A Case Study Of Telenor Management Essay

A Case Study Of Telenor Management Essay1. IntroductionThis translate endeavors to develop comprehension of how transformational leading style of top management affects grounding at the organisational level. The topic is of paramount importance because of the ever increase pressures of modernization and invention on todays global economy. It has become indispensable to recitation a leading style that makes homes groundbreaking and adaptive to spay. Firms argon shift key their focus from noesis economy to germinal economy, where corpo balancens result compete on the basis of imagination, insertion and creativeness (Oke, Munshi Walumbwa, 2009)Boston Consulting Group Inc surveyed over 900 of age(p) executives and identified groundwork as the key driver of top-line revenue. Analysis of firms transforming callable to cornerstone provides evidence for this statement. For example, the highly successful iPod of Apple Inc.s, that earned scourge revenues for the company th e role of Blackberrys success in the transformation and emergence of inquiry in Motion process innovation at Southwest Airlines Co. that transform it as an economical and triumphant airline and Procter Gamble Co. outperforming its competitors by direction on public figure innovation.Innovation arrests at bringing about change in the status quo. It can be defined as discovering (creative cerebration ideas) and commercializing those discoveries (implementing the creative ideas). Creativity naked idea generation alone be insufficient for innovation implementation is also a cornerstone of the innovation process. (Oke, Munshi, Walumbwa, 2009)Plentiful studies sustain led to the identification of factors that can stimulate innovation at the organisational level. In kind terms, innovation is the adoption or execution of unaccustomed and convenient ideas by idiosyncratics in organizations (Amabile Conti 1999) p.360). Factors that are know to have an influence on innovation incl ude leading (Mumford Gustafson, 1998 Amabile, 1998), a work environment that is conducive for innovation (Amabile, 1998 Oke, Munshi Walumbwa, 2009), CEO salary (Markman, Balkin and Gomez-Mejia, 2000), organisational culture and mode (Mumford Gustafson, 1998 Jung, Wu Chow, 2008 Oke, Munshi Walumbwa, 2009), environmental attributes (Jung, Wu Chow, 2008), eruditeness cap big businessman and intra-organisational networks (Tsai, 2001) and job complexity type of supervision (Oldham Cummings, 1996). Among these abundant factors, the leading behavior of managers has been discoverty as one of the most important of all (Amabile, 1998 Jung, 2001 Mumford, Scott, Gaddis St direct, 2002). lead was merely a concept before the nineteenth century and it was in the start of the 19th century that it emerged as a word in English quarrel (Davis Cushing). Over the years, leaders and leading have been distinctly defined by various scholars. lead is a process whereby a leader changes t he incline of action of another group, due to the interaction of his personality characteristics and those of the group (Bogardus, 1934). Leadership is the direction of compassionate collaborators for the accomplishment of a finale. A leader successfully guides his human assistants for the achievement of particular ends. (Prentice, W.C.H. 1961). Leadership is a goal prepare endeavor with the aim to influence the activities of followers through communication process. (Donelly, J.H. Ivancevich, J. M. Gibson, J.L. 1985 Leadership is the situational effort towards goal achievement by the process of influencing the idiosyncratic or group activities. (Hersey, P. Blanchard, K, 1988). Leadership is the formulation of a transparent and complete arranging of expectations for the purpose of identification, arousal and utilization of strengths of all the resources of an organization, the most important of which is human resource (Batten, J.D. 1989). Leadership is the art of influenci ng individuals to reelect their best output/ instruction execution for the accomplishment of a goal, project or objective. (Cohen, W.A. 1990). Leaders are the wad who obtain committal from a working group of individuals and then prod them to accomplish the outcomes of a pre-planned direction. (Conger, J.A.1992). Leadership is a process in which a leader sets the goal for an individual or group of individuals and takes all of them together with him or her with proficiency and devotion (Jacques E. Clement, S.D. 1994). Leadership is an unrealizable trait that cannot be distinctly defined. This in fact is a good phenomenon, because if the followers were conscious of the definition of leading, they would probably overrun their leaders. (Scott Adams, 1996). Effective leading is about alter ordinary people to deliver extraordinary results in the face of challenge and change and to constantly turn in superior performance to the long benefit of all concerned (Charlton, 1993). T he more recent definitions conceive leading in terms of influence carnal knowledgeships, power variousials, persuasion, influence on goal achievement, reinforcement, role differentiation, initiation of structure, and perceived attributions of behavior that are consistent with what the perceivers spotted leadership to be.Recently, many management scholars and gurus have identified adaptive leadership as the key enabler to cope with the ever increasing challenges of the corporate world. (Bass, Avolio, Jung Berson, 2003). So the adaptive leadership behaviors that have proved to be more legal than other leadership styles in organisational innovation have been labelled as transformational. (Lowe, Kroek, Sivasubramaniam, 1996 Gardner Avolio, 1998 Howell Avolio, 1993). Transformational leadership capabilities continue to be the hallmark of innovative firms. roaring leaders like J.R. Immelt, CEO of General Electric A.G.Lafley, CEO of P&G Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Motors Tata G roup and Steve Jobs of Apple are the bad figures who have fostered innovation by their adaptive behaviors.Transformational leadership films four theoretically discrete dimensions charisma or regard influence, inspirational motivation, skilful arousal and individual consideration. Idealized influence reflects the degree to which followers admire and hold their leaders as role models. Leaders exhibiting idealized influence are ethical, consistent, share risks with followers and prefer the needs of their followers above their witness needs. Inspirational motivation points to the degree motivation of followers by delineating new opportunities, providing meaning and challenge to followers work and articulating a strong, realistic and shared vision of the future. Intellectual stimulation refers to the ability of a leader to promontory the assumptions and thinking of followers, reframe problems, stimulate intelligent curiosity, approaching problems in new ways, soliciting creati vity and innovation from followers through novel approaches and avoiding open criticism for individual errors. Finally, leaders who provide individualized consideration pay attention to individual needs for growth, development, support and achievement. They act as coaches or mentors and establish a favorable environment for innovation where appreciates are diversified and learning opportunities are created (Bass Avolio, 1993) (Some versions of Bass Full-Range Leadership Theory identify 5 components of transformational leadership by breaking down idealized influence/ charisma into idealized influence or attributed charisma. For the sake of simplifying this seek, idealized influence and charisma have been grouped together in this instruction).2. Research Design2.1 Main ObjectivesThe aim of this study is to probe the following objectivesTo discuss the philosophy, attributes and elements of transformational leadership and innovationTo spot the existence of transformational leadershi p style at Telenor PakistanTo the asses the level of organizational innovation Telenor PakistanTo identify the effect transformational leadership style on organizational innovation2.2 Hypotheses to be testedThe objective of this study is to spot the presence of attributes of transformational leadership i.e. idealized influence, inspirational motivation, individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation, estimate the level of organizational innovation and examine the effect of transformational leadership on organizational innovation. The working hypothesis within this context ordain be as underH0 Transformational leadership has no effect on organizational innovation.H1 Transformational leadership has strong effect on organizational innovation.2.3 Scope of the studyThe range of application of this study is limited to the telecommunication sector in Pakistan with circumstantial focus on Telenor (Peshawar). Transformational leadership style go out be judged on the basis of fo ur dimensions, that is, charisma or idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration. Furthermore, the effect of transformational leadership on organizational innovation willing be analyzed.3. Review of Literature(Burns, 1978) stated that transformational leaders groundwork above the common place. They indulge in a mutual interaction with their followers that raises the understanding, goals and mission that results in the ultimate arousal and transformation of twain the leader and the followers.(Bass, 1985) At the other end to transformational leadership lies transactional leadership where the leaders try to maintain the status quo. Followers are motivated on the base of extrinsic rewards, such as promotion and monetary benefits. It is an nonchalant terrestrial transaction of value, where leaders only provide needed value to individuals in exchange for their services.(Jane. M. Howell, Christopher A. Higgins, 1990) The most successful leaders are intellectual with qualities of transformational leadership and charisma. They are far more influential and innovative than the leaders having style other than transformational.(David A. Waldman, Bernard M. Bass, 1991) linked the themes of nurturant and persistent leadership with transformational leadership theory. Furthermore, the role of transformational leadership behavior in various stages of successful innovations was gauzy and implications were presented regarding the proposed model.(Dougherty Hardy, 1996) Transformational leaders intellectually stimulate their followers. This fosters unaccustomed and creative thinking and working processes that pave the way for new technology and knowledge, which are necessary for organizational innovation.Amabile, Conti, Coon, Lazenby, and Herron (1996) have spotted the damaging effect of transactional leadership on creativity. Bono evaluator (2004) have supported this proposition in their recent meta-analysis.(S osik, Avolio Kahali, 1997) Transformational leaders soft adapt to exploitatory and exploratory thinking processes which in turn yield creative ideas and effective solutions to problems. The effectiveness of transformational leadership at stimulating bohemian and innovative thinking of followers is far greater than that of other leadership styles.(Bass, 1985 Gardner Avolio, 1998) proposed that transformational leaders have the ability to create personal and professional commitment from their followers towards satisfying upper-level needs like self-actualization and self esteem. (Oldham Cummings, 1996 Amabile, 1998 Zhou, 2003) added to this research finding by suggesting that this commitment boosts the inherent motivation of followers, which is considered to be an internal driver of individual creativity and organizational innovation.(House Shamir, 1993 Jung Avolio, 2000 Mumford et.al, 2000) Leaders possessing transformational attributes have the ability to regroup the values a nd norms of their followers in a better way. They progress the progress of personal and organizational changes and facilitate their followers to go beyond their initial performance expectations.(A.Oke, 2002) was part of a study carried out on the organizational innovation of AXA insurance, Ireland. It was revealed that due to the transformational leadership style of John. ONeil, the CEO, a non-innovative firm was transmuted into an innovative one. To achieve this level of creativity, the physical spaces were decorated with eye spying colors and employees from all levels and functions were made to work together in order to stimulate creativity. The results of this transformational behavior were soon evident in the form of cl new business ideas during 6 months.(Shin Zhou 2003) found that positive relation was discovered between transformational leadership and creativity of subordinates on the basis of a study conducted on 290 employees and their supervisors belonging to 46 Korean co mpanies.(Jung, Wu, Chow, 2008) concluded in their research that a positive relation has existence between the transformational leadership of CEO and organizational innovation. This effect is moderated by variables such as organizational structure, culture and external environment. These results are agreed upon after testing multi-sourced info from 50 Taiwanese electronics and telecommunications companies.(Oke, Munshi, Walumbwa, 2009) found that transformational style of leadership strongly enhances creativity and innovation regarding exploratory (creating something of a totally new and radical nature) and exploitative innovation activities (incremental improvements and correctments to something that already exists). These leaders have the ability to transform or change, which makes them the main drivers for innovative processes.(Lale Gumusluoglu, Arzu IIsev, 2009) suggested that transformational leadership style has strong influence on both the individual and organizational innova tion. Individually, transformational leadership is positively connect to the creativity of employees. Furthermore, transformational leadership and organizational innovation are spotted to have a positive association between them. These results are the outcome of a study conducted on 163 managers and RD personnel from 43 Micro and small sized software system development companies from Turkey.(Khan, Rehman and Fatima, 2009) studied managers from telecommunication sector in Pakistan and explored the positive effects of transformational leadership on organizational innovation.(Mariana Makri, Terri A.Scandura, 2010) identified the strong relation of operative leadership (the dimension of leadership which reflects the ability of a CEO to refine the existing paths to growth or tapping new paths by reframing and extending the boundaries of the firm to products and markets) and creative leadership (the ability of a leader to contribute to the social, human and knowledge capital of his fir m) with the quantity and resonance of innovation. The hypothesis was tested over a adjudicate of 77 high technology firms.4. Research Methodology4.1 Sources of infoThis research will make use of both primal and lowly info. Transformational leadership style will be judged on the basis of primary data obtained through interview and questionnaire. The level of organizational innovation will be assessed by primary data obtained through questionnaire and secondary data gathered from the companys in public disclosed financial statements.4.2 Research instrumentsQuestionnaires and structured interviews will serve as instruments of this research. The extent of transformational leadership will be measurable using Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Bass and Avolio, 1995) (Annexure-A). MLQ is a well validated measure of transformational leadership and has been used extensively in prior research (Awamleh and Gardner, 1999). Each responsive will be asked to rate five aspects of his/her leaders/ top-managers behavior related to each of the four dimensions of transformational leadership (idealized influence/charisma, inspirational motivation, individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation). The responses will be anchored by a 5-point response scale (1-not at all, 2-once in a while, 3-sometimes, 4-fairly often, 5-frequently, if not always).While measuring organizational innovation, a composite measure will be used to capture the broad aspects of innovative activities (Balkin et als, 2000). Two measures will be used to tap into different aspects of innovation. First is the annual RD expenditure as a percentage of sales revenue over three years prior to this study (i.e.2008-2010). This ratio indicates a firms emphasis on innovation (Hitt, Hoskisson and Kim, 1997 Balkin et al, 2000). These figures will be obtained from the companys publicly disclosed financial statements. Second, different respondents actively following the telecommunication industry will be contacted. The reason is to include different fruits of innovation such as process and service improvements. Each respondent will be offered two sets of questions about the sample firm. The first set includes a ace question regarding his/her familiarity with the company. The possible answers will be 1-not familiar with the company at all, 2-somewhat familiar with the company, 3-very familiar with the company. Only the respondents with responses 2 and 3 will be considered. The second set comprises of 20 questions (4 questions each for scanning five types of innovative activities i.e. product innovation, process innovation, marketing innovation, strategic innovation and organizational climate innovation) in order to rate the level of organizational innovation (Annexure B). The 5-point Likerts surpass (1-strongly disagree, 2-disagree, 3-neither agree nor disagree, 4-agree, 5-strongly agree) will be used to anchor the responses.4.3 Sampling design(a) Universe / populationThere are man y national and multinational telecommunication companies operating in Pakistan. All these national and multinational firms together with form the population/ universe of this research. Results will be generalized and recommendations will be forwarded considering all these firms.(b) Sample size and selectionThis research will adopt a case study approach by cerebrate on Telenor (Peshawar) as the sample firm. A simple stochastic sample of 30 employees of low, middle and top-management of the company will be selected with the aim of assessing transformational leadership. Furthermore, organizational innovation will be judged by studying a random sample of 30 respondents that are directly or indirectly associated with the telecommunication industry in Pakistan.