BUSS150: Analysis of Leadership and Ethics at Royal Dutch Shell

This report provides an in-depth analysis of leadership and ethics at Royal Dutch Shell (Shell). It begins by identifying the founders and CEO, Charles O. Holliday, and assessing his management competencies, including understanding of international commercial, strategic, and environmental concerns. The report then examines the CEO's use of transformational leadership style, supported by Blake and Mouton's managerial grid, and critically discusses its strengths (inclusion of employees in decision making) and weaknesses (time for decision making). An alternative leadership style, laissez-faire, is proposed to enhance creativity. The report also reviews Shell's CSR and sustainability policies, focusing on its Net Carbon Footprint and commitment to responsible energy delivery. It evaluates the company's ethical standing, highlighting its commitment to stakeholder trust through transparent reporting since 1997, and offers recommendations to improve its reputation, such as developing more sustainable sourcing practices and building employee trust.

Running head: ANALYSIS OF LEADERSHIP AND ETHICS
ANALYSIS OF LEADERSHIP AND ETHICS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ANALYSIS OF LEADERSHIP AND ETHICS
Table of Contents
6. Leadership........................................................................................................................2
i. Identification of founders and CEO of the firm...........................................................2
ii. Management competencies of CEO that is important to the firm...............................2
iii. Use of leadership models and concepts and description of leadership style of CEO 2
iv. Critical discussion of leadership style of CEO...........................................................3
v. Examining alternative style that is more effective......................................................3
vi. Recommendations based on suggesting appropriate style of leadership....................4
7. Ethics, corporate social responsibility and sustainability................................................4
i. Reviewing the CSR and Sustainability policies of the firm.........................................4
ii. Levels of business operations based on vision and values..........................................4
iii. Ways of considering company to be ethical...............................................................5
iv. Recommendations offered to improve the reputation of the firm..............................5
References............................................................................................................................6

2ANALYSIS OF LEADERSHIP AND ETHICS
6. Leadership
i. Identification of founders and CEO of the firm
Royal Dutch Shell PLC or Shell is oil and gas based firm of British-Dutch origin that has
its headquarters in Netherlands and had been incorporated in the UK. The organization was
founded by Marcus and Samuel Samuel in the year 1907. The executive management of Royal
Dutch Shell is mainly managed by the CEO or Chief Executive Officer of the firm Charles O.
Holliday (Shell.com 2019).
ii. Management competencies of CEO that is important to the firm
The CEO of Royal Dutch Shell or Shell has a major level of understanding of the
international commercial, strategic and the environmental concerns that have an influence on the
firm. The risk management and safety is an important part of the extensive levels of experience
that has been gained by the CEO. The participative management style has been implemented by
the CEO in order to consider the views of Board members. The organizational structure of Shell
is mainly based on the geographical nature of operations and more than 200 businesses operate
in around 100 countries (Forbes.com 2019).
iii. Use of leadership models and concepts and description of leadership style of CEO
The transformational leadership style has been used by the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell in
order to uphold the processes of the firm. The transformational style of leadership is able to play
a major role in the ways by which the leader is able to inspire the positive changes within the
firm. The vision that is developed by the leader is able to inspire the employees and their work
process in a huge manner (Choi, Kim and Kang 2017).

3ANALYSIS OF LEADERSHIP AND ETHICS
The proper portrayal of the leadership styles are based on the implementation and use of
Blake and Mouton’s managerial grid. The two major dimensions that are a part of the managerial
grid include the aspects of the behavior of a leader. The aspects mainly include concern for the
people and concern for the production as well. The five results related to leadership styles that
are gained as a result of Blake and Mouton’s managerial grid include impoverished management,
task management, middle-of-the-road, country club and team management. The skills based on
team management are considered to be the highest in the leadership style of the CEO of Royal
Dutch Shell (Arnold et al. 2015).
iv. Critical discussion of leadership style of CEO
The leadership style that had been depicted by the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell is mainly
based on the ways by which the opinions of Board members are taken into consideration. The
sustainability in development of the organization is considered to be a major part of the
leadership style that has been developed by the CEO. The major strength of the leadership of
CEO is mainly based on inclusion of employees within the decision making process. On the
other hand, the weakness of leadership style is based on the time that is taken for development of
proper decisions based on different situations (Nawaz and Khan_ PhD 2016).
v. Examining alternative style that is more effective
The alternative style of leadership that can be followed by the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell
is the laissez-faire style. This style of leadership is considered to be an unstructured approach
related to development of a creative environment within the organization. The results within the
organization will be driven with the help of creativity (Nawaz and Khan_ PhD 2016).

4ANALYSIS OF LEADERSHIP AND ETHICS
vi. Recommendations based on suggesting appropriate style of leadership
The recommendations that can be provided to the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell are as
follows,
 The implementation of laissez-faire style of leadership will help the CEO to
improve levels of creativity within the firm and the time required for decision
making will also be reduced.
 The vision of the CEO will be implemented within the organization with the help
of improved creativity levels of the employees.
7. Ethics, corporate social responsibility and sustainability
i. Reviewing the CSR and Sustainability policies of the firm
The major aim of the Shell’s Net Carbon Footprint is based on the ways by which climate
change can be tackled in order to meet the goals set by the Paris Agreement. The approach to
sustainability of Royal Dutch Shell is based on running an efficient, safe, profitable and
responsible business that is able to bring wide benefits to different areas in which the
organization operates (Markman et al. 2016).
ii. Levels of business operations based on vision and values
The values and vision of Royal Dutch Shell is based on the potential environmental
impact of the activities of the firm during the lifetime of various projects. The development of an
effective environment for the neighboring communities that are a part of the areas in which the
firm operates is also a value of Royal Dutch Shell. Royal Dutch Shell is committed to the
delivering of energy in a responsible and safe manner that is able to prevent the harm done to
employees, local communities, environment and contractors (Crane et al. 2019).

5ANALYSIS OF LEADERSHIP AND ETHICS
iii. Ways of considering company to be ethical
Royal Dutch Shell can be considered to be an ethical organization and the social and
environmental performance of the firm is focused on challenges that affect the business. The
organization has always conducted its business operations in a responsible way and has helped in
development of trust and motivating the staff as well. The company has reported its social and
environmental performance since the year 1997 in order to gain the trust of the stakeholders who
are an important part of the firm (Quarshie, Salmi and Leuschner 2016).
iv. Recommendations offered to improve the reputation of the firm
The major recommendations that can be offered to improve reputation of Royal Dutch
Shell are,
 Development of more sustainable sourcing practices in order to improve the
operations.
 The company can gain trust of employees in order to maintain its position in the
industry.

6ANALYSIS OF LEADERSHIP AND ETHICS
References
Arnold, K.A., Connelly, C.E., Walsh, M.M. and Martin Ginis, K.A., 2015. Leadership styles,
emotion regulation, and burnout. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 20(4), p.481.
Choi, S.B., Kim, K. and Kang, S.W., 2017. Effects of transformational and shared leadership
styles on employees' perception of team effectiveness. Social Behavior and Personality: an
international journal, 45(3), pp.377-386.
Crane, A., Matten, D., Glozer, S. and Spence, L., 2019.Business ethics: Managing corporate
citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
Forbes.com 2019. Royal Dutch Shell on the Forbes Global 2000 List. [online] Forbes. Available
at: https://www.forbes.com/companies/royal-dutch-shell/?list=global2000#64e72f8426ed
[Accessed 15 Sep. 2019].
Markman, G.D., Russo, M., Lumpkin, G.T., Jennings, P.D. and Mair, J., 2016. Entrepreneurship
as a platform for pursuing multiple goals: A special issue on sustainability, ethics, and
entrepreneurship. Journal of Management Studies, 53(5), pp.673-694.
Nawaz, Z.A.K.D.A. and Khan_ PhD, I., 2016. Leadership theories and styles: A literature
review. Leadership, 16, pp.1-7.
Quarshie, A.M., Salmi, A. and Leuschner, R., 2016. Sustainability and corporate social
responsibility in supply chains: The state of research in supply chain management and business
ethics journals. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 22(2), pp.82-97.

7ANALYSIS OF LEADERSHIP AND ETHICS
Shell.com 2019. Board of Directors. [online] Shell.com. Available at:
https://www.shell.com/about-us/leadership/board-of-directors.html [Accessed 15 Sep. 2019].