...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...
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...Q. Describe Ricardo Semler's leadership style. What do you think the advantages and drawbacks of his style might be? 1. His leadership style shows how a business can run circles around competitors by rejecting the traditional 'carrot and stick' methods of incentives and controls and trusting in the creativity and ingenuity of the workforce. His approach harnesses the creative value of employees, leading to greater productivity and flexibility for managers and employees alike. Semler's mission is to change the habits of thought that lead to rigid, and dehumanizing workplaces, into ones that create workplaces that are engaging productive ones, and which regard people as whole human beings, seeing life and work as interrelated in a mutual commitment. His presentations are provocative, insightful and based on personal experiences as a CEO. His leadership example is a powerful catalyst for other leaders to explore fresh alternatives and to find creative solutions to modern management problems. Only drawback that people must not take management as granted by absence of sticks and be demotivated in absence of carrots :))) What challenges might a radically hand-off leader face? Answer: 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...
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...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...
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...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...
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...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...
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...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...
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...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...
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...Chapter 18 Managers as Leaders Leaders in organizations make things happen. But what makes leaders different from nonleaders? What’s the most appropriate style of leadership? What can you do to be seen as a leader? Those are just a few of the questions we’ll try to answer in this chapter. Focus on the following learning outcomes as you read and study this chapter. LEARNING OUTCOMES 18.1 Define leader and leadership. 18.2 Compare and contrast early theories of leadership. 18.3 Describe the three major contingency theories of leadership. 18.4 Describe contemporary views of leadership. 18.5 Discuss contemporary issues affecting leadership. SPOTLIGHT: Manager at Work What is the difference between being a manager and being a leader? Are these terms synonymous? Management guru Peter F. Drucker once said, “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” You might begin the study of Chapter 18 by asking your students for their perspectives on these questions and the quotation from Dr. Drucker. This chapter’s Spotlight: Manager at Work, looks at the legacy of Steve Jobs. In many ways, Jobs epitomizes the leader of a high tech company. How he was extremely charismatic and extremely compelling in getting people to join with him and believe in his vision. But also how he was despotic, tyrannical, abrasive, uncompromising, and a perfectionist. Jobs broke the rules of management and remade them to fit his vision. Students...
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...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. He also advised that the company's accounts be published internally so that the employees could have a clear view of the company's performance. His leadership style shows how a business can run circles around competitors by rejecting the traditional 'carrot and stick' methods of incentives and controls and trusting in the...
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...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...
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...Enter Semler In 1980, at the age of 21, Semler took over as the CEO of Semco. Semler's views on running the company were completely different from those of his father. He felt that the company in its existing form was too rigid. He wanted to replace the old way of doing business and planning with a participatory style of management. But the old guard at Semco was not open to this, with the result that Semler fired two thirds of the top management. Semler started out with a functional organizational structure at Semco. Under this structure, decision-making took a long time and each department took independent decisions that sometimes were not in the interests of other departments. Then, the company shifted to a matrix structure. But, unhappy with its effectiveness, Semler changed the structure of the organization once again. New Organization Structure: From Pyramid to circle Though the company worked on the principle of no Organization structure but it actually had was a very flexible organization structure in the form of 3 concentric circles and few triangles floated in it. The smaller innermost circle would include team of a dozen people the eqivalent of VP’s and above Second circle would include the 7- 1o leaders of SEMCO’s business units and be called partners. Last immense circles would hold virtually everyone else at Semco machine operators, cafeteria workers, janitors, salesman, security guards and so on. They will be called associates The triangles- They...
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...nbjytr fggvfghfghfhfv fu gfd His favourite questions start with “why.” Why should employees feel compelled to read their emails on Sunday evening, but can’t go to the movies on Monday afternoon? Why should they take work home, but can’t bring 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...
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...7612260142083 Masters of business administration- Trimester 1- Jan – April 2016: Assignment 1: Strategic and Change Management 1. Does Semc have a strategy? Justify your answer. Yes, Semco has in place a strategy, though unconventional, it is clearly displayed in the radical processes undertaken to change the working conditions of employees. A company’s strategic plan lays out its future direction and performance targets (Thompson, Strickland, Peteraf & Gamble, 2014). The CEO provided a broad vision for employee’s of finding a gratifying way of spending one’s life doing something that is useful. We can perceive the vision through the unconventional changes made by the leadership in the organization where the primary focus is on human capital, wellbeing and their competencies (Joost & Fourie, 2009). Strategies created involve the development of employee participation, profit sharing and open information systems at the company. The needs and welfare of the employees are of paramount importance and this detail is integrated into the employee manual. For instance, it is mandatory for employees to take their 30 day leave. The effects resulted in sales growing and the company experiencing an increase in profits. A well developed business strategy is designed according to the elements of differentiation, thrust, target results and domain sought (Yavitz &Newman, 1982). The main changes of Semco which became part of the...
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...BUSINESS STRATEGY OTHER ECONOMIST BOOKS Guide to Analysing Companies Guide to Business Modelling Guide to Business Planning Guide to Economic Indicators Guide to the European Union Guide to Management Ideas Numbers Guide Style Guide Dictionary of Business Dictionary of Economics International Dictionary of Finance Brands and Branding Business Consulting Business Ethics Business Miscellany China’s Stockmarket Dealing with Financial Risk Future of Technology Globalisation Guide to Financial Markets Headhunters and How to Use Them Successful Mergers The City Wall Street Essential Director Essential Economics Essential Finance Essential Internet Essential Investment Essential Negotiation Pocket World in Figures BUSINESS STRATEGY A Guide to Effective Decision-Making Jeremy Kourdi THE ECONOMIST IN ASSOCIATION WITH PROFILE BOOKS LTD Published by Profile Books Ltd 3a Exmouth House, Pine Street, London ec1r 0jh www.profilebooks.com Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Ltd 2003 Text copyright © Jeremy Kourdi 2003 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book. The greatest care has been taken in compiling this book. However, no responsibility can...
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