Managing Human Resources Leadership Style Assessment

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His human resources management is not considered to be efficient. Specialists in the field have stated that Murdoch is a ruthless manager that terrorizes his employees in order to motivate them. His visits in certain divisions of his company determine increased tension among his employees and their superiors.

In addition to this, Murdoch's authoritative style determines his employees to follow the rules he establishes. His leadership style does not allow his subordinates to consider him a CEO, but a dictator they must fear. His style does not seem to be constant. This is because he is known for actions based on his mood. His behavior around employees is also in accordance with different requirements determined by the company's activity. This does not help create a stable work environment for employees.

The recruitment and selection process developed by Murdoch is based on aspects that are considered improper by human resources specialists. He sometimes employed editors that he thought liked him. The leader in this case did not develop strategies intended to identify employees able to address the demands of these positions.

Some leaders allow their subordinates to establish the rules among them and to build the environment in which they prefer to work. This refers to decentralization. Rupert Murdoch does not seem to agree with such an approach. He prefers to interfere with work relationships in the divisions of his company.

Experts that have studied the situation at News Corp have observed that Murdoch prefers to apply centralized management processes. He does not delegate power to his subordinates. News Corp is organized based on traditional management structures and clearly established lines of authority, but Murdoch makes all the important decisions. The company's strategy and objectives are established by Murdoch, although he is sometimes interested in the advice of specialists.

Given Murdoch's behavior, his subordinates cannot progress and improve their skills. This is because they are not allowed or encouraged to express their opinion, to get involved in the decision making process, and to participate in establishing the company's strategy. They are only expected to do their job, and in accordance with their performance they are rewarded.

Therefore, employees cannot develop loyalty towards the company. They feel that the company is interested in their performance, and not in the development of their potential. They consider that the company is not sufficiently investing in them. As a consequence, their interest, efforts, and investments in the company's activity are likely to be reduced.

Murdoch's behavior towards his employees is also based on divide and rule policies. This is intended to make employees vulnerable. This serves the interests of an authoritative leader that is considered a dictator by his employees. The reasons behind this situation rely on the fact that Murdoch considers that vulnerable employees are easier to control. His assumption is correct, but it does not mean it is also efficient.

By creating a work environment characterized by fear, tension, lack of friendliness, support, and encouragement for employees, Murdoch intended to improve the control on his company, which was supposed to help him increase the productivity and efficiency of his staff. Instead, this type of environment creates improper work conditions that lead to reduced efficiency.

The effects of this leadership style on Murdoch's employees were significant. As stated in the case study, this workplace environment determined numerous nervous breakdowns from the company's employees. In other words, this type of behavior can threat the mental health of the company's staff. It is likely that most specialists in the field would not approve with this type of behavior. Experts recommend that the workplace environment is characterized by stability, encouragement and support for employees, and others. Such factors of influence did not seem to interest Rupert Murdoch.

Although Murdoch seemed authoritative by nature, this does not explain his dictatorial style towards his employees. As mentioned above, authoritative leadership is useful in situations that require control from top management. However, there is a big difference between authoritative and dictatorial leadership. Increased control levels within the company are not the same thing with terror and fear among employees.

Rupert Murdoch's style and behavior around employees was described as calculated terror. This means that Murdoch focused on inspiring fear among his employees and terrorized them in order to follow his orders. By this behavior Murdoch intended to reduce the individuality and personal ideas that his subordinates might want to express. This way, it was easier for Murdoch to impose his ideas and to reduce the resistance from subordinates.

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The fact that this leadership style and behavior is considered calculated refers to the fact that Murdoch was aware of his behavior and its effects. His actions regarding the fear that he imposed among his subordinates are intentional. In other words, his dictatorial behavior cannot be attributed to Murdoch's personality, but to his intention.

In addition to this, it seems that numerous human resources processes at News Corp did not take place based on proper strategies. This is the case of performance evaluations. The systems regarding performance evaluations at News Corp did not include reviews of employees' activity. Therefore, it is likely that the company's managers were not aware of the evolution of their staff. This means that the rewards system also did not function properly. Specialists have also observed that career advancement processes were not properly established at News Corp. This made it difficult for employees to get promotions.

Rupert Murdoch is also accused of abusive verbal behavior towards his subordinates. This was in accordance with Murdoch's strategy of imposing fear among his employees. Although this behavior is considered to be inefficient, the success of news Corp reveals that Murdoch's strategy reached its objectives.

3. The leadership style is very important in influencing companies' success. Each company requires different types of leadership in accordance with its activity and with the objectives it intends to address. However, good leaders can adjust their style to the requirements of different situations.

There are several styles of leadership. They are applied in accordance with the objectives of the company. The most important leadership styles are represented by the autocratic, the democratic, and the charismatic styles. The autocratic leadership style refers to leaders that like having control and prefer a centralized decision making process. The democratic style refers to leaders that focus on involving their employees in the decision making process (Leadership Expert, 2011). Charismatic leaders attribute their success to their personality characteristics and other skills that their team members like.

There are also other types of leadership. Some leaders focus on developing different leadership styles that can be applied in different situation in accordance with its requirements. These are flexible leadership styles.

Rupert Murdoch is one of the most well-known leaders in the field of media. His entrepreneurial skills helped him develop an international empire and to attract the admiration of his competitors. There are several factors that contributed to Murdoch's success. His large vision allowed him to develop a global media empire that could address all types of infotainment.

The leadership style of Rupert Murdoch is mostly autocratic, combined with innovative leadership. Some of the specialists in the field consider that Murdoch has a dictatorial leadership style. The autocratic leadership style is characterized by the leader having control of processes, activities, and the decision making process within the company. In this case, the decisions of the leader must be followed, and the leader does not appreciate having his decisions be questioned.

Therefore, autocratic leader establish the plans and the rules that they expect their subordinates to follow. There are situations where employees can improve the processes within the company, but are not allowed to express their opinion. Such leadership style is not appreciated by employees (Webb, 2009).

However, the autocratic leadership style can be efficient in certain situations. Its efficiency is observed in large companies. This is because such companies are often confronted with situations where they must develop flexible strategies that allow them to counteract the effects of the changes determined by their environment.

Rupert Murdoch is an obvious example of autocratic leader, or at least this is what several specialists in the field have observed. His vision of building an international media empire had to be reached by developing a strong and powerful leadership style that allowed him to keep control on the various business activities his company developed. Therefore, the attacks on Murdoch's leadership style might be questionable.

Although his style is strongly disliked by his employees and associates, others see Murdoch as a successful businessman. Given the fact that Murdoch was able to reach the objectives he established for his business empire, it seems that his strategies were successful. However, this does not mean that his leadership style is recommended in the case of other companies. Even more, it is quite surprising how this leadership style was able to lead to such business success.

This is because the leadership style applied by Murdoch seems to reduce the efficiency and productivity of employees instead of….....

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