Deck 10: Skills for Developing Others

Question 1

Innovation at IKEA
Redecorating and renovating have become a popular international pastime. In a world facing persistent terrorist alerts and lagging economies, more and more people are opting to stay home and make their homes safe havens. This phenomenon has contributed tremendously to the success of IKEA, the Swedish home furniture giant. In the past 10 years sales for IKEA have tripled, growing from over $4 billion in 1993 to over $12 billion in 2003.
Much of IKEA's success can be attributed to its founder, Ingvar Kamprad. Kamprad used graduation money to start IKEA in the small Swedish village where he was born. He started off selling belt buckles, pens, and watches-whatever residents in the small local village of Agunnaryd needed. Eventually Kamprad moved on to selling furniture. One day in 1952, while struggling to fit a large table in a small car, one of Kamprad's employees came up with the idea that changed the furniture industry forever-he decided to remove the legs. IKEA's flat-pack and self-assembly methodology was born, and it rocketed the company past the competition. "After that [table] followed a whole series of other selfassembled furniture, and by 1956 the concept was more or less systematized," writes Kamprad.
Kamprad is dedicated to maintaining the corporate culture he has helped define over the past 50 years. He is a simple man-his idea of a luxury vacation is riding his bike. He is fiercely cost-conscious and, even though his personal wealth has been estimated in the billions, he refuses to fly first class. He values human interaction above all, and, even though retired, he still visits IKEA stores regularly to keep tabs on what is going on where the business really happens.
The culture at IKEA is a culture closely connected with Kamprad's simple Swedish farm roots. It is a culture that strives "to create a better everyday for the many people." IKEA supports this culture by
• Hiring co-workers (IKEA prefers the word co-workers to employees ) who are supportive and work well in teams.
• Expecting co-workers to look for innovative, better ways of doing things in every aspect of their work.
• Respecting co-workers and their views.
• Establishing mutual objectives and working tirelessly to realize them.
• Making cost consciousness part of everything they do from improving processes for production to purchasing wisely to traveling cost-effectively.
• Avoiding complicated solutions-simplicity is a strong part of the IKEA culture.
• Leading by example, so IKEA leaders are expected to pitch in when needed and create a good working environment.
• Believing that a diverse workforce strengthens the company overall.
The IKEA culture is one that resonates for many. The buildings are easy to identify-the giant blue and gold warehouses that resemble oversized Swedish flags are hard to miss. Millions of customers browse through the Klippan sofas and Palbo footstools (Nordic names are given to all IKEA products) in the stark, dimly lit warehouses. The surroundings may not be lavish and the service may be minimal, but customers keep going back not just for the bargains but to experience the IKEA culture as well.
Based on the level of technological complexity and the degree of environmental uncertainty present at IKEA, what type of organizational structure would you expect?

Answer 1

Leaders are the one who have the skills to motivate, inspire, influence the followers. They also act in a way that ensures the wellbeing of their followers. All followers don't possess the same behavioral traits. Also, leaders don't face similar situations all the time. Leaders have to adapt their style as per the situation. This is known as situational leadership.
The current case speaks about a leader, who turned a loss-making medical facility to a profitable one. The situational favorability is a measure of the control the leader has over the followers. There are three sub elements in the situation favorability: leader-member relations, task structure, and position power. He interacted with his employees, various other persons in the locality and maintained a good relationship with all. Also, the number of employees increased considerably under his leadership. Therefore, in this case leader-member relations can be categorized as good. He followed a structured way of accomplishing tasks. First, he understood the need of the people in the locality. Then, he addressed those needs. Later, once the medical facility has gained some momentum, he worked on various other tasks and raised funds. Therefore, his task structure can be classified as structured. As he is the president and which is a top management position, he had high position power. With good leader-member relations, structured tasks, and high position power, he falls into Octant 1. He is a highly favorable leader.

Question 2

Can you identify reward systems that affect the level of effort students are likely to put forth in team or group projects? Should these reward systems be different than those for individual effort projects?

Answer 2

The rewarding system is an effective motivational approaches adopted by the leaders in order to make the employees or the followers to work accordingly. An effective rewarding system can grab the attention of the followers and desired output can be generated from them
The rewarding systems can boost the morality, level of efforts of the students in achieving desired goals when performing the team project works. One such rewarding system shall be scholarships. When a scholarship program is introduced for the best student performer for their future studies, then it can motivate the students to increase their level of efforts in achieving high grades while doing projects.
Whether it is an individual project or a group project, the rewarding system should be attractive and should meet some requirements of the students. In case of individual projects also if the scholarship is provided for the best performed, the motivation level of the students will be aggravated. The enhancement in the level of effort depends on the effectiveness of the rewarding system.

Question 3

Consider the factors from the Situational Leadership ® Model outlined in Figures 13.3 and 13.4. Apply these factors to Jacobs and Windber.

Answer 3

The case discuss about the success of the organization IKEA. It reflects about the effective leadership qualities of the founder of the organization Mr. IK. According to the case the organization has a strong organizational culture that enabled it to generate strong customer loyalty.
The congruence model of leadership is an effective tool that enables the determination and identification of pit falls and issues associated with the leadership approaches. The inputs of the congruence model shall be applied in the case of the organization IKEA to analyze its success.
• Environment: The organization possesses a good organization culture of working environment that acts as a strong base for the success of the organization. Its working environment encourages respect, supporting each other, avoiding complicated solutions etc. This culture has supported the success and sustainability of the organization.
• Resources: The organization focus on hiring the talented employees that makes the human resources effective. It makes the maximum utilization of the available resources focus on cost savings that generated profit and revenue.
• History : The organization has built up credibility and success in the initial stage itself. This history is keeping on adding loyal customers for the organization.

Question 4

The term bureaucratic has a pejorative connotation to most people. Can you think of any positive aspects of a bureaucracy?

Question 5

Innovation at IKEA
Redecorating and renovating have become a popular international pastime. In a world facing persistent terrorist alerts and lagging economies, more and more people are opting to stay home and make their homes safe havens. This phenomenon has contributed tremendously to the success of IKEA, the Swedish home furniture giant. In the past 10 years sales for IKEA have tripled, growing from over $4 billion in 1993 to over $12 billion in 2003.
Much of IKEA's success can be attributed to its founder, Ingvar Kamprad. Kamprad used graduation money to start IKEA in the small Swedish village where he was born. He started off selling belt buckles, pens, and watches-whatever residents in the small local village of Agunnaryd needed. Eventually Kamprad moved on to selling furniture. One day in 1952, while struggling to fit a large table in a small car, one of Kamprad's employees came up with the idea that changed the furniture industry forever-he decided to remove the legs. IKEA's flat-pack and self-assembly methodology was born, and it rocketed the company past the competition. "After that [table] followed a whole series of other selfassembled furniture, and by 1956 the concept was more or less systematized," writes Kamprad.
Kamprad is dedicated to maintaining the corporate culture he has helped define over the past 50 years. He is a simple man-his idea of a luxury vacation is riding his bike. He is fiercely cost-conscious and, even though his personal wealth has been estimated in the billions, he refuses to fly first class. He values human interaction above all, and, even though retired, he still visits IKEA stores regularly to keep tabs on what is going on where the business really happens.
The culture at IKEA is a culture closely connected with Kamprad's simple Swedish farm roots. It is a culture that strives "to create a better everyday for the many people." IKEA supports this culture by
• Hiring co-workers (IKEA prefers the word co-workers to employees ) who are supportive and work well in teams.
• Expecting co-workers to look for innovative, better ways of doing things in every aspect of their work.
• Respecting co-workers and their views.
• Establishing mutual objectives and working tirelessly to realize them.
• Making cost consciousness part of everything they do from improving processes for production to purchasing wisely to traveling cost-effectively.
• Avoiding complicated solutions-simplicity is a strong part of the IKEA culture.
• Leading by example, so IKEA leaders are expected to pitch in when needed and create a good working environment.
• Believing that a diverse workforce strengthens the company overall.
The IKEA culture is one that resonates for many. The buildings are easy to identify-the giant blue and gold warehouses that resemble oversized Swedish flags are hard to miss. Millions of customers browse through the Klippan sofas and Palbo footstools (Nordic names are given to all IKEA products) in the stark, dimly lit warehouses. The surroundings may not be lavish and the service may be minimal, but customers keep going back not just for the bargains but to experience the IKEA culture as well.
Consider Schein's four key organizational culture factors as described in Highlight 12.6. What examples can you identify within the IKEA organization that contribute to the company's strong corporate culture?

Question 6

Think of a crisis situation you are familiar with involving a group, team, organization, or country, and analyze it in terms of the leader- follower-situation framework. For example, were the followers looking for a certain kind of behavior from the leader? Did the situation demand it? Did the situation, in fact, contribute to a particular leader's emergence?