Elon Musk's Leadership: A Transformational and Ethical Analysis

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Leadership and Management Theory and Practice
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
Reference list.................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
Elon Musk is known for his extraordinary innovation in the technological fields and is currently
is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world. Elon Musk is an entrepreneur, investor
as well as an engineer and has the core competencies on technologies, innovation, and
entrepreneurship. The world-renowned SpaceX and Tesla owner was born in the year of 1971 in
Pretoria, Transvaal, South Africa. Elon Musk has a complex leadership trait that has been
depicted in this essay. In addition to this, the essay has truncated the leadership theories in
relevance to the achievements of Elon Musk in his entire career. Both the success as well as
failures of Elon Musk in various projects throughout his life will be portrayed in this report and
will be linked with suitable leadership theories and models. Furthermore, the essay will also be
depicting the merits as well as demerits of ethical leadership and link it with the leadership traits
of Elon Musk.
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Discussion
There is translucent sheet of difference between leaders and managers. Both leaders as well as
the managers have to play a crucial role in the development of the employees and help the
organisations to embrace the rapid changes due to globalisation. Elon Musk is known as one of
the most innovative entrepreneurs that aim at delivering something not just for any customer but
for the entire human kind. Since his childhood, Elon Musk has been innovating and according to
his famous quote, “Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating
enough (Musk 2017)”. The flux of implementation of the technologies in the modern era has
increased and Elon Musk has taken it to a further extent. The application of the various
technologies in his experiments on engineering space and electronic automobile industries has
brought revolutionary changes that people could only dream about and never achieve. Several
brilliant minds around the global platter that has brought revolutionary changes for the human
kinds; however, the difference between the Elon Musk and other entrepreneurs is that Musk has
taken his vision outside the world into the space.
According to Setili (2017), Elon Musk has a specific leadership trait as well as characteristics
that allows him to gather the attention of the public and motivate employees working under him.
It is extremely essential for a leader to supervise the operational procedures of the organisation
and the leadership skill determines the approach of the leader to the organisation. The leadership
trait of Elon Musk can be amended with the transformational leadership style. The charismatic
personality of Musk can be apprehended as suitable trait for the transformational leadership trait.
As per the knowledge provided by Donohoe and Kelloway (2016), the transformational
leadership highly depends on the motivation of the employee in order to receive a substantial
amount of productivity as well as efficiency from the employees. Elon Musk has an authoritarian
leadership style that allows him to deliver his perspectives based on the results. Elon Musk has
always been dominative in his leadership role, which further makes him comfortable in his
leadership position. The leaders have to undergo through several procedures that involves their
control over the employees of the organisation. Musk has always provided his expectation to
other in order to provide an idea of the roles as well as responsibilities of the employee to meet
the expectations for the betterment of the organisation. An optimistic manager like Elon Musk
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provides valuable feedback to the employee and identifies the loopholes of the work delivered by
the employees. Elon Musk also ensure that his great vision is shared with everyone else around
him especially the employees working for the organisations owned by him (Kuśmierska 2018).
As per the knowledge provided by Swamidass and Schnittka (2017), the transformational
leadership depends on the roles of the leaders in inspiring the employees and keeps on providing
challenges to the employees that promotes the growth of a successful business venture. Elon
Musk is a well renowned entrepreneur and his achievements in the fields of digital technology,
robotics, solar energy and astronomy has brought revolutionary changes and innovations in front
of the humankind. However, Palanski (2015) argued that Elon Musk has been innovating since
his childhood and the first innovation he made was when he was 12 years old. He made a video
game and made profit of $500 by selling it. This has significance with the Great Man Theory of
leadership that states that leaders have significant raw talent within them that allows them to
perceive their qualities to a higher potential in the future. Musk has worked with several
individuals in different companies that include joint venture of him and his cousin, Peter Rive
and Lyndon in the year of 2006 named SolarCity. Musk has also worked with Kimbal, Antonio
Gracias as well as Steve Jurvetson in the joint venture of SpaceX and Tesla. The charismatic
personality of Elon Musk allows him to motivate the employees and gain a positive fame in the
organisations he is involved
Musk has been well known for all the projects that he held and this is not just due to his
extraordinary ideas in the technological fields, but also due to his fascinating character that
gathers the attention of the people, which resembles the characteristics of the Great Man Theory
of leadership. Furthermore, the behavioural theory of leadership also resembles with the
characteristics of Elon Musk. The revolutionary changes in the technological fields brought by
Elon Musk have made hype across the global platter and therefore, Musk is regarded to be a role
model to every engineer and other people working in the technological areas. As per the
knowledge provided by Kaiser et al. (2015), the behavioural theory of leadership highly depends
on the actions of the leaders including their behaviour around the organisation. The behaviours
of the leaders mark the difference between the leaders and the leaders. Elon Musk plays an
inspiration role in the development of the companies that he has and he is currently working. The
highly participatory nature of the individual allows the organisation to validate the operational
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procedures. The participation of the leaders in the operational procedures of the organisation
includes a close supervision of the procedures as well as providing the required guidance to the
employees in validating the procedures.
Elon Musk has numerous achievements that include the development of the solar technologies in
the SolarCity. Since 2006, SolarCity has been providing several solar energy services that
include Commercial solar, Solar Leasing, Electric vehicle chargers, Energy storages and several
other products related to solar energy. The joint venture of SolarCity and Tesla has allowed the
world-renowned entrepreneur to introduce fully electrically functioning automobile vehicles. The
Solar storage batteries innovated from SolarCity is used as the energy storage for the high
functioning electronic Tesla vehicles. According to Ghasabeh et al. (2015), the transformational
leadership includes a participative behaviour of the leaders that can bring catastrophic damage to
the leaders unless they are shared in a prolonged vision and a stationed objective. Several
leadership traits as well as qualities of Elon Musk allowed him to gain a positive reputation
around the world. However, Gonzalez and Winkler (2018), opined that an entrepreneur has to
face several demerits due to specific leadership traits as well as leadership style. The project that
has been undertaken by Elon Musk including the electrically designed Tesla automobile vehicles
has several uncertainties that mainly include the autopilot system of the car (Business Insider,
2019). Several conflicts have aroused due to the development of the modern technologies by
Musk. According to Musk, the autopilot can save numerous lives while majority of the people
claims that the autopilot is still not safe in the hands of human. This has raised several disputes
among the people in the social platforms and media as well.
The behavioural theory of leadership has allowed Elon Musk to receive substantial amount of
respect and reputation however, Kaiser et al. (2015), opined that the behavioural trait of the
leaders has to be in an appropriate time and based on the objectives. This allows the employees
to receive suitable guidance and share the vision with the leaders. In addition to this, Said et al.
(2016) opined that entrepreneurs are usually risk takers and takes risk that involves their
innovation. Elon Musk has taken the technology to an extent that involves making the impossible
possible. Therefore, there are several uncertainties related to the success of the projects. It is
extremely essential for the leaders to maintain an ethical behaviour that helps the leaders to
execute the operational procedures smoothly and enhance the workforce. In relevance to the
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knowledge provided by Bedi et al. (2016), the ethical leadership constitutes of patience,
stationed vision and a unique mentality that promotes the morale support to the employees. Elon
Musk has always been supportive to the employees including the safety teams and other
employees involved in the operational procedures of the organisation.
The ethical leadership can have numerous benefits in the development of an organisation that
constitutes of the laws and regulations that are passed by the government. Several legal laws as
well as regulations promote the growth of suitable workplaces. The sexual harassment law that
prevents the employees from getting sexually harassed are maintained through the ethical
leadership. The ambience within the workplace highly affects the employees and their mindsets
in the work procedures. In order to ensure that the employees are indulged in the work
procedures, the organisation has to make sure that the atmosphere within the workplace
motivates the employees to provide their best for the betterment of the trade and commerce of
the organisation. Elon Musk provides the employees with motivation as well as guidance that
allow the employees to work on the innovations suitably. A healthy workplace culture highly
depends on the ethical leadership styles and Elon Musk tends to have all the qualities of an
ethical leader as well. The ethical leaders always tend to gain respect through their actions and
Elon Musk has did that through his achievements in the technological sectors. The ethical
leadership also increases the workflow and enhances the communication regarding the business
between the management and the employees of the organisation.
However, Kurtulmuş (2019) argued that despite of the numerous benefits an organisation can
receive due to ethical leadership, several demerits persist as well. The demerits of ethical
leadership involve comprehensive support in order to be effective. Maintaining and building the
ethical conduct in the workplaces is an extremely difficult task that the leaders have to achieve
through a gradual approach. Destroying the ethical conduct takes a short period of time but
developing it back takes massive amount of time and the mindsets of the employees are regarded
as a variable that acts as barrier in the rapid development of ethical conduct within the
workplace. Therefore, it is also obligatory for the leaders to maintain the consistent ethical
behaviour however; attaining it is extremely hard as there are a diverse variety of biases in the
mindsets of the employees in a workplace (Nawaz and Khan 2016). Furthermore, the leaders
have to clarify the roles as well as responsibilities of the employees at all times in order to ensure
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that the employees follow the ethics and decorum of the workplace. An ethical approach of
leadership often involves strict supervision of the work procedures that can de-motivate the
employees concerning their individual job security. Elon Musk has maintained a vivid picture of
ethical leadership throughout his entire career and has received a substantial amount of
recognition around the globe.
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Conclusion
The essay has depicted the leadership traits of Elon Musk along with the different leadership
theories as well as models. The essay has portrayed several achievements of Elon Musk that has
allowed him to gain reputation across the world. A detailed abbreviation has been provided in the
essay that covers the various leadership theories as well as models in accordance to the
achievements of Elon Musk. In addition to this, the essay has specified the influence of ethical
leadership and has provided both the merits as well as demerits of the ethical leadership in
accordance to the various actions undertaken by Elon Musk.
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Reference list
Bedi, A., Alpaslan, C.M. and Green, S., 2016. A meta-analytic review of ethical leadership
outcomes and moderators. Journal of Business Ethics, 139(3), pp.517-536.
Business Insider. (2019). Every time your unpredictable CEO says something bizarre to
investors or starts banging away at his iPhone keyboard, the stock can pitch up and down..
[online] Available at: https://www.businessinsider.in/Elon-Musks-fame-used-to-be-a-huge-
advantage-for-Tesla-but-now-its-becoming-a-problem/Every-time-your-unpredictable-CEO-
says-something-bizarre-to-investors-or-starts-banging-away-at-his-iPhone-keyboard-the-stock-
can-pitch-up-and-down-/slideshow/64138424.cms [Accessed 19 Apr. 2019].
Donohoe, M. and Kelloway, E.K., 2016. Transformational leadership training for managers:
effects on employee well-being. In Creating Healthy Workplaces (pp. 231-248). Routledge.
Ghasabeh, M.S., Soosay, C. and Reaiche, C., 2015. The emerging role of transformational
leadership. The Journal of Developing Areas, 49(6), pp.459-467.
Gonzalez, K. and Winkler, C., 2018. The entrepreneurial breaking point: undergoing moments of
crisis. Management Decision.
Kaiser, R.B., LeBreton, J.M. and Hogan, J., 2015. The dark side of personality and extreme
leader behavior. Applied Psychology, 64(1), pp.55-92.
Kurtulmuş, B.E., 2019. Leadership and Ethical Behavior. In The Dark Side of Leadership (pp.
75-82). Palgrave Pivot, Cham.
Kuśmierska, A., 2018. Strategia biznesu i model przywództwa Elona Muska.
Musk, E., 2017. Making humans a multi-planetary species. New Space, 5(2), pp.46-61.
Nawaz, Z.A.K.D.A. and Khan_ PhD, I., 2016. Leadership theories and styles: A literature
review. Leadership, 16, pp.1-7.
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Palanski, M.E., Cullen, K.L., Gentry, W.A. and Nichols, C.M., 2015. Virtuous leadership:
Exploring the effects of leader courage and behavioral integrity on leader performance and
image. Journal of Business Ethics, 132(2), pp.297-310.
Said, J., Alam, M., Zulkarnain, N., Abdullah, N. and Herda, N., 2016. Entrepreneurial orientation
for sustainable competitive advantage and risk management: evidence from government-linked
companies in Malaysia.
Setili, A., 2015. Does Your Leadership Style Destroy Agility... or Supercharge It?. Leader to
Leader, 2015(78), pp.56-61.
Swamidass, P. 2017, C., 2017. Finding and Preparing Teachers to Meet the Needs of US Student
Innovators in the Making. Technology & Innovation, 18(4), pp.331-342.
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