Assignment 3: Leadership of Richard Branson

Leadership of Richard Branson Question

Using the Internet or Strayer University databases, research the leadership style and characteristics of Richard Branson, Virgin Group.

Write a six to seven (6-7) page paper in which you:

1. Assess the key elements of Richard Branson’s leadership style and the impact that those elements have had on his business success. Provide support for your rationale.


2. Given that The Virgin Group has been described as a fast-growing entrepreneurial company with many facets to the group, suggest how the unique aspects of Richard Branson’s leadership style mesh successfully with the particular attributes of a multifaceted organization like Virgin.


3. Determine two (2) key ways in which Richard Branson is likely to motivate employees in order to achieve his goals for the Virginia Group. Indicate whether or not his approach is likely to work in a different organizational setting. Provide support for your rationale.


4. Assess the effectiveness of Richard Branson’s ability to articulate and communicate his vision for his company to employees and other stakeholders. Provide support for your rationale.


5. Assume that you have received a job offer to be a manager within the Virgin Group. Determine the criteria you would use to evaluate whether Richard Branson’s leadership style is a good fit for you as a manager and what conclusion you may draw about working under this type of leader.


6. Take a position on whether or not you believe Richard Branson is a global leader. Justify your position and provide support for your justification.


7. Predict Richard Branson’s success as a leader over the next five (5) years. Support your prediction.


8. Use at least three (3) quality academic resources. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.  

Leadership Style of Richard Branson Sample Paper 

Assess the key elements of Richard Branson’s leadership style and the impact that those elements have had on his business success. Provide support for your rationale

Richard Branson is an English business man who founded the Virgin Group, which controls over 400 companies. This Group was founded in 1970 and is a leading international investment group, and one of the most respected and recognized worldwide.  It has created employment for over 50, 000 employees, operates in over 50 countries, and earns revenues of over 25 billion dollars annually. There are certain personal traits that have greatly aided in his rise to success: creativity, anti-establishment, opportunistic, competitive, hard negotiator, and workaholic. Furthermore, based on the theories of leadership, there are various entrepreneurial styles employed by Richard that further elevated majority of his business ventures.

Firstly, he fostered a good relationship with his employees and created a proper working environment by welcoming new ideas and feedback from them. In addition to that, he also invited or threw parties for his junior staff members in a bid to motivate them, encourage loyalty, and reduce employee turnover. The task structure of his organization is low and with no established procedures thus giving them the initiative and freedom of being creative. The Virgin Group is generally working towards a non-hierarchical and flat based composition; meaning that it is based on clusters and flexibility to function independently with minimal interference. Based on the Contingency theory of Fielder, it is evident that Richard Branson can be categorized under the intermediate type of leaders, who are socio-independent, and task motivated. Consequently, he proves participative in nature, democratic, and a dominant thinker.

Secondly, he posses situational leadership skills and strong contingency that enables him to utilize available opportunities in establishing new companies. He is highly capable of controlling various business related circumstances, especially in terms of risk taking. Branson tends to apply various techniques depending on the context and situation, hence depicting an essential dominant theory of leadership: situational phenomenon. Furthermore, he tends to implement adjustments at a fast rate compared to his fellow counterparts. An excellent example is when Virgin Cola in the United States changed its strategy, management, and location of its t-drinks business with emphasis on the theme “New Age beverages like fruit juices and energy drinks, when he saw no prospect in the war against the Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola in the Cola Business (Branson & McLimore, 2013).

Given that The Virgin Group has been described as a fast-growing entrepreneurial company with many facets to the group, suggest how the unique aspects of Richard Branson’s leadership style mesh successfully with the particular attributes of a multifaceted organization like Virgin

Richard Branson is known to be a transformational leader who believes in making new trends, rules, and altering the existing ideologies about the functioning of businesses (Branson & McLimore, 2013). He bases the performance of his company by motivating his employees. This style ensures that there is increased openness, and thus improves the trust among the workers. These aspects tend to match with the attributes of the multifaceted firm, The Virgin Group. He also tends to put so much trust in new entrants and demonstrates this through his actions. This is accomplished by sharing his views, goals, and vision with the stakeholders, employees, and the management department.

Determine two (2) key ways in which Richard Branson is likely to motivate employees in order to achieve his goals for the Virginia Group. Indicate whether or not his approach is likely to work in a different organizational setting. Provide support for your rationale.

For Richard Branson to achieve the objectives set for Virginia Group, it is fundamental to keep the workforce motivated by the following primary ways. Incentive can be provided by engaging the employees in the policy making process and also by encouraging them to venture into unfamiliar work territories in varying organizational settings. This form of incitement tends to instill the desire of improving their various capabilities, and thus proving and maintaining the confidence of their employers of their dedication or even gaining the trust and respect of fellow colleagues. This tends to result in the creation of a proper working environment, especially one in which the members of staff can invest their resources and time in improving individual craft. Furthermore, the workers feel more accomplished and appreciated. Their effort results in the increment in the rate of annual profits and revenue the organization receives. Nevertheless, this approach cannot be deemed efficient in certain organizational settings, especially in small-scale businesses due to the lack of varying or different areas of work. However, the opposite, whereby the workers feel neglected by the company, would result in poor performance due to the lack of motivation or incentives.  Despite that, this perspective pushes employees to perform in order to achieve the required level of success and meet the institutions objectives.

Assess the effectiveness of Richard Branson’s ability to articulate and communicate his vision for his company to employees and other stakeholders. Provide support for your rationale.

Richard Branson is undoubtedly an employer who articulates and communicates his vision and goals for his company to other stakeholders and employees adequately. He has the ability to continuously captivate his audience and get them involved with his vision. Richard tends to bring levity to the vision and utilizes humor to spice up speeches and make them livelier. His primary manner of communication is informal and enjoys interactive conversations and eye contact. To further ensure that he continuously captures the attention of his people, he prefers unconventional settings and the outdoors. An excellent example is when he sat in a bath while at Al Gore delivering a presentation on global warming. There is no entrepreneur who sells himself the way Richard Branson quite does. His ideas for effective communication are essential for business owners, aspiring leaders, entrepreneurs, managers, and CEOs. Generally, his primary aim is being concise and providing an extremely simplified exhibition with the purpose of gaining the trust of his consumers, stakeholders, and members of staff. In addition to that, tends to demonstrate an impeccable understanding of the industries’ concepts, vision, goals, and other topics related to it. A clear vision will linearize the objectives of the investors with that of the company and guarantee healthy returns.  

Assume that you have received a job offer to be a manager within the Virgin Group. Determine the criteria you would use to evaluate whether Richard Branson’s leadership style is a good fit for you as a manager and what conclusion you may draw about working under this type of leader.

One major area that I would utilize to determine the effectiveness of his leadership style based on my preferences would be whether he facilitates the establishment of common objective and vision for the company, the stakeholders, and its employees. It ought to focus on building a working culture that encourages the execution of business activities. The second criteria would be whether his leadership style promotes a working atmosphere in the office spaces. This would further lessen my work load as a manager in his organization and still promote productivity. Furthermore, it should integrate the company’s resources and operations, thus facilitating cooperation between the junior employees and managers. Effective understanding between these two parties would guarantee that the implementation and decision making process would be successfully accomplished. Therefore, the firm can continuously achieve the set objectives due to these styles of leadership making it the best place to work in and still boast my career.

Take a position on whether or not you believe Richard Branson is a global leader. Justify your position and provide support for your justification.

Global leaders refer to the emerging class of professionals that are adept at operating international and multicultural contexts (Giuliani & Kurson, 2007). These individuals tend to possess a natural curiosity regarding the world and individuals different from themselves. Furthermore, they have to reach beyond their geographical regions and positively impact the world by not only generating wealth but also successfully solving problems or challenges. The sharing of the organization’s philosophy for success with both the employees and te management promotes a community of motivated and trustworthy workers. This family-based atmosphere is primary culture in which Richard build his companies around. Formality is an aspect saved for important workplace situations with the primary purpose of the working environment being positive instead of stress-related. Richard Branson aims to take innovation a step further establishing the first space airline that offers individuals tours of the Moon and the Earth’s orbit.

Predict Richard Branson’s success as a leader over the next five (5) years. Support your prediction.

Based on the above information, it is evident that Richard Branson’s success as a leader for the next five years is guaranteed due to his personality, experiences, and governing policies. With the form of management team whereby the workers are encouraged to motivate and work towards the success and stability of the company by working without the micro-management of upper executives, the success of Richard Branson correlates to the success of each employee under his leadership (Hall & Williams, 1986). He has clearly demonstrated his abilities that include creativity and innovative. It is important to comprehend the fact that the world is constantly evolving, and hence the need for flexibility. He has greatly demonstrated this trait by his openness and ability to move forward despite the challenges constantly brought forth by the surrounding environment. Furthermore, he has a positive outlook towards various aspects of the entrepreneurial world and seeks for new opportunities to invest in. He has also had huge experiences, created an amazing network of fellow entrepreneurs and knows how to manipulate the odds. In addition to this, the success and wealth that Virginia Groups has immersed over the years proves that he will continuously excel in his profession.

The form of leadership displayed by Richard Branson of the Virgin Group is the epitome of entrepreneurship. He has various qualities that majority of business people aspire to posses for their respective companies to prosper and grow. The key lesson learnt from Richard is regardless of the type of organization; the life line of the company is the employees hence the need to keep them inspired and part of the team.  

References

Hall, J., & Williams, M. (1986). Styles of leadership survey. Woodlands, Tex.: Teleometrics International.

Giuliani, R., & Kurson, K. (2007). Leadership. New York: Hyperion.

Branson, R., & McLimore, D. (2013). Virgin rebel. Chicago: Agate B2.