These are autocratic, democratic and laissez fairer. In order to be an effective leader, managers should use all three dervish styles. A good leader should be able to judge which leadership style is most appropriate in a given situation. Research carried out by the University of Michigan and Ohio State University suggests that there are a number of behavioral and leadership theories. These theories outline different aspects of a leader’s behavior or leadership style which may differentiate those who are effective leaders from those who are not.
For example, the University of Michigan identified two general classes of supervisory behavior. These are employee-oriented and job production-oriented behaviors. Research aired out by the Ohio State University is very similar to the above piece of research. They identify the two classes of supervisory behavior styles as a considerate style i. E. Employee oriented and an initiating structure style i. E. Job production oriented. Similar to the two above pieces of research, Fiddler identifies two different leadership styles.
These are relationship-motivated leaders i. E. Employee oriented/considerate style and task motivated leaders i. E. Job production-oriented/initiating structure style. Another piece of research conducted by House identifies four different behavioral styles. They are as follows: directive leadership, supportive leadership, participative leadership and achievement-oriented leadership. In order for a manager to be an effective leader, they must also be able to perform their roles effectively. A modern leader has fourteen main roles.
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Richard Abrasion’s Profile Richard Charles Nicholas Brannon was born on the 18th of July 1950 in Blackhead, London. In his youth, Brannon was not an impressive student. He was dyslexic and near-sighted, but he could always make things happen. When he was seventeen, attending school at Stows, Richard and a classmate darted a magazine, Student. When doing an interview with The Guardian he stated ” it was aimed at giving young people a voice on key issues such as the Vietnam War. He sold E,000 worth of advertising in its first edition, which was launched in 1966.
The first run of 50,000 copies was disseminated for free after Brannon covered the costs with advertising. This was an important business and sales experience for Brannon and what he learned during this time benefited him over time. While running the Student from a basement in London, Richard noticed that stores were not discounting records. Richard began to run ads in the Student offering records at discount prices. The orders flooded in and record sales soon became more profitable than subscription sales.
Richard quickly set up an office above an old shoe store and Virgin was born (http://www. Luminosities. Com/virgin. HTML). The name “Virgin” was suggested by one of Abrasion’s early employees because they were all new at business. It was from this point that the Virgin brand grew. Earning enough money from his record store, Brannon in 1972 launched the record label Virgin Records with Nick Powell and bought a country estate, in which he installed a recording studio. Mike Oldie, whose debut album Tubular Bells (1973) was Virgin Records’ first release and a chart-topping best-seller.
Virgin Records had other notable artists such as ‘The Sex Pistols” and “Culture Club”. N 1992, to keep his airline company afloat, Brannon sold the Virgin label to MME for IEEE million. Virgin Atlantic had its inaugural flight in 1984 on its then-only route between London and New York. After adding a route from Gastric to Miami in 1986, Virgin Atlantic celebrated its passenger in 1987. In 2011 Virgin Atlantic carried 5. 3 million passengers, making it the eighth largest UK airline in terms of passenger volume.
Brannon has added other airlines to his Virgin empires such as Virgin Express which operates in Brussels, Virgin Australia and Virgin America. Not being one to shy away from a challenge Brannon has had many other ambitious business ventures such as Virgin Vodka, Virgin Cola, the gay night club Heaven, Virgin Cosmetics, Virgin Money, Virgin Cars, Fl team Virgin Racing and most famously Virgin Galactic which plans to provide sub-orbital spaceflights to space tourists, suborbital launches for space science missions and orbital launches of small satellites.
He himself frequently states that all of these ventures are “calculated asks” which is hard to argue against seeing as Brannon is the 4th richest citizen of the United Kingdom, according to the Forbes 2011 list of billionaires, with an estimated net worth of IIS$4. 2 billion. Abrasions ambition and risky are not just limited to the business world as he has broken several world records and attempted many more, for example, he completed the first balloon flight across the Atlantic in 1996.
All these businesses and adventuring feats make Brannon a true admiral business leader role model. Abrasion’s Career and Leadership Style Abrasion’s career has been hugely successful from leaving school at 16 to go on to come the 4th richest U. K. Resident is remarkable. Brannon is clear in his book “Screw it, let’s do it” (2007) about how he has achieved this: “l have no secret. There are no rules to follow in business.
I just work hard and, as I always have done, believe I can do it” With this being said he has combated the tediousness of working hard by indulging himself in whatever he does, taking a genuine interest and having fun with it: “A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts. ” Abrasions leadership style is undeniably democratic. Although a democratic leader will the final decision, her she invites other members of the team to contribute to the decision-making process.
This does not only increase job satisfaction by involving employees or team members in what’s going on, but it also helps develop people’s skills. Employees and team members feel in control of their own destiny, such as the promotion they desire and so are motivated to work hard by more than just a financial reward. Brannon professes this in an interview with Sets De Varies (1998) : “: I’m absolutely certain that it’s a question of the kind of people you have, and the way you motivate them. I’m sure that’s what makes any company successful.
If you can motivate your people, use their creative potential, you can get through bad times and you can enjoy the good times together. If you fail to motivate your people, your company is doomed… Elf your employees are happy and smiling and enjoying their work, they will perform well. Consequently, the customers will enjoy their experience with your com- pans. If your employees are sad and miserable and not having a good time, the customers will be equally miserable. ” In the same interview, Brannon says he often rewards employees: “We like to reward our key performers for their creative contribution…
I suppose that we have made maybe 15 or 20 multimillionaires through this structure. ” Brannon applies this personal approach when assessing new business like when Virgin Money took over Northern Bank: ‘When we launched Virgin Money, I met with staff members at branches up and down the country. The insight those visits gave me was priceless. If ever needed convincing that investing in a bank was the right thing to do, well, the stories I heard that week confirmed it. Seeing so many employees enthusiastic and proud to be working for Virgin made me even more excited about the future of our bank.
We very much wanted Virgin Money to be the start of something different, and it was great to see that everyone was on board. I’ve found that if you ensure that your staff and customers are happy and that your product or service is of good quality, the finances often take care of themselves. ” What I could learn from Sir Richard Brannon Through my study of Brannon I have taken many snippets of advice which I hope to use during my career in business after I complete my studies. Brannon is an avid ambassador for his democratic style of leadership: “Having a personality of caring about people is important.
You can’t be a good leader unless you generally eke people. That is how you bring out the best in them. ‘ This is definitely a characteristic I want to weave into my leadership fiber. This approach has served Virgin well over the years as in his book, Brannon (2009), he mentions a positive outside perspective of working for Virgin which is echoed by the agreement of Virgin staff who enjoy working there. ‘Virgin people have told me that at the end off a tiring day, when they are off duty, having a drink in the pub, or a meal, thieve occasionally asked where they work.
When they say, ‘With Virgin,” the enquirer usually replies, “Lucky you! That must be a great place to work! Our staffs usually agree. ” In addition to this extracted advice, he gives open advice to anyone who wants to join him in being an entrepreneur. Forbes magazine (2012) pitched Sir Brannon the question “What are your top three pieces of advice for young entrepreneurs? ” to which he responded: “1 . Create a strong culture of excellence – roll up your sleeves and work alongside your staff and take care of them. 2.
Don’t be afraid to make a fool of yourself if it helps your business. 3. Find ways to equally prioritize people, planet and profits – because it CAN be done. ” These three points offer up eye things to take on board if you are to succeed. Have high standards to give you an edge over the competition and if needs be work on the ground level with your staff to set an example of how you expect things to be done. Take risks even if there is a chance it may make you look silly if it fails, it could help your business and you should lose your ego for the sake of your business.
And finally, your staff are your greatest resource, environmental and ethical procedures should be taken, Brannon has become environmentally aware ever since a speech AY Gore gave him and he has even set up a green fuel business, and do all you can to ensure your business is running profitably. He insists these three things can be done together. Brannon is a master marketer and communicator. Forbes (2012), When Richard Brannon had the idea of launching Virgin Atlantic, he pitched it to his fellow directors who had no previous experience in the airline business. He delivered the idea simply, concisely, and effectively.
Brannon offers leaders and entrepreneurs this advice: “It is vitally important to present a clear, concise plan that investors can easily understand and repeat to their own people. In the first meeting avoid overly complicated, numbers-laden presentations. Presentations are supposed to be about getting your point across effectively, you could have the most statistical, graphically stunning and hilariously funny presentation to have ever been seen but if the people you are pitching it to don’t come out of that meeting 100% sure what the point you were trying to make was and interested in your idea then you have failed in your objective.
As well as learning from Abrasion’s successes and teachings, there is equally as much to learn from his failings. He expresses this himself: “You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over. Abrasion’s book “Business stripped bare” even has a whole chapter called “Damage Report”. One anecdote goes as follows: “l was nineteen years old and driving a shipment of records to Belgium when I stumbled on the fact that records bought in Great Britain that were intended for export were not subject to purchase tax.
So I bought the records I needed, pretended they were export, and then sold them to British customers. The whole ploy involved driving four Transit vans loaded with records to Dover, taking them to France, then returning on the next ferry with the records still on board. It not only was illegal, but it was also really pretty stupid. In May 1969, I was caught red-handed by HAM Custom and Excise… But I learned a very important lesson: never do anything that means you can’t sleep at night. ” This is a huge piece of advice and something we can learn from and hopefully avoid from encountering ourselves.
It cost Richard EYE,000 and took almost 3 years for him to patch up such a loss. Illegal doings can almost certainly cost a business its existence and shouldn’t even be thought about. Conclusion Michael Wiliness (2010) concludes in his analyses of Abrasion’s leadership that “Sir Richard has got a very high degree of consideration and participation in what e does, but at the same time he is very involved in the structure setting at the start of a new business. He is definitively a relationship-oriented leader who is good at aligning people and giving them emotional support and encouragement.
He seems to fall into the segment of being a participative and consultative leader. His very strong charisma seems to make anyone listen and follow him. ” I find it extremely difficult to disagree with this evaluation. Brannon is an iconic leader who prioritizes his employees and their well-being. He follows his belief that a happy employee will work harder, create a happier and better working environment, infect customers with their pleasantness, resulting with a happy and loyal customer who then by word of mouth praise the business leading to increased revenue.
