Requirements

The objective of this paper is to discuss the case study of Modeen Gears. In this era of globalization, it is not easy to lead a management company. The paper highlights that James needs to understand the new opportunities and possibilities in the global perspective. He also need to understand the external environmental factors and internal capabilities. It is necessary to build a strong board. It is necessary to engage managing directors more deeply on digital, Mergers and Acquisition, risk, strategy, talent, IT and marketing. The paper would discuss the two questions as asked in the case study.

1.There are 5 key requirements to critically develop James to lead to the board of growing global organizations. First, it is necessary to broaden the scope. It is necessary that MDs spend more time on strategy and growing requirement of customers. Case study uncovers that future of the company lies in offering faster service to its consumers. Therefore, it is necessary to draw the fine line between governance and management. Each board member should take more active role in challenging environment and provide their inputs on broader perspective. It is necessary to have strategic framework. James should see the perspective of corporate governance. James should discuss board agendas and assess risks more aggressively. He should have balance score card or some other strategic metrics to discuss details on activities like Fiduciary, Strategy, Investment, Talent, Risk, Board Reinvention, Decisions and Board education. James should take board members’ advice on impact of purchase of US companies on their bank lending. They were already borrowing money to re-equip their process management systems.

Second, it is necessary that all board members are deeply committed to the organization and not the self-interest. James must make sure that all Board of Directors are in sync. They take time to have dialogue with other MDs. It is necessary to have dynamic agenda on plate. Stefan hated talking about the macro-environment. It was the fact that the specialist car market was transforming with consumer tastes moving towards very high value cars, which Modeen struggled to serve, and hybrid-green-fuel technologies. James should make sure that these things should be discussed in board meetings. Each member of the board has responsibility to review and approve Merger and Acquisition deal. Board Members must take long term view of a deal’s value. In the case study, acquiring other company may make Modeen bankrupt. James always recognizes the importance of talent in the organization. He should be focused on the talent development of the company. This involves important decision of hiring and training .He and other board members took necessary action to build effective corporate culture.

Guidance for James as Chairman

 Third, it is necessary directors have clarify role and task based on the right mix of their experiences (Onkila & Siltaoja , 2017). It is necessary to understand the key skills of directors. For example, James already recognised Stefan’s talent which was considerable and beyond many of the graduate pools. He also understands the other characteristics like paranoia and narcissism. James knew Stefan was happier managing the numbers and detail but found thinking strategically too complex for his directive style.

Fourth, develop the culture of trust and respect in a boardroom .It involves taking everyone opinion in account, discuss issues and opportunities. In Modeen Gear, some MDs like Fiona think more strategically where as MDs like Stefan are more hands on. Case study reflects the conflict between two which lead Fiona to not show interest in Stefan’s words. Similarly, Stefan did not try to understand the changing customer requirements and changing environment. He valuated Jerry’s company on his own without taking other MDs along. James should define stronger board dynamics which must be characterized by openness, trust and collaborative board members. It is necessary to have culture where all MDs would think like owners but they must have well defined authority (Schnackenberg& Tomlinson, 2016). In order to do this, MDs should be challenged with critical questions where they would be assessing the company they serve and competitors. Also they would compare internal performance data with the competitors. Another way could be inviting experts to the board meeting , conduct meeting overseas where director can be exposed to new areas where they can see new opportunities and challenges. It is necessary that James seek advice from all of the director’s time to time, keeping all of them in loop. James had driven Stefan to adopt a more corporate structure of five business-units.It is necessary to conduct regular feedback and board evaluations.  

It is necessary that James should follow collaborative style of leadership that would run meetings well, establish trust and invest in training, development and feedback. The tone of board is set by good leadership. A collaborative leads build relationships, manage conflicts in better way and shares control (Hepp & Suter, 2015). It is different from traditional leadership where leader is autocratic and takes decision without consulting his or her team .James should also consider this leadership style. He should allow solutions coming from the best ideas and take a team approach. It is necessary he understand all the board members well and communicate to them with an ease. It needs necessary evidence about his claims, proper reasoning and most important is different tone with different person (Cascio & Boudreau, 2016). Stefan is hard working street man. James wanted dialogue but Stefan found the language of reflection and engagement conflicting with his background. So James should develop necessary skills of communication which will help him to give edge not only in case of Stefan but in global front. On global front, diverse culture is difficult to manage. James must effectively communicate the customer’s satisfaction is whole organization’s responsibility. He should ask CEO to come up with necessary agenda in order to fulfil the vision of organization.   

2.There are majorly five critical reflections that Stefan Ellis-Hao should consider in order to critically review his management practice if he has to seek a new position with another global organization.

Critical Reflection for Stefan Ellis-Hao as CEO

Adapt to change: Every business has objective to achieve long term vision. Customer is king. So in order to achieve strategic objective of the company, it is necessary to put customer first and mold the organization with changing requirement of customers (Wang, 2016). Stefan did not like talking about macro-environment and the information that the specialist car market was changing with tastes of consumer.

External and Internal Environment Analysis: Survival of any organization depends upon continuous monitoring internal and external factors, timely changes, adaption to new environment for the long run success. External factors refer to political, economic, social and cultural, technological, environmental, legal and competitive trends that could help or harm the organization (Fraj & Matute, 2015). External analysis helps in defining the opportunity and threat of SWOT analysis .In his previous company there is changing external environmental trend of hybrid green field technologies. These external factors are beyond the control of organization. The two tools which can help doing this analysis are PESTEL and Porter’s 5 force model. Internal Analysis helps in defining the company’s resources, capabilities and their core competencies (Tung, 2016). It defines strengths and weakness of Organization. It can be assessed through Value Chain Analysis, VRIN analysis (Gereffi & Fernandez-Stark, 2016). Stefan should use these strategic tools to understand the global dynamics. Previously, he used only Organization Charts to define strategy. He should understand that firm needs to formulate the strategies in a way that it takes advantage of external environment and reducing threats based on their internal capabilities.

Understand the Importance of talent Management: In Modeen Gears, staff received little meaningful training. Some managers were pressing for funding for business degrees, including MBAs, but Stefan kept the training budget tight. Stefan used to invest profits in acquiring other businesses and neglecting the importance of talent management. Talent Management is process which includes examining each job description before screening and recruiting an appropriate replacement (Collings & Scullion, 2015). It stresses on the importance of training and coaching for effective job done. In order to grow international foot print and out pace competitor, it is necessary to have best human resources in place in organization. The best talent gets attracted by the best organizations. These employees help the organizations to retain market leaderships. Many times companies fail to understand the challenges ahead. This is due to shortcomings of education system or relevant experience within the organizations. It is necessary to address such weak links in the organization .Stefan should consider these points and understand the importance of strategic thinking. Subject matter knowledge, technical knowledge and cultural knowledge is must. Knowledge is true belief supported by true argument .This is rare to achieve .So it is necessary that company should train its employees with all the necessary information and skill set without limiting them to carry out innovations. Thus, the organization must put all strategies and policies in place to recruit and train the best talent.   

Key Requirements for Developing James to Lead a Growing Global Organization

Follow effective leadership style: Stefan used directive leadership style .It involves giving clear directions, expectations and objectives to employees. It is successful in case when employees are untrained or unskilled. But Stefan has used this kind of leadership in Modeen Gears with his peers i.e. other Managing Directors who are highly skilled .Instead, he should develop himself as effective strategic leader which lays the foundation of successful management process .He should understand the vision and mission of the company and then take successful strategic actions in order to achieve above average returns. This kind of leadership involves the ability to anticipate and envision, maintain flexibility and empower others to create strategic changes as necessary (Langley & Priem, 2017).It influences other members to make day-to-day decision that enhances the long term viability of the organization and maintaining the short term financial stability. The strategic leadership emphasizes on ethical behavior and value based decisions. It formulates strategies for immediate impact and preservation of long term goals. It uses linear and nonlinear thinking pattern. It uses tacit and individual knowledge on individual and organizational levels. A strategic leader is open to different point of views, has ability to deal with ambiguity and complexity, handles multidimensional problem, build effective team and work hard in hand with all stakeholders.

Understand global ethics: Stefan should avoid potential problem of CEO making decision alone. He should avoid the problem of managerial hubris. He should incorporate global backgrounds, experiences and education. He should understand multiple perspectives with in the organizations. He should understand the ethical code of conduct between different individuals’ .His background of “You can take the boy out of the street, but you can’t take the street out of the boy!” does not stay relevant in the international perspective. There are some universal code of conduct and values in global scope. The interest of one may violate the interest of other, therefore, the cooperation and coordination are essential among the members. Assistance and positive interventions must be welcomed for keeping the interest of organization (Bird & Mendenhall, 2016). Ethical norms are applied in all such domains.

Conclusion

With the above discussion, it can be said that the extent to which corporate governance is incorporated in system is function of what the stakeholders regard as morally desirable. Stefan should have ethical framework where biased statements are constructively criticized. He should put organization’s needs prior to his needs. He should also consider the growing needs of conserving the environment .Earlier he neglected the importance of green fuel technologies.

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