Tuesday, May 5, 2020

How an Organization Would be Without the Establishment of any form of

Question: How an organization would be without the establishment of any form of leadership? Answer: Introduction Think of how an organization would be without the establishment of any form of leadership? What would be experienced is an instance where there is inefficient allocation of resources, poor communication and coordination in the business, fraud instances in the accounting record, there can also be theft of company resources because of the in availability of any leadership process. Hence, the establishment of leadership tends to be the primary spine in the conduction of daily business activities for the purpose of customer satisfaction. Different definitions have been brought up to at least try and define what leadership entails. According to Mitchell (2015), leadership allows the collaboration and assessment so that there can be an understanding how the developments tasks challenge constraints, while they explore new possibilities so as to ensure there is accountability and support for the purpose of business aims and sustainability development. Tartell (2014) defines leadership as an individual or persons whose responsibilities are selecting, equipping, training and influencing individuals who are in possession of diverse abilities, skills and gifts for the purpose of attainment of business mission or objectives. Therefore, leaders use their ethical means and seek greater good of their employee so that they can be develop, process and implements their actions steps. Hence, in this study my aim is on the providing a detailed scenario about Enron Scandal. Founded in the year 1985, it was one the global leading firm in electricity, natural gas, communications, pulp, and paper firms before its collapse in late 2001. Thus, its annual revenues had risen from about $9 billion as of 1995 to more than $100 billion in 2000. Therefore, during the end of 2001, it was revealed by its annual reports that the financial condition had been sustained sustainably through institutions, and it was a systematically and creatively planned accounting fraud. According to Amara (2007), Enron stock dropped from $90 per share in the mid of 200 to less that $1 per share as of 2001. In this case, the shareholder estimated a loss of close to $11 billion. After they had revised their financial statement for the last five years, it was certain that the company had lost more than $586 million. As a result, this triggered the fall to bankruptcy on December 2001. Perhaps, it would be of significant purpose to at least try and outline some of the major problems that might have led to the downfall in this case study, they include: It was identified that the chief finance officer has more than $30 million for self-dealings. Hence, it was regarded that the CFO had taken money for his personal usage which was a not good according to the governance of the company (Bryce, 2002). There was also the disappearance of $700 million total net earnings. As a result, such a scandal means that the accounting system has some form of fraud, thus leading to the bankruptcy of the company (Bryce, 2002). A total of $1.2 billion shareholders equity got lost in the accounting process. There were also hidden liabilities by the accountants which were close to $4 billion. Hence, many of the recorded assets and profits in Enron Company were inflated or perhaps there was also some fraudulent and non-existence in the records. In the case of debts and equities, entities they were recorded offshore and werent included in the final companys financial statements (Bryce, 2002). There were also some sophisticated financial transactions that took place between Enron and other firms which were used in the elimination of unprofitable entities in the companys books (Amara, 2007). Hence, such acts are deemed to have been the problems that faced the firm. Thus, in this study our focus will be primarily focused how leadership plays a major role in order to build the organizational culture as well as behavior. In addition, it will still focus on highlighting why leaders in such a firm like Enron need to maintain their ethical practice and proper leadership models that would direct the company. 1. How can be explained by some of leadership theories happened at Enron? Contingency model theory- the theory tends to offer theoretical model that focus on leadership based on leaders character and situation. Therefore, the situational factor tends to interact with the leaders traits and behaviors so that there can be some form of leadership effectiveness (Normore Fitch, 2011). Therefore, the theory outlines that the leaders can be effective in terms of task orientation and relationship orientation. As for our case, it is a total different case. For instance, it is observed that management characters and relation to the employees wasnt effective (Amara, 2007). Therefore, such factors may be the escalating factors to what happened at Enron Company. Thus, using the theory leaders should ensure that they are up to task and they have a good relationship between them and the employees so that there can be free communication and respect. Path goal theory- this theory focuses on how leaders motivate their followers so that they can achieve their desired goals. Hence, it tends to focus on the relationship between the leadership style and characteristics of the followers in the organization setting. Hence, the leader is imperative to use a leadership style that meets the followers motivation. All this is possible if there is complementation of what is missing in the work setting. Therefore, leaders try and enhance the followers to the goal attainments (Goethals, 2004). Considering our case, leaders of Enron failed to motivate their employees in any manner towards the attainment of desired goals. For instance, we observe Mr. Skilling a leader promoting a culture of fraud, so most of the employees embraced this fraud culture and failed to accomplish the desired goals. Other employees who at least tried and make claims that there were emerging issues because of fraud were dismissed. Hence, it meant that the leaders failed to motivate employees towards the desired goals; as a result this led to the continued escalation. 2. In what ways does leadership influence culture? Whether a leader comes up in any organization or is brought from the outside of the organizations, different ways emerge on how leaders impact the company culture. Hence, I will briefly look at some of the ways in which leaders can influence the culture of an organization. Walking the talk- as a leader people tend to observe what you say, do and the values you posses, not just in a way that you say it. Looking at the then Enron CEO, Kenneth lay and his management group they were stealing from their shareholders, thus a lot of traders were laughing at them because of how they were going bankrupt little old ladies so that they can heat their bills. Such an instance tends to be very tough for a leader; this is because a lot of people fail to have respect for them (Normore Fitch, 2011). Hence, there is the need of developing a culture by the Enron leaders where they focus on doing something that they say and ensure that they follow it through. Rewards and enforcements- as a leader there is the need of valuing what we recognize. Therefore, Enron leadership may adopt a new culture where they reward and recognize employees. Thus, they will be a collaboration and team work culture compared to before where employees where working against each other for the purpose of safeguarding their job (Bradley, 2011). There is also an instance where employees in Enron Company worked towards the maintenance of their jobs rather than focusing on the achievement of organizational goals. Hence, this developed the culture of fraud, but we observe that the current leadership of the firm has decided to reward effective employees. Therefore, if people are promoted the leadership influence will have conformed in a successful way that creates a hierarchical culture. Being passionate- passion tends to be contagious and most people often like to be associated with it. As some scholars argue on leadership programs, people can follow you because they have to or because they want to because of your capabilities (Elliot, 2002). Therefore, if one has the capabilities to inspire people for change you tend to reprogram their brains thus they will take some form of ownership so that they can ensure success in the firm objectives. Communicating efficiently- it may sound obvious but if there is no clear communication, there is the likelihood of unclear and informal communication (Smith, 2009). Consider the case of Enron Scandal, poor communication culture in the firm was a escalating factor to downfall. Looking at an example, there was no evidence because of poor communication culture by the leaders that when the CEO told the employees that stock would rise that he could disclose that he was selling stock. Hence, it meant the duty was owed to one's good faith and disclosure (Bradley, 2011). Moreover, in this case, the employees would not have known of the stock sales within days or weeks in such an ordinary case. Thus, only the under investigation after the bankruptcy was it known that the CEO is selling stock. Perhaps, such a factor could be stated that it increased the level of bankruptcy. Therefore, people tend to appreciate if there is honest and straightforward communication to them even if it is negative so that they could at least try and develop a positive influence. All these can be possible if only the leadership system decides to adopt an effective communication culture. Leadership and employees engagement leads to innovation- having an amazing form of leadership makes people motivated in the success of achievements. More importantly, you have the freedom to undertake any duty and this creates some form of redundant task that you would have to normally do (Normore Fitch, 2011). Based on this, a leader who engages his employees brings some positive atmosphere in an organization and makes the work a lot simpler. Know think of a company where the employees are disengaged along with poor leadership (Lumby Coleman, 2007). What is likely to be seen is an instance similar to the Enron Scandal. Here, we are likely to experience instances of negative results, as a result the company becomes awry, work become gruel and tasks become daunted, rather than a place where people can develop an learn new things. Therefore, it is up to the leaders to make decisions on what shape they would like their work place to be, this is what separates great companies from the bad companies. Therefore, to make positive cultural influences those are objective to the organization aims leader should be transparent, clear and fun company that most people often feel to go and work for (Lumby Coleman, 2007). Hence, leaders should maintain that they influence cultures that make companies to thrive. 3. How should unethical behavior be reduced at the workplace? What should be the recommendations? In our case scenario, we observe that weakness of human beings. The executives in this company were smart guys, but unfortunately they destroyed the fortune they had built for 16 years because of unethical characters. Unethical characters tend to develop some disastrous consequences in any organization. Therefore, as a leader there is the dire need of avoiding such practices from happening (Normore Fitch, 2011). Hence, Enron should consider avoiding some of the unethical behaviors within the organization. These are as follows: Proper corporate culture Firms should critically look at their corporate culture because the culture found in an organization will affect the decisions made by the employers and employees in any ethical dilemma (Koletar, 2003). Considering our case study, Enron culture led to bad result which increased levels of fraud and bankruptcy. It is also noted that Enron had competitive environments and rigorous performance in evaluating their standards. Besides that they focused more on their financial goals. Therefore, if Enron had given more job securities to their employees, instances of cheating could have been less. Therefore, the employers could not have made decisions if they cared about the interest of their employees and stakeholders. Hence, building a healthy corporate culture tends to be a necessity for the firm. Robust ethics infrastructure There is the need of establishing a robust ethnic infrastructure that should be followed daily. Therefore, having ethical codes tend to be far from enough (Normore Fitch, 2011). For instance, our case company had written code of ethics, but there were many unethical behaviors still happening. Hence, when firms write down their codes of ethics they should also communicate it effectively to all employees. Hence, leaders should make sure that a companys ethical standards are common to each persons mind. Establishment of business ethics theories and models Businesses need to learn the significance of business ethics theories and models because of their capability to reduce levels of unethical characters. For instance, in these models and theories, impacts for your decisions and interest tend to be emphasized. Hence, the ethics models develop good ways in which you balance the interest of all parties, so that they can assist in the making of a right decision in an instance of ethical dilemma (Elliot, 2002). Hence, having proper business ethics theories and models lower levels of unethical dilemmas once you know what should be done. Hence, to avoid any other case of Enron, firms should opt whether they possess a healthy business culture, whether they have their written codes of ethics and if they follow the codes, and if they employers and employees have sufficient knowledge about the business ethics (Normore Fitch, 2011). Conclusion In this study there is an in-depth understanding on how proper leadership is the spine towards the conduction of business process. There is also observation of how leaders can influence the culture of an organization to either the positive or negative side (Normore Fitch, 2011). Lastly are recommendations of how companies can handle instances of unethical behaviors. Therefore, effective leadership is a significant necessity for any firm in the business world. References Tartell, R. H. (2014).A test of the path goal theory of leadership. House, R. J., University of Toronto. (2009).Retrospective commentary: The Path Goal Theory of Leadership. Toronto: Faculty of Management Studies, University of Toronto Goethals, G. R., Sorenson, G. J., Burns, J. M. G., Sage Publications. (2004).Encyclopedia of leadership. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications. House, R. J., Mitchell, T. R., United States. (2015).Path-goal theory of leadership. Seattle: University of Washington.. Bryce, R. (2002).Pipe dreams: Greed, ego, and the death of Enron. New York: PublicAffairs. Swartz, M., Watkins, S. (2003).Power failure: The inside story of the collapse of Enron. New York: Doubleday. Lay, K. L., Newcomen Society of the United States. (1990).The Enron story. New York: Newcomen Society of the United States. Gibney, A., Kliot, J., Motamed, S., Coyote, P., Hauser, M., Elkind, P., McLean, B., ... Magnolia Home Entertainment (Firm). (2006).Enron: The smartest guys in the room. Los Angeles, CA: Magnolia Home Entertainment. Amara, E. (2007).The Enron scandal. New York, NY: Filmakers Library.

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