethical leader is that he has respect for others, transparency, focuses on team building, encourage initiate, takes value driven decision and don't tolerate for ethical violations. BY implementing ethical leadership style, Bezos creates healthier workplace and also develop a culture of accountability. The disadvantage of ethical leadership style is that it requires comprehensive support to be effective and also depends on Bezos ability to influence other people. Critical leadershipis also a theory of leadership that focuses on how leaders can make their own decision and make their employees influence to follow the instructions. The leadership style is strict in nature and also applied on situation which is critical in nature and must be fulfilled on immediate basis (Van Wingerden Goto and Burstein, 2017). Jeff Bezos must implement Critical leadership theory as it helps in improving customer experience and increases the profitability of business. The leader must encourage their employees to achieve the target on particular time period and also communicate with them on regular basis. Jeff Bezos must implement transformational leadership style as it helps in providing guidance to employees so that they can follow right career path and also put emphasis on achieving vision and objectives of Business (Ospina and et. al., 2020). CONCLUSION It is being concluded from the above information that Jeff Bezos must implement the effective leadership style that can helps in improving the customer base and influence employees to stay in Organisation for long run. There are various theories of leadership which can help Bezos to encourage their team and accomplish the task in effective manner. Jeff Bezos must identify the leader who have an ability to encourage and motivate their employees so that they can contribute their bet efforts in achieving the business goals and increase the growth of Amazon.
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REFERENCES Books and Journals Alkhatib, A. J. and Arnout, B., 2019. Is religion the missing part in leadership and organization citizenship behavior theories.Dialogo.6(1). pp.111-116. Petrova, E., 2016. Leadership theories in the modern security.Security Review. Mills, J. K. A. and McKimm, J., 2016. Contingency theories of leadership: how might we use them in clinical practice?.British journal of hospital medicine.77(5). pp.268-271. Mayfield, M., Mayfield, J. and Walker, R., 2020. Why We Need Business Communication Theories. InFundamental Theories of Business Communication(pp. 233-250). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. Anderson, T. D., Ford, R. and Hamilton, M., 2017. Leadership Theories Overview: The Nature of Leadership. InTransforming Leadership(pp. 264-278). Routledge. Stough, R. R., 2019. Leadership, institutions and regional economic development and growth. InHandbook of Regional Growth and Development Theories. Edward Elgar Publishing. Fiddy, A., 2015. Leadership coaching for results. Alefari, M. and Salonitis, K., 2018. Assessing the Employees' Performance and the Role of Leadership. InAdvances in Manufacturing Technology XXXII(pp. 235-240). IOS Press. Hansman,C.A.,2016.Reflectiveandethicalleadershipandmanagement.Educational leadership and organizational management: Linking theories to practice, pp.25-52. Van Wingerden, C., Goto, S. and Burstein, M., 2017. Creating sustainable communities: Adult andleadershiptheoriesandprinciplesinpractice.InEncyclopediaofstrategic leadership and management(pp. 94-110). IGI Global. Ospina, S. M and et. al., 2020. Collective dimensions of leadership: Connecting theory and method.Human Relations.73(4). pp.441-463.