MBA (Master of Business Administration)

THE INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

STUDENT NAME : THWE NAW ZAR ZAW

STUDENT NUMBER : IB2007001

UNIT NAME : Leadership & Management in

Organisation (MBA 1054)

Lecturer’s Name (MUST) : Prof.Dr.Premkumar & Dr.Harwindar

Lecturer’s Name (EVER UP COLLEGE) : Nyi Nyi Maung (Mr.)

Date Submitted : 27th September, 2020

Student Declaration:
I may have checked my output against the output of my peers but the writing up of
the assignment and the conclusions drawn is all my own work.

Students please read the following before you sign:

In recent years there has been an increase in student plagiarism, collusion and copying
another's work and other practices not consistent with academic ethics. Possible
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Report 1

PROFILE THE LEADERSHIP OF JACK WELCH WITH REFERENCE TO MAXWELL’S 21

IRREFUTABLE LAWS – HIGHLIGHTING AT LEAST 5 LAWS THAT MAY BE APPLICABLE TO
HIM.

STATE THE STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF HIS LEADERSHIP `STYLE’.

Jack Welch was the CEO of General Electric from the year 1981 until 2001.
During his time, he facilitated the growth of the company, enhancing the market value
from a mere $14 billion to $410 under his guidance and leadership. He exuded a set of
strong leadership skills which makes him a notorious leader up to this day. However, it
does not mean that he was a perfect leader. He was a talented leader yet, his
leadership style still had flaws which would not make it popular in the 21st-century
style leadership. In this following report, I will be highlighting certain leadership skills
Jack Welch exhibited and correlating them with John Maxwell’s 21 irrefutable
leadership laws, as well as pointing out the strengths and the weaknesses of his
leadership style.

Among the twenty-one irrefutable laws of leadership mentioned by Maxwell,

the ones that complement the leadership style of Jack Welch are as followings:

Law #1 Law of the Lid

Law #4 Law of Navigation

Law #8 Law of Intuition

Law #10 Law of Connection

Law #12 Law of Empowerment

Law #1 Law of the Lid and Jack Welch

 “Leadership ability is the lid that determines a person’s level of effectiveness.
The lower an individual’s ability to lead, the lower the lid on his potential.” (Maxwell,
2007) According to this law, a person’s ability to lead is directly proportionate to the
effectiveness and the success of a business. In the case of Jack Welch, his effective
leadership skill led to the growth of GE to a multi-billion-dollar business. “The higher
you want to climb, the more you need leadership. The greater impact you want to
make, the greater your influence needs to be. Whatever you will accomplish is
restricted by your ability to lead others.”, said Maxwell.

Jack Welch was a visionary, which only meant he had thought about the
prospects of his career and leadership and the future of GE before anyone else has
done so. He had a high ability to lead, just not manage. He managed to inspire people
through his exemplary hard work, his consistency, and his unexpectedness. He set the
lid high so that his firm could flourish. “History will reveal Welch to be exactly the right
leader at exactly the right time.” (Krames, 2001) Jack Welch pushed GE to its peak by
raising the lid on his leadership skills. However, if it had been another person in
Welch’s place or if Welch had been a leader in recent years, things might have been
different. His way of leadership might not be the most suitable for the changing
situations in the 21st century.

Law #4 Law of Navigation

“A good leader remains focused. Controlling your direction is better than being
controlled by it.”, said Jack Welch. After the destination or the objective has been
chosen, it is the role of the leader to go through the obstacles and the hardships by
navigating everyone to reach success. Leaders learn from past experiences and the
past mistakes and use them to an advantage where they envision the future and the
conflicts and the challenges that can arise from it.

Jack Welch was not afraid to send his top performers to the countries like India
where the branches were small back then. He was looking into the future of the vision
where the size of the project does not matter, yet the guide of the path by the leader
for sustainable success in that region. He directed GE onto the path of success during
his reign, which is obvious from the trend of increasing figures for the profit and the
size of the company.

Law #8 Law of Intuition

“As a general rule, gut instinct is nothing to be ashamed of. The trick, of
course, is to know when to go with your gut.” (Welch, 2013) It was a perfect example
of a quote which showed that he was a leader who worked with intuition up his
sleeve. He was well known for dropping by at offices and eliminating and firing
employees, managers and as far as the whole division in an instance. “Our gut often
makes us “fall in love” with a candidate too quickly. We see prestigious schools and
great experience on a sparkling resume. We see a likeable candidate who says all the
right things in the interview. And even though we don’t admit it, too often we see a
person who can quickly make a problem go away”, said Jack Welch referencing about
how he easily used his intuition is hiring employees for his organisation, even though
he later mentioned it would be advisable not to rush into such kind of decisions.

The intuition separates the greatest leaders from the merely good ones.
Leaders instinctively see and know things before the others and that is what makes
them different. However, trusting the guts only works to a certain extent where
double-checking may become necessary for many business decisions. Solid pieces of
evidence with reference and documents do come in handy when making important
decisions rather than the intuition.

Law #10 Law of Connection

“What would happen if for years and years you don’t tell someone that they
are underperforming, not giving them the chance to try to improve, check whether
they can do something else in the company, or look for somewhere else? And then a
recession comes, and you need to fire the person, older and unprepared, in a much
tougher market? Which is crueller?” Jack Welch was quoted. (Fernandez-Araoz C.,
March 3 2020, para. 8)
 Jack Welch built the culture of open and frank communication as a leader and
he did not allow any funny business or any sugarcoating when it comes to giving
feedback. He was notorious for speaking with candor. It might have made him look
intimidating enough for people to develop fears for him. Yet, honesty is an important
principle to stick by and without his frank admissions about his followers, the business
would not have moved forward or the people would not have gone through the
changes that were necessary of them.

Law #12 Law of Empowerment

Jack Welch once said, “Hire people smarter than you.” He was exhibiting his
sense of security with his status and position in his organisation since only secure
leaders tend to give away power. Jack Welch might have been aware of the fact that
only empowered people could reach their full potential. When more authority is given
to the employees, they find their ways to cope with them to finally complete the given
tasks. He found a new way of motivating employees by establishing a sense of
involvement that they were a part of the business, the owners of the company. He
was able to nurture talented and loyal employees by rewarding them with
empowerment. However, Jack Welch was taking a big risk by giving full
empowerment to the employees. It does not always guarantee the effectiveness of
the outcome when empowered people are lacking in some aspects.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Jack Welch’s Leadership Style

“Keep learning. Drive for learning. Drive for better people. Don't be satisfied.
keep making it better and keep learning.”, said Jack Welch in an interview with CNN
Financial Editor Todd Benjamin on October 14, 2005. He was the type of leader that
would keep his employees constantly provided with directions and instructions,
without them slagging off on learning to improve themselves.
 A leadership style like Jack Welch’s is efficient when the work done is crucial
for a business. It may seem too ambitious for many people. However, it is not
arguable that an organisation which is led by a leader who raises his own potential, is
quite intuitive for his standard, empowers and connects with his own employees is
going to see a rise in its productivity.

Moreover, his leadership style is great at dealing with a crisis. During a crisis,
people need a little more extra push than usual. A leader who works with a laissez-
faire leadership style would find themselves among unproductive employees with
productivity hitting its lowest.

However, no man is perfect and there were flaws in the leadership style of Jack
Welch, as well. Jack Welch was authoritative and he was more about commanding
than leading, which can lead to the creativity of the employees being stifled. Future
leaders of the organisation are nurtured and raised within the organisation. With
guidance and the dedication to have loyalty in the organisation, the creation of future
leaders within the organisation is a significant advantage. However, Jack Welch’s
leadership style which could stifle the creativity of the employees could have actually
prevented the arising of leaders.

Even with his empowerment schemes, he was well known as Neutron Jack
who could leave the buildings empty with his ability to fire a large number of people
at once. It might have led to invoke fear of being reprimanded or being sacked among
the employees. Leaders are treated with respect, yet respect can easily be mistaken
for simple fear.

Jack Welch was all for hiring people smarter than he was. However, conflicts
could have arisen when his employees happen to be experts who knew more than the
leader did. They might have had opposing opinions on certain matters which might
have strayed the directions for subordinates working under them. The goal was to
work towards the organisational mission. However, conflicts could have deterred and
delayed the accomplishment of such goals.
 Jack Welch was the most successful CEO of GE since after the World War II, yet
he truly was something more than just a CEO. He broke out of the mold of the old era
of management and emerged the industry into a new one. He certainly was not
looking for an urgent change but had a great vision to look into the future and he did
his absolute best in transforming the conventional view and managed to succeed at
the top of a top corporation.
 REPORT 2

DESCRIBE TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN YOUR OWN WORDS AND OUTLINE

THE PROCESSES THAT ARE INVOLVED.

WHAT ARE THE KEY CHALLENGES OR BARRIERS YOU ARE LIKELY TO FACE IN
ORGANIZATIONS FROM YOUR COUNTRY IN IMPLEMENTING THE FIVE STEPS OF
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP AS DESCRIBED BY KOUZES & POUSNER ?

Leadership is one of the most important and essential functions that shapes
the future of the business. It is a factor that transforms the ideas and the potentials
and ideas into reality for a successful business. However, it should be born in mind
that not all different types of leaderships are applicable in all situations.

Transformational leadership is where “leaders and their followers raise one

another to higher levels of morality and motivation.” (Burns, 1978) To put it to my
own opinion, transformational leadership is where there are mutual respect and
understandings between the leaders and the followers. Their relationship is built not
solely on the business but also on the trust they have built. For the trust to blossom,
the leaders need to trust the followers as well as encourage them and provide them
with support whenever necessary. This will, in turn, lead to the employees being
inspired because they will feel like their interest, as well as their hopes and dreams,
are being taken care of. The leader will set clear achievable probable goals that will
also involve the followers and will align the organisation goals with those of the
followers. Overall, the leaders will expect the best of their followers by providing them
with the best and by being fair to each and every individual in the team.

Transformational leadership as described by Kouzes and Posner involves the following

step :

1. Model the way

2. Inspire a shared vision
3. Challenge the process
4. Enabling others to act
5. Encourage the heart

1. Model the way

This step is about paving the way and setting an example by the leaders for
their followers. The leaders give examples of the standardized behaviour and the
reflection of the shared values. The leaders exemplify how small achievements can be
accomplished with confidence, progressive consistency and dedication towards the
task.

2. Inspire a shared vision

The leaders need to envision a meaningful future which can easily inspire
others. They need to make sure that the vision also applies to the hopes and the
dreams of the followers. This will become the reason for the people to follow the lead
of the leader. To do this, the leaders need to understand the capabilities of his
followers, the available resources and what shared values exist among them. By doing
so, the followers will be enlisted to refine the vision and that vision becomes that of
the followers as well.

3. Challenge the process

This step involves leader leading the process of challenging and seeking new
ideas by taking risks, experimenting and learning from the mistakes. This will allow the
team to develop as a whole working towards a better change and innovation.
Mistakes may be made and they should be allowed to be made because that is where
the ideas of encouragement and progressive innovation will arise.

4. Enabling others to act

The act of the leaders is not limited to leading and commanding. Sometimes,
they need to step back a certain extent to allow certain level of empowerment and
delegation for the followers. This step is about building trust and working in a
collaborative atmosphere while providing necessary support to the followers. This will
give rise to empowered employees with the strengthened ability and skilled expertise.
 The exhibition of vulnerability also plays a vital role in showing that the leaders care
and believe that others could perform as well as they could.

5. Encourage the Heart

The success, contributions and the achievements of each individual should be

recognised and celebrated wholeheartedly. This shows the side of humanity by
rewarding followers with the praise that they deserve. This can serve as a motivating
factor for many employees and it has been shown that motivated employees are
happier in their workforce, stick to the rules and regulations more, get along better
with the colleagues and most importantly, are more productive and deliver their
absolute best.

Key challenges and barriers in implementing the five steps of leadership

Myanmar is a resource-rich country but that does not apply very well when it
comes to human resources. Despite a large workforce in the country, they tend to be
less capable due to lack of skills, proper training and education. Myanmar has shown
weak infrastructure of education for years and albeit the whole system is undergoing
change at the moment, it will take years before the impact of the change takes place.

For the first step of Kouzes and Posner model “Model the Way”, the biggest
problem implementing it in our country is that the majority of the population is not
open-minded. New ideas are often considered as taboo and most people would
succumb to doing things the traditional way rather than thinking outside the box. The
education system is often regarded as the spoon fed system, where memorization
matters more than grasping the actual concept. People graduate without a basic
understanding of their respective subjects and later become incompetent employees
in many organisations. So, even when the leader is paving the way, the followers may
not be competent enough to follow.

In the next step of “Inspire a shared vision”, leaders often create a common
vision while enlisting their followers into it. The problem arises in finding a common
identity, a common ground where different stakeholders’ different visions can be
aligned with the ultimate organisational goal. Myanmar people are argumentative and
quarrelsome in nature. So, it is problematic for leaders to come to a final decision.
 When it comes to the step of “Challenge the Process”, change is an important
element. Leaders take the risk for the progressive change yet, when they do not allow
the followers to learn from their mistakes, this would not be successful. This depends
on the attitude of the leaders and how he manages his team. An open-minded leader
will be up for experimenting himself as well as allowing his followers to experiment
based on their capabilities. However, if the followers allow mistakes to happen every
single time and not learning from their previous experiences, it would be troublesome
for the leaders to carry out the change process as well.

In the next step of “Enable others to act”, the biggest problem yet to exist is
the leader’s inability to delegate. It is essential that leaders take a step back for the
empowerment of their followers. However, some leaders carry self-importance as
their values and would find themselves not able to move away from the spotlight.
Some leaders hesitate to show their vulnerable side to their followers with the fear
that they will be looked down on or disrespected due to it. The insecurity that grows
inside the leader remains to be one of the greatest limitations. According to Myanmar
culture, position means power and authority and leaders will fight tooth and nails to
maintain where they are in the organisation. The tasks will be passed down to the
employees as a command but will not fully be delegated since the leader may also
want to take credit for the accomplished tasks.

In the last step of “Encourage the Heart”, this might be the greatest challenge
for the leaders, especially those in Myanmar. This step is carried out by celebrating
the victories of the followers and providing them with public recognition which will
stimulate their further commitment to the leader and the organisation they are
working for. Leaders in Myanmar hold high positions in their respective organisations
and make very little effort to praise their followers individually. Compliments are not
given in public, but behind closed doors. However, when it comes to defamation and
blames, they are usually carried out in the public’s eyes. So, the hard work of the
followers may stem from not the motivation, but from the fear of being called out.

Leadership is not the easiest task when it comes to contribution to the success
of the organization as a whole. Wholesome leaders are needed to transform the
nature of the organization and the business while not interrupting the normalcy that
already exists. Leaders must be balanced, forward thinking and empathetic and those
might be the keys towards better leadership skills for everyone.
Reference

Burns, J.M (1978). Leadership. Michigan: Harper & Row

Fernandez-Araoz, C. March 3 2020. Jack Welch’s approach to leadership. Retrieved

from https://hbr.org/2020/03/jack-welchs-approach-to-leadership

Krames, J.A. (2001). The Jack Welch Lexicon of Leadership

Maxwell, J.C. (2007). 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. United Kingdom: Harper

Collins.

Welch, J. November 12 2013. When to go with your gut. Retrieved from

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20131112125301-86541065-when-to-go-with-
your-gut