Differences between Ricardo and his father’s leadership style
There is a hell and heaven difference between Ricardo and his father. The differences are evident in their exposure of leadership skills. The casual approach of Ricardo contradicts the planned and systematic planning of his father. Preference towards guitar instead of studies is a prime example of casual approach, which adversely affected the business and health of the employees of the company, SEMCO (Stockport 2010). On the contrary, “planned”, “systematic” are the adjectives, which seem appropriate for the leadership style adopted by Ricardo’s father, Antonio. According to the personality traits, Ricardo represents a prime agent of autocratic leadership. On the other hand, his father adopts participative leadership style for executing the business activities in an efficient and effective manner. Ricardo’s lack of oriental approach towards the business activities takes a backseat in comparison to his father’s strategic vision of doing business. Along with this, Antonio’s leadership style might be rigid and harsh; however, it proves beneficial in managing the performance of the business procedures (Stockport 2010).
The lackadaisical attitude of Ricardo destroyed the order, harmony and decorum of SEMCO, earned by his father through his dedication, commitment and perseverance. Some of the examples are firing the top class executives, introduction of new policies and procedures among others. Compelling the employees to wear the ID cards can be considered as an imposition of suffocative existence upon their freedom. The net result of these activities was alteration of traditionalism, which paved way for customer and employee turnover. Herein, the word “benefits”, as proposed in the question attains a negative tone (Stockport 2010).
With the name “Ricardo”, the aspect of “born leader” cannot be placed. This is due to the lack of proper leadership qualities within him. From his birth, he is different from others in terms of development and maturity. In his academic life, he chose to play guitar. This preference on one hand excelled his extracurricular activities. On the other hand, it lost his concentration on studies. In his professional life also, he was reluctant to produce a systematic approach towards the execution of business activities. The gradual exposure of harsh and autocratic leadership nullifies the application of Great Man Theory in case of Ricardo. Along with this, the Trait theory is also not applicable for him in terms of his leadership. This is due to the absence of the formation of qualities, which are crucial for being a leader (Bolman and Deal 2017).
Analysis of Ricardo’s leadership traits using various leadership theories
Obscurity in goal and vision portrays immature personality traits, which does not make Ricardo a “Great Man”. Theoretical perspective in this direction enlivens Ricardo’s character in the minds of the audience. Contingency theory of learning can be applied in case of Ricardo’s playing the tune on the guitar for several times. This improves his concentration; however, this concentration is of no use he fails to apply this concentration in the workplace operations. Along with this, firing the workforce of his father’s company nullifies the propositions of behavioral theory in Ricardo’s case (Stockport 2010). Absence of oriental approach in the business operations contradicts his maturity, which is a negation for his individuality.
For exposure of appropriate leadership qualities, competency is one of an essential component within the behavioral conduct. This competency assists them to stand out among the common people. There are three types of leadership competencies, which lead the individuals towards their goals. These competencies are personal, team and organizational. Personal leadership competency increases the ego of the individual, which makes them selfish (Northouse, 2015). In view of these characteristic traits, team and organizational competency gets nullified. This “personal” competency relates with Ricardo’s character as portrayed in the case study. Right from his childhood, competency attains a negative connotation. Typical example of this is the poor academic performance in this school, which nullified the aspect of friendship, rather guidance in terms of reaching to the targeted goals. Countering this, in spite of the presence of father figure, he preferred to take his own decisions. Herein lays the preference of guitar over studies, which is a negation of blood relation. Typical evidence of this fact lies in the disorganized approach of Ricardo, which made the relationship between the father and son a hostile one (Stockport 2010).
Hiring people for fulfilling his wishes against his father’s wishes might relate to the competency of team; however, alteration of the business environment without the application of rational thinking and consciousness nullifies the team competency. The introduction of policies relates to the organizational competency. Again, the intensity of this competency is so less, that it holds no importance at all in terms of leadership qualities of Ricardo. Negligent attitude in changing the perspective would detach Ricardo from his personality development, which is leadership (Stockport 2010).
The policies are the main reason for enhancement of the decision making process in Botanique Hotel. The success story behind this is the conjoined partnership of Ricardo and his wife. Involvement of the employees in this process assisted Ricardo and Fernanda in terms of bagging numerous awards in a short time. Pre-existence of diversity in the work force proved advantageous for both Fernanda and her husband. Along with this, the alteration of the management practices brought simultaneous changes within the personality traits of both Ricatdo and Fernanda. In spite of hating the task, both of them played an effective part in bringing radical transformation in the perspectives of the employees (Stockport 2010). In addition to this, the absence of obligatory aspects in the hotel assisted them to undertake beneficial decisions for the upgradation of the standard and quality of the hotel. Delving deep into the issue, involving the outside employees in the decision making process proved helpful for the husband and wife in terms of making gradual progression towards the exposure of leadership. Negligence of degrading health condition is the prime evidence, which reflects transformation in the character of Ricardo (Stockport 2010).
Importance of competency in leadership and its relevance to Ricardo
Introduction of appropriate check in and checkout times, charges for enjoying the refreshing drinks at the mini bar, laundry services, Wi-Fi reflects the eagerness and willingness of Ricardo to modernize the life of the customers. Exposure of this kind of behaviour makes Ricardo a round character in the discussion. This is due to the radical transformations, which he undergoes for emerging as a true leader among the employees (Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee 2013).
Emotional intelligence is one of the crucial element in terms of the exposure of appropriate leadership skills and abilities. Looking into the terms separately, emotion has no importance in leadership, except being understanding in terms of the genuine problems, which the employees encounter while making the workplace operations. On the other hand, intelligence is required at all times for solving the operations rationally and tactfully, which the others cannot even think of (Fairhurst and Connaughton 2014).
Aligning with the case study, Ricardo, at the first instance lacked both emotion and intelligence. Typical evidence of this fact lies in developing a hostile relationship with father, selection a path, which does not match with this development among others. However, with the advent of maturity, he gained understanding about the correct methods of exposing leadership skills. The word “maturity” in the previous sentence contradicts the intellect of Ricardo in his present age (Stockport 2010). However, providing the employees with the opportunity to evaluate the managers and set their salaries reflects a matured and intelligent thinking displayed by Ricardo. This is an attempt to make the employees independent. This provision involves planned and oriental approach, which he lacked in his developing stage. Attempt to make the employees self dependent ceases Ricardo’s leadership tenure and initiates the journey of the employees to attain professional and personal development through the exposure of standardized leadership skills and abilities (Ward 2016). Along with this, inculcation of self assessment skills within the employees results in the transmission of leadership skills from Ricardo to the employees.
Willingness to change is the most important element, which assisted Ricardo in his character transformation. Along with this, dedication and commitment in the performance of the tasks acted as a wise step for Ricardo in terms of making slow yet gradual transformation in his personality. Typical examples in this direction are the joint ventures with the personnel, who barred his penetration into leadership. This perspective is recommendable in terms of restoring the lost stability in the relationships (Ward 2016). Along with this, modifying his character before instructing the employees reflects his capability to undertake challenging roles of managing the proposed changes. Determination in terms of fulfilling the considered tasks justifies Ricardo’s role as a manager of the changes.
Exploring the policies that led to the success of Botanique Hotel
Resistance came from the employees itself, however, self alteration, adopting a liberal attitude towards the employees helped Ricardo to overcome these challenges. This negligence towards the obstacles helped Ricardo to move on in his journey of emerging as a true leader. This dedication, commitment and perseverance acted as an inspiration for the employees in terms of following the footsteps of Ricardo (Stockport 2010).
According to the statement, the aspects “best” and “least” cannot be placed side by side. Countering this, both the aspects are complementary to each other. In order to achieve the best, least dedication, commitment and perseverance is not appropriate for the exposure of appropriate leadership skills. In view of the early leadership years of Ricardo, this statement is appropriate in terms of the disorganized approach towards the regulation of the business (Stockport 2010).
Placement of the second part of the statement in the first keeps the meaning intact, however, it can be considered as a self confession regarding devoting less time towards the performance of the basic tasks. Self assertion of being best while doing less acts is the self appraisal, which deviates from the usual conventions of leadership skills. Herein lays the correlation with the mention of “I” two times, which can be considered as self appraisal of individuality (Tourish 2014). This attains an about turn in the later years of his leadership journey.
Viewing it from the other perspective, this statement reflects Ricardo’s ego, which is not at all appropriate in terms of the exposure of appropriate leadership skills. “Doing the least” generates a lackadaisical attitude towards putting less effort in exposing better performance. Moreover the adverb “when” can be time conscious in terms of selecting a stipulated time for doing the tasks. Countering this, regularization of the tasks helps the individuals like Ricardo.
According to Daft (2014), waiting is something, which do not go with the leadership skills. In case of encountering crisis, the individuals need to undertake responsibility and expose intelligence for overcoming the crisis. This is also applicable for Ricardo’s case study. Waiting to close the unproductive manufacturing is one of the blunders, which he commits in his leadership journey. On the contrary, if he had being spontaneous in the action, the scenario would not have been like this. However, taunts and mocking from the critiques compelled Ricardo to wait for such a long time. Within this span, the business environment of the company encountered chaotic conditions, which made the business “unproductive” (Stockport 2010). This outcome took the company to utter loss, the address of which was the altered personality of Ricardo. Motivating and encouraging the employees to take the responsibility reduces the longevity of the unproductive one year long wait.
Emotional intelligence and its relevance to Ricardo’s leadership development
Democracy attaches value to the personal opinions of the citizens. However, for this, I think there is a need for a strong leader to take the charge of the people. Effective coordination between the leaders and the team members results in the achievement of positive outcomes. Prior to all this, there is a need for recruiting an efficient and effective team, which possesses flexibility for cooperating the leader in exposing collaborative output for execution of the tasks (Renz 2016). In this case study, democratic leadership is absent in the initial stages of Ricardo’s role as a leader. However, there is an evidence of democratic leadership, when he creates a new team, involves the employees in the decision making process among others. However lack of oriental approach in the performance of these tasks nullifies this presence.
Pondering upon the later years of Ricardo’s journey towards leadership, democracy exists in its fullness. This is due to the willingness and eagerness to bring noticeable changes within the personality traits (McCleskey 2014). With this perspective, I can apply cognitive theory of learning, as Ricardo feels an urge to modify his “error of judgment”. Countering this, the past mistakes cannot be fully corrected; however, alteration of the perspective sheds off the word “error” and adds value to the judgments (Dong et al. 2017).
My capability to excavate all these aspects generates self assessment skills within me, which is a slow yet gradual progression towards the exposure of appropriate leadership skills. However, for this, I need to expose dedication, commitment and perseverance in the tasks that I perform. Along with this, I also need to carry out evaluation; which possesses flexibility to upgrade my personality.
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