Assignment Example on Leadership Traits, Behaviors and Styles

How would you describe Ellison's personality and leadership traits? Refer to the specific leadership traits discussed in Hiriyappa (2009) or Bauer and Erdogan (2012).

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Larry Ellison can be described as an intense leader who is driven by high-level energy. He does not follow the management model implemented by the majority of CEOs but adopts a model in which business unit heads are allowed to take responsibility provided they achieve the desired goals. Considering the traits of a good leader, Ellison is not one. He is known to spend a lot of his time outside the conventional business environment and likes delegating most of the work to his subordinates in the organization. He mentions that he cuts back through delegation to company co-presidents. Despite his success in running a business, he does not receive the same accolade in being a good leader (Hymowitz, 2005). Being an astute leader is a trait portrayed by Ellison. He is known to push his employees to yield the desired results, and he gives the best to his companies. He can also be considered to be poor in decision making since some of the main decision-making initiatives are delegated to his three co-presidents. There is an assumption that the co-presidents will make quality decisions as he would. Ellison can be considered as a good financial manager which is a desirable trait for any manger in such as position (Hymowitz, 2005). Since the establishment of Oracle, Ellison has managed to grow the company to the multi-billion enterprise it is today. Considering he is among the richest people in the world, he has been able to manage his finances despite not having an admirable personality. After the evaluation of these traits, Ellison can be considered to use an autocratic leadership style. This type of leadership is characterized by a leader's control over the major decision (Hiriyappa, 2009). He makes the major decisions and then delegates the rest to his subordinates.

Would you describe Ellison's behavior as being task-oriented, or people/relationship-oriented? Refer to Hiriyappa (2009) and Bauer and Erdogan (2012).

The behavior depicted by Ellison can be described as task-oriented and to some extent people-oriented. Being people-oriented entails caring for the feelings of the employees and ensuring they are treated with respect (Bauer & Erdogan, 2012). In this regard, Ellison has ensured the company has the best-talented workforce. It is the reason he has the confidence to delegate most of his work to his subordinates. After the acquisition of PeopleSoft, Ellison reduced his work hours from 80 hours to approximately 40 to 50 hours every week (Hymowitz, 2005). It means that he has been able to select the best employees he can rely on even concerning important decisions (Mendleson, 2010). Despite the criticism of his leadership style, the success realized over is years has been contributed to the presence of a good relationship with the workforce. Additionally, Ellison is highly regarded as a task-oriented leader which entails structuring the roles of subordinates and ensuring their instructions are in such a way it increases their performance (Bauer & Erdogan, 2012). He is supposed to ensure the success of a business in an industry which is highly competitive. To achieve this, he emphasizes the importance of the business and sometimes disregards the happiness of others. To ensure the success of Oracle, Ellison has been known to do anything to ensure the company achieves its goals. Under his leadership, he has worked to eliminate competition. It has been accomplished through acquisition of its competitors. The emphasis by the Ellison on getting the job done without regard to the welfare of others (Hiriyappa, 2009).

How would you describe Ellison's leadership style? Consider the leadership styles discussed in the "Types of Leaders/Leadership Styles" section of Chapter 10 of Hiriyappa (2010).

Larry Ellison depicts an autocratic style of leadership which is characterized by the leader's control over the crucial decisions with minimal concern for the input of others. Leaders portraying this type of leadership style have decisions based on their judgment without considering the input from the subordinates (Hiriyappa, 2009). At Oracle, Ellison utilizes a command and control strategy in which all decisions made are centered on his interests. Despite his retirement as the CEO, he still upholds management of Oracle as the Chairman of the board of directors at the company (Mendleson, 2010). Ellison has been very successful and brilliant and had a lot of emphasis on the achievements he makes as a businessman. As an autocratic leader, more emphasis is on the quality of end products and Ellison accomplishes this by ensuring the employees perform optimally. However, he has been criticized because of his way of running the company in that most work is delegated to the co-presidents and then spends most of the time on leisure. Additionally, he portrays a team leadership skills which can be witnessed with how he has a trustworthy team. The team helps with most of the decision making initiatives since Ellison delegates most of the work to the subordinates. The team he has selected makes quality decisions thereby earning his trust. The growth and development of Oracle have been based on the strategy of an effective team (Leibovich, 2000). The ability to establish a high performing team ensures that Ellison to afford to do other things since they will achieve the set goals.

References

Erdogan, B., & Bauer, T. (2012). Organizational behavior. Boston: Flat World Knowledge, Inc.

Hiriyappa, B. (2009). Organizational behavior. New Delhi: New Age International (P) Ltd., Publishers.

Hymowitz, C. (2005). Working Fewer HoursIs Hard for Most CEOs,But Some Find a Way. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB112112134804482690

Leibovich, M. (2000). The Outsider, His Business and His Billions. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/10/30/the-outsider-his-business-and-his-billions/c1ffea25-3eb5-4918-8fa6-8837b79336a5/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.bc80192b7379

Mendleson, R. (2010). Why it pays to be a jerk. Retrieved from http://www.canadianbusiness.com/business-strategy/larry-ellison-why-it-pays-to-be-a-jerk/