Ebay Ceo
Case Analysis 1: Meg Whitman at eBay Inc.
Leadership Behaviors
In reading over this Harvard case study about the first CEO of eBay, Meg Whitman we can easily point out several of the leadership behavior techniques that she had exhibited in her many years with eBay. Behaviors included specific task-, relations-, and change-oriented behaviors, and although we will be highlighting only a couple of these behaviors it is important to remember that Meg Whitman’s leadership went well beyond the examples that will be discussed in this analysis.
Meg Whitman was hired by the founder of eBay, Pierre Omidyar in March 1998 at a time when the company was still very young and experiencing a fast paced growth. It was the intention of Omidyar to hire someone who would be instrumental in helping eBay thrive during this time of expansion, as it changed from a small start up company into a large established one. In choosing Whitman to fill the position Omidyar will discover he made the right call, because Whitman was experienced enough to know that eBay had a unique culture already in place and that respecting that culture was of the utmost importance, Whitman also understood that implementing sweeping change could not only be demoralizing to current employees, but could also damage to the company’s reputation amongst its customers. For example, when Meg Whitman “scheduled appointments, she quickly developed an appreciation for how different the eBay culture was compared with those of her previous jobs” (p. 5) by employing this consulting behavior, which is one specific category of the relations-oriented behaviors. Whitman was able to understand “just how special the chemistry was between eBay’s internal and external communities.” (p. 5) Taking the time to consult with and listen to the ideas and thoughts of the people who now work for her, shows that Whitman had the desire to understand her employees before making any changes that would...
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