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Harpo Case Study

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Submitted By psaxena1971
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Question 1

There are potential dangers of having one super-powerful leader of an organization. Whenever you have one powerful leader leading an organization, in most cases, the powerful leader could end up misusing the power. There are many examples of super-powerful leaders misusing their powers and one of them is Martha Stewart who went to prison for being an inside trader and then lying to officials about it. (Whyld.com, para 1).Another example is Bernie Madoff, who got people to invest money but never actually invested their money(www.Lockdoc1.wordpress.com, para 1). Both of these scenarios took place because they were given the authority to be super-powerful leaders of the organizations that they belonged to.

If these two people were not given the super-powers and shown as super-powerful leaders of the organizations then, instead of just having a super powerful leader for an organization, an organization would have power divided into a team so no one can become a super-powerful leader and misuse the powers. It would also be beneficial for the organization to save their reputation from being ruined. Also, if an organization decides not to divide the super-powers of a leader then they can also come up with board members to approve the decisions of the super-powerful leader of the organization. This way, the leader cannot act on his own but rather has to get the approval of board members to step forward and take action.

Question 2

Since Winfrey was the leading super power role at Harpo services, she needs to figure out who the future leader is going to be and who the organization is going to depend on. She would need to prepare this person for the role of the leader in the organization. She would need to identify the leadership criteria and find a future leader. Also, she needs to create a sense of responsibility within the organization, and

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