HP Inc. Leadership Analysis Report

This report provides a detailed analysis of Hewlett-Packard (HP) Inc.'s management and leadership approach. It examines HP's internal strategies, focusing on teamwork and leadership styles. The report begins by introducing HP, highlighting its history, unique culture ('The HP Way'), and its significant market share. It then delves into the concepts of workgroups and teams, exploring different group types (formal and informal), the Tuckman group development model (forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning), and key team dynamics such as team size, composition, roles, norms, and status. The report further analyzes how HP fosters team efficiency through selection, training, and rewarding mechanisms. The next section focuses on leadership and management, differentiating between the roles of leaders and managers and exploring various leadership theories. Specifically, it examines the trait theory and, more importantly, the contingency theory, illustrating how HP utilizes autocratic, participative, and free-reign leadership styles depending on the situation. The report concludes by summarizing HP's success as a result of its well-designed leadership processes and positive work culture.

MANAGEMENT AND
ORGANIZATION
BEHAVIOR

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Organisation is a formal gathering of people who come together to work collectively for
attaining the predetermined objectives of company and developing effective and influential
results for the growth of business. Present study develops a detailed analysis of a blue chip
company which is globally established and successfully operating its business. The study will
focus on undertaking an extensive research on the management and leadership approach of HP
inc to evaluate the internal strategies of company.
Hewlett Packard Company (HP) is an American IT company which provides a wide
range of technological services and products. HP is referred as 'godfather of silicon valley' due to
wide business base and effective market share. The entity was established in the year 1939 by
two Stanford graduates Bill Hewlett and David Packard. HP developed a unique and effective
culture 'The HP way' which revolutionised the employment policies and working culture in
Silicon Valley. It developed a culture with flexible working hours, creative freedom, wide
employee benefits and limited lay-offs.
HP has established an effective system of creating group dynamics and team working
within the company. This has helped business unit in developing effective and profitable results
for the organization. The company efficiently supports team development and team building
spirits. Moreover, HP has adopted contingency leadership styles in order to attain effective goals
and outcomes for the company. Bill Hewlett and David Packard, the founders of company have
been the influential characters for the business.
The report will help in analysing the impact of team work and leadership within the
company. The study reflects that HP has developed and adopted well designed leadership
process styles in order to attain high success for the company.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Background of the company...................................................................................................1
WORKGROUPS AND TEAMS.....................................................................................................2
Types of group........................................................................................................................2
Process of group development................................................................................................2
Team dynamics.......................................................................................................................3
Creating team efficiency in HP..............................................................................................4
LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT..........................................................................................5
Leaders and managers............................................................................................................5
Theories..................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Organisation is a formal gathering of people who come together to work collectively for
attaining the predetermined objectives of company and developing effective and influential
results for the growth of business. Well established global units such as Apple, Samsung, HP,
Marks and Spencer, Virgin, Hilton, Marriott etc. have adopted the individualistic and unique
approach of managing organizational functions and attaining favourable results for the business.
Businesses adopt unique measures to develop team work for the success of business (Basu and
Wright, 2003).
Present study will develop a detailed analysis of a blue chip company which is globally
established and successfully operating its business. The study will focus on undertaking an
extensive research on the management and leadership approach of HP inc to evaluate the internal
strategies of company. The report will evaluate the policies and measures that HP has adopted in
order to influence work-groups and teams. The study will apply academic theories and practices
in the report in order to understand the organizational behaviour of business.
Background of the company
Hewlett Packard Company (HP) is an American IT company which provides a wide
range of technological services and products. HP is referred as 'godfather of silicon valley' due to
wide business base and effective market share. The entity was established in the year 1939 by
two Stanford graduates Bill Hewlett and David Packard (WHERE NEXT FOR HEWLETT-
PACKARD? 2015). The company went public in the year 1957. The founders of the business
shared their vision by stating the significance of employees for the success of business. The
company focused on developing trust and respects for the employees to foster effective creativity
which results in developing wide success and prosperity measures. At present, company manages
a workforce of more than 325,000 people.
HP developed a unique and effective culture 'The HP way' which revolutionised the
employment policies and working culture in Silicon Valley (Amar, 2004.). It developed a culture
with flexible working hours, creative freedom, wide employee benefits and limited lay-offs. This
helped company in developing a strong and committed team of employees for the business by
infusing positive organizational culture. In the year 2001, HP merged with Compaq in order to
develop financial and organizational efficiency.
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WORKGROUPS AND TEAMS
Group behaviour and team work are one of the most crucial and significant parts of
attaining the business objectives. It helps company in creating effective impact on the growth
and development of company. HP has established an effective system of creating group
dynamics and team working within the company (Ellis and et. al., 2007.). This has helped
business unit in developing effective and profitable results for the organization. The company
efficiently supports team development and team building spirits.
Types of group
A group is defined as an interaction of two or more individuals to attain and achieve a
common objective. Management of the organization supports both the formal and informal
group development. Formal group: This is a group where individuals are structured in a group on the basis of
organizational structure. This group is formed on the basis of organizational policies and
norms. Individual expertise and capabilities are considered by the companies (Benson
and Bugnitz, 2004).
 Informal group: These groups are developed on the basis of individual interests of the
employees. These groups are created under no directive control and supervision.
Employees sharing common interests develop a group which enhances the working
culture and communication within the company.
Process of group development
Formal groups are significant and most crucial part of organizational working. HP has
created a positive and influential culture within the company. Team working helps company in
attaining organizational goals effectively which helps in developing positive means of working.
Tuckman's group development theory is implemented within the firm in order to develop
competitive teams (Gilmore and Pine, 2014). The following stages of group development are
implemented by the firm. Forming: This is one of the initial basic stages of team development. Management of HP
identifies the skills and capabilities of employees and group them accordingly. Team
members are not well known or acquainted at this stage of team development.
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 Storming: This phase of group formation develops a conflicting environment within the
teams. Team members start knowing and adjusting to needs and requirement of one
another. This stage helps team members in developing effective means of working as per
the company’s norms and policies (Sheehan and Griffiths, 2011). Norming: This stage of team development is the one where members of the team start
resolving their issues to develop a team structure. Members here start working as a team
in order to attain the set target. Here, formal structure of the team is developed and
executed for the effective results. Performing: This is the stage where employees-of the company collectively work in a
committed and effective manner in order to attain the common goal. Leader of the team
delegates the responsibility to the authorised people and they work to perform the same.
Members at this stage relate themselves with the team and work as a potential member.
 Adjourning: This is the final stage of team development and is applicable for the projects
based teams. Workgroups which are formed for the task based goals are dissolved after
the completion of task (Smith, Binns and Tushman, 2010). Working relationship and
roles are closed and employees go back to their routine or basic profiles.
Team dynamics
Team effectiveness and efficiency are one of the significant parts for the success and
development of company. Team’s dynamics helps in developing effective teams for the
company which helps business in developing high growth and development prospects. Major
components of team dynamics considered by HP include: Team size: Effectiveness of work groups depends on the size of team. HP focuses on
developing a considerable size of the team in order to create effective proper means of
management. Team size depends on the goal of team. A diverse and large team is
developed for large and complex tasks while small and focused team is developed to
attain the specific goals of company (Ward, 2011). This has helped business in efficiently
attaining the organizational growth. Team composition: Management of the company critically focuses on developing an
effective and competitive team of employees. The composition of a team is significant to
attain the organizational objectives. The team is developed by effectively considering the
skills and capabilities of employees. A strong team is developed by efficiently
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determining the needs of the team problem and developing competitive team to attain the
same. HP focuses on determining the employee efficiency, thus delegates roles and
responsibilities accordingly. Roles and responsibilities: This is one of the significant and crucial parts of attaining
team efficiency. Management of the company closely determines the individual
behaviour of employees and delegates roles and responsibilities accordingly (Yang and
Grunig, 2005). Company focuses on assigning right role for the right person to develop
high successful results. Group norms: HP is globally established units which operates in more than 40 countries
around the world. Company manages large number of team to deliver effective and
quality results to the clients. Group norms help a team in developing restrictive and
formal means of working.
 Team status: Team effectiveness significantly depends on the status shared by the team
in order to attain group objectives for the company. This helps in defining the differences
and hierarchy of working (Uitdenbogerd, 2007). The qualified and experiences
employees work of high status projects. This helps company in developing a positive
means of working for the employees.
Creating team efficiency in HP
A formal team is a group of capable and skilled employees who have the efficiency to
attain the organizational goals and objectives to attain high profitability. HP has developed an
effective and positive means of working within the company. Organization develops team
efficiency in the company by the following measures: Selection: HP closely focuses on selecting the right person for the team task in order to
develop an effective and favourable team composition. Selection of the employees or
team members is based on the capabilities and credibility of person (Walton, 2011).
Leaders, managers and supervisors examine and analyse the abilities of employees in
order to determine their team roles and responsibilities. Training: In order to attain the group objectives, leaders focus on providing timely
training sessions to the employees. This helps them in developing their capabilities on the
basis of team composition and target. Proper and timely training brush up the skills of a
person. This helps them in developing proper and effective understanding of the tasks and
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roles (Amar, 2004). Moreover, training helps in enhancing the speed and efficiency of
individuals which lead to the favourable results for the company.
 Rewarding: This helps team in developing their performance within the organization.
Company focuses on providing both the financial and non-financial rewards to the
employees in order to attain the effective results for the company. Reward system
motivates team members to perform better and effectively (Aquinas, 2006). Reward
system creates a positive competition within the market which helps companies in
attaining favourable results.
LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT
Organizational efficiency and performance widely depend on the effective leadership and
management. Leadership is the process to influence people for attaining the common goals of
company through using the process of convincing and controlling. A manager on the other hand
focuses in attaining positive results from the employees and teams as well (Rutherford, 2001).
The most commonly used definition states the above situation efficiently in the given scenario.
Management is the process of getting things done by others.
Leaders and managers
Leaders and managers are often considered as a similar term. However, there is a
significant difference between the two. A leader is a person who influences people to attain
organizational objectives. Manager on the other hand focuses on delivering effective results for
the growth and development of company. Major point of difference between a leader and a
managers within HP is as follows: Role: A leader is the one who is responsible for influencing team members in order to
attain effective results for the company. A manager on the other hand is responsible to
attain results for the teams or departments by analysing their needs and providing proper
support (Yergler, 2012). Approach: Leaders take a detailed approach to analyse the needs of clients thus, develop
processes and measures to resolve problems. A leader is a person who focuses on the
details regarding the factors that are impacting team work and performance. Managers
however provides a target to the team and only seeks the final results. The approach
adopted by the managers focuses on setting the direction in order to get things done.
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 Risk: Leaders focus on bending rules in order to achieve the goals. They are the risk
takers as they initiate and set grounds to influence team members within the company.
Flexible working culture of the company supports the strategy of a leader (Osterloh,
2002). Managers on contrary to this focus on minimizing the risk and uncertainty for the
company. They foresee the results of the action and prioritise safety over risk.
 Decision making: A leader facilitates decision making within the company by adopting a
participative approach in order to attain the organizational goals. The core focus of a
leader is to lead people to attain targets and goals of the company. A manager however
makes decision in order to develop effective means of working within the company. They
focus on managing organizational work in order to develop effective results for the
company.
Theories
Leadership is an age old process. Different authors have given different leadership
theories which are adopted by the companies in order to attain effective result for the company.
Leaders are the crucial and most significant requirements of companies. They help in developing
effective and favourable results for the business. Trait theory: Researchers and authors in mid 90s believed and followed trait theory of
leadership. According to this theory, leaders have special traits and characteristics which
help them in developing favourable and effective results for the company. The theory
suggested that qualities such as intelligence, sense of responsibility, creativity and other
values put anyone in the shoes of a good leader. According to this theory, a person with
specific characteristics is capable of influencing people to attain the set objectives. This
theory was criticised later due to its rigidity and inefficiency to consider exceptional
cases (Pinder, 2014). HP did not adopt this leadership theory in practice as the founders
of the company are believed in attaining results through hard work and practice rather
than set traits. Contingency theory: This theory was developed in 1960s and believes that there is no
single way of leadership. The theory is believed in the situational factors of leadership
which entails that the efficiency of a leader depends upon his/her capability of making
right decisions. HP has adopted this leadership style in order to attain the effective goals
and outcomes for the company (Groth, 2005). Bill Hewlett and David Packard, founders
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of the company has been the influential characters for the business. They are adopted the
following styles as per the situation’s demands and needs:
◦ Autocratic leadership: This is a rigid and extreme leadership style in which leader
takes complete control of the situation and provides minimum control or flexibility to
the employees. Leader makes all the decisions and team members are directed about
what to do and how it must be done (Gonos and Gallo, 2013). This leadership style is
useful in the critical and emergency situation. Founders adopted this style to deal with
the situation of emergency.
◦ Participative leadership: This is an effective and common leadership style. Here,
leaders take a participative approach in order to attain the organizational goals. Team
members are given effective means of participation in the company decisions.
Founders adopted this leadership style for a long and ongoing process (Ward, 2011).
◦ Free-reign leadership: This leadership style is adopted by the company when
employees are highly qualified and motivated. This style delivers favourable results
for the company by least interfering in the decision making process of the employees
(Rutherford, 2001). HP adopts this style of leadership for the well trained and
committed team of employees. It helps in attaining effective and positive results for
the company.
CONCLUSION
Effectiveness of the company widely depends upon the factors such as leadership,
management, team work, group behaviour, individual contribution etc. These factors are
effectively managed and developed by the business units in order to attain the effective and
favourable results for the business. Companies have developed unique and influential cultures in
order to enhance the business growth and development to attain the valuable results for the
company. Employees are considered as the valuable assets for organizations. The above report
helped in analysing the impact of team work and leadership within the company. The study
reflects that HP has developed and adopted well designed leadership process styles in order to
attain high success for the company. The positive work culture and well developed policies have
made company highly competitive and globally efficient.
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REFERENCES
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Aquinas, P. G., 2006. Organisation Behaviour. Excel Books India.
Basu, R. and Wright, N., 2003. Quality Beyond Six Sigma. Elsevier,
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Better Bottom Line. John Wiley & Sons.
Ellis, R. A. and et. al., 2007., Managing quality improvement of eLearning in a large, campus-
based university. Quality Assurance in Education. 15(1). pp. 9-23.
Gilmore, J. H. and Pine, B. J., 2014. A leader's guide to innovation in the experience economy.
Strategy & Leadership. 42 (1). pp.24 – 29.
Osterloh, M., 2002. Successful Management by Motivation: Balancing Intrinsic and Extrinsic
Incentives. Springer Science & Business Media.
Pinder, C., 2014. Work Motivation in Organizational Behavior. Psychology Press.
Rutherford, S., 2001. Organizational cultures. Management Review. 16(8). pp.371 – 382.
Sheehan, M. and Griffiths, J., 2011. Understanding the context of workplace health management
as it relates to workplace bullying. International Journal of Workplace Health
Management. 4(1). pp.5–12.
Smith, W. K., Binns, A. and Tushman, M. L., 2010. Complex business models: Managing
strategic paradoxes simultaneously. Long Range Planning. 43(2). pp.448-461.
Uitdenbogerd, D. E., 2007. Energy and Households: The Acceptance of Energy Reduction
Options in Relation to the Performance and Organisation of Household Activities.
Wageningen Universiteit.
Walton, M., 2011. Leadership behavior‐in‐context: an antidote to leadership hype. Industrial and
Commercial Training. 43(7). pp.415 – 421.
Ward, J. L., 2011. Keeping the family business healthy: How to plan for continuing growth,
profitability, and family leadership. Macmillan.
Yang, U. S. And Grunig, E. J., 2005. Decomposing organisational reputation: The effects of
organisation–public relationship outcomes on cognitive representations of organisations
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and evaluations of organisational performance. |Journal of Communication Management.
9(4)., pp.305 – 325.
Yergler, J., 2012. Organizational Culture and Leadership. Leadership & Organization
Development Journal. 33(4). pp.421 – 423.
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