...Leadership Theory and Practice Richard Branson as a leader No one could expect that one person who has dyslexia founded 200 companies in over 30 countries, but Richard Branson did it. There must be something unique about this person. How did he make this big change in his life and in that of others as well? Is he naturally talented or are there processes/procedures that motivated and guided him? From Branson’s brief life history, we can clearly see tremendous development and achievement. Beginning with the first creative idea –Student magazine. Because he was determined and he believed his innovations, he led this first business to success. In 1970 Branson founded a new world-famous Virgin Records. Three years later, the Virgin brand was born. He did not stop at that but went on to open more avenues for employment through establishing an airlines, hotels etc. In fact he looked at the long-term view and avoided risks that are associated with just one business. According to Hughes and colleagues (2015), leadership “is often more associated with the words like risk taking, dynamic, creativity, change and vision”. This statement obviously describes Branson best as it is seen throughout his career. Branson and his followers In addition, I support and admire Branson’s approach of leadership for example empowering his followers’ ideas. In fact he empowered them by believing in them as well as their suggestions and ideas. He is more supportive of new ideas than a creator...
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...evaluate the likely effectiveness of that style in the U.S. today. Recommend a different leadership style (or combination of styles) that would make Branson an even more effective leader. Determine how Branson would develop and lead a global team working on a major project (e.g., space tourism). Discuss how I can incorporate some of Branson’s leadership qualities into my role at work or school. In the process of completing this assignment we will explain the variety of leadership theories and roles. Analyze the formation and dynamics of group behavior and work teams, including the application of power in groups. Describe Branson’s Leadership Style in Terms of the Leadership Models Addressed in Chapters 10 and 11 and Evaluate the Likely Effectiveness of That Style in the U.S. Today Merriam Webster’s definition of leadership is as follows: the act or an instance of leading; capacity to lead; and/or the office or position of a leader (Webster, 2012). The act of leadership can be viewed in several different ways. Branson’s leadership skills cover a wide variety of models. His leadership qualities encompass; transactional leadership; authentic leadership; and transformational leadership. Branson has managed to mesh all of these models together which appear to make him a dynamic and effective leader in the U.S. today. Branson utilizes transactional leadership which involves motivating and directing followers primarily through appealing to their own self-interest (Hellriegel...
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...Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group, Ltd. Case Study Assignment 4 Professor Leadership and Organizational Behavior February 26, 2012 Since the beginning of history humans have lived in groups guided by the group leader; in which leader is either chosen for his characteristics or born into through cast. No matter the culture this is similar through the human race. Humans need someone to guide them, teach them, someone to look up to. Without followers there is no leader. “That is, leader is a term applied by observers to someone whose behaviors and characteristics match the observers’ implicit leadership preferences” (Hellriegel, D., & Slocum, J. W., Jr. (2011). They are different type of leaders and leadership style depending on the situation and solution needed at that moment by the followers. In my opinion good leaders have shown to be flexible enough to switch between leadership styles depending on the demands of the situation. One of the worlds most intriguing, succesful and enduring entrepreneurial business leaders today is Richard Branson, someone who takes control of the situation by conveying a clear vision and goals for the team, a marked passion for the work and an ability to make the group feel recharged and energized. I consider Richard Branson to be a transformational leader, a leader with vision, confident, motivation, passion and determination. He is the founder of Virgin Group Ltd. “Born July 18, 1950, in Surrey, England, Sir...
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...Abstract: My submission discusses the ways in which Richard Branson is seen as a leader. It shows which leadership theories that are used by him, in order to lead those that follow him, either through work or general enthusiasm for his leadership style, and how effectively those theories are applied. This submission covers details of Richard Branson’s early life and the beginning of his leadership. It then goes on to explain how his leadership style emerged as he began to run the Virgin Group. I then explained how Richard Branson is seen by the public, and how he has followers in the public that don’t work for him. After this, I consider which technical leadership theories are used by Richard Branson. I review how successful Richard Branson has been as a leader, by looking at how his followers respect him and follow in his footsteps. To conclude, I review Richard Branson from my own perspective. Introduction Before a leader can be analysed, one must define what leadership is. This is hard to do. It’s an intrinsic trait which is hard to define. Jackson and Parry (2008: 5) say that ‘leadership is like beauty – it is difficult to describe, but we certainly know it when we see it.' However, the general consensus is that leadership is influencing people in order to attain goals (Daft, 2008: 590). The leader that will be analysed in this essay is Richard Branson, who runs and owns the Virgin Group. He has demonstrated his leadership skills from the early age of just seventeen...
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...Sir Richard Branson BUS 520 June 4, 2012 Introduction Sir Richard Branson is the kind of entrepreneur that will take the new millennium by the throat and take society to new levels. He is the kind of leader that takes risks and is not afraid to fail. You don’t go from be a high school drop to a multi-billionaire by being afraid to take risks. Mr. Branson has not always been successful but he has always taken a leadership role in any industry that he has chosen to enter. According to Hellreigel, D. & Slocum, J., (2011), Mr. Branson through his company Virgin Group, LTD, “has turned a lifelong disdain for conventional business wisdom into a multibillion dollar global conglomerate and one of the worlds most recognized brands” (p. 344). It is this knack for unconventionality that is the key to the Branson name and the Branson legacy. Even though Mr. Branson is a very successful entrepreneur, he is not universally liked in the conventional business world. According to Hellreigel, D. & Slocum, J., (2011), “Some have suggested that Branson and the Virgin brand attract almost a cult following, and it works both ways-many people admire Branson, but some detest him” (p. 344). Mr. Branson has been on the business scene for more than 45 years and during that time frame one thing can be said for how he conducts business and that is that his employees love him which contributes to that cult like following. The author will discuss Mr. Branson’s leadership...
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...Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group, Ltd. Tomesha C. Flow BUS 520-Leadership and Orgnization Behavior Instructor Jim Bankston 8/20/2012 Introduction Sir Richard Branson, founder and chairman of a company known as Virgin Group Ltd, which is one of the world’s most recognized brands. Sir Richard Branson is one of the world’s most successful entrepreneurial business leaders. He’s known for having passion, courage, and is very driven (Omafra.gov). Branson likes to start out small and share the risk with other investors. Being a leader you have to understand the importance of the type of business you are in and the competition your company may face (Omafra.gov). Branson as I see is very aware and has insight into situations. Branson has the four traits of being a very successful leader. • Intelligence, successful leaders tend to have somewhat higher intelligence than their subordinates. • Maturity and breadth, successful leaders tend to be emotionally mature and have a broad range of interests. • Achievement drive, successful leaders are results oriented, when they achieve one goal, they seek another. • Integrity, successful leaders, over the long term, usually has integrity. When individuals in leadership positions state one set of values but practice another set (Organizational Behavior 2011). Being an effective leader in the United States today, you must be well organized and have time for your organization. A successful leader makes an...
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...Richard Charles Nicholas Branson was born on July 18, 1950 in Surrey, England. His parents both worked blue collar jobs with average pay. At the age of 13 he transferred from an all-boys school to a boarding school. In the year 1966 Richard, noted to have dyslexia, dropped out of school at the age of 16. It was at this time that he actually began his first business endeavor. He started a youth-culture magazine by the name Student. This magazine which was ran by students, simply for students, grossed $8,000 on its first publication. Once Branson covered the costs with advertisings, the first print of 50,000 copies was distributed for free. Just 4 year later Branson began a record mail order business. A year later he founded chain of record stores, currently known as Virgin Megastores. Branson's Virgin brand expanded quickly throughout the 80’s. He went on to make the Virgin Records music label much larger, as well as, to create Virgin Atlantic Airways. The Sunday Times Rich List reports him to be worth over £4 billion (equivalent to US$7.8 billion). Sir Richard Branson is an anomaly. He started out a high school dropout and worked his way to being a multi-billionaire. Mr. Branson has become an icon as a leader in his business endeavors and the industries in which they are in. According to Hellreigel, D. & Slocum, J., (2011), through his company Virgin Group, LTD, Mr. Branson “has turned a lifelong disdain for conventional business wisdom into a multibillion dollar global...
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...assignment number. This should be left justified, with the page number right justified. For example: Tarplain, B PSYCH 6401-8 Industrial/Organizational Psychology | Save a copy of your assignments: You may need to re-submit an assignment at your instructor’s request. Make sure you save your files in accessible location. | | PSYCH 6401-8 | Audrey Rabas, PhD | | | Assignment #7 | Analyze A Charismatic Leader | | | | | Academic integrity: All work submitted in each course must be your own original work. This includes all assignments, exams, term papers, and other projects required by your instructor. Knowingly submitting another person’s work as your own, without properly citing the source of the work, is considered plagiarism. This will result in an unsatisfactory grade for the work submitted or for the entire course. It may also result in academic dismissal from the University Faculty Use Only Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson, born July 18, 1950, is an English entrepreneur and financier (Finkle, 2011). Sir Richard Branson is the founder of Virgin Group, which is composed of more than four hundred companies (Finkle, 2011). He started his first business at the age of sixteen—which was a magazine called Student (Finkle, 2011). He set up a mail-order record company in 1970 and...
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...Leaders Lead There are leaders and there are followers. Leaders are people who lead a group, organization, or a community. Followers seek guidance from leaders and complete the task at hand. Leaders are advocates in our world. They are innovators and creators. In order for anything in the world to succeed there must be leaders to lead and followers to follow. For example, when working on a group project in order for the project to succeed someone must step up and be a leader. Someone must delegate the responsibilities that each person in the group will need to complete. If this is not completed the project may have no direction and will fail. The most effective leaders must understand their audience and determine their leadership styles. Some employees need more development then others, while some employees are able to work with no assistance or guidance. In order for one to be an effective leader one must have the appropriate leadership style. Sir Richard Branson (Branson) accurately discusses his leadership styles in his case study “Sir Richard Branson, Chairman, Virgin Group, Ltd”. Throughout this paper, we will discuss the leadership stylings of Branson and the effectiveness of that style in United States today. How using different leadership stylings could make Branson a more effective leader. Also, how Branson will lead a global team while working on a major project, and how one can incorporate some of Branson’s leadership qualities into a role at a workplace. Delegating...
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...PAPER Corporate Leader (Sir Richard Branson) CEO (Virgin group) Name : Vipul Srivastava Roll no. : A43 Registration no. : 11101666 Section : SE101 Submitted to : Mr Maninder Singh Annexure-V- Cover Page for Academic Tasks Course Code: Course Title: | Course Instructor: | Academic Task No.: Academic Task Title: | Date of Allotment: Date of submission: | Student’s Roll no: Student’s Reg. no: | Evaluation Parameters: (Parameters on which student is to be evaluated- To be mentioned by students as specified at the time of assigning the task by the instructor) | Learning Outcomes: (Student to write briefly about learnings obtained from the academic tasks) Declaration: I declare that this Assignment is my individual work. I have not copied it from any other student‟s work or from any other source except where due acknowledgement is made explicitly in the text, nor has any part been written for me by any other person. Evaluator’s comments (For Instructor’s use only) General Observations Suggestions for Improvement Best part of assignment Evaluator‟s Signature and Date: Marks Obtained: Max. Marks: ………………………… ABSTRACT: Sir Richard Branson is the Founder...
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...Branson’s leadership style and its effectiveness in the U.S. today Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group Ltd., is a London based businessperson who turned the conventional business wisdom to a diverse business with a unique style. Today, the Virgin Group is one of world’s most recognizable brands in different lines of businesses such as retail stores, air travel, financial services, books and music, and telecommunications. The Virgin Group is a multibillion-dollar company with approximately 50,000 employees and more than $20 billion in annual sales (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2011). According to Hellriegel and Slocum (2011), Transformational leadership involves influencing the followers through the leader’s behaviors and abilities. Transformational leaders create vision for the organization and embrace the change to achieve the goal by following set of rules with the strong beliefs, anticipating the future barriers, and empowering the followers to be leaders by inspiring through motivation, and intellectual stimulation. Transformational leaders are risk-takers. They are quite challenging and compassionate at the same time with high integrity. Sir Richard Branson’s dominant leadership style is transformational in many aspects. Branson communicates in open, candidly and clearly about the setbacks in his business career. Three of the setbacks he openly discussed with many are the launch of MP3 player, which was a total disaster, holding Virgin MegaStore retail...
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...business is the leaders and admired the world. Adventurer who loves the people and has been proposed driving global change to build a better and fairer world. Richard Branson talk to know what kind of leader is and as is his leadership as a visionary and above all a great leader. Also see how the leader was as a person of significant changes to be adored and admired by its employees for their great achievements and charisma he possesses. We could see as identified as a leader and to assess what kind of leader is this person to reach a level that gives samples of how to be a leader and an example for many. We will see here as defined and is a true leader. Is 61 years; He is charismatic, enthusiastic, shy and very polite. It is an iconoclast, his own brand and a traveling show. He did everything to promote your business: disguised dress, pirate, pilot, he cross the Pacific in a big balloon, sailing the Atlantic in a motor boat and spaceship Launcher One. He is adored by his employees, entrepreneurs revered. His group, which has 47,000 employees and a presence in 30 countries, had income of U.S. $ 21 million in 2011. Arguably Branson is a successful leader with 360 degrees. He's done well in almost everything he has undertaken, married for 23 years to the same woman, Joan Templeman-, two children, what you admire and accompanied in many of his adventures, and today is considered an example of a global leader, the last step in the career of leadership. Branson (2012) said; "You...
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...S. today. To be an effective leader in any business, one must be able to balance various roles within the workplace and keep the vision of the company prime focus. A leader must be able to convey information and instruction to his or her staff to ensure that daily function of the company or organization runs smooth in the present and future. After reading about Branson, I feel his style of leadership is most represented by the transformational style. Hellriegel and Slocum describe this style as, “a transformational leader involves anticipating future trends, inspiring followers to understand and embrace a new vision of possibilities, developing others to be leaders or better leaders, and building the organization or group into a community of challenged and rewarded learners” ( pg. 329). A leader with this type of style has to constantly be thinking of the present and future ideas, have strong critical thinking skills and be able to interact with those of various cultures. A transformational leader also has to be willing to take risks within the company. Branson is an example of this style. He describes his logical of his “pecking order” in his organization, “If your employees are happy then they will do a better job. If they do a better job, the customers will be happy, and thus business will be good and the shareholders will be rewarded” (p. 344). Overall, this style is leadership would be very effective in the U.S. today. Every leader has to be able to think about what...
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...Table of Contents 1.0 INTRODUCTION 7 2.0 WHAT IS LEADERSHIP AND CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EFFECTIVE LEADER? 7 2.1 WHAT IS LEADERSHIP? 7 3.0 LEADERS IN REVIEW: WHO IS MORE EFFECTIVE LEADER? 9 3.1 BIOGRAPHY - RICHARD BRANSON & VIJAY MALLYA 9 3.2 WHO IS THE MORE EFFECTIVE LEADER? 10 4.0 CONCLUSION 14 5.0 REFERENCE 15 1.0 INTRODUCTION The objective of this research paper is to analyse the differences between the leadership qualities of Richard Branson and Vijay Mallya and come to the conclusion as to who is more effective leader. The paper first defines the leadership and then briefly discusses the concepts associated with the leadership. It then presents two leaders with some brief biographies, characteristics and their contribution to their individual company. It would then conclude who is the more effective leader by providing with some aspects of leadership and leadership framework. 2.0 WHAT IS LEADERSHIP AND CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EFFECTIVE LEADER? 2.1 WHAT IS LEADERSHIP? Leadership is an interesting and widely discussed subject and has been described by James MacGregor Burns (1978) as “one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on Earth”. Northouse (2010) defines leadership being a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal. The leadership definition that I favour and think is more suited to the 21st century is “The process by which an agent induces a subordinate to behave in a desired manner”...
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...Sir Richard Branson, Chairman Virgin Group, Ltd. Case Study International success for an organization requires the expansion of the company into the global market for exposure and the goal of increasing profit margins. Strong leadership skills are an essential key in the success for a global company. Judgment, positive attitude and entrepreneurial thinking, and motivational incentives are additional keys that contribute to the success of an organization. The strategic leadership ways and personality of Sir Richard Branson proved to be success in the company he led into the global market. His Virgin Galactic company had the vision to be the first company to offer passengers the opportunity to fly into space at the cost of an expensive price as the world’s first space line. In addition to offering the hopes of the first space line for customers, Branson wanted to expand the global presence even further by participating in joint-venture agreements in telecommunications with China. By incorporating their reputation into the foreign market, the exposure to an untapped market or competitive market, an organization is able to branch out with ideas that will produce additional profits. The leadership traits that Branson portrayed played a huge part in the motivation skills he used on his employees that increased production, Corporate leadership requires two important areas: content leadership (leader’s attributes and decision making skills) and context leadership (variables...
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