Reflective Statement
Effective leadership is critical for the success of any organization. A great leader can guide a team to increased productivity and deliver high performance (Wagner, 2016). On the other hand, a poor leader can misguide the entire team and reduce overall effectiveness of the team. Some leaders are born while some people develop leadership abilities over a period of time. With the right experience and guidance, a leader can successfully build and manage a highly productive team.
Leadership styles are also changing over a period of time. Leaders existing today are not just leaders owing to their position in the organization but they are guides and mentors to their team members (Bolden, 2016). The role of a leader is gradually increasing and hence more responsibilities are being bestowed upon them. For ensuring effectiveness in leaderships, there are several steps that a leader can take.
Leaders must consistently work towards improving themselves. They can do so by reading books on leadership, follow other remarkable leaders and learn from their life stories, attending workshops on leadership as well as by seeking help from their seniors. Either way, it is imperative that the leader consistently strives to improve skills and enhance abilities.
The changing business scenario has also increased the role of a leader within the organization. Their span of control is rising and expectations set from leaders are also sky rocketing. Even in the same organization, there is fierce competition for leadership roles. Therefore it is even more important for contemporary leaders to receive in-depth leadership development. This would help them have a strong vision for the organization and also ensure that they become leaders who can guide and mentor their team members. This would further lead to improved leadership skills and enhanced productivity from the team.
The organization where I wish to work is Facebook. It is a relatively large organization. Therefore the flow of leadership is strictly through designation. There are a lot of creative teams at Facebook. Within the team, people enjoy a participative culture. The entire work culture at Facebook is very participative. All the employees are included in the decision making process. Before taking any major step, the entire team brainstorms the idea and then a final call is taken.
Moreover, Facebook essentially requires employees to be innovative in their approach. Therefore all the employees are taught to take risks and work upon their ideas no matter how stupid that might be. Facebook also offers flexible working hours to employees. This somehow enhances the roles and responsibilities of the leader because it is it the leader’s job to coordinate with the entire team. Facebook is a symbol of innovation and creativity. This is the predominant reason why I aspire to be a part of Facebook. The brand is symbolic to new changes. The leaders in the organization are highly dynamic and energetic. They are always open to new ideas and they are always willing to try something new.
The culture of communication too at Facebook is highly open and dynamic. The leaders adopt an open door policy. There is a lot of transparency regarding every business process. Given this scenario, I feel my innovation will get a boost and this is why I strong wish to work there.
Part A: Reflection
There are various attributes of my personality that I have been working upon in order to enhance my leadership abilities. I took the leadership self-assessment questionnaire and realized that my biggest strength is my relationships. I have always known this to be true for myself. I genuinely believe in building and maintaining strong relationships with people. I once heard a statement that said “A person’s network is a person’s net worth”. This is why I have always focused on building strong connections. As a future leader, I am sure this ability will help me build a strong network of competent individuals.
My second strength is my self-discipline. I have always been a determined and disciplined person. I like to plan my days in advance and stick to the schedule that is given to me. I have been an active sports person since I was really young and I know that this strong sense of discipline stems from my sports background. I need to work upon the quadrant in which I scored the least. This was values. As a person, I have believed that some ends justify any means. Through this course, I have learnt the importance of values and business ethics. And this is something I would surely work upon.
Being an effective and efficient leader is very important to me and I would ensure that before I take up such a role, I am well prepared and possess the right abilities and skill set to contribute to the same.
Leadership forms an essential part of every organization that operates today. A strong leadership can guide a business towards growth while a weak leadership can pull the entire team back leading to reduced productivity (Clinton, 2018). Leaders coming from different backgrounds and leading different teams adopt several different leadership styles. No single leadership style works for every situation and hence it is the responsibility of the leaders to effectively adopt a leadership style that is best suited for their respective teams. There are several remarkable leaders that have changed the shape of the organization that they led. This report throws light upon the leadership style of Mark Parker. Mark Parker is the CEO of shoes and apparel behemoth, Nike. Mark has been associated with the brand since 1979 and has served in several departments including product design, marketing, development, manufacturing, research, and brand development. Through this report, we aim to understand his leadership style and his contribution to the brand Nike.
Every leader has a different style of working and leading. Certain leaders are democratic and hence more participative in their approach (Bryman, 2013). On the other hand, several leaders are highly autocratic in their leadership styles. It is important to note that all these leadership styles have certain pros and cons. It is imperative that leaders are effectively able to determine the leadership style that would work best in the given situation.
Mark Parker joined Nike in 1979 and has been associated with several business processes since then. He was appointed as the CEO of the firm in 2005. After a thorough understanding of Parker’s efforts and working style, it has been noted that Parker is a transformational leader. A transformational leader works with the team with the aim to identify the need for change and then putting efforts to bring about that change in the most effective manner (Jian & Fairhurst, 2017). As the name suggests, these leaders try to transform the given situation into something bigger and better.
Part B: Management report based on case study
Nike’s entire business was divided into several processes. However, Parker abolished that system and decided to divide the entire business into six customer focus groups including running, training, basketball and women’s fitness etc. (Forbes, 2018). He focused largely on bringing in new innovation and devising strategies to revamp the entire brand. As a leader, he created a culture of open communication and rigorous innovation. During brainstorming sessions at Nike, every employee was allowed to share opinion. Parker specifically believed that there are no bad ideas. This encouraged his team members and made them feel valued. Parker ensured that at any point of time there are over 1000 employees who are dedicated to bringing about innovation in the organization (Inc, 2018).
Last year, he shortlisted 40 out of over 30000 Nike outlets and decided to transform them into providing an exceptional buying experience to customers. The idea clicked and the personalized customer experience was appreciated by customers throughout the globe. Such efforts by Mark depict the strong vision that he has for the company. He consistently strives to enhance and improve customer experience by delivering value and improving the shopping experience at their stores (Forbes, 2018).
As a leader, Mark encourages his team members to do whatever it takes for the growth of the firm. He believes in delivering value. Employees at Nike go out and associate with athletes in order to understand their needs in a better manner. Designers are always encouraged to try out their ideas even when they are not met with enthusiasm by the rest of the team. Parker also likes to be in control of the situation despite the openness in the culture that exists throughout the organization. His leadership style is marked by authority, responsibility as well as openness and opportunity.
Every leadership style has its cons. Given the culture that is created by Mark, it is difficult for an individual to seek trust or respect on the basis of their designation. Since it is a rather informal culture, power flows through informal relationships rather than a formal structure. This somehow leads to an uneven and unfair distribution of power.
It is essential for a leader to adopt different style of leadership in the face of changing situations. This helps in increasing the overall productivity of the team (Bolman & Deal, 2017). As a leader, Mark Parker is a true visionary and a disruptor that has entirely revamped the brand Nike. His imagination and innovation have established the brand as a leading player in the industry. He has built a culture of open communication and free work. Everyone in the Nike team is entitled to their opinion. Employees are free to work on different projects that they believe have potential. Working hours offered by the organization are highly flexible. All these efforts by Mark have made Nike a highly innovative organization.
Mark’s leadership style encourages participation from all employees of the business. Despite giving a free hand to all employees, Parker knows how to keep the baton of the team with himself. He conducted an internal investigation within the team in order to understand where his team stands in terms of creating a gender equal working environment. After understanding the issue, he put considerable efforts in ensuring that women associated with Nike can be offered an equal platform. One of the most important aspects of a leader is to identify a mistake and work towards rectifying it. When the organization was accused of having a misogynistic culture, Parker issued a public apology where he accepted that he and other executives of the business missed signs of unhappiness among women employees. He assured the team that women associated with the company will not only be compensated for the brunt borne by them up until now but that he will personally ensure that a culture of respect and equality is encouraged at Nike. Parker also identified that human resource management policies at Nike will continue to be regularly reviewed and evaluated to avoid such mistakes in the future.
Overview of leadership style
Mark Parker leads by example and continues to participate in every business process. It is essential for leaders to lead by example in order to understand the crux of the business and create an environment of respect. Mike Parker actively takes part in the design process in order to monitor the final value that gets delivered to the customers.
Mark’s leadership style is predominantly transformational. This leadership style has changed the brand’s positioning in the industry. Today Nike is a giant player with a large set of fiercely loyal customers. At the time when Mark Parker was appointed as the CEO, Adidas was leading the industry post acquiring Reebok. At that point of time, Mark’s leadership style were largely needed by the brand in order to establish itself in the industry. There were several challenges that were faced by Nike but it was Parker’s powerful leadership and magnanimous presence that helped Nike in establishing a solid foothold in the market of operation.
Employee engagement is an essential aspect within the tenure of every employee (Anitha, 2014). It is critical to derive motivation among employees and making them feel valued in the business (Mishra et. al., 2014). Engagement refers to the efforts made by an organization in the direction of involving employees in the decision making processes of the business. Mark Parker’s lays especial emphasis on ensuring high levels of employee engagement within the organization. In a typical brainstorming session at Nike, all the employees are encouraged to share their opinions. Parker fosters a strong culture of open communication and ensures that different opinions are executed and respected. Mark believes that this approach to communication has helped Nike in leading innovative change.
Employees at Nike are also persuaded to work on their opinions and ideas even when the idea does not receive support from the rest of the group. Nike’s designers are consistently engaged with developers and marketers of the business and hence every employee is consistently aware of the status of the product. Mark Parker has also adapted an open door policy within the organization. This policy suggests that the top management of the organization is always available for the staff in case of any issues. Under the leadership of Mark Parker, employees are actively engaged in the decision making processes of the business inducing a participative culture.
However, a severe drawback of an extensively participative and engaging culture is that the workplace atmosphere becomes so casual that power does not flow through the business structure. Rather, power flows through informal relationships within the business. This sometimes can lead to a highly unfair and partial work process. Unfortunately, Nike also faced the same issue where several female employees complained of a misogynistic culture as almost all leadership roles were occupied by white males.
Such a work culture can also reduce the overall productivity of the team. As every person is allowed and encouraged to work upon different ideas, the possibility of successful ideas drastically reduces. Even though this may increase the risk appetite and the level of innovation within the business, but the overall productivity of the organization as a whole is drastically reduced.
Change management is a critical responsibility of a successful leader at any given organization. How a leader takes the entire business through a change process without disrupting business processes or employee morale is highly important (Frankland et. al., 2013). Not all leaders can drive a change or a transformation within an organization in a smooth manner. Mark Parker hits the nail right on top with his ability to manage the change that needs to be done.
Since his appointment as the company’s CEO, Mark Parker has brought about a lot of change within the business. The foremost change that he introduced was the division of the all business processes on the basis of six critical customer segments rather than business functions. The second predominant change that he introduced was the shift the team’s focus on 40 out of over 30000 Nike stores that are there in the world. The idea was to enhance the customer shopping experience in these select stores. Parker has reformed the brand and created a disruption in the entire industry making Nike a strong competitor for other players. Through the entire change process, he led the team in an effective manner.
Communication plays a strong role in the change process for any business (Quirke, 2017). Parker has therefore ensured that in the midst of such massive changes too, Nike continues to remain a largely transparent organization. Employees’ grievances are effectively addressed. One of the major problems faced by employees of an organization going through a change is their resistance towards change. Mike Parker has effectively dealt with employee resistance towards change by encouraging all the employees to participate in the change process. Once employees feel that their opinions are heard then the entire change process becomes a lot easier. Even as a CEO he continues to address all his staff through regular emails and memos. This helps employees feel that they are connected to the business and hence are able to accept the change that takes place in the organization in a better manner.
The steps taken by Mark Parker as a CEO towards the employee engagement and change management are truly commendable. However, even as a former chairman, Mark continues to provide the brand with his insight towards several organizational processes. Parker’s contributes significantly to the design team and continues to play a significant role in all the creative aspects of the business.
For every leadership role, it is crucial to find the right successor. Mark Parker’s successor would have tough shoes to fill owing to the excellence demonstrated by Parker in his tenure at Nike. It is going to be a difficult procedure to find someone who can fill the space that Parker occupied and hence it becomes an even bigger responsibility for Parker to find the right person for the job.
There are several key competencies of Parker’s successor that are recommended. Parker always had a strong vision for Nike since the day he was associated with the brand. It is important that his successor too must be a visionary and knows exactly what needs to be achieved. Having a strong vision guides leaders to create their plan of action and strategize a better future for the organization.
Parker has worked with different departments of the firm and hence has detailed knowledge of the business. It is therefore important for his successor to possess thorough business knowledge. A strong knowledge about the business process helps leaders lead by example.
The culture at Nike created by Mark is that open communication and trust. In such a culture the flow of power comes through informal relationships rather than structure. Therefore it is important that Parker’s successor has a strong personality and is flamboyant enough to command respect in such a culture. The new leader at Nike must be able to infuse well with the culture of the firm and ensure that the work place environment continues to be positive and motivating.
As a leader, Parker has always been honest and integral to the business. This quality of a leader is highly important in order to ensure trust and respect towards the leader within the organization (Black, 2015). The new leader must therefore have an honest approach towards the business.
The large number of business changes brought about by Mark has changed the organizational culture at Nike. The next leader must be able to improve upon the same and make Nike a better place. The new leader’s contribution to Nike must enhance the business’s productivity and add on the already rich culture existing in the organization.
Mark’s leadership style has been transformational. He joined the organization, proved his mettle and earned his spot in the firm. He worked hard within every department that he served. Therefore it would be important for his successor to prove his mettle as well. This is important for build trust and respect as a leader. When a leader is succeeded by someone, a sense of comparison and sometimes even resistance comes naturally to the entire team. This is why it is essential that the new leader appointed is worthy for the position earned.
Mark has created a culture on openness and growth in the business. Therefore in order to appoint a new CEO, it is important that suitable candidates are looked for within the business. Another advantage of finding a successor within the organization would be that the leader would already be well versed with the organizational culture and structure. This new leader who could be appointed from within the organization would have probably worked with Mark in the past and they may be sharing the same vision for the firm.
A leader who is recruited from within the organization would be a lot easier to accept because this leader would have proved his or her mettle in order to be considered for this position. Having already been associated with Nike, this new leader would also have firsthand information regarding several business processes at the firm.
In this case, however, it is essential to ascertain that the new leader is innovative and is willing to bring about change. It would be risky to have a leader who is extremely comfortable in the current setting at the firm. The process of finding a successor to an impeccable leader like Mark Parker will be a difficult process. It is important to ensure that the person has the right vision and a strategically designed action plan for the future (Hollander, 2013). The selection process will have to be extremely strict to ensure fair selection. People from outside the organization must also be considered to apply but a candidate from within the organization must be preferred.
Conclusion:
Leadership is an essential aspect of any business (Daft, 2014). Mark Parker has led the shoes and sportswear giant Nike and served the position of the chief executive officer. This report has highlighted upon the leadership skills and styles demonstrated by Parker throughout his tenure at Nike. Recommendations have also been provided to effectively find an appropriate successor as a CEO for the brand.
References:
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Black, S.A., 2015. Qualities of effective leadership in higher education. Open Journal of Leadership, 4(02), p.54.
Bolden, R., 2016. Leadership, management and organisational development. In Gower handbook of leadership and management development (pp. 143-158). Routledge. United Kingdom.
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Clinton, R., 2018. The making of a leader: Recognizing the lessons and stages of leadership development. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
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Forbes, 2018. ‘How Nike could transform its bro culture’. Available at https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicemann/2018/04/08/how-nike-could-transform-its-bro-culture/#c6c4d35687ff. Accessed on 22 July, 2018.
Forbes, 2018. ‘Retail person of the year’. Available at https://www.forbes.com/sites/walterloeb/2018/01/02/person-of-the-year-mark-parker-ceo-of-nike/#25dbe0464750 . Accessed on 22 July, 2018.
Frankland, R., Mitchell, C.M., Ferguson, J.D., Sziklai, A.T., Verma, A.K., Popowski, J.E. and Sturgeon, D.H., Applications in Internet Time LLC, 2013. Integrated change management unit. U.S. Patent 8,484,111.
Hollander, E.P., 2013. Organizational leadership and followership. Social Psychology at Work (Psychology Revivals): Essays in honour of Michael Argyle, p.69.
Inc, 2018. ‘Mike Parker taught 4 lessons’. Available at https://www.inc.com/darren-heitner/nike-ceo-mark-parker-just-taught-4-lessons-on-how-to-handle-complaints-about-toxic-culture.html. Accessed on 22 July, 2018.
Jian, G. and Fairhurst, G.T., 2017. Leadership in organizations. The international encyclopedia of organizational communication, pp.1-20.
Mishra, K., Boynton, L. and Mishra, A., 2014. Driving employee engagement: The expanded role of internal communications. International Journal of Business Communication, 51(2), pp.183-202.
Quirke, B., 2017. Making the connections: using internal communication to turn strategy into action. Routledge. United Kingdom.
Wagner, W.E., 2016. Leadership for a better world: Understanding the social change model of leadership development. John Wiley & Sons.
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