University Case Study: BUSS 2068 Assessment 2: Branson's Leadership

This case study examines the leadership styles of Richard Branson at Virgin Group and analyzes the leadership at Foxconn. The assignment answers questions regarding Branson's charismatic and situational leadership, highlighting his ethical approach and focus on employee motivation. It contrasts Branson's approach with the leadership practices at Foxconn, identifying areas for improvement, particularly in employee treatment and ethical considerations. The analysis suggests changes such as eliminating 24-hour shifts, improving employee relationships, implementing employee motivation mechanisms, and optimizing working environments. The study also emphasizes the importance of ethical leadership, CSR techniques, and strict service level agreements to enhance productivity while ensuring employee well-being and adhering to universal labor ethics laws. The assignment provides a detailed analysis of leadership approaches in two distinct corporate environments.

Running head: CASE STUDY: ASSIGNMENT 2
CASE STUDY: ASSIGNMENT 2
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Question 4: Branson’s leadership
Branson’s leadership can definitely be called charismatic leadership to a great extent. He
has gone beyond the conventional styles of leadership, in order to achieve significant business
goals along with enhancing the prospects of employee motivation. Charismatic leaders are
transformational leaders that focus towards inspiring the people they lead. This can be very well
understood through the leadership aspects of Richard Branson. The behavior of Branson depicts
great regard for the employees of his organization. This is an important trait of charismatic
leadership where leaders tend to be enthusiastic and excited in nature (Davidson, Wood and
Griffin 2009). The leaders also clearly communicate their vision across the organization and
ensure that their subordinates get the idea that they want to focus on. The leadership trait that is
depicted by Richard Branson greatly demonstrates ethical leadership aspects. The owner of
virgin is one of the most sought after leader in the corporate world. As it is very clearly
mentioned in the case study, he effectively maintains his vision and sets examples in front of his
subordinates to follow.
Branson is an adventurous charismatic leader who sometimes even portrays some of the
traits of situational leadership. This can be well evaluated through the various risks Branson has
taken in his life. Many of these risks have spurred the development of his organization making
him rise in the level of charismatic leadership each time. The situational theory stresses on the
situational effectiveness of leadership rather than the ideal traits of leadership. Many times the
right qualities are not sufficient to make a person a better leader. Situational leadership model
take into consideration the situational contexts within which leadership takes place. Hence, a
manager needs to be judged on the basis of the qualities, the effective roles one perform and
definitely the situational contexts in which the leadership takes place (Bolman and Deal 2017).
Richard Branson depicts these characteristics very effectively. Branson’s leadership techniques
have been greatly situational. This can be seen through his association with lesser known music
artists in 1972 and 1976. In both cases the albums and the artists became great hits and revenue
earners. In 1972 it was Tubular Bells and in 1976 were the hugely popular punk band Sex
Pistols. As a leader he is passionate about the things he does and the people that form essential
part of his organization. He had said that if he takes care of his employees, they will take care of
the customers. Branson allows employees to open up about their experiences. This is a very good

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initiative as it allows for better interaction of the leadership and the subordinates (Fan 2000). In
accordance with a leadership grid based on behavioral leadership Branson’s leadership technique
can be said to be very close to 9,9 factor. In this factor the leadership exhibits maximum concern
for the employees as well as the organization. The qualities of leadership exhibited by Branson
reminds of the ineffectiveness of the assumptions of the best practices of leadership. This gives a
perspective of leadership that depends on how the leader should act rather than how the leader
should be idealized. This is essentially an ethical dimension of leadership that is worth following
for every leader.
Question 5: Required changes in Foxconn leadership
If hired as a consultant for the Foxconn group, the first duty of a person will be to re-
evaluate the practices of the organization. This re-evaluation needs to take place concerning the
ways in which employees are approached. The company is definitely focused towards
maximizing productivity. However, the main issue that arises is the unethical treatment of the
workforce in the process. A definite plan for building a friendlier workplace is required
(Schermerhorn et al. 2014). This need to be done in order to harmonize the production process
with motivational factors that affect the employees. Terry Gou needs to immediately consider
labor ethics. Firstly, 24 hour shifts need to be eliminated from the process as this is clearly
unethical. Employees should not be forced to do 24 hour shifts as this can be greatly detrimental
to their health. The goals of the organization definitely needs to incorporate the aspects of
employee ethics, employee motivation and organizational responsibilities towards the
employees. These aspects are necessary to be included for the future development of the
organization. If considered on the scale of the leadership grid. The leadership that is displayed by
Foxconn can be said to be 9,1. Here, the leadership shows high concern for production but very
less concern for the people that work towards achieving the same (Jones, George and Hill 2000).
The appalling condition of the leadership can be seen through the 11 suicides that have taken
plcee over the years. The company should immediately improve employee relationships. The
HRM team needs to directly approach the employees and listen to their grievances. It becomes
very important that the organization starts to implement essential employee motivation
mechanism. Simply, installing nets to stop suicides will not do. The company needs to increase
incentives and decrease the working hours. Forced overtime should immediately be stopped. The

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organization should focus on motivating employees for overtime through better incentive
schemes rather than force. A very disturbing fact is the toxic environments within which the
employees have to work. It becomes important that the company undertakes research in order to
assess the toxicity of the working environments and take immediate actions accordingly (Bartol
et al. 2011). The company need to immediately optimize its functions in accordance with the
universal labor ethics laws. It is important that changes are essentially made to the operational
process of the company. The company need to work under strict service level agreements
through which the organizations with which it has relationships need to be given strict deadlines.
This will stop the unethical pressure on the employees for meeting deadlines unwarrantedly. The
company need to immediately implement employee motivation techniques (Robbins and Judge
2014). It becomes very important that effective CSR techniques are implemented at an
organizational levels for the company. The organization needs to work towards establishing
better employee relationships. The company has to ensure that all the necessary elements of
organizational management are taken into consideration while implementing decisions towards
productivity.

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References
Fan, Y., 2000. A classification of Chinese culture. Cross Cultural Management: An
International Journal, 7(2), pp.3-10.
Davidson, P., Wood, S. and Griffin, R.W., 2009. Management: Core concepts and applications.
Jones, G.R., George, J.M. and Hill, C.W., 2000. Contemporary management. Irwin/McGraw-
Hill.
Robbins, S.P. and Judge, T., 2014. Essentials of organizational behavior. Pearson,.
Schermerhorn, J.R., Davidson, P., Poole, D., Woods, P., Simon, A. and McBarron, E., 2014.
Management: Foundations and applications, Milton, Queensland: Wiley.
Bartol, K., Tein, M., Matthews, G., Sharma, B. and Scott-Ladd, B., 2011. Management
foundations: a Pacific Rim focus. Management Foundations: a pacific rim focus, 3rd edition.
Bolman, L.G. and Deal, T.E., 2017. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership.
John Wiley & Sons.