Individual work

Mostly Mostly
Leadership True False
1 I intentionally try to make people’s work on
the job more pleasant. ……………… ………………
2 I focus more on execution than on being
pleasant with people. ……………… ………………
3
I go out of my way to help others. ……………… ………………
4 I personally hold people accountable for
their performance. ……………… ………………
5 I work hard to maintain a friendly
atmosphere on the team. ……………… ………………
6
I clearly tell people what I expect of them. ……………… ………………
7 I think a lot about people’s personal
welfare. ……………… ………………
8 I check up on people to know how they are
doing. ……………… ………………
9 I am concerned more with relationships
than with results. ……………… ………………
10
I assign people to specific roles and tasks. ……………… ………………
11 I focus more on being pleasant with people
than on execution of tasks. ……………… ………………
12 I am concerned more with results than with
people’s feelings. ……………… ………………

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 Case 1 to be analyzed
• Using FFA to analyse the status of primary education Bihar State is one of the least developed
states in India, a fact which contributes significantly to the numbers of children out of school
in the country. Various programmes, such as the Bihar Education Project and District Primary
Education Projects, have been started to improve enrolment and retention of children in
education and the quality of schooling at primary level. With this in mind, a workshop was
organised to design the training curriculum for the education managers. The author facilitated
the session and FFA was employed to help identify those forces
responsible for the poor state of primary education in the state.

• Figure 2 depicts a force–field diagram of primary education in Bihar, created by the group of
education managers during the workshop. The participants first prepared a list of forces, both
driving and restraining, affecting primary education. They were asked to write the forces on
small cards - only one force on each card. Separate colour cards were used for the two
different types of forces.

• Once the cards were written, cards with similar forces were clubbed together and counted.
The number of cards denoting the frequency of the force was an indicator of its strength.
The cards were placed at different distances in such a way that the larger the distance, the
greater the effect of the force on the status of primary education. Then the group looked at
the forces from the point of view of training. They identified driving forces that could be
further strengthened by training. Similarly restricting forces that could be weakened by
training were also listed.

• FFA thus, helped in designing a training programme for education managers aimed at
improving status of primary education in Bihar. When the group had previously discussed this
issue without using the FFA tool, they could only identify a few causes and very few
interventions. However, the use of FFA stimulated discussion and brought new points to
light. FFA can be explained nicely using the analogy of gas balloons and stones (see Figure 3).
Balloons represent driving forces, which are acting to bring about a desired change.

• Stones depict restricting forces thwarting it. The present situation is deemed to be
represented by a state of temporary equilibrium as the balloons balance the stones. The
length of the strings attached to the balloons and stones can reflect
the effect on the problem situation. The larger the string, the stronger the effect. Or else the
size of the balloons and stones can denote their relative strengths. Planning for change
amounts to identification and finalisation of the process of strengthening of the forces
represented by balloons and weakening the forces represented by stones.

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2
Steve Jobs leadership
The name of Steve Paul Jobs has dominated the world of leadership especially in the 21st
century; at the peak of technological advancements in computer technology. Born in 1955,
Steve Jobs was a man of his caliber in terms of innovation of business ideas. Until his death in
2011, Jobs remained an icon of transformational leadership (Peña 2005).

Among other successes and leadership positions, Jobs was well known for as the chairman and
co-founder of the famous Apple Inc. Unlike his counterparts who have a clear-cut of their
leadership styles, Jobs could not be described by a single style of leadership; he was endowed
with several qualities, which helped him to traverse the business world, to achieve such massive
success. Importantly, his life experiences right from teenage played a major role in molding his
personality, having failed to graduate from college.

In his 2005 address at the Stanford University, Steve Jobs highlighted several life experiences,
which had shaped his life and challenged graduates to see success and opportunities in setbacks,
which life offers. He believed in having faith, by connecting dots in life even during hard
moments and hardly regretted for his decisions, including the selection of an expensive college
that became a challenge to his parents in paying tuition fees.

As a result, he dropped out, and registered for calligraphy, which was significant in designing
fonts while designing the first Macintosh. The love for his job was unwavering. Together with
his friend, they founded Apple and even after being kicked out of the company, he moved on
to launch NeXT Software Inc., which was acquired by Apple in 1997, giving a chance to rejoin
Apple. His ill-health was a further source of inspiration in life.

After surviving a pancreatic surgery necessitated by cancer, he considered it as a wakeup call;

to maximize the use of available time in doing what he loved most (Peña 2005). It is this path
that shaped Steve Paul Jobs to become a leader with countless styles and qualities.

Firstly, Jobs was a charismatic leader. He was widely known for his ability to give captivating
speeches, a trait that was equally employed in his career. His storytelling skills favored him
capturing the attention of not only his audience but also his employees at Apple and other
companies (Kramer 2010).

He was able to communicate the benefits of using Apple products as compared to other
products by use of metaphors and analogies. His charismatic nature was essential in developing
enthusiastic leaders who remained focused towards achieving that which seemed impossible in
the eyes of many and convince his customers that his company had the best products in the
market.

Jobs inherent and learned traits seemed to define his character and leadership path. Due to this,
he earned himself several titles, which mainly described his attachment to perfection (Kramer
2010). His leadership was therefore described as personalized; he sometimes expected too
much from an employee. According to Jobs, he was interested in making people better, a
leadership approach that was sometimes misinterpreted as being autocratic and rude especially
in meetings. As an autocratic leader, Jobs insisted on being in control and showing people what
to do even as a role model. While at Apple, Jobs had over a hundred employees who directly
reported to him directly. His degree as a participatory leader was therefore low (Peña 2005).

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Importantly, Steve Jobs remains an icon of transformational leadership. Throughout his career,
Steve Jobs managed to transform different companies like Pixar. He also led by example,
showing employees and other managers what was to be done in order to overcome the
challenges of a competitive business world (Kramer 2010). This was essential in bringing out
the best in every employee and promoting performance.

………………………………………………………………………………….

Jeff Bezos
He is the founder of Amazon.com, its CEO and chair of the company’s board. Bezos is highly
recognized in the money market and was valued at $3.6 billion, according to Forbes’ survey in
the year 2006. He was listed as the personality of the year in 1999 by the Time magazine.
Besides Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin, with an aim of promoting tourism. He
is definitely influential and his leadership style is worth studying to understand his success
secrets.

Unlike some of company owners who choose to delegate managerial positions, Bezos runs
Amazon.com as its founder and CEO. He therefore battles out by transiting from a small
company to the head of thousands of employees.

He is generally overwhelmed with fun and innovations, having carried his laughing character
to the company. In analyzing his leadership qualities, Bezos has been described using a wide
range of approaches (‘Taking the long view’ 2012).

He is a transformational leader. Based on the path he has used to get Amazon.com where it is
today, it is doubtless that he has been instrumental in promoting the company’s performance.
He has always made choices based on his desire to move to another level, a reasons he gives
for marrying his wife. His visionary has definitely landed him to a place he dreamed, decades
ago.

He is also concerned in the performance of managers and other company employees. In order
to impact his management team, he organizes weekly meeting, reporting on experiences and
answering questions from him. The Just Do It program launched by Bezos was highly
applauded for promoting participatory management at Amazon (‘Taking the long view’ 2012).

According to the program, managers are promoted for their innovative ideas, which are aimed
at improving the company’s performance. His perfectionism in performance means that he has
to higher new managers consistently, who are intelligent and highly skilled.

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