Responsible Leadership in IT: A Case Study of Cognizant

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of responsible leadership, using Cognizant Technology Solutions as a case study. It begins by defining leadership and exploring the roles and responsibilities of a programmer analyst within the company, including challenges related to user requirements, time constraints, and technological advancements. The essay then delves into various leadership theories, such as Great Man Theory, Trait Theory, Behavioral Theory, Contingency Theory, Transactional Theory, and Transformational Theory, highlighting the relevance of the Behavioral and Transactional leadership models within Cognizant. The essay discusses the importance of task-oriented and people-oriented leadership styles, particularly in the context of training and team monitoring. It further examines the strengths of effective leadership, including communication, structure, planning, analysis, and decision-making, while also addressing the challenges leaders face, such as time management and organizational loyalty. The essay concludes by emphasizing the need for leaders to be good performers, knowledgeable about their work, and committed to the organization's values.

Running head: RESPONSIBLE LEADERSHIP
RESPONSIBLE LEADERSHIP
Name of the Student:
Name of the University;
Author Note:

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Leader defines a person who guides or leads other people to a specific direction to a
specific place. Leader is someone acts as a pioneer to the others as the leader is largely
followed by a mass. A leader is who; understand the agenda of the people and according to
that design the path. A leader is who is compassionate towards the people rather than
domineering. Through which path a leader leads the people and the process of leading the
people is termed as leadership (Antonakis 2017). The idea of leadership stands for a leader
who helps the others to do the right things or helps the people to recognize the right things.
The leadership deals with the idea of directing and inspiring people to create more, leadership
build vision for something bigger that the usual. The leadership varies from person to person
and organization to organization. The leadership depends on the policy of the organization, as
a responsible leadership always looks after the company policies besides employees goals.
This essay deals with a particular organization named Cognizant Technology Solutions.
Cognizant is an American IT company, functioning in the market since 1996. The company
provides services like information technology, ITO, BPO, information security and
consulting. The company depends on the global delivery model and runs from across the
globe with around 255,800 employees.
The position of a programmer analyst of the IT Company like Cognizant Technology
deals with the responsibility like, working with the customers related to liberty mutual
insurance and Centrica plc. The key responsibilities are to support the clients in
developmental needs (Daft 2014). The programmer analyst performs multiple analyses to
provide best solution to the clients. Apart from the external works a programmer analyst
serves the internal project works related to internal transport request management. The
programmer analyst monitoring the entire team object status, analyze it and fixes the gaps if
appears. The additional responsibility comes when the company recruit new employees as the

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programmer analyst also act as a trainer to the new team members and single handedly
controls the ABAP portion of the support team.
There are several challenges that are faced by a programmer analyst. The basic
problem that a programmer analyst faces that, in understanding the requirements of the user.
It happens as the thinking style of the programmer analyst differs from the users. The
programmer analyst think in one way but the users think in completely different way hence
the contradiction occurs in the field of work (Doh and Quigley 2014). The consequence is the
service which are to provided to provide to the clients cannot fulfill the client`s need. Time is
another factor that affects the work of the programmer analyst. The project an analyst is
working on has to be submitted within allocated time. Technology is something, which is
entitled to change every day. To cope up with the new technology a programmer analyst has
to have a keen interest in learning new things about the changes in technologies. The
programmer analyst has to keep the pace with the change. The ramification can be attending
the libraries through which an idea of task can be achieved, attending the training which is
organized in regular interval about the news tools, patterns, frameworks, new techniques are
taught. The communication challenge that is faced by a programmer analyst is during the
project completion. The misunderstanding occurs when dealing with the projects. This
communication challenge impedes the flow of thoughts between clients and the programmer
analyst. The communication is something, which impedes the analyst to understand the
demands of the users. The communication problems can prohibit the analyst when he or she
acts as a trainer to the new team member. Without proper communication a trainer cannot
explains the details of the works and about the objectives of the organization (Fairhurst and
Connaughton 2014). A trainer is the one who describes the job role the trainees and explains
the career growth within the organization. The primary role of a trainer is to outline the aim

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of the new trainers and make them understand the basic responsibility towards the
organization. Theses all cannot be performed without a smooth communication skill.
The leadership theory evolved since ancient era. In Sanskrit literature, ten types of
leaders are found. On the other hand, Aristotle postulated about the monarchy in the society.
Leadership theory largely depends on the individual and the organization as well. The
Leadership theory encompasses Great Man Theory, Trait Theory, Behavioral Theory,
Contingency Theory, Transactional Theory and Transformational Theory. The Great Man
theory believes that a person who is entitled to be a leader is born with the leadership quality.
Trait Theory also believes that leadership quality comes with the birth of a human being
(Northouse 2015). To become a good leader the leadership quality has to be present in the
instinct of that particular person. The Behavioral Theory came up with factors related to
human psychology. The theory deals with cause and effect of the human behavior, hence the
leadership varies depending on the human behavior. On the contrary, Contingency Theory
leadership is proportional to certain situations. The Transactional theory evolved in the
middle of the 20th century where it is said that, leaders assign task to the followers and set
organizational goals to them and for that the leader prepare a suitable environment. In this
theory the leader rewards or punish according the nature of fulfillment of the tasks. The
Transformational Leadership Theory deeply believes in relationship and trust, which is built
through interactions.
The organizational leadership based on above six leadership theories. The
programmer analyst of Cognizant Technology has effect of Behavioral Leadership theory.
Like the theory the analyst has to play two types f leadership role, one is task oriented
leadership role and another is people oriented leadership role. The task-oriented leader has
one concern related to task. The pivotal task of the programmer analyst is to provide the
customers with adequate service and support. The behavior of the leaders has to be very

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structured, which will not affect the work process. The behavior has to be very organized or
the analyst will not be able to complete a task in the given time. The programmer analyst has
to have a interest in order to gather information to perform a task. In four words, the leader
has to be initiating, organizing, clarifying and information gathering. In case of understanding
a task, a proper clarification is essential behavior to a leader. On the other hand, the same
leader has to play people oriented leader role to satisfy the need of the people. The basic
characteristics of the people oriented leader are encouraging, observing, listening, coaching
and mentoring (Martins et al. 2016). The leader has to be patience enough to understand the
user`s need. In cognizant the same analyst has play a role of trainers and a monitor while
comes to internal project. In order to monitor and manage the internal project a leader has to
be encouraging towards the team members of the project to get the project done accurately.
Encouragement helps to escalate the team spirit, reduce the boredom of the task and make the
employees productive. A good and wise leader has to be patient towards listening towards the
subordinates or else the leader will not be able to solve the problem of the employees. It may
happen that employee is facing any difficulty regarding professional arena. The duty of a
responsible leader is to listen to the employees so that difficulties can be overcome which
will be beneficial to the organization. While the programmer analyst performs the role of a
trainer, the leader has to be observant towards the every trainee. The leader need take the note
of whether any one is facing difficulties or not and whether anyone is causing any difficulty
in the organization. The vital tasks of the trainer come with coaching and mentoring. The
trainer is the one who describes the job role the trainees and explains the career growth within
the organization (Stone-Johnson 2014). The primary role of a trainer is to outline the aim of
the new trainers and make them understand the basic responsibility towards the organization.
The trainer coaches the trainees how the task is done in the organization and teaches them
how the communication barriers are overcome. The twist and turn of the work procedures

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and the organizational policy should be explained to the trainees. The ‘do`s and don’t’ of the
organization should be cleared out to the trainees during the training period. A responsible
leader should aware the trainees about the possible measures that the organization take if any
fault happens. The monitoring of a team comes with great responsibility. To monitor a team
or a project the leader has to be wise and compassionate along with strictly discipline.
It is obvious that, leader only can lead others if he or she does believe the organization
and a religious follower of the rules and regulation of the particular organization. The leader
has to be disciplined enough to direct others to the right path. In both of the cases, coaching
and monitoring, the leader has to be wise or else he or she will overlook the flaws of the
work. Not only are the flaws the new trainees always needy for help. With the proper help
and proper guidance the required work cannot be achieved by the organization. It is a duty of
a responsible leader to shape efficient employees during training period. In Cognizant
Technologies the Transactional Leadership model is mostly followed. The Transactional
Leadership says the subordinates are bound to follow the way, which was shown by the
leader. The subordinates are accountable for their works (McCleskey 2014). They are
rewarded when they perform well and they are punished when they fail to perform well. The
focus of the leadership revolves around management, supervision, organization and
performance. In Cognizant, being multinational company benefits are given by the level of
performances. Promotions depend on the performance levels and besides that, punishments
are given with degradation of the performance level. In this leadership model, the leader is
the one who set the goal on behalf of the employee. This leadership is effective during the
crisis of any organization.
The strengths of the leadership are, Communication, through which work is smoothen
both cases of external and internal. Structure is strength, as the effective leadership shapes
organizational structure. The leadership takes care of the systems and the administrative part

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of any organization. Planning and implementation of the plan is the one of the strengths. The
whole planning of the system and the implementation of the rules are largely depending on
the leadership (Chhokar, Brodbeck and House 2013). The power of assessment and analysis
of a task or situation or any employee`s behavior is done by a wise leader which is considered
as a strength of the leadership. Listening to the clients as well as the employees can bring
change or mitigate any crisis in an organization. Fixing the gap within the organization and
decision making fall under the strength of the leadership (Salacuse 2017). The most
challenging thing is often faced by the leader is time. Time can improve or sabotage any
situation. To understand the right time before taking any action is essential to every leader.
The leader should be the one who actually believe the organizational culture. He or
she must have a clear idea about the rules and regulation of the organization. The leader has
to have a clear idea about the work. The leader has to loyal towards the organization. In order
to become a responsible leader first the person has to be a good performer. Without having a
proper knowledge about the particular work how he or she would guide others. The leader
has to have a clear knowledge about the work and the leader has to have a interest in learning
new things. To play a role a responsible leader one has to keep him always updated with the
up gradation of new technology (Breevaart et al. 2014). As Cognizant is an IT company,
hence the company every day experiences the new changes of technology. Without keeping
the pace of the changing technologies, a leader cannot become responsible towards his or her
work and to the organization. In terms of monitoring the project a leader has to work as a
team. A responsible leader should be respectful towards the teammates and supportive as
well. This should the motto of responsible leadership. The leader should not hurt any
employee in order to get a task done. Being bossy or domineering in nature is not the
example of responsible leadership. The leadership is something, which makes everyone
realize that everyone is part of the organization, and the organization is run by the group of

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people hence, everyone is equally important. The excessive projection of authoritativeness
will drive away the employees from the organization. The effective leader has to be
professional and compassionate towards the employees. The objective of the responsible
leadership is to boost up the morale of the of the employees towards the organization. A
responsible leader has to be motivational and encourage the employees, which help them
become productive. A responsible leader should be good in communication or else he or she
will not be able to understand the employee requirements as well as the client requirements.
The responsible leadership can be achieved through these ways.

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