Leadership Roles Analysis: CEO of Multinational vs. Site Supervisor

This report provides a comparative analysis of the leadership roles, responsibilities, and behaviors of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a multinational firm and a supervisor on a construction site. The report highlights the key decision-making processes, stakeholder management, and strategic planning undertaken by a CEO, emphasizing the importance of communication, risk-taking, and organizational skills. Conversely, it examines the site supervisor's role in ensuring safety, managing workers, scheduling projects, and maintaining policies. The report also draws parallels between the two leadership roles, such as the need for strong communication and problem-solving skills, while also noting the differences in their operational scopes and direct interactions with staff. Ultimately, the report underscores the significance of effective leadership in achieving organizational goals and objectives, regardless of the context.

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Running head: LEADERSHIP
Leadership
Name
Institution

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LEADERSHIP
Introduction
Leadership is a responsibility that requires a lot of proficiency, wisdom, emotional
intelligence, the ability to make sensitive decisions, as well as the power to delicate duties and
responsibilities efficiently. In most cases, the performance of an organization or a business
depends on the characteristics of the leader. This is because many decisions are made by the
leader, implying that wrong decisions would lead to the failure of the organization, department or
the group which he or she is responsible for. Leaders vary depending on the type and size of the
organization, department, or group of people which he or she is in charge of (Sanders and
Carpenter, 2013). A leader who serves a small organization cannot be compared to a leader in
charge of a multinational organization. This is because the size of people and entities being
controlled and managed require different roles and responsibilities, as well as varying
characteristics of leaders. This piece of work aims at highlighting the roles, situation, and
behavior of a Chief Executive Officer of a multinational firm and a supervisor on a construction
site.
Chief Executive Officer of a Multinational Firm
A Chief Executive Officer is the person in charge of a firm. He or she is the most ranking
person in the firm and is responsible for the overall results and performance of the firm. A Chief
Executive Officer has the role of making key decisions within the firm (Kakabadse, Kakabadse
and Barratt, 2016). These are in most cases long-term since the short-term decisions are made by
other managers and leaders in different departments. The decisions of a multinational firm are
very crucial since they affect all the branches of the firm in different regions. A Chief Executive
Officer is also responsible for working and linking closely with the Board of Directors,
understanding the needs and concerns of shareholders and increasing their value within the firm.

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The accountability of stakeholders, the staff, as well as the customers is also the role of a Chief
Executive Officer. The stakeholders in the firm need to have an increased value which should be
achieved through the efforts, strategies, and decisions made by the Chief Executive Officer. The
staff's discipline and performance is the responsibility accounted for by the Chief Executive
Officer. In most cases, the monitoring of the staff's discipline and performance is done by
managers in different departments in the lower ranks and then the reports are submitted to the
Chief Executive Officer (Daily, Certo and Dalton, 2014). Customers are also accounted for in the
lower ranks of leadership and then the reports submitted to the Chief Executive Officer.
Additionally, the challenges of the firm are identified by the Chief Executive Officer.
This is done to ensure that significant strategies are designed to counter them, as well as to
maintain the performance of the entire firm. The Chief Executive Officer also has the role of
setting budgets in various relevant departments for a whole trading year. This ensures that the
capital, expenses, as well as profits of the various departments, are well tracked and monitored.
Staff engagement, culture and turnover need to be monitored since they greatly contribute to the
entire performance of the firm (Adler and Gundersen, 2017). A Chief Executive Officer in
charge of a firm which is multinational needs to understand both the local market, as well as the
global corporation. He or she should also have a strong network in the market in order to be
aware of the changes, developments, and opportunities in the global market. Through this
network, he or she is able to understand trends that can impact his or her firm.
A multinational firm Chief Executive Officer needs to portray a behavior which involves
consistent communication. Johnson and Lederer (2015) argue that communication should be
done efficiently to shareholders, stakeholders, and the various staff in order to maintain a culture
of both upward vertical and downward vertical communication. Additionally, Daft, Sormunen

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and Parks (2018) posit that passion in the duties and responsibilities of a Chief Executive Officer
are very significant traits in the performance of a firm. Risk-taking should also be done wisely
and strategically in order to maintain a difference in the benefits of the firm from other
competing firms. A Chief Executive Officer should also be organized. Jaw and Lin (2018)
suggest that the organization of a Chief Executive Officer starts from the tidiness of the chairs
and desks in the office to the way strategies are planned and implemented. The approach to
solving problems that emerge in the firm needs to be organized, being a trait that should be
portrayed by a Chief Executive Officer.
Supervisor on a Construction Site
A site supervisor ha the role of ensuring that the contractors, as well as their crews, are
aware of the safety hazards and precautions that should be followed in the site. These people
should be talked to by the site supervisor about site safety hazards and precautions on a daily
basis. Assessments on safety hazards should be conducted by the site supervisor, identifying any
possible risks of safety that might occur and designing plans which would counter them
appropriately (Conchie, Moon and Duncan, 2013). This is why it is significant that all traders are
inducted prior to the start of the work. A site supervisor in construction also has the
responsibility of managing and instructing all the workers (Fang, Wu and Wu, 2015). This
includes assigning them various duties as well as setting goals for them to achieve. The goals
should be evaluated by their attainment by the site supervisor. It is also the responsibility of the
site supervisor to ensure that the projects are accomplished successfully. A schedule of the
various projects should be designed by a site supervisor. This is significant in that it helps in
working within a time-frame. A budget of the projects is also set by the site supervisor. This
involves identifying the various materials that are needed as well as the costs of the workers in

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the site. Allocation of funds on every item in the site is set in order to ensure that resources are
not wasted or used in the wrong way. The various policies that should be maintained in the
construction site are a responsibility of the site supervisor to ensure that they are followed
promptly (Hardison, Behm, Hallowell and Fonooni, 2014). This involves such policies as having
insurance for the construction as well as various documents authorizing the construction to take
place. This is significant in that it helps avoid interference and interruptions by various ministries
and departments which are responsible for authorizing and verifying constructions.
A positive attitude, as well as the willingness to encourage and instruct the workers,
should be behavior which should be portrayed by a site supervisor (Harris and McCaffer, 2013).
He or she should be instructing and giving directions on daily basis, implying that the site
supervisor should be persistent, not getting weary in giving directions and enquiring on different
aspects that pertain to the safety of the site. Good communication skills should be part of a site
supervisor in relating to the contractors, their crew, as well as other neighboring people who are
directly or even indirectly affected by the construction process. The site supervisor should be
able to set priorities in the site and also be flexible in order to ensure efficiency in the worksite.
This is because some activities need to be done before others since construction requires certain
fixed steps. Depending on the situation in the worksite, sometimes some flexibilities are required
in order to deal or cope with these various situations. There are also blueprints, schematics as
well as documents which need to be read and interpreted, hence requiring the site supervisor to
have the knowledge and skills on how to use them effectively. Optimism is a significant
character that a site supervisor should portray (Roelofs, Sprague-Martinez, Brunette and Azaroff,
2011). Every worker should be seen as important in the entire project, having a belief that the

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project will come to an accomplishment effectively. A site supervisor should be a problem-solver
of all situations whether they are monetary, social, or technical.
Conclusion
This piece of work has given light on the roles, situations, and behavior of a Chief
Executive Officer and a supervisor in a construction site. These leaders are very significant in the
operations that pertain them in their various places of work. There are some similarities that exist
between these leaders. For example, both leaders need to have good communication skills and
problem-solving skills in order to ensure a smooth running of their various tasks. They are both
responsible for setting budgets on the various departments. Assessment of the challenges that
face their activities and operations is also their responsibility. However, they differ in that the
Chief Executive Officer oversees white-collar jobs while the site supervisor oversees blue-collar
jobs. Additionally, the Chief Executive Officer does not deal directly with the staff but deals
with their managers or the various leaders of departments, while the site supervisor deals directly
with the contractor and the workers. The various roles and behavior portrayed by leaders should
be done for the benefit of the firms and organizations which they serve, with the aim of
achieving the set goals and objectives.

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