Free Essay Example - Exploratory Leader

Masayoshi Son is the founder of SoftBank, which is a mobile Telecom and investment giant. His wealth is mainly from the internet as well as the telecom. He was born in Japan and attended high school in the United States of America. He graduated from the University of California and later ventured into business with his first revenue being $ 1 million. For the year ending March 2020, SoftBank forecast loss amounting to $6.9 billion. Son is a determined entrepreneur and investor, and through his Vision fund, he has invested in 88 companies (Lim, 2020). Son is a participative leader as he works together with other CEOs.

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Participative Leadership

SoftBank has invested in 88 companies, and Son works closely with the leaders of these companies (Wu, 2018). Son's democratic leadership style has promoted business engagements with these leaders. He emphasizes on working together as a team and involving other leaders in the decision making. He is consultative and values the ideas and opinions of others. In SoftBank, there is open communication, thus making all the participants comfortable in presenting their ideas for discussion.

Son encourages creativity and innovation, which is very critical in the telecom and internet sectors. In SoftBank, the employees are allowed to be creative, and through excellent communication between the leaders and the employees, they can present their proposed projects or upgrades. Any idea that helps in using the information to make people happy is assessed and incorporated (Wu, 2018). As a leader, Son believes the stakeholders should be given an equal chance of airing their views before any significant decision is made. SoftBank acknowledges the efforts of individuals who contributed to the establishment of the company. The CEO believes that to succeed; you have to gather and work with other great leaders who have a similar vision.

However, the final decision in Vision Fund is made by Son, which means that although the investors present their opinions on various matters, the decisions made are not unanimous. When it comes to making deals, Son is skilled. Even in University, he managed to convince Professor Forrest Mozer to work with him in building a pocket translator. Mozer had earlier invented a talking calculator that could be used by those who are visually impaired. After inventing the pocket translator, he returned to Japan temporarily to sell it. He believes in himself and the vision that he has for transformation through technology.

Emotions in the Workplace

Apart from decision-making and attracting investors, leaders are managing the emotions of the employees as this determines both internal and external communication. Some of the common emotions that a leader has to deal with include anger, dislike, worry, insecurity, as well as frustration (Ashkanasy, Zerbe, & Hartel, 2016). These emotions may be caused by personal factors as well as job-related factors. If not appropriately managed, these emotions can lead to a decrease in productivity.

Positive emotions in organizations promote creativity, productivity, and morale to undertake the assigned duties (Ashkanasy, Zerbe, & Hartel, 2016). Negative emotions arise from an unfavorable working environment, lack of interpersonal communication, harassment, and pressure of carrying out tasks. In SoftBank, for example, the current and former employees indicated that there was harassment. This is a factor that would make employees have negative emotions and subsequently become less productive. Employees' welfare should be a priority; thus, leaders should ensure that the employees have the necessary resources, and they are motivated. The employees should also be involved in decision-making. The organization also should have an employee welfare department that addresses the issues affecting the employees. The employees should be educated on how to deal with emotions, especially those caused by individual factors. Leaders can alleviate the effects of negative emotions by creating a friendly environment where employees are free to raise their issues.

Leadership Theories

There are different theories that help us understand different leadership styles and how the theories are applied in leadership to solve various challenges. The theories have different ways of thinking; hence the leaders get different opinions regarding different situations. The theories include the trait theory of leadership that argues that people are born leaders to mean that leaders are born with leadership characteristics that enable the person to have an easy time when given the opportunity to become leaders (Nawaz & Khan, 2016). The theory argues that people who are born with leadership characteristics have the ability to develop solutions better than the people who attempt to become leaders. Masayoshi Son's leadership style has some characteristics of trait theory based on his personality and ability to solve organizational challenges (Lord et al., 2019). The trait theory shapes the character of the leader towards motivating the employees to work towards organizational goals.

The contingency theory of leadership focuses on the different leadership models that leaders embrace in their leadership. The theory argues that effective leadership motivates employees and improves their productivity by influencing the morale of employees (Nawaz & Khan, 2016). The contingency theory encourages leaders to identify their ineffective characteristics and focus on improving their productivity as well as the productivity of the employees. Masayoshi Son has been able to identify the challenges affecting employees at his company and motivated them to come up with new inventions that solve the challenges affecting the people (Lord et al., 2019). The theory argues that leaders are responsible for the performance of the employees by encouraging leaders to be in charge of the organization as opposed to delegating all the responsibilities to their junior employees. The leaders have the vision of the company; hence they are the best suited in leadership.

The Behavioral Theory of leadership focuses on the behavior of the leaders and the employees in terms of how the behavior of a person affects productivity and how someone does the work (Nawaz & Khan, 2016). The behavioral theory of leadership argues that for leaders to be effective, they must deal with their behaviors to ensure the behaviors are aligned with the personality traits required in leaders.

The behavioral theory encourages leaders to encourage certain behaviors that are aimed towards making the employees be disciplined in their work for the company. Masayoshi Son has learned the importance of good behavior at work over the years, where he keeps in touch with the employees and corrects them where necessary to ensure that the employees always do the right thing.

The Role of Perception and Reality in Organizations

Perceptions influence organizations where different stakeholders see the organization at different angles depending on their perceptions of the company. The perceptions transform what people think into reality by influencing how people react to different situations (Alam, 2018). Leaders in organizations have the responsibility of creating perceptions of the employees to boost the performance of the employees.

Masayoshi Son has taken the perception of the employees seriously by creating an organizational culture that shapes the perceptions of the employees towards the dream of the organization. The perception either motivates the employees or demotivates them by influencing how the employee thinks. Masayoshi Son focuses on creating a perception of hope and confidence by inspiring employees that they can achieve what they desire.

Leaders of an organization need to be careful about the perception of the employees towards the organization and the products that the company produces. The perception of the employees determines the job satisfaction and expectations of the employees from the organization (Militaru, 2018). Positive perceptions increase job satisfaction, and the employees feel happy to work at the organization, improving their productivity. Negative perceptions influence the organization negatively, reducing the productivity of the employees, and the organization does not achieve its goal. The perception influence on the expectations of the organization they work for, positive perceptions increase productivity because the employees know that the leaders wish them well and will improve their working conditions.

The reality of organizations is that they do not consider the perception of employees to be important in shaping the perception of employees and other stakeholders within the organization (Militaru, 2018). The stakeholders end up having perceptions depending on how they are treated, and in the end, the organizations get affected when the stakeholders have negative perceptions. Masayoshi Son has focused on creating a positive perception of the employees that he led to boost their confidence and make them love their work. The perception of employees has contributed to the success of Soft Bank which he leads.

Teamwork

For leaders to change the perceptions of the employees by encouraging teamwork that focuses on delivering in their work by encouraging teamwork. Teamwork encourages consultation and intern to create an environment where the employees feel encouraged to do their work (O'Neill & Salas, 2018). Teamwork also encourages productivity because the employees get the help that they require from colleagues when working on a project. Leaders need to create an environment that promotes teamwork to boost the productivity of the employees.

Teamwork is essential for health facilities to be successful because the employees work as one group that wants to achieve a common objective. One of the most successful leadership styles is the collaborative style of leadership which entails the leader interacting with stakeholders and being involved in the activities that take place in the organization. Collaborative leadership enables the leaders to get first-hand feedback from the main people doing the work; hence, they can be able to know what to do when making decisions. The interactions also enable the leaders to transfer their skills to employees whenever there is a need.

Leadership and Change

Masayoshi Son uses an assertive communication style where he communicates his ideas and feelings to the people that he work with. The assertive communication style entails balancing one view as well as the views of other people (Webber, 2019). The communication style determines the relationship between managers and their employees. Masayoshi Son created a good working relationship with his employees, which was a requirement for successful businesses by inspiring employees to work towards achieving the organizational goal. People and the employees felt appreciated by the employer. Masayoshi Son knows the importance of communication style in ensuring that activities are done in the right money and that there are no conflicts at the organization.

Masayoshi Son used to motivate people and his employees to inspire them to become better persons and become better versions of themselves (Martin, 2016). Among the ways that he used to motivate people is by giving them opportunities in leadership. Giving people opportunities is one of the ways to motivate people where they feel appreciated by the organization and businesses that they work for. He also mentored people that had visions of coming up with their businesses. He encouraged people to accept accountability for their actions and learn from their mistakes. He also motivated the people by being a good role model to his juniors.