EDM 801 Case Study Part 2

This case study examines the leadership of Nasser Al-Jaidah at Qatar Petroleum International (QPI), focusing on the nature of his leadership style within the Middle Eastern cultural context. The analysis explores various leadership theories, including transactional and transformational leadership, and their impact on Al-Jaidah's organizational direction. The study also critically discusses how Al-Jaidah's leadership is distinctive to the cultural context of the Middle East, considering factors like power distance and consensus-building within the GCC region. The assignment answers three questions: the nature of leadership illustrated in the case, the impact of management and leadership theories on Al-Jaidah's organizational direction, and a critical discussion of the statement that Al-Jaidah's leadership is distinctive to the cultural context of the Middle East. The student uses various academic sources to support their analysis and conclusions.

Qualification Executive Diploma in Management
Batch Batch 1
Module Name Management & Leadership
Module Number EDM 801 – Case Study (Pre-seen) – Part 2
Module Tutor Dr. Manil De Mel MBA (Australia), PhD (USA)
Name of Candidate Mohamed Imran Mohamed Shakir
Candidate No. 801031603
Submission Date 2 July 2016

Question 1
Discuss the nature of leadership as illustrated in the case. Your answer must
include different Styles of leadership and it’s relevant to Al-Jaidah and Qatar.
Answer –
There are many ways of looking at leadership and many interpretations of its meaning.
Leadership might be interpreted in simple terms, such as ‘getting others to follow’ or
‘getting people to do things willingly’, or interpreted more specifically, for example as ‘the
use of authority in decision-making’. It may be exercised as an attribute of position or
because of personal knowledge or wisdom. Leadership might be based on a function of
personality or it can be seen as a behavioral category. It may also be viewed in terms of
the role of the leaders and their ability to achieve effective performance from others.
Leadership can be defined as a process by which one individual influences others
toward the attainment of group or organizational goals. “Leadership as a phenomenon
for research is experiencing a rebirth due to developments in the academy and the
urgency for improving leadership globally”. (Shondrick, Dinh and Lord, 2010)
“The term leadership is a word taken from the common vocabulary and incorporated into
the technical vocabulary of a scientific discipline without being precisely redefined. As a
consequence, it carries extraneous connotations that create ambiguity of meaning”.
(Clarke and Williams, 1926)
Nature of Leadership –
There are two main approaches to leadership – traits and situational. The first approach
assumes that leaders are born and not made. In the early times leadership was
considered to originate from the personal qualities of the leader and insufficient attention
was given to the contribution of the group structure and situations. The early studies
focused their attention on certain traits to compare leaders with non-leaders. Later
studies, however reveled the fallacy of the traits approach. Gibb remarked that the leader
traits are relative to a specific social situation and are not exhibited in isolation.
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He pointed out that attempts to find a consistent pattern of traits that characterize leaders
had failed and said that the attributes of leadership are any or all of those personality
characteristics that in any particular situation make it possible for a person either to
contribute to achievement of a group, goal or to be seen as doing so by other group
members. The person who becomes a leader surpasses others in some qualities
required by the goal in the particular situation.
The situational approach to leadership provides a corrective to the traits approach which
regarded leaders as uniquely superior individual who would lead in whatever situation or
time they might find themselves.
Here some Characteristics of Natural Leaders.
A natural leader doesn’t necessarily intend to lead; others simply feel naturally compelled
to follow or a natural leader doesn’t lead, he or she just is, and others just naturally
follow. A natural leader is inspired and inspiring, and often inspiring others to,
themselves, be inspiring. A natural leader is the heart, rather than the head, of an
organization, radiating both passion and love. They encourages rather than directs. They
supports rather than the controls. A natural leader holds a deep and dynamic vision,
rather than authority. They empowers rather than rewards. A natural leader is confident,
but not egotistical. They doesn’t stay on problems, but rather is driven towards positive
outcomes.
Leadership Styles -
There are many dimensions to leadership and many possible ways of describing
leadership style, such as bureaucratic, Coercive, Paternalistic, Transactional and
Transformational. When it’s comes to Mr. Nasser Al-Jaidah QPI, I have seen with his
leading styles are mixed with the Transformational and Transactional styles.
The Transactional leadership is based on legitimate authority within the bureaucratic
structure of the organization. The prominence is on the clarification of goals and
objectives, work task and outcomes, and organizational rewards and punishments.
Transactional leadership appeals to the self-interest of followers. It is based on a
relationship of mutual dependence and an exchange process of ‘I will give you this, if you
do that’.
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Transformational leadership by contrast, is a process of engendering higher levels of
motivation and commitment among followers. The emphasis is on generating a vision for
the organization and the leader’s ability to appeal to higher ideals and values of
followers, and creating a feeling of justice, loyalty and trust. In the organizational sense,
transformational leadership is about transforming the performance or fortunes of a
business.
Transformational leadership theory differentiates between the transactional and the
transformational leader. Transactional leadership focuses on role and task requirements
and utilizes rewards contingent on performance. By contrast, transformational leadership
focuses on developing mutual trust, fostering the leadership abilities of others, and
setting goals that go beyond the short-term needs of the work group.
Bass's transformational leadership theory identifies four aspects of effective leadership,
which include charisma, inspiration, intellectual stimulation, and consideration. A leader
who exhibits these qualities will inspire subordinates to be high achievers and put the
long-term interest of the organization ahead of their own short-term interest, according to
the theory. Empirical research has supported many of the theory's propositions.
Question 2
Discuss the impact of theories of management and leadership on organizational
direction of Al-Jaidah
Answer –
Management and leadership theories are important for formulating, executing and
controlling the organisational strategies. Different management theories like behavioral
theory, functional theory, situational theory, contingency theory etc.; all can be used in
making organisational strategies. Similarly different leadership styles can also be used in
organisational strategy implementation. The leadership styles can be used to analyze
whether the employees are satisfied with their leaders or not. For this purpose
transactional or transformational leadership styles can be used for the achieving
successful organisational strategy (Laohavichien et al., 2009).
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Leadership theories and organizational change strategies enable leaders to improve
processes and profitability. Managers lead by establishing standards and setting a good
example. They communicate a clear vision, set strategic goals and motivate employees
to produce quality products and services to achieve the organizational goals.
Successful leaders like Al-Jaidah plan’s organizational change events carefully. Sudden,
unplanned events cause needless disruption and distraction. Whether changes impact
the company as a whole or just a single department, effective communication and
leadership ensures a smooth transition. Change occurs gradually or happens during a
radical transformational. Effective leaders employ autocratic or democratic decision-
making processes, depending on the situation.
Communicating a Vision -
Mr. Nasser Al-Jaidah’s one of the best leadership practices is by communicating a clear
vision, asking for input and involving workers in long-term planning, effective leaders
empower employees to pursue innovative solutions to complex problems. However, if
leaders rely exclusively on their ability to give charismatic speeches, they typically find
that employees lack details about what the changes mean for them. They usually find
that they need to use transactional leadership skills as well to ensure that followers
understand the company vision and can act on directives.
Effective leaders select the best techniques for the situation, based on their knowledge
of leadership theories and organizational change strategies, to help them conduct
productive interactive meetings, send email messages and employ other communication
mechanisms that explain the need for change. They also explain what expertise is
required to execute changes and provide details about the relevant decisions that have
been made in order to bring about long-term gains. Successful leaders use participative
management strategies to listen to employee input and address valid concerns.
Establishing Goals –
Transformational leaders inspire their followers to achieve strategic goals by clearly
articulating a direction for the company. Al-Jaidah defines what the company does, who
its customers are and what the approaches are for achieving success. By analyzing the
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company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, these develop goals that
help them beat the competition.
Offering Support -
Effective leaders support their personnel during organizational changes by providing
adequate training and time to make the necessary adjustments. Whether the changes
involve removing obsolete processes, shifting how tasks get accomplished, updating
operating principles to new business conditions or restructuring the organization, these
leaders realize they have to evaluate their subordinates. Through their knowledge
of leadership theories and organizational change strategies, leaders make transitions a
less stressful process for everyone.
Question 3
“Al-Jaidah’s leadership is distinctive to the cultural context of Middle East”.
Critically discuss the statement.
Answer –
A many number of conceptualizations of culture exist. Firstly, “Because culture is
experienced personally, very few individuals see it for what it is-a program for behavior.
Members of a common culture not only share information, they share methods of coding,
storing and retrieving that information. These methods vary from culture to culture.
Knowing what kind of information people from other cultures require is one key to
effective international communication” (Hall and Hall, 1990: xiv). Whereas national
culture may be defined as “the body of values, practices and identities deemed to make
particular nations different from others” (Schlesinger, 1997: 372),
In evaluating the national culture of Qatar from the perspective offered by Hofstede
(1984, 1998) in accordance with Qatar’s 2030 National Vision, a key dimension deemed
particularly pertinent to the present enquiry is that of addressing its ‘power distance’,
which relates to the issue of equality (Hofstede, 1984, 1998). To discuss the notion of
power distance as relevant to Qatar’s 2030 National Vision, Qatar proclaims that it seeks
to build “on a society that promotes justice, benevolence and equality. The Vision
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embodies the principles of the Permanent Constitution which: protects public and
personal freedoms; promotes moral and religious values and traditions; and, guarantees
security, stability and equal opportunities” (GSDP, 2008: 10).
As power distance relates to the issue of equality, it is clear that a core underpinning of
Qatar’s National Vision is to promote ‘equality’ and ‘equal opportunities’, and therefore
link the gap in terms of former standards of power distance once framing Qatar and other
Arab states (Hofstede, 1983; Kabasakal and Dastmalchian, 2001). Nevertheless to
engage a deeper enquiry of human resource development in Qatar to encompass
techniques of leadership for example, “A review of the literature shows that there is
scarce knowledge on societal and organisational culture and leadership practices in
Qatar” (Kabasakal and Dastmalchian, 2001: 479).
The art of building consensus is deeply valued in the GCC. It is a skill based on the
cultural history of the majlis — traditionally, the meeting room in a sheikh’s home where
he would gather with advisors and constituents to air out issues and make decisions.
Today’s leaders are aware that their individual decisions will, even when the immediate
impact is confined to one company, gradually come together to determine the path of
development for the GCC. They are conscious of the need to make sweeping changes
— to infrastructure, regulations, and the traditional divisions between the public and
private sectors — without undermining the fundamentals of their culture.
Both within their organizations and in the larger society, leaders in the GCC must be able
to make a case for their strategic imperatives in a way that resonates with stakeholders.
They must be persuasive and adept in their use of language; the GCC’s long history of
oratory and literature has lent its leaders eloquence in their communication style. This
ability is an important basis for building trust between compatriots and establishing
identity and intelligence. Nasser Al-Jaidah, chief executive officer of Qatar Petroleum
International (QPI), emphasizes the importance of this particular skill: “Great leaders
have the quality of communication, the quality of motivating people, and the quality of
listening to people.”
Effective GCC leaders must also be persistent, willing to repeatedly present their case
for change to a number of people with varying interests in its outcome. This skill has
benefited many individuals in the region recently, preventing them from making rash or
unilateral decisions during a time of unprecedented change. It may take months or even
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years for new initiatives to get under way, but when they do, they are launched with the
buy-in of all stakeholders and run more smoothly for it.
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