CIL_J8

LDR 6302, Current Issues in Leadership 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit VIII Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

3. Explain how leaders are developed and equipped for organizational shifts and changes. 3.1 Discuss a leader or organization who experienced organizational change.

8. Develop a comprehensive personal leadership training plan that utilizes leadership techniques.

8.1 Assemble a comprehensive personal leadership training plan.

Required Unit Resources In order to access the following resources, click the links below. Dornbrook, J. (2015). Three questions with former GE CEO Jack Welch. Biz Journals.

http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2015/04/30/jack-welch-leadership-analytics-advice.html Kubicek, J. (2015). Little big things. Independent Banker, 65(1), 77.

https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/logi n.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=100745599&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Welch, J (2016). Former GE CEO Jack Welch says leaders have 5 basic traits — and only 2 can be taught.

Business Insider. http://www.businessinsider.com/former-ge-ceo-jack-welch-says-leaders-have-5- basic-traits-and-only-2-can-be-taught-2016-5

Yang, D. (2016). Steve Kerr on leading the Warriors. Executive Leadership, 31(12), 5.

https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?auth=CAS&url=http://search.ebscohost.com/logi n.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=119543236&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Unit Lesson You have made it to the final unit of the course, and now it is time to paint the full picture. Take some time to review and reflect upon what you have learned and how you can integrate it into being a better, more efficient, and more effective leader. There is no one-size-fits-all leadership style. It would be nice to be a leader and never have to change your leadership style to solve an issue that is based on human capital, production, manufacturing, foreign policy, or emergency situations. If there was one generic style or action, then leadership would be easy. It would be easy in the sense that the individual leader would never have to think or apply concepts of motivation, critical thinking, conflict resolution, decision making, organizational behavior, or change. In a sense, it would be a cookie-cutter approach. Unfortunately, leadership is much more complex. Leaders come in all shapes and sizes and differ with their individual background experiences. Leaders can be seen in an individual sport, in a team sport, or in a coaching staff. Cultural background leaders can also have a great impact on our society, such as Nelson Mandela for his political ideology. As we have seen from previous units, the leadership style of Lt. Gen. William Tunner and how he was able to produce change through strategy by hiring the correct people and having a plan saved lives and dramatically contributed to a winning war effort. Experiences are fourfold and involve the leaders’ self-assessments, dealing with others, dealing with organizational issues, and dealing with services that relate to customers, business partners, and the community. Leadership is a systems approach that uses many leadership tools within the organization to

UNIT VIII STUDY GUIDE

Painting a Picture of Leadership

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reach mission accomplishment. The tools you have apprenticed under in this course are the different theories of leadership, how leaders influence others in the organization, the impact of situational leadership, and how to handle organizational change. As a leader, you have to keep in mind that your organization is a collection of organisms, entities, and systems. Like premier athletes, the center of your organization’s strength is at its core. A strong core provides the athlete with performance strength, flexibility, and stability to deliver and maximize performance outcomes and results. Leaders are, therefore, also like premier athletes. The strong core of leadership is based on awareness, organization, commitment, the ability to motivate, and the ability to make good decisions. A strong core allows a leader to take on many different challenges with ease and efficiency. This course provided you with the core strength and ability to transfer leadership energy, deal with change, and use influence and charisma to address both internal and external situations in the organization to produce positive results. Finally, remember that you need to reflect on any situation as a leader. The situation is the most critical aspect of leadership. The situation sets the path for theory and leadership style application; the situation also dictates decisions on how to motivate, when to motivate, and how to communicate how change will occur. When leaders can effectively communicate the why to employees (human capital), then there is a gravitational focus toward a common goal and unity. Human capital behavior, diversity, and social attributes begin to mesh together and synergize. Hence, leadership is the champion or the nucleus that rallies the people toward the purpose, which ultimately creates a transformation in the lives and behavior of employees. Leadership is, therefore, the catalyst that embraces organizational behavior, effectively communicates purpose, and designs a culture and structure that allows human capital to excel in goal attainment. The graphic below outlines these objectives.

The case analysis below reviews the catastrophic BP oil spill in 2010. By reviewing the readings and synopsis, you will see that BP and other contractors were at fault. Also, you will be able to see from the website and other articles that BP’s leadership has taken action to restructure the organization, redefine their image, and rebrand the company. The main takeaway is that change had to occur. Leadership had to refocus the organization, redefine their new mission, get buy-in from stakeholders, implement a plan, and communicate this to society. As you review the case synopsis, think about your course objectives, and see if you can apply them to what the new BP CEO Bob Dudley is attempting to accomplish. Case Analysis: Leadership Change: British Petroleum’s New Slogan: Beyond Petroleum On April 10, 2010, the largest accidental oil spill in history occurred when BP’s Blue Water Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and released over 130 million gallons of oil into the ocean environment, taking over 87 days before it was capped on July 15, 2010 (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, n.d.). The oil spill impacted oceanic life, the seaside environment (beaches), and the economic environment for trawling, fishing, and tourism industries. The spill also tarnished BP’s image due to their inability to quickly handle the problem. After over a year of congressional investigation, the core problem was that BP, Halliburton, and TransOcean had been cutting costs and had, therefore, created unsafe systems

The graphic depicts the components of leadership.

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(“Obama Oil Spill Commission's Final Report,” 2011). Sustainability and Leadership Actions Now, fast-forward to 2013: The BP corporation (big oil) rebranded itself, infused a new strategy, incorporated an image change, and coined the public relations slogan Beyond Petroleum. The rebranding incorporated a new green strategy, green marketing, and more corporate social responsibility. Now, the main focus of the company was to promote renewable energy systems such as solar, wind, and biofuels. This was a big change in culture (i.e., from fossil fuel exploration to clean energy). The goal was to keep BP sustainable through an image reversal that parlayed directly into current social welfare. Their leadership actions have been summarized into the following five components that reflect multiple principles being taught in this course:

1. transformational leadership/charismatic leadership, 2. implementing change (Kotter), 3. the integration of human capital, 4. reading the situation/Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Model (SLM), and 5. operations management through social means.

If you would like more information on BP, consider reviewing the resource below, which is optional. Please note that this page includes links to resources including “What We Do” and “Community” for you to explore. BP: http://www.bp.com/en_us/bp-us.html?gclid=CNXV6Y78w9ACFdM2gQodDpEA-Q Transformational leadership/charismatic leadership: Leadership was paramount in making the turnaround following the Blue Horizon incident. The group chief executive, Bob Dudley, is ready to address the issues of environmental and economic impacts and provide a new vision and direction for the company that embraced suppliers, partners, customers, and the trust of governments worldwide was needed (Dudley, 2017). Implementing change (Kotter): According to Nuruzzaman (2016), the economics of the oil industry is currently dealing with the oversupply of crude oil worldwide, which has been brought on by the fracking industry in the United States and the sanctions that have been lifted against Iran. This oil glut has led to lower prices and lower earnings. Sustainment in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) requires negotiation, trust, and the ability to adapt to supply and demand. According to Dudley (2017), BP will have long-term success if the role within society is positive, which included a focus on safety. Given the challenge explained above, leadership must make changes with regard to employment staffing, research, investments, and cost analysis of drilling operations (exploration). This comes down to simple return on investment. As Dudley (2017) explains, BP aims to build a sustainable future through focusing on safety and growth. Change in efficiency occurred through the use of technology. To sustain and grow, costs must again continue to be controlled by looking at both upstream and downstream assets; upstream is drilling and exploration, downstream is refinery, and integration is delivering the product to the customer. This is done through investing in new technologies that reduce the emission of methane (Dudley, 2017). The integration of human capital: Focusing on human capital can produce high returns for organizations. Motivating people and focusing them on the new rebranded strategy was key for BP. BP’s human capital strategy had the following goals:

• retaining stakeholders,

• earning trust (BP, n.d.-c), and

• engaging employees (BP, n.d.-d). Reading the situation/applying the Hersey-Blanchard SLM: BP employed the correct leadership style to every situation and used employee strengths as needed.

• BP learned from past situations. What were the driving factors for success, and what were the shortfalls both internally and externally?

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• The company ensured that global environmental concerns were addressed.

• BP continues to ensure returns on stakeholders’ investments, to retain jobs, and to save taxpayers money, while providing the necessary heating and lighting needs of customers (Dudley, 2017).

Operations management and image through social means: The best road to long-term success is both internal and external by establishing a new culture that reflects the values of society, the shareholders, and the customers (BP, n.d.-a). BP strives to continue with these strong core values and improve the well-being of everyone around them. As a part of this process, BP created and implemented a new code of conduct that focused on doing the “right thing” and making sound decisions. Although doing the “right thing” has associated costs, long-term, the relationships with customers and the environment will prove worthwhile (BP, n.d.-b). Where do you see our course outcomes within BP?

References British Petroleum. (n.d.-a). BP and sustainability. http://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/sustainability/bp-and-

sustainability.html British Petroleum. (n.d.-b). Business ethics. http://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/about-bp/people-and-

values/code-of-conduct.html British Petroleum. (n.d.-c). Our people. http://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/sustainability/how-we-

operate/our-people.html British Petroleum. (n.d.-d). Our strategy and sustainability.

http://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/sustainability/bp-and-sustainability/our-strategy-and- sustainability.html

Dudley, B. (2017). Introduction from our group chief executive.

http://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/sustainability/bp-and-sustainability/ceo-introduction.html Nuruzzaman, M. (2016). The Iran deal is already falling apart. http://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-iran-deal-

already-falling-apart-17118 Obama oil spill commission's final report blames disaster on cost-cutting by BP and partners. (2011, January

5). The Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/8242557/Obama-oil-spill- commissions-final-report-blames-disaster-on-cost-cutting-by-BP-and-partners.html

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. (n.d.). Gulf oil spill. http://ocean.si.edu/gulf-oil-spill

Suggested Unit Resources In order to access the following resources, click the links below. Within the Unit VIII lesson, we learned about BP’s changes to improve its leadership, morale, and overall success. The resource below expands upon this information. David, J. E. (2013). ‘Beyond Petroleum' no more? BP goes back to basics. CNBC.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100647034 The following resource discusses some of the strategies used by BP and how these can be applied to other business decisions. Hannam, P. (2010). It’s time to re-brand green branding: Lessons from Beyond Petroleum.

http://www.triplepundit.com/2010/07/its-time-to-re-brand-green-branding-bp/

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The following resource includes a description of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and explains how BP handled the spill. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. (n.d.). Gulf oil spill. http://ocean.si.edu/gulf-oil-spill