...LEADERSHIP STYLE OF RICARDO SEMLER 1. Describe Ricardo Semlers leadership style. What do you think might be the advantages and drawbacks of his style? Ricardo Semler IS one of the greatest business managers of all times in the Brazilian city Sao Paulo. After joining his father in the company it was his father's believe that if his son does not work for him he will do so for someone else. But to maintain him in the company the father had to resign as the CEO and handed over the vast business to his younger son who was only 21 by then and had just graduated from Harvard Business School. Initially his father used the traditional style of management but his son was to use a more centralize leadership method. To effect this he started by firing all the top managers of the company on the day he started working as the CEO and introducing young innovative minds of whom he knew would adapt easily to his style of management. Having been introduced to run his fathers enterprises immediately after graduating from a business school he moved on to introduce great changes in the working environment and ended up having the best productive workforce. With a turn over of less that $ 4 million at his entry he led the company to an annual turnover of $ 212 million in 2003. When you treat your employees like adults they purely behave like adults and hence they become more productive and dedicate themselves to the work environment. With these changes he allowed and encouraged the employees to evaluate...
Words: 1955 - Pages: 8
...1.) What HR problems were evident at the Denver Mint? Hostile Environment The main HR problem at Denver Mint was the lack of employee safety especially the women group at Denver. The women were facing a hostile work environment. For one they were under constant sexual harassment from their co-workers. For example, the case of the pornographic materials stashed in the toilet. The other example is the proposition by the male supervisor to the lady who had just come from her passing leave of her late husband. It is the responsibility of every employer to make certain the safety of their workers and protecting employees from sexual environment should be one of them. Not only had Denver Mint failed to ensure the safety of its female staff but also made it worse by participating in it. For instance the case of the male supervisor propositioning the female sub-ordinate. His duty is to ensure her safety not endanger it. Longer time to act on complaints The other HR problem is that it took Denver Mint long to act on complaints forwarded by the staff. For instance the female employee that filed a petition in 2000 with the facility’s EEO officer only had a hearing in 2003. Not only had that the ruling favoured the company. This shows not only lack of speed in acting to complaints but unfair ruling. Another HR problem is The lack of equal employment opportunities (EEO). Denver Mint favoured the male staff and any female staff that filed complaints it took longer to act on it and...
Words: 1071 - Pages: 5
...Radical Leadership RADICAL LEADERSHIP I. Significant Case Facts Ricardo Semler the CEO of Semco Group of São Paolo, Brazil was not just the typical or traditional leader. He is radical; he breaks all the traditional “rules” of leading. He’s the ultimate hands-off leader; he doesn’t even have an office at the company’s headquarters. Semler’s philosophy is simple: Treat people like adult and they’ll respond like adults. Semler’s participative management approach is the belief that “organizations thrive best by entrusting employees to apply their creativity and ingenuity in service of the whole enterprise, and to make important decisions close to the flow of work, conceivably including the selection of their bosses.” And according to Semler, his approach works well. The employees have free will because there are no organizational charts, no long term plans, no corporate values statements, no dress codes, and no written rules or policy manuals. They also decide their work hours and their pay levels. The employees also select the corporate leadership and decide most of the company’s new strategic initiatives. Semler maintains his approach and has enabled Semco to survive the roller-coaster nature of Brazilian politics. Semco not just survive but also prosper. Semler says “If you look at Semco’s numbers, we’ve grown 27.5 percent a year for 14 years.” And Semler attributes that fact to flexibility…of his company and, most importantly of...
Words: 302 - Pages: 2
...fundamentally different from the traditional management prevalent in large organizations today. In Radical Leadership, participants discover a whole new sense of personal power and freedom. One can obtain personal mastery by choosing to hold a clear focus and cultivate more of what they want. Radical Leadership has transformed company cultures from “head’s down, hating to go to work” to fully engaged, alive, responsible individuals dedicated to outrageous and sustainable results! Conclusion Ricardo Semler, CEO of Semco group of Sao Paulo, Brazil, considered by many as radical. He breaks all the traditional rules of Leading and managing. He follows a very simple philosophy: Treat people like adults and they’ll respond like adults. Semler gave a management approach “Organizations succeed by allowing employees to apply their creativity and ingenuity in service of whole enterprise, and to make important decisions close to the flow of work. According to his leadership/management approach there are no organization charts, no long term plans, no corporate values, no written rules or policy manuals. Employees themselves decided their work hours, pay levels. At one of the company’s plants as the workers know the organizations objective and they were using common sense to decide for themselves what they should do to hit those goals. Then Ricardo Semler decide that his form of radical leadership would be the only way to build an organization that is flexible and strong enough to develop in disorganized...
Words: 678 - Pages: 3
...INTRODUCTION OF SEMCO GROUP OF SAO PAULO: Semco was founded in 1953 in Sao Paolo (Brazil) by Antonio Curt Semler, an Austrian-born engineer. It was rigidly hierarchical company with rules and policies for everything. The company made several products, but was mostly known for its marine pumps. 90% of the sales were to the Brasilian shipbuilding industry. Antonio’s son Ricardo joined the company when he was 19 and clashed with his father’s traditional autocratic style of management. The younger Semler thought the company got too much business from one industry, was too rigid, and needed better financial practices. His father refused to allow changes. Ricardo threatened to leave the company. Then Antonio Semler resigned as CEO and vested majority ownership in his 21-year-old son in 1980. One of Ricardo’s first official acts was to fire 60% of the executives, many of whom were his father's friends, and all the secretaries. New CEO began implementing a diversification strategy and changing the way business was done. A fainting spell when he was 25 made him think about a better work-life balance for himself and his employees. Semco’s workers proposed to take a pay cut, but with three conditions: the profit-sharing percentage would be increased until salaries could be restored; management would take a 40% cut in salary; and the workers would get the right to approve all the expenditures. Semler agreed. As the business climate improved, Semco's revenues and profitability improved dramatically...
Words: 2788 - Pages: 12
...Ricardo Semler: A Revolutionary Model of Leadership TEACHING NOTE 04/2014-5982 This teaching note was written by William W. Maddux, Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD, and Roderick I. Swaab, Assistant Professor of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD, in conjunction with Betania Tanure, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at PUC / BTA, and case writer Elin Williams, as an aid to instructors in the classroom use of the case “Ricardo Semler: A Revolutionary Model of Leadership”. Financial support from INSEAD Alumni Fund is gratefully acknowledged. Instructors can register and login at cases.insead.edu to access instructor-only material supporting INSEAD case studies (e.g., videos, handouts, spreadsheets, links). Copyright © 2014 INSEAD COPIES MAY NOT BE MADE WITHOUT PERMISSION. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE COPIED, STORED, TRANSMITTED, REPRODUCED OR DISTRIBUTED IN ANY FORM OR MEDIUM WHATSOEVER WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNER. This complimentary copy is for the authors’ use only. Copying or posting online is a copyright infringement. The Story The case follows the story of Brazilian business leader Ricardo Semler, who took the family marine-pump business to multi-national, multi-sector success. However, this is no typical business success story. First, Semler dramatically changed his own leadership style by relinquishing control and working less hard. Next, he set about transforming Semco, the company founded by...
Words: 4234 - Pages: 17
...their kids to the office? Why should they have to sit for hours in traffic getting to the head office? Brazilian businessman Ricardo Semler loves to question everything. His guiding principle? If you want creative employees, don’t smother them with ridiculous rules. For 25 years, Semler has been putting into practise what increasing numbers of modern management gurus are now preaching. He heads a democratic company, Semco, where employees set their hours, determine their salaries and choose their bosses. Managers don’t have secretaries, reserved parking spaces or even desks. There is minimal bureaucracy. No IT or human-resources departments. No mission statement, no five-year plan. Meetings are voluntary and every employee has a say in everything. Once, when Semler organized a meeting to discuss developing a speedier dishwasher for the consumer market, no one showed up. And the idea was shelved. Semco was a traditionally managed engineering company when the young Ricardo Semler took over from his father. He was just 22 and had brought philosophical conflicts with his father to a climax: The son demanded that Semco steer away from its activities as a shipbuilding supplier and abandon autocratic management in favour of decentralization. He threatened to leave the company, so his father gave him a free hand. On his first day as director, Ricardo Semler fired 60 percent of senior management and began laying the foundation for a democratic organization. Semco has long since...
Words: 1820 - Pages: 8
...people like adult, and they will respond like adults” This is the philosophy of Ricardo Semler, which is used to build the business Semco Group with great leadership management. Ricardo Semler that only one person breaks all the traditional rules of leadership and making their own rules. Other business also can belief and follow this philosophy because can improve and more positive in leadership management to build great management. Every people have their own ego, so if we serve them with proper or right method they also will give good feedback. Example the employees was done wrong step in production, so the manager reprimand and correcting them with right way not to anger to them. So the employees will accept the reprimand and remind the step also, indirectly the production will increase and more quality will produce. In this situation the employee easier and more comfort to working with this environment. In the modern life style, every people have their own behaviour that different with each other. Ricardo Semler belief that the “organization thrive best by entrusting employees to apply their creativity and ingenuity in service of the whole enterprise, and to make important decisions close to the flow of work, conceivably include the selection and election of their bosses”. Good environments of working also paste a role to contribute more quality in production. Ricardo Semler wants all our people to feel free to change and adapt their working area as they...
Words: 312 - Pages: 2
...1. Describe Ricardo Semlers leadership style. What do you think might be the advantages and drawbacks of his style? Ricardo Semler IS one of the greatest business managers of all times in the Brazilian city Sao Paulo. After joining his father in the company it was his father's believe that if his son does not work for him he will do so for someone else. But to maintain him in the company the father had to resign as the CEO and handed over the vast business to his younger son who was only 21 by then and had just graduated from Harvard Business School. Initially his father used the traditional style of management but his son was to use a more centralize leadership method. To effect this he started by firing all the top managers of the company on the day he started working as the CEO and introducing young innovative minds of whom he knew would adapt easily to his style of management. Having been introduced to run his fathers enterprises immediately after graduating from a business school he moved on to introduce great changes in the working environment and ended up having the best productive workforce. With a turn over of less that $ 4 million at his entry he led the company to an annual turnover of $ 212 million in 2003. When you treat your employees like adults they purely behave like adults and hence they become more productive and dedicate themselves to the work environment. With these changes he allowed and encouraged the employees to evaluate themselves and their managers as...
Words: 339 - Pages: 2
...Dual Award Regulations on cheating, plagiarism and collusion. We declare that this piece of work is our own and does not contain any unacknowledged work from any other sources. We authorise the University to test any work submitted by us, using text comparison software, for instances of plagiarism. We understand this will involve the University or its contractor copying our work and storing it on a database to be used in future to test work submitted by others. Note: The attachment of this statement on any electronically submitted assignments will be deemed to have the same authority as a signed statement. Signed: Signed: Signed: Signed: RICARDOSEMLER Signed: 22 Date: 1 GROUP ASSIGNMENT RICARDO SEMLER: ANALYSIS OF LEADERSHIP AT SEMCO ORGANIZATIONALBEHAVIOUR OBM60104 Dr. Shanthi Bavani RICARDOSEMLER 2 RICARDOSEMLER 2 1 (30%) Explain and differentiate the...
Words: 1000 - Pages: 4
...Ricardo Semler: Creating Organizational Change Through Employee Empowered Leadership Peter A. Maresco, Ph.D., Clinical Assistant Professor of Management, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT Christopher C. York, J.D., Assistant Professor of Management, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT 1 Through his unique leadership style, Ricardo Semler, President & CEO of Semco S.A., a Brazilian manufacturing company, has literally redefined the concept of employee empowered leadership. At 20, the youngest graduate of the Harvard Business School, Semler is known around the world for championing his employee-friendly management style. Researched from primary sources including his best selling books, Maverick: The Success Story Behind The World’s Most Unusual Workplace (1993 ) first published in 1988 as Turning the Tables, and THE SEVEN-DAY WEEKEND: Changing the Way Work Works (2004), as well as two articles he authored in the Harvard Business Review, Managing Without Managers, (1989) and Why My Employees Still Work For Me (1994), this paper provides readers with insights on how to get beyond those who say that organizations are too large and/or too bureaucratic to change. In addition, it provides concrete examples of how his company routinely ignores the rules while at the same time creating a new paradigm for creative leadership and organizational effectiveness. Overview Semco S.A., founded by Antonio Semler in 1912, was a traditionally managed industrial equipment company...
Words: 5052 - Pages: 21
...Q.Describe Ricardo Semler's leadership style. What do you think the advantages anddrawbacks of his style might be?1.London Business School chief Nigel Nicholson in his 1998 Harvard Business Reviewpaper How Hardwired is Human Behavior? suggested that human nature was just aslikely to cause problems in the workplace as in larger social and political settings,and that similar methods were required to deal with stressful situations and difficultproblems. He held up the workplace democracy model advanced by Ricardo Semleras the "only" one that actually took cognizance of human foibles.Q.Describe Ricardo Semler\\\'s leadership style. What do you think the advantagesand drawbacks of his style might be?Ans. His leadership style shows how a business can run circles around competitorsby rejecting the traditional 'carrot and stick' methods of incentives and controls andtrusting in the creativity and ingenuity of the workforce. His approach harnesses thecreative value of employees, leading to greater productivity and flexibility formanagers and employees alike.Semler's mission is to change the habits of thought that lead to rigid, anddehumanizing workplaces, into ones that create workplaces that are engagingproductive ones, and which regard people as whole human beings, seeing life andwork as interrelated in a mutual commitment.His presentations are provocative, insightful and based on personal experiences asa CEO. His leadership example is a powerful catalyst for other leaders to explorefresh...
Words: 287 - Pages: 2
...What Challenges Might a Radically Hands-Off Leader Face? by Chirantan Basu, Demand Media Leadership styles range from the radically hands-off, which means delegating just about everything to subordinates, to the completely hands-on, which means micromanaging even the smallest operational detail. Although a hands-off management style can empower employees to adapt quickly to changing business conditions, small and large businesses under such management can also veer off course and run into trouble. Ads by Google Brain Training Games Improve memory and attention with scientific brain games. Free Trial www.lumosity.com Organizational Drift Radically hands-off leadership can lead to organizational drift as departments and divisions lose focus without clear guidance from senior management. Businesses need strong leaders who communicate their priorities clearly and consistently. This is especially true for small businesses, which need a steady hand and strong focus over the first few years of operation. As these small businesses grow, the owners can start delegating some of the operational responsibilities and focus on the big picture. Fuzzy Accountability Accountability may become fuzzy under radically hands-off leadership because there can be confusion as to who is in charge. Serious problems may remain unresolved because nobody wants to take ownership of them. Senior executives, especially in large businesses, may not even know about potentially damaging problems until...
Words: 1474 - Pages: 6
...Ricardo Semler: Creating Organizational Change Through Employee Empowered Leadership Peter A. Maresco, Ph.D., Clinical Assistant Professor of Management, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT Christopher C. York, J.D., Assistant Professor of Management, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT 1 Through his unique leadership style, Ricardo Semler, President & CEO of Semco S.A., a Brazilian manufacturing company, has literally redefined the concept of employee empowered leadership. At 20, the youngest graduate of the Harvard Business School, Semler is known around the world for championing his employee-friendly management style. Researched from primary sources including his best selling books, Maverick: The Success Story Behind The World’s Most Unusual Workplace (1993 ) first published in 1988 as Turning the Tables, and THE SEVEN-DAY WEEKEND: Changing the Way Work Works (2004), as well as two articles he authored in the Harvard Business Review, Managing Without Managers, (1989) and Why My Employees Still Work For Me (1994), this paper provides readers with insights on how to get beyond those who say that organizations are too large and/or too bureaucratic to change. In addition, it provides concrete examples of how his company routinely ignores the rules while at the same time creating a new paradigm for creative leadership and organizational effectiveness. Overview Semco S.A., founded by Antonio Semler in 1912, was a traditionally managed industrial equipment company...
Words: 5052 - Pages: 21
...Ricardo Semler is one of the greatest business managers of all times in the Brazilian city Sao Paulo. After joining his father in the company it was his father's believe that if his son does not work for him he will do so for someone else. But to maintain him in the company the father had to resign as the CEO and handed over the vast business to his younger son who was only 21 by then and had just graduated from Harvard Business School. Initially his father used the traditional style of management but his son was to use a more centralize leadership method. To effect this he started by firing all the top managers of the company on the day he started working as the CEO and introducing young innovative minds of whom he knew would adapt easily to his style of management. Having been introduced to run his father’s enterprises immediately after graduating from a business school he moved on to introduce great changes in the working environment and ended up having the best productive workforce. With a turnover of less than $ 4 million at his entry he led the company to an annual turnover of $ 212 million in 2003. When you treat your employees like adults they purely behave like adults and hence they become more productive and dedicate themselves to the work environment. With these changes he allowed and encouraged the employees to evaluate themselves and their managers as well. They were also encouraged to rate themselves as to how much they should be paid and learn each other’s jobs...
Words: 443 - Pages: 2
