Leadership and Organizational Performance: A Case Study of Yahoo

This report examines the issues faced by Yahoo and how Integrative Framework of Organizational Behavior can be applied to identify and resolve them. It also provides recommended solutions for improving the processes of the business.

Running head: LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE
LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE
Name of the student
Name of the university
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Executive summary
The report aims at identifying the different issues that are faced by the organization, Yahoo, and
the manner in which the Integrative Framework of the Organizational Behavior can be applied in
order to identify the different issues. The identification of the issues of the organization has
helped the management of the same to enumerate different recommended actions, which will be
helping in developing the diversified product offerings. The purpose of undertaking the research
is to identify the different issues that are faced by Yahoo and thereby correlate the same through
the application of relevant OB theories. It also aims at culminating in different recommended
actions for bringing forth modifications in the processes.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Step 1- Defining the problem..........................................................................................................3
Step 2- Understanding problem through the study of organizational behavior...............................6
Step 3– Recommended solutions.....................................................................................................8
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
The leadership skills and Organizational Behavior (OB) clearly outlines the performance
of the ventures while operating in the globalized scenario. Introduction of the Flamholtz’s
model of integrative frameworks in OB has helped in promoting different changes in the
approaches of leadership. In this context, the issues that are faced by Yahoo due to lack of focus
has affected the objectives of the business. It has also affected the cultural backdrops of the
business while bringing forth changes in the systems of the management (Chauhan, Chowdhury
and Makaroff 2012). The identification of the OB and the general objectives of the business
would have helped the same in upholding the proficiency of the functions. The issues that are
encountered by the organization has affected the brand value. However, the changes in the OB
and the culture of the organization have helped the same in resolving the faults.
The purpose of the report is to examine the different issues that are faced by Yahoo and
understand the concerns in the light of integrative frameworks of organizational behavior. The
enumeration of the different issues will be helping to understand the key steps that might be
undertaken by the organization in order to resolve the concerns.
Step 1- Defining the problem
The issues that are faced by the organization, Yahoo are related to the weak R&D
development team, which has affected the net services offerings of the business. The utilization
of the Integrative Framework of OB has helped in enumerating the different outcomes of the
processes that are framed by the organization. Lewis and Reiley (2014) stated that the
organization lacked focus in the particular processes as they aimed at being “everything- to

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everyone”. Lack of a cohesive vision of the organization has affected the outcomes of the same
while designing the different service and product offerings of the business. On the other hand,
the lack of skilled workforce and lower financial capabilities of the business to invest in the
diverse processes have affected the opportunities of the business to specialize in a particular
offering (Rindova et al. 2012).
Lack of sufficient financial resources has affected the organization in maintaining a well-
formed R&D department, which resulted to lack of innovation in the processes. On the other
hand, the lack of transparency in the communicational systems of the business has affected the
proper functioning of the system of the business operations as per the objectives of the
organizational growth. Muneer et al. (2014) stated that the lack of proper research departments in
the organization is dependent on the insufficiency of the financial capitals that the organization
might have invested in developing the processes dynamically. Chi, Lan, and Dorjgotov (2012)
stated that the intended functions failed to come up with the desired outcomes of the business,
which is portrayed through the revenue streams that were flat in the year 2012 and declined by
2013. The estimated outcome of the processes that are undertaken by the business is to propose
a diverse range of offerings in order to capture the entire market. However, the lack of proper
revenue streams has affected the investment capabilities of the business in the different research
projects, which has indiscriminately affected the business undertaking as per the objectives. On
the other hand, Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, stated that Yahoo faced different cultural
dilemmas relating to lack of transparency in the communicational systems, which resulted to
different arguments relating to the unclear strategies of the business (Daniela 2013). The unclear
strategies of the organization and lack of technical knowledge of the business executives have
given rise to different collaborative issues in the organization (Pentland and Hærem 2015). It has

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widely affected the performance of the business. Lack of proper communication and integration
between the internal and external departments affected the organizational concern of upholding
improved PR (Public Relations) approach to the business. It has affected the growth of the
organization as per the inputs and the processes that are put forward by the management team of
Yahoo.
The basic outcomes that were assumed by the organization as of the outcomes were to
maintain diversity in the product and service offerings of the business. However, lack of
coordination in the workforce relating to vague communications and the lack of sufficient
financial resources of the business has affected the capability of the same to invest in the
different research-related activities for maintaining the proficiency of the diverse range of
offerings (Ljungholm 2014). The most important problem that is faced by the organization is
due to the insufficiency of financial resources, which has affected the capabilities of the
organization to maintain a proper R&D team. The different aspects of change in the
organizational context are based on the focused objectives of the business. The lack of focus
affects the organizational undertaking of developing the products as per the standards followed
in the market. Yahoo lacks in a proper R&D team, which has affected the development of the
offerings of the business as per the market trends. On the other hand, the lack of proper financial
structure of the business has affected the capability of the organization to develop the diverse
range of offerings of the business.

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Step 2- Understanding problem through the study of organizational behavior
Yahoo started facing many problems in its course of operation. One of the major
problems was that they were focusing on a huge number of service rather than focusing only on
some selected or on one particular organization (Grant and Verona 2015). Apart from this, there
was a lot of error or malfunctioning in distributing the financial resources overall then lines of
actions that they are undertaking In other words, they did not know how to plan their financial
resources properly. As a result of this, the research and development department was really
undeveloped. The R&D department was not able to undertake all their actions properly. Even if
they wanted to they were not able to do so because the allocation of money was not done
properly. The research and development department could not carry on their research process
properly they were able to gather all the good resources or strategies that would be good for the
company.

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The other problem that was being faced by Yahoo is the lack of innovation (González-
Moralejo, Muñoz and Miquel 2015). This can be said that the emergence of this problem is
mainly due to the lack of enough financial resource allocation. As the R&D department did not
get enough resource, the entire process became very sluggish. The technological aspects also
became very slow and undeveloped. This was really affecting the working of the entire process a
great deal. Yahoo is a search engine company and they need to have employees who are very
well versed in the handling of the technological aspects. As per the opinion of Simons (2014),
their organizational behavior was really getting affected badly because of their strategy called
“everything- to everyone” They wanted to provide a wide range of products and services to all at
the same time. This really hampered the overall working of their organization. Natarajan et al.
(2018) have argued that the workforce available to them was also very well developed or trained.
As a result of this their production was really getting hampered a lot.
This had a direct effect on the total revenue earned. The revenue earned was really very
less and flat in the year 2012. One of the other problems was a gap between the communications
among the employees. This was one of the internal problems being faced by the organization
(Matsuo 2015). This was really hampering the company a great deal of organizational culture
and a sound communication system among the employees is one of the most important things
that are needed for the proper functioning of the organization. Yahoo was not really focusing
much on the internal communication among the employees. So, this is one of the organizational
environmental characteristics that proved to be a hindrance in the path of the development of the
company. The organization was really lacking a good employee culture. The processed of the
company was suffering a great deal because of the lack in the employee expertise. The R&D
department was suffering a lot due to the lack of skilled manpower and the proper allocation of

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the financial resources. There was a lack of the technological innovations within the company.
This really resulted in the production of the old and the backdated products. This was becoming
a serious problem for them to stay in the competition.
There were also several negative outcomes in the individual and the group level as well. This
was mainly because there was a lack of well organized long-term planning on the part of the
company. The number of financial resources as also very less and the allocation of the resources
were also very faulty. Altogether their production was getting hampered and they needed some
urgent solutions for solving this problem.
Step 3– Recommended solutions
Yahoo must be concentrating on increasing their financial resources. The other important
thing that they must focus upon is the distribution and the allocation of the financial resources
among all their departments. This will help them in strengthening their R&D department as well.
This will, in turn, help in undertaking an in detailed research and development process. They will
be able to undertake am in the detailed market an analysis and they will also be able to gather
enough amount of resources. This will really help in improving the kinds of products and
services produced by them. They might also focus on getting some good investors who will be
helping them to get a good amount of financial resources. This will really be very helpful for the
organization as they are in need of a good amount of financial resources. They must also focus
on getting some employees who are well versed in the technological field. In this modern
scientific era, each and every company is trying their level best to develop the technical base.
Yahoo is having a major concentration of employees who are only concerned about their
business activities.

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They are not really concerned about uplifting themselves in the technical fields. So,
Yahoo will have to concentrate on getting the tech-savvy employees who will spend a good
amount of time browsing the technical sites and gain good proficiency in the technical fields.
This will help them in gaining a good scientific and technological expertise. As there is a
problem in the internal communication and the culture of the organization, Yahoo must talk
immediate measures in overcoming that problem. They must ensure that there are no issues on
the individual and the professional levels. They have to motivate their employees and make them
feel important within the organization. So, they must start creating some sessions where they will
be asking the employees about their needs and demands. The managers will have to pay much
more attention to the employee interactions and the employee development. The FYI or the ask
anything session is one of the good steps taken by the organization (Ilker Soydan and Oner
2017). This gives a good chance of improving the organizational culture.
These ask anything session with the employees will be helpful for the employees to talk
freely with their co-workers and with their bosses as well. They must also focus on the team
improvement. The employees must interact with one another and must develop a good
cooperative attitude towards one another. They will also have to focus on developing their public
relation strategies. In order to thrive in the market, they have to give a good competition with the
other competitive firms like Google. They will have to work on their telecommunication policies
as well. They have to make the overall working of the organization much more organized,
smooth and technical in nature. Rather than focusing on the production of a large number of
products they have to focus only on the production of a single amount of product or a selected
range of products by making the policies much more organized and scientific in nature.

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Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion of the challenges that are faced by the organization,
Yahoo, it might be stated that the application of the Integrative Framework in the OB of the
business has helped in idealizing the recommended solutions. The recommended solutions will
be helping the organization in bringing forth improvements in the processes of the business
relating to the proper allocation of financial resources and the development of the R&D
department of the business. Proper allocation of the financial resources of the organization and
thereby focusing on the development of particular offerings will be helping the organization in
upholding the competitive advantage of the same. On the other hand, the maintaining
transparency in the communicational functions will be helping the organization in integrating the
functions of the same. Development of the processes as per the objectives of the business will be
helping the organization in maintaining the proficiency of the functions as per the objectives of
its growth.

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References
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