Leadership Style of Meg Whitman Research Paper

Leadership Style of Meg Whitman

Meg Whitman is the Chief Executive Officer at Hewlett-Packard (HP). This is a computer manufacturing firm based in California, USA. She started working at Hewlett Packard way back in 1989, but it is from the year 2009 that she became the CEO of this company. During her youth, she attended Harvard Business School where she got the true learning about leadership. Outside the business field, she also involved herself in politics at some point by vying for the Governor's post in California. She also managed to win the primaries in 2010 but lost the gubernatorial race. Meg Whitman is among the wealthiest women in America with a value of 1.9 billion U.S. dollars. She is also seen to be the most influential woman in the corporate circle. Her stint at HP is the most remarkable. She has turned around HP's fortunes for the better (Whitman, & Hamilton, 2010). In this paper, all that appertains to Whitman's leadership style is discussed.

The leadership style of Mrs. Whitman

Her leadership style is a unique one. She has a combination of both personal traits of a good leader and acquired skills from experience. Whitman is known to be the most astute leaders in the corporate world. She is a good timekeeper. At all meetings, Ms. Whiteman is noted to have been reporting every time before the rest arrives. In her way of leadership, there have been mega strides at the company. The company now commands a significant portion of the PC market because of her efforts (Frederick, 2012). Before coming to the company, HP used to perform dismally as compared to the time of her tenure. It is a natural ability for her to be able to get friends and get people talking. She has positively transformed the company such that today, it stands among the most performing companies in the industry. The company also has also managed o expand its market during her tenure. Her leadership style is anchored on the belief that with effort, positive results will come. In the real sense, Meg Whiteman has been a phenomenon in the management of HP Company ever since her inception (Hitt & Ireland, 2011).

Leadership Philosophy

Meg Whitman's leadership philosophy is anchored on the belief that consumers are the bosses in an organization. Her philosophy posits that it is the work of the company to provide the consumers with the kind of quality that they want as well as with the kind of quantity and place of purchase that they prefer. Her assertions are that company profits can only be boosted when the consumers are happy. In her company, she has made it known to all employees that business success is dependent on the way they are going to address the consumers' concerns. Consequently, the company operates on well-programmed service chatters. The management has also put up measures that will help the company to check and enhance the quality of the computers before being released to the market (Cook, 2009).

Whiteman has distinguished herself as a good manager of both the employees and resources. She has ensured that the work done by employees is up to the standards and checked on a standard scale. For instance, once the computer and other related devices have been produced, the quality department checks them for compliance with standards and usability. Prior to Whitman's appointment to the company's leadership, the company never used to subject its products under such scrutiny. They have been made to believe that there is no shortcut to pleasing a consumer other than getting to provide them with what they want in terms of quality and quantity (Whitman, & Hamilton, 2010).

The CEO's personal and organizational values

HP values have been clearly displayed everywhere so that employees can see and practice them always. The CEO operates in a management by objectives (MBOs) leadership style. In this case, the company management sets the expected code of conduct, values, and modes of operation. She later makes it known to all members by serving each with a copy of the same (Odiorne, 2010). This leadership style prevents the employees from veering off the right path to growth. In this regard, it is common knowledge that once employees are made aware of what is expected from them, they will be up to standard and reduce conflicts with the management. Whitman often reminds the company's employees that consumers will always go for the products that are best in the market especially those that satisfy their needs the most. It is on this premise that the HP management under Whitman has managed to navigate the hurdles of management. The company's fortunes have more than doubled since the coming of its new CEO (Wynn & Guditus, 2013).

The personal values of the CEO also help in making the company progress well. For instance, Mrs. Whitman is a good timekeeper. She never gets late for meetings, neither does she let a matter procrastinated at all. Her approach to management has won her accolades from all over. She is also a perfectionist and a performer. Her personality does not allow mediocre performance at work. She is known to demand the best from every employee as well as the fact that has the interests of the consumers at heart. At her company, she has been busy working on a profile that allows consumers the chance to learn on a continuous basis. Her belief in perfection and professionalism has moved her to take steps of training employees on a frequent basis such as through benchmarking and helping them grow in an individual capacity (Hitt & Ireland, 2011).

In her leadership, she has adopted a program to transform the organization's fortunes through collective collaboration. She believes in teamwork and has moved ahead to involve all the employees in the process of decision-making. In the teams that she has also set, employees get a chance to solve problems together and address these challenges from the angle of collective growth. Where one is defeated in executing a task, the rest are free and obliged to help them. Her charismatic persona has enabled her to navigate through the problems of management. She has been able to use this attribute to rally the juniors for any good course that she deems fit. For instance, when she made the call for collectivity in service as well as team performance, she succeeded in not attracting any opposition from the employees through her convincing nature. Her other desirable attributes are that she can solve problems as they arise (Cook, 2009).

In her tenure, she has been able to solve the problems that arise in a good manner. Her problem-solving skills are reflective of her work as well. She has been solving problems by using her intuition and hunch as well as the acquired skills she got from stint at the world's best business school at Harvard. She is also able to manage her well-being as an individual, being a wife and a parent. Given her present status at the company, she has managed to earn a good following from the employees and other stakeholders. In the industry, she has been celebrated many times for her exemplary work and commitment. For instance, at the company, she has been seen as the one making the most crucial moves amongst all the leaders there (Wynn & Guditus, 2013).

Effect of the CEO's values on ethical behavior

The ethical behavior at the company can be influenced by the CEO's values (Frederick, 2012). This can occur since employees respond to the dictates of a convincing leader. In this company, everybody values the CEO and respects hi. For this reason, they are likely to adhere to all she puts across. In this company, the CEO has been noted to be involved in the creation and making of the rules and regulations as well as drafting values of conduct. There will be a positive impact on the values of the employees at the company through the fact that all the stakeholders are likely to adhere to the provisions of the employer on matters regarding company values. A positive response from everyone regarding the terms of service will also be the norm. Regarding the nature of work at the company, employees are likely to translate the positive response they had in the company regarding values to quality. This will result in a better performance attributed to the employees' new change of attitude and conduct (Odiorne, 2010).

The three greatest strengths and weaknesses of the CEO

Meg Whitman is the best person for the job. She fits the post given her peculiar strengths. The first strength that she has is that she is endowed with knowledge and experience. She acquired sufficient education while at Harvard Business School. The institution prides itself on producing the world's best business leaders. In this regard, she has been in a position to come across many facts, theories, and concepts that are of great help in business management (Wynn & Guditus,…