Options for implementing a leadership change Essay

Gene One is a biotech company that has seen steady growth since entering the biotech industry in 1996. It was founded by the late Don Ruiz and four other directors. During the last eight years, Gene One has grown to become a $400 million dollar company. Gene One wants to continue this growth, and has decided to gain additional growth and funds by issuing an Initial Public Offering (IPO). This is in order to remain competitive in the market, since it needs more capital for new development, advertisement, and marketing if it is to remain successful.   In order for the IPO to be successful, Gene One needs a solid foundation to build upon. Gene One can take an in-depth look at key concepts such as effective teamwork through cooperation, trust, and cohesiveness, sources of conflict in organizations, knowledge management, elements of organizational structure, and assess the influence of organizational structure on power and politics (Scenario, 2006). Gene One is a growing company with many opportunities for further growth in the future. With this change, Gene One needs to revaluate all areas of the company and find solutions to problems within the organization. The company has many opportunities for changes, which will enable them to reach the goals needed. The key project is to find the best solution that will enable Gene One to reach their goals, and become better than its competitors. It will need to review the solutions that they have come up with, and the additional alternative solutions that have not even been reviewed (Holmstrom, 1994). Team analysis After the death of Don Ruiz, there is a big leadership gap left in the management of Gene One. The team is therefore incomplete without him, which is undesirable for effective management. Team building is both challenging and rewarding. Effective teams achieve results far beyond what individuals could accomplish on their own. However, team building is much more than putting a group of people together and hoping for the best. Teambuilding is an art that overcomes differences in style, personality, and other potential areas of conflict, but even when a team functions in total harmony, it may not achieve its goals (Brickley, 1987). As Don’s siblings, we have found ourselves having to take part in leadership at Gene One. Each family member was assigned one member of the remaining four members of the executive. In order to assess the remaining team’s likelihood of success, I gathered information about one team member and did an analysis on it. During my analysis, I found my subject to have the following desirable attributes: –  He can take charge, is assertive and can take control of a situation. – He is   outgoing, people-oriented and extroverted – He is concerned with accuracy, details and exactness – He is competitive, has   a great   desire to win and is aggressive – He is   easy going and casual, and   takes things as they come – He likes identifying and analyzing problems – He is concerned with timely results and is quick to take action – He is good team player who works well with others – he is concerned with standards and high quality work Attributes not well represented Despite all the good attributes, I found my subject with a few negative attributes. They include: – he has a negative attitude regarding people and outcomes – He is highly emotional and easily loses his temper – He gets impatient with the subordinate staff Recommendation With a few changes to the leadership structure of Gene One, I recommend my subject for a further role in management of Gene One. His attributes are impressive and can steer the company to great heights. However, he should help take the company through a transition to usher in a structure that separates ownership from management. Leadership style Gene One needs to develop a leadership style that involves the leader including one or more employees in the decision making process.   However, the leader maintains the final decision making authority. Using this style is not a sign of weakness; rather it is a sign of strength that your employees will respect. This is normally used when you have part of the information, and your employees have other parts. Note that a leader is not expected to know everything-this is why you employ knowledgeable and skillful employees. Using this style is of mutual benefit it allows them to become part of the team and allows you to make better decisions (Tannenbaum & Schmidt, 1958). Leadership structure The leadership structure at Gene One should change such that the titles of CEO and chairman of the board are separate entities. This will help separate management from leadership.   This is the best leadership structure for large corporations or others hoping to enter that league. Most large corporations are not managed by their owners or shareholders. Instead, they are managed by a leader-CEO or President- and a team of officers. The CEO or president is usually a professional trained in a particular field with the necessary experience. The CEO is accountable to the stockholders through their elected representative, the board of directors. Gene One should not have a dual CEO where the CEO functions simultaneously as the chair of the board. A non-dual CEO would be the best option for Gene One. Research has shown that CEO duality threatens Board independence, and can erode the essential oversight responsibilities of the Board (Daily and Dalton, 1994). Negative leadership should be avoided at all costs. Negative leaders act domineering and superior with people. They believe the only way to get things done is through penalties, such as loss of job, days off without pay, reprimand employees in front of others, etc. They believe their authority is increased by frightening everyone into higher lever of productivity. Yet what always happens when this approach is used wrongly is that morale falls; which of course leads to lower productivity.