Leadership - literature review, theories and the case of the entrepeneur Michael Dell.

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CONTENTS
IntroductionP3
An overview of the theory of leadershipP3
Leadership trait theoryP3
Leadership behavior theoryP4
Practical Section businessP4
The analysis of Michael Dell’s competency based on leadershipP6
Conclusion P7
Bibliography P4
Appendix P4

Introduction

“Today’s businesses compete as much on the strength of their intellectual capital as well as their financial capital. This intellectual capital resides in employees at all levels of the firm, but it takes strong leadership to fully develop and enable it” (Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter and Jams Noel, 2001)

Nowadays, businesses are facing development problems such as competition, management system, leadership and so on. For entrepreneurs, the ability to lead is an essential leadership quality. It is not only an idea or a reality. Leadership is relating to not only the individual, but also the social. An entrepreneur will not be able to manage his company and staff and accommodate changeful environment market if he does not acquire leadership skills. This means that, even if some good staffs are held, as well as excellent physical conditions, cannot develop and use resources efficiently. Relating this to Dell, Dell is a historic and very good company, where its product is distributed across almost all the continents if not all of them. Behind the successful history of Dell’s growth, is a great man, named Michael Saul Dell, the president of Dell Inc.

Michael Saul Dell (born February 23, 1965) is an American business magnate, founder and chief executive officer of Dell Inc. He became the youngest Fortune 500 CEO ever- again, making it hard to preserve that old undergo feeling. (OOPIDOO, 2010)

This essay will outline the relevant leadership attributes. In section two, we will embark upon the literature review of an in-depth view on leadership, mainly concentrating on the two main leadership theories which are leadership trait theory and leadership behavior theory (Kent Curtis, 2007). Section three will be the practical evidence on the chosen entrepreneur, Michael Dell. In section four will be the main focus point on the analysis based upon the theoretical view before concluding in section five.


2. Literature Review

An overview of the theory of leadership

Entrepreneurship was defined as the process by which individuals pursue opportunities without regard to resources they currently control by H. H. Stevenson and J. C Jarillo (1990). Typically, according to Bruce (2006), the skills of the entrepreneurship consist of proactive, innovation, leadership, risk-taking etc. This paper will concentrate on the theory of leadership. McGraw (2007) argued that leadership is a social influence. It means leaving a mark. It is initiating and guiding, and the result is change. In general, there are two main leadership theories which are trait theory and behavior theory argued by Bruce R. Barringer (2006). The former focuses on qualities of the leader, and the latter focuses on leadership actions according to Robert A. Baron (2005). This section will analyze these two theories in depth.

Leadership has been described as the "process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task." (Chemers, M. M. 2002). Leadership is "organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal." The leader may or may not have any formal authority. Students of leadership have produced theories involving traits,( Locke et al. 1991) situational interaction, function, behaviour, power, vision and values, (Richards & Engle, 1986, p.206) charisma, and intelligence among others.

Arieu, A. defines a leader as "a person capable of inspiring and associate others with a dream." It is consequently important that organizations have a work high magnificent, because of it’s an authoritative way to strengthen the leadership of its directors.
Great leaders are often portrayed as geniuses. They are supposed to see further and more decorously than others. Because of this visionary ability, they dare to take risks that others dare not. They transform organizations through their imagination, creativity, insight, and will. Leadership is generally seen as a force for coherence, as contributing to effective organizational action by eliminating contradictions and preventing confusions, Future leaders are taught to remove inconsistencies, ambiguities, and complexities through precise objectives and well-conceived plans. The modern prototype in a business firm is the idea of business strategy and the development of a “business plan.” However, inconsistency and ambiguity have a role in change and adaptation, and the compulsion toward coherence could be an incomplete basis for understanding or improving leadership and life. In general, effective leadership implies an ability to live in two worlds: the incoherent world of imagination, fantasy, and dreams and the orderly world of plans, rules, and pragmatic action. Leadership is not only relating to the leader, but also relating to the follower. The relationship between leadership and followership and the process of leadership as a social interaction has become a focal point for critical theorists to explore.

Leadership Trait Theory

Sir Francis Galton is credited with being one of the earliest leadership theorists, mentioning the trait approach to leadership for the first time in his book Hereditary Genius, published in 1869. Galton (1869) believed that leadership qualities were genetic characteristics of a family. “Qualities such as courage and wisdom were passed on- from family member to family member, from generation to generation” (R. House, M. Javidan, P. Hanges, and P. Dorfman, 2002). The trait theory of leadership makes the assumption that distinctive physical and psychological characteristics account for leadership effectiveness (McGraw, 2007). The most basic leadership traits are basic intelligence, clear and strong values and high level of personal energy (Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter, James Noel, 2001). However, Edwin Gheselli defined the leadership traits as six traits which were most widely reported by others according to McGraw (2007), and the six traits are Need for achievement, Intelligence, Decisiveness, Self- confidence, initiative and supervisory ability (Edwin Gheselli).

On the contrary, Zaccaro (2007) noted that trait theories still just focus on a small set of individual attributes such as the Big Five personality traits, to the neglect of cognitive abilities, motives, values, social skills, expertise, and problem-solving skills. Besides, he also noted that this trait theory aim to consider patterns or integrations of multiple attributes.

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Leadership Behavior Theory

With the growing concentrate on the behaviorism in psychology during 1930s, more and more research occurred in leadership behavior (George Manning, 2007). “Behavior leadership theories assume that there are distinctive actions that effective leaders take” (Kent Curtis, 2007). There is an assessment named Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ) which is known by others being developed by Ralph Stogdill and others at Ohio State University (William J, 2007). This questionnaire separated the leader’s behavior in to two dimensions which are Initiating structure and Showing Consideration. The former means the leader mostly will consider the relationship between themselves ...

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