Research on Ricardo Semler Leadership Style
Question
Task: Provide a short note on Ricardo Semler's model of leadership.
Answer
Ricardo Semler's model of leadership showcases the ability to guide staff and other members to work towards achieving a single and specific goal. It is the ability of a person to make a sway and inspiration on the working style, ethical behavior and the realization of the goal. A person who is considered or designated as the leader should have the foresightedness of devising future visions, strategies, potential risks and opportunities in the market. The subject of leadership retains a very high significance among the corporate magnets. If observed the leadership style of various leaders in the global market, it could be noticed that each of them is very distinct and showcase a very large difference. The nature of leadership relies on the circumstances and other surrounding factors. A specific type of leadership could not be considered or claimed as a perfect one for all businesses and circumstances. As per the environment prevailing inside and outside the company a mixture of various leadership should be used to lead the business processes. The process of implying better leadership is not an autocratic one but a group process in which every member should participate diligently. The report below has discussed various aspects of leadership implied by Ricardo Semler in the SEMCO company.
The background and history of the SEMCO group owned by Ricardo Semler.
The SEMCO partners are a Brazilian company that is majorly owned by Ricardo Semler who is currently the CEO of the company. The company is popular because of its fundamental type of corporate democracy and industrial remodeling. From 1982 the company had increased its revenue to 212 million from the sum of 4 million dollars till 2003 under the ownership and leadership of Ricardo Semler. The company was established by Antonio Curt Semler in the year 1950. After 32 years Ricardo Semler had been assigned as the CEO and he changed the future of the company by hid diligent efforts. Since after that the company has shown great progress in acquiring the operational market and increasing the range and accessibility of its services. Because of this the company had been able to multiply its profit and is at the course of sustainable progress leading the company to new heights and records. As per the company's annual financial report, its total worth exceeds the amount of $215 presently. The company is on a very progressive path of growth and there is a very large increase in its profit every year (Spencer and Moital 2012). In the early 1990s, the principle of globalization was spread all over the world market and the SEMCO company was persuaded by it to develop its innovative stance, by dint of which they have entered into a strategic relationship with other competitors. As a part of this move a new consulting company ERM Brazil was established. As an initiative to provide electrical and civil maintenance in the domestic economy of Brazil they have started SEMCO manutention in the year 2001. The company has spread its trade in many countries around the world like India, the United States of America, Brazil, and Australia. The company focusses mainly on providing products and services deeming to the market of refrigeration towers, Airports, Manufacturing of industrial chemicals and mixtures, Hospitals, and especially the counseling the entities in the efficient management of the environment sources without polluting it. The SEMCO Group represents various brands in the domestic market of Australia like TORO, Terex, FIORI, New Holland and many other sub-brands in various areas of Australia and cities like Brisbane, Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne and Goulburn (Dyck 2013).
How Ricardo Semler is distinctive and unusual from further Business leaders?
The concept of effective leadership and focused management has a very significant role in the efficient handling of business environment. Both the principles of leadership and management have their distinct features and commotions and play a very crucial role in augmenting the probability of success in a dynamic corporate environment. The is no relevance in implementing a leadership style if there is poor management in the company. Hence both the factors are complementary and the presence of anyone results in a total imbalance of the business process. It is also a real challenge to keep the condition in equilibrium if the company possesses both strong management and effective leadership.
Ricardo Semler was appointed as the CEO of the SEMCO group in the year 1980, since then he had kept an exceptional record and performance by making efficient use of every department in the company through his exceptional leadership skills. The leadership style of Ricardo Semler is very peculiar and unique as compared to the leadership style of other eminent leaders. A lot of changes had been implemented by him in the processes until his appointment. He has implemented an innovative employee empowered management style in the SEMCO group. To comply with this management style Ricardo Semler had implemented the democratic style of leadership in the company. Being an efficient leader, he maintains all the input and output efforts democratically in the company. It is by considering the requirements and opinion of the employees that every decision is taken in the company which encourages the staff to work diligently and honestly for the upliftment of the organization. Ricardo Semler has also taken major measures to provide basic amenities, welfare, and security to the employees of the organization (Mueller 2014).
It is the workers in SEMCO who determine their process of production. Rather the higher officials, it is the employees who determine the time of work, target, and the nature of the operating environment. Even the most strategic decisions like significant marketing strategies are formulated by the exclusive participation of employees. Not limiting to this, even the salary and payroll are decided by themselves. Like the custom in the Chinese parliament, all the documents and information are revealed and discussed among the employees. Since every employee took part in the most important to trivial work in the organization, there is a level of co-ordinations between the managers and the subordinates. Thus, every individual is liable for each procedure and happenings in each unit. As a result, the company was able to curtail the staff in its management section by 75% thereby limiting the management strata to 3, which was 12 earlier. It was observed by Ricardo Semler that the autocratic system of management limited the efficiency of employees.
This strategy has implemented great results in the advancement of the company, especially in the research and development department because of its innovative and experienced suggestions. These advancements have egged on the employees to work more energetically to make the company achieve higher targets. This democratic style in leaders has developed a very cordial and mutual relationship between the managers and workers.
Distinctive effects of Democratic Leadership applied by Ricardo Semler in SEMCO
The democratic leadership adopted by Ricardo Semler had created a big positive impact on the company as the workers are performing very efficiently after the implementation of a new style. Ricardo has created a very big influence and impact as a CEO since he directly supervises the department of customer relations. The major factor behind his success as compared to other leaders in the market is because he has focused on providing special provisions in developing the communication skills among the departments and the companies. In his long career, he had made a gigantic impact on the company and most importantly sustained the progress for a relevant period in the domestic market. As a corporate leader, he has the responsibility to make changes in the organization to direct the business towards the maximum attainable target. Now under the leadership of Ricardo Semler, the SEMCO company is able enough to deal with the hidden risks and challenges in the market. The workers under his leadership have gained immense knowledge and experience which has increased their efficiency and the capability to make right interventions at crucial moments which resulted to be very vital in the company’s growth (Neubert and Dyck 2016).
Implementing the Ricardo Leadership Style in other companies The leadership style of the Ricardo Semler implemented in SEMCO is a good lesson and moral for the leaders of other companies that the out modeled or the obsolete methodology of Carrot and Stick will not be much efficient in the long course. The SEMCO company had made great advancement against their competitors in the market by implementing the leadership style put forward by Ricardo Semler which has made the competitors very cautious and watchful about it and started contemplating it. Although many companies were performing well and had a decent style of leadership in their system, they were curious about leadership put forward by Ricardo since it was more effective than theirs. It has been observed by many of the companies that he had been able to maintain the imagination and creativity of the workforce by his innovative leadership style. He had created many changes and alterations in his leadership to tackle the heavy competition in the global market of which his competitors were very observant. As per his perception and recommendation, the price of the products and the services were kept at an honest and unadulterated date in an attempt to make a better profit from the market (Amollo 2015).
The humanitarian aspect of the Ricardo leadership style
Ricard Semler had maintained a valid leadership style in the SEMCO group following all the laws and regulations in the country as a senior executive manager and CEO. According to the leadership style adopted by him, he is bound to maintain proper contact with the subordinates and his followers by simultaneously keeping in touch with the relevant researchers in the field. It was very evident that the company should accept a very humanitarian approach to its processes and method to generate a very good persona among the consumers and hence attain their support. Ricardo has made some accessory strategies to make the consumer aware of its product and business targets and hence encourage them to buy the company’s product and services. SEMCO company should understand the buying nature and customs followed by its consumers to attain a more wholesome humanitarian approach (Mathieu et al. P 2014). By this approach, the management of the company could measure the efficiency of the performance in the domestic market. It is the behavior and the preference of the customers that determines the leadership style because of the potency of customer behavior to support the company in its development. If the customer relationship is not understood by the management, companies like Ricardo Semler wouldn’t be able work effectively an eventually end up with massive loss and damage to the company.
Dyck, B., 2013. Managing Relationships within Organizations: Organizational Structure, Motivation, and Leadership. In Management and the Gospel (pp. 159-167). Palgrave Macmillan US.
Mathieu, C., Neumann, C.S., Hare, R.D. and Babiak, P., 2014. A dark side of leadership: Corporate psychopathy and its influence on employee well-being and job satisfaction. Personality and Individual Differences, 59, pp.83-88.
Mueller, J.R., 2014. Alternative Organizational Design and Its Impact on the Future of Work. Journal of Strategic Innovation and Sustainability, 9(1/2), p.48.
Neubert, M.J. and Dyck, B., 2016. Developing sustainable management theory: goal-setting theory based on virtue. Management Decision, 54(2), pp.304-320.
Spencer, A.J., Buhalis, D. and Moital, M., 2012. A hierarchical model of technology adoption for small owner-managed travel firms: An organizational decision-making and leadership perspective. Tourism Management, 33(5), pp.1195-1208.
