END-0F-TERM EXAM – AT HOME SEMESTER 20.

2A, 2020-2021
ACADEMIC YEAR

Name: Nguyen Trieu Anh Thu

Student Id: 2160575
Course Name: Leadership
Course Code: QT311DE01 - 0500
Exam Date: 05/07/2021

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 A. Essay 1
Issue 1
Starbucks is one of the most famous coffee brands not only in the US, but it is also
well known for employment policy - by offering employees stock options, retirement
plans and insurance benefits. Starbucks, however, encountered a problem in 1997
when three employees were killed during a heist in Washington, D.C. The CEO
Howard Schultz's outstanding leadership was demonstrated by flying directly into
D.C. and spending a week with victims’ co-workers and families through the hard
time. There is no doubt that Mr. Schultz is certainly smart, has excellent analytical
skills and a high degree of technical expertise. However, much of Schultz's success as
leader can help him connect to and communicate and empathize with his people.
"Emotional intelligence" is the ability to be aware, control and express one's emotions
as well as others. If his ability to empathize and motivation are defining elements
which distinguish him as a leader, then he's uncanny to deal with difficult issues and
his unwavering ability to inspire others to follow, this demonstrates his leadership
success. He was born to be a leader with many components of leader’s ability
according to Huffingtonpost.com, Schultz is one of the top 10 emotional smartest
fortunes of its 500 CEO, ranked by Chip Conley of the Huffington Post. There are 5
key elements in it–according to Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist who
contributes to the popularization of emotional intelligence: Self-awareness; Self-
regulation; Motivation; Empathy; Social abilities. Mr. Schultz shows that he uses all
of those qualities through the successes of his achievements. And, as with many
leaders, efficient use of these practices is sufficient to succeed.
Although Mr. Schultz, a self-made billionaire, who is unique and different from other
leaders or managers for his personality based on the way he treats his company and
employees. In an article of Forbes, Mr. Schultz once said: “Coffee is what we sell as a
product, but it’s not the business we’re in. We’re in the people business,” he
responded. “I’m passionate about human connection.” So I can see that he does not
only passionate about making money from people, but he actually cares about
humanity and the non-stop developing cold hearted community that we are living in.
As I can learn from his personality’s traits, successful leaders are not so enthused
about their companies' products but how they improve the lives of their employees
and customers with their products or services. Leaders always treat employees with
kindness and empathy but not with distancing themselves from people.

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Issue 2
Based on the theory in the Leadership course about functions of a leader and from the
history of Starbucks, the role of CEO Howard Schultz in creating and maintaining
Starbucks culture with a distinguished slogan for the core values it brings: “Your
personality. Our heritage. The perfect blend.” With this statement, Starbucks became
another type of company from the beginning, It was not just a coffee but also a
connection between human - a meeting place, part of everyday routine in the
neighborhood. Because all of us are partners in common success so they call their
staff partners. Everything they are doing is through the lens of humanity — from their
commitment to world-class coffee to the way we engage in business responsibly with
the customers and communities. With this strategic wisdom of Mr.Schultz, I can see
some special aspects in the way he creates and maintains Starbucks culture. The first
one is Starbucks cares for its employees and vendors. The company's care to its
employees and vendors also distinguished Schultz' culture from Starbucks. In fact, he
insisted on naming employees 'partners.' They got great wages, benefits and even
stock options. Development of the profession. Packs of incentives. Opportunities for
growth. He was also in favor of treating farmers fairly and humanely to grow their
coffee beans. A successful culture began to ensure Schultz had appreciated and
respected people on the front lines of the brand. He realized that it was the intelligent
and powerful way to give life to the vision of the company. That was a pure "genius of
culture," from my point of view. As a leader, you will end up with teams that
genuinely care for your customers' happiness and business growth if you make
choices that show you concern for your employees which leads to a huge success and
profitability. Second, Howard Schultz has demonstrated social responsibility perfectly
by his leader’s skills and abilities whenever Starbucks meets tragic situations. Schultz
ensured social responsibility has been closely intertwined in all of Starbucks'
corporate objectives and strategies to strengthen the culture of Starbucks in its
services. For example, a four-day management conference for 10,000 Starbucks
managers and partners was held by Schultz in October 2008, in New Orleans, where
families still struggled to recover from Katrina. The company used part of its time to
help people suffering most from the devastating storm in the area to restore homes and
schools by employees who volunteered. These Starbucks team members donated over
54,000 hours of work and over $1 million in the projects. Today some leaders just talk
and make promises without taking action in social responsibility to cool down the
situation. But with Mr.Schultz, actions come before speed which is a cultural
phenomenon.

B. Essay 2
Issue 3

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The government must be strong but it has been weak" - Putin. This declaration was
made by Vladmir Putin in 2000 when he took the president place. As is well known,
the condition of the Russian geography does not constitute a natural fortification.
Russia therefore needs a strong hard drive to ensure State security while protecting its
national interests. Vladimir Putin is well known for his autocratic style of leadership.
He's a check freak simply because of his obsessive personal disorder. He knew that he
had to take control into his own hands if he wanted to realize his vision of a larger
Russia. Freaks of control as Putin are well-known for their autocratic and autocratic
style of governance, he controlled most important decisions in government and was
mostly not open to other people's opinions and views. He knew that he was a very
bully, influential and feared leader, so he fully ruled the government. This has its
advantages and disadvantages although Putin is a visionary who wants to build a
larger Russia and a very perfectionist person. Such leadership is generally seen as
negative because it can lead to frustration and disappointment for employees. In
addition, the growth of employees is stagnating as their potential is unlikely, although
Putin's staff and team believed in him and had the same vision that they were fully
following him and showing that they too would receive great rewards. President
Vladimir Putin, without a doubt, is a made leader rather than a born leader. Many of
Vladimir Putin's leadership qualities were formed during his childhood and life
experiences, such as the fact that he grew up in a poor family where his brothers were
unable to survive due to hunger. Because he had nothing to lose, these massive
setbacks motivated and inspired him to succeed and develop his life for the better.
Putin cultivated many core characteristics as a result of his KGB training and
university education as a civil law major, where he honed his diplomacy and learned
how to effectively relate to and motivate people at various levels. He honed his
communication skills by learning multiple foreign languages in order to communicate
with a diverse group of people, from whom he earned respect through his knowledge
and, as a result, the regard of their followers.

Issue 4
President Putin is a secret operative through training and work experience. He is a
highly perceptive, fast, open-hearted, tactical learner. With a little of his own
ideology, he easily absorbs the best of his supporters and friends regardless of their
political inclinations. In new situations, he can turn on a dime and invite new blood
from the lowest ranks of his entourage, if necessary, to try their hand in dealing with
the difficult situation. This is reflected in Putin's management style, often seen as
Efficient confusion and Walking Around management. He maintains roles and
responsibilities in a constant competition, often working in parallel with the same task,
while people have ample space in defining roles and routines for certain goals. Work
from person to person is easily translated. Putin's second guess of intentions is part of

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the game because it is seen as an innovation and creativity factor. President Putin is a
clever and motivated observer and manager of people. Very few people who worked
for him have ever turned against him, and none in their inner circles. At the same
time, many of his bitter critics are now working for him. We have to go back to Stalin
to find something comparable. And Putin even favors this comparison. Stalin relied
heavily on killing people to prevent defeats and betrayals, while it goes without saying
that Putin dislikes violence. Instead of implementing its own way of doing things,
Putin excels in using its own modus operandi and hidden inertia. His ability to follow
the motives and energies of other people enables him to begin working days late, work
a few hours and to control fully what goes on in his government. Putin understands his
leadership role as an upholder who can choose the safest option available from his
Olympic perspective. That is why he never tries to give strategic talk or make major
future plans for the country. His electoral campaign under the slogan of "Support
Putin's Plan" was tentatively conducted once. It was soon dropped out: no one had
known what the plans of Putin were, and the word itself has a Russian collateral
meaning of "marijuana." which enables him to avoid any responsibilities and broken
promises to the Russian public and his people: all his subordinates had faults.

C. Essay 3
GLOBE study, mainly includes a large study, based on the qualities of operational
leadership, by top management teams and organizational leaders from cultures and
countries around the world. Researchers in the Global Study focus mainly on how the
culture of organization influences leadership behavior and if the success of
organizations depends on management and leadership styles. The results of the study
are important as they assist managers in understanding the relationship between
culture and organisation. The culture includes the beliefs and values of an
organisation, which have occurred for a long time, and the beliefs of employees and
the unpredictable value of their work that will influence their attitudes and conduct.
The findings are especially useful to managers in strengthening their roles in terms of
organizational results, the important influence of culture on the leadership
expectations of society and the importance of adapting their behavior to leadership
expectations in each company of different cultures. Understanding this relationship
from the international study allows managers to influence employees' performance
greatly.

Issue 5
There is always a conflict discussion about the value of the leadership styles and
cultures of Asian and Western area. Indeed, this debate sometimes becomes even an
argument—although I believe that is completely unnecessary. In Asian and Western
leadership styles and cultures certainly there are some significant differences, but they

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are only differences—not 'rights' or 'wrongs’ and ‘true’ or ‘false’. First of all, I would
like to talk about the individual vs collective segment. Asian business culture tends to
focus on collective performance while western culture promotes self-performance.
Asian leaders are tending to judge team success while western leaders are searching
for superstars and weak connections. Second, the Challenging vs. Deferential - West
leaders tend to face more challenges and face more challenges (and they are more
used to them). There is doubtless more respect for authority in Asian corporate
culture, and more devotion to leaders. In an Asian environment, the Wolf of Wall
Street employee model appears even more shocking. It was shocking enough, though.
Third point is Asian styles can often be more instructive, which gives employees less
license to develop their own paths. Western organizations are usually flatter, with a
less prescriptive leadership approach. Leaders know the end goal more about their
thinking, and trust them to find the right way forward. They are more aware of it.
However, both styles still have distinguished advantages and drawbacks. Come up
with next point of view, Asian leaders probably feel satisfied with some processes and
hesitant to move away from what is tried and tested despite western leaders being
more focused on different chances that might happen during the process. And both
ways definitely have risks. Last but not least, it is not fair to label Asian leadership
style ‘closed’, but Western leaders often go for building close relationships in
teamwork, in the meanwhile, Asian leaders are more far-off. However, every leaders
in different cultures has a different style in leading their company and employees and
putting people in a pre-described box should not be discussed intensively because
there is no right or wrong way to do things.

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Issue 6
Political connections have a significant impact on business in Asia. When a successor
is appointed, there is also a greater emphasis on family. Companies are frequently left
to children or other close family members. When it comes to corporate governance,
Asia is less concerned with regulators, directors, and stakeholders. While this type of
control is available to certain companies in Asia, it is not common yet. The most
popular management approach within these companies is a directive in which the
leader has the final say on all matters; however, a more empowering approach has
begun to develop a more capable workforce. In Western companies, as in Asia,
governance by boards and shareholders is often allowed in some way. There is no
such prevalence of influences of political ties, and the CEOs are often appointed from
within the company, following a significant business history. Some companies hire
the executive positions from outside the company. Further training programs are in
place in order to help CEOs achieve the required skills. The guideline approach was
popular, but the popularity and employment of the other four styles have reduced
greatly. The leadership feature of passion is highly prominent in Western culture and
is the most wanted feature, less emotional and self-aware of Asia.