Leadership Problems in Sony (Research Paper Sample)

Leadership
Author’s Name
Institution’s Name
Analysis of the Management Issue
Leadership has a direct linkage with the financial position of an organization. According to a fact a wise leader can move the organizations towards the zenith, while a fool leader will do against it (Ferris, 2014). However, it is not always the fault of the leaders behind the deterioration of a company, as there are some unexpected things that will ruin the entire structure of the planning of the leader. The same thing has been initiated in the case study of Sony (Lang, 1999).
Sony, one of the largest names in the technological world had faced a tough time during the current economic crisis due to the unavailability of required reforms. According to the case study, Sir Howard Springer took up the charge as the CEO of Sony in the year 2005 (Nohria & Khurana, 2010). The case study reveals that Sir Howard did extensive reforms and changes to develop new businesses for the company. After reading the case study of Sony critically, it is found that there is a major management problem associated with the entity during the era of Sir Howard Springer, which was the adoption of Theory X management approach with low communication behavior with the employees (Northouse, 2001).
In theory X-Management approach, leaders think that the employees are lazy and not fond of their jobs. In order to direct their performance, an effective dictator type of leadership style should be adopted. Most of the times, leaders having X-manager approach adopts Authoritative Management Style, as adopted by Sir Howard Springer. Though, Howard Springer initiated some of the best decisions for Sony to push them out from the disastrous situation, but relying on the new individuals like ‘Whiz Kids’ and totally ignored the key employees of the company later on devastated the approach for the corporation.
As per the theory of Leadership, "leaders are born, not trained or made”, and a true leader is the one who will motivate the workforce instead of ignoring them (Nohria & Khurana, 2010). Theory X management approach is a leadership approach which completely fails in terms of practicality (Nohria & Khurana, 2010). The main reason behind the same is that employees are always hungry for the positive feedbacks and appreciation, and they required such stance for their future determination and productivity with the company (Northouse, 2004). From the case study, it is also found that Howard showed their irresponsiveness as far as gripping the root cause of the problem is concerned, with only changed a few things in the structure. Apart from promoting Whiz Kids to the upper management position, Howard also outsourced the production plant from Japan to other country. The sales of Computers, mobile phones and TV sets have surged by 44% in the year 2010, but the company operated with negative cash flow at that time as well. The strategy of Howard Springer to retaliate was effective; however there are some major points that completely ignored by the Gentleman (Northouse, 2014).
The effectiveness of the strategy initiated by Sir Howard Springer for changing the structure of Sony can be analyzed through one of the most incredible models of strategic management known as SWOT Analysis. The tool has the tendency to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an action.
Strengths of the Strategy: From the critical analysis of the case study, it is evaluated that the strategy initiated by Howard Springer was very effective as far as brining economic prosperity towards the company, and it increased the sales turnover of the company in a matter of just 4 to 5 years (Schermerhorn, Davidson, Woods, Simon & McBarron, 2014). Apart from this, the strategy found very effective for the Young Guns of the company, termed as "Whiz Kids’ in the case study to promote towards the upper management place that can enable the company to increase their level of efficiency. One of the major strengths of the strategy initiated by Howard Springer was to outsource their production faculty that resultantly decreases the production cost of the company.
Weaknesses of the Strategy: Newly promoted Kids in the upper management was not a wise decision of Howard until and unless they are trained accordingly. Upper managerial positions need extensive amount of travelling and decision making, and which will groom in the personality of an employee with the passage of time instead of pinning them directly into the mind through theoretical concepts (Schermerhorn, Davidson, Woods, Simon & McBarron, 2014). Apart from this, Howard Springer didn’t open any sort of communication tab with the key employees of the company, and assumed that all of these employees are lazy and they should be replaced with the Young Guns.
Opportunities of the Strategy: The strategy initiated by Howard was well maintained for Sony as far as generating and recognizing revenue is concerned (Schermerhorn, Davidson, Woods, Simon & McBarron, 2014). The strategy can become a benchmark for the new CEO and Chairman of CEO who will hold the rope of this going concern in the future. The strategy will be re-developed and re-implemented by overcoming on the major issues highlighted in the strategy for Sony to bring future effectiveness in their operations.
Threats of the Strategy: One of the decisions that have been taken by Howard Springer to mitigate the level of operational cost is to outsource the production function. It may be a good choice for the company, but not in the scenario of economic crisis. Japan faced real time problems due to the decreasing exchange rate against the major currencies of the world during the current economic hardship that resultantly increased the production cost of Sony, and the company had nothing left in their hands at the end of the day.
The case study is clearly highlighting that the sales turnover of the company actually increased in the financial year 2010, but Sony faced real problem in their environmental and outsourcing functions (Schermerhorn, Davidson, Woods, Simon & McBarron, 2014). The issue was initiated due to the low communication with the key and senior employees of the company (Snook, Nohria & Khurana, 2012). The adaptation of theory X management approach cost a lot to Sony, as the company lost number of major and dedicated employees who have been working with the company from decades. As per the theory of Maslow related to Motivation, leaders always required to enhance the level of appreciation among their employees, and it is the only way from which they can polish them to become an integral part of the entire operation of the company, rather than outsourcing the entire business unit (Solansky, 2008). Usually, financially weak organizations took up such actions for their operations, as selling business units and outsourcing the production system means that there would be no more worth left of the initial brand (Taylor, 2007).
These management problems should be reorganize in the future for Sony in order to retain their market position in the domestic and international market for a long span of time (Zarraga, 2005).
Recommendations
1 Firstly, it is recommended to the new CEO and Chairman of Sony to ad...