Leadership and Governance Report: Analyzing Steve Jobs' Leadership

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Steve Jobs' leadership and governance style. It begins with an introduction to Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Inc., and explores his unconventional leadership approach. The report delves into various leadership theories including the Great Man Theory, Trait Theory, and Transformational Theory, and applies these theories to evaluate Jobs' leadership. It also examines teamwork theories, ethical considerations, diversity management approaches, and change management models. A critical study of Steve Jobs' leadership is presented, outlining his strengths, such as brilliant communication and moral values, and touches upon his weaknesses. The report concludes with suggestions for leadership improvement, offering insights into how leaders can enhance their effectiveness. The report is a detailed exploration of leadership principles, offering valuable insights into the leadership of a modern icon and the broader application of leadership theories.

Running head: LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE
Leadership and Governance
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Executive Summary:
The report aims at discussing leadership and governance. The report commences with an
introduction of the leader of choice, Steve Jobs. To explain this, the report gives an insight into
theories of leadership, teamwork, ethics, diversity and change. Based on the theories the report
put forward a critical study where the theories are used for analyzing the leadership of choice.
The report also mentions the leader’s critical description outlining his strengths and weakness.
There are also suggestions provided on how a leader can improve his/her leadership.

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Table of Content
s
1. Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
2. Literature Review:......................................................................................................................3
3. Critical Study:..............................................................................................................................9
4: Conclusion:................................................................................................................................10
References:....................................................................................................................................11

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1. Introduction:
My leader of choice is Steve Jobs. He has been the chief chairperson and co-founder of
Apple Inc (Apple.com/iphone, 2018). Steve Jobs left the company in the year 1985 and returned
to Apple after more than a decade during which he launched the animation studios known as
Pixar. Steve Jobs was however, an unconventional leader whose leadership style led to the
success of Apple. His leadership style included the importance of working in teams, higher
expectation, shaping the way of designing products that becomes synonymous with Apple’s
success.
Steve Jobs leadership qualities included:
Brilliant Style of Communication: While confronting challenges, defenses and
arguments, Steve Jobs however, expected the opponents for viably communicating the responses
based on the delivered issues. Communication acted as a key factor in determining his leadership
success thereby enabling him in executing the plan for the battle of a better economy.
Considering Morality as Priority: Steve Jobs displayed stronger moral values while
leading the folks and managing them. His perseverance as a leader turned him into a legend.
Steve Jobs trait of morality and responsibility towards his followers was evident from his
honesty.

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2. Literature Review:
According to Nawaz et al (2016), the theories of leadership include Great Man Theory,
Trait Theory, Contingency Theory, Behavioral Theory, Transactional Theory and
Transformational Theory.
The Great Man Theory: It represents an idea of the 19th century against which history
deems an explanation of the great individuals or heroes who represented influential individuals
of the society and used their intelligence, wisdom, personal charisma or political skills in manner
that left an historical impact (Spector, 2016).
The Trait Theory: Also known as the dispositional theory represents an approach used
for studying the personality of the individuals (Fleeson & Jayawickreme, 2015). Trait theorist
expressed their desires in the measurement of the traits of the individuals in the form of habitual
pattern of thought, emotion and behavior.
Contingency Theory: It represented an organizational theory that puts forward the fact
that there exists no concept of best way of organizing a corporation, making decisions or leading
a company (Mikes & Kaplan, 2013). However, the theory represents the optimal course of action
that remains dependent on the external and internal situation.
Behavioral Theories: Focuses on the specific behaviors of the leaders (Feldman, 2014).
For the behavioral theorists, the behavior of the leader represents the ideal predictor of the
influences of leadership and is the determinant of his or her success for leadership.
The Transactional Theory: It represents the leadership style that focuses on the
supervision, performance and organization (Galda, 2013). The theory represents the style of

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leadership where the leaders promote compliance by the followers through punishments and
rewards.
The Transformational Theory: It represents the approach that leads to causes of
changes in the individuals and the social systems (Avolio & Yammarino, 2013).This theory leads
to the creation of positive and valuable change in the followers with the ultimate goal of
transforming the followers into the leaders.
As stated by Shockley (2014), teamwork represents a powerful way of getting a work
done since an entire group works towards a common goal. There exist various theories of
teamwork that includes:
Bruce Tuckman’s Theory: This theory helps in determining team stages. The four
primary stages include forming, norming storming and performing (Tuckman, 2013). This theory
represents the origin for successful building of a team.
Belbin’s Theory: Belbin led to the creation of a list of nine roles that every team should
possess (Batenburg, van Walbeek and in der Maur 2013). This includes plant, coordinator,
resource investigator, monitor evaluator, shaper, team worker, specialist, implementer and
finisher.
Abraham Maslow Hierarchical Needs Theory: In this theory, Maslow put forward a
pyramid for the motivation of human beings (Maslow 2013). The bottom of the pyramid
represented psychological items like food with the following consecutive levels representing
safety, belonging, respect and lastly self-actualization.

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The Isabel Briggs-Myers Theory: This theory refers to a type of indicator that
represents a personality test of understanding the perceiving ability of the individuals and is good
for the teamwork (Sethuraman & Suresh, 2014).
Carl Jung Color Theory: This theory represents how the color acts as the determinant
of the human behavior. This theory helps in better understanding the teams.
Tajfel’s Theory: This represents a theory of social identity and acts as a greater means
for describing the behavior of the intergroup.
Douglas McGregor Theory of X and Y: The X and Y theory represents how individuals
are motivated.
Theory of Strength: This theory puts forward the fact that for ensuring the best
teamwork it is necessary to work towards it and make it stronger.
Theory of Team Analysis: This theory implies the reevaluating and analyzing the
situation when something goes wrong otherwise, the team will eventually fall apart.
According to Kaptein (2017), three competing approaches to ethical analysis are
Consequentalism, Kantian Deontologism and Virtue Ethics.
Consequentalism: The ethical theories that falls within the category of consequentalism
states that the wrongness or rightness of an action depends on the consequences that result
produce and viewed in that perspective (Armstrong, 2016). Therefore, in other words,
consequences are viewed to the extent of serving certain intrinsic good. However, the most
widespread means of consequentialism is utilitarianism that proposes the fact that one should act
in a manner so that it is able to produce greater food in the greater number.

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Deontologism: The theory puts forward the performance of an action because such an act
not only conforms to the moral law but also characterized by its universality and is appropriate
for all (Altschul, 2014). According to this theory of ethics, the rightness and wrongness of some
of the acts remains independent of the consequences that it results in.
Virtue Ethics: There exist two different approaches to this theory of ethics. The first
approach represents some dispositional traits of character that are not only appropriate but also
praiseworthy (Van Hooft, 2014). The theory of virtue ethics thus represents that the systematic
formulation of character traits make the human behavior praiseworthy and blameworthy. The
second approach to the virtue ethics identifies the virtues along with focusing on the integration
into the right person or practical wisdom. Practical wisdom used for describing the ability of a
person for choosing the patterns of desirable actions. These action patterns are influenced partly
by the habits of the emotional virtues or experience and partly by the breadth and depth of the
available experience of the human beings as per their position of the society.
According to the Moazzam and Salman (2016), there are two general approaches to
diversity management. This includes the Institutional Theory of Diversity Management and
Resource Based Theory of Diversity Management.
Institutional Theory of Diversity Management: It depends on the theory of
organization that helps in recognizing that for determining the structure of the organization it is
not possible for separating the social environment found in the organization (Cole & Salimath,
2013). Thus, for understanding the structure of an organization, it is important to understand the
behavior of the employees in the organization along with the organization are limited by forces
such as laws, regulations, rules, legislations and professional and social norms.

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Resource Based Theory of Diversity Management: The primary focus of this theory
remains in how the implementation of the diversity will affect the resources of the organization.
There exist four kinds of resources for an organization like financial capital, physical capital,
corporate capital and human capital (Reiche et al., 2016). These resources are responsible for
either assisting or inhibiting the organizational operations. However, organizations use such
resources in a manner that could not only improve but also assist the course of the business.
From the perspective of the business, diverse organizations gains advantage compared to the
organizations that remain homogeneous. In addition, racial diversity within the organizations
increases the financial performance in the light of the innovation or growth strategy that is used.
According to the theory, firms having more diverse management practices experiences lower
turnover, higher levels of productivity and better performance of the market. Thus, diverse
organizations stand at an advantageous position compared to the organization that fails in
implementing such policies.
According to Ansari et al (2013), there are various theories of change. This includes
health behavior theory, precaution adoption model, theory of planned behavior and social
cognitive theory.
Health Behavior Theory: This theory helps in examining the beliefs that helps in
influencing whether someone will take necessary action for changing his or her behavior.
Precaution Adoption Model: According to this model, an individual is unaware
the improper or the desired behavior. It is therefore necessary for informing and
motivating the individual about the required behavior for viewing it in a positive
manner.

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Theory of Planned Behavior: This theory helps in understanding that a learner might
not be ready for a desired performance or behavior (Montano & Kasprzyk, 2015). It also focuses
on the fact that learner’s perception of adopting newer behavior depends on the social influences,
personal beliefs and their perceived control over the outcomes.
Social Cognitive Theory: This theory takes into consideration the impact of the social
interactions on learning and recognizes the fact that personal autonomy or agency acts as a
motivating factor.
3. Critical Study:
Steve Jobs represented a leader of the modern times. He clearly knew his wants and
succeeded in transforming the dreams into the realities. He followed the philosophy of a winner
who undertook the promotion of Apple II thereby making it the most valuable company of the
world (Toma & Marinescu, 2013). He designed the initial platform for the windows which came
to be known as Mac. He created and popularized and helped funded Pixar thereby turning it into
the largest animator in the history. In spite of many failures he was positioned at the top. Steve
Jobs was a visionary and genius in addition to being a complex leader. The distinctive
personality of Apple acted as the primary factor while explaining the manner in which he led
Apple. However, some of the personal traits of Steve Jobs that is worth a mention include being
passionate, flexible, overly critical, impulsive, obsessive perfectionist, highly intuitive, egotist,
charismatic, persuasive, open-minded and inspiring. Steve Jobs built a successful and strong
corporate culture that assisted the employees in knowing one only when they one.
Apple represented a company that was influenced profoundly by the founder and still
sticks to the kind of logic and the modes of justification that develops from logic of the

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inspiration. Steve Jobs was a story teller who was one of its kinds and inspired people and the
customers with the various stories (Steinwart& Ziegler 2014). The greatness of Apple lay in the
fact that it was built in an inspirational logic that acted as a push factor for the company to seek
for perfectionism. Steve Jobs is considered one of the great modern leaders of America. There
were certain fundamental elements to support the view. The personality of Steve Jobs remained
integral in determining the ways in which he did business. Although he had the affinity to be
rough towards the people but he had a surrounding comprising of the intensely loyal colleagues
inspired by him for a longer period of time. Steve Jobs was not only a perfectionist but he did not
give up and pursued his dreams in a steadfast manner. Under Jobs, Apple became one of the
enduring companies through the implementation of creative strategy based on leadership,
organization, innovation and entrepreneurship. He had his focus ingrained into the business
philosophy. This helped him in deciding what to do and what not to do. Steve Jobs also helped in
the promotion of simplicity for the achievement of ultimate sophistication. He was a leader who
took the responsibilities in an end to end manner and considered the products before the profits.
In addition, Steve Jobs also possessed the capability of pushing Apple in accomplishing the
impossible. He also believed in face to face meetings with the people and provided intellectual
stimulation and challenges to the people of Apple. Steve Jobs also possessed the ability of
creation of smaller teams with top talents and provide ideas to the team for realization. Hence,
Steve Jobs proved him to be a highly successful leader in a highly competitive industry.
Therefore, Steve Jobs thus represents a transformational leader who possesses the abilities of
inspiring the people in doing greater things which they have not done.

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4: Conclusion:
The leadership style followed by Steve Jobs had certain strengths and weakness. Steve
Jobs represented great visionary but possessed uncanny capacities for knowing their weak point
and knowing what exactly will make the employees feel small. He is also believed to take credit
for the ideas that belonged to someone else. He was also not a good team player and possesses a
highly destructive nature. Steve Jobs was also known to be impatient with a relentless mission
for perfection. He also had a domineering presence and expressed an obsessive need to spread
fear within the Apple Culture. Thus, Steve Jobs often described as willful, brazen, smug, volatile,
manipulative and demeaning.
Recommendations:
There suggestions for improving his/her leadership are based on the four strategies:
 Ensuring controlling of the Choices: Various choices paralyze the ability of decision
making. Thus it is important for controlling the choices.
 Ensuring Value Progress: This is the most important aspect of making progress in an
organization in addition to other things like boosting emotions, perceptions of a working
day and motivation.
 Ensuring Adaptation: One must learn to adapt when a weakness becomes a part of the
success.
 By Avoiding Assumptions: By avoiding the assumptions, one can explore various
alternatives and gather information as much as possible, instead of assuming that one
who worked previously will hold the same interest towards work.