Organizational leadership
Organizational leadership has been experiencing transformational at a significant rate. Organizations are moving from the old rigid hierarchical management systems and embracing horizontal engaging management and embracing the need for leaders rather than managers. Leaders do the right things, while managers make things the right way. In simple terms, while managers follow a set of rules and prior plans, leaders are more flexible and always develop new ways of doing things as long as it is viable. Businesses have realized that the modern changing business environment and technological innovations require good leadership, which is flexible, upholds values, and ethics that drive the organization towards success (Bratton, 2020). It is not only the focus on revenue generation but the holistic value that the organization generates to all the stakeholders. The essay below analyzes Gary Erickson’s leadership at the Clif bar to illustrate how value and ethics can be enacted in an organization to steward the organization towards success.
Gary Erikson generation
From Zemke’s generational description, Gary Erikson belongs to the “baby boomers generation of 1942-1960.” The generation grew up during the times of social violence pervasive questioning of established values. Boomers have a spirit of integration, socialization, and bringing equality in the office. Further, boomers are concerned about creating the same level field where everyone has equal chances of developing, and their insights are considered with the workplace (Kumar, 2019). Gary Erickson’s characteristics fit well with this generation. Right from the decline of the 100 dollars offer, it shows a person of questioning who looks o the greater horizon and seeks to understand the future. Further, his leadership skills and values are extemporary. His commitment to environmental and social values shows a person who values integration and equality to all the people. Some of Gary’s features that fit him to the boomer generation include; Erickson runs a 2,080 program that encourages the employees to participate in the volunteer work with the community and even caters for expenses for the employees who volunteer outside the country. Such programs increases the company’s reputation and even show the value of his employees. Also, he sees work as a living situation and works towards making the life of his employees as more accommodating as possible. He installed the facilities such as gyms, movie theaters, dancing floors, and game rooms, and meeting auditoriums.
Gary’s characteristics show a value for his employees and believe that the employees are as significant as any other resource within the organization and should be valued as any other asset to the company. Such features the same values associated with the generation of boomers, as described in Zemke’s research. Employees’ satisfaction leads to improved performance and general organizational success. Equate their value with the value they bring to the company.
Gary’s most important values
Leadership skills vary from one person to another. Since the leaders are not more into following the systems, they are guided by the values that they uphold and strive towards making their values a realization. Among the values that are stated in the text, Gary appears to uphold the importance of inner harmony, social recognition, and a sense of accomplishment for terminal values. In instrumental values, he seems to give more importance to being honest, responsible, logical, and helpful. Gary shows these values in different ways. For terminal values, Gary believes in pursuing his vision in meeting his accomplishments and believes in long term goals in meeting the objectives and goals. The sense of accomplishment contributed to him declining the 100 million dollars offer to sell his company (Kumar, 2019). Further, he believes in creating harmony and social recognition of his employees. The company believes that the employees should be treated as a team and given the best experience possible. It is their living situation, and they should get the best of it.
Gary further puts more emphasis on responsibility, being honest, helpful, and courageous. He was ready to forego a lucrative offer and took courage to build his company the way he wanted. Further, he believes in taking personal responsibility for giving his employees the best experience in the workplace. His commitment to environmental sustainability shows both an honest and responsible person who believes that it is upon every persons’ responsibility to ensure that our responsibility does not compromise society’s wellbeing. Even in the contemporary world, organizations and businesses have realized the need to improve their employees’ satisfaction and embracing sustainability. Employees’ satisfaction helps to attract the best talents as it gives the employees purpose to work for an organization. Further, embracing sustainability helps to improve the organization’s reputation, improve its corporate social responsibility, and driving organizations towards a competitive advantage.
Clif Bar Inc. values implementation.
The majority of companies do not execute and meets the values they claim to have based on their websites. In most cases, the values are there for advertisement, and the operationalization of the company may be very different from the set values. However, Clif Bar Inc. is committed to making the reality of its value and upholding its operations on the best standards possible. The company’s founder values reflect up to date on the company’s operations. The organization believes in practicing sustainability conserving the environment. It is the same values that Gary posed form the onset of the companies beginning. Currently, the company works towards meeting zero-waste production (Clif Bar & Company, n.d.). The company’s chocolate ingredients are more than 70% organic, and its packaging is biodegradable. Further, the company is committed to giving its employees the best experience and treats them as team members. Employees are also part of the owners of the larger business. The company believes in creating the best workplace for the employees to enhance the production of the best food quality that would meet the needs of their customers.
The company also is committed to helping the farmers of their raw materials and giving them value for their produce. They recognize their value for the company. Also, the volunteer program shows the value that the company gives to the entire society that constitutes of its customers. All these activities performed at the company shows the alignment of the company activities and operations with the values that Gary used and the values that are advertised on the website. The company preaches what they do and are centered towards giving quality in all aspects of their operations.
In conclusion, leadership in businesses and organizations is a critical aspect of today’s business success. As is the case with Clif Bar Inc., it is evident that leaders are value-driven, and they seek to implement the best model that promises success and meeting their accomplishment. Clif Bar Inc. is committed to social and environmental sustainability as its core values, which they base their operations up to date.
References
Bratton, J. (Ed.). (2020). Organizational leadership. SAGE Publications Limited.
Clif Bar & Company. (n.d.). CLIF. https://www.clifbar.com/
Kumar, G. (2019). A Book Review On “Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience.” JIMS8M: The Journal of Indian Management & Strategy, 24(3), 64-64.